A Lakeville man was sentenced Friday in connection with the first wage theft criminal conviction in state history.

Frederick Leon Newell, 59, was sentenced Friday on one count of wage theft and one count of theft by swindle, following the enactment of the 2019 law.

Following state sentencing guidelines, Newell was given stays of imposition of sentence on both counts and a probationary period of three years. In addition, he will be required to complete 200 hours of community service work. He was also ordered to pay more than $42,000 in restitution and may not bid on or participate in new public contracts.

“This wage-theft conviction is the first of its kind in Minnesota. It is an important step forward in our efforts to protect workers,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. “This type of behavior will not be tolerated. Mr. Newell was entrusted with public funds to pay his staff for their labor on a public works project. Instead, he siphoned their money for himself.”

According to the criminal complaint, Newell committed wage theft by failing to pay employees at his company at the rate of pay required by law. Newell owned Integrated Painting Solutions in Apple Valley, according to the criminal complaint.

Newell’s company secured a bid to do work on the Redwell apartment complex at 1020 N. Third St. in Minneapolis. He hired seven people to paint and do cleaning. All that work was subject to wage requirements under city ordinance and state and federal law.

His trial ran from Jan. 16 to Jan. 22, and the court delivered the verdict on April 9.

In total, five employees of Mr. Newell’s company were underpaid by a total of at least $37,001.44 between June 8, 2020, and Dec. 4, 2020, for painting and cleaning labor.

On the theft by swindle charge, Mr. Newell continued to accept payments from a general contractor over the course of a project despite knowing that his company was in financial distress, was not paying prevailing wage and was concealing hours worked by employees.

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A stretch of the Jackson Street bridge between Empire Drive and Acker Street, north of Pennsylvania Avenue in St. Paul was closed on Friday until repairs can be made to the bridge piers, the Ramsey County Public Works department announced.

The closure is expected to last about three months. The county decided to close the bridge “out of an abundance of caution” following a routine inspection and consultation with St. Paul.

The two-lane, 1930s-era bridge carries an estimated 3,500 vehicles a day. The bridge has been under load restrictions and the county has plans for reconstruction of the bridge in 2028. The county public works department will consult with bridge experts next week to determine repairs needed until the reconstruction occurs. More information will be coming.

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A stretch of the Jackson Street bridge between Empire Drive and Acker Street, north of Pennsylvania Avenue in St. Paul was closed on Friday until repairs can be made to the bridge piers, the Ramsey County Public Works department announced.

The closure is expected to last about three months. The county decided to close the bridge “out of an abundance of caution” following a routine inspection and consultation with St. Paul.

The two-lane, 1930s-era bridge carries an estimated 3,500 vehicles a day. The bridge has been under load restrictions and the county has plans for reconstruction of the bridge in 2028. The county public works department will consult with bridge experts next week to determine repairs needed until the reconstruction occurs. More information will be coming.

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Every revolution starts with a rebellion. And you could say that the sound and style of musical theater in the 21st century was indelibly shaped by composer Stephen Sondheim’s rejection of the old order.

Although mentored by Oscar Hammerstein II — the lyricist half of the duo that last revolutionized the art form, Rodgers and Hammerstein — Sondheim took things in totally unexpected directions during the last few decades of the 1900s. He eschewed a devotion to earworm melodies and absorbing stories in favor of delving deeper into the psychological makeup of his characters, often going to darker places than Broadway ever had.

When he created “Passion” in 1994, Sondheim returned to terrain he’d seldom visited since he wrote the lyrics for “West Side Story” in 1957: focusing upon a single, central love story. But not like the almost mystical, magnetic bond between that show’s Tony and Maria. No, “Passion” is about the kind of obsessive love that can result in restraining orders. It looks at love as if it’s a kind of mental illness.

So “Passion” is troubling, but when done well, it can be an intense and ultimately rewarding work. And the production of it being presented by Theater Latte Da is, indeed, very well done.

The company’s new artistic director, Justin Lucero, closes his first season in the post by directing a show that’s never less than captivating throughout its intermission-less 100 minutes, one built upon exceptionally strong performances and a dream-like design scheme that makes the action seem as if wavering between reality and delusion, memory and bracing present.

Inspired by an Italian film and rooted in a 19th-century novel, “Passion” tells the story of an army captain engaged in a torrid affair who’s transferred to a remote outpost where he encounters his commanding officer’s cousin, a tortured woman who falls hard for him and casts propriety aside in passionately pursuing a relationship with him. Torn between the two women, we observe the captain growing increasingly vexed as he wrestles with his needs and what he wants from love.

The chief catalyst in the success of Latte Da’s production is the gripping performance of Erin Capello as Fosca, the obsessed woman. Capello demonstrated during the company’s 2023 production of “Next to Normal” that she can take a character with mental illness and make her extraordinarily sympathetic, but Fosca has no pretensions of passing as stable. She’s astoundingly vulnerable while also infuriatingly manipulative, and Capello makes it so you can’t take your eyes off her. Or your ears, for she has a magnificently expressive voice.

Far more guarded is Dylan Frederick’s portrayal of the captain, who could let us see more of the psychological processing that Sondheim so valued in his characters. Frederick’s at his most engaging in his exchanges with Isa Condo-Olvera as a mistress rooted in reality. And Bradley Greenwald does fine things with another conflicted character, the doctor who seems to drive the captain into Fosca’s arms.

Jason Hansen leads a five-piece onstage band that brings out all the tension in Sondheim’s songs. And Paul Whitaker’s simple yet fascinating set and mood-shaping lighting scheme add to the impression that Latte Da has triumphed again in its imaginative approach to the modern musical.

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Theater Latte Da’s ‘Passion’

When: Through July 13
Where: Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave. N.E., Mpls.
Tickets: $75.75-$11.75, available at theaterlatteda.org
Capsule: A dark and discomfiting musical gets a passionate production.