Today is Wednesday, Aug. 21, the 234th day of 2024. There are 132 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Aug. 21, 1831, Nat Turner launched a violent slave rebellion in Virginia, resulting in the deaths of at least 55 white people; scores of Black people were killed in retribution in the aftermath of the rebellion, and Turner was later executed.

Also on this date:

In 1858, the first of seven debates took place between Illinois senatorial contenders Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.

Related Articles

Today in History: August 20, Soviets invade Czechoslovakia

Today in History: August 19, last U.S. combat troops leave Iraq

Today in History: August 18, 19th Amendment gives women the vote

Today in History: August 17, Clinton admits to Lewinsky affair

Today in History: August 16, American music loses two legends

In 1911, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris. (It was recovered two years later in Italy.)

In 1944, the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and China opened talks at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington that helped pave the way for establishment of the United Nations.

In 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an executive order making Hawaii the 50th state.

In 1983, Filipino politician Benigno Aquino Jr. was assassinated as he exited an aircraft at Manila International Airport. (His widow, Corazon Aquino, would become president of the Philippines three years later.)

In 1991, a hardline coup against Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev collapsed in the face of a popular uprising led by Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin.

In 1992, an 11-day siege began at the cabin of white separatist Randy Weaver in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, as government agents tried to arrest Weaver for failing to appear in court on charges of selling two illegal sawed-off shotguns; on the first day of the siege, Weaver’s teenage son, Samuel, and Deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan were killed.

In 1993, in a serious setback for NASA, engineers lost contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft as it was about to reach the red planet on a $980 million mission.

In 2000, rescue efforts to reach the sunken Russian nuclear submarine Kursk ended with divers announcing none of the 118 sailors had survived.

In 2010, Iranian and Russian engineers began loading fuel into Iran’s first nuclear power plant, which Moscow promised to safeguard to prevent material at the site from being used in any potential weapons production.

In 2015, a trio of Americans, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Spencer Stone, National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos and college student Anthony Sadler, and a British businessman, Chris Norman, tackled and disarmed a Moroccan gunman on a high-speed train between Amsterdam and Paris.

In 2017, Americans witnessed their first full-blown coast-to-coast solar eclipse since World War I, with eclipse-watchers gathering along a path of totality extending 2,600 miles across the continent

In 2018, Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, pleaded guilty to campaign-finance violations and other charges; Cohen said Trump directed him to arrange the payment of hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal to fend off damage to his White House bid. (Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to the payments in May 2024.)

In 2020, a former police officer who became known as the Golden State Killer, Joseph James DeAngelo, told victims and family members in a Sacramento courtroom that he was “truly sorry” before he was sentenced to multiple life prison sentences for a decade-long string of rapes and murders.

Today’s Birthdays:

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer James Burton is 85.
Singer Jackie DeShannon is 83.
Film director Peter Weir is 80.
Football Hall of Famer Willie Lanier is 79.
Actor Loretta Devine is 75.
Two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin is 70.
Actor Kim Cattrall is 68.
Former NFL quarterback Jim McMahon is 65.
Rock musician Serj Tankian (System of a Down) is 57.
Actor Carrie-Anne Moss is 57.
Google co-founder Sergei Brin is 51.
Singer Kelis (kuh-LEES’) is 45.
TV personality Brody Jenner is 41.
Olympic gold medal sprinter Usain (yoo-SAYN’) Bolt is 38.
Country singer Kacey Musgraves is 36.
Soccer player Robert Lewandowski is 36.
Actor Hayden Panettiere (pan’-uh-tee-EHR’) is 35.
Comedian-singer-filmmaker Bo Burnham is 34.

SAN DIEGO — Jurickson Profar flailed at Bailey Ober’s changeup low in the zone, dropping down to one knee as he swung through it.

That at-bat ended the sixth inning and concluded Ober’s reign of dominance over the San Diego Padres. The next time the left fielder came to the plate, he rocked a three-run home run to left field in the eighth inning, helping lift the Padres to a 7-5 win over the Twins.

In between those two Profar at-bats, the Padres rallied to tie the game with Manny Machado, responding to chants of his name from the crowd, finally solving Ober in the seventh inning.

His two-run home run was just the Padres’ fourth hit all night. It tied the game and ended Ober’s night.

The Twins answered back quickly, though, putting the first three batters of the eighth inning on base. Twins catcher Christian Vázquez, fresh off the bench, came through with a pinch hit single, bringing home a pair of runs to give the Twins the lead back ever so briefly and provide some new life.

But Steven Okert couldn’t hold that advantage, causing the Twins’ second bullpen blowup in their past three games.

The lefty was summoned to face a run of left-handed batters, but instead he first faced pinch hitter Donovan Solano, who singled to center to begin the bottom of the eighth inning. Luis Arraez, a lefty, singled, as well, before Profar, a switch hitter batting right-handed, smacked his 20th home run of the season to give San Diego the lead back.

The Padres would tack on one more run later in the inning, with all the late offense overshadowing what had been another stellar effort from Ober.

The Padres’ offense had just two hits off Ober through his first six innings in another dominant effort. Both those hits came in the second inning, producing the first run of the game.

The Twins had played with a lead for much of the night after catcher Ryan Jeffers hit his team-leading 20th home run in the fourth inning, a two-run blast. The Twins had added another run in the fifth inning when Max Kepler came around to score on a Royce Lewis sacrifice fly, padding the lead the Twins held until Machado’s big blast.

By JOSH BOAK

CHICAGO (AP) — Convention roll call votes can be staid and cheesy, but Democrats turned theirs into the ultimate dance party on Tuesday.

DJ Cassidy stood onstage in what appeared to be a double-breasted satin suit of royal blue, spinning a special song for each state and territory awarding their delegates to Vice President Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention. What America got was a mashup of an elite karaoke night: Detroit native Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” for Michigan, Dropkick Murphys’ “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” for Massachusetts and Tupac Shakur’s “California Love” for California.

Georgia brought out one of its natives in person: Atlanta’s Lil Jon striding through Chicago’s United Center to the beats of “Turn Down for What,” his song with DJ Snake.

DJ Cassidy speaks during Roll Call at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

In short, Democrats were determined to put the party in political party, part of their broader effort to project joy and positive energy even as they issue dire warnings about the need to beat Republican nominee Donald Trump.

The party last used a video roll call during the pandemic -restricted 2020 convention that famously had Rhode Island featuring its state dish, calamari, creating the pressure to do something bigger this year. (The chef holding that iconic tray of calamari later turned out to be a Trump supporter.)

This year’s roll call vote featured the party’s emerging political stars like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. Movie director Spike Lee was there for New York, while the actor Sean Astin, who starred in the Notre Dame-set football movie “Rudy,” was with the Indiana delegation.

Ohio casts their votes for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris during the Democratic National Convention Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

The musical choices were something of a risk. The 1996 Democratic convention in Chicago infamously featured delegates gyrating awkwardly to “Macarena (Bayside Boys Remix)” by the Spanish pop duo Los del Río. Video of the Macarena still circulates among political diehards nearly three decades later.

Florida’s delegation played Tom Petty’s anthem to hard-headedness, “I Won’t Back Down,” in casting its delegates for Harris — a not-too-subtle jab at the state’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Petty was born in the Florida city of Gainesville. DeSantis used the song as the theme of his failed Republican presidential primary this cycle, and it was part of the name of a super PAC that spent lavishly in his losing cause.

“Florida is worth fighting for,” state Democratic chairwoman Nikki Fried declared, arguing that her state is worth national Democrats campaigning for despite it moving hard to the right and likely to go for Trump in November.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed attends the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Tuesday Aug. 20, 2024. (Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Alabama, obviously, got “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Alaska announced their backing of Vice President Kamala Harris to “Feel It Still” by Portugal. The Man, a band from Wasilla, where Republican Sarah Palin was once mayor.

Minnesota went with “1999” by Paisley Park’s own Prince. Indiana, with Astin by the microphone, went with Gary native Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough.” Nevada played “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers, the synth pop band from Las Vegas. Kansas went with “Carry On My Wayward Son” by the rock band Kansas. New Jersey went with Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA.”

“Under one groove nothing can stop us now,” DJ Cassidy said over Springsteen’s anthem.

Related Articles

Trump campaigns to ‘make America safe again’ as Democratic convention zeroes in on his felony record

On track to be first trans member, Sarah McBride has hope for Congress

State lawmakers eye promise, pitfalls of AI ahead of November elections

Obama made his DNC debut 20 years ago. He’s returning to make the case for Kamala Harris

Obamas close DNC’s second night with rousing Harris endorsement, pointed warnings about Trump

Despite the festive mood, the roll call announcements did contain some serious moments. Texas’ Kate Cox had her request for an abortion during a troubled pregnancy rejected by that state’s supreme court, forcing her to go to another state for the procedure. But Cox announced on the floor that she was again pregnant and the baby was due in January.

Under Democratic Party rules, only Harris garnered enough signatures to be entered into nomination. Votes for any other person or uncommitted votes were tallied as “present” during the virtual roll call earlier this month. Tuesday night’s “celebratory” vote is following that earlier roll call’s vote total.

The predominant story in the Twins’ organization this season has been the rapid rise through the system of starting pitchers.

On the heels of David Festa and Zebby Matthews joining the Twins this season, right-hander Andrew Morris has climbed from Class-A Cedar Rapids to Double-A Wichita to the Saints this season, and has shown the same type of promise that led to Festa and Matthews reaching the big leagues.

The 22-year-old Morris, a fourth-round draft pick by the Twins out of Texas Tech in 2022, is a combined 17-6 with an earned-run average of 2.46 since turning professional. He’ll make his third start for the Saints on Saturday, with the first two leading to no decisions.

A newlywed in March, Morris said it has been a pretty good year to date.

“Just trying to get better each week out,” Morris said of his approach this season. “It’s been a fun year development-wise and figuring out who I am as a pitcher.”

Morris’ repertoire includes a change-up, curveball, slider, cutter and a fastball that he says tops out at 98 miles per hour.  He considers the fastball to be his best pitch. Overall, he has registered 111 strikeouts in 108 1/3 innings this season.

Morris said he has been encouraged by seeing the other pitchers move their way up through the system. Left-hander Christian MacLeod also was promoted to the Saints earlier this month after beginning the season in High Class-A, but he has since been returned to Wichita.

“I’ve been kind of chasing Zebby everywhere all year,” Morris said. “That was awesome to see him get up there and make his first start against the Royals and strike out Bobby Witt. But yeah, we’ve come up together, and I definitely think that could be me.

“But we’ve got some work to do, obviously.”

Morris will be looking for a bit of a bounce back after allowing three runs in three innings in his last start against Indianapolis. He also gave up four walks.

“Any kind of failure I think is such a good learning experience,” he said. “That is the closest thing I’ve seen to a big-league lineup in my career. I have to be better than walking four dudes.”

Morris was born on September 1, 2001, in New York but his family moved to Oregon when he was an infant. He also spent some time in Alaska before the family settled in Colorado. He pitched one season for Texas Tech after spending three years at Colorado Mesa University.

The Saints are hosting the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the Triple-A team of the New York Yankees, at CHS Field this week, and Morris said he grew up a Yankees fan. His dream of one day playing for them lasted until the day he was drafted by the Twins.

“Obviously, super pumped to be here,” Morris said.

The Saints entered Tuesday night’s game looking to snap a nine-game losing streak, but things unraveled early. They trailed 9-0 before DaShawn Keirsey Jr. hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning.

The Saints trailed 9-3 in the top of the eighth inning when this edition of the Pioneer Press went to press.

The RailRiders scored four runs against Saints starter Aaron Rozek in the first inning, which included a two-run home run. The RailRiders added single runs off of Rozek in the second and third.

Briefly

Louie Varland (4-8) starts Game 2 of the series for the Saints on Wednesday.

The Saints’ franchise record for consecutive losses is 11, set from May 8-20 in 2022.

Related Articles

St. Paul Saints’ losing streak grows to nine games with walk-off loss to Indianapolis

Indianapolis’ Thomas Harrington, two relievers shut out Saints and send them to eighth straight loss

Caleb Boushley delivers strong start but St. Paul Saints lose seventh straight

Powered by 11 singles, Indianapolis edges Saints 6-4

Impressive Triple-A debut for Andrew Morris, but Saints lose to Indians