🌱 Early Vote Center Opens + Former Cops Sentenced + Monkeypox In MN

Good morning, Minneapolis! Thanks for spending part of your Thursday with Patch. Let's get to the today's top stories.

First, today's weather: Partly sunny and nice. High: 76 Low: 58.

Here are the top 3 stories today in Minneapolis:

1. Two more police officers on the scene of George Floyd’s murder have been sentenced for violating his civil rights. Tou Thao was sentenced to three and a half years, while J. Alexander Kueng is expected to serve three years in a federal facility. (CBS)

2. The Minneapolis Early Vote Center will be open this weekend ahead of the Aug. 9 primary. Patch has a guide to the local ballot, including the congressional and gubernatorial races. (Patch)

3. Donations are “pouring in” for the family of an infant who died earlier this month in a North Branch car crash. Six-week-old Hudson Sawyer Allen died from his injuries July 3 at Children’s Minnesota in Minneapolis. Nearly $20,000 has been raised for his loved ones. (Patch)

Today in Minneapolis:

• Check out the FLOW Northside Arts Crawl in north Minneapolis. (10 a.m.)
• Family Day at Central Gym. (5 p.m.)
• Check out the annual Picnic in Pearl Park. (5:30 p.m.)
• Bigfoot County performs at Day Block Brewing. (6 p.m.)
• Minneapolis Institute of Art guides give tours “relating works of art to popular books.” (6:30 p.m.)
• A corn feed in Sibley Park features a DJ, moonwalk, carnival games, and Art in the Park. (7:30 p.m.)

From my notebook:

• Monkeypox cases are on the rise in Minnesota as the World Health Organization declares it a global health emergency. (KARE11)
• Fire crews responded after an explosion “leveled” a Hopkins home outside the Twin Cities Wednesday. (KARE11)
• More than 1 million Minnesotans applied for “hero pay” bonus checks, which MinnPost reports is more than double what the state anticipated. (MinnPost)
• A pinball bar will move into the former location of Liquor Lyle’s. (FOX9)

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Events:

• Twin Cities Water Lantern Festival (July 30)
• Add your event

That's all for today, Minneapolis! See you tomorrow for another Daily.

— Georgi Presecky

About me: Georgi is a newsletter writer and partner content curator from Chicago. She spent five years on the entertainment beat for FF2 Media covering film festivals across the U.S. Her feature articles have been recognized with awards from the Illinois Women's Press Association and National Federation of Press Women. As editor-in-chief of the Lewis University newspaper, she and her staff earned honors from the Associated Collegiate Press and American Scholastic Press Associations. She began working for Patch in 2019.