The petite but mighty Eunice Kim shows her musical prowess as part of this weekend’s concert with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. With grace and fierce agility, Kim masterfully performs Camille Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3, in a program that also features Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 and Seven Dances after the Ballet “Les malheurs de Sophie” by Jean Françaix.

The program opens with Françaix’s light-hearted suite, drawn from a children’s story. Françaix wrote “Les malheurs de Sophie” (The misfortunes of Sophie) in 1935 when he was just 21, based on the beloved book by Sophie Rostopchine, Countess of Ségur, a Russian emigre living in France. Later in life, he returned to the ballet score, arranging a selection of the tunes for ten winds.

The spirited music carries a vivid, dance-like spirit. As the ensemble plays, you can almost imagine ballet dancers enacting the mischievous adventures of young Sophie. The SPCO hasn’t collaborated often with live dancers in recent years (a performance by electronic musician Jlin featuring four SPCO players and Brazilian tap dancer Leonardo Sandoval was a recent exception), but Françaix’s buoyant score makes a convincing case for considering such a collaboration in the future.

It’s whimsical, effervescent music, beginning with the angular “Le jeu de la poupée” (The Doll Game). Françaix uses the wind ensemble to create a lively back-and-forth between the bright timbres of flutes and oboes and the richer tones of clarinets and bassoons. Even in more somber moments, like the “Funérailles de la poupée” (doll’s funeral),  a clever, curious mood emerges. The work’s fast and zippy ending makes for a lively conclusion.

Performing Saint-Saëns’ concerto, Kim shows proficiency and poise, with the ability to make her notes angelic. Flawless as her bow leaps across strings, her fingers vigorously nailing each note of the rapid scales, arpeggios and double stops, she equally masters the legato sections, employing a satiny tone in the softer moments.

During the second movement, Andantino quasi allegretto, Kim makes her instrument sound like a harmonica, as she taps her fingers ever so slightly on the strings, without pushing down on the keyboard, creating effervescent sound.

After intermission, the orchestra performs Beethoven’s first Symphony, beginning with its unusual pizzicato beginning. After a short conversation between the plucked strings and the wind instruments, the first movement sees the strings enter more strongly with bowed notes in music that builds with rigorous energy.

The second violins introduce the second movement with a soft, lilting quality, creating music that’s elegant and musically complex. The articulation of the prominent two-note slurs feels precise, maintaining a graceful, singing quality throughout the movement.

The third movement, Allegro molto e vivace, flies by at exhilarating speed, propelled by tight ensemble playing. The finale provides a masterful, almost meteorological, close. The rapid violin flurries and intensity of the final passages conjure the distinct feeling of a storm gathering force, perfectly mirroring the cold weather sweeping through Minneapolis this weekend.

Of note for all SPCO performances this month, federal government employees can reserve free tickets to SPCO performances. Use code FED25 online or by phone at 651-291-1144 to order, then pick up at will call with federal ID.

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra

What: SPCO’s Eunice Kim Shines in Saint-Saëns’ 3rd Violin Concerto

When: 7 p.m. Sat. Ordway,  2 p.m. Sunday at Ted Mann Concert Hall.

Where: Saturday: The Ordway, 345 Washington St., St. Paul. Sunday: Ted Mann Concert Hall, 2128 Fourth Street S. Mpls.

Accessibility: Ordway: Elevators access all floors of Concert Hall, accessibility seating for all mobility devices (request when buying tickets); service animals welcome (inform ticket representative); listening units and large print available upon request. One single occupancy, accessible restroom in the Music Theater lobby. Ordway.org/visit/accessibility. Ted Mann Concert Hall: Access via south side power door entrance. Elevator and adapted restrooms available.

Capsule: From Françaix’s playful ballet suite to Beethoven’s stormy finale, the program offers lightness and drive in equal measure.

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By MELISSA GOLDIN

With Thanksgiving less than three weeks away, the question of how much this year’s turkey and trimmings will cost looms large, especially with grocery prices 2.7% higher than they were in 2024.

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President Donald Trump has claimed over the past two days that costs for the Thanksgiving meal are down 25% this year, citing a prepackaged Thanksgiving meal basket from Walmart.

“I just saw that Walmart came out with a statement last night, they’ve done it for many years, that Thanksgiving this year will cost 25% less than Thanksgiving last year,” he said during a news conference on Friday with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

But Trump’s numbers are off. Here’s a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: Walmart prices show that the cost of Thanksgiving dinner is 25% lower in 2025 than in 2024.

THE FACTS: This is misleading. While Walmart’s 2025 meal basket costs about 25% less than the one from 2024, that’s because it offers fewer items and different products that make it more affordable.

“It’s not apples to apples, right?” said David Anderson, a livestock economist at Texas A&M University. “What this does highlight is individual retailers’ strategies for getting customers in the door.”

The 2025 basket costs less than $40 and feeds 10 people, about $4 a head, according to Walmart. In 2024, a basket for eight cost approximately $56, less than $7 per person. That’s about a 25% decrease, possibly more depending on price fluctuations. John Furner, president and CEO of Walmart U.S., touted the savings in a LinkedIn post last month.

But the baskets differ significantly. For example, this year’s includes just 15 items compared to last year’s 29. It is missing many dessert items, including a pecan pie, mini marshmallows and muffin mix, as well as savory items such as sweet potatoes, yellow onions and celery stalks.

The superstore retailer has also substituted some products. Instead of 12 sweet Hawaiian rolls, the 2025 deal includes 12 dinner rolls. Both are from Walmart’s store brand. It also offers Kinder’s crispy fried onions as opposed to French’s.

Plus, the amount of each item varies. Customers were promised a 10-16 pound turkey in 2024, but a 13.5 pound one this year. And they’ll get one can of cream of mushroom soup instead of two.

“They’re marketing it that ‘hey, this is a more affordable way,’ yet that implies that ‘man, stuff’s a lot more expensive,’” Anderson said. “I guess it’s good marketing.”

A Thursday press release from the White House also cited cheaper Thanksgiving deals at Lidl’s, Aldi’s, Target and Schnucks.

Target’s four-person meal costs less than $20, about the same as in 2024, but substitutes green beans and cream of mushroom soup for French bread and frozen corn — also not an apples-to-apples comparison.

Schnucks provided The Associated Press with a press release saying the retailer is offering consumers its lowest price on a frozen store-brand turkey in over 15 years. It declined further comment. The other four retailers did not respond to a request for comment.

According to a recent report from Wells Fargo, the cost of a 10-person Thanksgiving meal has fallen 2% to 3% since 2024, depending in part on whether customers go for national name brands or cheaper store labels. The White House press release also cited this report.

Some economists have concerns about the price of turkey. Purdue University’s College of Agriculture reported at the end of October that wholesale prices are up 75% since October 2024, while retail prices are 25% higher than a year ago.

An earlier analysis from the American Farm Bureau Federation found that wholesale turkey prices were up about 40%.

And yet, that doesn’t mean every bird will be pricier in 2025. Anderson explained that because certain retailers, such as Walmart, contract their turkeys well in advance, the price for customers might be much lower than the market currently indicates.

“That gives them the flexibility to run those types of specials,” he said.

Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A repeating bell sounded in the cockpit for 25 seconds as pilots tried to control a UPS cargo plane that caught fire, had an engine fall off and crashed during takeoff this week in Louisville, Kentucky, a National Transportation Safety Board member said Friday.

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The cockpit voice recorder captured a persistent bell that began about 37 seconds after the crew called for takeoff thrust, and and the bell continued until the recording ended, which investigators believe was the final point of impact, NTSB member Todd Inman said.

Inman said there could be different types of alarms with varying meanings, but investigators know there was a fire in the plane’s left wing and will use flight data to help determine a clearer picture of what happened.

The crash Tuesday at UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub in Louisville, killed 13 people, including the three pilots on board.

An attendee holds a candle and flowers during a vigil Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Louisville, Ky., after a UPS plane crashed at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

The NTSB is leading the investigation. Inman said it would be months before the transcript of the cockpit recording is made public as part of that investigation process.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator, said the bell likely was signaling the engine fire.

“It occurred at a point in the takeoff where they were likely past their decision speed to abort the takeoff,” Guzzetti told The Associated Press after Inman’s news conference Friday. “They were likely past their critical decision speed to remain on the runway and stop safely. … They’ll need to thoroughly investigate the options the crew may or may not have had.”

Allen Wilson, right, hugs an attendee after they wrote on crosses for victims during a vigil Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Louisville, Ky., after a UPS plane crashed at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Dramatic video captured the aircraft crashing into businesses and erupting in a fireball. Footage from phones, cars and security cameras has given investigators visual evidence of what happened from many different angles.

By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday the Pentagon is revamping how the military buys weapons, shifting the focus away from producing advanced and complex technology and toward products that can be made and delivered quickly.

Hegseth, speaking to military leaders and defense contractors in Washington, said the “objective is simple: transform the entire acquisition system to operate on a wartime footing, to rapidly accelerate the fielding of capabilities and focus on results.”

Hegseth gave his address, which ran for more than an hour, at the National War College. It delved much more into military minutia than a previous big speech to hundreds of military leaders abruptly summoned to a base in Virginia, where he declared an end to “woke” culture and announced “gender-neutral” directives for troops.

Hegseth acknowledged the granularity Friday, saying, “If folks are watching this on Fox, their eyes are rolling over.”

The defense secretary argued his changes are meant to move the military away from the more traditional process that prioritized delivering a perfect, if expensive and late, product in favor of something that is less ideal but delivered quickly. Some experts say the changes could mean less transparency and the military ending up with systems that may not function as expected.

“An 85% solution in the hands of our armed forces today is infinitely better than an unachievable 100% solution … endlessly undergoing testing or awaiting additional technological development,” he said. He asserted that what used to take several years could happen within one.

The shift is coming as Russia’s grinding war has seen an underfunded Ukraine using cheap, mass-produced drones to effectively hold off a technologically superior Moscow, which is armed with advanced missiles and hundreds of tanks.

“Drones are the biggest battlefield innovation in a generation, accounting for most of this year’s casualties in Ukraine,” Hegseth argued in a July memo before declaring that “while global military drone production skyrocketed over the last three years, the previous administration deployed red tape.” That memo lifted some Pentagon restrictions on drone purchases.

Todd Harrison, a defense budget and acquisition expert at the American Enterprise Institute, said Hegseth’s ideas represent a significant shift in how the military would buy arms.

But he warned that if contractors aren’t incentivized “to check all the boxes” for everything the military wants in a product, “they may deliver something faster, but it may not do what you want it to do.”

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The way the U.S. military buys weapons and platforms has faced criticism for various reasons for decades. In recent years, the most famous example of the Pentagon’s failure to get the right gear to the front line was the scores of troops that died from roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan because of poorly armored vehicles that weren’t designed for the conflict.

Then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates used his influence to quickly develop the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle, or MRAP, through the acquisition process in under a year.

Hegseth acknowledged the effort Friday, noting that “the entire process must move at the speed of … the MRAP.”

More recently, other Pentagon efforts have tried to replicate this dynamic to quickly deal with the threat of China invading Taiwan or quickly develop swarms of drones, with mixed results.

Hegseth also argued that the companies that sell weapons and platforms to the military need to “assume risk to partner with the United States.”

He then took aim at the large defense contractors, saying the Pentagon will move away from the traditional system where there is limited competition to “harness more of America’s innovative companies.”

Harrison said risks are inherent with turning away from traditional contractors — they possess deep expertise and are mostly publicly traded companies. That means “we have more visibility into their liquidity, the stability of their company, their board,” he said.

With the changes comes a possibility for greater fraud and abuse.

”Whereas many of these newer companies, we have very little visibility inside how the company works, who owns what, how they make decisions — it’s all very opaque,” Harrison said.