The district, funded by assessments charged to property owners, pays for street cleaners and safety ambassadors.

The nonprofit Saint Paul Downtown Alliance wants to expand its privately funded Downtown Improvement District into the Lowertown neighborhood, a move that would double the group's budget needs for street cleaners, safety ambassadors and other services aimed at shoring up the capital city's hub.

The existing district, which launched in 2021, would stretch to cover all of downtown, from the Xcel Energy Center to CHS Field. Thanks to a law passed by the Legislature last year, residential property owners would also start getting assessed for the services.

It's been an exciting spring at Union Depot in Saint Paul. Choo Choo Bob's opened in early May, then Amtrak's Borealis line debuted a few weeks later. Now the owners of the historic Lake Elmo Inn have announced that they will open a restaurant at the rail station in mid-July. The news came Tuesday after Ramsey County approved the lease.

Owners John and Christine Schiltz envision the restaurant, called 1881 by Lake Elmo, to be a place that merges "the charm of a storied past with modern culinary flair, drawing visitors, passengers and locals." (1881 is the year the original Union Depot and the Lake Elmo Inn opened.)

"We want to offer an experience that generations can cherish," Schiltz said in a statement, "just as my own childhood memories of taking the train from Union Depot have stayed with me."

Director Christopher Ashley earned a Tony nomination for this production, and it's easy to see why.

Who would think that the most uplifting, life-affirming piece of musical theater to have emerged from Broadway in the last decade would be about Sept. 11, 2001? But bless the Canadian theater-creating couple of Irene Sankoff and David Hein for finding a silver lining in this very dark cloud.

The U.S. government responded to the events of Sept. 11 by immediately closing American air space. This meant that 38 inbound international flights that were already in the air were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland, near the easternmost point of North America. Overnight, a town of 9,000 almost doubled in population, hosting passengers from around the world for five days.

Dayna Martinez handled the emergency situation calmly, especially as first-year executive director of the 26th Twin Cities Jazz Festival.

Master violinist Regina Carter had to cancel because of a repetitive stress injury just four weeks before the festival, set for June 21-22.

Martinez, a former longtime executive at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts, knew what to do. In a recent interview, she explained her moves as well as other things about the $500,000, free-admission festival featuring more than 80 acts in various venues.