Maybe it had something to do with a bout with illness that led to the cancellation of his most recent concerts, but Hank Williams Jr. arrived at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand Wednesday night seemingly in a reflective mood. The artist dubbed “Bocephus” by his legendary father leaned heavily upon his dad’s legacy and his own reputation for fusing country with southern rock. Yet he decided to do some storytelling, too.

Williams seized an opportunity to honor his ancestors, spinning tales of his childhood encounters with such mentors as Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis, and invoking the name of Johnny Cash more than once, dropping in a bit of “I Walk the Line” and pointing out that June Carter Cash was his godmother.

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And, while he did pump up the adrenaline levels for the crowd of 7,331 with rocked-up takes on his father’s “Move It On Over” and “Mind Your Own Business,” this show proved most memorable when he let the band leave the stage and mixed stories with his songs in a solo setting.

Such as a stint at a baby grand piano for Domino’s version of his father’s “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and a summoning of Lewis’ manic spirit on “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.” Add a lengthy stint at center stage with only an acoustic guitar and microphone and you have a pretty darn satisfying concert that bore a valedictory feel, a sense that, if this is his last time at the fair, Williams wanted to be remembered as part of an ongoing legacy in both country and rock and roll.

And he’s among those who spliced the two genres, to which he nodded when his seven-piece band joined him for a mid-concert rave-up with extended quotes from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Gimme Three Steps” and ZZ Top’s “Waitin’ for the Bus.” Even amid all the reflective fare, it served to remind the audience that Williams found stardom more as a rocking rowdy than a balladeer.

He picked a tough act to follow when asking Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives to open for him. Stuart and Williams are both part of the Country Hall of Fame’s class of 2020, and – if anyone thought Williams’ set a little too low-key – they could make no such complaint about Stuart and company.

Mixing Bakersfield twang, rockabilly, surf rock, Byrds-esque jangly guitar pop and some breathtaking bluegrass with Stuart tearing it up on mandolin, it might have been the most exciting set the Grandstand has hosted in several years that fell under the broad umbrella of country.

A 59-year-old Cass Lake woman died Tuesday after her boat crashed into the shore on Leech Lake in Cass County.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office responded to the crash at 1:25 p.m. on the south shore of Leech Lake, near the Walker City Park. According to a news release from the sheriff’s office, deputies and responders arrived and found a 2016 Regency Tri-toon crashed on the shore. The Cass Lake woman was located unresponsive in the watercraft.ke Bertha Storm Clouds June 12, 2024, Video By Ricky Buchanan

She was removed from the watercraft. Lifesaving efforts weren’t successful.

The woman, whose name was not immediately released, was the only person on board the watercraft at the time of the incident. An autopsy is scheduled with the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office.

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A shooter opened fire Wednesday morning during Mass at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, killing two children and injuring 17 other people before dying by suicide, officials said.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the shooter, 23-year-old Robin Westman, did not have an extensive known criminal history, acted alone and had legally purchased the weapons recently.

A law enforcement official told the New York Times that investigators believe the attacker was a former student at the school and the suspect’s mother is a retired school employee.

Videos on YouTube

O’Hara said authorities are aware of a video showing writings that the shooter had timed to be released on YouTube.

It “appeared to show (the suspect) at the scene and included some disturbing writings,” O’Hara said. With the assistance of the FBI, the content has since been taken down and “it now remains under active review by our investigators,” the police chief said.

According to the Associated Press, in one video that lasts about 10 minutes, the alleged shooter shows weapons and ammunition, many with sayings written on them including the phrases “kill Donald Trump” and “Where is your God?” Some are in Cyrillic.

The person holds up a letter to relatives, sings the word “tomorrow” and says, “I’m sorry to my family … that’s the only people I’m sorry to.”

A second, almost 20-minute video shows two journals with stickers, some depicting weapons. The alleged shooter flips to what looks to be a drawing of the layout of the church, points to two outside windows and then stabs the illustration with a long knife.

Gender identity, family

Federal officials referred to Westman as transgender, and Frey decried hatred being directed at “our transgender community.”

In 2020, a judge approved a petition, signed by Westman’s mother, asking for a name change from Robert to Robin, saying the petitioner “identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.”

Former Kentucky state lawmaker Bob Heleringer told The Associated Press he is Westman’s uncle, but had not seen Westman in a few years.

“He was my nephew, and I wish he had shot me instead of innocent schoolchildren,” Heleringer said during a phone interview. “I barely knew him. They (Robin’s family) never lived in Louisville. They lived in Minnesota.”

RISE Dispensary employment

Westman was employed by RISE Dispensary, a chain of cannabis dispensaries in Minnesota, for several months earlier this year, according to a RISE spokesperson.

“This individual was not employed by the company at the time of the incident,” the spokesperson said in a statement.  “We are deeply saddened by the tragic events that occurred today in Minnesota. Our deepest condolences go out to the victims, their families, and the entire community impacted by this senseless act of violence.”

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By MARK SHERMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — Louisiana on Wednesday abandoned its defense of a political map that elected two Black members of Congress and instead called on the Supreme Court to reject any consideration of race in redistricting in a case that could bring major changes to the Voting Rights Act.

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Indiana legislative leaders met privately with Trump to discuss redistricting

Appealing to a conservative-dominated court that has been skeptical of the use of race, Louisiana is advancing a position that could allow it and other Republican-led states in the South to draw new maps that eliminate virtually all majority Black districts, which have been Democratic strongholds, voting rights experts said.

“If Louisiana’s argument prevailed at the Supreme Court, it would almost certainly lead to a whiter and less representative Congress, as well as significantly less minority representation across the country in legislatures, city councils, and across other district-based bodies,” UCLA law professor Richard Hasen said in an email.

The state’s high court filing was in response to the justices’ call for new briefing and arguments in the Louisiana case, which they first heard earlier this year. Arguments will take place on Oct. 15.

“Race-based redistricting is fundamentally contrary to our Constitution,” Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill wrote.

Voting rights groups defending the second Black majority district urged the court to reject the state’s constitutional challenge.

A second round of arguments is a rare occurrence at the Supreme Court, and sometimes presages a major change by the high court. The Citizens United decision in 2010 that led to dramatic increases in independent spending in U.S. elections came after it was argued a second time.

When the court first heard the Louisiana case in March, several of the court’s conservative justices suggested they could vote to throw out the map and make it harder, if not impossible, to bring redistricting lawsuits under the Voting Rights Act.

The case involves the interplay between race and politics in drawing political boundaries.

Just two years ago, the court, by a 5-4 vote, affirmed a ruling that found a likely violation of the Voting Rights Act in a similar case over Alabama’s congressional map. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined their three more liberal colleagues in the outcome.

That decision led to new districts in both states that sent two more Black Democrats to Congress.

Now, though, the court has asked the parties to answer a potentially big question: “Whether the state’s intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments to the U. S. Constitution.”

Those amendments, adopted in the aftermath of the Civil War, were intended to bring about political equality for Black Americans and gave Congress the authority to take all necessary steps. Nearly a century later, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, called the crown jewel of the civil rights era, to finally put an end to persistent efforts to prevent Black people from voting in the former states of the Confederacy.

While the high court has pared back the law in the past dozen years, it has sustained the provision that allows challenges to political districts that can be shown to deprive minority voters of the chance to elect representatives of their choice.

In the arguments in March, Louisiana defended the congressional map as an effort to comply with court rulings and preserve districts held by powerful Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson.

The court fight over Louisiana’s congressional districts has lasted three years. Two maps were blocked by lower courts, and the Supreme Court has intervened twice. Most recently, the court ordered the new map to be used in the 2024 election.

The state’s Republican-dominated legislature drew a new congressional map in 2022 to account for population shifts reflected in the 2020 Census. But the changes effectively maintained the status quo of five Republican-leaning majority white districts and one Democratic-leaning majority Black district.

Civil rights advocates won a lower court ruling that the districts likely discriminated against Black voters.

The state eventually drew a new map. But white Louisiana voters claimed in their separate lawsuit that race was the predominant factor driving it. A three-judge court agreed, leading to the current high court case.