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Dean's A-List Interview: Comedian Iliza Shlesinger

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

CHICAGO — After spending some time in New Zealand, a versatile actor, comedian, and author is bringing her show to Chicago at the beginning of September.Iliza Shlesinger is bringing her "Hard Feelings" tour to the city on Friday, September 8 as she performs at the Chicago Theatre. Before the show, she joined Dean Richards over Zoom to talk about the tour & her life at the moment on "Dean's A-List Interview" on Tuesday's WGN Morning News.She talks about why she's stayed in New Zealand recently and what her family enjoys the most about visiting Chicago. You can see Dean's interview with Iliza from the September 5 show in the video above or below.Get Dean's reviews and A-List interviews delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for Dean's Downloads weekly newsletter. You'll also get his Dean Cooks recipes too!

Texas' new patient safety law takes effect, sort of

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

Editor's Note: The above video shows KXAN's top headlines for Sept. 5. Watch Matt Grant's investigation tonight at 10 on KXAN.AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Five months after KXAN took the findings of our investigation into the Texas Medical Board straight to lawmakers, a major new law is now in effect aimed at protecting patients and saving lives. However, patients wanting to research their doctors ahead of time still have to wait another two years to see greater transparency, our ongoing investigation found."The serious issues that were uncovered in your original investigative reporting made it very, very, very clear that patients were at risk," said Dallas medical malpractice attorney Kay Van Wey. "Texas patients will suffer while the Texas Medical Board is taking its sweet time implementing the new law."The new law, which reforms the Texas Medical Board, or TMB, took effect Sept. 1.How we got hereHouse Bill 1998 passed the legislature this past session with overwhelming bipartisan support. It...

Annual dog swim at area pools today

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

BALLWIN, Mo -  Many public pools have closed for the season so on Tuesday, they're going to the dogs. It's the annual dog swim Tuesday at the North Pointe Aquatic Center in Ballwin.The Chesterfield Family Aquatic Center is hosting its annual 'K9 Splash' on Tuesday as well. The Shrewsbury Aquatic Center calls their event 'Drool at The Pool.' Call for Help closure has East St. Louis mothers crying for aid Dogs and their owners are also welcome for one last swim Tuesday at the White Birch Bay Aquatic Center in Hazelwood and the Lodge Outdoor Pool in Des Peres.  

Tickets on sale today for Broadway Series at the Fabulous Fox Theater

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

ST. LOUIS - Single show tickets are now on sale for the 'Broadway Series' at the Fabulous Fox Theater. There are some great shows to choose from this year.The season includes a new show in St. Louis, 'Jagged Little Pill,' a musical inspired by the Alanis Morissette album. Returning favorites include 'Mamma Mia,' 'Tina,' 'MJ,' which is about Michael Jackson, and 'Moulin Rouge.' Chuck E. Cheese giving away free birthday parties Other's include Disney's 'Aladdin, 'Mrs. Doubtfire, and 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.' Tickets are available on Metrotix.com starting at 10:00 a.m.

Mizzou getting electric, autonomous tractor

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

COLUMBIA, MO. - Mizzou is the first university to get its own electric, autonomous tractor.It's thanks to a grant from the Missouri Department of Agriculture. Developers say the tractor symbolizes a leap forward in sustainable agriculture with minimal impacts on the environment. Call for Help closure has East St. Louis mothers crying for aid Mizzou also says it will empower people with disabilities and chronic illnesses to participate in farming through their agriculture program.

Pick your own price: Promoter lets ticket buyers decide what classical music concerts are worth

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

Augustana Arts, one of Denver’s premier classical music presenters, is upending the way it sells tickets to concerts. Starting this season, customers will be able to set their own admission prices for most of the organization’s offerings.The new “pay what you choose” system gives classical fans several options when they go online to purchase tickets. They can opt to pay the recommended price of $25, or get a reduced ticket at $10 or $5 — or decide to pay nothing at all. It’s as simple as clicking the box of choice at checkout.Conductor and pianist Adam Torres leads the Stratus Chamber Orchestra. (Provided by Augustana Arts)All tickets are general admission, so there is no hierarchy guiding who sits where in the venue.Notably, customers seeking tickets for the upcoming season — kicking off with a weekend of concerts starting Sept. 23 — can also select a “pay it forward” option, which allows them to pay more than the suggested price. That provides a convenient way for patr...

MS diagnosis can’t stop First Descents participants from rock climbing in Estes Park

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

When Lauren Sneyd got the opportunity to sign up for a week of rock climbing in Estes Park with folks like her who have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, she was thrilled. She used to climb 20 years ago, long before her MS diagnosis. She recalled how much she loved it, especially rappelling, and jumped at the chance to try it again.There was apprehension, too, though. She asked herself: Can I still do that? Are my feet still going to work? Am I going to have balance? After all, since her MS diagnosis, she has fallen a few times while running. One fall caused a concussion.Still, she eagerly climbed this week with a group program organized by First Descents, a Denver-based non-profit founded in 2001 that provides free outdoor adventures around the country for young adults impacted by MS, cancer and other serious health conditions. She’s glad she didn’t back down from the challenge.“You don’t want to doubt yourself,” Sneyd said Tuesday, taking a brea...

“The Trackers” and other short book reviews from readers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables (or not). Sure, you could read advertising blurbs on Amazon, but wouldn’t you be more likely to believe a neighbor with no skin in the game over a corporation being fed words by publishers? So in this series, we are sharing these mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email [email protected].“The Trackers,” by Charles Frazier (Ecco, 2023)“The Trackers,” by Charles Frazier (Ecco, 2023)Set in the Great Depression, this novel opens with a young artist, Val Welch, traveling to a small town in Wyoming, having been commissioned by the Federal Art Project to paint a mural on the wall of the town’s post office. The mural’s subject is the history of Wyoming and, yes, trackers figure largely in that history. Welch has been invited by the local big-wig rancher (and wannabe politician) to stay in a cabin on...

What to expect from flu, COVID and RSV this year? Virus season could start early in Colorado

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

All signs so far point to a relatively average respiratory virus season in Colorado, but, with three major threats instead of two, that could still cause some strain in the health care system.Last year, the flu season was moderate, and while COVID-19 still caused significant numbers of hospitalizations, it didn’t rival the gigantic waves in the first two winters of the pandemic. Respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, roared back, though, overcrowding children’s hospitals and forcing them to take steps like treating teenagers in adult settings.From October 2022 to May 2023 in Colorado, 8,231 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 and 3,076 were for flu. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment doesn’t collect statewide data on RSV hospitalizations, but tallied 2,597 in the Denver area, the vast majority of them involving children.With COVID-19 in the mix, a typical virus season now is higher-risk than one before the pandemic, said Beth Carlton, associat...

Denver’s toppled civic monuments remain in limbo as the city figures out how to replace them

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:10:56 GMT

Robert Gray tried his best to protect a monument to Christopher Columbus that had watched over Denver’s iconic Civic Center park for a half-century.Just a day earlier, protesters motivated by the May 2020 police murder of George Floyd had spray-painted and then toppled a 111-year-old sculpture of a Civil War soldier in front of the Colorado state capitol on June 25, 2020. So Gray placed plywood boards around the bronze Columbus statue to keep demonstrators from vandalizing it.Robert Gray, founder of the Black Love Mural Festival, poses for a portrait at Civic Center park in Denver on Tuesday, August 29, 2023. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)The boards had been painted with original works by Black artists as part of Gray’s Black Love Mural Festival and he hoped protesters would think twice if they had to smash through a wall of colorful, progressive art before going after the Columbus statue, something they saw as a symbol of oppression.“I wanted to make sure...