>>Lakeville native Smith takes silver in 200m backstroke at Paris Olympics
(Paris, France) — Lakeville native Regan Smith won her third silver medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics Friday, taking second in the 200-meter backstroke competition. Smith narrowly missed out on gold, finishing behind Australia’s Kaylee McKeown with a time of 2:04.26. McKeown swam an Olympic Games record 2:03.73 in Friday’s event. Smith previously held that world record in the 200-meter from 2019 through 2023. McKeown narrowly beat Smith in the 100-meter backstroke on Tuesday. Smith took silver in the 200m butterfly Thursday and has now medaled six times in her Olympic career.
>>Walz remains on Harris’s V-P short list, but not in top three
(Undated) — N-B-C reports Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign has met with six potential running mates and, although Governor Tim Walz is still on that short list, he’s apparently not in the top three. Hamline University analyst David Schultz says, “If the betting markets are anything — and we can take betting markets in Las Vegas with a grain of salt — the betting markets are now putting Governor of Pennsylvania Josh Shapiro… at the top of the list.” Schultz says the other most-talked-about names appear to be Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and — more recently emerging — U-S Transportation Secretary and former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg.
Harris kicks off a battleground state tour with her running mate next Tuesday evening in Philadelphia — but N-B-C reports a source familiar with the process strongly cautioned against reading too much into the location, saying Philadelphia was chosen in a vacuum apart from Shapiro. Stop number two on the battleground state tour will be in Eau Claire, Wisconsin — close to the Twin Cities media market — which Schultz says is a signal to the Trump campaign that Harris plans to defend both states which President Joe Biden won in 2020 (although in Wisconsin by only a very narrow margin). The other two candidates reported to be on Harris’s short list are Illinois Governor J-B Pritzker and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.
>>Bernie Sanders at town hall meeting tonight in Mankato
(Mankato, MN) — Vermont Senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is at Minnesota State University Mankato tonight (6pm) for a town hall meeting, presumably lending a hand to Democrats’ efforts in a congressional district — the 1st — that overall leans red. Carleton College political analyst Steven Schier says, “I think they’d be better off to find a governor or a senator with moderate credentials who could campaign in the more rural parts of the state and probably get a better hearing and better reception.” Schier says it’s “very curious” that Democrats’ candidate for U-S House in the 1st Congressional District, Rachel Bohman, won’t be at tonight’s event — her campaign says due to a family commitment. Schier says part of Bohman’s strategy could be that “aligning yourself with Bernie Sanders is not gonna get you a lot of votes in Greater Minnesota most of the time.” Bohman is considered a long shot against Republican incumbent Brad Finstad.
>>State’s largest police association asking Walz to remove Hennepin County prosecutor from all officer use-of-force cases
(Minneapolis, MN) — The Star Tribune reports the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association is asking Governor Tim Walz to pull Hennepin County chief prosecutor Mary Moriarty off any past, present or future use-of-force cases involving police officers. The letter focuses on Moriarty charging State Trooper Ryan Londregan with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb the Second during a traffic stop on I-94 in north Minneapolis. The police association’s general counsel writes Moriarty has demonstrated “a clear bias against law enforcement and a lack of impartiality in her decision-making processes.” She dropped charges in June amid intense political scrutiny, saying that given new evidence, prosecutors couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime occurred. Moriarty hasn’t commented on this latest media report, nor has Governor Tim Walz, who said after Moriarty dropped charges against the trooper that he had planned to take the case away from her.
>>Motorcycle deaths in Minnesota on about same pace as last year
(Undated) — State public safety officials say 37 motorcycle riders have died so far this year on Minnesota roads. State Motorcycle Safety Coordinator Jay Bock says that number remains steady. He says, “If you compare it to last year there… [were] 39 fatalities at this time on 37 crashes. So it isn’t significantly less or significantly more. It’s pretty much running parallel to what it was in 2023.” Law enforcement reported a total of 69 motorcycle deaths last year. Bock says that is still too many fatal crashes and the Office of Traffic Safety is working to lower those numbers. Eighty-two motorcycle fatalities in 2022 was the most in more than three decades.
>>Man Dies After Hit by St. Cloud Train
(St. Cloud, MN) — A man was dead at the scene after being struck by a train in St. Cloud this morning (FRI). . The victim’s identity will be released once the family has been notified. The train involved remains at that location, and traffic on Saint Germain Street is having to find a different route. Anyone with information is asked to call St. Cloud Police.
>>Twin Cities Man Pleads Not Guilty to Fatal Fargo Stabbing
**NOTE CONTENT**
(Fargo, ND) — A Twin Cities man has pleaded *not* guilty in the fatal stabbing of a man from Newfolden in northwest Minnesota. Michael Diedrich is accused of killing 22-year-old Ethan Larson during a fight outside a Fargo bar on March 28th. Police say a bartender reported the men went outside during an argument, and when he followed the men, he saw Larson bent over and throwing up blood. Witnesses walking into the bar say Larson approached them holding his chest and saying he was stabbed. Diedrich was later arrested after his driver’s license was matched to video surveillance.
