Joe Curmode would never have expected that doing improv would make him a better police officer.

But because of the University of Chicago’s Policing Leadership Academy, the Columbus Division of Police commander got the chance to learn improv from The Second City, a renowned improv-comedy club in Chicago.

Curmode referred to the improv experience as “yoga for social skills” and found it “incredibly intimidating and weird” at first. But doing group improv exercises quickly became the highlight of the academy for him.

“It was just fantastic learning how to think on your feet,” Curmode said.

Curmode traveled to Chicago and attended the academy in weekly sessions from January to May. He met officers from around the country, from Miami to L.A. to a Native American reservation. The officers still have a group chat where they exchange advice and ask questions.

The academy, which is run by the University of Chicago's Crime Lab, is focused on data-driven decision-making to combat violent crime and improve community relations. It also teaches officers how to create policy and procedures that promote officer wellness.

Curmode and the other officers got to hear from a wide range of guest speakers, from experts in AI to crisis communication to police chief leadership. All of the lessons were backed up by science and data.

“If it were me, I’d send every single commander I know that works in the Columbus Division of Police and in central Ohio to this school,” Curmode said.

Everyone at the policing academy completed a capstone project, which for Curmode was a continuation of his domestic violence co-responder project ACT DV. In this program, advocates responded to scenes of intimate partner domestic violence and provided resources immediately, rather than weeks or months later.

Curmode said he learned several skills and found new resources to improve the pilot project of ACT DV.

A truck driver was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for a Nov. 2023 crash on Interstate 70 in Licking County that left six people dead.

In May, Jacob McDonald was found guilty by Licking County Common Pleas Judge David Branstool of six counts of misdemeanor vehicular homicide and 11 counts of misdemeanor assault.

During sentencing Monday, Branstool gave McDonald credit for time served. McDonald has already served 323 days in jail.

McDonald, 61, was originally charged with more serious charges, including felony aggravated vehicular homicide and felony vehicular assault charges, which would have carried more severe penalties. Branstool did not convict McDonald on those charges.

The six people who died in the crash were John Mosley, 18, Jeffery Worrell, 18, Katelyn Owens, 15, Dave Kennat, 56, Kristy Gaynor, 39, and Shannon Wigfield, 46. Mosley, Worrell and Owens were members of the Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools' High School marching band. Kennat and Gaynor were parent chaperones and Wigfield was an English teacher.

The courtroom heard victim statements from more than half a dozen people whose family members were killed in the crash or injured.

McDonald kept his head bowed for most of the trial and most of the victim statements. It wasn't until Lisa Heuser, who was Shannon Wigfield's sister, called McDonald out that he looked at the speakers.

"We couldn't even have an open casket at her funeral to be able to see her and say goodbye. That is because of you, and you can't even look at me right now," she said.

Heuser said it was a choice for McDonald to not be paying attention to the road before the crash occurred.

"You took the lives of six people, including three children. The victims of the families will never be the same, never. Unless you've suffered this amount of loss, you have no idea what we're going through," Heuser said.

Four members of Wigfield's family spoke at the sentencing. They spoke of Wigfield's life and what she will miss after her death.

Susan Abbuhl, Wigfield's mother, spoke as her other daughter Lisa held her hand.

"A parent should never have to bury a child. It's not natural. It's not right. But it happens. Shannon was like no other," Abbuhl said.

Some of the victims' family members chose to shame McDonald for his actions and Licking County Judge David Branstool for his verdict.

Shawna Fortune's daughter was on the bus and and survived the crash. She wanted Branstool to draw a "legal line in the sand" with his verdict and punish McDonald as a message to other truck drivers.

"Weakness, not courage, was shown by the court, your honor. We still believe in the power of the justice system to create meaningful change, but it won't be with this court," Fortune said. "We shall turn to more competent means to make change and to make an example of Jacob McDonald. The Tusky Valley Six will not have died in vain."

After hearing from each person, McDonald spoke for the first time during the trial.

"I'm very sorry that this happened. I have no clue what happened. I'm not going to lie to you and say I did," McDonald said. "I pray every night to God, I do, for every single one y'all and everybody involved in this accident, I do."

"And you can't say that I have no remorse because I have very much remorse. Every day that I live, I have remorse, every day that I shall live I will have remorse," McDonald said.

The Cooper Elliott law firm today released a statement on behalf of Wigfield's family:

"While we respect the court’s decision, today’s sentence was difficult for Shannon Wigfield’s family to accept. A total of 18 months in prison for a crash that took six lives, including a cherished mother and teacher, is inadequate," the statement said. "We are thankful, however, that the court acknowledged Mr. McDonald’s responsibility. This tragedy was completely avoidable."

When issuing the verdict in May, Branstool said he found McDonald criminally responsible for the collision, but said that the prosecution failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt the element of recklessness, which would have elevated the charges to a felony. He instead said McDonald was negligent, not reckless.

In addition to the prison time, McDonald's license will be suspended for five years. His attorney Chris Brigdon said he's unlikely to work as a truck driver again.

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey showing where groundwater is most at risk of contamination by orphan oil and gas wells.

Appalachia – including parts of eastern Ohio – is high on the list.

“There’s been a long history of oil and gas drilling in the Appalachian Basin, and especially in parts of Ohio,” said Josh Woda, a hydrologist with the USGS New York Water Science Center and one of the study’s authors.

Orphan wells are no longer used to produce oil and gas, and they don’t have an identifiable owner, so the responsibility to take care of them often falls to the state or federal governments. There are more than 20,000 of these wells in Ohio, according to a USGS database.

“But these are just the documented orphan wells,” Woda said. “So there may be more where we actually don’t know where the locations are.”

In Ohio, many orphan wells were drilled a long time ago, when there were fewer regulations in place to protect aquifers.

Woda said both the high number and age of wells in the area make it more likely for them to contaminate groundwater.

How can orphan wells contaminate groundwater?

Orphan wells provide a pathway for contaminants deep underground to get into shallower aquifers.

“So you can imagine if an orphan well was drilled through an underground coal mine that's since collapsed, there might be some concerns there,” Woda said.

The study found that about half of the country’s documented orphan wells are in aquifers that supply over 90% of the water we consume.

“And a fair portion of that consumptive use is from privately owned wells,” said Karl Haase, a research chemist with the USGS and another author of the study. “That means that there is one house or one farm that is drawing from this well. [The water] is not being treated. The aquifer is the treatment system, so if an orphan well leaks into this aquifer that a homeowner is using, that can directly impact them.”

What aquifers are most at risk nationally?

Other areas where aquifers are more susceptible to contamination from orphan wells include the Gulf Coast.

“A lot of orphan wells there were within wetlands or open water, which is an interesting aspect,” Woda said.

He said the California aquifers also stood out because there are orphan wells in areas with intense groundwater withdrawals.

The study doesn’t provide recommendations on how to prevent groundwater contamination, but Haase says it could be used as a launching point for additional research.

“We feel like it helps provide a framework to expand thinking and build on local data that [stakeholders] have about orphan wells,” he said. “It also helps them see where their risks are relative to other parts of the United States. One of the things we wanted to do was provide a national assessment to put everybody on the same scale, so that maybe one municipality could draw on knowledge from another group that may have already been addressing the problem.”

William Perry and his wife, Ingela Travis-Hayward, were home in Columbus this weekend for ComFest after spending weeks on the road.

The pair and a handful of employees and volunteers have spent the spring at music festivals — braving the hot sun, mud and dust — to hand out free naloxone, a medicine that rapidly reverses overdoses.

Since starting their nonprofit, , in Columbus in 2022, they've given away more than 100,000 kits.

Perry said that's important because three out of five overdoses happen when someone else is around. If just one person in the area has naloxone, that can save a life.

Perry grew up in Columbus "running up High Street" and dipping into music venues when he was too young to legally be there. When he was a bit older, he spent his summer traveling to music festivals with friends.

"It was the lifestyle that I lived. Unfortunately, nearly all of those friends are gone now," Perry said.

He spent a decade in an Ohio correctional facility for his own drug use. There, he decided he wanted to make a positive contribution to the world. He couldn't bring back the friends he'd lost, so he made it his mission to save others.

This Must Be The Place was right at home at ComFest in Goodale Park this past weekend. This is This Must Be The Place's fourth year the festival, and Perry said ComFest was the first organization to give them a grant, to the tune of $1,800.

ComFest spokesman Marty Stutz said like other community organizations at ComFest, This Must Be The Place is there to share information and resources.

"Their efforts are to save lives and make people aware of the dangers of the federal epidemic in our society today," Stutz said.

Perry said getting more naloxone into the community matters even more now, as future funding for harm reduction groups remains amid federal cuts. Meanwhile, overdose deaths across the nation are inching slightly back up for the first time in about 17 months.

����ÿ�մ���'s Allie Vugrincic caught up with Perry last week after he returned from the Nelsonville Music Festival. It was the second year This Must Be The Place was at that festival.

Allie and Perry's conversation has been lightly edited for time and clarity:

PERRY: We were able to go down (to Nelsonville Music Festival) and make sure that all staff and anybody else that wanted it had Narcan on hand, just in case something happens at the festival. But you know, nothing did, as often happens. And then all of those doses, all those kits make it back into the communities.

ALLIE: Is that the goal — to get as much out there in the community as possible?

PERRY: Within the harm reduction community, we refer to it as saturation. And you could almost refer back to COVID when everybody wanted herd immunity. Our goal is always to get it into the hands of at least 5% of the community that we're serving, which means one in 20 are carrying Narcan. That actually does create quite the layer of safety.

ALLIE: So let's back this up. I'm curious about the name: This Must Be The Place. Where did that come from?

PERRY: So, "This Must Be The Place" (by Talking Heads) is one of my favorite songs of all time. We also knew that although we have an office here in Columbus, our work is not done out of that office. And, you know, I refer back to the lyric from that song that says, 'home is where I'd like to be, but I guess I'm already there.' And so every time that we set up wherever anyone will allow us to set up an outreach, a distribution, that's home.

ALLIE: Do you find that the festival communities are welcoming, or is there sometimes a stigma in some groups that are afraid to let you guys set up?

PERRY: It's both. First of all, there was a lot of trepidation about the legalities and whether or not this was promoting drug use. A lot of the festivals, their response was, 'well, who else is doing it?' And we were really lucky that a production company out of Cleveland — they actually threw the Wonder Bus Festival here in Columbus and three others — and they said, 'we really love this initiative and we'd like you to do all four.' And next thing you know, we're doing festivals like Bonnaroo and Burning Man, and we're taking trips out to Seattle to do festivals.

ALLIE: So, I've never been to a music festival like that. What are you guys doing on the daily?

PERRY: We set up a booth with an enormous sign that says, "free naloxone." Very simple. And they usually put us in a really heavily trafficked area, somewhere where people maybe have to walk from one stage to another. And we train folks up, and actually, at some of the larger festivals, we end up with a line, which shows that they're willing to wait to get the stuff. We do an optional questionnaire at the end of the training. It's not the folks that you would think that are walking up to this. It's not someone who's about to go do some drugs. These are, at about a 55% clip, complete and total non-drug users. People are tired of the opioid epidemic. They're tired of people dying and they're willing to jump in and help no matter what their station in life is.

ALLIE: Do you wanna be a lifesaver?

PERRY: Yeah, you wanna save some lives today. That's really what it comes down to. Would you save a life if you had the opportunity to? I think it's important to say that right now we find ourselves in really divided times as to who's at fault for the fentanyl epidemic. And there's a lot of our so-called leaders that wanna point blame for this. We have to do something because they are not (doing anything). That something is keeping each other safe. And that is literally all it comes down to. Our goal has always been to work ourselves out of a job, but as long as there's a need...this must be the place, we'll go there and that'll be home.

This Must Be the Place to be at The FairWell Festival in Redmond, Oregon on July 18 and 19 and Lollapalooza in Chicago from July 31 to Aug. 3.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine took a break from reviewing the two-year state budget that he’s set to sign next week. He said there will “certainly be something” he’ll veto, but he wouldn’t give too many hints.

that the 5,500-page budget was delivered—in four boxes on a cart — to DeWine’s office at 5:08pm on Friday.

The budget includes a 2.75% flat income tax, a 40% cap on the collected property tax that school districts can hold as a percentage of their operating budgets, and a $600 million grant to the Cleveland Browns for a domed stadium development in Brook Park financed with unclaimed funds.

DeWine said his office was "wallpapered" with pages from the budget as he and his staff started working on it. He spent time at a celebration of the 200^th anniversary of the Ohio-Erie Canal in Newark, dressed in period clothes and a top hat that First Lady Fran DeWine said was an heirloom from her family.

“I think every governor has vetoed something in a budget. So sure, certainly there will be something,” DeWine said. “We’re trying to be respectful of the state legislature but at the same time exercise my constitutional obligation that I owe the people of the state of Ohio.”

DeWine vetoed 44 items in the current budget when he signed it two years ago, 14 in the budget before that, and 25 in the first budget he signed. DeWine is term-limited and has not announced any plans to run for office again.

But DeWine pushed off questions about specific items in the budget, and that he’s have more to say on Tuesday when he’ll make his veto announcements.

DeWine praised the budget for maintaining the Science of Reading initiative and sets deadlines for required training to be completed. But he has suggested he’s not a fan of the flat income tax, which is a cut for people making over $100,000 a year.

He said an event earlier this month: “The type of income tax cut we need in Ohio is to help working families. And the best income tax to help working families is a child tax credit that I have proposed, which would be $1,000 for every child under the age of five that you have.”

cut that credit out of DeWine’s initial budget, and cut the doubling of a tax on sports gambling operators to create a sports and cultural facilities fund.

While lawmakers did bring back that fund, they created it by taking $1.7 billion of the $4.8 billion the state is holding in unclaimed funds. And Republican legislators also hacked DeWine’s $270 million request for his clean water program H2Ohio to $165 million, and cut his increase in funding for public libraries.

When asked about the 40% cap, DeWine said: "This is a state that, by and large, gives due respect to the local communities in regards to running their schools. We have some things, some goals and things they have to meet, which is correct. Every child should have certain advantages. But as far as the financing and other things, we leave a lot of that to the local community."

DeWine has been getting veto requests from library supporters and —who are requiring libraries ensure material on sexual orientation or gender identity can't be seen by minors.

Libraries said that's close to censorship and likely unconstitutional, and could take libraries with large collections years to accomplish and cost millions of dollars.

He's also gotten veto requests from , advocates for low-income Ohioans, and Republican Attorney General Dave Yost, who asked DeWine to strike the Browns stadium money.

“I don’t have a vote or a veto in the legislative process, but like every citizen, I have a voice,” Friday. “I oppose not only this funding mechanism but also its intent: billionaires should finance their own stadiums – full stop. Ohio taxpayers cannot be left on the side lines while the wealthiest score with public money.”

DeWine also commented on the Trump administration terminating temporary protected status for Haitian refugees. A said the “environmental situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home”.

"Haiti is not safe. It’s one of the most dangerous places in the world,” said DeWine, who established a school named for his late daughter Becky in Port-au-Prince and continues to work with a priest there. “It’s a horribly, horribly violent place today, and things have not gotten better. They’ve actually gotten worse. Those are just the facts.”

Thousands of Haitians under TPS are legally living and working in Springfield, and employers there have said they need those employees. as "hardworking people" who "care about their families".

“We talked to the management of those companies, and they basically said, look, if we didn’t have these Haitians, we couldn’t fill these slots, and we can’t produce what we need to produce,” DeWine said, adding that an auto parts manufacturer told him they wouldn’t be able to make their deadlines to the big auto makers. “Those are the simple facts. Those facts have not changed.”

President Trump and Vice President Vance shared false and racist rumors about Haitians in Springfield during last year’s campaign, which DeWine and Springfield officials called out as baseless and untrue—though DeWine did say .

When asked if he’s talked to Trump or Vance, DeWine said “I don’t want to talk about my discussions with anybody else, but I think everybody knows what I say. And look, we’re just trying to tell the truth of what’s going on here in Ohio and what the situation is.”

J.M. Smucker Co. plans to remove artificial colors from its products by the end of 2027.

Orrville, Ohio-based Smucker said Thursday it will also remove synthetic dyes from foods sold to K-12 schools by the 2026-2027 school year.

Smucker said the majority of its products — including its Uncrustables sandwiches — are already free of synthetic dyes. But some products still have them, including sugar-free jams and ice cream toppings.

Smucker said some products from Hostess, which it acquired in 2023, also contain artificial colors. Twinkies are made with Red 40 and Yellow 5, for example, while Snoballs snack cakes are made with Red 40 Lake, a dye combined with aluminum to keep it from dissolving in water.

Smucker joins a growing number of big food companies that have announced plans to eliminate artificial dyes. Earlier this week, Nestle and Conagra Brands — the parent company of Duncan Hines — both said they would phase out synthetic dyes. and General Mills made similar pledges last week.

The federal government has stepped up its scrutiny of artificial colors in recent months. In January, days before President Donald Trump took office, the U.S. regulators from the nation's food supply, nearly 35 years after it was barred from cosmetics because of potential cancer risk.

In April, Trump's Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the agency would take steps to eliminate synthetic dyes by the end of 2026, largely by relying on voluntary efforts from the food industry.

Copyright 2025 NPR

The Ohio Council of the American Society of Civil Engineers released its report card for critical state infrastructure Wednesday, just hours before floor votes on , the budget that allocates $60 billion in state funds.

The state report card, which ASCE every four years federally and state-by-state, lifted Ohio from a cumulative “C-minus” to a “C,” in line with the ASCE national report card.

The engineering society did not change the grades it gave drinking water and wastewater systems, calling them “severely” underfunded statewide.

But the final version of the budget slashes funding to H2Ohio, a multi-agency clean water initiative Gov. Mike DeWine established in 2019. Under HB 96, which lawmakers finalized at 1 a.m. on Wednesday, the state Environmental Protection Agency and Departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources will have way less to work with in 2026 and 2027. Across agencies, the cuts account for about 40% of funding.

“It’s technically accurate to say (we) cut H2Ohio, but we took the money and paid for other similar things, or other things like funding brownfield programs, historic tax credits, a number of things like that,” said House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima).

Kathleen Dreyfuss-Wells, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, said in an interview water issues deserve more attention.

“That when you flush your toilet, it gets treated,” Dreyfuss-Wells said. ”That when water falls on your property, it gets managed.”

The report did lower the state’s rail infrastructure grade from a “B” to a “B-minus,” largely due to the East Palestine derailment in 2023. The grade is one of the highest letters Ohio saw. Still, ASCE is recommending further federal and state investments in railroad crossings to reduce accidents.

Jim Pajk, a longtime engineer and advocate with the engineering society, said the state’s marks suffer too because of little investment in passenger rail.

“It is the one thing Ohio truly lacks between our major cities,” Pajk said in an interview.

Budget conference committee members also removed two earmarks for passenger rail and restructured a state commission to favor freight rail.

“Every time you get into a conference committee, there are negotiations, and some things get in, some things get taken out, and I wouldn’t read too much into it,” said Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon).

The state’s eight largest school districts are asking Gov. Mike DeWine to veto parts of the budget. The districts say if he doesn't, it will make it harder for them to operate effectively and will make it more difficult to attract and retain teachers.

The Ohio 8 is a consortium of Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Lorain, Toledo and Youngstown school officials.

Jeff Talbert is the Ohio 8 co-chair and superintendent of Canton City Schools. He called on DeWine to veto the provision that limits schools to carrying over collected property tax that amounts to 40% of their operating budgets. Districts would have to refund property taxpayers anything over that 40% cap. Talbert said many districts are carrying over dollars because they don't get enough from the state and they need to be fiscally responsible.

“Ten, 11, 12 years ago, when we were asking for more money, they (state lawmakers) told us we needed to be more fiscally responsible, maybe put money away for a rainy day," Talbert said. “When we do that, now they say we have too much money set aside for a rainy day. So we are asking the governor to solve the problem that has caused this, make a more comprehensive plan to handle property taxes, but don’t do this and take money away from schools.”

Republican legislative leaders have been critical of schools carrying over higher amounts. But Talbert said if this goes through, public schools won't have enough money to operate and will have to go back to taxpayers more often to stay afloat.

Talbert said the group also wants DeWine to veto two provisions involving the State Teachers Retirement System. One would change the makeup of the pension fund’s board, taking away elected teachers in favor of appointed administrators. Talbert said that would make it harder for teachers to have representation. Another provision would limit contributions from schools. Talbert said that would make it more difficult to recruit good teachers and employees.

The Ohio 8 coalition is also concerned about a section on transport students to private and charter schools.

Public school districts are required to provide that transportation. A work group has been looking into bus driver shortages and other issues. Talbert said the recommendation in this budget deals only with what happens to transportation to private schools when public schools are closed. He said the language is short-sighted and will not solve the problem. Talbert said the better idea is to come up with a comprehensive plan that deals with all of the issues involving school transportation.

Talbert also wants DeWine to scratch a change in the formula that involves 20-mill floor funding for districts. Talbert said the change will result in schools having no mechanism to deal with inflation.

Overall, Talbert said public schools feel this budget treats them unfairly.

"I think we are at a point right now where for some reason, public education has a target on its back," Talbert said, adding it seems elected representatives "don't see the value in funding public education."

The budget passed the Ohio Legislature without a single vote from Democrats in the House and Senate, and with half a dozen Republicans opposed as well. DeWine is expected to sign the budget by June 30.

The Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District (SID) works to keep downtown Columbus clean and safe.

The SID is funded by private property owners and provides safety, environmental maintenance and outreach services.

Ryan Jefferson is one of three outreach specialists who have assisted 83 individuals in getting off the street this year.

“I think the day to day for the outreach team is, you know, going out, finding folks who are, you know, living on the land, and just kind of engaging, building rapport with each one of them and ultimately assisting in any way that they feel necessary,” Jefferson said.

Tyjuan Jones and Michael Watts are two of the SID's eight safety ambassadors and they're both team leads. The role of these ambassadors is to conduct well-being checks and engage with individuals in crisis. On Thursday, they were on their bikes, stationed at the SID’s Pearl Market.

During this heat wave, they’ve been working to support unhoused people deal with the hot weather.

“Recently we've been checking places, what we call 'hot spots,' where we know for a fact that individuals are sleeping. We'll engage with them. We carry water in our bags. We'll try to get them to some of the cooling centers, like, for example, the library,” Jones said.

Ambassadors keep lists of cooling centers, shelters, food pantries and other necessary resources that unhoused people in the community can access. During this heat wave COTA buses are free, but normally outreach specialists would also provide unhoused people with bus passes when needed.

Throughout the winter, there are a lot more shelters for unhoused people to go to, according to Watts. During the sweltering summer months, this can be a problem for unhoused people.

“And I'd say the biggest thing for us, we build a big rapport,” Watts said.

Watts noted that the ambassadors are very familiar with unhoused people in the area. Unhoused people typically know that the ambassadors carry food and water and can help out with other issues. SID’s outreach specialists will help unhoused people get proper identification and help them find housing or get them into treatment centers.

“I would say that it's very rewarding when we are able to successfully get someone off the streets and into shelter or even housing,” Jones said.

The Columbus Gay Men’s Chorus (CGMC) is celebrating its 35th anniversary and Pride Month with its “35-N-Thrivin'” concert this weekend.

All of the music performed in the show was written and performed by well-known LGBTQ+ artists before they turned 35. The concert will include songs by Janelle Monae, Nemo, George Michael, Ned Rorem, Tracy Chapman, Chappell Roan, Ricky Martin and Elton John.

CGMC has anniversary shows for all its milestone anniversaries.

Brayton Bollenbacher, CGMC's artistic director, makes the major decisions involving the chorus' song choices, props, sets and choreography.

Putting together a concert like this is a long process for Bollenbacher, who starts by developing a theme and finding songs to bookend the performance. He considers musical relevancy, diversity, meaning, genre and licensing when searching for the right songs.

“I think as we wrap up Pride Month, and during such a difficult time when we are seeing legislators trying to attack LGBTQ rights, I think that finding the community that we have is so important right now,” Bollenbacher said.

He added, “And being able to really focus on the community’s ability to change and to love and this concert really allows us to do that, and it highlights a lot of queer musicians that I think a lot of people didn't realize were queer.”

CGMC’s large chorus has around 140 members and performs three concerts per year. With its two smaller ensembles, Vox and Illuminati, and youth chorus, The Columbus Queerscendos, they typically have six concerts per season.

The “35-N-Thrivin'” concerts will happen Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Riffe Center's Davidson Theatre.