By Chuck Friedbauer

Chaska High School will host the 13th annual Job and Education Fair on April 24, in conjunction with the Carver County Workforce Service Center. 

This fair is different from the College Fair, also held at the high school earlier this month. While this event does have information for high school students, it definitely has more of an adult focus, said Chaska High School career resource counselor Emily Mattran.

Dermot Cowley, renowned Minneapolis restaurateur and owner of Jake O’Connor’s Public House in Excelsior and O’Donovans in Minneapolis, recently purchased Nancy’s Landing restaurant in Waconia.

Cowley purchased the lakeside restaurant on Lake Waconia with plans to renovate and reopen it as Lola’s Lakehouse in mid-May, according to a press release.

The Chaska Area Chamber of Commerce just e-mailed out a note that the 23rd annual Chaska Area Taste is 5-9 p.m., May 21 (with a rain date of May 28).

Once again, the event is in City Square Park and features dozens of food vendors, as well as music by the Eagle River Band (from 6:30 to 8:30).

For more info, visit www.chaskaareachamber.org.

Urgent care services in Chaska will be limited come this time next month. In a letter to patients, St. Francis Medical Center announced that it would be discontinuing urgent care services in Chaska as of May 10.

Ridgeview Medical Center in Waconia has been named a 2008 Distinguished Hospital for Patient Safety.

The distinction was made through an independent study by HealthGrades, a national healthcare ratings company. According to a press release, it puts Ridgeview among the top five percent of hospitals in the nation for patient safety outcomes.

Year to date, Chaska has an average home sales price in of $279,176, ahead of last year by 1.3 percent. The Twin Cities region as a whole has seen a decline of 9.7 percent in price for the same time period comparison, according to a Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors press release.

So far in 2008, there have been 13 closed home sales in Chaska, behind last year by 25.2 percent. For the entire Twin Cities region there have been 3,978 closed sales, compared to 2,502 last year.

By Mark W. Olson

Wal-Mart officials have informed the city of Carver that they are withdrawing plans for a store in the town.

Last fall, Wal-Mart and property owner Mark Lano entered into a purchase agreement for 26.5 acres of farmland, near the County Road 147 and Highway 212 intersection. At Monday night’s Carver City Council meeting, Planner Cindy Olness announced that the company had withdrawn its plans.