But for Michelle Granoski of La Grange, Kentucky, digital tools enhanced her courtship with Shawn Granoski, the man who would become her husband.

CNN: How technology has changed romance

Sandbags were holding back the murky Mississippi from La Grange City Hall, a bank and a handful of threatened homes, and the water was receding.

WSJ: Midwest Cities Fight Off Floodwaters

Hundreds of miles to the southeast, in La Grange, Mo.

WSJ: Midwest Cities Fight Off Floodwaters

Scientists with the Coast Guard Research and Development Center and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conducted experiments in a section of the Illinois River called the La Grange Reach, where Asian carp are well established.

WSJ: Study: Asian carp unlikely to stow away in barges

As if in homage to that lost work, Robbins operates on the mural principle, moving gaily and with high technical fluency from penniless actors (John Turturro and Emily Watson) to sincere socialites like Countess La Grange (Vanessa Redgrave) and a ravishing Fascist named Margherita Sarfatti (Susan Sarandon).

NEWYORKER: Cradle Will Rock