Shortly after the Saint Paul Downtown Alliance was created, Emma Burns was hired as an executive assistant and project manager. A year later, she became director of operations and now manages the day-to-day finances of the nonprofit's $3 million budget.

In an untitled pencil drawing, a high school student depicts a young man sporting an afro hairdo, mustache and glasses offering skeptical side-eye to action unfolding just beyond the edges of the canvas. In the mixed-medium "Plastic for Dinner," actual trash spills from the plated belly of a painted fish, an environmental indictment of our polluted oceans, as crafted by an eighth-grader.

Saint Paul's History Theatre will bring back the immensely popular musical "Glensheen" for the seventh time since its 2015 world premiere. The musical will run from July 8 through 23.

After a stint in the Navy, Melvin Carter Jr. became a police officer who, over 28 years on the Saint Paul force, saved the lives of ordinary citizens and trained generations of officers. Beloved by both the Black and law enforcement communities, Carter is well known in the Twin Cities, where he founded the nonprofit Save Our Sons. His name has now gone national because his son, Melvin Carter III, is the first Black mayor of Saint Paul.

Carter's life story also is being told onstage. "Diesel Heart," his 2019 autobiography, has been adapted by Brian Grandison into a play that premieres Saturday at Saint Paul's History Theatre.

The Star Tribune caught up with the Carters in several interviews recently.