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Literary calendar for week of Aug. 6

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:39 GMT

LAURA CHILDS: Minnesotan Gerry Schmitt, writing as Childs, signs copies of her 26th Tea Shop Mystery, “Honey Drop Dead,” in which Charleston, S.C., tea shop owner Theodosia Browning hosts an elegant tea celebrating a new park with a community beekeeping project. When a phony beekeeper shows up and sprays toxic smoke at the guests, the party ends in chaos. Then a shot rings out and a candidate for the state legislature falls to the ground. Of course he’s dead and Theo has to figure out why. Noon-2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 12, Once Upon a Crime, 604 W. 26th St., Mpls.“None of This is True” by Lisa Jewell. (Courtesy photo)LISA JEWELL: Author of 19 critically-acclaimed novels discusses “None of This is True,” named one of the best books of summer by more than four national publications. This psychological thriller is about a woman who is the subject of her own popular true-crime podcast. In conversation with Minnesota mystery writer Allen Eskens. Pre...

Low-income families will benefit the most from DFLers tax changes. Here’s how.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:39 GMT

The tax rebates expected this fall have gotten the most attention, but there is much more in the $3 billion worth of tax changes approved by Minnesota lawmakers in May and much of it is tailored to help low-income families.Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party leaders say roughly $450 million annually of new and expanded tax credits for families with children should cut the state’s child poverty rate by one-third. More than 265,000 filers will benefit from the change.Lawmakers also modified the renters credit by allowing taxpayers to claim it on income tax forms. The change is expect to increase the number of residents who claim it. It will send about $375 million a year to lower-income renters to help them better afford housing.DFLers, who control both chambers of the state Legislature and the governor’s office, say they focused on these types of tax changes to try to address the growing income inequality in Minnesota that was made even more apparent during the coronavirus pand...

Hugo Feed Mill marks 100 years of ‘helping the community, helping farmers and doing service’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:39 GMT

Bob Schwarz stopped by the Hugo Feed Mill last week for some grass seed and advice on what to plant to attract deer to his property in Wisconsin. The Mahtomedi resident didn’t realize he also would get a master class in how to use the products from owner and resident expert Steve Marier.“I’ve got a special shady mix of grass seed that is for growing if you get four hours of filtered sun a day,” Marier told Schwarz. “If it’s much less sun than that, you might as well plant hostas because it’s not going to grow. Direct sun is best, but even in four hours of filtered sun, they’re growing grass. I’ve got people growing it under oak trees.”The ideal time to plant grass seed is Aug. 15 to Sept. 20, Marier told Schwarz, “so you’ve got time.”Members of the Marier family have been helping customers at the Hugo Feed Mill since 1923. The business, which has two full-time and six part-time employees, will celebrate its centennial on Friday and Saturday with a series of events, refreshments, spe...

David French: I don’t see a ‘rogue’ Supreme Court

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:39 GMT

If you ask folks on the left to describe the contemporary Supreme Court, you may hear one or more common words used to describe it: “rogue” or “extremist” or “illegitimate” or “broken.” But when I look at the court, I see something quite different: the last federal bastion of the pre-Trump right.The court is definitely not liberal. But it’s equally clear that it is not MAGA. Even as it has inevitably rendered decisions that outrage progressives, it has also blocked much of the Trumpian populist project, and it has done important work to preserve the fundamental institutions of American democracy.The Supreme Court is in many ways a throwback to the status quo before Donald Trump descended his escalator. Prior to Trump’s arrival on the political scene, there were of course abundant disagreements, many of them heated, between the American right and left. But there was also broad agreement — imperfect, of course, and subject to critique from both sides — on the importance of facts and l...

Ask Amy: They let their kids roam, and it ruins family gatherings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:39 GMT

Dear Amy: My husband and I have been married for more than 20 years. Whenever we are invited to family gatherings, his siblings do not mind their own children. This can lead to situations, including the youngsters wandering unattended by the lake, riding bikes into busy roads and oncoming traffic, and hitting the family dogs.The family would rather sit around, visit and drink while their children run amok, damaging property and being out of control.For years, I have stepped up to keep an eye on the children as I felt it was irresponsible to leave young ones unattended. As new children are born into the family, it is always the same.I, at 40+ years old, don’t get a chance to visit with adult family, as I am chasing the littles around to *literally* put out fires.My husband and I have brought it to the attention of the in-laws, but they shake it off and say I should just join them and let kids be kids.Am I wrong to think that young children should have an adult (or responsible t...

Umar Khalid Challenged Modi’s Anti-Muslim Agenda. India Accused Him of Terrorism and Locked Him Up.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:39 GMT

This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.It was still dark outside when Umar Khalid sat down to make the farewell video. He had stayed up all night at a close friend’s apartment, where he had just celebrated his 33rd birthday, blowing out candles and cutting a chocolate cake. Now he sat on the couch stiff with tension, dark circles under his eyes, his face tinged a sickly yellow. He had been smoking nonstop for hours and eaten so little that he was feeling unwell. His friend was seated on the ground nearby, his phone ready to record.“If you’re watching this video,” Khalid said, “it means that I’ve been arrested.”It was September 2020, on a hot, stuffy morning in Delhi. Seven months earlier, in late February, a wave of sectarian violence had ripped through the Indian capital. Amid mass demonstrations against a restrictive citizenship law that targeted Muslims, a mob goaded by a local leader clashed with Muslims in the area. Over the next four days, violence swept through ...

The District’s oldest documents get a new home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:39 GMT

After decades of storing the District’s most historic documents in a building that’s just as old as some of the records inside, the D.C. Archives is headed to a new home.The agency has an impressive collection of documents that go as far back as 1792.“We have Frederick Douglass’s will, we have Alexander Graham Bell’s will,” Lopez Matthews, Jr., the state archivist and public records administrator at the agency, told WTOP. “Duke Ellington’s birth certificate is also here.”But those documents are stored in a retrofitted farmhouse that was built in the late 1800s, and space is limited. Some historic records are still housed at the National Archives, Matthews said.“We have maybe three spaces for research,” he said. “Documents need to be stored at a lower temperature, 65 degrees or lower. They need dark, cool areas. That is something that our new building will do better than this building.”The city is moving ahead on a new $104 million arch...

Muestran nuevas fotos de Kim Jong Un recorriendo fábricas de armas y disparando

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:39 GMT

(CNN) — El líder norcoreano, Kim Jong Un, recorre fábricas de armas, inspecciona plantas de artillería e incluso dispara un arma en fotografías recientemente publicadas que parecen ofrecer una visión excepcional de las instalaciones de armas del estado secreto.La agencia de noticias estatal norcoreana KCNA, que publicó las fotos este sábado, dijo que las imágenes mostraban a Kim recorriendo una planta de producción de un “complejo de artillería de gran calibre” y brindando “orientación en el lugar” a los trabajadores en una instalación de “misiles de crucero estratégicos y aviones de ataque no tripulados”.También dijo que Kim dio “instrucciones importantes” con respecto al “desarrollo de capacidades para la producción en serie de nuevas municiones”.Las visitas tuvieron lugar el jueves, viernes y sábado, dijo la agencia de noticias.Kim Jong Un pide a Corea del Norte ampliar formas “prácticas y ofensivas” de disuasión bélicaEl líder norcoreano...

Heat Advisory Issued For All of South Florida Sunday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:39 GMT

After the relentless streak of Heat Advisories across South Florida back in July, they have become less frequent over the past week or two. This Sunday, however, it has returned to Miami-Dade, Broward and the Florida Keys from 10AM through 7PM today for feels-like temperatures up to 110F across the mainland and up to 112F in the Keys.Our forecast will feature more sunshine and fewer storms today with mostly dry and sunny conditions forecast for the morning, then scattered storms will develop this afternoon with the best chance for seeing rain being across our inland and northern locations and after 3PM.High temperatures this Sunday will be slightly warmer into the mid 90s for most spots, and these above average temperatures will remain right in this range all week long courtesy of a high pressure in control providing a warm and humid, southeasterly breeze.Given this onshore wind flow returning starting tomorrow and generally lasting all of this week, rain chances will shift toward t...

Leak detected in Druzhba oil pipeline, Polish operator says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:00:39 GMT

Poland late Saturday halted shipping oil through part of the Druzhba pipeline, which carries oil from Russia to Europe, after a leak was detected, Polish pipeline operator PERN said.The incident comes amid heightened concerns about the security of Europe’s energy infrastructure after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year and following attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines that run from Russia to Europe.The leak was detected in the municipality of Chodecz in central Poland on “one of the two lines of the western section through which oil reaches Germany,” PERN said in a statement. The damaged line was “immediately shut down,” it said. The second line is operating without any changes and the incident does not pose a threat to the health of local residents, according to the statement. Supply to Polish refineries is not impacted, PERN said, adding on social media that it is in contact with German partners who receive oil through the pipeline. Germany st...