Opera House to offer Paulo Padilha

FAIRMONT — Paulo Padilha and Bando, a music ensemble from São Paulo, Brazil, will visit Martin County as part of 2019-2021 Arts Midwest World Fest.

Padilha and his band will bring diverse rhythms of Brazil to school workshops and perform a concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Fairmont Opera House.

Known for humorous lyrics and nimble guitar playing, Padilha has produced several albums. His group includes Leonardo Mendes on guitar; and Samba Sam, Dani Fried and André Magalhãez on percussion.

The Opera House is just beginning an Arts Midwest World Fest partnership with Arts Midwest. During the two-year partnership, four international ensembles will visit Martin County for weeklong musical residencies. Paulo Padilha and Bando is the first of the four. Ensembles from China, Japan and Israel will follow.

Paulo Padilha and Bando will perform small concerts at the following places: 10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Thursday at Graffiti Corner in Fairmont.

Tickets for the Opera House show are available at fairmontoperahouse.org or by calling (507) 238-4900. Office hours are from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Disposal of deer creates headaches

BRAINERD (AP) — Wildlife officials in central Minnesota are discovering it’s not easy to get rid of deer carcasses infected with chronic wasting disease.

Minnesota has been wrestling with the disease since 2016, when it was first confirmed in wild herds in the southeastern corner of the state. This year, the ailment was confirmed in a wild deer in Crow Wing County north of the Twin Cities, the first case outside of the state’s southeastern region. Now every deer shot within a 13-mile radius must be tested.

The discovery has created myriad questions about what the county should do with infected carcasses.

Legislators have set aside $50,000 to set up dumpsters. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is supposed to empty the dumpsters and take the carcasses to landfills.

But Minnesota Public Radio reports that Marv Stroschein, the Crow Wing County landfill manager, refused to accept any infected deer. He said he’s worried prions could seep out of the carcasses and infect the surrounding soil and eventually more animals. Prions are deformed proteins in deer’s brains that cause chronic wasting disease.

The Department of Natural Resources looked into trucking Crow Wing County carcasses to a landfill in an adjoining county, but officials there were hesitant about accepting them after Stroschein refused to take them.