Insight ::: 05.22.2023

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announces the $60.5 million settlement with Juul over marketing vaping to youth in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday, May 17, 2023. Attorney General Ellison said Wednesday that it works out to two to four times more per-capita than any other state that sued Juul over youth vaping and marketing practices. The state’s lawsuit was the first and still the only one of thousands of cases nationwide against the e-cigarette maker to reach trial.

$60.5M settlement with Juul, Altria $60.5M settlement with Juul, Altria

By Steve Karnowski Associated Press

Minnesota settled its lawsuit against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs and tobacco giant Altria for $60.5 million, Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Wednesday, saying the total is significantly higher per capita than any other state that sued Juul over youth vaping and marketing practices.

The state’s lawsuit was the first and still the only one of thousands of cases nationwide against the e-cigarette maker to reach trial. It settled just ahead of closing arguments last month, but the terms had to be kept confidential for 30 days until the formal papers were filed publicly with the court. Ellison said Minnesota got the big settlement precisely because the state took Juul to trial. He said the sum exceeds what Juul made in Minnesota from 2015 to 2021.

“We were the only state willing to take this battle to trial and hold the bad actors accountable. It sends a message that you cannot get away with this,” Ellison said at a news conference with Gov. Tim Walz. “We will put you in front of a Minnesota jury and you can take your chances.”

Most of the other cases have settled, including dozens with other states and U.S. territories. The largest settlement came last month when it was announced that Juul Labs will pay $462 million to six states and the District of Columbia to settle lawsuits related to its marketing tactics. As part of that deal, Juul pledged not to market its products to anyone under the age of 35 and to limit the amount customers can purchase in retail stores and online.

Ellison said ahead of the state’s trial that he was seeking more than $100 million in damages. His spokesperson, John Stiles, told reporters Wednesday that if Minnesota had settled on the same terms as

the six states and the District of Columbia, it would have gotten about $30 million, or as little as $15 million if it had accepted the terms most other states did.

Not only will Juul and Altria pay $60.5 million, Ellison said, they’ll pay more a third of it within 30 days and more than 60% within a year. The state will get about $43 million after litigation costs and attorney’s fees. Legislation is pending to dedicate the money to tobacco prevention.

In addition to the internal company documents Juul has disclosed in other

cases nationwide against the e-cigarette maker to reach trial.

settlements, Minnesota will also get documents specific to the state for a total of 10 million documents that researchers and journalists can pore through, Ellison said. “We’re going to have a lot of sunlight,” he said. And unlike the other settlements, he said, Altria will disclose its internal documents on its involvement with Juul. The settlement specifically prohibits Juul from marketing to children and young adults in Minnesota, he said, and requires the company to accurately disclose the nicotine content of its products.

Juul declined to say anything about the details of the settlement and stood by a statement it issued when the agreement was announced. “We have now settled with 48 states and territories, providing over $1 billion to participating states to further combat underage use and develop cessation programs,” the statement said. “This is in addition to our global resolution of the U.S. private litigation that covers more than 5,000 cases brought by approximately 10,000 plaintiffs.” Attorneys for

Minnesota argued during the case that Juul unlawfully targeted young people with vaping products to get a new generation addicted to nicotine.

Juul attorneys countered that its purpose was to convert adult smokers of combustible cigarettes to a less-dangerous product — not to lure kids.

Minnesota, which won a landmark $7.1 billion settlement with the tobacco industry in 1998, filed its lawsuit in 2019 and added Altria, which formerly owned a minority stake in Juul, as a co-defendant in 2020.

Altria completed its divestiture

in March and said it effectively lost its $12.8 billion investment.

Washington, D.C.based Juul Labs launched in 2015 on the popularity of flavors like mango, mint, fruit medley and creme brulee. Teenagers fueled its rise, and some became addicted to Juul’s high-nicotine pods. Amid a backlash, the company dropped all U.S. advertising and discontinued most of its flavors in 2019, losing popularity with teens. Juul’s share of the now multibillion-dollar market has fallen to about 33% from a high of 75% in 2018.

photo/Richard Tsong-Taatarii

Attorney General Keith Ellison gives a high five to Katy Johnson, who was once addicted to vaping in St. Paul, Minn., on Wednesday, May 17, 2023. innesota says it settled its lawsuit against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs and tobacco giant Altria for $60.5 million. The state’s lawsuit was the first and still the only one of thousands of

photo/Richard Tsong-Taatarii

When entrepreneurs

Lucas Giambelluca President, Bank of America Twin Cities

Man who witnessed George Floyd murder by police suing Minneapolis over of ficers’ actions

By Lisa Baumann Associated Press

One of the most vocal bystanders as a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd three years ago is suing the city, alleging he was assaulted and suffered emotional distress as he witnessed the handcuffed Black man beg for his life, go limp and stop breathing.

Donald Williams of Minneapolis filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court.

While now ex-officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck on May 25, 2020, he threatened Williams and other bystanders with a can of mace, shaking it at them after Williams expressed concern for Floyd, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also alleges that Chauvin and another now-former officer, Tou Thao, taunted Floyd, Williams and other bystanders who expressed

concern and that Thao placed his hand on Williams’ chest. Williams took those actions as threats and, the lawsuit says, he was fearful for his safety and the safety of the other witnesses.

The lawsuit says Williams is seeking more than $50,000 for each count, a standard dollar amount that must be listed in Minnesota if a plaintiff intends to seek anything above that figure. He alleges one count of assault, one count of intentional infliction of emotional distress and one count of negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Because of the officers’ conduct, William has endured emotional distress, pain, suffering, humiliation, embarrassment and medical expenses, according to the lawsuit.

A city spokesperson told The Associated Press in an email Wednesday that the City Attorney’s Office does not have a comment.

Chauvin was convicted of state murder and manslaughter charges in Floyd’s death and was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison.

Chauvin also pleaded guilty to a separate federal charge of violating Floyd’s civil rights and was sentenced to 21 years on that count. He is serving the sentences concurrently at a federal prison in Arizona.

Thao was recently convicted of aiding and abetting manslaughter and is awaiting sentencing on that count. He has also been convicted of violating Floyd’s civil rights and received a 3 1/2-year federal sentence.

Floyd, a Black man, died May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, pinned him to the ground with his knee on Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes as he pleaded for air. The killing, captured on bystander video, touched off protests around the world and prompted a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.

Williams, a former wrestler and a mixed martial arts fighter who also worked security, testified during Chauvin’s trial. He said Chauvin appeared to increase the pressure on Floyd’s neck with a shimmying motion and in response he had yelled at Chauvin that he was cutting off Floyd’s blood supply. Williams was asked during the trial if he grew angrier as the arrest continued, and he agreed that he did. He also didn’t disagree when a lawyer for Chauvin said Williams also called Chauvin names multiple times including “tough guy” and a “bum.” Thao stepped toward Williams and touched him as a result of Williams’ expressing concern for Floyd’s safety, the lawsuit says. Thao was facing the bystanders and admonishing them to stay on the sidewalk, and then moved toward Williams when he appeared to step off a curb, according to trial testimony.

Negotiators finalize details of bill to legalize recreational marijuana

in Minnesota

By Steve Karnowski Associated Press

House and Senate negotiators wrapped up work Tuesday on the details of a bill to legalize recreational marijuana for adults in Minnesota, setting the stage for final votes in the closing days of the legislative session.

It will still take staffers a day or two to prepare the final bill language, the Democratic chairs of the cannabis conference committee, Rep. Zack Stephenson, of Coon Rapids, and Sen. Lindsey Port, of Burnsville, said as they closed out their final meeting. The bill can then go to the House and Senate floors, where final approval is expected.

“It has been an incredible journey,” Stephenson said, recalling the more than 30 committee hearings held between the both chambers this year to get the bill into

its final shape. “Minnesota will be better because of it.” Conference committees are finishing work on the major budget bills of the 2023 session this week as the adjournment deadline of Monday approaches.

House Democratic leaders hope to finish earlier, but much work lies ahead, and Republicans who feel shut out of the process have expressed their anger by forcing lengthy debates. The tax bill remained under construction Tuesday, and Republicans are still upset that a sales tax exemption for baby products that passed both houses with bipartisan support was dropped in conference committee over the weekend.

Democratic Gov. Tim Walz plans to sign the cannabis bill. While marijuana use at home, and home possession and home growing, would become legal Aug 1, retail sales at dispensaries are probably at least a year away.

The final version includes a 10% tax on cannabis products on top of existing sales taxes, and possession limits for cannabis flower of two pounds at home and two ounces in public. Other possession caps include 800 milligrams of THC in gummies and other edibles, and eight grams of cannabis concentrate. Minnesotans who’ve

Raiyon Hunter named CTC Casting Director

Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) named Raiyon Hunter, currently the Associate Casting Director for Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, to CTC’s Casting Director. She will join CTC on May 22. “We are thrilled to welcome Raiyon Hunter to Children’s Theatre Company as our new Casting Director,” said CTC Artistic Director Peter C. Brosius. “Raiyon brings tremendous energy, insight and commitment to this position and is a truly remarkable young leader. She has extensive experience from her time as Associate Casting Director at the Alliance Theatre, and from her casting work at St. Louis Repertory Theatre. We know she will be an incredible asset to this theatre and to our entire community.”

“I am excited to support CTC’s pursuits to open access, and craft opportunities to recruit young artists who are passionate, imaginative contributors to this field,” said Hunter. “I look forward to engagement that will allow me to expand and deepen my work in casting.”

Raiyon Hunter is an actress, director, producer, and arts administrator from New Orleans, Louisiana. She currently works in the Artistic department of the Alliance Theatre (Atlanta, GA) as a Spelman Leadership Fellow and has worked on a multitude

of shows in varying capacities ranging from Casting Associate to Director on productions such as Do You Love the Dark Darlin Cory Bina’s Six Apples Good Bad People Confederates, and more. The Alliance’s Spelman Leadership Fellowship is a field-leading career development program designed to give participants experience in artistic or executive leadership in the notfor-profit cultural sector and is tailored to support the interests of the recipient. Additionally, she has been in residency at Oregon Shakespeare Festival under Nataki Garrett and The Repertory Theater of St. Louis, where she worked in casting and as an assistant director under Hana Sharif. She is a proud graduate of Spelman College.

been convicted of misdemeanor or petty misdemeanor possession will get their records automatically expunged.

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension estimates it will take until August of next year to process all the automatic expungements. Those convicted of sales or other more serious but

Chuck Hobbs

Ja Morant is in danger…

So, I was in 4th grade at FAMU High School (K-12) the first time that my mother mentioned that back when she was a 10th grade student at the same institution, that one of her good girlfriends, out on a double date at the segregated drive-in movie theater on Tallahassee’s Southside, accidentally shot herself to death while playing around with a firearm that her date had in his car’s glove compartment for protection.

Five years later, when I was a 9th grader, a friend of mine who attended our rival school, Rickards High, was accidentally shot and killed by his best friend, a then ninth grade student at Lincoln High who would later become one of my good friends when he transferred to FAMU High prior to our 10th grade year.

Backtracking to elementary school, when my family moved to Tallahassee I soon learned that my maternal male relatives in North Florida were all avid hunters, and I was still in the single digits age wise the first time I joined them on the hunt along with my father,

an active duty military officer who spent ample time training me on firearms safety and maintenance before allowing me to join the elders while carrying his .22 rifle. I still remember the first time that I saw what those shotguns and rifles could do to animal flesh in the woods and even as a boy, I was alert enough to understand that the same could happen to human flesh upon being shot. Now, while I am not the type of person that you will ever see boasting about what weapons I own or how many deer, rabbits, or squirrels I’ve bagged during my lifetime, suffice it to say that I do believe in the right to bear arms per the Second Amendment of the Constitution. And though I am at odds with some Second Amendment enthusiasts due to my belief that certain weapons, like AR-15’s, should be heavily regulated, I still believe that responsible Americans should be able to protect themselves with firearms.

My thoughts on this matter inform my opinion about NBA superstar Ja Morant, the sublimely talented point guard who can’t seem to help brandishing firearms and on at least one occasion, supposedly pointing his weapon at a 17year old kid following a pickup basketball game dispute at his home. Lest we forget that Morant has faced allegations that he carried his weapon onto

FILE - In this image from video, witness Donald Williams answers questions, March 29, 2021, at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis during the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin in connection with the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd. Williams, who watched as Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, killing him, sued the city on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, alleging he suffered emotional distress and was assaulted.

Insight 2 Health

Study reveals staggering toll of Being Black in America: 1.6M excess deaths over 22 years

By Liz Szabo

Research has long shown that Black people live sicker lives and die younger than white people.

Now a new study, published Tuesday in JAMA, casts the nation’s racial inequities in stark relief, finding that the higher mortality rate among Black Americans resulted in 1.63 million excess deaths relative to white Americans over more than two decades.

Because so many Black people die young — with many years of life ahead of them — their higher mortality rate from 1999 to 2020 resulted in a cumulative loss of more than 80 million years of life compared with the white population, the study showed.

Although the nation made progress in closing the gap between white and Black mortality rates from 1999 to 2011, that advance stalled from 2011 to 2019. In 2020, the enormous number of deaths from covid-19 — which hit Black Americans particularly hard — erased two decades of progress.

Authors of the study describe it as a call to action to improve the health of Black Americans, whose early deaths are fueled by higher rates of heart disease, cancer, and infant mortality.

“The study is hugely important for about 1.63 million reasons,” said Herman Taylor, an author of the study and director of the cardiovascular research institute at the

Hunter

From 3 From

CTC’s 2023-2024 Season of seven productions features two world premieres, Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine

Morehouse School of Medicine.

“Real lives are being lost. Real families are missing parents and grandparents,” Taylor said. “Babies and their mothers are dying. We have been screaming this message for decades.”

High mortality rates among Black people have less to do with genetics than with the country’s long history of discrimination, which has undermined educational, housing, and job opportunities for generations of Black people, said Clyde Yancy, an author of the study and chief of cardiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

Black neighborhoods that were redlined in the 1930s — designated too “high risk” for mortgages and other investments — remain poorer and sicker today, Yancy said. Formerly redlined ZIP codes also had higher rates of covid infection and death. “It’s very clear that we have an uneven distribution of health,” Yancy said. “We’re talking about the freedom to be healthy.”

A companion study estimates that racial and ethnic inequities cost the U.S. at least $421 billion in 2018, based on medical expenses, lost productivity, and premature death.

In 2021, non-Hispanic white Americans had a life expectancy at birth of 76 years, while non-Hispanic Black Americans could expect to live only to 71. Much of that disparity is explained by the fact that nonHispanic Black newborns are

Dress and Babble Lab, the international sensation Cookin’ from South Korea, the only Minnesota stop of the national tour of The Carp Who Would Not Quit and Other Animal Stories from Honolulu Theatre for Youth, the return of last year’s sold out production of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole

2½ times as likely to die before their 1st birthdays as nonHispanic whites. Non-Hispanic Black mothers are more than 3 times as likely as non-Hispanic white mothers to die from a pregnancy-related complication. (Hispanic people can be of any race or combination of races.)

Racial disparities in health are so entrenched that even education and wealth don’t fully erase them, said Tonia Branche, a neonatal-perinatal medicine fellow at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago who was not involved in the JAMA study.

Black women with a college degree are more likely to die from pregnancy complications than white women without a high school diploma. Although researchers can’t fully explain this disparity, Branche said it’s possible that stress, including from systemic racism, takes a greater toll on the health of Black mothers than previously recognized.

Death creates ripples of grief throughout communities. Research has found that every death leaves an average of nine people in mourning.

Black people shoulder a great burden of grief, which can undermine their mental and physical health, said Khaliah Johnson, chief of pediatric palliative care at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Given the high mortality rates throughout the life span, Black people are more likely than white people to be grieving the death of a close family member at any point in their lives.

“We as Black people

Christmas!, the 3-time Tony Award®-nominated musical A Year With Frog and Toad, and the wildly inventive Alice in Wonderland

Full season subscriptions and renewals for the 2023-2024 Season are now on sale and can be purchased online at https://

all have some legacy of unjust, unwarranted loss and death that compounds with each new loss,” said Johnson, who was not involved with the new study. “It affects not only how we move through the world, but how we live in relationship with others and how we endure future losses.”

Johnson’s parents lost two sons — one who died a few days after birth and another who died as a toddler.

In an essay published last year, Johnson recalled, “My parents asked themselves on numerous occasions, ‘Would the outcomes for our sons have been different, might they have received different care and lived, had they not been Black?’”

Johnson said she hopes the new study gives people greater understanding of all that’s lost when Black people die prematurely. “When we lose these lives young, when we lose that potential, that has an impact on all of society,” she said.

And in the Black community, “our pain is real and deep and profound, and it deserves attention and validation,” Johnson said. “It often feels like people just pass it over, telling you to stop complaining. But the expectation can’t be that we just endure these things and bounce back.”

Teleah Scott-Moore said she struggles with the death of her 16-year-old son, Timothy, an athlete who hoped to attend

childrenstheatre.org/shows-andtickets/subscribe-and-save/ or by calling the ticket office at 612.874.0400.

Currently, the World Premiere of An American Tail the Musical is playing at CTC’s UnitedHealth Group Stage thru June 18, 2023. Tickets may be purchase online at childrenstheatre.org/ AmericanTail or by calling the ticket office at 612.874.0400. Ticket prices start at $15.

Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) is the nation’s largest and most acclaimed theatre

Marijuana

From 3

nonviolent marijuana offenses that will no longer be crimes, or will become lesser offenses,

Although the nation made progress in closing the gap between white and Black mortality rates from 1999 to 2011, that advance stalled from 2011 to 2019. In 2020, the enormous number of deaths from covid-19 — which hit Black Americans particularly hard — erased two decades of progress.

Boston College and study sports medicine. He died of sudden cardiac arrest in 2011, a rare condition that kills about 100 young athletes a year. Research shows that an underlying heart condition that can lead to sudden cardiac death, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, often goes unrecognized in Black patients.

Scott-Moore still wonders if she should have recognized warning signs. She also has blamed herself for failing to protect her two younger sons, who found Timothy’s body after he collapsed.

At times, Scott-Moore said, she wanted to give up.

Instead, she said, the family created a foundation to

for young people and serves a multigenerational audience. It creates theatre experiences that educate, challenge, and inspire for more than 250,000 people annually. CTC is the only theatre focused on young audiences to win the coveted Tony Award® for regional theatre and is the only theatre in Minnesota to receive three Tony® nominations (for its production of A Year with Frog and Toad). CTC is committed to creating world-class productions at the highest level and to developing new works, more than 200 to date, dramatically

will be able to apply to a special board to get their records cleared or sentences reduced.

Local governments got more authority in the negotiations to limit the numbers of dispensaries and keep them away from schools, but not to ban them altogether.

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promote education and health screenings to prevent such deaths. She hears from families all over the world, and supporting them has helped heal her pain. “My grief comes back in waves, it comes back when I least expect it,” said ScottMoore, of Baltimore County, Maryland. “Life goes on, but it’s a pain that never goes away.” KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

changing the canon of work for young audiences. CTC’s engagement and learning programs annually serve more than 93,000 young people and their communities through Theatre Arts Training, student matinees, Neighborhood Bridges, and early childhood arts education programs. ACT One is CTC’s comprehensive platform for access, diversity, and inclusion in our audiences, programs, staff, and board that strives to ensure the theatre is a home for all people, all families, reflective of our community. childrenstheatre.org

Now on its way to Walz for his signature is the final version of a wide-ranging public safety budget bill that includes two high-profile gun control measures. One is a “red flag law” that would allow authorities to ask courts for “extreme risk protection orders” to temporarily take guns away from people deemed to be an imminent threat to others or themselves. The other would expand background checks for gun transfers. Gun rights groups are already threatening legal challenges.

The House approved it 69-63 early Tuesday, but the more important test came in the Senate, where the one-seat Democratic majority held together on 34-33 vote late Friday, Other provisions in the bill include a pathway for convicted adult felons to shave time off their sentences as an incentive for them to complete individualized rehabilitation plans in prison. Inmates in Minnesota normally serve two-thirds of their sentences in prison and one-third on parole. Those who qualify, such as by taking job training or substance abuse treatment, could cut their prison time to about half.

Convicts sentenced to life won’t be eligible. Republicans denounced the program as a “get out of jail free card.”

The bill also includes new juvenile justice initiatives with an added emphasis on rehabilitation, early intervention and restorative justice.

Walz went to St. Paul’s drinking water plant on Tuesday to sign a bill to provide $240 million in grants to remove and replace lead pipes across the state. The Minnesota Department of Health estimates that there are still about 100,000 water service lines across the state that leach lead into drinking water. This story has been corrected to show that Sen. Lindsey Port is from Burnsville.

photo/SDI Productions

Commentary

Donald Trump will beat the brakes off Ron DeSantis in the GOP Primary

Hobb servation Point

By Chuck Hobbs

I am willing to bet that come January 20, 2025, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will not be inaugurated as President of the United States!

If you’re wondering, “Hobbs, what makes you so certain,” please consider:

1. The man is unlikeable.

Ron DeSantis has a perpetual scowl on his face that comically looks an awful lot like Italy’s Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini, so much so that on the occasions that he does smile, it seems forced and fake.

That, and the condescending manner that DeSantis speaks to citizens in public and from what I’ve been told by one source who worked directly for him, also in private, will be a problem for him in national politics. Lest we forget that while it may seem simplistic, people still vote in droves for candidates that they “like”—not ones who come off

Morant

From 3

the team plane, which runs contrary to FAA and NBA rules and this past weekend, showed extremely poor judgment during an irresponsible moment of dancing with a firearm on a video that has since gone viral. We all know that Morant, 23, is a $200 million dollar man, one whose skills could earn him billions of dollars on the court and via endorsements if he doesn’t throw it all away. But that’s just

as jerks. (See Richard Nixon vs. Jack Kennedy circa 1960, and Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump 2016, for reference).

2. The man will face a machine: Donald Trump. I have never hidden my distaste for Donald Trump’s politics or personality, but I admit that the man has a charisma that’s appealing to his base and those independent voters who share his doom and gloom about an America that’s growing browner, queerer, and less bound to religious litmus tests each day.

DeSantis shares most of Trump’s politics, especially regarding the culture wars, but as I point out in prong one, he will fail and fail miserably against a perpetual showman like Trump.

Remember, despite being a lawyer, DeSantis was handily whipped on substantive issues all across the debate stage by Andrew Gillum during the 2018 debates; Trump won’t even much try to “out-substance” Florida’s governor, but once he starts with the comical nicknames and the low blows against DeSantis, his wife, and maybe even his kids, DeSantis will lose his cool just like every Republican that Trump faced in the 2016 primaries lost their cool at some point or another.

3. The majority of Americans do not share

the point, he is surely at risk of throwing it all away if he can’t figure it out really quickly that there is a time, place, and manner for everything under the sun and when it comes to firearms, he is violating all of the above to his own detriment.

Now, Ja Morant has not been convicted of any felony offenses, thus, he has a right to bear arms the same as any of us. But as my father taught me, and his father before him instructed as well, a firearm is not a toy, and safety is paramount if one is to own a weapon that WILL kill if not handled with the utmost care.

Over the past two days, many critics have raised the issue that Morant is a Black

his vision for the country.

If, by chance, DeSantis does defeat Trump in a GOP primary, which is possible even if I don’t see it as likely, DeSantis’s viciously nasty demeanor and championing of the culture wars will lose independent and moderate Republicans voters in a general election tilt against President Joe Biden.

Yes, I know that at this stage, many of the latest ABC and Washington Post polls show DeSantis with a slim lead over Biden in a general election race, but the spotlight on DeSantis has yet to shine brightly across the country this early in the election season.

When that spotlight does shine, voters

kid that grew up with both parents and wasn’t raised as a “thug,” but is one who surely is embracing the “Thug Life” as an adult. I don’t personally know the young man so I can’t make that judgment, however plausible or likely that such opinions are factual.

What I do know from personal experience is that Memphis is a beautiful city—but just like any major metropolitan area, it has its share of rough areas where one would be wise to pack heat for protection, or, exercise the wisdom that so many young men Morant’s age seem to lack—which is to stay away from completely!

What Ja Morant and

will learn more about:

*How DeSantis’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill has led to a war with Florida’s largest private employer, Walt Disney World, and led to the homophobic governor and his top lawyers being outwitted, outclassed, and soundly defeated at every step of the way by the House of the Mouse. What’s worse is that for a party that touts itself as “probusiness” and “anti-Fascist,” DeSantis has proven to be just the opposite on both points.

*Voters will learn all about how DeSantis championed a bill to criminalize peaceful protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder; they will realize that DeSantis recently called Daniel Penny, the Marine who choked a mentally ill Black man

millions of other young men his age don’t realize is that there are lifelong consequences to playing around or intentionally using a firearm to kill another human being. Long ago in jails and courtrooms across the South, I learned what they don’t show in movies like Menace II Society or Boyz ‹N the Hood, which is that many of the hardest gang bangers cry REAL tears— I’m talking snot coming out their noses with loud wails and screams for their mommas— when they realize that they are facing life without parole or the executioner’s chamber after pulling those triggers and ending another person’s life. And for those who kill

named Jordan Neely to death on a New York subway, “a good Samaritan.”

When the spotlight shines, voters will learn all about DeSantis’s drive to ban books that teach real truths about America’s racist past, while he subsequently pushed to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts in Florida’s public schools; they will learn all about DeSantis’s harassment of the LGBTQ community through the legislative process; they will realize that DeSantis has pushed for the most restrictive abortion deadline in the country, six weeks, which is much more draconian than other GOP led states.

My opinions about DeSantis’s Oval Office impossible dreams are only strengthened by two losses that the soon to be presidential candidate took this week, the first being Democrat Donna Deegan winning the Jacksonville mayoral race last night over Republican Daniel Davis, a man that DeSantis endorsed for office.

Separately, up in Kentucky, DeSantis backed Kelly Craft in the Republican gubernatorial primary—but she was trounced by Daniel Cameron, the Black MAGA Republican that Donald

by accident, while they may not go to prison for life, they spend the rest of their lives haunted by the sound of their firearm expelling a projectile into the flesh of a friend or family member who exists no more due to their reckless mistake.

Again, I don’t know

Ja Morant and can’t tell whether he is a reckless 23-year old manchild who, like every man who was once a 23-year old, is still prone to do dumb stuff or whether he really and truly just wants to be a gangsta?

I don’t know…

But what I do know is that if Morant isn’t careful, that there is nothing that the NBA, the Memphis Grizzlies,

Trump endorsed, 47 to 17 percent! Trump wasted no time deriding DeSantis, noting on his dubiously named Truth Social network that “Ron’s (endorsement) magic is gone!” While DeSantis has every right under the sun to run for the presidency, the facts lead me to submit that the only way that he wins the Republican Primary is if Donald Trump is convicted and sentenced to some form of detention or probation that would infringe upon his ability to serve if elected. And while that’s a blog for another time—my lingering doubts that Trump will ever serve any prison time—suffice it to say that it makes little sense for DeSantis to jump up to get beat down by his far better financed, and far more experienced political mentor who just loves to wallow in the mud and tempt temperamental types like Florida’s Mussolini 2.0 governor. Stay tuned… Hobbservation Point is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Chuck Hobbs is a freelance journalist who won the 2010 Florida Bar Media Award and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

his family, or his friends will be able to do to help him if he accidentally shoots someone (or himself). Or, more ominously, if he should find himself facing off with the real boys from the hood who will pull his card to see if he is really about that gunplay life. My prayers are with him… Hobbservation Point is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Chuck Hobbs is a freelance journalist who won the 2010 Florida Bar Media Award and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

Donald Trump and Ron DeSanti

CTC will stage two world premieres; an international sensation; a Holiday smash hit; and a 3-Time Tony Award®-nominated musical

Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) said it’s 2023-2024 Season features seven productions including: two world premieres, Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress and Babble Lab; the international sensation Cookin’ from South Korea; the only Minnesota stop of the national tour of The Carp Who Would Not Quit and Other Animal Stories from Honolulu Theatre for Youth; the return of last year’s sold out production of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!; the 3-time Tony Award®-nominated musical A Year With Frog and Toad; and the wildly inventive Alice in Wonderland CTC Artistic Director Peter C. Brosius is directing three productions in the 2023-2024 Season. It was recently announced that Mr. Brosius has decided to depart CTC on June 30, 2024, at the end of the 2023-2024 Season. His artistic vision has transformed the theatre into the nation’s leading theatre that serves a multigenerational audience.

“We are thrilled to announce this season of imaginative and inventive world premieres, as well as touring productions, that have dazzled audiences across this country and around the world,” said Peter C. Brosius. “In addition we will be bringing you our very own Tony Award®-nominated musical and our wholly original reimagining of a hilarious classic tale, and of course the most beloved holiday show we know. We can’t wait for you to see all of these shows. It is a joy to share brand new works and

productions that have never been to Minnesota and productions we just had to bring back to delight, surprise, and carry you away.”

The season kicks off with knife-juggling, food-flying fun with a production from South Korea! With a crazy deadline looming, the four frenzied chefs of Cookin’ turn their kitchen into a dynamic, veggies-flyingeverywhere performance as Korean samulnori drumming and martial arts take center stage. During this outlandish cooking competition, the chefs put on a masterful display of food chopping, knife throwing, pot banging and fire-blowing wizardry that will make you laugh, scream in delight, and even beg for a chance to sample their food. Get ready to stomp your feet and clap your hands for a show that’s truly Cookin’!

Directed by Seung-Whan Song, Cookin’ comes to CTC from PMC Production Co. and Broadway Asia.

Best for all ages, this production runs September 12-October 22, 2023 on the UnitedHealth Group Stage.

“I can’t wait to meet the audience in Minnesota at a prestigious theatre like Children’s Theatre Company,” said Director Seung-Whan Song. “I hope you will feel the freedom from the unique rhythm of Korea and, through the comedy on stage, also feel the great pleasure of getting away from your daily life.”

Next comes Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress, by juliany taveras, based on the book by Christine Baldacchino

and Isabelle Malenfant, with direction by Heidi Stillman. Morris likes lots of things: doing puzzles, painting pictures, pretending to be an astronaut, and wearing a tangerine dress from his school’s dress-up box because it “reminds him of tigers, the sun, and his mother’s hair.”

But some of his classmates think boys can’t wear dresses because … well, because they’re boys. With his vivid imagination and space-animal friends, Morris travels the galaxy in search of an answer to the allimportant question: “Do astronauts wear dresses?” Running October 10-November 19, 2023 on the Cargill Stage, Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress is recommended for everyone aged 4 and up.

“It’s been an absolute delight to get to write this play,” said playwright juliany taveras.

“Diving into the expansive, resilient imagination of Morris Micklewhite has nourished me in a way I hope our audiences will experience too, because this story is a salve. Amidst the (often fear-fueled) rules and binaries of the world around us, Morris reminds us of the power of authentic, loving self-expression— even (or at times, especially) when it ruffles the feathers of the status quo.

CTC has been such a wonderful dream-maker and co-conspirator, and I’m thrilled that this tale we love so much will soon premiere on their stage!”

He’s back by popular demand! CTC’s smash-hit crowdpleaser Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! returns for the

holiday season. Featuring a book and lyrics by Timothy Mason and music by Mel Marvin, the production will once again be directed by CTC’s Artistic Director Peter C. Brosius with choreography by Linda Talcott Lee. A miserly and miserable, ever-so-cantankerous Grinch has observed the despicable Christmas joy of the Whos with disdain, from a distance, for decades. Enough! In this beloved holiday favorite, filled with music and Seussian rhymes, he plots the greatest heist imaginable— stealing the very thing they love the most!. Until, that is, the smallest of the Whos, tiny Cindy Lou, extends a hand. Through the combination of kindness and community, we witness not only a change in the course of Who-History, but the size and capacity of the old green guy’s heart. Best for all ages, this musical extravaganza runs November 7, 2023-January 7, 2024 on the UnitedHealth Group Stage. “When composer Mel Marvin and I were writing this musical adaptation of the How the Grinch Stole Christmas nearly 30 years ago, we were aware that we’d been entrusted with the genius of Dr. Seuss and his irrepressible spirit,” said bookwriter & lyricist Timothy Mason. “We wanted the Seuss to shine through. It’s one of the great joys of our lives to know that children who saw the Grinch at Children’s Theater Company all those years ago are now bringing their own kids to see this show, and that for them and many others his spirit does indeed live on right here on this stage.”

Winter magic continues at CTC with The Carp Who Would Not Quit and Other Animal Stories by Reiko Ho and the Honolulu Theatre for Youth (HTY)

Ensemble. Reiko Ho also directs the production. See a heroic carp climb up a waterfall (and so much more) in this energetic retelling of traditional fables from Japan and Okinawa. Through artful puppetry, masks, and three imaginative actors, you’ll also meet a grateful crane, a mouse who shares, and an industrious rabbit who teaches everyone to do the mochi dance! During this invigorating show from Hawaii, live music played on the koto and taiko drum will accompany young audiences as they dance, clap, and sing along. Running January 16-February 18, 2024 on the Cargill Stage, this production is best for everyone aged 4 and up.

“Sharing our cultural stories is one of the most important things I do as Asian American theatre maker,” said creator/director Reiko Ho. “I’m delighted to adapt a few of my own favorite childhood stories for the stage and introduce some of the beautiful performance traditions and aesthetics of Japanese and Okinawan culture to a new generation of young people and families.”

Up next, prepare to take a tumble down the rabbit hole with Alice in Alice in Wonderland and you’ll land in a wonderfully wacky world of rhymes and ridiculousness, checkerboards and cheeky cats, Mad Hatters and mayhem. In this headspinning version of Lewis Carroll’s timeless classic, adapted for the stage by Sharon Holland with music by Victor Zupanc, Alice chases the White Rabbit through the audience, attends the most absurd tea party in history, and faces off with the ragingly red Queen of Hearts, all amidst a melee of teeny tiny songs. Humpty Dumpty on a ladder — what could possibly go wrong?

Curiouser and curiouser. Directed by CTC’s Artistic Director Peter C. Brosius Alice in Wonderland is recommended for everyone aged 6 and up and runs February 13-March 31, 2024 on the UnitedHealth Group Stage.

“Our Alice in Wonderland features an extraordinary scenic and costume design by the remarkable Skip Mercier,” said director Peter C. Brosius. “Skip created a world of illusion, surprise, mystery, and hilarity. We are thrilled to bring this wonderfully quirky and joyfully theatrical production to our stage. It is a magical tale of discovery, of standing your ground and following your curiosity. Alice is a musical and visual feast, a wild journey down the rabbit hole and into incredible new worlds.”

Strap on your safety goggles and clean out your ears!

When an experiment unexpectedly goes awry, a concoction of sneaky, sprightly L E T T E R S takes over a weird and wondrous science lab in

Babble Lab. Watch them jump into jars, spring from drawers, bounce around the room, and even play hide-and-seek as our scientist makes her surprising findings: Bluku terullala blaulala loooo! Rakete bee bee? Rekate bee zee! Enjoy the exploration of spoken blurbbles as they spring forth in this one-ofa-kind, gee-gaw-filled laboratory.

Written by CTC Company Member Autumn Ness and directed by Sarah Agnew, Babble Lab runs March 9-April 14, 2024 on the Cargill Stage. Babble Lab was created with early learners in mind and is best enjoyed by audiences aged 0 to 105!

“I am so excited that with the world premiere of Babble Lab, I get to return to performing for my favorite audience, the pre-schoolers,” said playwright Autumn Ness. “This play is about discovering the power of your own voice, and learning to be fearless in using it. I want every preschooler that sees our show to find their own magical, musical, courageous, EPIC voice!”

Returning for the first time since 2017, the cherished CTC original musical A Year With Frog and Toad will conclude the 20232024 Season. In the only show from Minnesota ever to be nominated for three Tony Awards® (including Best Musical), you’ll meet Frog and Toad: best friends who embark upon a year’s worth of adventures with great merriment, comedic agility, and joyful song-singing. Join them as they go swimming (and boy does Toad ↓look funny in a bathing suit↓), rake leaves until they ↓ache, ache, ache↓, bake ↓cookies, cookies, cookies↓, and send letters via a real live ↓Snail with the Mail↓!

A Year with Frog and Toad is based on Arnold Lobel’s Newbery and Caldecott Honor books, and features music by Robert Reale with lyrics and book by Willie Reale. The 2024 production will be directed by CTC’s

Echo in the Distance

By:

ECHO IN THE DISTANCE

By Shayla Michelle

Every so often I come across a children’s book which combines a story, our history, and the Spoken Word in one package. Echo in the Distance is just such a book, written by Shayla Michelle Reaves and illustrated by Kprecia Ambers.

At least three generations were yet to be born when Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. He had given many inspiring speeches during his lifetime as a “Drum Major for Justice,” but the one most people think of is “I Have a Dream.” As for myself, I was 11 at the time, watching it unfold on television with my parents and my little brother. Reaves gives the reader an entirely different experience of that day. From the Speaker to the Watchers, her words are an energy force that is not only heard, but felt from all the senses. The poem and the images are transcendent, connecting his speech to the present and the

future. She encompasses us in using the intentionality of the metaphorical weather of the times. “The echo in the distance” gives us a powerful portent of what was to come, to those who are the embodiment of King’s Dream.

Performed as a Spoken Word poem when she was a freshman at Northwestern University, I could easily visualize being in the audience, snapping my fingers in response to her recitation from the sheer power of her work.

Those of us in the Twin Cities area know Reaves as the news anchor and reporter for the WCCO -TV midday news. She describes herself as “a creative deep-thinker who loves

to laugh and help others see the best of who they are.” Now we will have the opportunity to experience her gift as a creative writer and poet. Echo in the Distance is scheduled for release on Juneteenth, and it is available for pre-order through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Melanin Origins, and her websites, echointhedistance.com and www.shaylareaves.com. I’m with Dr. Cornel West on this verse in her book: “People are people, not colorcoded crimes.” Thank you, Shayla, for the precious gift of your literary voice to increase the representation of African American authors when it comes to children’s books, and for making a positive difference.

W.D. Foster-Graham Book Review Editor