A veteran production manager who has more than 40 years in the entertainment business has been hired to be the new manager of the Washington County Fair.

Paul Hendrickson (Courtesy of Paul Hendrickson)

Paul Hendrickson, 71, of Norwalk, Iowa, previously worked at TMS in Omaha and Insane Impact in Des Moines and served as operations manager of Reliant Park in Houston.

“I’m bringing a lot of experience and industry contacts, which obviously will be very helpful,” said Hendrickson, who also has worked at state and county fairs in California and Washington.

Hendrickson, a member of the International Association of Fairs and Expos, said he is a big fan of the Washington County Fair, which is located in Baytown Township and typically held in late July to early August.

“It operates well,” he said. “It’s a mini version of the Minnesota State Fair is what it is. It’s just easier to get around and obviously closer to parking. Can it grow? Absolutely. They have a lot of open land where the Fair can expand and become bigger, that’s for sure.”

Hendrickson was one of three people who applied for the part-time position.

The Washington County Agricultural Society’s search committee unanimously recommended him to the society’s executive board, said Margot Rheinberger, a member of the board of directors and the search committee. “We hit the jackpot,” she said.

Hendrickson is the father of Beth Thurmes and father-in-law of Ben Thurmes, who is a member of the Washington County Agricultural Society’s executive board, Rheinberger said. Ben Thurmes abstained from the hiring decision.

The previous fair manager, Dorie Ostertag, who also served as treasurer, resigned from both positions on Oct. 21 at the annual meeting of the Washington County Agricultural Society in Baytown Township.

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A bankruptcy court judge approved the sale of a troubled portfolio of rent stabilized units to Summit Properties after their bank made additional funds available for repairs. Tenants and Mayor Mamdani had pushed to delay the sale or find a buyer who would preserve the affordable housing.

Mamdani touring an apartment at a Brooklyn building previously owned by the Pinnacle Group earlier this month. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

A troubled portfolio of over 5,000 rent stabilized apartments will be sold to a new private landlord, a bankruptcy court judge ruled Friday afternoon after lawyers for the Mamdani administration, the New York Attorney General, and organized tenants had intervened to try and stop it.

Residents of the 90-plus building portfolio owned by Pinnacle Group had been pushing a judge to delay Pinnacle’s bankruptcy sale and give the city a chance to vet the buyer and put together a competing offer.

Judge David Jones approved the sale to Summit Properties early Friday afternoon over the city’s objections about the buyer’s ability to resolve thousands of outstanding housing code violations in the buildings.

“I am going to approve the proposed sale,” said Judge David Jones.“I am satisfied that the purchaser… has described a serious and reasonable sounding plan to rectify violations and poor conditions at the properties at issue.”

Zohar Levy, the chief executive officer of Summit, had testified that Summit intends to remedy half of the outstanding violations in the first 60 days of ownership and promised $10 million for repairs in the first year as part of an “immediate action plan.”

The approval was a blow to Mayor Zohran Mamdani and tenants who had hoped to further delay or stop the sale. But if a goal was to bring their future landlord to the negotiating table, they might find a silver lining.

In a packed federal bankruptcy court in lower Manhattan Thursday, lawyers for the city and the prospective new landlord sparred for nine hours over whether the new regime could protect tenants.

Summit is a limited partner in a portfolio of rent stabilized properties in New York City owned by Chestnut Holidings—a 3,000 unit portfolio with over 4,000 open code violations—that also happens to be owned by Jonathan Weiner, brother of Pinnacle owner Joel Weiner.

Eric Snyder, of counsel to the Legal Aid Society, called it “meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” To fund repairs, he called on Summit to commit “money that’s going to be there and not just promises.”

In a somewhat unusual move, Summit’s lender, Flagstar Bank, offered to make a $3 million dollar line of credit available to Summit should they need additional capital to fund repairs in any of their buildings.

Matt Talubas, a Pinnacle tenant from Northern Manhattan, said he came to court Thursday with little hope that tenants could stop the sale.

“We were hoping for even more conditions, if perhaps not a guarantee—some explicit instructions that they would be beholden to,” said Talubas.

The fight may be a sign of what’s to come for a new administration that has promised to flex its power to hold bad landlords accountable.

“The city’s action makes very clear it’s committed to these tenants,” said Judge Jones in court Thursday.

Levy estimated the buildings needed $30 million in investment over the next five years.

He said that was an estimate, not a cap. “If it doesn’t cover it… we will be there,” Levy testified, saying that they could put in more equity, seek a loan, or get bridge financing from Summit if repair needs exceeded expectations.

Summit also said that it would find two new property managers for the portfolio.

The Mamdani administration took office while the bankruptcy case was already progressing, leaving scarce time for their objection.

The mayor’s office and Summit did not immediately respond with comment.

When delaying the sale further proved unfeasible Thursday, lawyers for the city pivoted to securing assurances for tenants in an approval.

“The hope is that there’s more eyes on it, right? And sometimes more eyes means hopefully more accountability,” added Talubas.

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Patrick@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.

The post Judge Approves Sale of More Than 5,000 Rent-stabilized Apartments in Pinnacle Portfolio appeared first on City Limits.

We all know about points, rebounds, assists, etc.

The counting stats get much of the glory in basketball. But how does your team perform when you’re on the floor?

That’s what net rating measures — the points per 100 possessions for your team versus your opponents. The more positive your number, the better your team is playing with you on the court. The more negative? Well, you get it.

Here are Minnesota’s updated individual numbers, with the offensive rating (points scored per 100 possessions), defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) and net rating (offense and defense combined) through 41 games — exactly halfway through the regular season — per NBA.com, with the biggest takeaway from each:

*Note: Players included are those currently in the rotation.

Offensive Ratings

Julius Randle: 120.9

Bones Hyland: 120.8

Donte DiVincenzo: 119.3

Anthony Edwards: 118.7

Jaden McDaniels: 118.0

Rudy Gobert: 114.8

Naz Reid: 114.7

Jaylen Clark: 113.9

Mike Conley: 113.7

Takeaway: Bones Hyland’s numbers are absurd across the board in this edition of the net ratings update, which is a clear indicator of the impact he’s had on the team since re-entering the rotation equation.

Certainly, sample size factors into the equation — he’s played the fewest minutes of everyone on this list this season. But it will be interesting to see how well his ratings hold up over the next month or two.

Randle’s offensive efficiency is absurd and his him punching in the same class as the Knicks, Nuggets and Celtics.

Defensive Ratings

Bones Hyland: 106.0

Rudy Gobert: 107.2

Jaylen Clark: 107.3

Donte DiVincenzo: 110.0

Jaden McDaniels: 111.1

Naz Reid: 111.3

Mike Conley: 113.3

Julius Randle: 114.7

Anthony Edwards: 115.5

Takeaway: Gobert sports the best non-Thunder defensive rating in the NBA for guys who’ve played at least 30 games and average at least 25 minutes, which is another feather in the cap of his Defensive Player of the Year candidacy.

Victor Wembanyama’s defensive rating 103, but he’s almost certainly not going to play enough games to qualify. Chet Holmgren’s defensive rating is a 102.7, and he’s still the current betting favorite to win the award.

What’s interesting is most Thunder players have excellent defensive ratings, whereas Gobert’s gaudy number is a contrast from his other high-profile teammates. Will that help his cause come voting time?

Net Ratings

Bones Hyland: 14.8

Donte DiVincenzo: 9.2

Rudy Gobert: 7.6

Jaden McDaniels: 6.9

Jaylen Clark: 6.6

Julius Randle: 6.2

Naz Reid: 3.3

Anthony Edwards: 3.2

Mike Conley: 0.3

Takeaway: How good is DiVincenzo’s number? Forty-nine players this season have played more than 35 games this season and are averaging more than 30 minutes per contest.

Of those guys, DiVincenzo’s net rating trails only that of MVP-runaway front runner, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Wolves’ guard is positioning himself among the league’s best winners this season.

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By MARK SCOLFORO and HOLLY RAMER

Cumberland, Md. (AP) — Three members of the Zizians, a cultlike group linked to six deaths across the U.S., were in court in Maryland on Friday for a hearing ahead of their trial on trespassing, weapons and drug charges.

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Jack LaSota, Michelle Zajko and Daniel Blank are among a group of young, highly intelligent computer scientists drawn together by radical beliefs about veganism, gender identity and artificial intelligence.

Authorities have described LaSota, a transgender woman known as Ziz, as the apparent leader of the “extremist group.” Since 2022, Zizians have been tied to the death of one of their own during an attack on a California landlord, the landlord’s subsequent killing, the deaths of Zajko’s parents in Pennsylvania, and a highway shootout in Vermont that left another member and a U.S. Border Patrol agent dead.

LaSota, Zajko and Blank were arrested in February after a property owner said he found them living in box trucks on his land in Frostburg, Maryland. Zajko was charged in Vermont with lying on her application to buy the gun used to kill agent David Maland in January 2025, while LaSota faces separate federal charges of being an armed fugitive.

On her way into the courthouse Friday, LaSota accused prosecutors of pressuring the trio to commit perjury by accepting plea deals and said, “They’re violating our speedy trial rights.” Friday’s hearing included the trio’s motions to dismiss the charges along with the logistics of the Feb. 9 trial.

In the Vermont case, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Zizians member Teresa Youngblut, who has pleaded not guilty to murder for her alleged involvement in the shootout. Though she initially faced lesser charges, President Donald Trump’s administration had signaled early on that more serious charges were coming as part of its push for more federal executions.

At the time of the shooting, authorities had been watching Youngblut and her companion, Felix Bauckholt, for several days after a Vermont hotel employee reported seeing them carrying guns and wearing black tactical gear. She is accused of opening fire on border agents who pulled the car over on Interstate 91. An agent fired back, killing Bauckholt and wounding Youngblut.

Two other members of the Zizians group are awaiting trial in connection with the 2022 attack on a landlord in California that left another member dead. Zajko has been called a person of interest in the deaths of her parents later that year, and another member of the group is charged with killing the landlord three days before the Vermont shooting.

Ramer reported from Concord, New Hampshire.