Good morning. We hope you got some time to relax before the run-up to primary day. We have some catchup posts below as well as some lookahead material.

Last night’s U.S.-Belgium game was a big winner before the opening kick — for the FOX affiliates with competitive races in their viewing markets. KSMP-TV, or FOX 9, was able to charge a premium for ad time given the heavy expected viewership of the biggest game for the U.S. men’s soccer team in generations, maybe ever. U.S. Senate candidate Angie Craig, a DFLer, plunked down $32,500 for a single 30-second spot; she’s out with a new batch of ads as of yesterday. Craig will get three spots for $36,000 later this week during games in which the U.S. team is not a participant. Her primary rival, DFL Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, has purchased her first ad time but none of the spots were due to run before, during or just after the U.S.-Belgium game. North Star Dawn PAC, which is backing Craig’s run, bought a pregame ad and paid $6,000 for that slot. In case you were wondering, the going rate in the Twin Cities for a political ad spot during the U.S. win in the round of 32 was $30,000. Future spots should be cheaper after Belgium ended the American run.

Grand jury subpoenas against top Minnesota political figures and their offices triggered a legal back-and-forth in private. That’s until a federal judge invalidated the expansive document requests last month and ordered sealed court records be made public . Usually the subjects of investigations are wary about their potential legal peril getting aired, but here the subpoena targets wanted them out; the U.S. Justice Department tried to keep the materials under wraps by arguing it would go against canons of grand jury secrecy. At the direction of U.S. District Court Judge Patrick Schiltz, most of those court documents are now out in the open. They reveal how Justice Department officials based their probe on old training handbooks, public remarks and social media postings to suggest interference with a winter surge of immigration enforcement. Attorneys for the Minnesota leaders in turn argued the investigation was an abuse of the grand jury process and an attempt at political intimidation.

A woman who made threats of violence against state lawmakers, including House Speaker Lisa Demuth, has pleaded guilty. Rachel Welsch, 43, entered a guilty plea yesterday on a felony charge that she made threats of violence toward Demuth earlier this year. A signed plea indicates she has agreed to 90 days in jail or a comparable alternative and five years on probation. She was charged after leaving Demuth voicemails insinuating that she planned to shoot her. Welsch’s petition to enter a guilty plea says she’s not to contact Demuth and will pay restitution. In a news release, Demuth said she hopes the penalty will prevent future acts of political violence and threats. “I sincerely hope that the consequences in this case will dissuade future threats, and that legislators and other public officials can continue to do their jobs without having to fear for the safety of themselves or their families,” Demuth said. Sentencing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 10.

Minnesota's new paid family and medical leave program is now a full six months old. State officials say they'll have an update this morning on use of the benefit. It provides partial wage replacement for time off around a family expansion or a long-term illness for a person or to care for a close relative. The leave benefits are drawn from a dedicated account fed by employee and employer payroll taxes. The volume of signups was high when the program went live in January because many families who welcomed a new baby during the prior year could apply. The state expected the numbers to level off.

The first look at absentee voting ahead of Minnesota's primary shows plenty of interest, but so far only a small number of completed ballots. The Minnesota secretary of state's office reports that 287,664 were applied for through the first week of early voting, which opened on June 26. Through last Thursday, only about 2,500 ballots were submitted for eventual counting. Most of those were people who went to a polling place to fill out their ballot. More than half of the submitted absentee ballots are in Hennepin County. The primary to choose party nominees for U.S. Senate, governor and many other offices is on Aug. 11.

Most of Minnesota’s constitutional officers accepted a pay raise last week, including Gov. Tim Walz. Dana reports that Walz had skipped previous raises but said he’ll take this one recommended by the state’s compensation council, bringing his pay to more than $16,600 per month for the remainder of his tenure. The recommended bump will increase the governor's annual base pay from $174,775 to $200,000. For most of his time in office, Walz’s actual base pay has been $127,000 per year — about $10,580 per month — after he bypassed prior raises . Walz started receiving the maximum allowed earlier this year, although his office didn’t say when that shift occurred. Walz said he’s taking the raise to boost the pay rate for the next person to take over the office. “This year, I am going to take it on the way out the door to make sure that the next governor is at the appropriate level that the legislators set, that brings us in line again,” he said. Secretary of State Steve Simon and Auditor Julie Blaha said they’d also accept recommended pay raises, while Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said she would bypass a raise during her remaining time in office (she’s vying for U.S. Senate) and Attorney General Keith Ellison didn’t indicate whether he’d accept the raise or not.

After a federal judge blocked an anti-price gouging drug law, Minnesota has to pay up. Minnesota's budget agency is seeking permission from top lawmakers to pay more than $600,000 in legal fees to the Association for Accessible Medicine. The group represents drug manufacturers and sued over a 2023 state law meant to prevent dramatic price increases for generic drugs. The group argued that Minnesota's law unduly interfered with interstate commerce by regulating out-of-state manufacturers. The Constitution gives the power to regulate interstate commerce to Congress. A federal district judge and an appeals court agreed, saying Minnesota's law was unconstitutional. As part of a connected settlement, the Attorney General's Office agreed to pay the group's legal costs — and now must cut the check by mid-November to avoid interest.

Another court has denied unfettered review of body camera footage related to the arrest of a former Minnesota state senator. The Court of Appeals upheld a judge’s ruling to deny Alpha News access to unedited footage of former state Sen. Nicole Mitchell’s arrest in April 2024 on felony charges she broke into her stepmother’s home. Mitchell, a DFLer, was convicted last summer and resigned. Alpha News first sued in 2024 to try to obtain police footage. The bid was denied on grounds it was still an active case. Some of the footage was played during her trial, which received extensive media coverage. After her conviction, the conservative news site again tried to get the full video files and was denied again. Appeals judges have let the ruling stand. Mitchell is reportedly considering a political comeback as a Woodbury City Council candidate. Filing for that office opens next week.

Karen Clark, the first lesbian to serve in the Minnesota House, died last week. Peter and our colleague Sam Stroozas wrote about Clark’s long career and legacy . Clark, a DFLer, represented several Minneapolis neighborhoods from 1981 to 2019. She was the first Minnesota lawmaker to run as an openly LGBTQ+ candidate and win. She helped to ban LGBTQ+ discrimination from housing, employment and education in Minnesota and she was a key player in the effort to legalize gay marriage. Check out the full story for photos from Clark’s storied career and comments from some of her colleagues who knew her best. There have been no announcement yet of funeral plans.