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Home | Opinion Exchange | Commentary | The I-35W bridge collapse

Mostly factual

A correction from Wednesday's New York Times:

Last update: September 18, 2008 - 7:40 PM

MOSTLY FACTUAL

Times' embarrassing correction

A correction from Wednesday's New York Times:

"An article on Tuesday about the award of a new $200,000 prize for playwriting to Tony Kushner misspelled the surname of an actor who appeared in Mr. Kushner's translation of "Mother Courage and Her Children" in Central Park in 2006. He is Kevin Kline, not Klein. The article also misstated the subject of a screenplay Mr. Kushner is working on. In addition to writing one about Abraham Lincoln for Steven Spielberg, he is writing one about Eugene O'Neill, not about Woody Guthrie. (Mr. Kushner is also working on a play for the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.)"

ERIC RINGHAM

WHEELOCK TO BUSH

Foundation gets a star

Pamela Wheelock has proven herself to be both a public- and private-sector executive all-star. Now she plans to round out her résumé by adding service in the philanthropic sector. Word that she'll be joining the Bush Foundation in January as vice president and "leadership/community engagement team leader" is a sign that the foundation is serious about its newly redefined mission, which includes a focus on engaging communities to solve their shared problems. Wheelock has been a standout performer, both as Gov. Jesse Ventura's finance commissioner and the Minnesota Wild's executive vice president and CFO. Her move is a coup for the Bush Foundation and its new president, Peter Hutchinson.

LORI STURDEVANT

THE NEW BRIDGE

It does its job

StarTribune.com readers grade the new Interstate 35W bridge:

Sort of like Block E, this bridge seems like a wasted opportunity to provide the city not only with a landmark but with something relatively iconic and unifying. It's a bridge. It does its job. Like a fork. Or a vacuum cleaner. I just wish there was an aesthetic quality to it that would have gone beyond utility. And I'm not suggesting something gaudy or outlandish. Just a simple nod to something mildly transcendent.

•••

The bridge does the job very well and in record time ... This is how interstate highway system bridges should be done. These are not bridges for making a "design statement," these are functional motorways that carry large volumes of traffic and make our economy work. Save the design flourishes for bridges that don't need ten lanes of traffic and are prominently viewed. Like perhaps the upcoming replacement for the Washington Ave bridge to the U.

•••

Very graceful and elegant. Until you're on it you don't quite realize how big it is. A perfect harmony of art and engineering. Simplicity is a wonderful thing. And the best part? It works! It got me across the river without a scratch!

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