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A great week to meet Minnesota writers, including J. Ryan Stradal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:58 GMT

What a week for meeting Minnesota-related authors. We can hear Ryan Stradal introduce his new novel and listen to fiction featuring magic by Kat Howard as well as Anne Burt’s story of a family with secrets born in Bosnia. And there’s a new partnership between poet Danny Klecko and jazz pianist Chuck Solberg. Something for everyone. (Except for Stradal’s program these events are free and open to the public.)“Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club”: by J. Ryan Stradal (Pamela Dorman Books, $27). 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, in conversation with Lorna Landvik; Hook and Ladder Theater, 3010 Minnehaha Ave, Mpls., presented by Literature Lovers’ Night Out. $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Tickets at thehookmpls.com.Author J. Ryan Stradal. (Courtesy of Franco Tettamanti)Depending on how you looked at it, the writing was on the wall for places like the Lakeside anyway. On Florence’s drives to and from Bear Jaw, it seems like the Cities were getting...

Literary pick for week of April 23

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:58 GMT

Diane Jarvenpa and Thomas R. Smith, both self-admitted introverts, launch their new writing based on nature this week. Their programs are free and open to the public.Diane Jarvi, an award-winning poet under the name Diane Jarvenpa, launches her new poetry collection “Shy Lands” Aril 23, 2023, at Danish American Center, Minneapolis. (Courtesy of Diane Jarvi)Jarvenpa celebrates publication of her poetry collection “Shy Lands” at  2 p.m. April 23 at the Danish American Center, 3030 River Pkwy., Mpls., a venue that aligns with her Finnish heritage.She is the author of six books of poetry, including “The Tender Wild Things,” recipient of the Midwest Independent Publishers Association award, and has worked for 30 years with a wide range of poets, writers, students, musicians and artists, as well as teaching with the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project.Jarvenpa is also a prominent singer, songwriter, guitarist and kantele player who performs folk and world ...

Other voices: Biden needs to negotiate on the debt ceiling

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:58 GMT

President Joe Biden’s administration and its Republican opponents in the House of Representatives are stuck in another debt-ceiling impasse. To avoid the calamity of an outright default, this reckless ritual usually demands a last-minute deal or capitulation. This time, taking such a benign outcome for granted might be a mistake — and the buck will stop with the president, whether he recognizes it or not.So far, neither side looks interested in shaping an agreement that the other could conceivably accept. The administration is flatly refusing to negotiate, insisting on an increase in the debt ceiling with no strings attached. Republicans led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy have at least made a proposal — across-the-board cuts in discretionary spending. They know Biden will reject it, and don’t much care. The one thing both sides agree on seals this contract of mutually assured paralysis: Social Security and Medicare (both rapidly approaching technical insolvency) c...

Literary calendar for week of April 23

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:58 GMT

Rain Taxi Review is publishing its Twin Cities Independent Bookstores Passport for Independent Bookstore Day on April 29. (Kevin Cannon / Rain Taxi Review)INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE DAY: Twenty-three independent bookstores in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Excelsior, White Bear Lake, Stillwater, Duluth, Wabasha and other places invite you to visit them from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 29, during the 10th Independent Bookstore Day, sponsored by American Booksellers Association. There’ll be special events at the stores and , adding to the fun, Rain Taxi Review is again publishing its popular Twin Cities Independent Bookstore Passport, a guide to the stores’ locations that is packed with bookstore coupons and illustrations by local artist Kevin Cannon. Copies will be available at participating stores beginning Monday through IBD Day April 29.After you obtain a Passport, it can be stamped at all the stores you visit during the week for future discounts and a chance to win prizes. E...

With a $17.5 billion surplus, MN Democrats are crafting a budget with big spending and tax increases

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:58 GMT

Minnesota Democrats are putting together a new two-year state budget that includes an unprecedented growth in spending as well as increased taxes and fees to fund new services and programs for the long term.Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party members, in full control of state government and led by Gov. Tim Walz, say their budget blueprint is a progressive vision akin to the 50-year-old “Minnesota Miracle.” It includes tax rebates and credits that will help cut child poverty by 25 percent as well as new money to lift up struggling residents and secure a prosperous future, DFLers argue.State spending was already set to grow by almost $2.5 billion if lawmakers changed nothing. Democrats say the roughly $17.5 billion in new money for things like education, health care, transportation and other government programs is long overdue.While part of that new spending is one-time, DFLers also are poised to raise new taxes and fees to cover ongoing costs. Some of the new revenue comes from...

Stephen L. Carter: Fox-Dominion settlement shows the costs of pandering to the crowd

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:58 GMT

I’m not surprised that Fox News settled the Dominion defamation lawsuit, though like everyone else I’m taken aback by the amount. My suspicion is that the decision to drop the defense stemmed less from a fear of the jury verdict — which might have been much lower — than from the reputational toll a trial would have caused. And if there’s a lesson here, it’s not so much about Fox News as such but about the growing costs of pandering to your audience.If you’re reading this column, you know the background. In the wake of President Donald Trump’s defeat in his 2020 re-election bid, many of his supporters insisted that there’d been fraud at the polls. No big deal. Allegations of fraud are as old as America, and had the matter been left in the realm of vague conspiracy charges, there would have been no litigation.Instead, a number of those in Trump’s inner circle decided that the voting machines had somehow been tampered with, an...

Ask Amy: Abandoned child now plagued by guilt

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:58 GMT

Dear Amy: I was abandoned by my mother and adopted by another family at 18-months-old.Thirty years later, I located my birth parents.My father declined to meet. I met my birth mother and spent time getting to know her.In the years since reuniting, she has stolen from me, lied to me, and cut me with her cruelty.I reached a point where I decided that as much as I wanted a mother, I did not need or want a toxic relationship in my life, and I stopped communicating with her. I did explain to her why I was going to stop communicating.Her reply was, “I’ll see you in Hell.”Many months passed without any word from her.Over the last few days, I’ve heard from her several times.She apparently had a fall and is in a nursing home and needs help, because she wants to go home.I continue to struggle with a sense of responsibility toward her, even though I know that she is poison for me.My friends and family say that I don’t owe her anything, but she’s my mother, she gave birth to m...

Horoscopes April 23, 2023: Kal Penn, choose to be helpful

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:58 GMT

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Dev Patel, 33; Jaime King, 44; Kal Penn, 46; George Lopez, 62.Dev Patel (AFP PHOTO / VALERIE MACONVALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images) Happy Birthday: Take a serious look at what’s happening around you and how you can use your skills, intelligence and energy to bring about positive change. Your contributions will make a difference and increase awareness regarding your character and long-term goals. Set the stage for what’s to come and live up to your promises, and everything else will fall into place. Choose to be helpful, not critical. Your numbers are 7, 15, 24, 31, 38, 41, 49.ARIES (March 21-April 19): Consider your goal and develop a feasible, cost-efficient and functional plan. Don’t battle with the opposition when you can gain far more by doing what you do best. Romance is in the stars; share your feelings. 4 starsTAURUS (April 20-May 20): Stand tall and be proud of who you are and what you offer. A plan is worth something if you...

Bridge: April 23, 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:58 GMT

A friend of mine visited Vermont, where some of the people tend to be taciturn. After trying unsuccessfully to converse with a group of locals, he muttered, “You people don’t have much to say, do you?”“We have a rule,” one Vermonter drawled, “that nobody talks unless he can improve on silence.”Bridge players might do well to adopt that approach. I often hear players make ill-considered comments. Against today’s 6NT, West led the nine of spades. East let dummy’s jack win but took the ace when declarer led another spade. East then switched to the nine of diamonds.South took the A-K, then cashed four heart tricks and the king of spades. With four tricks to go, dummy had the jack of diamonds and three clubs, and South had his A-K-Q-8 of clubs. West was squeezed, unable to keep his queen of diamonds and the guarded jack of clubs, and South made the slam.“Thanks, partner,” West growled. “Duck the second spade as well ...

Saudi Arabia Owns Stake in Firm That Bought Democratic Party’s Campaign Tech

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:50:58 GMT

The government of Saudi Arabia is an investor in the private company that owns a virtual monopoly on software that powers Democratic candidates — including management of the Democratic National Committee’s all-important voter list.Sanabil Investments, the company that manages Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, recently published its first list of investments in venture capital, buyout firms, and startups. The list includes two private equity firms involved two years ago in the sale and acquisition of EveryAction and NGP VAN, the companies that make up the Democratic Party’s campaign tech apparatus.“Saudi Arabia’s investments are definitely strategic.”“Saudi Arabia’s investments are definitely strategic,” said Paul Rose, an associate dean at the Ohio State University’s law school, who has done research on sovereign funds in Gulf states. “This disclosure is interesting because I look at it and I think, ‘Well, why would you disclose all this?’ The Saudis are really...