Paul McCartney fans have been on a first-name basis with their musical hero for decades, but McCartney himself often seems happy to credit other one-namers. That includes John, George and Ringo, but also Jimi (Hendrix) and Nancy (Shevell, McCartney’s wife of 14 years) — all of whom were praised during a Saturday night concert at Coors Field.

Throughout the triumphant show, the 83-year-old McCartney paid tribute with songs, stories and videos, even performing a virtual duet with footage of John Lennon atop the Apple Corps building in 1969 — a.k.a. the Beatles’ final performance — on “I’ve Got a Feeling.”

McCartney is currently 78 shows into his Got Back Tour, which started in 2022 and winds up next month, and on Saturday, he gave the impression he would happily play 78 more. His weathered voice still carries enormous emotional weight, and his guitar, bass, mandolin, ukulele and piano playing (he rocked them all) shot holes in any argument that he’s not still a passionate, disciplined musician.

His three-hour set delved into a mix of Beatles, Wings and solo songs that will be familiar to anyone who saw him play Ball Arena (then called the Pepsi Center) in 2002, 2005 or 2010. At that last show, McCartney was in typically friendly form, also doling out credit to lost friends and lovers as he tore through tracks such as “Day Tripper” and “Got to Get You Into My Life.”

But set lists change, and while we didn’t get any “Paperback Writer” or “Eleanor Rigby” this time around, we did get “Help!” (the concert’s opening song) and a nearly note-perfect “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” That 1967 song, in particular, felt like a gloriously psychedelic outlier in a show that was mostly safe in its selection, if also deeply sweet and sad at times. McCartney’s coy, gentle butt-slapping (his own, of course), trademark surprised-faces, and other improbably charming, boyish touches blurred the decades and tied it all together.

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Even if you’ve listened to the studio version 1,000 times, hearing McCartney sing “Band on the Run” or “Hey Jude” in concert is a uniquely stirring experience, and the capacity crowd swayed, raised their phone lights and sang along in unison to the 35-song set. A nimble horn trio beefed up hits such as “Getting Better,” which was backed on the screen by an animation of flowers blooming in a post-apocalyptic American landscape.

Clearly, he’s not lost his sense of humor. Nor has he lost his social conscience, as when he recounted playing a Beatles show in Jacksonville, Fla., where a promoter had planned to racially segregate the audience (the Beatles talked him out of it). He spotted — and spoke Japanese to — a man holding a Japanese sign in the crowd. He brought the nasal growl in “Got to Get You Into My Life” and the face-flushing flames of “Live and Let Die.” In other words, he gave it his all from start to finish.

The banter and asides weren’t exactly a therapist-couch view into his brain. But they didn’t need to be. McCartney’s talent and professionalism would be welcome from any musician, of any age. On Saturday, his earnest warmth added poignance to predictable nostalgia, and reminded us that not only was he a musical legend, but a vigorously living one.

Officials with Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota on Tuesday announced a five-year $100-million campaign to expand its social services statewide, the largest such effort in the group’s 160-year history.

Called Empower What’s Possible, the campaign aims to expand the organization’s reach in areas including housing, financial stability, behavioral health, early childhood education and community connections. LLS has already raised nearly $60 million since the campaign’s start in 2023, which includes commitments of more than $1 million from the St. Paul Area Synod, the Otto Bremer Trust and the Sauer Family Foundation.

The organization announced the campaign at the construction kickoff for the Center for Changing Lives — Frogtown-Rondo in St. Paul. Renovations on the building at 709 University Ave. includes expanding the Early Learning Center playground, adding two classrooms, increasing the organization’s transitional housing capacity by 50%, opening a youth resource center and creating a home base for the organization’s street outreach services.

“This project, we started to dream in 2022,” said Alexis Oberdorfer, LSS senior vice president of services, during the announcement event. “In November of 2022 was my first conference call with the team talking about, what services do we see at this location? What do youth need? What can be needs of the community? And how do we pull that together in one centralized location to really think about integrated services and that continuum of care?”

The organization already completed several projects during the campaign’s “quiet phase” during its first two years, Oberdorfer said.

Those include a $3.3 million project razing and rebuilding the emergency shelter LSS Bethany in Duluth and expanding its family services, a $1.5 million project opening a second Early Learning Center in St. Paul’s East Side with extra services, and a $1.4 million project expanding lodging and multipurpose spaces at Camp Knutson at Crosslake.

Frogtown is already home to an Early Learning Center and several other organizational services. The Center for Changing Lives – Frogtown-Rondo will include employment services, financial counseling and education, housing services and behavioral health services, with expanded transitional housing and other resources for youth and young families experiencing homelessness. This will also include accessible housing units.

The center’s second floor will have transitional housing for youth and young families experiencing homelessness and will fully open in late 2026.

“Our goal is to not only sustain critical programming that our neighbors across Minnesota rely on, but to innovate and reimagine how Lutheran Social Service cares for our communities both now and in the future,” said Patrick Thueson, president of LSS of Minnesota, in a statement. “Empower What’s Possible builds on our strengths to tackle challenges and opportunities in new ways to create a brighter future for our neighbors — a future of greater self-sufficiency and achieving bigger dreams.”

LSS has social service efforts in each county in Minnesota. The organization began in 1865 when a Lutheran pastor and his congregation opened an orphanage near Red Wing. According to the LSS one of 63 Minnesotans is assisted by the nonprofit.

To learn more about the campaign, go to empowerwhatspossible.org.

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By MATTHEW LEE

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has revoked the visas of six foreigners deemed by U.S. officials to have made derisive comments or made light of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last month.

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The State Department said Tuesday it had determined they should lose their visas after reviewing their online social media posts and clips about Kirk, who was killed while speaking at a Utah college campus on Sept. 10.

The announcement came as President Donald Trump was posthumously awarding him America’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. At Kirk’s funeral in September, Trump called him a “great American hero” and “martyr” for freedom.

The administration and its supporters have targeted people for their comments about Kirk, leading to firings or other discipline of journalists, teachers and others, and raising free speech concerns.

The six foreigners who had their visas revoked were from Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Paraguay and South Africa. They were not identified.

Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “will defend our borders, our culture, and our citizens by enforcing our immigration laws,” the State Department said. “Aliens who take advantage of America’s hospitality while celebrating the assassination of our citizens will be removed.”

Vice President JD Vance and other top U.S. officials have encouraged people to call out criticism about Kirk that they see online. In an unusual tweet last month, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau asked social media users to copy him on any relevant posts, saying he was personally “disgusted to see some on social media praising, rationalizing, or making light of the event, and have directed our consular officials to undertake appropriate action.”

In addition to Tuesday’s action, the administration has ramped up efforts to identify and potentially expel thousands of foreigners in the United States, notably students, who it says have either fomented or participated in unrest or publicly supported protests against Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The administration has also denied visas to applicants whose social media histories have been critical of its policies.

Among the higher-profile cases, the administration has expelled South Africa’s ambassador to the United States for comments critical of Trump, revoked a visa for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to attend the U.N. General Assembly and yanked the visas for British punk-rap duo Bob Vylan. It said it is reviewing the status of the more than 55 million current U.S. visa holders for potential violations of its standards.

Those actions have been criticized by civil rights groups as violations of constitutional protections for freedom of speech, which apply to anyone in the United States and not just to American citizens.

By Sybilla Gross, Bloomberg News

Silver prices touched an all-time high above $52.50 an ounce, as a historic short squeeze in London added momentum to a rally that’s been fueled by surging demand for safe-haven assets.

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Spot prices rose as much as 0.4% to $52.5868 an ounce in London, surpassing a peak set in January 1980 on a now-defunct contract overseen by the Chicago Board of Trade — when the billionaire Hunt brothers attempted to corner the market. Gold also climbed to another record high, building on eight straight weeks of gains.

Concerns about a lack of liquidity in London have sparked a worldwide hunt for silver, with benchmark prices soaring to near-unprecedented levels over New York. That’s prompting some traders to book cargo slots on transatlantic flights for silver bars — an expensive mode of transport typically reserved for gold — to profit off higher prices in London. The premium was at about $1.55 an ounce in early trading on Tuesday — down from a spread of $3 last week.

Silver lease rates — which represent the annualized cost of borrowing metal in the London market — have been persistently high this year, but surged to more than 30% on a one-month basis on Friday. That’s creating eye-watering costs for those looking to roll over short positions. A jump in demand from India in recent weeks has drawn down the supply of available bars to trade in London, following a rush to ship metal to New York earlier this year after worries that the metal could be hit with U.S. tariffs sparked large dislocations between the two trading hubs.

While precious metals were officially exempt from levies in April, traders remain on edge ahead of the conclusion of the U.S. administration’s so-called Section 232 probe into critical minerals — which includes silver, as well as platinum and palladium. The investigation has revived fears the metals could be swept up in new tariffs, exacerbating market tightness.

The silver market “is less liquid and roughly nine times smaller than gold’s, amplifying price moves,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts wrote in a note. “Without a central bank bid to anchor silver prices, even a temporary pullback in investment flows could trigger a disproportionate correction, as it would also unwind the London tightness that drove much of the recent rally.”

The four main precious metals have surged between 56% and 81% this year, in a rally that’s dominated commodity markets. Gold’s advance has been underpinned by central-bank buying, rising holdings in exchange-traded funds, and rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Demand for havens has also been aided by recurrent U.S.-China trade tensions, threats to the Fed’s independence, and a U.S. government shutdown.

On Monday analysts at Bank of America Corp. hiked their end-of-2026 price target for silver from around $44 an ounce to $65, citing persistent market deficits, elevated fiscal gaps and lower interest rates.

Investors were also weighing the outlook for the Fed’s monetary easing path ahead of the central bank’s next interest-rate decision later this month. Philadelphia’s Fed Bank President Anna Paulson on Monday signaled she favors two more quarter-point cuts this year as policy should look through the impact of tariffs in consumer price increases. Lower borrowing costs then to benefit precious metals, which don’t pay interest.

Spot gold was up 0.5% at $4,129.80 an ounce at 7:38 a.m. in Singapore, after climbing 2.3% on Monday. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was flat, after gaining about 1% last week. Silver was up 0.3%, while platinum and palladium jumped.

(With assistance from Mark Burton.)

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