Good morning,

We made it to Friday. It's July 30.

If you stepped or even looked outside yesterday, you know the air was horribly smoky from neighboring Canadian wildfires. But did you know it was record-breaking bad? Yes, Thursday had the worst air quality on record in Minnesota.

Though it's nothing to celebrate, I enjoyed the solidary shown by our many, many Facebook commenters who had something to say about the smoke.

Today will be mostly sunny with a chance of showers and storms in southwest Minnesota. Highs in the upper 70s to mid-80s. And thankfully, most of the smoke should clear by this afternoon, but an air quality alert remains in effect until 3 p.m. The weekend looks dry and a bit cooler.

Gymnast Sunisa Lee after competing on the uneven bars in the Olympic women's all-around final | Jamie Squire, Getty Images

GOLD!

St. Paul's Sunisa Lee made us all proud by becoming an Olympic champion. She's the first Hmong American Olympian in history, and she's making quite a mark.

MPR News reporter Peter Cox hung out where 200 family members, friends and fans of Lee packed into an Oakdale, Minn., event center to watch her compete. He was there as the scores came through and Lee won gold. Her sister's reaction was incredible. Here's that story (with photos that just keep making me smile.)

I messaged Cox to ask him what it was like to be there yesterday morning, and he called it "thrilling and uplifting."

"I am so grateful to have been able to be there and to see the anxiety of watching Suni perform on the biggest stage turn to pure joy. It's a moment I won't forget," he said.

Plus: From Olympic goals to Olympic gold, here's Sunisa Lee's journey, in photos.

Lee is set to compete again in individual competitions on Sunday, specifically her signature event, the uneven bars. Currently, NBC plans to broadcast the event in prime-time at 10 p.m. on local stations like KARE 11.

Gov. Tim Walz receives the COVID-19 vaccination in March | Tom Baker, MPR News file

Walz incentivizes vaccines, again

Offering $100 gift cards is the state's latest attempt to increase vaccination rates amid a stubbornly slow pace. Gov. Tim Walz said rising case counts associated with the delta variant combined with the back-to-school lead up make it a prime time to boost vaccines.

The gift cards are available to people who get their first dose between today and Aug. 15. Anyone 12 and older can cash in by verifying that they got their first dose. Previously offered were gift cards of lower value, free park passes and more.

More than 3 million people in Minnesota have received at least one vaccine dose, though there are wide geographic and demographic disparities.

This Minnesota news comes after President Joe Biden announced new requirements for federal workers to be vaccinated or otherwise face mandatory masking, weekly testing, distancing and other rules. Biden encouraged businesses to follow this lead by imposing burdens like these on unvaccinated people.

More details here.