Sam Darnold looking comfortable with Vikings. Especially throwing deep downfield.

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It hasn’t taken veteran quarterback Sam Darnold very long to make a good impression at training camp.

On Wednesday afternoon, Darnold unleashed a beautiful deep ball toward the heavens, dropping it into the outstretched arms of receiver Justin Jefferson with the perfect amount of touch. On Thursday afternoon, Darnold followed it up with another impressive throw, hitting receiver Jordan Addison in stride nearly 50 yards away along the sidelines.

The arm talent is undeniable.

“He was throwing bombs,” Jefferson said with a smile when asked about Darnold. “He has been looking good.”

The next step for Darnold is fully grasping the offense he’ll be running under head coach Kevin O’Connell. He arrived in the spring and learned the ropes of the new scheme at organized team activities and mandatory minicamp. He returned in the summer looking ready to showcase his knowledge at training camp.

“I’m really starting to feel comfortable,” Darnold said. “It’s really fun to be able to push the limits of what we can do.”

There’s a mental checklist that Darnold goes through each time he gets a play call from O’Connell.

It starts with making sure he has the verbiage down as he enters the huddle. It continues with getting everybody on the same page as they approach the line of scrimmage. It ends with scanning the defense before the snap and adjusting in real time.

The fact that Darnold is going up against a group led by defensive coordinator Brian Flores on a daily basis has been extremely helpful in his development.

“Sometimes our defense is running 100 different coverages and different pressures off of them,” Darnold said. “It’s really good work for us to come out here and test the width of how much we know the playbook.”

All of it should slowly become second nature for Darnold over the next month or so. At least that’s the hope. He’s currently in position to be the starter for the Sept. 8 opener against the New York Giants, even though the Vikings selected rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy with the No. 10 pick in the draft.

Asked about Darnold this week, O’Connell emphasized how excited he is to see him flourish with a support system around him. That’s not something Darnold had in time with the New York Jets or the Carolina Panthers, and while he had it with the San Francisco 49ers, he spent most of his time as the backup.

“He doesn’t need to be reminded about some of those experiences for him to apply them to how he operates every single day within our building,” O’Connell said. “He has always had the skill set. He has shown that that skill set matches with playing the quarterback position at the NFL level consistently. That’s going to be the name of the game: How comfortable can he get within our offense?”

As for the pressure that comes with what might end up being Darnold’s final chance to prove himself, he’s not thinking about that as he tries to rewrite the narrative. He’s more concerned with doing all the little things it takes to succeed at the highest level.

“The biggest thing for me as a quarterback is playing the game like a point guard,” Darnold said. “Just being able to dish the ball to the guys and let them go run after the catch and not try to do too much out there.”

Unless of course there’s chance for Darnold to let it rip downfield. He has already shown he’s more than capable of doing that.

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At Upper Landing Park this weekend, a free jazz show on ‘world’s only floating performance ship’

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A free jazz concert this weekend is set to take place on a new venue that bills itself as the “world’s only floating performance ship.”

Steve Clarke and the Working Stiffs will perform at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 27, aboard the Big River Music Boat, a vessel docked near Upper Landing Park. The show can be viewed from the mainland at the park — no life jackets required.

The show is the latest installment in radio station Jazz88’s JazzClectic series, which aims to stage concerts in nontraditional public locations including parking lots and shopping malls.

The Working Stiffs are a six-piece band that plays classic tunes from the 1920s through ’50s. Bandleader Steve Clarke, a saxophonist, is himself the recipient of 11 Minnesota Music Awards and three Grammy nominations and is an inductee in the Mid-America Music Hall of Fame.

MORE MUSIC: ‘Purple Rain’ will be screened Saturday at Target Center, 40 years to the day after its initial release

The concert is sponsored by the Great River Passage Conservancy, Jazz88 and the Twin Cities Jazz Festival.

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Assumption Church, Catholic Charities take opposite views on converting Mary Hall into affordable housing

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Father Paul Treacy prides himself on overseeing a 168-year-old Catholic church founded by German immigrants who came together around the mission of supporting the most vulnerable among them. From its prominent location in downtown St. Paul, the Church of the Assumption’s Romanesque columns birthed the Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, as well as an orphanage, which became known as St. Joseph’s Home for Children.

In between 15 weekly masses, many of its 3,000 members have maintained close relationships with St. Paul institutions that serve the neediest, including Catholic Charities’ Dorothy Day campus, the two-building homeless shelter around the corner, the Listening House day program and the Little Sisters of the Poor.

“We’ve been here on these streets and walking with our neighbors who are in need since forever,” said Treacy, who has led the Church of the Assumption for seven years.

Some parishioners have called it ironic, then, that Treacy would become the public face of opposition to Catholic Charities’ latest endeavor. The charity hopes to sell its Mary Hall building, vacant for several years, to the developer Aeon, to convert the building into 88 units of affordable housing for the very poor. Aeon has promised to install support services aimed at residents who previously were homeless.

The church received a city notice last month indicating the arrangement would require a major zoning variance. City rules require a 600-foot separation between two “congregate living facilities,” and Mary Hall and the Higher Ground/Dorothy Day Center campus — which provides supportive housing for 370 residents and housed nearly 2,500 people in emergency overnight shelter last year, in addition to providing meals and day services — sit just 60 feet apart.

The church raised objections to the St. Paul Board of Zoning Appeals but was overruled when the board voted 5-0 to grant the variance June 24. Treacy, backed by the church’s leadership team, has filed an appeal, which is scheduled to be heard by the city council on Aug. 7.

Over-saturation of the poor?

Treacy’s concern is that the area around the Dorothy Day Center and the Assumption Church — the veritable entrance to downtown St. Paul — appears overloaded with people in need, with evidence of sidewalk encampments, litter, vandalism and obvious drug sales during daylight hours. He said even some clients of the Higher Ground shelter have complained to him that the most vulnerable are being overconcentrated in one area, making them even more open to predators.

With state funding, Catholic Charities is building a temporary fence around certain corners of its campus this year to control the flow of foot traffic, and then a more permanent fence next year. Treacy fears that will only push loiterers further into surrounding streets.

“Right now, the streets are in really tough shape, and it’s putting a strain on all of the support systems, including Catholic Charities and first responders,” said Treacy, who is calling on the city to create a citywide service plan for the homeless that moves services beyond downtown. “It’s creating concern, including among our own people. It’s time for a timeout.”

Michael Goar, outgoing president and chief executive officer of Catholic Charities — the largest provider of shelter services in Ramsey County — said he’s met with Treacy and is open to feedback and making adjustments to services, within reason. At the St. Paul Opportunity Center, the day building on the Dorothy Day campus, demand for services ranging from hot meals to showers and dental appointments grew some 35% last year.

“I don’t deny there’s a lot of folks coming in, but there’s a need for folks to be served,” Goar said. “If not us, then who? I’m all for other people sharing the load, but I don’t see anybody else raising their hand and stepping up.”

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Goar — who spent seven years in an orphanage in South Korea, rejected by most because his father was a Black American — said his own experience as an adoptee into a welcoming family in South Minneapolis provides him with special insight into the haves and have-nots of society.

“I know what it’s like to grow up in an institution where no one gives a (expletive), and I know what it’s like to have a loving family who cares for you,” said Goar on Thursday. “I should probably be dead somewhere in some gutter, but I’m not. … (The clients we serve) are in those circumstances. We can’t walk away. We’ll give you a helping hand when you need it. We’ll give you a hug when you need it. Give us a little grace. We’re trying to do our best.”

A citywide plan for poverty?

Treacy wants the city to explore how best to spread out supportive services beyond downtown. He’s also calling on the state to work with communities to help the poor in their own backyard, instead of leaving those most in need to seek services in urban areas like St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“They selected Mary Hall because Mary Hall is available. I think it would be healthier to take a step back and say, ‘How does this fit into the broader city plans?’. Supportive housing and affordable housing are an important enough topic to be part of a city plan,” Treacy said. “Then you can understand what’s a healthy amount for each neighborhood to absorb.”

Some parishioners have taken Treacy to task for his stance, while others have quietly agreed.

Elsewhere in the Twin Cities, a group of Black ministers filed legal action against the state of Minnesota and the Metropolitan Council last year, alleging that state funders and regional planners have partnered with nonprofit housing developers to concentrate the poor in areas ill-equipped to help them out of poverty, particularly along the Green Line transit corridor.

“We need housing of all kinds in downtown St. Paul, including supportive and affordable housing,” said Joe Spencer, president of the St. Paul Downtown Alliance, a coalition of downtown businesses working with City Hall, in an email. “That being said, the proposed development would create a concentration of services for people in need that is unsustainable. Adding more supportive housing in this particular area would likely increase predatory and illegal activities, making it a less-than-ideal location for this development.”

Underscoring tensions is the difficult backdrop created by crime trends, an emptier downtown in the era of remote work and what Treacy described as a general imbalance as major institutions like St. Joseph’s Hospital, which closed in stages between 2020 and 2022, depart the area. The high cost of housing, the opioid epidemic and other factors also loom.

Fewer people, more crime

The pandemic years coincided with a national crime surge, which since has declined but still appears heightened compared to even five years ago. St. Paul’s homicide rate, for instance, began increasing in 2019 and hit a new record in 2022 with 40 homicides. There were 32 homicides last year. By comparison, St. Paul averaged 17 homicides a year between 2010 and 2018.

Reported crimes against individuals downtown were down 5% this year through July 21, compared to the same period last year, according to St. Paul Police. Crimes classified as general crimes against society — such as loitering, trespassing, disorderly conduct, drug use or sidewalk gambling — were down 17%. Property crimes have been flat.

In downtown St. Paul, some signs of over-saturation are readily apparent. Inspectors who approve federal Section 8 housing vouchers have begun canceling vouchers at the Lowry Apartments on Wabasha Street, given the condition of the building. Longstanding tenants said the property owner began moving homeless residents into the Lowry during the pandemic, without commensurate services, adding to safety concerns.

At the Press House Apartments at 345 Cedar St., a former newspaper headquarters that was converted into affordable housing, police were called to residences there on a near-daily basis last year. A man allegedly killed his girlfriend there last November, hid her body under an air mattress and then stepped in front of a light-rail train, incurring serious injuries.

The St. Paul City Council, which acts in a quasi-judicial role during zoning appeal hearings, cannot legally comment or involve itself in the dispute beforehand.

Goar said he met with Treacy in recent days, and he’s open to exploring solutions to nuisance issues where they exist, but he can’t turn his back on his mission.

“Father Paul talked about creating space where there would be more frequent presence of police,” Goar said. “We’re meeting with the mayor’s office as well, talking about safety and security. What can we do differently as an organization? If there are things we can do differently, within our means, we’re going to do that.”

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Missouri judges have overturned 2 murder convictions in recent weeks. Why did the AG fight freedom?

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By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and JIM SALTER

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A man who was on the verge of walking out of prison this week after a judge found evidence of “actual innocence” and overturned his murder conviction now faces a fresh legal hurdle.

The person blocking Christopher Dunn’s freedom is Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who is fresh off an unsuccessful battle to keep another woman whose murder conviction was reversed imprisoned.

Political scientists say Bailey’s efforts are a way to appear tough on crime and shore up votes in advance of a tough primary race. Judges and defense attorneys are voicing frustration.

“His actions are causing undue harm to this innocent individual and is a stain on our legal system,” Michael Heiskell, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said when asked about Bailey’s opposition to Dunn’s release.

Here are some things to know:

Who is Christopher Dunn?

Dunn, who is Black, was 18 in 1990 when 15-year-old Ricco Rogers was killed. Among the key evidence used to convict him of first-degree murder was testimony from two boys who were at the scene of the shooting. Both later recanted their testimony, saying they had been coerced by police and prosecutors.

Judge Jason Sengheiser on Monday overturned the murder conviction of the now 52-year-old and ordered his immediate release. Bailey’s office appealed, and prison officials declined to release Dunn.

Sengheiser then held an emergency hearing Wednesday and threatened to hold the warden in contempt if he didn’t free Dunn within hours. Dunn was signing papers, preparing to walk out the door, when the Missouri Supreme Court agreed to consider Bailey’s objections and halted his release, a corrections department spokesperson said.

“That is not justice,” the Midwest Innocence Project, which is representing Dunn, said in a statement.

Bailey’s spokesperson has declined repeated email and text requests for comments. On Wednesday, she provided a link to the order halting Dunn’s release.

Dunn’s case marks the second “actual innocence” ruling in the state in recent weeks. Sandra Hemme, now 64, spent 43 years in prison for the fatal 1980 stabbing of a library worker before a judge overturned her conviction.

Appeals by Bailey — all the way up to the Missouri Supreme Court — kept Hemme imprisoned at the Chillicothe Correctional Center for more than a month after that initial ruling. During a court hearing last Friday, Judge Ryan Horsman scolded an attorney in Bailey’s office for telling the warden not to release Hemme on her own recognizance pending an appellate court review.

“To call someone and tell them to disregard a court order is wrong,” Horsman said. He said that if Hemme wasn’t released within hours, Bailey himself would have to appear in court with contempt of court on the table.

Hemme, whose attorneys with the Innocence Project described her as the longest held wrongly incarcerated woman known in the U.S., was released later that day.

“The court has to be obeyed,” said Michael Wolff, a former Missouri Supreme Court judge and chief justice.

Bailey’s opposition to innocence claims

A Missouri law adopted in 2021 lets prosecutors request hearings when they see evidence of a wrongful conviction.

The law was passed after another judge, William Hickle, found in 2020 that a jury would likely find Dunn not guilty based on new evidence. But Hickle declined to order Dunn’s release, citing a 2016 Missouri Supreme Court ruling that only people on death row could make a “freestanding” claim of actual innocence.

In 2023, Bailey opposed the release of Lamar Johnson, who spent 28 years in prison for murder. Another St. Louis judge overturned Johnson’s conviction, and he was freed.

Stakes are even higher for a hearing next month. St. Louis County’s prosecutor believes DNA evidence shows that Marcellus Williams didn’t commit the crime that landed him on death row. DNA of someone else — but not Williams — was found on the knife used in the 1998 killing, experts said.

A hearing on Williams’ innocence claim begins Aug. 21. His execution is scheduled for Sept. 24.

Bailey’s office is opposing the challenge to Williams’ conviction, too.

Bailey’s appointment as attorney general

When Eric Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2022, Republican Gov. Mike Parson appointed Bailey, who at the time was serving as the governor’s lawyer, as Schmitt’s replacement.

Bailey’s first election test comes in next month’s primary. Ken Warren, a professor emeritus of political science at Saint Louis University, said fighting the release of people in custody advances Bailey’s agenda.

“This will only help him with his base,” he said.

Bailey’s opponent, Will Scharf, a former federal prosecutor who recently served as an attorney for former President Donald Trump, has been attacking Bailey as liberal, said Steven Puro, professor emeritus of political science of St. Louis University.

Puro said Bailey is balancing the need to look tough while avoiding being perceived as uncaring and not obeying the law.

“Most other prosecutors have thought the risk was not worth the reward,” Puro said.

Bailey’s use of the courts

Since taking office, Bailey has sued Planned Parenthood and President Joe Biden, tried to force clinics that provide gender-affirming care to hand over their records, and pushed a liberal prosecutor to resign.

When debate over transgender minors’ access to gender-affirming health care reached a fever pitch in Missouri in 2023, Bailey tried to restrict access to both minors and adults by regulation — a move typically reserved for the state’s health department.

He later pulled the rule amid legal battles and action from the Legislature. Most recently, Bailey sued the state of New York over its prosecution of Trump, arguing that Trump’s conviction constitutes election interference.

Richard Serafini, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, called the lawsuit against New York “one of the silliest things that I think I’ve ever heard of in the practice of law.”

And Lindsay Runnels, an attorney who serves on the board of the Midwest Innocence Project, questioned the fight to free people once judges have ruled.

“The system doesn’t work if our highest law enforcement officer in the state flouts the court system and believes that they are not accountable to them for their orders and following orders,” she said. “It’s insane.”

___

Summer Ballentine contributed to this report from Columbia, Missouri. Hollingsworth reported form Mission, Kansas.