Today is Saturday, Dec. 13, the 347th day of 2025. There are 18 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Dec. 13, 2014, thousands of protesters marched in New York, Washington and other U.S. cities to call attention to the killing of unarmed Black men by white police officers.

Also on this date:

In 1862, Union forces led by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside launched failed frontal assaults against entrenched Confederate soldiers during the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg; the soundly defeated Northern troops withdrew two days later after suffering heavy casualties.

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In 1937, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japanese soldiers captured the Chinese city of Nanjing and began what would be a weekslong massacre of an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 citizens, war prisoners and soldiers.

In 1996, the U.N. Security Council chose Kofi Annan of Ghana to become the world body’s seventh secretary-general.

In 2000, Republican George W. Bush claimed the presidency a day after the U.S. Supreme Court shut down further recounts of disputed ballots in Florida; Democrat Al Gore conceded, delivering a call for national unity.

In 2001, the Pentagon publicly released a captured videotape of Osama bin Laden in which the al-Qaida leader said the deaths and destruction achieved by the Sept. 11 attacks exceeded his “most optimistic” expectations.

In 2003, Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces while hiding in a hole under a farmhouse in Adwar, Iraq, near his hometown of Tikrit.

In 2019, the House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment accusing President Donald Trump of abuse of power in his dealings with Ukraine and obstruction of Congress in the investigation that followed. He would later be acquitted by the Senate.

In 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act providing federal recognition and protection for same-sex and interracial marriages, calling it “a blow against hate in all its forms.”

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor-comedian Dick Van Dyke is 100.
Music/film producer Lou Adler is 92.
Singer-TV host John Davidson is 84.
Baseball Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins is 83.
Rock musician Jeff “Skunk” Baxter is 77.
Rock musician Ted Nugent is 77.
Country singer-musician Randy Owen (Alabama) is 76.
Actor Wendie Malick is 75.
Country musician John Anderson is 71.
Actor Steve Buscemi (boo-SEH’-mee) is 68.
Singer-actor Morris Day is 68.
Football Hall of Famer Richard Dent is 65.
Actor-comedian Jamie Foxx is 58.
Actor-reality TV star NeNe Leakes is 58.
Hockey Hall of Famer Sergei Fedorov is 56.
Rock singer-musician Tom Delonge (Blink-182) is 50.
Rock singer Amy Lee (Evanescence) is 44.
Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is 36.
Actor Maisy Stella is 22.

Golden State’s superstar returned to action Friday in San Francisco, while Minnesota’s sat with a sore foot.

Yet it was the Timberwolves who emerged victorious.

Minnesota utilized an egalitarian offensive approach to down the Warriors 127-120 and earn the Wolves their most impressive road win of the season to date.

Not only were the Wolves without Anthony Edwards, but Mike Conley also missed the game and Bones Hyland, who started in Edwards’ stead, left the game early with a knee bruise.

But Minnesota still found enough firepower on a night where five players scored 17-plus points.

Julius Randle led the charge with 27 points, nine rebounds and six assists, while Rudy Gobert dominated Golden State’s small front line to the tune of 24 points and 14 rebounds.

Donte DiVincenzo scored 21 points on the strength of four triples, Naz Reid had 18 points and seven assists and Jaden McDaniels finished with 17 points and five dimes.

Minnesota finished with 30 assists, a gaudy number on a night when the Wolves (16-9) didn’t exactly light it up from distance. Friday marked the team’s first 30-plus assist regular season game with fewer than 13 made triples since February of 2024.

The Wolves relentlessly attacked the bucket, both in the half court and transition. Gobert had eight dunks. The Wolves scored 66 points in the paint and had 18 fast-break points. Terrence Shannon Jr. and Rob Dillingham contributed to those efforts in their extended runs.

The Wolves’ pace was exemplary throughout the contest. It created opportunities for all to shine. Minnesota has had five guys score 14-plus points in each of Edwards’ last three absences.

Everyone’s contributions were required to fend of Steph Curry. In his first game back from injury, Curry tallied 39 points, 14 of which came in a flamethrowing final frame in which Minnesota went on a 17-0 run to claim a 12-point lead, only to have the Warriors (13-13) respond with a 21-6 run of their own to go up three in the final two minutes.

It looked as though the Wolves were going to let another sizable fourth-quarter advantage slip away, until DiVincenzo stopped the bleeding with a gutsy, off-the-bounce triple at the top of the floor to knot the contest at 117-117.

Minnesota then led by two in the final 30 seconds when DiVincenzo struck again, this time on a catch-and-shoot off a feed from Randle to put the Wolves up five and effectively close the door. The Italian sniper scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half as Minnesota won its fifth clutch-time game in its last five tries.

The Wolves return home Sunday to host Sacramento.

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St. Paul police are investigating a shooting that killed a woman in the Dayton’s Bluff area.

Officers responded about 4:15 p.m. Friday to an apartment building in the 500 block of Broadway Street, which is near downtown and close to Interstate 94 and East Seventh Street.

Inside an apartment, officers found a woman who had been shot in the head, police said in a statement. Preliminary evidence indicated the woman was shot Thursday. Police recovered a firearm at the scene.

As of Friday night, police said an active search is underway for the suspect.

The homicide was the 14th of the year in St. Paul.

There were 32 homicides in the city as of this time last year. The police department counts 29 homicides because it doesn’t include a shooting by officers, in which they were legally cleared, and two cases in St. Paul that were investigated by Metro Transit police.

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As part of its annual tradition, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra presents five out of the six “Brandenburg” Concertos written by Johann Sebastian Bach. While not composed as Christmas music, the festive spirit of the works aligns perfectly with the season, making them a beloved secular treat.

The concertos also reveal the magnetism and intimacy of the chamber form. With unusual combinations of instruments — often highlighting players who don’t typically get the spotlight — the music allows individual musicians to shine within small, agile ensembles.

The Friday performance began with the “Brandenburg” Concerto No. 1, featuring three oboes, two horns and a violin soloist. With its merry spirit and dance-like energy, the work’s warm sound derives from the resonant horns, while the oboes add a delicate timbre. Eunae Koh delivered an impressive, assertive statement on violin, her lines weaving through the texture with clarity.

The second movement opens with the startling beauty of an oboe solo, soon taken up by the violin. In the third, a horn ascends so high it nearly mimics the softness of a flute. By the fourth, the various sections trade phrases like members of a lively assembly, each contributing its own voice to the spirited conversation.

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra performing at the Ordway in 2024. The Orchestra is performing Bach’s “Brandenburg” Concertos at the same venue through Dec. 14, 2025. (Claire Loes/The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra).

The orchestra then moved to the Sixth Concerto, the only work in the set that omits violins entirely. With two violas at the center, the piece settles into a warm, dusky sound. During the second movement, a mellow tone emerges, lines unfolding with a quiet glow that feels inward and unhurried. Then in the third movement, a familiar melody jumps brightly in and out of the texture before slipping into double time, creating a swirling sense of motion that lifts the concerto’s darker palette into something unexpectedly buoyant.

After intermission came the Fifth Concerto, where the harpsichord takes command. Jeffrey Grossman played with ceaseless motion, shifting gears effortlessly and attacking Bach’s intricate passages with assertive vigor. The harpsichord’s extended cadenza at the end of the first movement feels almost unhinged in its exuberance, evoking the frenetic energy of a video game soundtrack.

The program then moved to the Third Concerto, a piece so popular with student orchestras that its opening bars are practically a rite of passage. But in the hands of the SPCO, the work’s structure came into sharper relief. Though it technically lacks designated soloists, the writing turns nearly every musician into one, each line racing through quick motion and tight interplay. The ensemble’s articulation was crisp, giving the music a buoyant, athletic edge, a pulse that reflects the mathematical precision underlying all the concertos.

Bach’s “Brandenburg” Concertos are pure geometry — an exercise in balance and weight, in the adornment of each line, and in the beauty of musical mathematics. Their invigorating pulse can feel almost physiological, quickening the heartbeat as one pattern unlocks another.

Finally, the performance concluded with the Fourth Concerto, featuring principal violin Kyu-Young Kim alongside flutists Julia Bogorad-Kogan and Alicia McQuerrey. Kim played with a light, quicksilver touch, spinning out fast notes with a dancer’s poise, while the two flutes echoed and entwined around him, brightening the texture with airy brilliance. The concerto’s interplay — nimble, conversational, and joyous — made for an uplifting finale.

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra

What: Bach’s “Brandenburg” Concertos

When: 7 p.m. Saturday,  2 p.m. Sunday

Where: The Ordway, 345 Washington St., St. Paul

Tickets: thespco.org

Capsule: A secular holiday tradition relishing in the chamber form.

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