Star Tribune
Will Minnesota’s long-blue Iron Range turn red in November?
“You could have helped us last year, you chose not to,” Skraba said.
Skraba was once a Democrat, like many who live in his district and on the Iron Range. But times have changed, he said.
“I think a lot of the Iron Range people are waking up going, ‘I identify more with the other side now,’” Skraba said. “For me, the Democrats were doing things that weren’t germane to rural Minnesota anymore. They were getting more metro, and rural Minnesotans are like, ‘Hey, what about us?’”
Droba said he still believes the district can swing either way. If it’s truly become more conservative, he said a higher-turnout presidential election will show it.
“I really believe that if the winds of change are turning and we are becoming more conservative, this will be the election that really shows that because it is the first presidential year after the redistricting,” Droba said.
“Reaching 100,000 passengers in less than six months is a testament to the good things that can happen when we provide a service that is needed,” said MnDOT Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger. “We are very excited to reach this milestone and look forward to strengthening our partnerships with communities, as well as federal, state and local governments, and Amtrak to continue providing a safe, reliable, and sustainable transportation option.”
“Both are discovering who they are,” said stage manager and Armstrong senior Katie Spickelmier. The play reflects the “struggle of growing up in a society you don’t really fit into.”
Cast members are challenged with embodying beloved iconic characters while creating their own personal versions of them — while speaking their lines in British accents.
“Trying to put yourself in a whole different dialect is definitely a fun challenge for all of us — and trying to keep it appropriate and not silly,” Smallacombe said.
And then, of course, as with everything Harry Potter-related, there’s all the magic the production’s tech team has had to figure out how to depict without the benefit of Hollywood’s computer-generated special effects. They include the machinations of the time machine, a character shooting out of a fireplace, characters flying above the stage.
Lovitt and other staffers traveled to New York to see how Broadway pulled it off. It debuted there in 2018 as a five-hour play performed in two parts (and remains that length in the London production). It was later edited to a one-part version at three and a half hours, and in November will be presented on Broadway in under three hours (which is the version playing in Chicago). The high school version is even shorter, closer to two hours.
Actors from “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” rehearse a scene at Armstrong High School in Plymouth. The 40-scene play has a cast of more than 30 students. (Renée Jones Schneider)
Of course, Broadway, like Hogwarts, has access to magical elements not generally available to Midwestern high schools. For example, she said, there was a whole swimming pool directly under the stage, which cast members reached via a tunnel, wearing scuba gear and emerging soaking wet.
A St. Paul woman faces a felony charge for allegedly stealing a sheep from a local farm in Bloomington, according to court documents.
Mandy Kay Bower, 42, was arrested at Old Shakopee Road E. in Bloomington Saturday evening after officers saw her and a male walking with a dog and a sheep on a leash.
According to police, Bower told officers that she purchased the sheep for $200. However, one of the officers noticed burs, a prickly plant found in fields, all over Bower and the sheep.
The male with Bower told officers she stepped over the fence of a farm, put a leash on one of the sheep and pulled it through the fence, according to the charging document. Bower pulled so hard that the sheep was choking, the male told officers, according to the document.
The officers eventually spoke to an employee and owner of the nearby farm and confirmed that the sheep, a breeding hair ram worth approximately $500, had not been sold to Bower, according to court documents.
Bower is charged with rustling and livestock theft. In a booking photo, Bower appears to have a tattoo of a sheep covering her left cheek.
