Author: EPLN Staff Reports

The Eden Prairie Optimist Club invites students to participate in the organization’s annual speech and essay contests. Speech contest The speech contest topic is “Discovering the Optimism Within Me,” as part of the 2023 Optimist International Oratorical Contest. The contest is open to students under the age of 19 as of Oct. 1, 2022, who have not graduated from high school. Students placing in the top three places will receive Barnes & Noble gift cards. Area students passionate about speech should submit the application form and digital copy of the speech in Word format to ryanaffolter.optimist@gmail.com by Friday, March 31. Speeches will…

Brent Levi Rickenbach, 59, of Chanhassen, died peacefully in his home on Friday, Feb. 3.  He is survived by his wife, Cathy; children, Emily, Levi, and Sarah Rickenbach; parents, Richard and Marilynne Rickenbach; brothers, Brad (Meg) Rickenbach and Brian (Jennifer) Rickenbach; parents-in-law, Walter and Ardis Rafteseth; siblings-in-law, Diann Johnson, Karin (Dean) Peterson, David (Catherine) Rafteseth; many nieces and nephews; and other loving relatives and friends that he considered family. Brent was born in Minneapolis on April 4, 1963. He attended various schools, making friends around the country, as his family moved for his dad’s job. He graduated from the University…

Several colleges and universities have named Eden Prairie students to their respective dean’s list. Others have announced graduations. EPLN relies on schools to send us this information. If you don’t see your student’s school listed, please send your student’s name, the school’s name and location, award (e.g., dean’s list), year in school, and major to editor@eplocalnews.org with subject “Student Recognition.” Dean’s List Central College, Pella, Iowa Drew Edwards, senior Miami University, Oxford, Ohio Lydia Humphrey, business and marketing Ryan Lothenbach , architecture The College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, Minn. Shelby Benkofske Rachel Kranitz University of Vermont, Burlington Claire Purdue, music University…

Improvements to the Dairy Queen parking lot to remedy congestion between dine-in patrons who are parking their cars or leaving and those using the drive-thru are among the items being considered by the Eden Prairie City Council at its Tuesday, Feb. 7, meeting. Under Dairy Queen’s proposed plan, the existing parking lot would be re-striped so as to be one-way with angled parking, allowing room to create a new, dedicated drive-thru lane on the perimeter of the lot, nearest Eden Prairie Road. Currently, when drive-thru traffic stacks up, it interferes with the parking area used by customers dining inside, according…

The Eden Prairie Police Department is asking for the public’s help in identifying the colorfully-dressed robbery suspect of a city business Thursday morning. The suspect entered Lucky’s Station, 13991 Anderson Lakes Parkway, shortly before 8 a.m., took money from the register and fled on foot. No weapon was implied or seen. If you recognize the suspect, please contact police at 952-949-6200 and reference case #23-003833.

Ruth Kelly Hustad, of Eden Prairie, passed away on Jan. 14, 2023, in Edina, after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in early September. Our beloved Mom and Gram (Ruth, “Ruthie, Ru”) will be deeply missed by her family and many dear friends. She lived a truly amazing 89 years. Ruth was born on Sept. 28, 1933, to Milton and Gertrude Kelly in Lemon, South Dakota. She lived in Franklin, Minnesota, for most of her childhood before her family moved to Pasadena, California, in 1946. Ruth began her college career at St. Olaf College in Northfield, transferred to UCLA for a…

Arthur G. (“Art”) Peterson, 84, of Eden Prairie, passed away unexpectedly from cardiac arrest on Jan. 17, 2023. Son of Adolph and Flossie (Hawes) Peterson, Art grew up on a farm in Atwater, Minnesota, and attended Litchfield High School and served in the U.S. Air Force. When living in St. Paul, he worked for Univac before settling in Eden Prairie. He later worked at Control Data and NSP/Xcel Energy where he retired at age 75. Art is survived by his wife Loretta, children Galen (Dana), Boyd (Laurie), Corey (Cameron), Shannon Mavis (Chris) and Jillene Albers (Lee-deceased), 13 grandchildren and one…

Eden Prairie students named to their college or university Dean’s List or President’s List for the fall term are listed below, alphabetically by school. EPLN receives this information directly from the schools. If you don’t see your student listed, contact the school and ask them to include EPLN on its mailing list: editor@eplocalnews.org Belmont University, Nashville, TN Dean’s List Carlos Chavez Allie Pemantell Paola Reyes-Torres Bradley University, Peoria, IL Dean’s List Kendall Minta, Political Science University of Iowa, Iowa City Dean’s List Margaret Belongie, Nursing Matthew Deavan, Screenwriting Arts Laura Devine, Human Physiology John Enck, Business Analytics and Information Systems John…

Eden Prairie has declared a snow emergency effective Jan. 19-20. According to the city’s officials, the snow emergency will be activated as soon as the snow accumulation reaches 2 inches. Residents of the city are advised not to park on city streets until noon on Friday, Jan. 20. This will allow the crews to maintain safe and passable roadways and perform a full curb-to-curb cleanup that will begin at 3 a.m. on Friday. The city has also issued some important reminders for residents to follow during the snow emergency. These include placing trash containers behind the curb line, not in…

PROP Food Shelf’s annual “Empty Bowls” event is set to return in person on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, 13600 Technology Drive, Eden Prairie.  The event will take place during lunch from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and dinner from 4 to 7 p.m. The theme of this year’s 11th annual Empty Bowls is “Everybody Eats,” which aims to raise awareness and funding to combat hunger, housing, and employment insecurity in Eden Prairie and Chanhassen. Attendees will have the opportunity to enjoy a free bowl of soup as a reminder of local food needs, take home a…