What a week. Let’s try to send you off in style.
The city of Minneapolis bent its own rules last night, letting a block party and dance night run until 7 a.m. It’s happening two more times this weekend, all to celebrate the life of Prince, the musical icon who rose to fame in Minneapolis and never really left. He was found dead at his studio and home in the suburbs Thursday, and the city has been bathed in purple ever since. We talked with Twin Cities music reporter Andrea Swensson, who got to know Prince over years of covering him. “We like to talk about him like he’s this mystical creature,” she said. “But in reality, he’s just kind of a very shy, sweet, down-to-earth kind of guy.”
Uber is set to pay up to $100 million to settle a class-action lawsuit with drivers in Massachusetts and California, which will be distributed among about 400,000 drivers. There doesn’t seem to be one sole victor in the battle to keep drivers as independent contractors — it was a “split decision,” according to public policy expert Harry Holzer. “Neither side wanted to run the risk of going to trial and losing, so they settled on something that gave the workers something,” he said. Uber drivers will also be getting other benefits: the company will set up drivers’ associations and will no longer be able to prevent a driver’s’ right to work.
“Game of Thrones” returns to HBO this weekend, and on Monday the network will debut “After the Thrones,” a recap chat show. These post-game recaps are becoming a fixture in television’s new Golden Age, and they post big numbers: AMC’s “Talking Dead” attracted 6 million viewers after the season finale of “Walking Dead.” The after-show is a great way to build engagement among an increasingly diffuse TV audience, and they can create kind of a low-cost ratings multiplier if they’re hitched to the right shows.
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