West news briefs: Bike Konnect family bike ride set for June 20

Carver County Parks, Chaska Parks and Recreation and Victoria Parks are once again hosting Bike Konnect, an 8-mile family bike ride.

This year's event will be held Saturday, June 20, with the ride beginning in Victoria and ending at the Chaska Community Center. More information is available at chaskacommunitycenter.com or ci.victoria.mn.us.

Last year's event received an award of excellence from the Minnesota Recreation and Park Association.

Are you cleaning out your bookshelves and looking for a good home for some of your gently used books?

Consider donating them to the Friends of Andersen Horticultural Library's Book Sale.

The library at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum has begun accepting donations and will continue to do so until Sept. 15. The sale is set from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 2 to 4. Proceeds benefit the library's collections, publications and activities.

Donors with a large number of books and call ahead to arrange for unloading assistance. For more information call the library at 612-301-1239.

Hennepin County is piloting a new volunteer program to train residents to identify aquatic invasive species not yet found in Minnesota lakes. The goal is to detect those species early, when management options are still available. Ideal volunteers are individuals who enjoy spending lots of time on or near lakes in Hennepin County, including people who boat and fish, and who live, walk or run near lakes. Monitoring for signs of aquatic invasive species can easily be incorporated into these routine activities. Participants should be able to contribute at least 15 hours from July through November.

Volunteers will be trained to look for signs of aquatic invasive species at a training session on June 30, from 6:30 to 9 p.m., at the Hennepin County Sheriff's Water Patrol in Spring Park. The training course is limited to 30 participants.

For more information or to become a volunteer, call Tony Brough at 612-348-4378 or go to www.hennepin.us and search "volunteer."

"Mary Gale Hobbs: A Retrospective" is on display in the Hennepin Gallery in downtown Minneapolis. The many drawings, paintings and etchings by Hobbs, who was largely responsible for creating an art curriculum for the Minneapolis Public Schools still used today, will be on display through June 29.

Born in Canada, Hobbs attended the University of Toronto and Columbia Teachers College, where she obtained her degree in fine arts. She came to Hennepin County in 1917 to teach art at the Northrup Collegiate School. She produced art and exhibited extensively throughout the 1940s and 1950s at the Harriet Hanley Gallery, the Kilbride-Bradley Gallery and at the Minneapolis School of Art.

Her work is held in the collections of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Minnesota Museum of Art and the Walker Art Center. The Hennepin History Museum also holds in its collections many of Hobbs' drawings, lithographs and watercolors.

The Hennepin Gallery is free and open to the public from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday at the Hennepin County Government Center, A-level, 300 S. 6th St., Minneapolis.

The annual Maple Grove Moments Photography Contest is accepting entries through July 15.

Photos must've been taken in Maple Grove in 2010 or later and can depict any of the four seasons. For more details about the contest and requirements, go to maplegrovemn.gov.

The city of Orono has joined many other Minnesota cities in having a social host ordinance.

The City Council approved the new ordinance May 26, making it a criminal violation for someone to host a party for minors where alcohol is being consumed. In 2007, Chaska was the first city in Minnesota to start the ordinance. Since then, more than 100 cities and 20 counties across the state have enacted the ordinance to fight underage drinking and make a person who provided the venue for underage drinking liable. Violations are misdemeanor offenses.

Plymouth Police K-9 Stryker and his handler, police officer Matt Gliniany, were recently awarded the PD2X Expert Tracking Certification from the United States Police Canine Association — the highest possible certification available for a tracking dog.

According to the USPCA, Stryker and Gliniany were the only duo in Minnesota to attempt the certification this year. Last year, only one K-9 received the certification in Minnesota. The K-9 is tested on a track with different scents. Stryker, a 6-year-old German shepherd, is one of three K-9s in Plymouth.

The Plymouth Rocker Senior Performing Chorus will present an outdoor concert at Parkers Lake, 15505 County Road 6, Plymouth, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 23.

The free family event will feature a variety of music.

The main water line from Minneapolis to Crystal's reservoir under County Road 9 is being repaired, with construction in Robbinsdale from June through September.

It's a permanent fix to a 2-mile water line that serves Crystal, New Hope and Golden Valley.

The 36-inch line burst twice going through Robbinsdale, flooding the city's streets thanks to soils around the pipes causing it to deteriorate.

Now, a new water line will be installed inside the old line on the west side of County Road 81. One lane of traffic will remain open in each direction throughout the project.

A prostate cancer support group will meet from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 24, at North Memorial Medical Center, 3300 Oakdale Av. N. The session, in the Vance de Mong classroom at the main hospital building, will be an open discussion.

There is no charge, and family and friends are welcome. For more information, call 612-388-3588.

STAFF REPORTS