Good morning, Minnesota. Happy Thursday!

Here's the latest news from across the state to start your day.

WEATHER

☀️ It’ll be another warmer-than-normal day with highs near 90 across southern Minnesota and well into the 80s north.

🌡️ Highs Friday will be again near 90 with more humid air as dew points reach the low 70s. That combination will lead to afternoon heat indices well into the 90s.

🥵 A heat advisory is posted for portions of Minnesota, including the Twin Cities area, Friday afternoon and evening.

Get the latest weather news on Updraft.

On the Fourth of July, this lighthouse beacon will sweep across Lake Superior for the first time in six years

The old light broke in 2019. Volunteer lighthouse keepers raised $50,000 to purchase a new LED light from a Finnish company that mimics the historic lighthouse’s sweeping pattern across Agate Bay.

Radio Camp 2025 explores the work of Loft Literary Center writers and those who support them

MPR News' Radio Camp this year focused on writers of fiction, poetry and memoir and the Minneapolis center where many teach. The Loft Literary Center offered interviewees so high school students could learn to research, interview and produce radio stories.

NEWS ROUNDUP

🧑🏻‍⚖️ Man charged with killing former Minnesota House speaker is due back in court after delay. The hearing is expected to address whether Vance Boelter should remain in custody without bail and affirm that there is probable cause to proceed with the case. He's not expected to enter a plea.

🌿 St. Cloud cannabis dispensary opens to eager customers. The state’s second adult-use cannabis dispensary outside tribal lands opened Wednesday in St. Cloud. It’s operated by the White Earth Nation’s cannabis company Waabigwan Mashkiki.

🍺 Iconic Palmer's Bar in Minneapolis announces it will close in September. The 119-year-old Minneapolis gathering place and music venue Palmer’s Bar announced on social media late Wednesday that its final day of business will be Sept. 14.

🎆 After several years of July Fourth violence, law enforcement step up safety measures in Minneapolis. Minneapolis police are planning for large crowds for multiple events this July Fourth weekend, and they hope to avoid a repeat of the mayhem that plagued the last three Independence Day holidays.

🎭 Review: The Guthrie’s ‘Cabaret’ is a chilling look at how fascism happens. The Guthrie Theater’s production of “Cabaret” uses its familiar songs and story to show how escaping into entertainment can dull resistance to rising fascism, drawing clear parallels to today’s authoritarian threats.

🛥️ Law enforcement warns boaters to drive sober this holiday weekend. State officials are reminding Minnesota boaters not to drive intoxicated this holiday weekend . They say enforcement efforts will be out in full force.

🎨 Art Hounds: Healing medicine, abstract art and ‘Endometriosis: The Musical.’ Art Hounds recommend “Blocked View,” "Heilung Saaám (Healing Medicine)" and “Endometriosis: The Musical.”

🏥 Red Panda has fractured left wrist, released from hospital after fall at WNBA game. Red Panda, the popular performer who fell off her unicycle and crashed to the court during halftime of the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup final between the Indiana Fever and the Minnesota Lynx, has a broken left wrist.

🏛️ Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority strikes down 176-year-old abortion ban. The statute Wisconsin legislators adopted in 1849, widely interpreted as a near-total ban on abortions, made it a felony for anyone other than the mother or a doctor in a medical emergency to destroy "an unborn child."

MUST LISTEN

🎧 Minnesota on track for above average tornado season. There have been 48 tornado reports so far this season in Minnesota. That’s already more than the annual average of 43, and the most since 2022 when the state saw 60 tornadoes.

🎧 Closing the gaps in mental health care. Listen to a conversation hosted by MPR News host Angela Davis about barriers to mental health care. Three women who lead Minnesota nonprofits talk about mental health needs in communities and families, the disparities in mental health care systems and how resources can support people.

🎧 Minnesota Republican responds to uptick in extreme political views, violence following lawmaker shootings. Republican state Rep. Walter Hudson of Albertville — while earning a reputation as a rabble-rouser and willing to frequently engage in debates on social media — has turned to the same platforms to quell falsehoods in the wake of the Hortmans' killings.

🎧 ‘The beauty of sports is there‘s no script:’ Out to Lunch with MPR News sports contributors. Most Mondays on Minnesota Now, MPR News listeners hear the voices of sports contributors Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. Host Nina Moini met up with Wally and Eric at a recent Twins game against the Seattle Mariners.