Today is Wednesday, July 16, the 197th day of 2024. There are 168 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On July 16, 1945, the United States exploded its first experimental atomic bomb in the desert of Alamogordo, New Mexico; the same day, the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis left Mare (mar-AY’) Island Naval Shipyard in California on a secret mission to deliver atomic bomb components to Tinian Island in the Marianas.

Also on this date:

In 1790, a site along the Potomac River was designated the permanent seat of the United States government; the area became Washington, D.C.

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In 1862, Flag Officer David G. Farragut became the first rear admiral in the United States Navy.

In 1951, the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger was first published by Little, Brown and Co.

In 1957, Marine Corps Maj. John Glenn set a transcontinental speed record by flying a Vought F8U Crusader jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8.4 seconds.

In 1964, as he accepted the Republican presidential nomination in San Francisco, Barry M. Goldwater declared that “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice” and that “moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”

In 1969, Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy in Florida on the first manned mission to the surface of the moon.

In 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, died when their single-engine plane, piloted by Kennedy, plunged into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

In 2004, Martha Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison and five months of home confinement by a federal judge in New York for lying about a stock sale.

In 2008, Florida resident Casey Anthony, whose 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, had been missing a month, was arrested on charges of child neglect, making false official statements and obstructing a criminal investigation. (Casey Anthony was later acquitted at trial of murdering Caylee, whose skeletal remains were found in December 2008; Casey was convicted of lying to police.)

In 2015, a jury in Centennial, Colorado, convicted James Holmes of 165 counts of murder, attempted murder and other charges in the 2012 Aurora movie theater rampage that left 12 people dead.

In 2017, 10 people died at a popular swimming hole in Arizona’s Tonto National Forest after a rainstorm unleashed a flash flood.

In 2018, after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, President Donald Trump openly questioned the finding of his own intelligence agencies that Russia had meddled in the 2016 U.S. election to his benefit. (Trump said a day later that he misspoke.)

Today’s Birthdays:

International Tennis Hall of Famer Margaret Court is 83.
Violinist Pinchas Zukerman is 77.
Actor-singer Ruben Blades is 77.
Rock composer-musician Stewart Copeland is 73.
Playwright Tony Kushner is 69.
Dancer Michael Flatley is 67.
Former actor and teen model Phoebe Cates is 62.
Actor Daryl “Chill” Mitchell is 60.
Actor-comedian Will Ferrell is 58.
Football Hall of Famer Barry Sanders is 57.
Actor Corey Feldman is 54.
Actor Jayma Mays is 46.
Retired soccer star Carli Lloyd is 43.
Actor AnnaLynne McCord is 38.
Actor-singer James Maslow (Big Time Rush) is 35.
Actor Mark Indelicato is 31.
Pop singer-musician Luke Hemmings (5 Seconds to Summer) is 29.

ATLANTA — Kyle Schwarber went 3 for 3 in the first All-Star Game home run swing-off to put the National League ahead 4-3 following a 6-6 tie in which the American League rallied from a six-run deficit on Tuesday night.

In baseball’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shootout, the game was decided by having three batters from each league take three swings each off coaches. The change was agreed to in 2022 to alleviate the concern of teams running out of pitchers.

Schwarber was named All-Star MVP after going 0 for 2 with a walk in the game.

Brent Rooker put the AL ahead by homering on his last two swings, and Kyle Stowers — subbing for Eugenio Suárez — hit one.

Randy Arozarena boosted the AL lead to 3-1, and Schwarber was successful on all three tries, going down to a knee as he sent the one into the Chop House seats in right.

Jonathan Aranda failed on all three tries, hitting the right-field wall with his second, and the NL didn’t have to use its last batter, two-time Home Run Derby champion Pete Alonso, as it won for just the second time in the last 12 All-Star Games. The AL leads 48-45 with two ties.

Ketel Marte’s two-run double in the first had put the NL ahead, and Alonso’s three-run homer off Kris Bubic and Corbin Carroll’s solo shot against Casey Mize opened a 6-0 lead in the sixth.

The AL comeback began when Rooker hit a three-run pinch homer against Randy Rodríguez in a four-run seventh that included Bobby Witt Jr.’s RBI groundout.

Robert Suarez allowed consecutive doubles to Byron Buxton and Witt with one out in ninth, and Steven Kwan’s infield hit on a three-hopper to third off Edwin Díaz drove in the tying run.

Joe Torre, the 84-year-old former Yankees manager, went to the mound for a pitching change in the eighth to take the ball from Shane Smith and hand it to Andrés Muñoz. The Hall of Famer was picked as a coach by current New York skipper Aaron Boone, who managed the AL.

Heat on the mound

Paul Skenes, the first pitcher to start the All-Star Game each of his first two seasons, struck out Gleyber Torres and Riley Greene in a perfect first that included Aaron Judge’s inning-ending groundout. The 23-year-old right-hander reached 100 mph on four of 14 pitches.

Jacob Misiorowski, a controversial inclusion after pitching in just five major league games in his rookie season, fired nine pitches of 100 mph or more in a one-hit eighth 34 days after his major league debut. The 23-year-old righty, added to the NL roster by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, reached 102.3 mph.

There were 21 pitches of 100 mph or more, down from a record 23 last year but up from 13 in 2023, 10 in 2022 and one in 2021.

Robot umpire debuts

Four of five challenges were successful in the first use of the robot umpire in the All-Star Game
Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh signaled for an appeal to the Automated Ball-Strike System in the first inning, getting a strikeout for Detroit’s Tarik Subal on San Diego’s Manny Machado.

Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson also was successful as the first batter to call for a challenge, reversing a 1-0 fastball from Washington’s MacKenzie Gore in the fifth inning that had been called a strike. Mets closer Edwin Díaz and Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk also won challenges, and Marlins outfielder Kyle Stowers lost one.

Earning a hand

Freddie Freeman was removed for Alonso with two outs in the third inning, giving the crowd of 41,702 a chance to cheer a player who spent 12 seasons with the Braves and helped win the 2021 World Series title.

Styling

Teams were back in their regular-season club jerseys — whites for the NL, mostly grays for the AL — after four years of special All-Star uniforms that were much criticized.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. arrived in a Valentino smoking jacket and Christian Louboutin shoes. Instead of having players line up on the foul lines as they were introduced, they walked to a four-level red podium stretching across the infield dirt with flashing lights, smoke a DJ and dancers.

A referendum to boost operating funds will go to voters in November as the St. Paul school district aims to head-off what they say would be $37 million in budget cuts.

The St. Paul school board unanimously approved ballot language at their Tuesday meeting that will ask voters to increase the district’s general revenue by $1,073 per pupil for 10 years, beginning with taxes payable in 2026. The result will cost the average St. Paul homeowner — with the median home valued at $289,200 — $309 per year or $26 per month. The 10-year tax is subject to increase with inflation.

Voters approved similar referendums in 2018, 2012 and 2006. The 2018 levy gave the district $1,180 per student, or $18.6 million per year plus inflation, in new revenue.

If approved by voters, the increase  will generate approximately $37.2 million per year in additional revenue. The school board approved a $1 billion budget in June for 2026. An estimated $51.1 million budget shortfall is to be covered by $35.5 million in reserve funds and $15.6 million in budget cuts and new revenue, including funds from the levy.

If the levy is not approved by voters, district officials say they expect to make at least $37 million additional budget cuts.

Arts, music, language, cultural programs

A Morris Leatherman study of district residents in June found that 78% supported a property tax increase to maintain educational programs, said St. Paul Public Schools Superintendent Stacie Stanley. And, 74% supported a property tax increase to provide financial stability.

“It’s our arts and music programs, our language and culture initiatives — we have robust college and career readiness programs and pathways,” Stanley said. “And in that survey, our residents told us that is what they appreciate the most about St. Paul Public Schools. So really, this is to maintain and sustain those programs. Because … without this additional funding, we are guaranteed that we will have to cut $37 million for the (2026-2027) school year. And those types of programs would have to be on the table.”

Transportation, security and academic support services also face reductions if the district is not able to find additional revenue, according to district officials.

“And those types of services, again, are things that our families prioritize when they come to us, and they actually cost tens of million dollars to provide,” Stanley said.

Budget strains

If state funding kept pace with inflation each year since 2003, the district would receive $1,470 more per-student than it currently does, or approximately $50 million per year, according to district officials. And, if the district received the same amount in per-pupil funding as the average of districts in the surrounding metro area, such as the Minneapolis Public School District, it would have $1,073 more per student.

“The additional funding support we are seeking is not for enhancements, it is to maintain and sustain what we have now,” Stanley said.

The district’s decision to move the referendum forward comes as public schools nationally face funding uncertainty from federal sources.

Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Monday that Minnesota joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general and two states suing the Trump administration for freezing funding administrated by the U.S. Department of Education.

The funding includes more than $70 million in education funding for Minnesota and $6.8 billion total across the U.S., according to Ellison’s office. At least $7.2 million was for St. Paul public schools, Stanley said.

That funding goes toward programs like adult basic education, services for English learners, training for tenure-track teachers and direct student support, Stanley said.

Referendum has union support

Officials with the teachers’ union St. Paul Federation of Educators expressed support for the referendum Tuesday, citing school districts’ loss of federal COVID relief funding, federal cuts and state funding not keeping pace with inflation.

“Our community understands the reality: our schools are severely underfunded,” said SPFE President Leah VanDassor in a statement. “We simply can’t continue to reduce staff and essential programs without harming students’ opportunities and our ability to keep great educators in our district. This levy is our chance to protect what makes our schools strong.”

A district website with information on the referendum is expected to go live Wednesday at spps.org/vote. Stanley expects to share information at Rondo Days on Saturday and hold community forums.

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The family of a 32-year-old man suspected of shooting and wounding bystanders before getting into a shootout with police in St. Paul last week is apologizing “to the innocent victims” and the community members affected.

Tevin Marcel Bellaphant, who police say died by suicide inside a Cub Foods, has a history of violence and was legally barred from possessing guns, according to court records.

The incident started shortly after noon on Friday when police say Bellaphant pistol whipped someone and fired gunshots in a home in the 1500 block of Jessamine Lane. That case involved a sister of Bellaphant’s and he fled with a 4-year-old cousin, a relative said.

Tevin Bellaphant (Courtesy of the family)

“This is another tragic example of the fact that domestic violence is not a private personal issue, but a public health issue with wide-ranging impacts across entire communities,” Violence Free Minnesota posted on social media Sunday, pointing out that domestic violence “often spills out of homes and into workplaces, stores, places of worship, parks, and far more.”

Officers received reports that Bellaphant was spotted in a nearby Aldi grocery store on Clarence Street near Maryland Avenue. He took out a weapon and fired at police and they returned fire. Bellaphant then fled the store without the child, who was not harmed.

With officers pursuing him, Bellaphant continued to run. As he did, he passed by Destiny Café 2 and shot two women. They were taken to the hospital to be treated for non-life threatening injuries.

Bellaphant continued to run through the Cub Foods parking lot, toward the occupied grocery store, where an officer fired multiple gunshots at him. He entered the grocery store, which officers helped evacuate, and police began negotiating with Bellaphant. Police said he shot himself 10 minutes later.

‘Never learned how to cope,’ family says

Bellaphant’s family said they want people to know that Friday’s events “did not define the type of person he was.”

“He had a big heart” and loved “kids wholeheartedly,” his family said in a statement. “Tevin was the type of person that would call and check on you, come over and help out around the house or with the kids. He would crack jokes with the kids, attend sports, family nights, and listen to school drama.”

Bellaphant lost his mother, uncle and grandmother “and never learned how to cope with the losses,” the statement continued. “He struggled with mental health issues and it led to a drug addiction.”

Bellaphant came from a large family and was the third oldest grandchild. His family said they’re taking his loss hard.

“We would like to say sorry to the innocent victims that were shot, and to the people out in the community … affected by this tragic event,” their statement concluded.

Past charges of domestic violence, attempted murder

St. Paul police asked the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to investigate, since officers fired their guns, and the BCA’s investigation is ongoing.

Bellaphant was prohibited from possessing firearms due to a 2015 sentence for aiding and abetting first-degree burglary, according to a past criminal complaint.

In 2016, Bellaphant was charged with attempted murder and other counts, accused of shooting at two people in St. Paul. They were not injured. After police arrested him, Bellaphant said he’d been in a “beef” with one of the men. Bellaphant was convicted of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.

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His most recent conviction was in 2022 for felony domestic assault, for which he was sentenced to 23 months in prison, Minnesota court records show.

When police were looking for him in that case, after the mother of his child said he punched her in the face, Bellaphant called 911 and said, “Officers arrest me — I hope his bulletproof vest can withstand … cuz I’m gunning they (expletive) down,” according to the criminal complaint in that case.

Bellaphant called 911 a second time and said, “Y’all keep me in custody alive. I’m gonna kill your (expletive expletive) and the judge,” the complaint also said.

For help

The St. Paul & Ramsey County Domestic Abuse Intervention Project can be reached 24 hours a day at 651-645-2824. Help for domestic violence in Minnesota is also available 24/7 through the Day One crisis hotline by calling 866-223-1111 or texting 612-399-9995.

The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline can be reached by dialing 988 and the Crisis Text Line can be contacted by texting “Home” to 741741.