Artists inspired by Dakota County have until April 11 to submit their artwork for display in county buildings.

To be eligible, artists must live in Dakota County and submit one piece based on one of three themes: portraits of Dakota County, reflections of Dakota County and secret places of Dakota County. Media can include, but are not limited to, paintings, drawings or graphic art.

The Dakota County Public Art Citizen Advisory Committee will review submissions and make recommendations to the County Board, which will give final approval of the artwork that will be on display for six months.

More information can be found at www.dakota county.us by searching for "public art" or by contacting Jean Erickson, deputy director of Dakota County's Public Services and Revenue Division, at 651-438-4286 or jean.erickson@co.dakota.mn.us.

DAKOTA COUNTY

Homeowners offered financial workshopHomeowners worried about making their mortgage payments or possible foreclosure are invited to a Dakota County Community Development Agency (CDA) open house from 3:30-6:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Apple Valley Municipal Center, 7100 147th St. W.

The event will feature homeownership specialists who can provide information and answer questions about the foreclosure process, home-owners' rights and long-term housing recommendations.

For more information about the event or the Dakota County CDA's foreclosure counseling program, go to www.dakotacda.org or call 651-675-4555.

EAGAN

City's efforts to curb hunger up for awardEagan has been nominated for a Local Government Innovation Award, which recognizes Minnesota cities, counties and schools for setting goals to improve local services and showing results.

In celebration of its sesquicentennial last year, Eagan put together the Eagan 150th Anniversary Executive Board. After discussion, the board acknowledged that many of the city's residents couldn't afford food. In response, the board set a goal for Eagan to get the entire community to help collect food and money to support two local food shelves.

Lisa Horn, who nominated Eagan for the award, said the city was collaborating in a way she hadn't seen before, and she thought those efforts should be recognized.

"The collaboration to do something like eliminate hunger to change a community is pretty remarkable," Horn said. "Their out-of-the-box thinking is what made me decide to nominate the city."

The finalists for the award were announced Feb. 14. Community members can show their support for the city through Sunday by visiting www.incommons.org/localgovernmentinnovation, scrolling down and clicking "Eagan 150th Anniversary Food and Fund Drive." After clicking the link, supporters need to create an account, then click "Like this" to vote.

The winner will be announced March 4.

HASTINGS

Website features city crime dataHastings residents now can track local crime on the city website.

The Police Department has added a Web-based crime-mapping application to keep residents informed. Hastings will post call-for-service data on the website, as more than a thousand cities are doing across the nation. Take a look at www.crimereports.com.

Each day the department uploads data on crimes and calls for service to CrimeReports, which plots it on a Hastings map.

"We believe giving the community this information will help us better work together to prevent crime," said Hastings Police Chief Paul Schnell. "Information is power."

The crime map is available 24 hours a day on the website or through the CrimeReports free iPhone app. Community members also can sign up for daily, weekly or monthly e-mail crime alerts at the Hastings Police Department's website, www.ci.hastings.mn.us/police.

"Public crime mapping is an example of the type of transparency community members ask of local government," said Hastings Mayor Paul Hicks.

In addition to the crime mapping information, the department also added a new "most wanted" section on the website at www.ci.hastings.mn.us/police/pdmostwanted.htm. It is intended to help investigators seeking to identify suspects in unsolved crimes. The section also provides information on unsolved missing persons cases and links to other website postings for wanted persons.

KATIE HUMPHREY, JIM ADAMS AND ANDREA SCHUG