By Todd Abeln, Sports Editor

NORTHFIELD -- Shakopee High School ninth-grader Maria Hauger won the Class AA girls state cross country championship this morning in Northfield.

Hauger's winning time was 14:40.8, and she topped the second-place finisher by about a second.

As a team, the Saber girls finished eighth in the state.

In the boys' state race, Trent Lusignan finished in 13th place. 

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent

A 37-year-old Prior Lake man pleaded guilty to his role in defrauding Best Buy Inc. of about $31 million over four years in U.S. District Court on Thursday morning.

By Shawn Hogendorf and Lori Carlson, Correspondents

Charged with second-degree murder, the 45-year-old husband of newspaper reporter Ruth Anne Maddox waived his right to a speedy trial during a hearing in Scott County District Court Wednesday afternoon.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

A man convicted of vehicular homicide five years ago when he killed Jon Niemann, a Scott County Deputy and Prior Lake firefighter, on Interstate 494 in Plymouth may finally see prison time.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent

The 43-year-old husband of murdered newspaper reporter Ruth Anne Maddox waived his right to a speedy trial during a hearing in Scott County District Court Wednesday afternoon.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

A 37-year-old Prior Lake man was charged in U.S. District Court Monday with one count of conspiracy and one count of money laundering for his role in a scheme that allegedly overcharged Best Buy Inc. $31 million over four years.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

The third person involved in the hit-and-run crash that killed a Prior Lake man in the parking lot of the Event Center in Burnsville pleaded guilty to one count of aiding an offender in Dakota County Court on Dec. 1.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

A 16-year-old Lakeville girl pleaded guilty in Dakota County Court this week for her role in the beating of a vulnerable Lakeville man that occurred in rural Dakota County in mid-October.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent

On Wednesday morning last week, Ruth Anne Maddox was supposed to write the news, not make the headlines.

A cheerful and personal reporter who loved to joke around, Ruth Anne treated the people she interviewed like instant friends. Those who met her, even once, likely knew she was from Indiana, owned two pit bulls — her “babies” — and had a teenage daughter.

 By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent

Armando Velasquez, 20, of Faribault was sentenced to serve 57 months in prison by Dakota County Judge Timothy McManus in connection with a fatal hit-and-run that killed a 32-year-old Prior Lake man at the Event Center parking lot in Burnsville on April 5.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

Sharon Loth of Credit River Township spent the majority of her life as an active person.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

A 20-year-old Faribault man pleaded guilty to one count of criminal vehicular homicide for leaving the scene of a fatal accident in connection with the hit- and-run crash that killed a Prior Lake man in the parking lot of the Event Center in Burnsville in April.

By Shawn Hogendorf and Shannon Fiecke, Staff Writers

A 42-year-old Shakopee man was killed Aug. 1 when his motorcycle collided with an SUV near the intersection of Vernon Avenue (County Road 91) and Credit River Boulevard (County Road 68) in Credit River Township at about 4:45 p.m.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

A 21-year-old Shakopee man was charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony, and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct by the Scott County Attorney’s Office on Aug. 1.

The second annual Extreme Race Day is set to take place at Canterbury Park, 1100 Canterbury Road in Shakopee on Sunday, July 20.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

Two Brooklyn Park men were sentenced to serve two years of probation for supplying alcohol to a Prior Lake man who died after he fell from the third floor of a parking ramp last year.

By Mark Nesvig, Correspondent 

Since becoming the first Laker wrestler in program history to win a second state title this past March, Shakopee's Jake Kahnke has been a busy man.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, like many communities, is faced with growing energy demands and dependence on outside sources for power, but the tribe’s response has been a bit different.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

A federal jury in St. Paul acquitted a 36-year-old Prior Lake businessman on 26 charges of bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy on June 4. The charges resulted from possible corruption of casino development and contracting practices alleged to have occurred in 2003 in connection with former officials of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent

James Nicholas Dahlager, 26, of Prior Lake, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree aggravated robbery in Meeker County on Thursday afternoon.

Craig Olson of Shakopee will be remembered by the Prior Lake-Savage Area community in many ways: as a father, husband, principal, mentor, leader and, to many, a visionary for creating global perspective locally and fostering an emphasis for area adults to mentor youth.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

The Dakota County Attorney’s Office amended the criminal charges that were filed on April 25 in connection with the fatal hit-and-run that killed Carlos Noriega of Prior Lake in the parking lot of the Event Center in Burnsville on April 5.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent

The Burnsville Police Department have arrested a 19-year-old Faribault man and a 36-year-old Owatonna woman in the hit-and-run homicide that occurred at the Event Center, 1998 Highway 13, in Burnsville on April 5.

The two people are being held in Dakota County Jail.

Following a Planning Commission recommendation, the Prior Lake City Council on April 7 approved a plan for a larger YMCA than initially proposed on the Shepherd's Path campus at county roads 42 and 21.

The YMCA of Metropolitan Minneapolis asked for approval to construct a 50,000-square-foot facility instead of the 40,000-square-foot building originally requested.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations says the reported dollar loss from Internet crime reached an all-time high in 2007 amounting to nearly $240 million, a $40 million increase in losses from 2006.

According to the 2007 Internet Crime Report:

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

A 29-year-old Prior Lake man was sentenced to serve two years in jail and eight years of probation for fourth-degree assault of a police officer, domestic assault and second-degree driving while impaired test refusal by Judge Thomas McCarthy in Scott County Court Jan. 16.

LoVerna Schlueter, 94, of Waconia, passed away Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at The Waconia Good Samaritan Center in Waconia.

Funeral service is Saturday. March 22, at 11 a.m. at Zion Lutheran Church in Benton Township, Cologne.

Arrangements were handled by the Johnson Funeral Home of Waconia; online guestbook at www.johnsonfh.com.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

It was a case of senseless violence, but then again, violence never makes sense for victims.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Staff Writer 

A nearly six-year run from Scott County authorities is over for Miguel Alberto Garcia as he was sentenced to serve 364 days in Scott County Jail by Judge Mary Theisen on Feb. 20, for leaving the scene of a fatal accident in Credit River Township on Jan. 28, 2002.