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30 years on the fringe: Minnesota Fringe Festival returns Aug. 3-13

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:10 GMT

The Minnesota Fringe Festival celebrates its 30th anniversary this August, having survived a recent near-death experience or two.As stage dramas go, the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t particularly entertaining for most of the actors, writers, directors and theater techs behind the summer festival’s 100 or so mostly homespun one-act plays and stage performances. Fringe went entirely virtual in 2020 and then hybrid in 2021, leading to some soul-searching about its future.“The financial losses from all of the cancellations brought about by the pandemic really put our existence in jeopardy,” said Dawn Bentley, executive director of the Twin Cities’ longest-running summer celebration of the performing arts. “It was the rallying cry of all the artists who raised $100,000 in donations for us in a short amount of time until we could get bolstered by the (federal Paycheck Protection Program). They saved us.”The festival returns Aug. 3-13, in the flesh, at ...

St. Paul hikes minimum wage to $13 per hour for small-to-midsized businesses

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:10 GMT

A new citywide minimum wage took effect in St. Paul on Saturday.The long-scheduled wage rate increases apply to large, small and “micro” businesses, including all private employers.As of Saturday, large employers in St. Paul — those spanning 101 to 10,000 workers — must pay employees at least $15 per hour. Smaller businesses of six to 100 workers must pay at least $13 per hour. And micro businesses of five employees or less must pay at least $11.50 per hour.On Jan. 1, a minimum wage increase to $15.19 took effect for “macro” businesses of more than 10,000 employees.To determine the size of a business, employers must count all employees, whether employed full-time, part-time, jointly with another employer or on a temporary basis, including employees not located in the city, according to a statement from the mayor’s office.St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter signed the citywide minimum wage ordinance into law on Nov. 14, 2018, raising the minimum wage for busine...

Ask Amy: Child development expert worries about grandchild

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:10 GMT

Dear Amy: I had a 42-year career as a speech-language pathologist, working with young children.Early childhood development was my professional specialty.I made sure to provide my own children with play-based preschool opportunities. As they grew and showed interest in certain activities, we provided those opportunities for them in art, music, and sports.Both children are now successful professionals.Our son and his wife are the parents of two children, ages three and one.They let us know early on that they would accept NO input or support, even when they shared their struggles and challenges.Not even a book suggestion was welcome.I have respected their wishes, and I respond to texts, e-mails, and rare phone calls with generic positive statements like, “Thanks for sharing that photo!” “It looks like he’s doing great!”Now, our daughter-in-law is sending photos and videos of our 3-year-old granddaughter in a pee-wee “cheer” program.She is on a “performance team,” complete with uniforms...

Word Game: July 2, 2023

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:10 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — THESAURUS (THESAURUS: thuh-SORE-us: A book of words and their synonyms.)Average mark 45 wordsTime limit 60 minutesCan you find 57 or more words in THESAURUS?TODAY’S WORD — THESAURUS tare tear thus trash tress true truss tsar hare haste hate hater hauteur hear heart heat hers hurt hussar earth east sash sate saute sear seat share shears shut shute star stare stash suer suet surah sure surest suture ashes assert asset assure aster urea user usher uterus rash rashest rate rest ruse rush russet rust ruthTo purchase the Word Game book, visit WordGameBooks.com. Order it now for just $5 while supplies last!RULES OF THE GAME:1. Words must be of four or more letters.2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” are not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible.4. Proper nouns,...

Bridge: July 2, 2023

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:10 GMT

One of Unlucky Louie’s daughters is in college, studying to be a social worker.“She’s taking a course in psychology,” Louie said. “She told me the instructor was lecturing on Pavlov’s dogs, and the class was laughing about it. And then the bell rang, and they all went to lunch.”The psychological aspect of bridge may be less significant than in a game such as poker. On an internet site such as Bridge Base Online, your opponents may be thousands of miles away, not sitting at your table where their mannerisms or tempo may be revealing. Still, there are opportunities to “play the players.”In today’s deal from a team match, both Souths played at four spades after North — reasonably in my opinion — raised South’s response of one spade to two spades. Both Wests led a low heart. East took the queen and ace and led a third heart, and South’s jack won.At one table, declarer led the queen of trumps next. West&#...

Police investigating apparent break-in at Boston jewelry store

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:10 GMT

Police responded to a smashed window at a jewelry store in Downtown Crossing early Sunday morning.Long’s Jewelers on Summer Street was surrounded by shattered glass and crime scene tape overnight.Within the store, jewelry cases were covered with cloth, and one case was empty. It is unclear if that is related to the smashed window.Police have not confirmed any details about the suspects or if they took any merchandise.This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

Criminal investigation into Coast Guard Academy revealed years of sexual assault cover-ups, but findings were kept secret

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:10 GMT

(CNN) — A secret investigation into alleged sexual abuse at the US Coast Guard Academy, the training ground for the Coast Guard’s top officers, uncovered a dark history of rapes, assaults and other serious misconduct being ignored and, at times, covered up by high-ranking officials.The findings of the probe, dubbed “Operation Fouled Anchor,” were kept confidential by the agency’s top leadership for several years. Coast Guard officials briefed members of Congress this month after inquiries from CNN, which had reviewed internal documents from the probe.Despite credible evidence of assaults dating back to the late 1980s, investigators found that most of the alleged perpetrators were not criminally investigated at the time. Instead, the incidents were handled as administrative violations, and punishments, if they happened at all, were as minor as extra homework or lowered class standings. Sometimes, even those pushed out of the academy were still able to serve in the US military.As...

National Archives concludes review of JFK assassination documents with 99% made public

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:10 GMT

(CNN) — The National Archives has concluded its review of the classified documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, with 99% of the records having been made publicly available, the White House said Friday.“This action reflects [President Biden’s] instruction that all information related to President Kennedy’s assassination should be released except when the strongest possible reasons counsel otherwise,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday.President Joe Biden released a memo Friday certifying that the archivist had completed the review in May and affirmed the remaining documents authorized to be declassified had been released to the public – meeting a previously set June 30 deadline.In 1992, Congress passed the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act, in part prompted by furor caused by the conspiratorial Oliver Stone film “JFK.” The act dictated that all assassination records should be publicly di...

Column: Half-full or half-empty? 5 things to watch in July as the Chicago Cubs reach the halfway mark.

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:10 GMT

The Chicago Cubs reached the halfway point of the season Saturday night, and whether the glass was half-full or half-empty was in the eye of the beholder.At the start of spring training, PECOTA projections had the Cubs winning 77 games and finishing third in the National League Central behind the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers.After Saturday’s weather-delayed 6-0 loss to the Cleveland Guardians, the Cubs are 38-43, on pace for 76 wins and fourth in the division, five games behind the co-leading Brewers and Cincinnati Reds.The half-full crowd could point to a 14-11 record in June as a sign the Cubs have begun to get their act together. The half-empty crowd could suggest a sub-.500 first-half record indicates little progress from the last two losing seasons.Asked about the PECOTA projection in spring training, Cubs President Jed Hoyer said 87 or more wins were within sight.“That has to be our goal, to be a team that’s plus-10 or more, and that’s what...

For presidents, July Fourth is a day to chill or strut or get an earful of red, white and boo

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:15:10 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Through history, the Fourth of July has been a day for some presidents to declare their independence from the public. They’ve bailed to the beach, the mountains, the golf course, the farm, the ranch. In the middle of the Depression, Franklin Roosevelt was sailing to Hawaii on a fishing and working vacation.It’s also been a day for some presidents to insert themselves front and center in the fabric of it all. Teddy Roosevelt drew hundreds of thousands for his July Fourth oratory. In 2019, Donald Trump marshaled tanks, bombers and other war machinery for a celebration that typically avoids military muscle.Richard Nixon enraged the anti-war masses without even showing up. As the anti-Nixon demonstrations of 1970 showed, Independence Day in the capital isn’t always just fun and games. It has a tradition of red, white and boo, too.In modern times, though, presidents have tended to stand back and let the people party. George W. Bush had a ceremony welcoming immigrants as...