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Lively revival of Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Company’ is sure to please Orpheum Theatre audiences

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:11:37 GMT

Musical theater master Stephen Sondheim surely went to his grave knowing that he was deeply appreciated. In March of 2020, the New York Times devoted a nine-page supplement to him on the eve of his 90th birthday, when a revival of his 1970 musical, “Company,” was set to open on Broadway. While COVID abruptly wiped live theater away, dozens of the biggest names in Broadway and Hollywood created an online-only tribute to him, featuring songs from a half-century of his musicals.That production of “Company” finally opened in November of 2021, and Sondheim attended a preview 11 days before his death. What he experienced was more than just a revival: It was a reimagining, transforming the central character from male to female, his romantic liaisons from female to male, and changing one of the five couples in their orbit to two gay men.Britney Coleman as Bobbie and the North American Tour of “Company.” (Matthew Murphy)It took home five Tonys last year, including “Best Revival o...

Give to the Max Day is Thursday. Here are 11 things to know on its 15th anniversary

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:11:37 GMT

It was 2009: Many of us were still transitioning from flip phones to smartphones, from DVDs to streaming, from Black Friday to Cyber Monday.In that year of shifting habits, on the third Thursday in November, Minnesotans were asked to take part in an online giving campaign to help raise money for nonprofits.Give to the Max Day was supposed to be a one-time event, but it went over in such a big way — $14 million was raised that year — that it became an annual “giving holiday” that will mark its 15th anniversary on Thursday.But, in the face of tough economic conditions and a post-pandemic dip in charitable giving nationally, will Minnesotans be able or willing to give to the max in 2023?We’ll know by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday.Ahead of the 15th annual event, here are 11 things to know:1. It began with a question.“What if giving was easier and more fun?”That was the question that launched GiveMN in 2009, a collaborative venture led by Minnesota Comm...

Josh Dobbs left Kevin O’Connell speechless with his touchdown run. What does his speed do for the Vikings?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:11:37 GMT

The clip went viral on social media this week, with Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell watching from the sideline, while quarterback Josh Dobbs executed the play call Sunday against the New Orleans Saints.As soon as he took his drop out of the shotgun, Dobbs stepped up into the pocket as he surveyed the field, then stopped on a dime with nowhere to go with the ball. Simultaneously, O’Connell watched everything unfold, a stoic look on his face as he realized the concept he dialed up was covered.The play call was wrong. But the 28-year-old journeyman quarterback made it right. In that moment, Dobbs reversed out of the pocket, beat a defender to the edge and scampered into the end zone for a touchdown to electrifying the home crowd at U.S. Bank Stadium.Meanwhile, on the Vikings sideline, O’Connell literally scratched his head with a look of bewilderment on his face. After shrugging his shoulders in exasperation, he talked into the headset, proclaiming, “I don...

Loons CEO Shari Ballard wants to allay concerns on timing of key sporting hires

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:11:37 GMT

Minnesota United CEO Shari Ballard knows the clock is ticking toward the Loons’ 2024 season — and things need to get done.Last week, the Loons checked their biggest offseason box: hiring a new Chief Soccer Officer in Khaled El-Ahmad. But when the club’s new sporting leader will arrive in Minnesota from Barnsley remains an open question.MNUFC now needs to hire a new head coach — with eight current vacancies in MLS — and El-Ahmad’s involvement in that decision will be limited because he still works full-time for that English third-division club.“I’m impatient by nature, too, and if I were our fans, I’d be going crazy, probably, from an impatience perspective, and I get it because people care,” Ballard said during a video call Wednesday with reporters. “I don’t love (the timing), but am I losing sleep over it? Absolutely not.”Ballard said she was willing to make a short-term “tradeoff” when it came to the big picture of El-Ahmad’s hiring and the short-term issue with his un...

Jesse Wegman: We waited 200 years for this Supreme Court ethics code?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:11:37 GMT

On first impulse, I was tempted to say something nice about the Supreme Court’s first-ever ethics code, which the justices released on Monday after years of pleas from the American public and lawmakers of both parties. But the most striking thing about the code was its resentful tone: call it the condescension of the unelected.In responding to the widespread outrage that has followed detailed news reports of repeated and egregious ethical violations — most notably by two of its most senior justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — the court chose to gaslight the American people, upon whom it depends for its legitimacy.“The absence of a code,” the court wrote in a sniffy, one-paragraph opening statement, “has led in recent years to the misunderstanding that the justices of this court, unlike all other jurists in this country, regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules.”As Alito might say, not true. The only misunderstanding here (a willful one, it seems) is on the part ...

Bencivenga, Fugh-Berman: Menopause is not a disability. Why are employers being asked to treat it like one?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:11:37 GMT

Menopause is not a disease and not a disability, but you wouldn’t know that from recent articles about how employers should offer menopause-specific benefits to employees. The end of childbearing potential may be celebrated or mourned, but cessation of the menstrual cycle is not a medically important event. Sure, some women have hot flashes (also called vasomotor symptoms), and for a minority of women those hot flashes are troublesome. But the idea that workplace modifications are needed for occasional sweating episodes is peculiar. The only other symptom definitively linked to menopause is vaginal dryness, for which it is difficult to imagine workplace relevance.Most menopausal women don’t experience bothersome symptoms. But if one attributes every aging-related or life-related symptom to menopause, the prevalence of bothersome symptoms rises rapidly. A report on menopause and the workplace from the National Menopause Foundation, in partnership with Bank of America, fou...

Zomorodi, Diaz: Sitting down all day is killing us. The cure is surprisingly simple — and difficult

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:11:37 GMT

From head to toe, our bodies are adapting to accommodate our devices. A majority of U.S. workers spend most of each weekday seated and looking at screens. We’ve thereby put ourselves in the midst of a slow-moving health crisis marked by alarming rates of early-onset diabetes and hypertension. Plus, by the end of most days — though it’s not the preferred medical terminology — we just feel like crap.Many of us ignore our Apple Watches’ insistent, buzzing reminders to get up and move. Others work out before heading to our desks, mistakenly assuming an early-morning sweat makes up for the hours of sitting to come. And then there are the disciples of the standing desk, which unfortunately won’t fix our irregular blood sugar and lipid levels either.After setting out to pinpoint the minimum amount of movement needed to offset the harms of our sedentary lives, Columbia University Medical Center researchers found that five minutes of gentle walking every h...

State of Minnesota reissuing nearly 150,000 uncashed or expired tax rebate checks

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:11:37 GMT

The Minnesota Department of Revenue is reissuing nearly 150,000 one-time tax rebate checks that went either uncashed and had expired.The department on Wednesday announced it is mailing a first round of unclaimed checks this week. A second batch will go out in the mail in early December.Gov. Tim Walz in May signed a $3 billion tax bill authorizing an estimated $1.1 billion in one-time tax rebates for more than 2 million Minnesotans. The final amount ended up being just less than $1 billion.Payments started reaching mailboxes and bank accounts in August and September. People who got checks had 60 days from the issue date to cash them in.Single filers earning up to $75,000 a year were eligible for $260 checks, joint filers earning up to $150,000 were eligible for $520 checks, and households got $260 for each dependent up to three. A married couple with three children could receive up to $1,300.The Revenue Department determined eligibility based on adjusted gross income in 2021.Reissued...

Biden holds press conference following meeting with China's Xi Jinping: Watch live

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:11:37 GMT

President Biden is slated to hold a press conference Wednesday evening, following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit (APEC), as The Hill reported.Biden went into the meeting with some key goals, including resuming direct military-to-military lines of communication as a way to lower the temperature between Washington and Beijing. The sensitive issue of Taiwan was also on the table, as were the wars in Europe and the Middle East. The meeting marked the first time Xi had come to the U.S. in six years. Biden and Xi last met one year ago in Indonesia but had not spoken since.The event is scheduled to begin at 8:15 p.m. EST.Watch the live video above.

Man arrested Wednesday in disturbing St. Louis County sexual misconduct case

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:11:37 GMT

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. - Authorities arrested a man who allegedly committed acts of sexual misconduct around a minor and briefly trespassed her home Wednesday morning. Prosecutors have charged Christopher Martin, 25, with three felonies: sexual misconduct involving a child under 15, first-degree sexual misconduct, and first-degree trespassing. NOTE: Viewers may find some details in this story to be disturbing. Mayor resigns, hired weeks later in new job making 6x more The St. Louis County Police Department says a record check of Martin revealed he had an active warrant for sexual misconduct out of the City of St. Louis. According to a probable cause statement obtained by FOX 2, Martin approached the victim while she was on her way to a bus stop near Fleta Street and Seth Avenue in south St. Louis County. Around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, Martin allegedly exposed himself and asked a girl to have sex. The victim ran away from the scene and back to her home, and her mother notified police ...