Lynyrd Skynyrd and Foreigner — two Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acts that look more like cover bands these days — will hit the road together next summer with an Aug. 16 stop planned at the new Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday via Ticketmaster.

Both bands had previously embarked on what they called farewell tours and neither feature any original members in the current touring lineups.

Formed in the summer of 1966 by teenage friends in Florida, Lynyrd Skynyrd adopted their memorable name as a dig at a high-school gym teacher named Leonard Skinner who hassled male students with long hair. The band later befriended Skinner after they began to find national success with a sound that blended blues, soul, country and rock. Throughout the early ’70s, Lynyrd Skynyrd established themselves as a must-see live act and scored radio hits with “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Free Bird.”

A 1977 airplane crash killed several band members and seriously injured the others, which led to the end of the group. The surviving members reunited in 1987 and hired Johnny Van Zandt, the younger brother of the late Ronnie Van Zant, to lead them. In the decades since, each of those surviving members died, leaving guitarist Gary Rossington the last original man standing when the band announced their farewell tour in 2018.

That final outing was scheduled to wrap in 2020, but the band ended up postponing or canceling shows due to the pandemic. Lynyrd Skynryd returned to the road in June 2021 and kept the farewell tour running through July 2023, even though Rossington died that March. Six days after the final farewell show, the group launched a joint tour with ZZ Top that continued into 2024.

Foreigner

Kelly Hansen, left, and Bruce Watson of Foreigner perform at Ameris Bank Amphitheater on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Atlanta. (Photo by Paul R. Giunta/Invision/AP)

English guitarist Mick Jones formed Foreigner in 1976 and landed 15 Top 20 hits with original vocalist Lou Gramm, including “Hot Blooded,” “Double Vision,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You” and “I Want to Know What Love Is.”

Gramm left the group in 1990, but returned for another decade-long run two years later. After Gramm’s second departure in 2003, Jones briefly put the band on hiatus before returning to action with a new lineup featuring vocalist Kelly Hansen, who turned out to be an ideal fit for the band.

In late 2022, Foreigner announced they were mounting their final tour, which featured Gramm occasionally returning as a special guest. Jones, who had previously sat out tours due to health issues, stopped performing live with Foreigner altogether in 2023 and, the following year, announced he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Like Lynyrd Skynyrd, the end turned out to be not the end at all. Earlier this year, Hansen officially left the group with guitarist Luis Maldonado, who joined in 2021, taking over as lead singer. In the current lineup, bassist Jeff Pilson is the longest tenured member of Foreigner, having joined in 2004.

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The organizers of Community Thread’s Holiday Hope program are going back to the basics of providing toys for children in need in the Stillwater area.

Holiday Hope will provide individually chosen new and unwrapped gifts for children ages birth to grade 12 facing financial hardship in the Stillwater Area School District. The program’s geographic boundaries previously included Oakdale, Landfall and parts of Woodbury not included in the school district’s boundaries.

As of Friday, more than 300 families had already registered for Holiday Hope, said Cathleen Hess, the nonprofit organization’s development and communications director.

“With everything happening in the world right now and in this country … I think people are feeling a squeeze,” Hess said. “But we live in a giving community. The St. Croix Valley typically steps up when they’re able, when there’s a need, and people are willing to help.”

In 2024, Holiday Hope served 3,013 individuals, including 1,723 children – a record number, Hess said.

Community Thread is collecting new and unwrapped gifts valued at $15 or more for children ages birth to grade 12. Suggested gifts include toys, age-appropriate books (picture and chapter), arts and crafts kits, science kits, room decor for teens, Lego sets, sports memorabilia and sports jerseys.

Instead of giving out gift cards and holiday meals to families, older adults and adults with disabilities this year, Holiday Hope will be distributing Cub grocery gift cards and a grocery product to the organization’s Thrive Program participants – older adults and adults with disabilities – who receive free or reduced-priced memberships, Hess said.

Donations may be dropped off at Community Thread or any local Holiday Hope Collection Site by Dec. 12.

For more information, go to www.CommunityThreadMN.org/Holiday.

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By TERRY CHEA and JANIE HAR, Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A 27-year-old man was charged Monday with murder in the shooting death of celebrated former football coach John Beam, who died Friday after being shot on the junior college campus in Oakland where he worked.

Cedric Irving also faces enhancement charges alleging he personally fired a gun that caused great bodily injury and that the victim was particularly vulnerable, possibly due to age, according to the charging complaint.

The mandatory minimum for first degree murder is 25 years to life. Conviction on a charge that he personally discharged the firearm resulting in death also carries a sentence of 25 years to life.

Leticia Palazzo contributes to a makeshift memorial outside the Laney College Athletics Fieldhouse for Athletic Director John Beam, who was shot Thursday, in Oakland, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (Yalonda M. James/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson is set to speak Monday afternoon on the charges. Irving, who is being held without bail, is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday. The Alameda County Public Defender’s Office said it has not been appointed to represent Irving and declined comment.

Beam was a giant in the local community, a father figure who forged deep relationships with his players while fielding a team that regularly competed for championships. The Netflix docuseries “Last Chance U” focused on Beam and the Laney Eagles in its 2020 season. He’d most recently been serving as the school’s athletic director after retiring from coaching last year.

This photo provided by Peralta Community College District shows Laney College Athletic Director John Beam after Laney won the California state football championship in 2018. (Peralta Community College District via AP)

Officers arrived at Laney College before noon Thursday to find Beam, 66, wounded at the athletics field house. He was treated at a hospital, but died the following day from his injuries.

Irving was arrested at a commuter rail station just after 3 a.m. Friday. He was carrying the firearm used to shoot Beam, and he admitted to carrying out the shooting, according to the probable cause document.

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Oakland Assistant Chief James Beere said the suspect went on campus for a “specific reason” but did not elaborate. “This was a very targeted incident,” he said at a Friday news conference.

Beere did not say how the two men knew each other but said the Irving was known to hang around the Laney campus. Irving’s brother told the San Francisco Chronicle that Irving had lost his job as a security guard after an altercation and was facing eviction at home.

Beam joined Laney College in 2004 as a running backs coach and became head coach in 2012, winning two league titles. According to his biography on the college’s website, at least 20 of his players went on to the NFL.

His shooting came a day after a student was shot at Oakland’s Skyline High School. The student is in stable condition. Beam had previously worked at Skyline High School, and the suspect in that shooting had played football there after Beam had already left for another job.

By ED WHITE, Associated Press

The father of Ron Goldman is closer to getting some money from O.J. Simpson, though it won’t be the millions awarded by a jury decades ago when the late football and movie star was found liable for the young man’s fatal stabbing.

Simpson’s estate has accepted a $58 million claim from Fred Goldman, an amount that far exceeds its assets.

“It won’t be $58 million plus interest, but it will be a voluntary payment. That’s the point,” the estate’s executor, Malcolm LaVergne, said Monday.

LaVergne said he’s still hoping to round up $500,000 to $1 million in total assets.

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Simpson died of prostate cancer in 2024 at age 76. He was found not guilty in the 1994 knife slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman, her friend, in Los Angeles.

But Simpson was taken to court again and found liable for the deaths in a separate civil case. He was ordered to pay the families $33.5 million, an award that has grown with interest.

Fred Goldman hounded Simpson for years and contended that he never willingly paid anything.

LaVergne accepted a claim of $58 million, according to a court document filed Friday in Clark County, Nevada, but not $117 million, the figure that was sought. Accepting a claim signals there won’t be any time-consuming litigation over it.

Fred Goldman’s attorney, Michaelle Rafferty, said the estate has accepted the claim as valid but “it does not constitute payment.”

“We will continue to closely monitor the probate proceedings,” she said in an email.

Simpson lived in a gated golf course community in Las Vegas after serving nine years in prison for armed robbery, kidnapping and assault, all related to a confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers in a hotel room. He typically declined to discuss his finances other than to say he lived on pensions.