Author: Stuart Sudak

C.H. Robinson, the Eden Prairie-based freight and cargo logistics provider, confirmed on Monday that it laid off 650 of its workers last week. According to a statement by the company, the positions have been eliminated across the company, not specific to Eden Prairie. Transition assistance is being provided to those affected. CEO Bob Biesterfeld cited slowing freight demand as the reason for the layoffs. During the company’s most recent earnings call, Biesterfeld addressed the natural cycle of the freight market and the efficiencies C.H. Robinson is gaining from its technology and automating processes. “On our second quarter earnings call in late…

Bob Lambert wrote in a diary during his yearlong tour of duty in Vietnam. That year, from October of 1967 to October of 1968, in which he served as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, is the only time in his life that he kept a diary. The diary is tucked away in Lambert’s old helmet bag on a shelf in his Saint Peter house. He rarely looks at it, though he did when writing a book on his life after retiring as Eden Prairie parks and recreation director in 2007. “It was helpful in writing that…

Democratic Minnesota state Sen. Steve Cwodzinski won reelection Tuesday by beating Republican Marla Helseth for the District 49 seat. According to unofficial voting results, Cwodzinski ended up with 26,448 votes, or 62.28% of the total ballots cast in all 29 precincts, while Helseth had 15,998 votes, or 37.67%. The district encompasses all of Eden Prairie and southern Minnetonka. Cwodzinski, who taught U.S. government and history at Eden Prairie High School for 31 years before retiring in 2016, has been in office since 2017. His campaign focused on four core values during his campaign: healthier and safer communities, stronger schools, civility…

Eden Prairie Mayor Ron Case was reelected to a second term by voters on Tuesday, decisively beating Tracey Schowalter. For the two open council seats, incumbents Kathy Nelson and Mark Freiberg also conclusively fended off challengers Micah Olson and Greg Lehman. Case, Freiberg and Nelson’s new four-year terms begin in January. According to unofficial vote results, Case received 19,054 votes, or 69.33% of the total ballots cast for mayor in the city’s 20 precincts, while Schowalter received 8,364 votes, or 30.43%. And, according to the unofficial vote results for the council, Nelson received 15,109 votes, or 35.54% of the total…

Democratic U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips was reelected Tuesday to his 3rd District House seat, beating Republican Tom Weiler. Phillips, 53, of Wayzata, has held that seat since 2019. According to unofficial voting results, Phillips received 198,882 of the votes, or 59.56 percent of the ballots cast in all 231 precincts, while Weiler received 134,795, or 40.37%. “I love representing the remarkable people of #MN03 and am humbled to continue serving the very community in which I was raised in the 118th Congress,” Phillips wrote Tuesday night on his Twitter account. “Thanks to all who chose optimism over fear. Our best…

Juli Olson has a message for the person who stole a 6-month-old dilute calico foster kitten named Pencil Case from PetSmart in Eden Prairie on Sunday afternoon. “We would just like to get our kitten back,” said Olson, adoption manager for Ruff Start Rescue, the non-profit organization that rescued Pencil Case. “Is it about the adoption fee — NO. We are always willing to work with a loving family that can’t pay an adoption fee. It is not OK to steal a kitten. Please return her so she can be reunited with her sister and her foster family. No questions asked.…

A makeshift theater was set up in the parlor of the historic Cummins-Phipps-Grill house earlier this month by the Eden Prairie Historical Society. People sat quietly in folding chairs, their eyes focused on the small screen playing the short horror movie “The Doll.” On a dark and still night outside, the movie’s ominous music seemed like a perfect soundtrack for the setting both on- and off-screen. After all, the movie about a young girl named Violet who finds a doll in the woods and unknowingly makes a deal with a demon when she brings it home was filmed in the…

Nancy Tyra-Lukens, chair of the Eden Prairie Local News (EPLN) board of directors, spoke last week to about 75 students in three Advanced Placement U.S. Government classes taught by Brian Sibley at Eden Prairie High School. The former Eden Prairie mayor told the students about the 2022 EPLN Voter Guide, which was mailed to all 26,000 city households earlier this month. She brought copies of the 24-page guide that provides information on all candidates running for local races in the Nov. 8 election. (To view the online version of the voter guide, go to the EPLN  website.) Tyra-Lukens stressed the…

Grace Church Eden Prairie announced a major growth and renovation project earlier this month. According to a press release, the project aims to expand educational opportunities for children ages 5 and under with the non-denominational church’s Grace Beginnings early learning and childcare program. It will also benefit other ministries and programs by adding a new student center, classrooms, and multi-use spaces to the church at 9301 Eden Prairie Road. The targeted renovation completion time is currently slated for the fall 2024 school year. One of the church’s priorities, under the leadership of Senior Pastor Troy Dobbs, is to make efforts to…

Roy Terwilliger describes Eden Prairie as a community of builders. He said that’s how it was 48 years ago when he came to town, and that’s how it is today. Terwilliger prefaced his point by reciting a poem by memory. It can be found online under a few different titles, though “The Wreckers” seems to be its original name. The Wreckers I watched them tearing a building down, A gang of men in a busy town. With a ho-heave-ho and lusty yell, They swung a beam and a sidewall fell. I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled, As the…