By ALI SWENSON

NEW YORK (AP) — The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services will temporarily bring all its furloughed employees back to work starting Monday to manage health insurance open enrollment, according to an agency spokesperson.

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The recall to duty amid the more than three-week-long government shutdown is what’s needed to “best serve the American people amid the Medicare and Marketplace open enrollment seasons,” the spokesperson said Thursday.

It will be paid for by user fees gathered from sharing data with researchers, the agency said.

The decision to call the employees back shows how significantly shutting down the government and losing staffing has impacted federal government operations during a crucial season, as millions of Americans are selecting their health insurance plans for next year. CMS provides health coverage to more than 160 million people, according to its website.

It also comes during a moment of uncertainty for Affordable Care Act enrollees, with Congress deadlocked on how to handle expiring subsidies that have made marketplace health insurance less expensive for millions since 2021. Democratic lawmakers are demanding a deal to extend the COVID-era subsidies before they agree to fund the government, while Republican lawmakers want to reopen the government before negotiating that question.

As their stalemate and the resulting government shutdown continue, the cost of next year’s health insurance for many of the 24 million ACA enrollees is still unknown, even with open enrollment beginning in a week.

Though CMS didn’t specify for how long the employees will return, the open enrollment period for Medicare runs between Oct. 15 and Dec. 7, while the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act marketplace runs between Nov. 1 and Jan. 15.

While the agency didn’t answer questions about how many employees would return to work, about 3,300 of CMS’s staff, or a little over half, were expected to be retained during the shutdown, according to the agency’s contingency plans. That would mean about 3,000 furloughed workers are being called back to work Monday.

While CMS has not seen any layoffs during the current shutdown, its parent agency — the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — was among the hardest hit by the government-wide reduction in force. Nearly 1,000 HHS staff were abruptly fired earlier this month, though a judge has temporarily paused those layoffs from taking effect.

By BERNARD CONDON

NEW YORK (AP) — Intel has posted a profit in its first quarterly report since the U.S. government became a major shareholder in the struggling chipmaker.

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The one-time American tech icon reported a net income of $4.1 billion, or 90 cents per share, in the three months ending in September, up from a loss of $17 billion, or $3.88 per share, a year earlier. Revenue climbed 3% from last year to $13.7 billion.

Stock in the company rose nearly 8% in after-hours trading to $41.10, adding to strong gains since the United States invested in the summer.

Recently installed CEO Lip-Bu Tan has been slashing thousands of jobs and mothballing projects to shore up the company’s finances and better compete with domestic and foreign rivals that have since overtaken it.

President Donald Trump announced in August that the U.S. government would take a 10% stake in the Intel as part of his effort to bolster companies deemed vital to national security. It was a startling move for a Republican leader, bucking the party’s long-held belief that governments shouldn’t try to pick corporate winners and losers with taxpayer money.

Intel handed over the shares in exchange for nearly $9 billion that had already been granted to it under the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. Intel had agreed to make major investments in U.S. manufacturing facilities in exchange for the funds.

Intel also received $5 billion from rival Nvidia in September. Earlier this year, it received $2 billion from Japanese technology giant SoftBank.

Founded in 1968 at the start of the personal computer revolution, Intel missed the shift to mobile computing triggered by Apple’s 2007 release of the iPhone. The company’s troubles have been magnified since then by the advent of artificial intelligence — a booming field where Nvidia’s chips have become tech’s hottest commodity.

Who are you when they come knocking at your door?

It’s the question at the core of “The Last Yiddish Speaker.” Written by Deborah Zoe Laufer in 2024, the story follows a Jewish father and daughter as they hide in plain sight in a United States that has descended into white nationalism, fascism and terror.

Staged by St. Paul’s Six Points Theater, the show opens Saturday at the Highland Park Community Center. Directed by Amy Rummenie, the four-person cast dives into a not-too-distant dystopian future.

“It’s 2029, in a world where Jan. 6 was successful for the insurgents,” Rummenie said. “That was the turning point of history, and the entire landscape of the country has changed.”

The play follows Paul, played by Twin Cities actor Avi Aharoni, and his daughter Sarah, played by New York City-based actor Charleigh Wolf. The pair is hiding in plain sight, living as Christians in a small rural town after fleeing their home in New York City and denying their Jewish heritage.

They live in fear of being found until a magical Yiddish woman appears on their front doorstep, claiming to be their great-aunt Chava, played by Sally Wingert.

Surviving or living

Wingert worked with a language expert prior to the show to learn Yiddish, as Chava only has a handful of moments in English. The rest of her scenes are performed entirely in Yiddish.

“It’s been amazing to watch. She works so hard at that, in bringing the authenticity to a language she learned just for this,” Rummenie said.

The play questions the struggle between survival and living or, as described by Wolf, the worth of a life lived in a lie.

“Do you hide the truth to be safe or is that not a life worth living? And fighting is more important, even though it’s risking everything,” Wolf said.

Wolf has performed in New York as an actor, dancer, musician and artist, and is a member of the band Poison Ivy and the People. They have previously performed in Six Points Theater’s production of “Survivors.”

“Sarah is definitely a fighter. She’s very direct and wants so badly to be honest,” Wolf said. “It’s like being as honest and real as I can be within the context of nobody actually knowing who I am. It just feels like this really intense push and pull of existing in this world for Sarah.”

Originally planning to visit Minnesota for a short period, Aharoni auditioned for the role of Paul after working with Six Points Theater in their past productions. Now, working within the production, Aharoni describes his character as a man full of sacrifice.

“(Paul) is a man who has lost everything, compromising his identity to save the one thing he has left, which is his daughter,” Aharoni said.

‘Compassionately curious’

The father-daughter relationship is challenged by the character of John, played by Carter Graham. John, born and raised in the small town, is completely integrated into the conservative culture of his community and has never had cause to question the way things are.

Until meeting Sarah and Paul.

“There’s a side of him that’s attracted to this family and curious,” Graham said. “There’s a part of him that’s a real thinker.”

“It’s a very compassionately curious play, because (John) is a great guy, but also raised in a way that’s dangerous for everyone else in the play,” Rummenie said. “His mere existence is a danger, but also he’s curious and he’s working and he’s incredibly human.”

The cast of four supports the weight of the play together, balancing the intimate struggle of the family with the larger issues of the devolving world. Sometimes, cast members said, it was hard to come into rehearsals when they felt their current reality so strongly mirrored that of the play.

“There’s no escapism with this piece,” Aharoni said. “This is a piece that is just holding up a mirror to the world right now.”

Wolf agreed.

“It also makes it feel important and like I have a responsibility to, you know, just do the best I can with this role in this show,” Wolf said. “I’m really honored to be a part of it and to tell the story.”

Six Points Theater’s ‘The Last Yiddish Speaker’

Where: Highland Park Community Center, 1978 Ford Parkway, St. Paul
When: Saturday through Nov. 9
Tickets: $40-$29 via sixpointstheater.org or 651-647-4315

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Target Corp. is eliminating about 8% of corporate roles in its first major restructuring in years, according to a memo viewed by Bloomberg News, a move to cut costs and reduce complexity.

The Minneapolis-based company is cutting 1,800 roles across various teams and seniority levels, according to the memo. This will include 1,000 layoffs and the company will close out 800 open roles.

Target has been struggling to get out of a rut driven by soft demand and inventory missteps. The retailer has also been the subject of public backlash after it stepped away from DEI policies.

“The complexity we’ve created over time has been holding us back,” Chief Operating Officer Michael Fiddelke said in the memo. “Too many layers and overlapping work have slowed decisions, making it harder to bring ideas to life.”

Fiddelke will take over the top role in February.

The memo instructed all U.S. employees at headquarters to work from home next week.

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