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Ticket prices to the Minnesota State Fair will not increase for 2026, organizers decided over the weekend. The Minnesota State Agricultural Society, the organization that operates the Fair, voted to keep admission and Fairgrounds parking prices steady for this year at its 167th annual meeting in Bloomington. The last time ticket prices did not increase was 2024. For 2026, regular gate admission for adults 13-64 will remain $20; children 5-12 and seniors 65 and older will be $18; children 4 and under will still be admitted free. Pre-Fair discount admission tickets, available now through Aug. 26, are $17 for all ages. Ticket information is available online at mnstatefair.org/tickets. The board also approved about $67 million in expenditures, including the State Fair’s annual $44 million operating budget and $23.2 million in Fairgrounds maintenance and improvements. Most notable among these projects is the massive Lee & Rose Warner Coliseum renovation, which will bring new seats, redesigned entryways and aisles and updated amenities to the arena. Other planned improvements include repairing street and sidewalk pavement, installing new fans in the Food Building, expanding the South Bike Lot and buying portable drinking fountains. “Minnesotans care deeply about their State Fair, and our approach is to make smart investments that honor tradition, set the standard for high-value, high-quality experiences, and ensure the fair’s continued relevance and significance for generations,” State Fair CEO Renee Alexander said in a statement. The Fair is financially self-supporting and does not receive government funding. As for events at the Fair, two Grandstand shows have been announced so far: ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic is set to return for his seventh Fair show on Aug. 28, and Rod Stewart is playing what could be his last large-scale show in the Metro on Sept. 1. State Fair admission costs have been rising rapidly in recent years. Ticket prices are up $5 from the busiest-ever 2019 Fair, the last before the pandemic. Last year’s $2 increase to $20 adult tickets was the largest single-year jump since 2007, when admission was raised from $9 to $11 per adult. Over the past decade, ticket price increases have taken place in 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025. (The 2020 Fair was cancelled due to Covid-19.) Annual Fair attendance remains high, though. More than 1.94 million tickets were sold for the 2025 Fair, making it the busiest Fair since the pandemic and the fifth-best attended of all time. The 2026 Minnesota State Fair runs from Aug. 27 through Labor Day, Sept. 7. Related Articles Rod Stewart to play the Grandstand in what’s likely his final local concert ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic to play MN State Fair Grandstand for the seventh time Joe Soucheray: Marjorie Johnson, award-winning State Fair baker, I owe you a great thanks Legendary State Fair baker Marjorie Johnson, 106, dies

<p>Dans la salle encore éclairée, les pubs s’enchaînent puis arrivent les premières <strong>bandes-annonces</strong>. Musique qui monte, punchlines, images chocs… Vous frissonnez déjà, parfois plus que pendant le film qui suit. Vous sortez en vous disant que le meilleur moment de la séance, c’était presque ces deux minutes de promesse.</p> <p>Sur YouTube ou TikTok, même scénario : vous revoyez le même trailer cinq fois, alors que le long-métrage entier vous laisse plutôt tiède. Ce décalage amuse, intrigue aussi. Des travaux en psychologie montrent pourtant que les personnes qui préfèrent les bandes-annonces au film partagent en général sept <strong>traits de personnalité</strong> bien précis. La curiosité commence ici.</p> <h2>Pourquoi le cerveau peut préférer la promesse au film</h2> <p>Les études sur la <strong>dopamine</strong> décrivent un phénomène surprenant : le cerveau réagit très fort à l’anticipation d’une récompense, parfois davantage qu’à la récompense elle-même. Une <strong>bande-annonce</strong>, c’est exactement ça, un concentré d’attente. Elle suggère des intrigues sans les résoudre, expose des personnages sans tout dévoiler. Pour un profil très sensible à cette montée d’excitation, le trailer donne déjà l’essentiel du plaisir.</p> <p>Autre ingrédient clé, le <strong>biais d’optimisme</strong>. Notre esprit a tendance à combler les blancs avec le scénario le plus flatteur possible. À partir de quelques plans, on imagine le film parfait, profond, drôle, spectaculaire. Quand le récit réel arrive avec ses contraintes de durée, de budget ou de rythme, il ne peut plus rivaliser avec cette version idéale, écrite dans la tête du spectateur.</p> <h2>Les 7 traits de personnalité typiques des fans de bandes-annonces</h2> <p>Les psychologues décrivent d’abord une forte <strong>ouverture à l’expérience</strong>, l’un des grands traits du modèle des Big Five : grande curiosité, goût des idées nouvelles, attrait pour les univers imaginaires. Souvent s’ajoute une imagination très puissante, proche de la personnalité “encline à l’imaginaire” décrite en psychologie. Avec seulement quelques images, ces personnes construisent déjà leur propre film mental, parfois bien plus riche que ce qui sera projeté.</p> <p>On retrouve aussi une vraie recherche de nouveauté et de rythme. Les amateurs de trailers aiment les montages rapides, les changements de décor, les genres qui s’enchaînent. Ils s’ennuient vite quand une scène s’étire, regardent leur téléphone dès que l’action retombe. Chez ceux qui cochent toutes les cases, on observe donc sept tendances récurrentes : cerveau dopé à l’anticipation, biais d’optimisme, grande ouverture, imagination débordante, goût du nouveau, agitation quand le rythme baisse et difficulté à savourer les temps morts.</p> <h2>Comment ces traits influencent votre façon de voir un film</h2> <p>Rester plongé deux heures dans la même histoire demande un engagement émotionnel long. Or, certains profils trouvent plus confortable une émotion en éclairs, intense mais brève, comme celle d’une <strong>bande-annonce</strong>. Ils adorent les pics, beaucoup moins les transitions calmes où l’on installe les personnages. Le résultat, c’est un léger sentiment de “trop peu” une fois le film terminé, même s’il est objectivement réussi.</p> <p>Beaucoup de ces spectateurs sont aussi davantage motivés par les récompenses externes que par le plaisir intérieur de décoder un récit lent. Ils réagissent à la musique qui explose, au montage nerveux, aux punchlines, tous ces éléments poussés au maximum dans les trailers. Rien de pathologique là-dedans, juste une manière particulière d’aimer le cinéma. La connaître permet d’ajuster ses attentes, de choisir des films au rythme adapté, et peut-être de laisser, parfois, un peu plus…

TORONTO – For players like Minnesota Wild forwards Hunter Haight and Ben Jones, who are still working toward every-night spots in the NHL lineup, each game they get to play in “the show” is a gift worth savoring. But when the rash of injuries that had the Wild playing without five veterans again on Monday lines up with the team’s lone visit to Toronto this season, for players like Haight and Jones who grew up near Canada’s largest metro area, it’s a special treat. “I definitely felt like I bled blue for a while,” said Jones of his childhood as a Maple Leafs fan, growing up roughly an hour outside the heart of Toronto. “I went out for lunch with my family yesterday and everyone said that if I got a chance to play here and they saw me on the ice, there would be a lot of tears flowing. It’s exciting for them and kind of a full-circle moment for sure.” Jones, who was skating in his 25th game of the season on Monday, played youth hockey in Toronto on a team with Quinn Hughes when they were kids. Haight, who was slotted in for his fourth NHL game on Monday, was born a little more than 20 miles west of the city and witnessed his first NHL game at the rink where he was working for the Wild. “It’s something you dream of growing up,” Haight said after the Wild’s morning skate on the Maple Leafs’ home ice. “Always watching through their playoff runs and all that. I haven’t been in this building since I was like seven years old.” For Wild coach John Hynes, having seen many players return to their hometowns or their former employers over his coaching career, there’s a balance by the emotional boost from playing in front of friends and family, and the need to focus on the hockey, blocking out any potential distractions. “I think it’s always exciting for guys to be able to come back and play in their hometowns,” Hynes said. “Sometimes it’s no different than if they’re coming back to play for a team they used to play for. Usually it gives them a little bit of extra pop and excitement.” For both players, there was a little more pop in their wallets as well. The Maple Leafs have some of the most expensive tickets in the NHL, and Haight was on the hook for “a bunch” of them with more than 30 friends and family coming to Monday’s game. Jones said his father took him to his first NHL game in Toronto as a kid, and on Monday night, Ben got to return the favor. Briefly Former Gophers star forward Matthew Knies has been a hit in Toronto since he signed with the Maple Leafs just hours after the U of M’s loss in the 2023 NCAA title game. But a nagging lower body injury kept him off the ice for Monday’s morning skate and Toronto coach Craig Berube was unsure of Knies’ availability to face the Wild. “It’s obviously bothering him a lot for quite some time and hasn’t gotten really much better,” Berube said. “Other than when he gets some breaks, Christmas time and stuff, he comes back, it feels better, but it’s an ongoing issue.” Knies, 23, has a dozen goals and 28 assists in 45 games for Toronto this season. Originally from Arizona, he spent two seasons with the Gophers, helping them reach the NCAA Frozen Four in back-to-back years and winning the Big Ten’s MVP award in 2023. Related Articles Five veterans missing, but Wild seek no excuses in road win Depleted Wild rally for overtime win in Buffalo No place like road for funk-mired Wild? Wild hit serious turbulence with Jets in town Jonas Brodin injury means David Spacek’s NHL debut for Wild

Livvy Dunne showcased her effortless off-duty style in a new mirror selfie shared with fans. The LSU Tigers gymnast posed indoors, embracing a relaxed, casual look that quickly caught attention. Dunne posted the photo on Snapchat, where she regularly offers followers a glimpse into her day-to-day life. Livvy Dunne wears a tank top to pose […] The post Livvy Dunne Poses Wearing a Tank Top in Stunning Selfie appeared first on Reality Tea.

By STEPHANIE LIECHTENSTEIN, Associated Press VIENNA (AP) — In the wake of spiraling tensions between the United States and Iran over Tehran’s violent crackdown on protests, analysts warn that the internal upheaval affecting the Iranian theocracy could carry nuclear proliferation risks. While in recent days President Donald Trump seemed to have backed away from a military strike on Iran, he called Saturday for an end to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s nearly 40-year reign in Iran. Trump’s comments came in response to Khamenei branding Trump a “criminal” for supporting protesters in Iran, and blamed demonstrators for causing thousands of deaths. Meanwhile, a U.S. aircraft carrier, which days earlier had been in the South China Sea, passed Singapore overnight to enter the Strait of Malacca — putting it on a route that could bring it to the Middle East. With those dangers, analysts warn Iran’s nuclear material could be at risk as well. Nuclear material could fall into the wrong hands David Albright, a former nuclear weapons inspector in Iraq and founder of the nonprofit Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, said that in a scenario of internal chaos in Iran, the government could “lose the ability to protect its nuclear assets.” He said that Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile “would be the most worrisome,” adding that there is a possibility that someone could steal some of this material. There are historical precedents for such a scenario. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, highly enriched uranium and plutonium suitable for building nuclear bombs went missing due to eroded security and weakened protection of these assets. So far, Iran has maintained control of its sites, even after the U.S. bombed them in the 12-day war in June that Israel launched against the Islamic Republic. Iran maintains a stockpile of 972 pounds of uranium enriched up to 60% purity — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Vienna-based U.N. nuclear watchdog. The agency said in a report last November that it has not been able to verify the status and location of this highly enriched uranium stockpile since the war in June. The agency said in November that therefore it had lost “continuity of knowledge in relation to the previously declared inventories of nuclear material in Iran” at facilities affected by the war. A diplomat close to the IAEA confirmed Monday that the agency had still not received any information from Iran on the status or whereabouts of the highly enriched uranium stockpile. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity in line with diplomatic protocol. Albright said that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium would fit in around 18 to 20 cylinders that are designed for transport, weighing around 55 pounds each. “Two people can easily carry it,” he said of each container. Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Washington-based Arms Control Association, said that there is a risk that the stockpile “could be diverted either to a covert program or stolen by a faction of the government or the military that wanted to retain the option of weaponization.” She said that this risk increases as the Iranian government feels threatened or gets destabilized. Some of the nuclear material could get smuggled out of Iran or sold to non-state actors in the event of internal chaos or potential government collapse, Davenport said. “The risk is real but it is difficult to assess, given the unknowns regarding the status of the materials and the whereabouts,” she stressed. Related Articles Chile fights wildfires that killed 19 and left 1,500 homeless Valentino, fashion designer to the jet set, dies aged 93 in Rome Prince Harry says Daily Mail scoops made him ‘paranoid beyond belief’ Inequality and unease are rising as elite Davos event opens with pro-business Trump set to attend What to know about the…