Quick Hits

• Early voting is open and brisk: More than 200,000 Minnesotans have already cast ballots — ahead of the 172,520 who had voted at the same point in 2022 — including 127,682 ballots accepted in just the first three weeks, per the Secretary of State's Office.
• Hennepin County Attorney Moriarty is defending her office's practice of declining gun charges from some low-level traffic stops, even as some police around the Twin Cities argue the policy is contributing to youth gun violence.
• The U.S. Department of Justice is suing St. Paul over two ordinances enacted this year requiring law enforcement operating in the city to wear identification and keep their faces uncovered.
• Carsharing may survive Evie's shutdown: A proposed Metro Transit takeover could keep carsharing available in the metro.
• Suspicious mail was sent to the Minnesota Secretary of State's office and Sen. Amy Klobuchar's Senate office, similar to recent mailings to other election offices and politicians.

Minneapolis

Hennepin County Attorney Moriarty defended declining some gun charges stemming from low-level traffic stops, a policy some Twin Cities police link to youth gun violence, KSTP reports. Candidates in this year's county attorney race have issued statements on declined charges — a race Golden Valley voters will help decide.

More than a year after Mariah Samuels was killed by her ex-boyfriend, Minneapolis city leaders are seeking an independent review of how police responded to her repeated calls for help before her death.

A young man died at the scene of a shooting in south Minneapolis Thursday night, according to Minneapolis Police.

A Coon Rapids credit union and a Minneapolis restaurant were found liable for discrimination after denying Tribal IDs to two Native American customers, according to the MDHR investigation.

The Minneapolis Public Schools board chair is speaking out after the board unanimously voted Tuesday to pause as many as 16 school closures next fall.

On a brighter note, South Minneapolis's Paperback Exchange is writing its comeback chapter, moving into a new home just 100 feet from its old location — the owner credits the community with making it possible.

Seven years later, the murder of Minnesota National Guardsman Abdoulaye Cisse remains unsolved, and Minneapolis police consider the case inactive.

And the Minneapolis Institute of Art's new "Paris Couture" exhibit, a survey of haute couture history, opened this month.

St. Paul

The DOJ's lawsuit targets two ordinances enacted this year that mandate law enforcement operating in the city to wear identification and keep their faces uncovered.

The St. Paul City Council's new homelessness plan carries an early estimated price tag of $10.85 million and a new strategy for moving hundreds of people now living in encampments into permanent shelter.

Local Sports

Rough opener for the Gophers: No. 9 Minnesota Duluth routed No. 20 Minnesota 7-1 Friday night in Duluth. Jacob Kvasnicka scored the Gophers' only goal in the first period, but the Bulldogs answered with three power-play goals.

Banana Ball returns to Target Field in summer 2027, with two games pitting the Party Animals — "the Greatest Party in Sports" — against the Firefighters, "the Hottest Team in Sports."

Prep playoffs: Two Rivers stunned top-seeded East Ridge 1-0 in double overtime in Thursday's boys soccer section matchup in Woodbury.

Minnesota Statewide

The early-voting pace keeps climbing: the Secretary of State's Office reported 127,682 ballots accepted in the first three weeks, and the 200,000-plus total already exceeds the 172,520 cast in the first four weeks of voting in 2022.

DFL Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Republican Michele Tafoya clashed over Iran, ICE and fraud in their MPR Minnesota Senate debate — their first face-to-face matchup, trading charges of "historic fraud" and reinvention.

A University of Minnesota Duluth study estimates the Boundary Waters closure and wildfires caused roughly $9 million in economic losses, with Ely and Grand Marais losing nearly 48,000 visitor-days in July alone.

--- Nothing crossed the Golden Valley, Robbinsdale, Crystal, New Hope or St. Louis Park wires today — we'll keep watching for tomorrow's edition.