Sara Shepherd Lawrence Journal-World reporter
Sara Shepherd is the Lawrence Journal-World's features reporter, covering food, arts, lifestyle and culture. Prior to joining the Journal-World staff, Sara was the news editor and city reporter for The Shawnee Dispatch. She also was a reporter at The Kansas City Star, covering primarily crime and courts, as well as Johnson County schools and city government. Sara is an Emporia, Kan., native and — proud! — fourth-generation Kansas University graduate. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/KCSSara.
Recent stories
- Food: Edible heirlooms: Favorite recipes help remember loved ones
- May 23, 2012
- Some of the most valuable family treasures may not be expensive or breakable. And it’s unlikely you’ll find them itemized in anyone’s will (in fact, they may not be written down at all).
- Food: Treat mom to a kid-and-dad-proof Mother’s Day breakfast
- May 9, 2012
- Here’s an at-home breakfast menu that features simple extras such as fresh herbs — not fancy techniques or hard-to-find ingredients — to make the dishes elegant enough to make mom feel special but easy enough for dad and the kids to whip up.
- A look inside the landfill
- Variety of activity — even wildlife — abounds inside the nearly 1,000-acre site
- April 25, 2012
- Behind the steep berms hiding it from public view, the Johnson County Landfill is home to both arid moon-like landscapes and lush green pockets teeming with wildlife. The Dispatch takes you on a photo tour of the largest landfill of its kind in the Midwest.
- Jeweler has offered to mount 100-year-old diamond found in Salvation Army kettle
- Unusual donation turned up at Shawnee Walmart
- 12:50 p.m., December 8, 2011 Updated 12:00 a.m.
- A Salvation Army kettle from Shawnee turned up a sparkly surprise when workers opened it to count the day’s donations.
- Back in the saddle: Woman rides again after 60-plus years
- September 28, 2011
- Danila Rock didn’t vice-grip the saddle horn with both hands, or sway like a rag-doll when the horse started moving. No, she had done this before.
- Swing your partner: One of area’s largest square dance clubs calls Shawnee home
- August 24, 2011
- When the fiddle’s flying, the caller’s yodeling and a sea of smiling people is spinning around you like cake batter in a mixing bowl, there’s little room for thoughts outside your square.
- Digital billboards hoped to help catch Shawnee’s bearded bank robber
- 03:57 p.m., August 2, 2011 Updated 03:44 p.m.
- There’s a reward of up to $2,000 for information leading to the arrest of the “Fake Beard Bandit” thought to be responsible for now seven bank heists.
- Great blue herons take up residency in central Shawnee
- Extra-large carnivorous birds pesky for some, ‘magnificent’ to others
- April 4, 2011
- In years of walking Mill Creek Streamway Park, Ascension Hernandez has seen the occasional great blue heron — water lapping at lanky legs, rope-like neck forming a graceful ‘S.’
- Heavy lifting: Moving day in this business all about physics, geometry
- January 26, 2011
- The business of house moving takes patience, precision and practice.
- EHS teacher barely misses Asia’s tsunami
- January 13, 2005
Recent photos
Stella Bolin
Phil Minkin, Lawrence, has several of his grandmother's recipes, including her version of traditional Jewish flodin. His grandmother didn't use written recipes, but years ago Minkin's mother wrote them down and passed them on to Minkin.
Herbed Baked Eggs, Buttermilk Spice Muffins and Blueberry Soup make for a simple, family-friendly Mother's Day breakfast. Fresh herbs and garnishes make the dishes elegant enough to feel special, but recipes are simple enough for anyone to make.
Joey Heideman, Olathe, leads "Team Olathe" out of the water during the 2012 Polar Plunge at Shawnee Mission Park Lake. Plungers faced temperatures around 40 degrees with brisk wind during Saturday's event. Heideman's team included Olathe police officers, firefighters, public works employees and friends. (See this photo in print, on page 24 of the Feb. 1, 2012, Dispatch.)
Michele Heaver, the Salvation Army Corps Officer for Kansas City, Kan., displays the diamond someone dropped into the Salvation Army kettle at Walmart, Shawnee Mission Parkway and Maurer Road, in Shawnee. A jeweler appraised the .83-carat round-cut stone's retail value at $2,000.
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Point of View
What do you think about a proposed ban on smoking in public places such as restaurants, bars and workplaces?
As much as I hate government interfering with our lives, I love the smoking ban. Going out in Lawrence is so nice without smelling cigarette smoke at your table while eating.
