The title track from the coming album by FKA Twigs, “Eusexua,” isn’t exactly euphoric or sexy. Produced by FKA Twigs, Koreless and Earthearter, the track runs on nervous, hopping 16th-notes and distant chords under FKA Twigs’ whispery soprano before a beat fully kicks in. It’s anxious and tentative at first, wondering about a primal, possibly dangerous, possibly life-changing attraction: “Don’t call it love — eusexua.” Later, as the rhythm revs up, she promises, “You feel alone, you’re not alone.” But the propulsion falls away, leaving her “on the edge of something greater than before,” but dangling.

JON PARELES, New York Times

Suki Waterhouse, “Model, Actress, Whatever”

Stardom, by definition, is one of the rarest occupations. It’s also a wildly disproportionate topic for songwriters to take on. The immensely sly, self-conscious and droopy-voiced English model, actress and songwriter Waterhouse takes up the self-pity of a star in “Model, Actress, Whatever,” the title song of her new EP. It’s a slow-building waltz about what happens after making it big: “All of my dreams came true/The bigger the ocean, the deeper the blue,” she declares. She musters grandiose orchestral production to sum up a feeling of emptiness.

JON PARELES, New York Times

Administrator David Hough told the County Board that much of the rest of the new spending is directed at employee salaries and benefits. The county workforce is expected to remain flat at nearly 10,000 employees.

The proposed capital budget includes $100 million for the Blue Line Light Rail extension. Another $45 million is slated for projects at HCMC, including a new parking ramp that will help make room for the eventual construction of an inpatient hospital tower.

Commissioners will meet with department leaders over the next two months to work on specifics of the 2025 budget before approving it in mid-December.

Ramsey County officials pitched a 4.75% maximum levy increase for 2025, as expected, late last month.

Ramsey County is on a rare biennial budget cycle, meaning it approved its 2025 budget last year, anticipating this year’s 4.75% increase. There’s a caveat, though: Then-County Manager Ryan O’Connor said at the time that cannabis sales tax could lower the 2025 levy. It didn’t, former Interim County Manager Johanna Berg said last month, because the county doesn’t have a sense of what that revenue will look like yet.

The 2025 supplemental budget is $848.5 million and represents a 5% increase from last year. That’s slightly larger than the 2025 budget approved last year, largely because of grants the county accepted to cover therapeutic youth treatment homes and violence prevention services. Property taxes fund about 46% of Ramsey County’s 2025 budget.

Nonprofits — from small food shelves and theaters to massive health care organizations — make up about 14% of Minnesota’s workforce, according to state data. They employ about 370,000 workers, down from a record 391,000 employees in 2019.

Many of those organizations fill gaps in government services, whether it’s mental health help or food assistance, and are part of building the civic fabric of the state, Aanestad said.

“There’s something bigger at stake,” she said. “It impacts all of us.”

Propel Nonprofits in Minneapolis, which helps nonprofits with finances and loans, has seen an uptick in requests for working capital loans to help sustain operating expenses, CEO Henry Jiménez said. It’s essential state government, foundations and donors step up their support of nonprofits, he added.

“Everybody says Minnesota is the Land of 10,000 Lakes — and also 10,000 or so nonprofits,” Jiménez added. “This is what makes Minnesota a beautiful place to live. We should continue to invest in the nonprofit sector.”

In St. Paul, Neighborhood House is serving a record number of people this year at its free food markets and other programs. Food costs and other expenses continue to rise while the number of donations and volunteers lag, CEO Janet Gracia said. The organization will stave off layoffs or program cuts by dipping into its reserves.