By The Associated Press

The Democratic National Convention begins Monday in Chicago with roughly 50,000 people expected to arrive in the Windy City. That includes thousands of anti-war activists who plan to demonstrate near the United Center where Vice President Kamala Harris will officially accept the party’s nomination for president.

Earlier this month, delegates made Harris their nominee in a virtual roll call. The party will still conduct a ceremonial roll call vote at the convention mimicking the look of a traditional roll call where state delegations announce their votes from the convention floor.

Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here’s the Latest:

Chicago mayor urges Harris to embrace agenda that would ‘push for economic stability and growth for working people’

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson urged Vice President Kamala Harris to embrace an agenda that would “push for economic stability and growth for working people.”

“She’s off to a great start already,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said of Vice President Kamala Harris’ emerging economic platform during an interview with The Associated Press.

Johnson, who’s emerged as a surrogate for Harris among progressives and at events for Black male outreach in cities like Detroit, emphasized Harris’ upbringing and record as attorney general as potential strengths on the campaign trail.

“Showing up for working people is what the vice president has done her entire career,” Johnson said.

“The economic stability of our country really requires someone who understands the interests of working people,” he contended.

“She knows what it is like to struggle, along with Governor Walz. Like myself, he is a former social studies teacher,” Johnson said of the Minnesota governor.

Johnson, who on Sunday described Chicago as “one of the most diverse communities in the country,” defended the city’s record on race and inclusion as it grapples with historic challenges like the migrant crisis and debates over racial equity.

Democrats kicked off their convention Monday morning with a series of delegate breakfasts

At the Florida delegation breakfast, Democrats started the session by making note of the turmoil that rocked their party in the last few months leading up to the convention.

“We are here today, in this moment, because President Joe Biden made one of the greatest sacrifices to save this nation,” Nikki Fried, the state Democratic party chair, told delegates.

Democrats in Florida have recently become bullish about their chances in the Sunshine State despite serious doubts among some national operatives.

Democrats open convention transformed by Harris’ ascendance but facing lingering questions

A refreshed Democratic Party reintroduces itself to a divided nation this week, having been transformed by the money, momentum, relief and even joy that followed Vice President Kamala Harris ′ rise to the top of its ticket.

The whiplash of the last month culminates in a convention that begins Monday in Chicago. Above all, the four-day gathering of thousands of activists and party leaders from across the nation is designed to celebrate and strengthen Harris as President Joe Biden’s replacement and boost her campaign to defeat Republican Donald Trump in November.

Just beneath the surface, real questions loom about the depth of Harris’ newfound support, the breadth of her coalition and the strength of her movement. Not even a month ago, Democrats were deeply divided over foreign policy, political strategy and Biden himself, who was holding on after his disastrous debate by suggesting he had a better chance than any Democrat — including Harris — of beating Trump.

Trump will campaign across the country this week as he struggles to adjust to Harris

As Democrats kick off their convention in Chicago, Donald Trump ’s campaign is trying to regain its footing after weeks of struggling to adjust to Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the opposing ticket.

Trump will attempt to undercut the Democratic celebration with a jam-packed schedule that includes daily events in battleground states tied to subjects where Republicans think they hold an advantage. It’s his busiest campaign week since the winter, when he faced challengers in the Republican primary.

But when Trump has held events billed as policy speeches throughout the campaign, they have often resembled his usual, rambling rally remarks. And as has long been the case during his political career, Trump has undercut his own message with outbursts and attacks that drown out anything else.

Protesters plan large marches and rallies as DNC kicks off

Crowds of activists are expected to gather in Chicago for protests outside the Democratic National Convention this week, hoping to call attention to such issues as economic injustice, reproductive rights and the war in Gaza.

While Vice President Kamala Harris has galvanized the party as she gears up to accept the Democratic nomination, activists say their plans to demonstrate haven’t changed. They’re ready to amplify their progressive message before the nation’s top Democratic leaders.

Their issues cover climate change, abortion rights and racial equality, to name a few, but many activists agree an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war is the overarching message of the demonstrations. They’ve likened it to the Vietnam War of their generation. The Chicago area has one of the largest Palestinian communities in the nation and buses are bringing activists to Chicago from all over the country.

After stints at the McAllen Monitor and as a Lege staffer, Melissa del Bosque worked at the Texas Observer as a staff writer from 2008 to 2018, chronicling life in border communities, investigating the government’s militarization of the region, and telling migrants’ stories. Along the way, she produced some of Texas’ most influential border reporting, including the Hillman Prize-winning “Death on Sevenmile Road,” an exposé of how state police shot at a truck from a helicopter, killing migrants riding in the bed.

Her 2014 four-part series on migrant death in South Texas for the Observer and the Guardian, “Beyond the Border,” won an Emmy and a National Magazine Award. She is the author of Bloodlines: The True Story of a Drug Cartel, the FBI, and the Battle for a Horse-Racing Dynasty, a 2017 book based on her reporting on Zetas cartel money laundering.

Del Bosque, now based in Tucson, Arizona, co-leads The Border Chronicle, a newsletter featuring analysis and on-the-ground reporting about the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, and she also serves as investigative editor for Lighthouse Reports. 

TO: How did you become a border reporter?

I grew up in San Diego [California], so I grew up at the border. I was always fascinated by the culture and endlessly intrigued by the fact that you can be standing in one country, looking into another country. We’re there, side by side. 

I was at a crossroads in deciding what I wanted to do with my life. I had already been through a creative writing program and I needed to make a living, so I was going to go into journalism, and I really wanted to focus on border journalism. There were border bureaus, and border journalism was actually a thing because of [the North American Free Trade Agreement] being passed [in 1992].

But by the time I became a border journalist, it wasn’t really a thing anymore. It’s more, you’re an immigration reporter—whereas I’ve always seen the border position as incorporating other things like the environment and politics. It’s this amazing beat because it’s local and it’s international. 

What drew you to the Texas Observer? 

I crossed over to the dark side and started working in politics. I was working for Chuy Hinojosa, the [state] senator from McAllen. I was up there in the Capitol doing environment and health communications. The things that I was seeing happening inside—the legislative process and how the sausage gets made—were awful and mortifying. This is not a reflection on Senator Hinojosa, because he was great, but the process was corrupted by money and influence.

I would always call the Observer, because I knew them. This is when Jake Bernstein was the editor, Dave Mann was there, and Nate Blakeslee was still writing for the Observer. I would call them, totally indignant and enraged by what was happening that week in the Capitol, and I’d be like, “You guys need to get over here and write about this.”

I think they got so tired of me calling that they said, “Well, why don’t you just come and work here?” I took like a $10,000 pay cut and went back to journalism.

What themes have been a constant in the two decades that you’ve reported on the border, and what’s changed? 

I always look at it from the perspective of the person who’s most affected by the targeting, surveillance, and violence. We hear so much from Washington, D.C., and from politicians about how they think the border is insecure. I’m really most interested in how that impacts people in everyday life. What is it like to cross the border in the back of a truck, under a tarp, and then have state police shooting at you from a helicopter? We don’t hear enough of that perspective. It’s not reported on enough, and there are more and more people being impacted and targeted by so-called “border security,” by the surveillance, and the armed people, and the surges.

I listen to The Border Chronicle podcast, and a theme that I’ve heard in several episodes is how what happens at the physical border affects people far beyond the border. Can you talk about that?

I’ve always thought of the border as being the testing ground for the rest of the nation. License plate readers, sensors, and drones are tested at the border—and then they’re rolled out into the interior. We need to pay close attention to what’s happening at the border, because it’s the future. Increasingly, with border externalization—which is sort of like U.S. imperial policy—[the border] gets pushed out into countries all around the world. We have Border Patrol agents who are traveling around the world and training border guards in techniques that they use. There’s surveillance, there’s detention, and all these things that are taught to other countries who are implementing U.S.-centric border restrictions and trying to prevent people from moving north. It’s really a global policy now.

The March 2015 issue in which “Death on Sevenmile Road” appeared.

What were the most consequential stories to you, or your favorite stories that you reported on, at the Observer?

I think Sevenmile Road. That was a really important story because it was so outrageous. First, that [the Texas Department of Public Safety] would think it’s a good idea to train snipers to shoot from helicopters, and shoot out the tires of cars while they’re in pursuit. Then, of course, they didn’t tell local officials that they were doing this, but they did debut it on a cable show. Then when the shooting occurred, they completely blocked any media outlets from getting the video from the helicopter, from getting any of the documents from the investigation, so that we could really decipher what had happened exactly and how these people had died. 

In probably one of the luckiest strokes in my career, I filed a public information request with Hidalgo County, and the district attorney blocked me. But, in the shuffle between the outgoing and the incoming DAs, they forgot to respond to my public information request within the acceptable number of days. I benefited from the dysfunction. They were forced to hand over all the information that they had presented to the grand jury, which had no-billed it. I was able to get the video and all of those documents that way.

What, to you, is the Observer‘s legacy?

The Observer goes after stories that no other outlet in Texas does. I don’t think the Observer is afraid of anything or anybody. They’re not into insider access. They’re not beholden to anyone, and that really gives them the superpower of being able to go after any entity or person, no matter how big they are—which is something that’s so important, that we need more of.

This interview, which is part of the Observer’s 70th anniversary coverage, has been edited for length and clarity. Support for our 70th anniversary interview series has been provided by KOOP Radio in Austin, which permitted its studios to be used for recordings.

Today is Monday, Aug. 19, the 232nd day of 2024. There are 134 days left in the year.

Today in History:

On Aug. 19, 2010, the last American combat brigade exited Iraq, seven years and five months after a U.S.-led invasion marked the beginning of the Iraq War.

Also on this date:

In 1692, four men and one woman were hanged after being convicted of witchcraft at Salem in the Province of Massachusetts Bay; the story of one of the men, John Proctor, inspired Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible.”

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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

Today in History: August 15, Woodstock music festival begins

Today in History: August 14, FDR signs Social Security Act

In 1807, Robert Fulton’s North River Steamboat arrived in Albany, two days after leaving New York on its maiden voyage.

In 1812, the USS Constitution defeated the British frigate HMS Guerriere off Nova Scotia during the War of 1812, earning the nickname “Old Ironsides.”

In 1814, during the War of 1812, British forces landed at Benedict, Maryland, with the objective of capturing Washington D.C.

In 1854, 31 U.S. soldiers were killed after one of the soldiers fatally shot Brule Lakota Chief Conquering Bear, sparking the First Sioux War.

In 1909, Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosted its first automobile race.

In 1934, German voters approved the vesting of sole executive power in Adolf Hitler.

In 1955, torrential rains caused by Hurricane Diane resulted in severe flooding in the northeastern U.S., claiming some 200 lives.

In 1960, a tribunal in Moscow convicted American U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers of espionage. (Although sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, Powers was returned to the United States in 1962 as part of a prisoner exchange.)

In 1980, 301 people aboard Saudia Flight 163 died as the jetliner made a fiery emergency return to the Riyadh airport.

In 2013, South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius was indicted in Pretoria, South Africa, on charges of murder and illegal possession of ammunition for the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his home on Valentine’s Day 2013; Pistorius maintained he’d mistaken her for an intruder. (Pistorius would be found guilty of murder and sentenced to prison; he was released on parole in January 2024.)

Today’s Birthdays:

Former tennis player & coach Renee Richards is 90.
Actor Jill St. John is 84. Author Jack Canfield is 80.
Rock singer Ian Gillan (Deep Purple) is 79.
Former President Bill Clinton is 78.
Actor Gerald McRaney is 77.
Actor Jim Carter (“Downton Abbey”) is 76.
Former First Lady Tipper Gore is 76.
Rock bassist John Deacon (Queen) is 73.
Actor-director Jonathan Frakes is 72.
Political consultant Mary Matalin is 71.
Actor Peter Gallagher is 69.
Actor Adam Arkin is 68.
Actor Martin Donovan is 67.
Football Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz is 66.
Musician Ivan Neville is 65.
Football Hall of Famer Morten Andersen is 64.
Actor John Stamos is 61.
Actor Kyra Sedgwick is 59.
Actor Kevin Dillon is 59.
Country singer Lee Ann Womack is 58.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is 57.
Country singer Clay Walker is 55.
Rapper Fat Joe is 54.
Olympic gold medal tennis player Mary Joe Fernandez is 53.
Actor Erika Christensen is 42.
Actor Melissa Fumero is 42.
Olympic gold medal snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis (jay-kuh-BEHL’-ihs) is 39.
Author Veronica Roth is 36.
Rapper-TV personality Romeo is 35.
Actor Ethan Cutkosky (TV: “Shameless”) is 25.