Today is Tuesday, July 8, the 189th day of 2024. There are 176 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On July 8, 2018, divers rescued four of the 12 boys who’d been trapped in a flooded cave in northern Thailand with their soccer coach for more than two weeks. (The remaining eight boys and their coach were rescued over the next two days.)

Also on this date:

In 1776, Col. John Nixon gave the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, outside the State House (now Independence Hall) in Philadelphia.

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In 1853, an expedition led by Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Edo Bay, Japan, on a mission to seek diplomatic and trade relations with the Japanese.

In 1889, the first issue of The Wall Street Journal was published.

In 1947, a New Mexico newspaper, the Roswell Daily Record, quoted officials at Roswell Army Air Field as saying they had recovered a “flying saucer” that crashed onto a ranch; officials then said it was actually a weather balloon.

In 1950, President Harry S. Truman named Gen. Douglas MacArthur commander-in-chief of United Nations forces in Korea. (Truman would fire MacArthur for insubordination nine months later.)

In 1972, the Nixon administration announced a deal to sell $750 million in grain to the Soviet Union. (However, the Soviets were also engaged in secretly buying subsidized American grain, resulting in what critics dubbed “The Great Grain Robbery.”)

In 1994, Kim Il Sung, North Korea’s communist leader since 1948, died at age 82.

In 2000, Venus Williams beat Lindsay Davenport for her first Grand Slam title, becoming the first Black female champion at Wimbledon since Althea Gibson in 1958.

In 2010, the largest spy swap between the U.S. and Russia since the Cold War unfolded as 10 people accused of spying in suburban America pleaded guilty to conspiracy and were ordered deported to Russia in exchange for the release of four prisoners accused of spying for the West.

In 2011, the 135th and final space shuttle mission began when space shuttle Atlantis launched from Kennedy Space Center.

In 2021, President Joe Biden said the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan would end on Aug. 31; in a speech in the White House East Room, Biden made an impassioned argument for exiting the nearly 20-year war without sacrificing more America lives, but acknowledged that there would be no “mission accomplished” moment to celebrate.

In 2022, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated on a street in western Japan by a gunman who opened fire on him from behind as he delivered a campaign speech.

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor Jeffrey Tambor is 81.
Drummer Jaimoe Johanson (The Allman Brothers Band) is 81.
Actor Kim Darby is 78. Children’s musician Raffi is 77.
Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck is 76.
Actor Anjelica Huston is 74.
Writer Anna Quindlen is 73.
Author and politician Marianne Williamson is 73.
Pro Football Hall of Famer Jack Lambert is 73.
Actor Kevin Bacon is 67.
Singer Joan Osborne is 63.
Actor Lee Tergesen (TV: “Oz”) is 60.
Actor Billy Crudup is 57.
Actor Michael Weatherly (TV: “NCIS”) is 57.
Musician Beck is 55.
Actor Kathleen Robertson is 52.
Christian rock musician Stephen Mason (Jars of Clay) is 50.
Actor Milo Ventimiglia (MEE’-loh vehn-tih-MEEL’-yuh) is 48.
Actor Lance Gross (TV: “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne”) is 44.
Actor Sophia Bush is 43.
Actor Maya Hawke is 27.
Actor Jaden Smith is 27.

Hazmat crews battled wind and rain Monday as they worked to clean up a hydrochloric acid spill near the Cargill plant, located about 6 miles north of Wahpeton.

The spill involved approximately 2,000 gallons of hydrochloric acid leaking from a storage tank, prompting multiple evacuations and shelter-in-place orders. Emergency responders from multiple fire departments and hazmat teams were called to the scene at around 5:45 a.m.

The Richland County emergency manager told WDAY News that heavy rain early in the day delayed cleanup efforts, though work was largely completed by Monday evening and roads leading to the plant were reopened.

The Cargill facility sits near the Red River, but officials have not confirmed whether the spill posed any threat to the waterway.

By the end of the day, cleanup crews had wrapped up operations, and emergency officials reported that things were back to normal.

The Fargo Fire Department confirmed they also sent a hazmat team to the site.

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MADISON, Wis. — A federal magistrate judge recommended Monday that the case proceed against a Wisconsin judge who was indicted on allegations that she helped a man who is in the country illegally evade U.S. immigration agents seeking to arrest him in her courthouse.

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested in April and indicted on federal charges in May. She pleaded not guilty.

The case highlighted a clash between President Donald Trump’s administration and local authorities over the Republican’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

Democrats have accused the Trump administration of trying to make a national example of Dugan to chill judicial opposition.

Dugan filed a motion in May to dismiss the charges against her, saying she was acting in her official capacity as a judge and therefore is immune to prosecution. She argued that the federal government violated Wisconsin’s sovereignty by disrupting a state courtroom and prosecuting a state judge.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph on Monday recommended against dropping the charges. The ultimate decision is up to U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, who can accept the other judge’s recommendation or reject it.

“We are disappointed in the magistrate judge’s non-binding recommendation, and we will appeal it,” Dugan attorney Steven Biskupic, a former federal prosecutor, said in a statement. “This is only one step in what we expect will be a long journey to preserve the independence and integrity of our courts.”

Joseph wrote in her recommendation that while judges have immunity from civil lawsuits seeking monetary damages when engaging in judicial acts, that does not apply to criminal charges like those in this case.

“A judge’s actions, even when done in her official capacity, does not bar criminal prosecution if the actions were done in violation of the criminal law,” Joseph wrote.

Dugan also argued that the prosecution under federal law violated the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers because it overrides the state of Wisconsin’s ability to administer its courts.

Whether Dugan broke the law as alleged, or she was merely performing her judicial duties as Dugan contends, are questions for a jury to decide and can’t be determined in a motion to dismiss, Joseph said.

Joseph also noted that both sides disagree on facts related to the case, which also can’t be resolved in a motion to dismiss.

“It is important to note that nothing said here speaks to the merits of the allegations against Dugan,” the judge said in the recommendation. “Dugan is presumed innocent, and innocent she remains, unless and until the government proves the allegations against her beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury at trial.”

No trial date has been set.

Dugan is charged with concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanor, and obstruction, which is a felony. Prosecutors say she escorted Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 31, and his lawyer out of her courtroom through a back door on April 18 after learning that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were in the courthouse seeking to arrest him for being in the country without permanent legal status.

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Agents arrested Ruiz outside of the courthouse after a brief foot chase.

Dugan could face up to six years in prison and a $350,000 fine if convicted on both counts.

Her case is similar to one brought during the first Trump administration against a Massachusetts judge, who was accused of helping a man sneak out a courthouse back door to evade a waiting immigration enforcement agent. That case was eventually dismissed.

A judge fined two attorneys for MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell $3,000 apiece Monday for filing a motion riddled with AI-generated errors in a case that resulted in a jury finding Lindell liable for defamation over false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged.

Judge Nina Y. Wang, of the U.S. District Court in Denver, found attorneys Christopher I. Kachouroff and Jennifer T. DeMaster violated court rules when they filed a motion that featured numerous errors, including misquotes from caselaw and citations from nonexistent cases.

Kachouroff acknowledged using generative artificial intelligence to draft a motion during a pretrial hearing after the mistakes were found.

Kachouroff initially argued that the error-ridden motion was filed by mistake. However, the version that Kachouroff said was the correct one still contained “substantive errors,” including some that weren’t in the filed version of the motion, and it had timestamps that did not align with his claims, Wang found.

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She said “contradictory statements and the lack of corroborating evidence” failed to persuade her that the AI-assisted filing was an inadvertent error, versus sanction-worthy negligence.

The judge also found Kachouroff’s responses, in which he tried to shift responsibility and suggested that the court attempted to “blindside” him over the errors, “troubling and not well-taken.” As Wang sought to determine if the AI-assisted motion was filed out of simple human error or was sanction-worthy, she wrote that neither Kachouroff nor DeMaster provided the court with “any explanation as to how those citations appeared in any draft of the Opposition absent the use of generative artificial intelligence or gross carelessness by counsel.”

Wang wrote that “this Court derives no joy from sanctioning attorneys who appear before it.” She settled on the $3,000 fines as “the least severe sanction adequate to deter and punish defense counsel in this instance.”

Kachouroff and DeMaster did not immediately return requests for comment Monday.

Lindell is not liable for the fines. Last month, he and his media company, FrankSpeech, were ordered to pay $2.3 million to Eric Coomer, the former director of security for Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, after the jury returned its verdict. Lindell, one of the most prominent pushers of the conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, had called Coomer “treasonous” and accused him of committing crimes.