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Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood to lead affordable homebuilding at The Heights in St. Paul

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:05 GMT

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, husband-and-wife grandmasters of country music, are coming to St. Paul to build affordable housing.Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit homebuilder and home lender based in St. Paul, will host the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project in the fall of 2024 with a construction project at The Heights, the new development taking shape in the former Hillcrest Golf Course on the city’s East Side.The annual Carter Work Project event has landed in different cities annually for the past 40 years, celebrating the charitable homebuilding works of President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter. As the Carters have retired from public life, Brooks and Yearwood have agreed to continue the Carters’ legacy as event hosts.The celebration, which brings together thousands of volunteers, celebrities and elected officials, has traveled to 14 countries. It last came to the Twin Cities in 2010.Twin Cities Habitat plans to build up to 150 homes ...

‘We dreamed he would do this’: Ascension of Twins’ Royce Lewis gratifying to those who drafted him

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:05 GMT

Sean Johnson stood off to the side in the Twins’ clubhouse, taking in the scene unfolding in front of him. In the center of the room, players were spraying champagne and dumping cans of beer onto each other in celebration of their Wild Card Series victory last week.In the midst of it all was Royce Lewis, shirtless, basking it all in with his teammates.Lewis, currently limited to DHing because of a strained hamstring, hit two big home runs a day earlier, helping the Twins snap a 19-game postseason losing streak. Days later, he would hit a home run in Game 1 of the ALDS, and on Sunday, he walked, collected a hit and scored a run in the Twins’ Game 2 victory over the Astros in Houston.“We dreamed he would do this,” said Johnson, the Twins’ vice president of amateur scouting. “And when you see it happen in real life and in a playoff game, it just makes the whole process complete in your mind.”Selecting Lewis, whom the Twins grabbed first overall in the 2017 draft, was one of...

The Minnesota Sinfonia will close shop in January 2025

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:05 GMT

The Minnesota Sinfonia will end in January 2025, according to the Friends of Sinfonia Board of Directors.Following the upcoming 2023/2024 concert season and a set of farewell performances in fall 2024, all concert activity will cease. Music in the Schools performances and related materials will continue to be available to school districts free of charge into the winter of 2025.The Sinfonia was founded by conductor Jay Fishman in 1989, who has also spent the past 35 years as artistic director. His idea was to create a professional orchestra that would perform free concerts to ensure live classical music was available in underserved and low-income communities in Minnesota.Professional freelance musicians from all over the world, most with graduate degrees from major universities or conservatories, perform up to 60 free concerts a year, many of which feature award-winning national and international guest soloists. They present classical and pops concerts in schools, churches and outdoo...

Homeless encampment relocates to St. Louis Municipal Court building

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:05 GMT

ST. LOUIS – Temporary barriers remain outside St. Louis City Hall along Market Street and at Poelker Park, with signs saying the park is closed for restoration. This comes after city authorities cleared the area last week of a growing homeless encampment.Meanwhile, some in the unhoused community have pitched their tents next door at the former St. Louis City Municipal Court building at 14th and Market.“Those who are experiencing hardship and homelessness are our friends, and family, and neighbors and friends,” said Yussef Scoggins, CEO of Covenant House Missouri. “And not to think about people in the abstract as ‘those people’ or people who are not connected to us.”Scoggins has spent the last 20 years working as an advocate for the unhoused. His Covenant House Missouri helps with education, counseling, and finding stable employment and secure housing for 16- to 24-year-olds. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subsc...

St. Louis Jewish community rallies support for Israel

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:05 GMT

ST. LOUIS – Israel remains under attack after Hamas militants fired thousands of rockets into Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip on Saturday.“Imagine Chesterfield shot rockets at downtown St. Louis. This is the distance,” Snir Dagan, an Israeli educator living in St. Louis, said.Dagan watch the news from his St. Louis apartment, fearing for the lives of his family and friends.“All of the windows in my apartment were shattered. My mom found a piece of metal from the rocket in my 10-year-old brother’s bed,” Dagan said.Dagan’s family in Israel survived the blast and sought safety with relatives nearby. He works as an Israeli educator in St. Louis after serving in the Israeli military. The timing of Saturday's surprise attack disgusts him. Crackdown on speeders in St. Charles yielding results, mayor says “We’re talking 7:00 a.m. Israel time. Saturday morning. In what we call Simchat Torah or the Joy of Torah. How sick can you be to start a war on one of the most joyful days on the Jewi...

Community Development Administration details spending priorities for federal grant money

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:05 GMT

ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis City Community Development Administration is on a mission to make sure there is safe, stable, and affordable housing for families.On Monday, the CDA declared its spending priorities for more than $26 million in federal grants. The money will go toward supporting social services, improving infrastructure, and creating affordable housing options.Many apartments have already been renovated, and the infusion of federal funding for the St. Louis Housing Authority will bring 127 units of offline public housing back into service for city families.The $2 million investment will fund renovations like drywall repair, new flooring, new cabinets, new appliances, new furnishings, and plumbing or HVAC replacements. Crackdown on speeders in St. Charles yielding results, mayor says “What is really exciting when people see rehab homes and new construction in neighborhoods throughout the city, they may not know that the CDA is playing a role in making that possible,” Tom N...

'To say that Israeli citizens are angry is a huge understatement,' says Illinois man visiting family in Israel

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:05 GMT

PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) - Paul Beiersdorf went to Israel to see his grandchildren and had a nice meal with his son's family and his in-laws on Friday.The next morning, everything changed; and the vacation and family time he sought with his son, his two grandchildren and his wife's family were gone. Reports of kidnappings, families killed and the constant shrill of rockets overhead broke any sense of calm. Children of Holocaust survivors want memories to stay alive "It's been very tense," he said. "There's no good war. Innocent people are being killed. To say that Israeli citizens are angry is a huge understatement."Beiersdorf and his wife, Connie, are in Ashdod, a city of 225,000 people on the Mediterranean Sea and a city that's less than 12 miles north of the Gaza Strip where Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel. Ahead of High Holidays, US Jewish leaders stress need for security vigilance as antisemitism surges The Peoria resident, who works part-time at Richwoods High S...

Polis issues order seeking to replace key — and controversial — criminal justice commission

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:05 GMT

Gov. Jared Polis moved Monday to replace a now-defunct commission that helped guide criminal justice policy in the state for the past 16 years, drawing praise from law enforcement and concerns from reform advocates who worry it will slow reforms.Polis issued an executive order creating a working group charged with drafting a replacement for the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, which was dissolved by the legislature in May after it had helped guide criminal justice policy and legislation here since 2007. The new working group, composed of law enforcement, attorneys and experts, will recommend a permanent replacement for the commission, likely to be created by the legislature, by March 1.The order makes good on a promise that Polis delivered to legislators in a June letter vetoing a bill that would have created a task force to study the costs associated with enforcing drug laws. Polis said that work could have been handled by the commission. The 30-member commissi...

Avalanche claim goalie Ivan Prosvetov on waivers to set season-opening roster … for now

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:05 GMT

The NHL’s season-opening roster deadline was set for Monday afternoon, but the Colorado Avalanche could be one of the teams that proves it is a bit of a misnomer.The Avs set their roster before the deadline with one final surprise when they claimed goaltender Ivan Prosvetov on waivers from Arizona and sent Justus Annunen to the Colorado Eagles. Colorado’s active roster currently includes just 21 players, two short of the maximum allowed.There is still time for the roster to change before the Avs play Wednesday night in Los Angeles to open the 2023-24 regular season against the Kings. The biggest question over the next two days will be the status of goaltender Pavel Francouz — not his availability, but which type of injured reserve list he lands on.The NHL’s salary cap ceiling is set at $83.5 million, but teams are allowed to go over the limit if they place a player or players on long-term injured reserve. Captain Gabriel Landeskog is expected to spend the entire season on LTIR, so t...

Colorado high school football rankings, Week 8: Resurrection Christian makes big leap after upset of Roosevelt

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:05 GMT

A look at this week’s Post Preps Top 10 for Class 5A, 4A and 3A:If you’re on mobile, tap here to see the rankings.Class 5ATeamRecordPreviousLast week1. Cherry Creek7-01W (47-0 vs. Smoky Hill)Comment: Nine Bruins defenders have at least one interception, and just one team (Regis) has scored on Creek in its last four games. This week: at Eaglecrest, 7 p.m. Friday.2. Columbine7-03W (30-14 at No. 5 Ralston Valley)Comment: With wins over two top-five teams (Arapahoe and Ralston Valley), Columbine looks awfully dangerous. This week: vs. Arvada West, 4 p.m. Friday.3. Pine Creek7-02W (21-17 at No. 10 Regis Jesuit)Comment: The Law of Rankings compels us to have only one team at No. 2, which is why Pine Creek is slotted here. This week: at Legend, 7 p.m. Friday.4. Arapahoe6-15W (30-16 at No. 8 Grandview)Comment: Warriors haven’t skipped a beat since Columbine heartbreaker. One week left until showdown with Cherry Creek. This week: vs. Cherokee Trail, 7 p.m. Thursday.5. Ralston Val...