Today in History: July 12, Disco Demolition Night

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Today is Friday, July 12, the 194th day of 2024. There are 172 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On July 12, 1979, as an angry reaction to the popularity of disco music, the Chicago White Sox held the “Disco Demolition Night” promotion, in which a crate of disco records was blown up on the field between games of a double-header; the ensuing riot and damage to the field caused the White Sox to forfeit the second game.

Also on this date:

In 1543, England’s King Henry VIII married his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr.

In 1812, United States forces led by Gen. William Hull entered Canada during the War of 1812 against Britain. (However, Hull retreated shortly thereafter to Detroit.)

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In 1862, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill authorizing the Army Medal of Honor.

In 1909, the House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing for a federal income tax, and submitted it to the states. (It was declared ratified in February 1913.)

In 1962, the Rolling Stones played their first show, at the Marquee Club in London.

In 1967, rioting erupted in Newark, New Jersey, over the police beating of a Black taxi driver; 26 people were killed in the five days of violence that followed.

In 1984, Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale announced his choice of U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York to be his running-mate; Ferraro was the first woman to run for vice president on a major-party ticket.

In 1991, Japanese professor Hitoshi Igarashi, who had translated Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses,” was found stabbed to death, nine days after the novel’s Italian translator was attacked in Milan.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton, visiting Germany, went to the eastern sector of Berlin, the first U.S. president to do so since Harry Truman.

In 2003, the USS Ronald Reagan, the first carrier named for a living president, was commissioned in Norfolk, Virginia.

In 2012, a scathing report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh said the late Joe Paterno and other top Penn State officials had buried child sexual abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky more than a decade earlier to avoid bad publicity.

In 2022, Twitter sued Elon Musk to force him to complete the $44 billion acquisition of the social media company after Musk said he was backing off his agreement to buy the company. (He would eventually become Twitter’s owner three months later.)

Today’s Birthdays:

Writer Delia Ephron is 80.
Fitness guru Richard Simmons is 76.
Singer Walter Egan is 76.
Writer-producer Brian Grazer is 73.
Actor Cheryl Ladd is 73.
Gospel singer Ricky McKinnie (The Blind Boys of Alabama) is 72.
Gospel singer Sandi Patty is 68.
Actor Mel Harris is 68.
Boxing champion Julio Cesar Chavez is 62.
Rock singer Robin Wilson (Gin Blossoms) is 59.
Actor Lisa Nicole Carson is 55.
Olympic gold medal figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi is 53.
CBS newsman Jeff Glor is 49.
Actor Anna Friel is 48.
R&B singer Tracie Spencer is 48.
US Senator Kyrsten Sinema is 48.
Actor Topher Grace is 46.
Actor Michelle Rodriguez is 46.
Country singer-musician Kimberly Perry (The Band Perry) is 41.
Actor Natalie Martinez is 40.
Actor Ta’Rhonda Jones is 36.
Golfer Inbee Park is 36.
Actor Rachel Brosnahan is 34.
Olympic gold medal gymnast Jordyn Wieber is 29.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai is 27.
NBA guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is 26.
Soccer player Vinicius Junior is 24.

Iowa man convicted of murdering a police officer who tried to arrest him

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Jurors on Thursday convicted an Iowa man of first-degree murder in the shooting death of a police officer who was trying to arrest him.

Kyle Ricke, 43, faces life in prison for the murder of 33-year-old Algona Police Officer Kevin Cram, the Des Moines Register reported. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 21.

Cram was on patrol in Algona, a community of about 5,300, when he learned of an arrest warrant for Ricke on a charge of harassment, investigators have said. The officer saw Ricke and told him he would be arrested. That’s when Ricke shot him, according to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

Prosecutors said Ricke shot Cram eight times. He allegedly told his sister days before the shooting that he would not go back to jail. Video shows Ricke shouting, “Too late!” at Cram after the officer fell to the ground.

Video also shows Ricke then trying to shoot himself, but there were no bullets left in his gun. He fled but was arrested later that day in Brown County, Minnesota, which is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Algona.

Defense attorney Barbara Westphal argued that the shooting was not planned.

“Mr. Ricke did not have the mindset to reflect on what he was doing. He was acting out of instinct,” she said. “He did not have the time to ponder what he was doing.”

Half the courtroom was filled with Cram’s family and other supporters, some of whom wept as the verdict was read about an hour after jurors began deliberation, according to the Des Moines Register. Ricke showed no apparent reaction to the verdict, the newspaper reported.

Prosecutor Scott Brown told the newspaper that Cram’s family was glad to see his killer face justice.

“I think they’re relieved, mainly, that this process is over, and the result is what they expected,” he said. “It’s been a long road, even though it was less than a year to get this to trial. It was still tough for them, and it will continue to be difficult.”

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Minnesota police watchdog group raises concerns after second deadly police shooting in Crookston in 6 weeks

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A mental health advocate with a statewide police watchdog group is raising concerns after the same Crookston Police Department officer was involved in two deadly shootings just 45 days apart.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identified the officer as 31-year-old Nick Fladland, a five-year veteran with the department.

The BCA preliminary report says Fladland was one of three officers called to the Share and Care shelter for a report of 44-year-old Christopher Junkin breaking furniture and other items on June 30.

Fladland, another Crookston police officer, and a deputy with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office used tasers and a pepper spray-like chemical to subdue Junkin, but Officer Fladland ultimately shot him after Junkin followed them into a hallway.

On May 16, just six weeks before, Fladland shot and killed Andrew Dale after Dale charged officers with a hatchet.

Deb Lacroix-Kinniry, a mental health advocate with Communities United Against Police Brutality, a statewide police watchdog group, said she was concerned that Polk County isn’t adhering to Travis’ Law. That law requires 911 call centers to deflect mental health crisis calls directly to mental health crisis teams.

Lacroix-Kinniry also questioned whether Fladland should have been equipped with a firearm so shortly after he shot and killed another man last May.

She says it’s possible an experience like that could affect how an officer could respond in another dangerous situation in the future.

“With a situation like that, an officer is going to, in my experience and understanding of PTSD, is going to be much more likely to not have the same way,” Lacroix-Kinniry said.

During this year’s legislative session, lawmakers debated a bill designed to give Travis’ Law more teeth and allow the public to sue officials for violating it. That bill did not pass.

Fladland was placed on critical incident leave. The shooting remains under investigation.

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Charges may mount for alleged ruby slippers heist accomplice

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The Crystal Police Department has requested six additional charges against Jerry Hal Saliterman, a resident of that Minneapolis suburb who has already been charged with the theft of the famed ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz.”

Saliterman was indicted in March for his alleged role in the 2005 theft of the ruby slippers from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, where they were then being displayed while on loan from Hollywood collector Michael Shaw. The slippers were retrieved in 2018, but no charges were filed until last year.

Grand Rapids resident Terry Jon Martin confessed to breaking into the museum to steal the slippers; in January, the 76-year-old was placed on supervised release given his declining health. Saliterman is accused of receiving and concealing the stolen slippers, which he buried in his yard for years, authorities say.

In a news release dated Wednesday, the Crystal Police Department said it is asking the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office to add charges of organized retail theft, conspiracy to commit theft, receiving stolen property, domestic assault-harm, domestic assault-fear, and harassment against Saliterman.

According to the news release, the ruby slippers heist was just one job in a “retail crime ring” that Saliterman participated in for years. The requested charges of harassment and domestic assault are related, police say, to the suspect’s intimidation of his wife to prevent her from revealing the crime ring’s existence.

Martin never named the “old mob associate” who put him up to the theft, and told authorities he mistakenly believed the shoes were encrusted with actual rubies rather than costume sequins.

The Judy Garland Museum now has an exhibit and tours telling the story of the theft, which has attracted international attention. Earlier this year the slippers were returned to Shaw, who plans to sell them by auction later this year, according to museum director Janie Heitz.

The museum is currently fundraising in an effort to place the winning bid, and the state of Minnesota has earmarked $100,000 to contribute if a purchase moves forward. Prosecutors have estimated the slippers’ value at $3.5 million.

In a May 30 social media post, Gov. Tim Walz expressed confidence that the slippers will return permanently to the Northland.

“We’re buying Judy Garland’s damn slippers,” Walz wrote, “to make sure they remain safe at home in Grand Rapids — on display for all to enjoy — under 24/7, Ocean’s 11-proof security.”

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