The Park Grove Library in Cottage Grove is closing next year to get a $13.5 million makeover and will reopen to the public in early 2027.

An architectural rendering of the new $13.5 million Park Grove Library in Cottage Grove, which is expected to open in 2027. Washington County officials are holding an open house on the project from 6-7 p.m. Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (Courtesy of Washington County)

The redesign of the library at 7300 Hemingway Ave. S. is necessary because access to the building, including visibility and parking, is challenging because it is tucked into a neighborhood behind several multi-story apartment buildings, said Mandy Leonard, project manager.

The majority of the existing building structure will remain, but Washington County officials plan to reconstruct the front entrance “to transform the space and create a more usable and flexible layout,” Leonard said.

Due to its proximity to residential housing and schools, pedestrian accessibility is an important aspect of the project, she said.

Officials are considering adding a second story to the building above the front entrance in order to move the building’s mechanical systems. According to Leonard, moving the mechanicals would make more space on the main floor and “provide an opportunity to create an inviting and visible plaza entrance to the library.”

A redesign of the building’s roof line also could open up the space and improve the natural light coming in from the skylight, she said.

The existing library is about 20,000 square feet and is located on 2½ acres.

Open house

County officials will hold an open house on the redesign project from 6-7 p.m. Wednesday at the Park Grove Library.

Initial drawings and ideas for a redesigned Park Grove Library will be presented, and there will be a brief presentation by the design team from Alliiance, the architecture firm hired to do the redesign. There also will be a chance for questions and an opportunity to chat informally with Alliiance, Washington County and library staff to share feedback and initial impressions on the design.

For more information, go to washingtoncountymn.gov/3662/Building-Projects.

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By DEE-ANN DURBIN, Associated Press

As a Biden administration ban on so-called “junk fees” took effect Monday, Ticketmaster said it will start displaying the full price of a ticket as soon as consumers begin shopping.

Ticketmaster, long a subject of complaints about its hidden fees, was among those targeted by the new rule, which was announced in December by the Federal Trade Commission. The rule requires ticket sellers, hotels, vacation rental platforms and others to disclose processing fees, cleaning fees and other charges up front.

Ticketmaster said Monday it commended the FTC’s action.

“Ticketmaster has long advocated for all-in pricing to become the nationwide standard so fans can easily compare prices across all ticketing sites,” Ticketmaster Chief Operating Officer Michael Wichser said in a statement.

Ticketmaster said it will also tell shoppers where they are in line when they log in to buy tickets to an event. It will also give real-time updates to customers whose wait times exceed 30 minutes, letting them know ticket price ranges, availability and whether new event dates have been added.

Ticketmaster, which is owned by Beverly Hills, California-based concert promoter Live Nation, is the world’s largest ticket seller, processing 500 million tickets each year in more than 30 countries. Around 70% of tickets for major concert venues in the U.S. are sold through Ticketmaster.

Ticketmaster said Monday’s changes will bring North America in line with the rest of the world, where the full ticket price was already displayed as soon as customers started shopping.

It has been in the hot seat since 2022, when its site crashed during a presale event for Taylor Swift’s upcoming stadium tour. The company said its site was overwhelmed by both fans and attacks from bots, which were posing as consumers in order to scoop up tickets and sell them on secondary sites. Thousands of people lost tickets after waiting for hours in an online queue.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Ticketmaster and Live Nation, accusing them of running an illegal monopoly that drives up U.S. ticket prices and asking a court to break them up. That case is ongoing.

President Donald Trump is also eyeing the industry. In March, he signed an executive order that he said will help curb ticket scalping and bring “commonsense” changes to the way live events are priced.

Under the order, the FTC must ensure “price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process” and take enforcement to prevent unfair, deceptive, and anti-competitive conduct.

“Anyone who’s bought a concert ticket in the last decade, maybe 20 years — no matter what your politics are — knows that it’s a conundrum,” said Kid Rock, who joined Trump in the Oval Office as Trump signed the order.

Durante décadas, el número de vendedores ambulantes ha superado con creces el número de permisos para vender legalmente en las calles de Nueva York. Un proyecto de ley del Concejo de la ciudad quiere cambiar esta situación.

Vendedores ambulantes y defensores asistieron el miércoles 7 de mayo a la audiencia del Concejo dedicada a la reforma de permisos. (Alex Krales/Unidad de Prensa del Concejo de Nueva York)

Este artículo se publicó originalmente en inglés el 8 de mayo. Traducido por Daniel Parra. Read the English version here.

Durante décadas, el número de vendedores ambulantes ha superado con creces el número de permisos que les permite vender legalmente en las calles de Nueva York.

En 2021, el Concejo de la ciudad aprobó la Ley local 18, cuyo objetivo era agregar 445 permisos para vendedores por año a partir de 2022. Sin embargo, hasta ahora solo se han otorgado 382 nuevos permisos a vendedores, dijo Corinne Schiff, comisionada de salud ambiental del Departamento de Salud e Higiene Mental (DOHMH por sus siglas en inglés), durante una audiencia del Concejo el martes. 

El Concejo de la ciudad de Nueva York escuchó testimonios sobre el paquete de proyectos de ley para reformar la venta ambulante, incluyendo uno que aumentaría el número de permisos a 1.500 cada año durante cinco años consecutivos —y luego eliminaría el límite en el número de permisos por completo. Otro proyecto de ley busca despenalizar los delitos de venta ambulante (Int. 47), y un tercero crearía una unidad de asistencia para vendedores ambulantes dentro del Departamento de Servicios a Pequeñas Empresas (Int. 0408).

De entrada, funcionarios del Departamento de Protección del Consumidor y del Trabajador (DCWP por sus siglas en inglés), del Departamento de Sanidad (DSNY por sus siglas en inglés), del DOHMH y del Departamento de Servicios para Pequeñas Empresas (SBS por sus siglas en inglés), se pronunciaron a favor de la posibilidad de aumentar el número de permisos, considerándolo viable. Pero los funcionarios de estas agencias no apoyan levantar del todo el tope del número de permisos, la segunda parte del proyecto de ley que presentó la concejal del Bronx Pierina Sánchez.

“El departamento de salud de la ciudad de Nueva York no tiene ningún inconveniente en que se expidan anualmente más solicitudes de licencias de supervisión de las que actualmente exige la legislación local, y le gustaría colaborar con el Concejo de la ciudad en algunos de los detalles para facilitar su aplicación”, dijo Corinne Schiff, comisionada adjunta del DOHMH para la división de salud ambiental.

Sin embargo, añadió, “la administración se opone a levantar por completo el tope”.

Uno de los primeros pasos que debe dar una persona para preparar o servir alimentos para la venta en la calle es obtener una licencia expedida por el DOHMH. El segundo paso es obtener un permiso, cuyo número se ha limitado durante décadas, lo que ha llevado a que muchos vendedores los busquen en el mercado negro, a menudo pagando precios exorbitantes.

Durante la audiencia, Schiff argumentó que eliminar el tope aumentaría la carga de trabajo del departamento, la formación obligatoria sobre seguridad alimentaria, inspecciones y expedición de licencias y permisos, además exigiría más fondos.

Carlos Ortiz, subcomisario de asuntos externos del DCWP, ofreció otro argumento para no eliminar el tope: “impacto en la calidad de vida”.

Durante la audiencia del martes, representantes de varios Business Improvement Districts (BID) —que representan a los negocios en locales y a menudo ven a los vendedores ambulantes como su competencia— se manifestaron en contra del proyecto de ley e insistieron en la necesidad de una mayor aplicación de la ley.

“La cuestión de cuántas licencias se quieren conceder es irrelevante para el Garment District”, dijo Barbara Blair, presidenta del Garment District Alliance, un BID del centro de Manhattan. “Lo que es pertinente es regular el tiempo, el lugar y la forma que se hacen cumplir las normas y que, de hecho, se hagan cumplir enérgicamente”.

La alcaldía ya regula dónde y cuándo pueden operar los vendedores ambulantes, por ejemplo, sólo en aceras de al menos 12 pies de ancho, y algunos permisos sólo funcionan por temporadas, entre otras normas.

Las responsabilidades de hacer cumplir la ley recaen principalmente en DSNY, que asumió el liderazgo en el cumplimiento de la ley de venta ambulante de la ciudad en 2023. Pero desde 2022, el departamento de policía de Nueva York (NYPD por sus siglas en inglés) ha liderado la imposición del mayor número de multas a los vendedores. Solo en 2024 fueron más de 13.000 las multas impuestas por estas agencias a los vendedores de la ciudad y decomisaron toneladas de alimentos.

Julie Menin, presidenta del Comité de Protección del Consumidor y el Trabajador del Concejo, interrogó a los funcionarios del DOHMH acerca de por qué la mayoría de los que han obtenido licencias de supervisión desde que se aprobó la ley local 18 aún no tienen permisos de supervisión.

“No sabemos la respuesta”, dijo Schiff. “La ley local no establece un plazo para pedir el permiso, así que puede que al final se conviertan en permisos”.

Mahmoud Zayed, vendedor ambulante desde 2008, dijo que lleva años alquilando un permiso a través del mercado negro, “ya que nunca he podido obtener uno a mi nombre”.

“Me he visto obligado a pagar miles de dólares cada dos años a personas que pudieron obtener permisos directamente de la alcaldía, mientras que ellos sólo pagan una tasa reducida”, añadió.

Durante las más de seis horas que duró la audiencia, testificaron más de 80 personas. Entre ellas decenas de vendedores ambulantes, propietarios de locales, inversores, creadores de contenidos y público en general. La gran mayoría respaldó el proyecto de ley.

Los proponentes afirman que la venta ambulante, un sector mayoritariamente en manos de inmigrantes, suele ser una de las pocas opciones para quienes intentan ganarse la vida en una ciudad cada vez más costosa. Las protecciones que traerían algunos proyectos de ley son aún más importantes ahora, ya que los inmigrantes están siendo blanco de arrestos y deportaciones bajo la administración Trump. 

Después de la audiencia, Carina Kaufman-Gutiérrez, subdirectora del Street Vendor Project, dijo que es alentador ver que la administración pida ampliar el número total de permisos.

“La lucha por reformar el sistema de venta ambulante en Nueva York siempre ha sido urgente, pero especialmente en el marco de la actual administración federal, es esencial”, dijo Kaufman-Gutiérrez.

Para ponerse en contacto con el reportero de esta noticia, escriba a Daniel@citylimits.org. Para ponerse en contacto con la editora, escriba a Jeanmarie@citylimits.org.

The post Funcionarios neoyorquinos apoyan aumento de permisos para vendedores ambulantes, pero se resisten a levantar el límite impuesto hace tiempo appeared first on City Limits.

By most players’ standards, Jhoan Duran had a good season last year. By his own admission, it wasn’t what he was looking for — he wanted results that more closely resembled his 2023 season.

After posting a 2.45 earned-run average, converting 27 saves and striking out 12.1 batters per nine innings, his numbers took a slight hit last year — still dependable, just not quite as dominant. So, he dedicated himself in the offseason, stuck to a regimented plan that more closely resembled his offseason two years prior and showed up to Fort Myers, Fla., for spring training 12 pounds lighter.

And now?

“I feel great,” Duran said. “I feel younger, I can say I feel really good.”

He has looked good, too.

The Twins’ bullpen has been among the strengths of the team in recent days — on the last homestand, the group gave up just two runs (one earned) in 21 innings across six games — and Duran is right there among the big reasons why.

“His ability to repeat right now, his ability to throw his strikes with all his pitches when he wants it, and the stuff itself is back up,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “There’s just a lot of really good signs with the way he’s throwing the ball.”

The Twins, who had Monday off and will resume play on Tuesday at 5:35 p.m. CT in Baltimore, are in the midst of an eight-game winning streak. Duran is a perfect 5 for 5 in save attempts during that run, picking up a win in another game.

Across 19⅓ innings thrown this year, Duran has a 0.93 earned-run average, allowing just three runs (two earned). He has recorded seven saves in as many chances. Opponents are hitting a collective .147 against him and his 0.983 WHIP (Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched) sits at 0.983, lower than each of his previous two seasons.

Though he’s not lighting up the radar gun at 103 and 104 mph like he was a couple years of ago, he’s still throwing plenty hard — his four-seam fastball is averaging 100.5 mph, on par with where it was last season and close to 2022, as well.

And after his four-seamer got hit a little bit last year — opponents hit .296 off it — he tweaked his pitch usage. For the first time, that pitch, one of the hardest in the game, isn’t his most-used offering. That’s been replaced by his splinker, a pitch he throws at, on average, 97.8 mph.

As a rookie, that pitch was thrown 16 percent of the time. Now, it’s all the way up to 37.5 percent, eclipsing the fastball (36%). Last season, he threw his fastball 40.7 percent of the time and the splinker 31.4 percent.

“Last year when I had a bad moment, and I threw that pitch, it got me out of that situation,” he said of the splinker. “I said, OK, I need to throw it more because that pitch is really good. That’s why I throw it more. I throw it for strikes and then whatever happens.”

What happens most of the time is that opponents can’t do all that much with it.

Accompanied by a devastating curveball, which Duran throws 21.9 percent of the time — and a sweeper that he has very occasionally mixed in this year — and you’ve got a recipe for one of the most dominant pitchers in the majors.

The Twins have seen plenty of good versions of Jhoan Duran, but the version has been among the best yet.

“He’s been very good throughout, from Day One, and you had a feeling he was in a good spot in spring training,” Baldelli said. “But the season started and he really turned it up a level and I think he’s looked excellent.”

Briefly

Infielder Mickey Gasper, optioned to Triple-A St. Paul last week, was named the International League’s player of the week after a hitting .478 (11-23) with two doubles, four home runs, and six RBIs as the Saints took five of six from the Buffalo Bisons at CHS Field.