To justify offering tax incentives to a developer to replace three properties at Grand Avenue and Victoria Street, the city of St. Paul hired consultants to evaluate whether the buildings would be considered “structurally substandard” by the state definition.

In other words, would repair costs to bring the buildings up to code exceed 15% of replacement costs?

The team with Minneapolis-based LHB who conducted the structural analysis and Aug. 13 inspection was company vice president Michael A. Fischer and inspector Phil Fisher. They found repair costs would total 29% of replacement costs for the buildings as a whole, and each building individually also would exceed the 15% threshold.

The mall that housed Juut Salon Spa, Paper Source and Trade Winds clothing would cost $2.9 million to replace and more than $708,000 to repair, based on 30 significant deficiencies, according to the LHB report. The central part of the mall dates to 1915.

Chief among needed improvements, the building needs $181,000 in roof repairs, $157,000 for HVAC replacement, $156,000 for code-compliant lighting and $74,000 for new windows. Other deficiencies ranged from electrical wiring to egress, damaged sidewalks, stairs, fire caulking and exterior brick and mortar improvements.

Adjoining the mall, the building that once housed Billy’s on Grand and more recently the Gather Eatery and Bar would cost $1.3 million to replace or $500,000 to repair, according to the LHB report, which found 20 significant deficiencies. The largest necessary improvements would be a $266,000 HVAC system, $61,000 in roof repairs and $40,000 to replace failed windows.

Other defects ranged from below-code electrical wiring, lighting, fire protection and egress to stairs, sprinklers, fire caulking and emergency lighting.

“The windows are failing, allowing for water intrusion, which is contrary to code,” reads the report. “The exterior concrete blocks and mortar are failing, allowing for water intrusion, which is contrary to code. Roofing materials are failing …”

Built in 1894, the three-story wood-frame house at 841 Grand Ave. previously served as a residential rental property.

The LHB inspection found the building, which would cost $449,000 to replace with the same general design, would need more than $151,000 in repairs to bring it up to modern building codes, even before correcting energy code deficiencies. That includes some $72,000 in necessary window and siding repair and $13,000 in roof repair.

“The foundation is deteriorating and should be reinforced, per code,” reads the report, which chronicled 30 separate deficiencies. “The southwest corner of the building is separating from the main structure and should be repaired to prevent water intrusion, per code.” Other areas falling below code in the report ranged from restrooms and kitchens to HVAC, egress, interior and exterior stairs, flooring and damaged sidewalks.

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A month ago, widespread fraud in Minnesota government programs made national headlines, with Gov. Tim Walz eventually ending his campaign for a third term in office as he faced scrutiny over his handling of the scandal.

Federal officials initially cited fraud as a part of the reason for their immigration crackdown in the state this past month. But the recent surge in enforcement and resulting clashes between the federal government and Minnesota officials may have triggered a series of events that could hurt efforts to deal with fraud.

Federal prosecutors have delivered most of the accountability in recent high-profile cases of fraud in state government programs. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, who had led the prosecutions, estimated that the theft could run into the billions.

So far, more than 90 individuals have been charged in schemes tied to housing, autism and meal programs, and more than 50 have been convicted.

On Dec. 18, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota announced yet another round of charges, with Thompson calling the state’s fraud problem “industrial-scale.” It appeared that 2026 would deliver only more staggering examples.

Now there’s a chance those prosecutions could grind to a crawl, former heads of the office say.

At least six resign

Thompson was among at least six Minnesota prosecutors who reportedly resigned after Justice Department pressure to investigate the widow of 37-year-old Renee Good, who was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on Jan. 7. Some familiar with the office expect more resignations to follow.

Accountability and further investigation into government fraud could face significant disruptions as a result of those high-profile departures on top of existing staffing issues, according to an ex-federal prosecutor and former heads of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota.

B. Todd Jones. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

In typical times, the district might be able to pass complex fraud cases along to another prosecutor, but with recent attrition, that may prove to be more challenging, said B. Todd Jones, who served as Minnesota’s U.S. attorney under Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Jones said it will be difficult to replace the expertise of attorneys with decades of experience.

“The investigations will slow down,” he said. “You’ve had a drip, drip, drip of people that worked on those cases that have left during the last year because of the dynamics at the Department of Justice, and there’s more that’s happening as we speak.”

U.S. Department of Justice also hit with resignations

In the past, the DOJ might step in to assist a district with staffing shortages, Jones said, but the department has faced a wave of resignations and staffing issues of its own in the first year of Donald Trump’s second presidency.

Already, the U.S. Department of War had sent dozens of military lawyers, known as judge advocates, to assist with the case load in Minnesota during the immigration enforcement surge, according to multiple national news reports.

Former Minnesota U.S. Attorney David Lillehaug, who also served under Clinton, told Politico this week that attorneys from the Eastern District of Michigan had been called in to assist in Minnesota.

Lillehaug told the news outlet there were only around 17 prosecutors in Minnesota of the 50 that the office is normally supposed to have, basing that number off his ongoing familiarity with people who work there.

The former U.S. attorney didn’t respond to requests for an interview from the Pioneer Press, and the DOJ declined to confirm information about personnel.

“We have charged dozens of defendants from Minnesota who’ve defrauded the American people, and our whole of government approach to combatting these issues will continue until all fraudsters and violent criminals are brought to justice,” a department spokesperson said in a statement.

Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen and his office did not respond to requests for comment on this report. Rosen was appointed by Trump and confirmed to the post in October.

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Loss of seasoned, experienced prosecutors

The Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office does not currently have a public information officer. Until a few weeks ago, Assistant U.S. Attorney Melinda Williams served in that role, but she resigned along with Thompson. Williams and Thompson couldn’t be reached for this report.

Anders Folk, who served as acting U.S. attorney in 2021 under President Joe Biden and is currently running for Hennepin County attorney, described the current number of prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office as being “as small as it’s been in modern history” and noted the loss of what he described as “extraordinarily seasoned, experienced prosecutors.”

“The office is going to have a much more difficult time … doing the amount of work that we’re used to seeing it do, and doing the sophisticated types of cases that we’re used to seeing it do,” he said.

Mark Osler, a University of St. Thomas School of Law professor who once worked as a federal prosecutor in Michigan, echoed what Todd and Folk said and questioned new leadership in Minnesota.

“It is unprecedented to have this kind of a loss,” he said. “It reflects very poorly on the U.S. attorney that he is losing his best people when they are most needed. That’s just bad management.”

Building and prosecuting cases won’t be the only functions that could be affected, Osler said. The complex process of retrieving stolen funds also could be more difficult. In December, Thompson told reporters that the federal government had recovered up to $70 million, about $30 million of which is in bank accounts.

Feeding Our Future case

Attorney Kenneth Udoibok, who represented Aimee Bock, the alleged “ringleader” in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, said he didn’t expect the resignations to have a significant impact on sentencing in that case or any other fraud matters.

Bock was convicted last year and awaits sentencing. Udoibok has said she plans to appeal.

“It should be a healthy presumption that there is no entity in the United States that can withstand challenges as much as the federal government,” said Udoibok.

He added that he was mostly concerned about any potential changes in the “temperament” of the prosecution team rather than delays in the process.

Aimee Bock, founder and executive director of the nonprofit organization Feeding Our Future, arrives at the Minneapolis federal courthouse with her attorney, Ken Udoibok, right, on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minn. (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

Where do fraud cases stand?

Until 2025, the Feeding Our Future scheme dominated fraud coverage in Minnesota. In that case, prosecutors allege fraudsters claimed reimbursement from the state education department for millions of meals they never served as part of a federal pandemic meal aid program for children.

Last year, a new front opened — a federal investigation into Medicaid fraud became public.

The FBI raided businesses suspected of defrauding a Medicaid-funded state housing program for people with disabilities and addiction in July, and by September seven had been formally charged for stealing at least $10 million.

That same month, another was charged in a $14 million children’s autism services scheme, which Thompson at the time described as the “first in an ongoing investigation.” Federal prosecutors have said these investigations grew out of the Feeding Our Future case.

In response to the fraud cases, Minnesota’s Department of Human Services ended the Housing Stabilization Services program and ordered a third-party audit of 14 “high-risk” Medicaid programs.

Then, in December, federal prosecutors announced a new round of charges. Thompson told reporters he believed more than half of the $18 billion distributed in Medicaid funding through the 14 high-risk programs since 2018 could have been stolen.

State officials disputed that figure, calling it speculative. Walz said Thompson “would have been let go by any other administration” for “speculating” about fraud, but later praised him as a “principled public servant” when he resigned.

Days after Thompson said he believed Medicaid fraud alone could top $9 billion, Nick Shirley, a conservative YouTuber, posted a 43-minute video claiming rampant day care fraud by Somalis could have cost Minnesota more than $100 million.

The video, which garnered millions of views online, was based on existing allegations about fraud in Minnesota’s child care program, which until recently was run by the state’s Department of Human Services and is now under the authority of the Department of Children, Youth and Families, a spin-off agency.

As early as 2018, rumors circulated of fraud in Somali-run day cares receiving state money, including that theft topped $100 million, though the Shirley video did not give proof of theft at the scale alleged.

Homeland Security begins ‘massive investigation’

Following Thompson’s $9 billion allegation and the Shirley video, the Department of Homeland Security began conducting what it called “a massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud.” A social media post in late December showed federal law enforcement agents visiting a business in the Twin Cities area.

By early January, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that her agency, which oversees ICE, would send thousands of agents to Minnesota for “Operation Metro Surge,” an immigration enforcement crackdown in part tied to allegations of widespread fraud committed by Somalis in Minnesota.

Jones, Minnesota’s former U.S. attorney, said big fraud estimates from federal prosecutors ahead of any final charges or indictments were a departure from typical procedure.

“I was surprised how candid the U.S. Attorney’s Office was. One, about talking about the case in real time with cases pending, and two, the estimate of the damages or the losses,” he said. “In the end, all it did was provide a pretext for this administration to say we’ve got to do something about all these illegal immigrants who are committing billions of dollars in fraud.”

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Shortly before the Christmas holiday, officials with St. Paul Planning and Economic Development made the case that a developer should receive nearly $3 million in tax incentives to demolish the three buildings at the northeast corner of Grand Avenue and Victoria Street and replace them with a six-story, mixed-use apartment building.

The St. Paul City Council agreed, voting 5-1 to greenlight Afton Park Development’s plans to tear down the Victoria Crossing East Mall, the former home of the Billy’s on Grand restaurant and a neighboring rental house. In their place will rise a 90-unit market-rate apartment building with more than 12,800 square feet of ground-level restaurants and retail, as well as a level of underground parking.

It’s the type of development some housing and small-business advocates have longed for to expand the city’s tax base and bring more foot traffic to Grand.

“We have the option to not grow or we have the option to grow,” said St. Paul City Council President Rebecca Noecker at the time. “We haven’t seen a completely unsubsidized housing development in St. Paul in a long time. A third-party review found there was a (financial) gap, and the amount of the gap is what we’re allowing.”

Grand Avenue blighted?

Still, even some fans of the project were left scratching their heads.

To grant the developer $2.96 million from a new $9.4 million, 26-year tax increment financing district, state statute required city officials to prove the site was blighted, and that the $44.6 million project would be unlikely to move forward but for public assistance.

Grand Avenue? Blighted? Long celebrated as arguably the city’s toniest small-business district, the avenue has suffered its share of vacant commercial buildings. However, they remain surrounded by bustling boutique shops, restaurants, cafes and apartment buildings, as well as high-end homes on adjoining streets.

Events such as Grand Old Day and the St. Paul Winter Carnival Grande Day Parade draw fans and vendors to Grand from miles away, and a cigar store, a children’s bookshop, multiple bakeries and the Golden Fig Fine Foods gourmet grocer are among the independently owned destinations that add to its appeal.

The Victoria Crossing building on the corner of Grand Ave. and Victoria St. in St. Paul on Thursday, Dec, 19, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

58 TIF districts citywide

The city currently captures 7% of its annual tax capacity for TIF spending, or about $37 million last year, in 58 TIF districts.

That’s raised concerns that financial incentives intended to lure developers to blighted areas are being overused to the point they’re almost an automatic giveaway, even when a property and its surrounding area are not in especially bad condition.

“It’s a seductive tool that a lot of constituencies are going to say, ‘It’s going to increase the tax base,’ which it does not for 25 years,” said Summit Avenue resident Robert Muschewske, a retired management consultant and member of the fiscal watchdog group Insight St. Paul, which opposed the TIF award. “To what degree does a development meet a clear public purpose that it merits a subsidy? Given the location, why does it need a public subsidy at all?”

Developer Ari Parritz has said the new building will increase the site’s $6.5 million value by $20 million. Existing property taxes, which equal roughly $200,000, will continue to flow into the city, county and school district general fund. Over the course of 26 years, the tax increment above that amount will fund the $9.4 million TIF district, including the developer’s $2.96 million pay-as-you-go financial note and $3 million for off-site affordable housing.

The city, in effect, loses nothing financially compared to the status quo, he said, and gains new housing and refreshed storefronts, as well as off-site affordable units, instead of an aging mall. Within Paper Source, the last retail tenant to leave the mall on Jan. 15, tarps were set out in multiple areas to capture falling water during recent snow melt. Even from the exterior, the house neighboring the property shows obvious deterioration, from rotted wood to a sloping front porch.

“This isn’t about Grand Avenue being blighted, or even the intersection being a blighted corner,” explained Parritz, who lives in St. Paul. “It’s literally about the physical infrastructure of the particular buildings. Anyone who doesn’t believe me is welcome to go in and take a look.”

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Three ‘structurally substandard’ buildings

City staff have justified the creation of the $9 million TIF district based on two reports commissioned by the Housing and Redevelopment Authority — a financial analysis from Ehlers Public Finance Advisors and a building inspection and repair-or-replacement analysis from LHB, a Minneapolis-based architectural, engineering and planning firm.

Muschewske, who said he was a regular customer at the Victoria Crossing East Mall, noted he attended a Planning Commission meeting in November to review whether the proposed TIF district was in keeping with the city’s Comprehensive Plan, where it was supported by a close vote of 6-5, and neither report was made publicly available at the time.

In fact, city Planning and Economic Development released both reports to him at the end of December, weeks after the city council had already approved the new TIF district.

“This process needs to be improved,” he said. “There’s no public opportunity to weigh in with any substantive input.”

In a Dec. 10 presentation to the city council, city staff noted that the Housing and Redevelopment Authority had retained LHB “to complete an assessment of the property to determine if the statutory blight test has been met.”

The LHB report, which was published for the city in October, did not specifically use the term “blight.” It did use the criteria allowed by state statute to greenlight new TIF districts — that the buildings were “structurally substandard.” The state defines substandard buildings as those where repair costs to bring a site up to building codes would exceed 15% of the cost of a full structure replacement, not counting energy improvements.

The report estimated that replacing the three buildings with comparable construction would cost about $4.7 million, compared to needed improvements totaling $1.36 million, much of it related to roofing, lighting, HVAC and windows. In other words, code repairs would equal 29% of replacement costs, which is well above the state’s 15% threshold.

The LHB report runs to 56 pages with appendixes, photos and a line-item by line-item description of repair and replacement costs for each building. By statute, at least 50% of the structures would have to be deemed substandard “to a degree requiring substantial renovation or clearance,” and LHB’s Aug. 13 inspection found that 100% of the buildings fit the description.

The Ehlers report and ‘but for’ test

To justify new TIF districts, Minnesota also requires a “but for” test, which means the project would not occur but for a TIF subsidy.

Based on current market conditions, the $44.6 million project would bring a return on investment of 6.02% without TIF assistance, or 6.8% with TIF financing attached, according to the Ehlers report. “In the current market, developers typically need a … yield on cost of at least 7% for financial feasibility,” reads their report. “Based on this, we conclude TIF assistance is warranted for the project.”

The three-page financial analysis from Minneapolis-based Ehlers found that a mortgage loan would cover $28.5 million of the $44.6 million project cost. Equity, or cash and investor stakes, would cover another $12.8 million, and a state grant would cover $350,000.

The project’s total development cost works out to be about $495,000 per housing unit, which “is not uncommon for small projects located on core city infill sites,” reads the report. Even with housing rents of $3.83 per square foot, “which is at the upper end of the market, but appropriate for the location,” the $2.96 million gap remains, unless it’s filled by additional assistance, according to Ehlers.

Muschewske said he and other members of an Insight St. Paul subcommittee focused on TIF spending met with the developer, Parritz, who had previously helped another firm develop the Kenton House, which also added luxury apartments above restaurants to a nearby site on Grand Avenue.

“The developer seems to be a reasonable guy,” Muschewske said. “He developed something down the street successfully without the use of TIF. He claims he was able to do that because interest rates were lower during COVID. But it’s not clear why taxpayers should be on the hook to provide him his investment return.”

‘A sweet opportunity’

Parritz said St. Paul has used TIF sparingly for market-rate housing, which has largely stalled throughout the city. Without an infusion of both public and private dollars, the Grand-Victoria site would remain underutilized.

The Gather Eatery and Bar, the restaurant that came after Billy’s on Grand, closed in January 2025, leaving a large vacant commercial space.

“I wish the public could focus more on creating better tools, instead of blasting the only ones we have that can make an actual difference,” Parritz said.

“The only market-rate housing TIF has been applied to in our city is (downtown) Landmark Tower and, depending upon how you spin it, Highland Bridge, where market-rate housing is supporting affordable housing,” he added. “I continue to talk to investors who are ruling out St. Paul for anything because it’s St. Paul — regulation, politics, rent control, you name it. But things are definitely getting better. … We have a sweet opportunity to get some things going, but we’re still dealing with investor sentiment that has accumulated over decades.”

Construction of the new building is anticipated to start in February and run to the summer of 2027.

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There are three kinds of people: Those who are completely tapped into the popular music of the Grammys; those who use it as a crash course in modern pop; and those who could not care less and will be doing something else on Sunday night.

There are also those who are looking to be outraged about something, but whatever.

If you’re tuning in on Sunday, this year’s ceremony marks the 68th annual Grammys and there will be a lot more than trophies handed out. The performer list is kept under wraps, but is likely to include such top nominees as Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish, Bruno Mars and Sabrina Carpenter.

Comedian Trevor Noah will host the show for the sixth consecutive time, and also the last time. The four-time Grammy nominee is also up for best audio book, narration and storytelling for the children’s story “Into The Uncut Grass.” His competition includes a Supreme Court justice (Ketanji Brown Jackson), the Dalai Lama and a member of Milli Vanilli, so that’s a wild one.

A lot of interesting awards — ones with real musicians — are handed out before prime time in the premiere ceremony at 3:30 p.m. ET on the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel and on live.grammy.com.

The main show will air live on CBS beginning at 8 p.m. Here’s a look at some Grammy storylines:

1. Kendrick’s record-breaking run

The rapper leads the field with nine nominations, putting him in a good spot to become the most Grammy-decorated hip-hop artist of all time. Jay-Z currently tops that list with 25 wins, followed by his former friend and collaborator Kanye at 24. The Kanye total, incidentally, hasn’t moved since he won best rap song with Jay-Z in 2022 for the single “Jail” and best melodic rap performance for “Hurricane.” For whatever reason, Kanye’s 2025 single “Heil Hitler” was not nominated.

In November 2024, a few months before headlining the Super Bowl halftime show, Lamar surprise-released a sixth album, “GNX” (named after his 1987 Buick Grand National Experimental), that topped the charts and landed Top 5 in numerous year-end best-of lists.

Last year, he swept all five of the categories he was nominated in, including his first two wins in the top categories of record of the year and song of the year for his Drake diss track “Not Like Us.”

2. Album of the year is a wide open

Bad Bunny performs during the iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles on March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

The last 10 winners have been Taylor Swift (thrice), Beyonce, Harry Styles, Jon Batiste, Billie Eilish, Kacey Musgraves, Bruno Mars and Adele.

None of them are in the picture this year in a category where someone is going to win their first album of the year award. Lady Gaga and Kendrick will get their fifth crack at it — Kendrick now having had five consecutive AOTY nominations.

Only two rap albums have won it — Lauryn Hill’s “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” (1999) and Outkast’s “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” (2004) — so this would also be the first win for a solo male rapper.

Gaga and Kendrick will compete with Bad Bunny (second time), Justin Bieber (third time), and first-timers Sabrina Carpenter, Tyler, the Creator, Leon Thomas and Clipse (Pusha T & Malice).

3. Gaga watch

Lady Gaga performs during her free concert on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Speaking of Gaga, despite her 14 prior Grammys and status as a pop culture icon, she has never scored a win in one of the major categories: album, song or record of the year.

This year, the singer-songwriter is nominated in all three with “Abracadabra” (record and song) and “Mayhem” (album). Her wins, including two with Tony Bennett and three with Bradley Cooper, have all been in the pop and visual media categories.

As a reminder, song of the year is a songwriter’s award.

4. Best new artist leans Dean

This once-derided category — it was won by Starland Vocal Band and Milli Vanilli — now belongs to the ladies, who swept the last eight in a row and are likely to make it nine.

The prediction platform Kalshi gives Olivia Dean about a 70% chance of winning, with Leon Thomas and Alex Warren a distant second and third. Dean — a British R&B/neosoul singer who has a touch of Sade to her tone and a maturity beyond her 26 years — released her second album, “The Art of Loving,” last year and was in Pittsburgh in October to open for Sabrina Carpenter.

In the unlikely event of a Katseye upset, it would become the first all “girl group” to win the best new artist Grammy.

Also nominated are the Marías, Addison Rae, sombr and Lola Young.

5. K-pop and Spanish breakthroughs

Bad Bunny, who will headline the upcoming Super Bowl halftime show, is in the running for Album (“DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS”) Record and Song of the Year (“DTMF”) — marking only the second time an all-Spanish-language project has been nominated in these top slots.

Meanwhile, Rosé and “KPop Demon Hunters” are the first K-pop acts nominated in the Grammys’ general field categories, with Rosé’s collaboration “APT.” and the “KPop Demon Hunters” hit “Golden” both in contention for song of the year and record of the year.

6. Let there be rock

No one seems to care about rock anymore — except the people who pack arenas and stadiums.

Unlike the top categories, rock has an interesting blend of young blood (Turnstile, Wet Leg, Yungblud) and grizzled veterans (Nine Inch Nails, the Cure, Deftones).

The Cure, which has never won a Grammy, is nominated for the first time in 24 years, for “Songs of a Lost World” (best alternative album) along with best alternative music performance for “Alone.”

Turnstile, one of the best bands to break out this decade, has five nominations and is the first band to be nominated across rock, metal and alternative categories in the same year.

The Kalshi favorite in alternative rock categories is Hayley Williams, the Paramore frontwoman who released her third solo album, “Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party,” in 2025.

The site also favors first-time nominee Yungblud to win best rock performance for his cover of “Changes” from the Back to the Beginning concert that honored Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. It would be a sentimental choice, for sure.

7. Father vs. son

This likely won’t get much attention in the broadcast, but there is a father-son showdown in the newly added category best traditional country album.

Willie Nelson is nominated for his 77th album, “Oh What a Beautiful World,” and his son Lukas, of Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, is nominated for his solo debut “American Romance.”

Asked about being up against his legendary dad, Lukas told the Los Angeles Times, “‘Against’ is a strong word. ‘Alongside’ is better. I mean, the Nelsons have a 40% chance of winning, which is pretty good.”

The only prior example of a father and son being nominated in the same category for separate projects was in 1998, when Julio Iglesias and his son Enrique Iglesias were both nominated for Best Latin Pop Album.

That Grammy went to Luis Miguel for “Romances.”

8. Return of the cover

The other new category is best album cover, which is actually making a comeback.

At the inaugural Grammys in 1959, this award went to the artists behind the moody “Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely.”

Then, the Academy made it complicated. From 1962 to 1965, the award split into classical and non-classical albums. Then, from 1966 to 1968, it split into graphic arts and photography subcategories, before going back to best album cover in 1969.

Of all the iconic rock album covers, only three have ever won: The Beatles’ “Revolver” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club” and “Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits.”

In 1974, it became best album packaging — thus de-emphasizing the cover — and in 1994 it became best recording package.

The first to win best album cover since 1973 will be either the artists behind Tyler, the Creator’s “CHROMAKOPIA,” Bad Bunny’s “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” Djo’s “The Crux,” Perfume Genius’ “Glory” or Wet Leg’s “Moisturizer.”

9. Mac artistry

The ’26 Grammy slate is short on Pittsburgh connections. No Dan + Shay, no Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, no Code Orange (still on hiatus) and no Mac Miller.

Sort of.

There are two competing nominees in best recording package related to the late Pittsburgh rap star: art directors Bráulio Amado and Alim Smith are nominated for the posthumous release “Balloonerism”; and Mac’s brother, Miller McCormick, is up for “The Spins” (Picture Disc Vinyl).

Mac was nominated for one Grammy for a project he worked on personally, for 2018’s “Swimming,” but never won one. It would be pretty wild if his brother did.

10. People you know

The main categories have a lot of young star power. It’s in the Lifetime Achievement Awards where the legends get some stage time.

The Grammys will be honoring Paul Simon (a 16-time Grammy winner), Carlos Santana (a 10-time winner), Chaka Khan (10), Cher (1) and the late Whitney Houston (6) and Fela Kuti, the first African musician to win a Lifetime Achievement Grammy.

They will also honor Pharrell Williams, who began his career in 1992 as part of the production team The Neptunes, with the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award. Black Music Icon Awards will go to Brandy and Kirk Franklin.

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