The latest version of ’80s rock band Guns N’ Roses will play the new Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee on Aug. 8.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Dec. 5 through Ticketmaster. Fans who register at signup.ticketmaster.com/gunsnroses by the end of the day Monday have access to a presale that runs on Dec. 3.

Guns N’ Roses formed in 1985 from the ashes of several other Los Angeles rock bands. After turning heads on the Hollywood club scene, GNR signed a deal with Geffen Records the following year and released their debut “Appetite for Destruction” in the summer of 1987. It spawned five hit singles, including the ballad “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” and went on to top 18 million in sales.

The mini-album “G N’ R Lies” and ambitious 1991 records “Use Your Illusion I” and “Use Your Illusion II” followed and helped establish Guns N’ Roses as one of the biggest rock bands in the world. But the first cracks in the group started to show in 1990, when they fired original drummer Steven Adler. Rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin quit the following year, and the rest of the band soon followed, leaving Rose the sole remaining member.

For the next two decades, about a dozen people cycled in and out of GNR, with Minneapolis’ own Tommy Stinson playing bass in the band from 1998 through 2014. Rose’s version of Guns N’ Roses resumed touring in 2001. They played the Target Center three times – in 2002, 2006 and 2011 – and drew about 8,000 fans each show.

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Following years of rumors that GNR’s classic lineup would reunite, news finally broke in early 2016 that guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan would hit the road with lead singer Axl Rose for the first time since 1993. The tour kicked off that April and grossed more than $584 million. In July 2017, GNR headlined U.S. Bank Stadium in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 48,000. The band returned to the metro in September 2021 to headline the former Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

The upcoming tour will be GNR’s fourth since the reunion outing. It’ll be the first time locals see the group’s new drummer Isaac Carpenter, the replacement for Frank Ferrer, who amicably left the lineup last year.

Two new Guns N’ Roses songs, “Nothin” and “Atlas,” will be released Tuesday.

By JACK BROOK

A copy of the first Superman issue, unearthed by three brothers cleaning out their late mother’s attic, netted $9.12 million this month at a Texas auction house which says it is the most expensive comic book ever sold.

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The brothers discovered the comic book in a cardboard box beneath layers of brittle newspapers, dust and cobwebs in their deceased mother’s San Francisco home last year, alongside a handful of other rare comics that she and her sibling had collected on the cusp of World War II.

She had told her children she had a valuable comic book collection hidden away, but they had never seen it until they put her house up for sale and decided to comb through the basement for heirlooms, said Lon Allen, vice president of comics at Heritage Auctions. The brothers uncovered the box of comics and sent a message to the auction company, leading Allen to fly out to San Francisco earlier this year to inspect their copy of “Superman No. 1” and show it to other experts for appraisal.

“It was just in an attic, sitting in a box, could have easily been thrown away, could’ve easily been destroyed in a thousand different ways,” Allen said. “A lot of people got excited because it’s just every factor in collecting that you could possibly want all rolled into one.”

The “Superman No. 1” comic, released in 1939 by Detective Comics Inc., is one of a small number of copies known to be in existence and is in excellent condition. The Man of Steel was the first superhero to enter pop culture, helping boost the copy’s value among collectors, alongside its improbable backstory, Allen said.

The previous record for the world’s most expensive comic book had been set last year, when an “Action Comics No. 1” — which first introduced Superman to the world as part of an anthology — sold for $6 million. In 2022, another Superman No. 1 sold for $5.3 million.

A small, in-house advertisement in the comic book helped experts identify it as originating from the first edition of 500,000 Superman No. 1 copies ever printed. Allen estimates there are fewer than 500 in existence today.

The copy was not given any special protection, but the cool Northern California climate helped preserve it, leaving it with a firm spine, vibrant colors and crisp corners, according to a statement from Dallas-based Heritage Auctions. The copy was rated a 9.0 out of 10 by comics grading company CGC, meaning it had only the slightest signs of wear and aging.

The three brothers, in their 50s and 60s, did not wish to be identified due to the windfall involved nor did the buyer of the comic book, according to the auction house.

“This isn’t simply a story about old paper and ink,” one brother said in a statement released by the auction house. “This was never just about a collectible. This is a testament to memory, family and the unexpected ways the past finds its way back to us.”

Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

By SEUNG MIN KIM

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is circulating a proposal that would extend subsidies to help consumers pay for coverage under the Affordable Care Act for two more years, as millions of Americans face spiking health care costs when the current tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year.

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The draft plan suggests that President Donald Trump is open to extending a provision of Obamacare as his administration and congressional Republicans search for a broader policy solution to a fight that has long flummoxed the party. The White House stresses that no plan is final until Trump announces it.

The subsidies were at the heart of the Democrats’ demands in the government shutdown fight that ended earlier this month. Most Democratic lawmakers had insisted on a straight extension of the tax credits, which expire at the end of the year as a condition of keeping the government open.

Eligibility for the Obamacare subsidies, which were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic to help people afford health care coverage, would be capped at 700% of the federal poverty level, according to two people with knowledge of the proposal. The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss a White House proposal that is in draft form.

The baseline tax credits that were originally part of the Affordable Care Act were capped at 400% of the federal poverty level, but that cut-off was suspended because of the temporary COVID-era credits that allowed middle- and higher-income people to benefit from subsidies too.

The White House would also require those on Obamacare, regardless of the type of coverage, to pay some sort of premium for their Obamacare plans. That would effectively end zero-premium plans for those with lower incomes, addressing a concern from Republicans that the program has enabled fraud. One option is a requirement that everyone pay 2% of their income, or at least $5 per month, for lower-tier plans.

Even as the White House’s proposal remains in flux, the notion of extending any part of President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement is likely to rankle conservatives who have sought to repeal and replace the law for well over a decade.

“Until President Trump makes an announcement himself, any reporting about the administration’s health care positions is mere speculation,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said Monday.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday afternoon that Trump “is very much involved in these talks” and that he is “focused on unveiling a health care proposal that will fix the system and will bring down costs for consumers.”

But there are signs that parts of the nascent White House plan could get buy-in from Democrats. New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan, one of eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus who voted to reopen the government earlier this month, said it “represents a starting point for serious negotiations.”

“The fact that President Trump is putting forward any offer at all to extend the Affordable Care Act’s tax credits shows that there is a broad understanding that inaction in this regard will cause serious harm to the American people,” Hassan said.

In 2017, Trump fell short in a push to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, an embarrassing defeat for Republicans who had just seized control of all levers of power in Washington. The GOP has failed to coalesce around a unified health care proposal since, and the expiration of the pandemic-era subsidies gives Trump and his party an opportunity to put their own stamp on the issue.

As the White House worked quietly on its plan, led by the Domestic Policy Council, key lawmakers on Capitol Hill have drafted their own proposals. For instance, Florida Sen. Rick Scott, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy and others have proposed various ideas for redirecting the program’s spending on federal subsidies into health savings accounts that enrollees could use to shop for plans or defray out-of-pocket costs.

The draft of the White House plan would allow those in lower-tier plans, such as the bronze-level or catastrophic plans, to put money into health savings accounts.

It would also codify the “program integrity rule” to further help root out fraud, waste and abuse.

Americans shopping for Obamacare coverage have already faced the sticker shock of price hikes, because the window for selecting next year’s coverage began Nov. 1. Without congressional action, the average subsidized enrollee will face more than double their current cost in premiums next year, according to an analysis by the health care research nonprofit KFF.

Recent national polls have shown Americans are concerned about health care costs, along with broader affordability issues. Those concerns played out in elections earlier this month, which swept to power Democrats whose political messaging focused on the rising cost of living.

Associated Press writers Fatima Hussein in Washington and Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.

“The real issue is that there are too few systems and spaces intentionally created for them to engage, learn, and grow. The crisis is not boys. The crisis is belonging.”

Basketball in Brooklyn Bridge Park on August 20, 2018. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

Headlines about “teen takeovers” keep surfacing in New York and cities across the U.S. In the first day of classes this year in Brooklyn, large crowds of teens rushed the Barclays Center and the Atlantic Terminal Mall, prompting many city and community leaders to call for more after-school programs. Last spring in Chicago, the city was forced to renew curfews and warnings as large youth gatherings were organized online. 

Commentators cite falling test scores, rising loneliness, and these kinds of viral clips of crowding downtown streets as proof that teens—and especially boys and young men—are angry, detached, and in decline.

But that framing misses the mark. Boys are not inherently in crisis, they are responding to one. The real issue is that there are too few systems and spaces intentionally created for them to engage, learn, and grow. The crisis is not boys. The crisis is belonging.

When institutions fail to offer developmentally attuned “third spaces” with caring adults, boys don’t simply retreat into apathy. They go looking for community on their own. Sociologist Ray Oldenburg described “third places” as the informal, low-barrier environments outside home and school where people form connection and identity.

Those spaces have largely vanished, replaced by screens, commercial venues, or programs that prioritize structure over self-expression. Cities need accessible, teen-affirming environments that don’t require spending money, scoring points, or earning entry.

Research confirms that connection is a protective factor, one of the strongest predictors of lifelong health and well-being. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, school connectedness has lasting effects on physical and mental health. Youth who feel connected at school are less likely to engage in risky sexual behavior, misuse substances, experience violence, or struggle with mental health challenges in adulthood. In other words, belonging isn’t sentimental; it’s essential.

The CDC also notes that structured opportunities for interaction, like physical education, recess, and group activities, teach conflict resolution, empathy, and cooperation. These “practice grounds” give boys space to develop respect, resilience, and self-control. When we eliminate or underfund them, we remove the very conditions that help young people become emotionally literate adults.

Yet instead of investing in connection, we often double down on control; curfews, surveillance, and punitive systems that treat boys as threats rather than individuals seeking affirmation. That approach may suppress symptoms in the short term, but it does nothing to address the root cause: isolation.

This is where mentoring and intentional design can transform outcomes. Research from the American Journal of Community Psychology shows that youth mentoring programs produce measurable improvements when they focus on relationships over rules. Participants in Big Brothers Big Sisters, for example, were less likely to initiate substance use, skipped fewer days of school, and showed fewer violent incidents. The lesson is clear: when boys experience trust and continuity, their choices change.

In my more than three decades working with boys and young men, I’ve seen this play out every day. The most effective mentorship doesn’t come from rigid programs, it emerges organically in spaces built for belonging. It’s a brotherhood developed over time. Relationships that are reliable and endure before, during and after life’s celebrations, hardships, and milestones. Unforced connection that turns into powerful bonds we witness every day, like when a young alumnus in college visits his clubhouse just because he “misses his brothers.” True mentorship isn’t hierarchical; it’s interwoven. Peers, near-peers, and adults all reinforce the same message: you matter here.

Belonging is not something we can impose; it’s something we strategically design for. Boys rarely show up asking for guidance. They come for what excites them: basketball, robotics, music, etc., and stay because they find friendship, trust, and a sense of being known. When we fund and replicate spaces that make that possible, we replace alienation with purpose.

After years of watching boys grow into men, I’ve learned this: boys don’t need saving—they need seeing. If we respond to their need for belonging with empathy instead of alarm, connection instead of control, we can shift the story entirely.

The next time we see headlines about teens filling city streets, we might not see chaos—we might see a generation asking us, in the only language they have, to make room for them.

Stephen Tosh is the CEO and executive director of The Boys’ Club of New York.

The post Opinion: Rethinking the ‘Boys’ Crisis’ appeared first on City Limits.