Today is Friday, July 26, the 208th day of 2024. There are 158 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the ADA, prohibiting discrimination based on mental or physical disabilities.

Also on this date:

In 1775, the Continental Congress established a Post Office and appointed Benjamin Franklin its Postmaster-General.

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In 1847, the western African country of Liberia, founded by freed American slaves, declared its independence.

In 1863, Sam Houston, former president of the Republic of Texas, died in Huntsville at age 70.

In 1945, Winston Churchill resigned as Britain’s prime minister after his Conservatives were soundly defeated by the Labour Party. Clement Attlee succeeded him.

In 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act, which reorganized America’s armed forces as the National Military Establishment and created the Central Intelligence Agency.

In 1948, President Truman issued Executive Order 9981, which desegregated the U.S. military.

In 1953, Fidel Castro began his revolt against Fulgencio Batista (fool-HEN’-see-oh bah-TEES’-tah) with an unsuccessful attack on an army barracks in eastern Cuba. (Castro ousted Batista in 1959.)

In 1971, Apollo 15 was launched from Cape Kennedy on America’s fourth successful manned mission to the moon.

In 2002, the Republican-led House voted to create an enormous Homeland Security Department in the biggest government reorganization in decades.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton became the first woman to be nominated for president by a major political party at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

In 2018, the last six members of a Japanese doomsday cult who remained on death row were executed for a series of crimes in the 1990s, including a gas attack on Tokyo subways that killed 13 people.

In 2020, a processional with the casket of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama, where Lewis and other civil rights marchers were beaten 55 years earlier.

Today’s Birthdays:

Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard is 85.
Football Hall of Famer Bob Lilly is 85.
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Darlene Love is 83.
Singer Brenton Wood is 83.
The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger is 81.
Actor Helen Mirren is 79.
Rock musician Roger Taylor (Queen) is 75.
Olympic gold medal figure skater Dorothy Hamill is 68.
Actor Kevin Spacey is 65.
Actor Sandra Bullock is 60.
Actor Jeremy Piven is 59.
Actor Jason Statham is 57.
Actor Olivia Williams is 56.
Actor Kate Beckinsale is 51.
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is 44.
Actor Juliet Rylance is 44.
Actor Monica Raymund is 38.
Actor Francia Raisa is 36.
Actor-singer Taylor Momsen is 31.
Actor Elizabeth Gillies is 31.
Actor Thomasin McKenzie is 24.

Another day, another Saint gets his wings.

After the Saints said goodbye to Royce Lewis following Wednesday’s game at CHS Field, fellow Twins infielder Jose Miranda completed his rehab in the Saints’ 5-2 win over the Omaha Storm Chasers on Thursday and is set to join the Twins in Detroit.

Miranda, hitting second in the order and playing first base, walked in his first at-bat, walked again in the second inning, poked an outside pitch down the right-field line for an RBI double in the fourth and flew out to left in the sixth.

Miranda was replaced at first base by Chris Williams in the seventh and received a hug from manager Toby Gardenhire before heading to the clubhouse. Miranda left the stadium before game’s end.

The Twins placed Miranda on the 10-day injured list on July 11 due to a low back strain amidst the best major-league season of his young career. Miranda was hitting .325 with nine home runs and 43 runs batted in.

Meanwhile, one day after Saints starter Caleb Boushley tied the team record with his ninth win of the season, Randy Dobnak added his name to the record book with his ninth victory. Dobnak (9-5) pitched seven shutout innings, striking out five.

He came out to pitch the eighth but was lifted after hitting the first two batters of the inning. He was charged with the Storm Chasers’ first run.

Dobnak is well aware of the last time he pitched seven full innings in a game. It was his last start in the majors — Sept. 3 of 2021 while a member of the Twins.

He remembers the details clearly: “Seven innings. Tampa Bay. Five runs. I want to say six hits. Two strikeouts. Eighteen ground outs.”

The 29-year-old Dobnak appeared in 33 games with the Twins from 2019-21, including 21 starts. He owns a record of 9-12 in the majors to go along with two saves. He has one year remaining on a five-year, $9.25 million contract he signed in 2021. He has not pitched for the Twins since going 1-7 in 2021.

Dobnak said Thursday’s performance was reminiscent of the way he pitched when he had some of his best success.

“This is how I pitched in 2019,” he said. “I’d go 6- to 7-plus, I wouldn’t have many strikeouts, but I’d have plenty of ground outs and plenty of early outs. It worked out today. Good defense; the guys were pretty much locked in the whole game.”

Asked if he was going to try to go nine innings, Dobnak said, “I’ll go until they take me out. Toby asked me if I wanted to go back out (for the eighth) and I said, ‘Hell, yeah I want to go back out.’ He told me I had 10 pitches.

“So, of course, I get ahead of two guys and hit them both.”

The Saints sent eight batters to the plate in the first inning and took a 2-0 lead. Designated hitter Alex Isola and catcher Patrick Winkel delivered RBI singles.

The Saints added a run in the third. Left fielder Dalton Shuffield led off with a triple to center field and scored on a wild pitch. After Miranda’s double gave the Saints a 4-0 lead in the fourth, the Saints strung three two-out singles together in the fifth, with Peyton Eeles driving in the run.

Briefly

Dobnak made it three straight impressive starts in the series for the Saints after Boushley allowed one run in six innings on Wednesday and Louie Varland pitched six shutout innings on Tuesday. Varland will get another start against the Storm Chasers on Sunday.

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After taking the oath of office, Sarah Hennesy became the newest associate justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court Thursday.

Hennessy’s parents held the Minnesota and U.S. constitutions as she took the oath of office and her husband, children and mother-in-law robed her, according to a news release.

“In the 30 years that I have worked as an attorney and as a judge, I have seen the legal system at its best and worst,” she said during the ceremony. “I have seen veterans in treatment court in tears thanking the judge for saving them (and) I’ve seen how hard our judges, court employees, justice partners, and attorneys work each and every day to uphold the rights of Minnesotans.”

Hennesy was chief judge of the Seventh Judicial District in St. Cloud and previously practiced law in both appellate and trial courts in Iowa, Washington, D.C., and Virginia, and as a staff attorney at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid in St. Cloud. Her appointment means the entire state high court consists of DFL-appointed justices.

Hennesy succeeds Justice G. Barry Anderson on the court following his retirement.

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Addressing a classroom of inmates in Lino Lakes on Thursday, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon acknowledged voting might not be the first thing on a person’s mind at the end of their incarceration.

But the group of 20 or so men serving the final years or months of their sentences had plenty of questions for the state’s top election official. Simon has been touring state prisons to spread the word about a relatively new state law restoring voting rights to felons on supervised release.

The men’s questions ranged from how to find what’s on their ballots to how to push for changes to state law, and whether having a felony disqualifies someone from running for office.

The answer to that last question? No, said Simon, which was followed by a quip from the audience about current GOP presidential nominee former President Donald Trump.

“You can run for anything you want,” the inmate said, referring to Trump’s numerous felony indictments and recent conviction. “The presidential nominee has 34 felonies.”

Simon’s visit to Minnesota Correctional Facility-Lino Lakes this week was his seventh stop on a statewide prison tour aimed at educating and dispelling misinformation about a law restoring voting rights to more than 55,000 Minnesotans.

Despite felons on supervised release being able to vote in Minnesota elections since June 2023, Simon said there still is some confusion following a 20-year debate in the Minnesota Legislature and challenges in the state’s courts. Raising the stakes is it being a presidential election year, which means much higher interest and voter turnout.

Getting the word out

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, center, tours the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes with warden Shannon Reimann, right, on Thursday, July 25, 2024. Simon spoke to inmates nearing the ends of their sentences about Minnesota’s new law restoring the right to vote for those with felony convictions who are no longer incarcerated. (Devanie Andre / Pioneer Press)

“I think half the battle here is just getting the word out that this is even a thing,” Simon said in an interview at the end of his prison visit. “I want to make sure everyone understands their rights. As I said in there, they have the right to vote or not to vote, but I wouldn’t want anyone confused into not voting.”

There also have been legal challenges to the law, which the Attorney General’s office, led by Democrat Keith Ellison, and Simon, also a Democrat, say spread uncertainty about felon voting rights.

The Conservative group Minnesota Voters Alliance filed a lawsuit in Anoka County that the state Supreme Court heard in April. A decision still is pending, but the law remains in place. Separately, a Mille Lacs County judge declared the law unconstitutional and tried to bar several people on probation from voting, but the state appeals court overruled him.

Lino Lakes holds more than 1,000 prisoners, and while only around 20 saw Simon Thursday, word about the change will spread, said Kelly Haff, a legislative director with the Department of Corrections.

People serving time can’t vote in Minnesota — so for someone serving a decades-long sentence at a maximum security facility like Stillwater, information on voting won’t be useful for a long time. At Lino Lakes, a medium-security prison, many are preparing to get released in just a few years.

The facility focuses on helping inmates with substance use problems, rehabilitating sex offenders and preparing people for life on the outside through educational and vocational programs. Corrections department officials say 80% are in some kind of treatment program.

Simon said he’s fielded many questions about politics and government from people incarcerated at Minnesota prisons, but at Lino Lakes, he noticed a particular interest in advocacy and the law-making process. Many in the classroom had questions about the lawmaking process and how to go about changing policy.

The Secretary of State’s prison tour continues next week with a visit to Minnesota Correctional Facility–Togo in Itasca County.

Minnesota is one of 23 states that automatically restore voting rights upon release. Washington, D.C., Maine and Vermont allow incarcerated people to vote.

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