Today is Tuesday, July 1, the 182 day of 2024. There are 183 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On July 1, In 1991, President George H.W. Bush nominated federal appeals court judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, beginning an ultimately successful confirmation process marked by allegations of sexual harassment.

Also on this date:

In 1863, the pivotal, three-day Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, resulting in a Union victory, began in Pennsylvania.

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In 1867, Canada became a self-governing dominion of Great Britain as the British North America Act took effect. Called Dominion Day until 1982, the national holiday is now known as Canada Day.

In 1903, the first Tour de France began. (It ended on July 19, won by Maurice Garin.)

In 1944, delegates from 44 countries began meeting at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, where they agreed to establish the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

In 1963, the U.S. Post Office inaugurated its five-digit ZIP codes.

In 1973, the Drug Enforcement Administration was established.

In 1984, the first movie rated PG-13 (“Red Dawn,” starring Patrick Swayze) debuted.

In 1997, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule after 156 years as a British colony.

In 2004, actor Marlon Brando died in Los Angeles at age 80.

In 2015, after more than a half-century of hostility, the United States and Cuba declared their intent to reopen embassies in each other’s capitals, leading to a historic full restoration of diplomatic relations between the Cold War foes.

In 2018, LeBron James announced that he would be signing with the Los Angeles Lakers, leaving Cleveland for the second time in his career.

In 2019, 15-year-old Coco Gauff, the youngest player to qualify at Wimbledon in the professional era, defeated 39-year-old Venus Williams in the first round.

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor-dancer Leslie Caron is 94.
Actor Jamie Farr (TV: “M*A*S*H”) is 91.
Dancer-choreographer Twyla Tharp is 84.
Actor Genevieve Bujold is 83.
Rock singer Deborah Harry (Blondie) is 80.
Actor Terrence Mann is 74.
Rock singer Fred Schneider (The B-52s) is 74.
Pop singer Victor Willis (Village People) is 74.
Actor-comedian Dan Aykroyd is 73.
Actor Alan Ruck is 69.
Mystery novelist Louise Penny is 67.
Singer Evelyn “Champagne” King is 65.
Olympic track champion Carl Lewis is 64.
Actor Dominic Keating (TV: “Star Trek: Enterprise”) is 62.
Actor Pamela Anderson is 58.
Actor Henry Simmons is 55.
Hip-hop artist Missy Elliott is 54.
Actor Julianne Nicholson is 54.
Singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens is 50.
Actor Liv Tyler is 48.
Hockey Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla is 48.
Actor Hilarie Burton is 43.
Actor Lea Seydoux (LEE’-uh say-DOO’) is 40.
Actor-singer Chloe Bailey is 27.
Actor Storm Reid is 22.

New Minnesota laws are set to go into effect Tuesday, July 1. The Legislature wrapped up is business in a special session that ended several weeks ago following the regular session.

Here are some of the more notable changes:

Boating permits

Minnesota will now require safety training for some boaters as part of a new licensing program that will expand to include more people in coming years.

As of July 1, those between the ages of 12 and 21 have to take a water safety course and test to get a watercraft operators permit before operating a motorboat.

The online course offered by the state Department of Natural Resources has a $34.95 one-time fee and the permit is good for life.

Right now, the permit requirement applies only to people born after June 30, 2004, but by 2028 it will expand to people born after 1987. No one born before that will have to get a permit.

Visitors from out of state are exempt if they don’t use state waters for more than 60 days. Backers say the boating license requirement will improve safety.

Boats of anglers fill the St. Louis River estuary for the May 12, 2018, Minnesota fishing opener in Duluth, Minn. (Clint Austin / Forum News Service)

Minors in content creation

Minnesota has a new law aimed at protecting children and teens involved in online content creation.

Someone who profits from online videos where 30% or more of the content uses a minors’ likeness will have to keep records on how often the minor appears and how much money they make from videos.

Creators also will have to create an account to pay the minor until they reach adulthood. Starting at 13, minors can ask a creator to delete any content where they appear.

People between the ages of 14 and 18 are allowed to make online content and must receive the profits.

Kids under 14 are banned from working in online continent creation. If they do appear, they are entitled to all the profits.

Free water requirement at events

Ticketed entertainment events with 100 or more people in attendance will have to provide free water, allow attendees to bring their own in unopened water bottles or allow them to bring an empty water bottle.

Under the new law, venues can restrict the kinds of bottles attendees can bring and areas they can bring water as long as there is an area within the ticket space where water is available.

New cannabis tax

As part of a tax bill deal this year, Minnesota is raising the tax on legal cannabis sales from 10% to 15%. That’s on top of the regular sales tax rate of 6.875%, bringing the total tax on products like beverages and edibles containing THC, the psychoactive part of cannabis, to just under 22%.

It will be higher still in cities and counties with their own sales taxes. St. Paul, for instance, has a total sales tax rate of 9.875%, making the tax on local cannabis sales almost 25%.

A selection of products for sale at Gray Area Cannabis on St. Paul’s Grand Avenue on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Lane splitting, filtering

Motorcyclists can now pass other vehicles by riding between lanes in traffic that is headed in the same direction, a practice known as “lane splitting.”

There are some restrictions. Motorcyclists can’t go any more than 15 mph faster than other traffic. The max speed for lane splitting is 25 mph.

“Lane filtering” is where motorcyclists move between lanes of stopped traffic. The maximum speed for lane filtering in Minnesota is 15 mph. Neither splitting nor filtering are allowed in roundabouts, school zones or in one-lane work zones.

End of ‘shotgun-only’ zone for hunting

For more than 80 years, hunters in the southern parts of Minnesota were banned from using rifles and instead had to shoot large game with slugs from shotguns, muzzle loaders and handguns.

A bill that passed during the June special session ends that restriction, which had been in place since 1942.

Supporters of the change, including the National Rifle Association, say it’s an antiquated rule from a time when the state was trying to increase its deer population. Backers also say there’s little evidence that the shotgun-only rule had any positive safety effect.

New state symbols

This year’s state government package creates new state symbols. The state constellation is Ursa Minor, also known as the Little Dipper.

One of the seven stars in Ursa Minor is Polaris, also known as the North Star. Minnesota’s motto is L’etoile du Nord, French for “the star of the north.”

Minnesota also has a new state fossil. The giant beaver, or Castoroides ohioensis, joins other state symbols after a years-long push spearheaded by the Science Museum of Minnesota.

Giant beavers are thought to have been extinct for around 10,000 years, and fossils have been found in Minnesota. They were roughly the size of a small bear, according to museum materials promoting the giant beaver as the state fossil.

Castoroides ohioensis, a prehistoric giant beaver, which was found in the Twin Cities area and in Freeborn County. The beaver weighed more than 200 pounds and was the size of a small bear. (Courtesy of the Science Museum of Minnesota)

Education changes

This year’s education bill funds schools but it also included a few policy changes.

Districts will be able to start the school year before Labor Day in 2026 and 2027 when the holiday falls on Sept. 7 and Sept. 6, respectively. A provision of the K-12 education budget gives schools the ability to start as early as Sept. 1 in those years, when Labor Day is on the Sept. 7 and Sept. 6, respectively.

The education bill also allows high school students to administer opioid overdose-reversing medication to other high school students.

Anti-fraud measures

State agencies can withhold payments to programs for 60 days if they believe it is more likely than not that they are defrauding the government. The state also boosted whistleblower protections.

State lawmakers have been working to develop more counterfraud measures in the wake of the Feeding Our Future case, where federal prosecutors say fraudsters made off with $250 million in pandemic meal aid meant for needy children.

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When Lucy McAllister moved to Afton in 1973, the city hadn’t had a Fourth of July parade since “the ladies wore long dresses,” she said.

The American Revolution Bicentennial Administration that same year sent out guidelines to city officials around the country describing how their cities could gather to celebrate the nation’s 200th birthday in 1976, said McAllister, who was appointed chairwoman of the Afton Bicentennial Committee by then-Mayor Don Scheel.

“There were three key themes: heritage, festivals and horizons,” said McAllister, 87. “One of the suggestions under ‘festivals’ was to hold a parade. I knew we wanted a parade. When we reviewed the suggestions, everyone agreed, ‘Oh, yeah, we ought to have one.’”

McAllister, a flutist, also came up with the idea of having a town band perform in the parade. The Afton Schooner Band, which plays John Philip Sousa-type marches, started with the 1975 “Dress Rehearsal Parade” for the 1976 Bicentennial Parade; Vice President Walter Mondale was the grand marshal in 1976, she said.

“Some of the first people to come to Afton came in horse-drawn wagons. They were called ‘prairie schooners,’” McAllister said. “We had to have a wagon because so many of us were too old to march. That’s how we came up with the Schooner Band.”

The Afton Parade Committee has selected McAllister to serve as this year’s grand marshal.

“I was really surprised by the invitation, but I am going to enjoy it,” McAllister said. “Years ago, the grand marshal rode in a horse and buggy, but I think I’ll be in a convertible.”

‘Because of Lucy’

McAllister spent her career working in art education; her husband, Loring McAllister, worked in mental health. Over the years, the couple hosted 13 foreign-exchange students at their home in Afton and became volunteers in various community projects.

McAllister was an obvious choice for the honor, said Afton City Council Member Stan Ross, who serves as chairman of Afton’s Fourth of July Parade committee. “Because of Lucy’s efforts, the parade was a great success and remains an important tradition for Afton,” he said.

The parade, which attracts thousands of spectators, starts at 1 p.m. Friday. People wanting a good view of the parade — which starts on the north end of town, travels south for about three-quarters of a mile, turns around and comes back — are expected to start claiming spaces along St. Croix Trail on Thursday night, Ross said.

This year’s volunteer band is the biggest yet, McAllister said.

Lucy McAllister at the 2023 Fourth of July parade in Afton. (Courtesy of Lucy McAllister)

“It’s just really a surprise,” she said. “The group that I had last year included people who are savvy with social messaging, so they actually did some of the recruiting. I was floored when I kept getting phone calls and emails from people wanting to join.”

Rehearsals have started, but it’s not too late to join, she said, particularly if you play the bassoon or oboe.

“A bassoon and an oboe, that would be wonderful,” McAllister said. “We have so many people this year that they are not all going to fit on the wagon anyway, so they’ll be walking along the side. It’s a little tricky since the parade passes by itself. We’ll have to figure out if we want people on both sides, or just one side.”

McAllister said she plans to convene the band around 10:30 a.m. Friday, lead the last rehearsal, get the wagon decorated and then head to the start of the parade to begin her grand-marshal duties. “I will probably be holding my flute in my hand,” she said.

For the record, this isn’t the first time McAllister has been tapped to be grand marshal.

“I turned it down a couple of years ago,” she said. “I wanted to ride on the band wagon.”

Afton Schooner Band

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Musicians of all ages and skill levels are invited to join this year’s Afton Schooner Band; the next rehearsal is at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Afton Historical Museum. Participants should bring a music stand.

The band will gather at 10:30 a.m. Friday for a short rehearsal before riding a decorated float in the parade.

One major Afton Schooner Band perk is free parking by the side of the museum if band members show their instruments.

For more information or to get music to practice in advance, contact Lucy McAllister at lucymcallister5@gmail.com or call 651-503-6122 and leave a message.

When the 3M Open descends upon TPC Twin Cities in Blaine from July 24-27, tournament director Mike Welch said he is expecting the deepest field to date.

There are a number of high profile golfers already committed, including Tony Finau, who won the 3M Open in 2022, Sam Burns, who recently finished in the top 10 at the U.S. Open, and Max Homa, who is trying to get his career back on track.

The expectation from Welch is that additional commitments from other high profile golfers should be rolling in over the next couple of weeks.

The biggest challenge for the 3M Open when it comes to locking down some big names is the fact that it immediately follows the Open Championship. The travel from different parts of the United Kingdom to the Twin Cities isn’t exactly the most palatable.

Though it’s placement in the PGA Tour schedule has prevented the 3M Open from trotting out a bunch of superstars in the past, Welch remains bullish on the current field, which also includes defending champion Jhonattan Vegas.

Here’s a look at some of the highest ranked golfers already committed to play at the 3M Open:

Maverick McNealy

World Golf Ranking: No. 16

Analysis: Though he might not be recognizable to the casual fan, McNealy has steadily improved since turning pro nearly a decade ago. He has put together a solid campaign this year, highlighted by finishing in second place at the Genesis Invitational, third place at the RBC Heritage and fifth place at the Memorial Tournament.

Sam Burns

World Golf Ranking: No. 21

Analysis: There was a brief moment a few weeks ago when it looked like Burns was going to win the U.S. Open. He was the solo leader heading into the final round at Oakmont Country Club and was firmly in contention down the stretch before soggy conditions got the best of him. He’s currently the best putter on the PGA Tour this season when it comes to strokes gained on the green.

Wyndham Clark

World Golf Ranking: No. 30

Analysis: After winning the the U.S. Open in 2023, it looked like Clark was on a rocket ship to becoming a household name. Instead, he has struggled with consistency in all facets of his game, a concerning trend that has continued this year. He’s currently on the outside looking in for the FedExCup playoffs. The top 70 players in the FedExCup standings qualify, and Clark is ranked No. 77.

Akshay Bhatia

World Golf Ranking: No. 35

Analysis: The highlight for Bhatia so far this year came when he finished in third place at the Players Championship. There has been a noticeable drop off in the aftermath. He hasn’t finished in the top 10 since. He also notably missed the cut at the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open.

Taylor Pendrith

World Golf Ranking: No. 39

Analysis: There have been some impressive performances from Pendrith this year. Whether it’s finishing in ninth place at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am, fifth place at the Houston Open, or most notably, fifth place at the PGA Championship, he has turned himself into somebody that’s capable of contending on a weekly basis.

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