1. Several killed in Spain anti-terror operation after Barcelona attack
Fox News: Police in Spain announced early this morning that they killed five people in a suspected second terror attack in Cambrils, hours after a van rammed into a crowd about 70 miles away in Barcelona, killing at least 13 people.
State-run broadcaster RTVE reported the suspects attempted to carry out a similar attack to the one in Barcelona, by driving a vehicle into pedestrians. It said seven people were injured -- two seriously -- by the suspects. Authorities said the suspects were wearing bomb belts.
The Catalan government says an attack in the seaside resort town of Cambrils has been linked to the vehicle attack in Barcelona. The region's Interior Minister Joaquin Forn told a local radio station that the Cambrils attack "follows the same trail. There is a connection."
He did not explain what connected the attacks. Meantime, authorities were on the hunt for the van driver that killed at least 13 people and injured more than 100. It was not immediately clear how the suspects killed in Cambrils may have been connected to the Barcelona attack.
At least three people have been arrested as suspects in the Barcelona incidentOne of the suspects is a Spanish national from Melilla, and the other is a Moroccan citizen who lived in Spain legally.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the terror attack on Thursday through its propaganda arm, with an ISIS release stating "the perpetrators of the attack in #Barcelona are Islamic state soldiers and carried out the operation on command of [ISIS' leader] of targeting coalition countries.”
2. Under fire from GOP, Trump digs in on Confederate icons
Associated Press: Yesterday President Donald Trump burrowed deeper into the racially charged debate over Confederate memorials and lashed out at members of his own party in the latest controversy to engulf his presidency.
Trump tweeted his defense of monuments to Confederate icons — bemoaning rising efforts to remove them as an attack on America's "history and culture." And he berated his critics who, with increasingly sharper language, have denounced his initially slow and then ultimately combative comments on the racial violence at a white supremacist rally last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia.
3. Arradondo Takes Next Step in Minneapolis Police Chief Nomination Process
Channel 5: After nearly two hours of discussion, a Minneapolis City Council committee voted unanimously Wednesday to approve the nomination of acting police chief Medaria Arradondo to take over the position on a permanent basis.
The nomination now goes to the full City Council. Arradondo has been the face of the Minneapolis police force since the shooting death of Justine Damond. The full council will vote on Arradondo's nomination Aug. 18.
4. Rebuild of I-35W in Minneapolis starting Monday 'will be tough' on drivers
The news is going from bad to worse for commuters already exasperated by a long summer of downtown construction. A huge new road project on Interstate 35W through south Minneapolis is starting. On Monday.
The $239 million reconstruction is hardly the biggest in terms of budget, but the massive scope may be one of the most disruptive and prolonged in recent years. Transportation Commissioner Charlie Zelle called it a “complicated but significant project” during a show-and-tell for media representatives Thursday. It will last four years and be carried out in five phases.
The project between downtown Minneapolis and 46th Street begins while drivers are still dealing with construction in the Lowry Hill Tunnel and on Interstate 94 out to Brooklyn Center, which won’t be done until mid-September. Bridges on the local streets of Portland and Cedar avenues between 28th and Lake streets are out of service until November.
5. The weather might ruin our eclipse Monday
Pioneer press: Minnesota eclipse viewers could be out of luck, unless they want to make a six-hour drive out of state. Monday’s forecast for the Twin Cities, as of Thursday, shows plenty of clouds and a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. It will get slightly darker around 1 p.m. — the peak time of the eclipse here — but the shape of the sun will probably not be discernible, said meteorologist Dan Luna, with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen.
Meteorologist Dan Luna with the National Weather Service said, “there’s a possibility there could be breaks in the clouds, but the character of the sky or sky condition will be very cloudy. The clouds will be thick enough that we won’t see the sun, eclipse or no eclipse. Minnesota will be a poor location to view the eclipse.”
Unless forecast conditions change, Luna suggested eclipse viewers seeking clear skies drive to southern Iowa or northern Missouri, where the chance of rain is only 10 percent to 20 percent. Hardcore viewers should travel either to central or eastern Oregon or South Carolina, eastern Tennessee, eastern Idaho or eastern Wyoming for ideal viewing weather, Luna said.
“The Midwest does not look good for Monday for viewing the eclipse,” Luna said.