Today is Thursday, Aug. 8, the 221st day of 2024. There are 145 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Aug. 8, 2023, a series of wind-driven wildfires broke out on the Hawaiian island of Maui, destroying the town of Lahaina and killing more than 100 people.

Also on this date:

In 1814, during the War of 1812, peace talks between the United States and Britain began in Ghent, Belgium.

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In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte set sail for St. Helena to spend the remainder of his days in exile.

In 1876, Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric pen—the forerunner of the mimeograph machine.

In 1908, Wilbur Wright makes the Wright Brothers’ first public flying demonstration, at Le Mans racecourse in France.

In 1911, President William Howard Taft signed a measure raising the number of U.S. representatives from 391 to 433, effective with the next Congress, with a proviso to add two more when New Mexico and Arizona became states.

In 1963, Britain’s “Great Train Robbery” took place as thieves made off with 2.6 million pounds in banknotes.

In 1969, photographer Iain Macmillan took the iconic photo of The Beatles that would appear on the cover of their album “Abbey Road.”

In 1974, President Richard Nixon, facing damaging new revelations in the Watergate scandal, announced he would resign the following day.

In 1988, Chicago’s Wrigley Field hosted its first-ever night baseball game; the contest between the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies would be rained out in the fourth inning.

In 2000, the wreckage of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, which sank in 1864 after attacking the Union ship Housatonic, was recovered off the South Carolina coast and returned to port.

In 2009, Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in as the U.S. Supreme Court’s first Hispanic and third female justice.

In 2022, FBI agents executed a search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s residence at Mar al Lago in Palm Beach, Florida; over 13,000 government documents, including 103 classified documents, were seized.

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor Nita Talbot is 94.
Actor Dustin Hoffman is 87.
Actor Connie Stevens is 86.
Country singer Phil Balsley (The Statler Brothers) is 86.
Actor Larry Wilcox is 77.
Actor Keith Carradine is 75.
Movie director Martin Brest is 73.
Radio-TV personality Robin Quivers is 72.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is 71.
Percussionist Anton Fig is 71.
Actor Donny Most is 71.
Rock musician Dennis Drew (10,000 Maniacs) is 67.
TV personality Deborah Norville is 66.
Rock musician The Edge (U2) is 63.
Rock musician Rikki Rockett (Poison) is 63.
Rapper Kool Moe Dee is 62.
Middle distance runner Suzy Favor Hamilton is 56.
Rock singer Scott Stapp is 51.
Country singer Mark Wills is 51.
Actor Kohl Sudduth is 50.
Rock musician Tom Linton (Jimmy Eat World) is 49.
Singer JC Chasez (‘N Sync) is 48.
Actor Tawny Cypress is 48.
R&B singer Drew Lachey (lah-SHAY’) (98 Degrees) is 48.
R&B singer Marsha Ambrosius is 47.
Actor Lindsay Sloane is 47.
Actor Countess Vaughn is 46.
Actor Michael Urie is 44.
Tennis player Roger Federer is 43.
Actor Meagan Good is 43.
Actor Jackie Cruz (TV: “Orange is the New Black”) is 40.
Britain’s Princess Beatrice of York is 36.
Actor Ken Baumann is 35.
New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo is 35.
Pop singer Shawn Mendes is 26.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — State and federal investigators are assisting Rochester police as they investigate a vandalism incident at a Rochester legislator’s home over the weekend.

Rep. Kim Hicks, a first-term DFL member of the Minnesota House, awoke Sunday to find racist graffiti painted on her shed, a swastika on a window of her home, and paint over all but one of the surveillance cameras around her house.

It is a clear-cut case of vandalism, but does it amount to a hate crime?

Initially, Hicks told the Rochester Post Bulletin she was convinced that it was a targeted attack. She is married to a Black man and has Black children.

Now, she says it might have just been the Kamala Harris sign in her yard that motivated the vandals, who were seen wearing masks in video footage taken by her cameras.

“We have to say out loud that there is a problem,” Hicks said. “These things can’t keep happening.”

The incident at Hicks’ home was one of two potentially hate-related vandalism incidents in Rochester over the weekend.

According to Rabbi Michelle Werner, a sign outside of the B’nai Israel Congregation was covered in a spray-painted “300,” likely marking the 300 days since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas War. Amanda Grayson, RPD crime prevention and communications coordinator, said the department opened an investigation into this incident as well, but it does not seem to be related to the vandalism at Hicks’ home.

Despite these incidents and a third widely publicized incident near Century High School in April, Grayson said the department has not seen an increase in reported hate crimes over the last few months.

According to Minnesota statutes, a violation is considered a hate crime if a person commits first-, second- or third-degree assault because of a person’s “actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, or disability.”

In April, a racial slur was spelled out using plastic cups in the chain link fence on the pedestrian bridge over East Circle Drive. A town hall meeting held days after allowed community members to share their experiences, which revealed grievances spanning over years of systemic injustice.

Community members, including the Rochester branch of the NAACP, believe the act was, in fact, a hate crime. The organization posted online that it would “be prosecuting any individuals that are doing this.” The post went on to say “this #hatecrime will not stand in our community!”

However, after RPD identified the four teenagers responsible for the racial slur on the bridge, Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem announced that his office would not be filing charges.

In his statement, Ostrem said while the incident was offensive, it fell short of criminal statutes and has protection under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The statement said the facts fell short of the threshold to be charged as harassment or property damage. The message didn’t damage property and made no specific threats of violence against anyone.

Walé Elegbede, president of the Rochester branch of the NAACP, said the organization hopes for a different outcome with the vandalism on Hicks’ property.

“We’re calling for the severest of penalties because this is a textbook definition of a hate crime,” Elegbede said. “They need to be found. They need to be prosecuted.”

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