Today is Sunday, Aug. 24, the 236th day of 2025. There are 129 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew smashed into Florida; the storm resulted in 65 deaths and caused more than $26 billion in damage across Florida, Louisiana and the Bahamas.

Also on this date:

In 1814, during the War of 1812, British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to the still-under-construction Capitol and the White House, as well as other public buildings.

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In 1912, Congress passed a measure creating the Alaska Territory.

In 1932, Amelia Earhart embarked on a 19-hour flight from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, making her the first woman to fly solo, non-stop, from coast to coast.

In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty came into force.

In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Communist Control Act, outlawing the Communist Party in the United States.

In 1981, Mark David Chapman was sentenced in New York to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.

In 1989, Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti (juh-MAH’-tee) banned Pete Rose from the game for betting on his own team, the Cincinnati Reds.

In 1991, in response to a coup attempt by hardline Communist leaders attempting to reassert control over the Soviet Union, Ukrainian parliamentarians voted to approve a Declaration of Independence for the state of Ukraine.

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union declared that Pluto was no longer a full-fledged planet, demoting it to the status of a “dwarf planet.”

In 2012, a Norwegian court found Anders Behring Breivik guilty of terrorism and premeditated murder for twin attacks on July 22, 2011, that killed 77 people; he received a 21-year prison sentence that can be extended as long as he is considered dangerous to society.

In 2018, the family of Arizona Sen. John McCain announced that he had discontinued medical treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer; McCain died the following day.

In 2019, police in Aurora, Colorado, responding to a report of a suspicious person, used a chokehold to subdue Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man; he suffered cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital and was later declared brain dead and taken off life support.

In 2020, Republicans formally nominated President Donald Trump for a second term on the opening day of a scaled-down convention; during a visit to the convention city of Charlotte, North Carolina, Trump told delegates that “ the only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election. ”

Today’s Birthdays:

Composer-musician Mason Williams is 87.
R&B singer Marshall Thompson (The Chi-Lites) is 83.
WWE co-founder Vince McMahon is 80.
Author Paulo Coelho is 78.
Actor Anne Archer is 78.
Author Alexander McCall Smith is 77.
Composer Jean-Michel Jarre is 77.
Author Orson Scott Card is 74.
Poet Linton Kwesi Johnson is 73.
Actor Kevin Dunn is 70.
Former Arkansas governor and political commentator Mike Huckabee is 70.
Actor-writer Stephen Fry is 68.
Actor Steve Guttenberg is 67.
Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. is 65.
Actor Jared Harris is 64.
Talk show host Craig Kilborn is 63.
Actor Marlee Matlin is 60.
Basketball Hall of Famer Reggie Miller is 60.
Film director Ava DuVernay is 53.
Actor-comedian Dave Chappelle is 52.
Actor James D’Arcy is 51.
Actor Carmine Giovinazzo (jee-oh-vihn-AH’-zoh) is 52.
Actor Alex O’Loughlin is 49.
Author John Green is 48.
Actor Chad Michael Murray is 44.
Actor Rupert Grint is 37.
Basketball player Kelsey Plum is 31.

“You’re giving me Soundset vibes.”

So said Slug to a crowd of 12,306 at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand Saturday night. And that stood to reason, for the Minneapolis-reared rapper born Sean Daley – half of the duo, Atmosphere – was standing mere blocks from where the hip-hop festival he helped found spent many a Memorial Day weekend: The State Fairgrounds’ Midway area.

One could say that Saturday’s show was something like a smaller-scale Soundset, which usually hosted dozens of acts and about 30,000 people and was last presented in 2019. Atmosphere was a Soundset constant, and the acts that preceded them to the stage had all played that festival at least once: Their fellow act from local label Rhymesayers, DJ Abilities, the reunited and perpetually light-hearted Pharcyde, charismatic “conscious rapper” Lupe Fiasco and one of the genre’s superstar acts of the ‘90s, the unfailingly aggressive Cypress Hill.

It proved a tremendously satisfying five-hour show, with every act embracing it as an opportunity to bring their A game alongside colleagues they greatly admire. In a field known for competitive one-upmanship, this seemed more a joyous rap party.

Unlike Soundset, this wasn’t just a one-off evening: These acts have been touring together this summer. On this night, Atmosphere headlined, presenting a powerful set that reminded those in attendance that Slug remains among the most courageously vulnerable acts in the genres, a heart-on-his-sleeve poet of the genre, be he expressing angry heartbreak or reflecting on the loss of his father. And when he was joined near set’s end by fellow Rhymesayer Brother Ali for some improvisational freestyling, it felt more like Soundset than ever.

That said, Cypress Hill was a hard act to follow. Despite it being three decades since the Los Angeles foursome’s popular heyday (when they placed albums atop the pop charts), the group remains impressively committed to its material. The distinctive high, nasal voice of B-Real still sounds like he’s holding a hit while rapping, and it remains an effective instrument as he holds forth about guns and ganja atop infectious bass lines.

If B-Real had competition for the most magnetic performer of the evening, it was Chicago’s Lupe Fiasco, a master of mixing up the pace and dynamics of his songs and set. Fiasco can spit out rapid-fire lyrics with the best of them, which made it all the more affecting when he shifted gears to the smooth, sweet tale of love among skateboarders, “Kick, Push,” and led a full-crowd sing-along in the balladic “Superstar.”

Add smile-inducing contributions from the fun-loving Pharcyde, and it was a wonderful re-summoning of the spirit of Soundset.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.

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CHICAGO — Mick Abel’s first pitch to Colson Montgomery missed badly, well wide of the zone. His second pitch to the Chicago White Sox shortstop was right over the heart of the zone. And Montgomery didn’t miss it, bashing a pitch left over the heart of the zone out to right field.

A day after Royce Lewis hit a grand slam, Montgomery returned the favor, his second-inning blast helping spoil Abel’s Twins debut in Chicago’s 7-3 win on Saturday night at Rate Field.

The grand slam capped a six-run inning for the White Sox and came immediately after the Twins’ rookie had issued a bases-loaded walk to bring home the go-ahead run. All told, the White Sox had three singles, a pair of walks and a home run in the second against Abel as they took firm control of the game. Five of the six runs they scored came with two outs.

Abel, acquired as part of the return from the Philadelphia Phillies for star closer Jhoan Duran, lasted three innings in his first start as a Twin.

Projected to be a rotation piece for the Twins moving forward, Abel began his Twins career in Triple-A, making three starts for the Saints before the Twins called upon him Saturday. It marked just the seventh start of his career for Abel, who was the 15th overall pick in the 2020 draft and is now among the Twins’ top pitching prospects.

After his departure, Thomas Hatch came on in relief and threw five strong innings, giving up just a solo home run and helping keep the game in check, but the Twins could never pull back even.

All three Twins runs came via the solo home runs — Kody Clemens hit one in the second inning, Matt Wallner his 17th of the season in the fourth and Lewis his second in as many days in the seventh.

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Almost Twins: Two new players could pass for each other

CHICAGO — It was just over three weeks ago that the Twins’ front office went on a trading spree, shipping players north, south, east and west as they tried to reshape and retool a roster that had been underperforming for nearly a full calendar year.

They received, in return, a handful of players years away from reaching the majors and some much, much closer.

Among that group, Mick Abel, considered to be the best pitching prospect received at the deadline and Taj Bradley, who has lost his top-prospect status because he has spent large parts of the past three seasons in the majors.

And yet, the Twins left those two in Triple-A, choosing to patch together the rotation for weeks around Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and Zebby Matthews. No more.

Now, finally, the Twins are getting their first looks at two players whom they believe will be a big part of their rotation moving forward.

Abel, acquired for Jhoan Duran from Philadelphia, started the second game of the series against the Chicago White Sox on Saturday and Bradley, acquired for Griffin Jax from Tampa Bay, is in Chicago and is expected to start on Sunday.

“When you see something new and exciting in a lot of ways and guys that you feel like can really help you going forward for a long time, you’re going to show up to the field in a real good mood. And it’s also going to give you a lot to talk about and work with going forward, too,” manager Rocco Baldelli said.

The Twins opted to leave both of them in Triple-A to begin their stint in the organization, letting them settle in in a lower-pressure environment. Baldelli reached out to both, connecting over the phone to welcome them. Each made three starts with St. Paul before the Twins came calling.

Now, they’ll both have a chance to show the Twins what they can do over the final weeks of the season.

“I just think the ability to get my feet wet in a new organization, new philosophies, new adjustments that need to be made … the pitching side of things and how they look at the scouting reports and the stuff they value as a starting pitcher in their organization. It was great to do that in a less stressful environment,” Bradley said.

Bradley arrives

A day after Abel showed up in the Twins’ clubhouse, Bradley followed suit.

“It felt like a long time coming,” he said. “I was excited when I got the call.”

Bradley had spent most of the season in the majors with Tampa Bay before being optioned to Triple-A shortly before the trade deadline. He has made at least 21 starts in each of the past three seasons and this season, he has a 4.61 earned-run average through 111 1/3 innings.

His focus has been on refining his splitter, which he said he had always called his changeup.

“Everything else seems solidified, and they trusted it enough,” he said. “The split was just where they thought I could take my game to the next level.”

Briefly

The Twins and White Sox will wrap up their series in Chicago on Sunday, after which the Twins will travel to Toronto to finish their road trip.

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