On St. Paul’s East Side, the Theodore Hamm Brewing Company Historic District is gearing up for major changes.

Volière Spirits and CrowBar, a new distillery and cocktail lounge, opened Friday in what’s labeled on maps as building No. 13 — a former machine, blacksmith, millwright and paint shop inset from Minnehaha Avenue and built around 1911. A developer’s plans for affordable housing and commerce are coming together around them.

A map of St. Paul’s newly-designated Theodore Hamm Brewing Company Historic District, which depicts historic buildings officially contributing to the district in green and non-contributing buildings in red. The St. Paul City Council approved the local historic designation on Nov. 5, 2025. (Courtesy of JB Vang and the City of St. Paul)

Following years, if not decades, of research and debate, the 23-acre Hamm’s campus off Payne and Minnehaha avenues was recently recognized by the St. Paul City Council as a locally-designated historic district. The designation opens up the likelihood that developer JB Vang will qualify for state and federal historic tax credits as he seeks to redevelop four adjoining buildings along Minnehaha Avenue for housing and commerce.

The buildings, labeled on historic district maps as No. 23, 2, 18 and 6, include the laboratory/wort cooler (built in 1883), brewhouse (1892), stockhouse No. 2 (1901) and grit storage (1893). If the city approves a site plan and financing comes together next year, remodeling could start in 2027 to install 86 affordable art lofts attached to a 2 1/2-story indoor marketplace, which will include a mezzanine.

The “new brew house,” a smaller adjoining building labeled No. 56, was constructed in 1955 and not included in the historic designation. Depending upon how discussions go with state historic preservationists, it could be demolished.

“Removal of that building would improve the flow between spaces and allow for more natural light in the loft-style units,” said a spokesperson for the developer in an email. “There are still some hoops to jump through, but JBV is cautiously optimistic.”

An architectural rendering of planned East End apartments at the former Hamm’s brewery facility. (Courtesy of JB Vang)

Large rounded openings throughout the four buildings once held giant vats for the brewery, and as a result of the historic designation, any efforts to redevelop the buildings will likely require preserving some of them. That unique feature may allow for light, space and views between floors. Some holes may be infilled or covered to create more floor space.

In a separate project not eligible for historic tax credits, JB Vang hopes to fill in part of a shared parking lot along Minnehaha Avenue to the east of building No. 17 — otherwise known as stockhouse No. 3 — with 110 affordable apartments spanning one to three bedrooms, above two levels of underground parking. All the JB Vang units will be income-restricted to families earning 30% to 60% of area median income, according to the developer.

An architectural rendering of the planned West End Marketplace at the former Hamm’s brewery complex. (Courtesy of JB Vang)

To the south of the future JB Vang art lofts, St. Paul Brewing serves pizza, beer and holiday cheer from a former brewery keg house and racking room dating to 1893, labeled building No. 7 on maps. Its distinctive back patio and biergarten were once the Hamm’s horse stables and carpentry shop and remain surrounded by their ruins.

St. Paul Brewing owner Rob Clapp sued the city of St. Paul this year, accusing the city council of resorting to illegal “spot zoning” to rezone portions of the 23-acre campus specifically for the JB Vang development. Clapp and the city remain at odds over the prospect of filling in the shared parking lot with housing.

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SEATTLE — As heavy underdogs on Sunday afternoon at Lumen Field, the Vikings had a chance to pull even with the Seattle Seahawks shortly before halftime. A chip shot field goal by kicker Will Reichard would’ve tied the score at 3-3.

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – NOVEMBER 30: Head coach Kevin O’Connell of the Minnesota Vikings and Sam Darnold #14 of the Seattle Seahawks hug after Seattle’s 26-0 victory at Lumen Field on November 30, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Jane Gershovich/Getty Images)

Instead, head coach Kevin O’Connell opted to roll the dice, perhaps believing the Vikings needed to be aggressive if they were going to upset the Seahawks on their home turf.

The decision was defensible. The play call was not.

Though the Vikings only needed about a yard to move the chains, O’Connell dialed up a play-action pass, asking a lot of rookie quarterback Max Brosmer, who was making the first start of his career.

It proved to be a disaster of epic proportions.

A fake handoff to fullback C.J. Ham fooled nobody, and Brosmer was under immediate pressure by edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence. In an effort to not take a sack, Brosmer wildly chucked the ball to nowhere in particular, and it landed in the waiting arms of linebacker Ernest Jones IV. The rest was a blur, as Jones raced 85 yards the other way for a touchdown that turned the game upside down.

That was the beginning of the end for the Vikings in an embarrassing 26-0 loss to the Seahawks. It was a brutal performance from Brosmer as he finished 19 of 30 for 126 yards and four interceptions.

The issues for the Vikings go much deeper than the struggles of an undrafted free agent, however, as the offense that once thrived under O’Connell has completely lost its identity.

After the offense looked lost last weekend in the loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Vikings were even worse against the Seahawks. They couldn’t do much of anything when they had the ball as gaining positive yardage started to feel impossible.

The struggles of the offense spoiled a pretty good showing from the defense on the other end. The scoreboard is rather misleading from that perspective, as the Vikings managed to keep the Seahawks out for the end zone for prolonged stretches.

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has set free a private equity executive who had served less than two weeks of a seven-year sentence for his role in what prosecutors described as a $1.6 billion scheme that defrauded thousands of victims.

David Gentile, 59, a onetime resident of Nassau County, New York, had reported to prison Nov. 14, and was released Wednesday, according to Bureau of Prisons records and a White House official who was not authorized to discuss the matter.

Gentile and a co-defendant, Jeffry Schneider, were convicted in August 2024 of securities and wire fraud charges, and sentenced in May.

Unlike a pardon, the commutation granted to Gentile will not necessarily erase penalties that could be associated with his conviction.

Schneider, who was sentenced to six years, does not appear to have received clemency from Trump.

In a social media post on Thanksgiving, Alice Marie Johnson, Trump’s “pardon czar,” said she was “deeply grateful to see David Gentile heading home to his young children.”

Trump has used the unfettered presidential clemency power to forgive an array of white-collar crimes and to make political points, including by casting prosecutions of his supporters as corrupt witch hunts like those that he claims had targeted him.

It was not immediately clear whether Gentile had connections to Trump or to the president’s supporters.

Lawyers for Gentile and Schneider declined to comment. Gentile did not respond to a request for comment.

In court filings, prosecutors said that Gentile and Schneider over several years used private equity funds controlled by Gentile’s company, GPB Capital, to defraud 10,000 investors by misrepresenting the performance of the funds and the source of money used to make monthly distribution payments.

More than 1,000 people submitted statements attesting to their losses, according to prosecutors, who characterized the victims as “hardworking, everyday people,” including small-business owners, farmers, veterans, teachers and nurses.

“I lost my whole life savings,” one wrote, adding, “I am living from check to check.”

In a statement after the sentencing in May, Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York, said that Gentile and Schneider had “raised approximately $1.6 billion from individual investors based on false promises of generating investment returns from the profits of portfolio companies, all while using investor capital to pay distributions and create a false appearance of success.”

The sentences, Nocella added, were “a warning to would-be fraudsters that seeking to get rich by taking advantage of investors gets you only a one-way ticket to jail.”

But the White House official argued that prosecutors had falsely characterized the business as a Ponzi scheme. The official said that in 2015, GPB disclosed to investors the possibility that investor capital might be used to pay some distributions.

As of Saturday, the text of the commutation had yet to be posted on the Justice Department’s website.

It was not clear whether the commutation would affect any financial penalties.

In June, prosecutors asked the judge in the case to order Gentile to forfeit more than $15.5 million and Schneider to forfeit more than $12 million.

And in September, prosecutors indicated in a letter to the judge that a court-appointed receiver had access to more than $700 million, “which is likely to be distributed to investors.”

Civil claims against Gentile’s firm will continue, said Adam Gana, a lawyer who represents investors pursuing arbitration against GPB Capital.

“The stories that we’ve heard are just heartbreaking, and it’s just unbelievable that somebody like that would receive a commutation,” Gana said. “This is not a case that should be political. This guy belongs in prison.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.