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• Hosts: Mark Gorosh (@sportz5176) and Evan Petzold (@evanpetzold).

• Editors: Robin Chan.

• Guest: Tyler Jennings, director of draft content at Prospects Live

• Email: epetzold@freepress.com

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On this episode: The Detroit Tigers selected high school shortstop Bryce Rainer with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2024 MLB draft, followed by high school pitchers Owen Hall and Ethan Schiefelbein at Nos. 49 and 72, respectively. Tyler Jennings, the director of draft content at Prospects Live, joins the podcast to share his evaluation of the three players.

After that, Mark and Evan discuss the Tigers’ red-hot offense entering the All-Star break and how president of baseball operations Scott Harris should approach the July 30 trade deadline. They also take a look at Jack Flaherty’s return from his back injury and Kenta Maeda’s transition to the bullpen. To wrap up, Mark and Evan share what stands out about the way the Tigers have approached the MLB draft with Harris, assistant general manager Rob Metzler and scouting director Mark Conner running the show in the last two drafts.

WHO ARE THESE HS KIDS??? Detroit Tigers’ youth movement in MLB draft about building foundation and staying flexible

EVERYTHING ABOUT DAY 2: Breaking down Detroit Tigers picks in Rounds 3-10 of MLB draft in 2024

SKUBAL SNUBBED: Corbin Burnes — not Tarik Skubal — to start 2024 MLB All-Star Game for AL

MILWAUKEE — Hundreds of demonstrators converged Monday on downtown Milwaukee to protest around the Republican National Convention, saying the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump won’t affect their long-standing plans to rally outside the site.

A wide range of organizations and activists gathered in a downtown park outside the Fiserv Forum’s security perimeter to listen to speakers ahead of a street march coordinated by The Coalition to March on the RNC. The coalition, made up largely of local groups, supports abortion and immigrant rights and is pressing to end the war in Gaza.

The atmosphere was festive, with music playing over loudspeakers, a man strumming a guitar and vendors selling T-shirts and buttons supporting both Republicans and Democrats. One protester wore an orange prison jumpsuit with a giant Trump cutout for a face. Activists carried signs that read “Stand with Palestine,”https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2024/jul/16/protesters-rally-in-milwaukee-as-gop-convention/”We Can No Longer Afford the Rich” and “Defend and Expand Immigrant Rights.”

At one point, a group of demonstrators got into an argument with counterprotesters who denounced LGBTQ+ rights, Muslims, Black Lives Matter and women.

Counterprotester Rich Penkoski of Stillwater, Okla., bellowed through a bullhorn that women should go home and make sandwiches for their husbands. The demonstrators eventually walked away from the counterprotesters as police looked on.

At noon, the demonstrators set off on the march around the arena’s security perimeter, chanting “Hey-hey, ho-ho, Republicans have got to go” and “This is what democracy looks like.” Many carried Palestinian flags.

Marchers passed within a block of Fiserv Forum on the edge of the arena’s security zone before returning to the downtown park where they began. The Milwaukee Police Department estimated the crowd at between 700-800 people and said no one was arrested.

However, an Associated Press reporter saw a man in handcuffs being held by police outside the park after the march ended. An officer told him he was being arrested for disorderly conduct, though it wasn’t immediately clear what led to the arrest or if the man was part of the protest.

The Philadelphia-based group Poor People’s Army, which advocates for economic justice, marched later Monday afternoon. Two dozen protesters gathered in a park about a mile from Fiserv Forum to prepare for the march, jotting slogans on signs decrying corporate greed, mass incarceration, the war in Gaza and other issues as Pete Seeger’s “Which Side Are You On?” played on a speaker.

Perennial Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein addressed the group, calling for less military spending and larger investments in public education, social housing and health care. She didn’t mention the assassination attempt.

Cheri Honkala, 60, said she traveled to Milwaukee from one of the poorest districts in Pennsylvania to “send a strong message to all politicians” that people living below the poverty line “are not surviving.”

Honkala said she was nervous after the attempted assassination of Trump about potential encounters with law enforcement officers and counterprotesters while she marched with the Poor People’s Army, but she said she wasn’t deterred.

“The climate is definitely a scary one,” she said, “but you know what’s scarier? Not saying anything.”

A gunman identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks fired a shot during a Trump rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday evening that grazed Trump’s ear. A rally participant was killed and two more were critically wounded during the assault, prompting widespread calls to improve security and raising questions about Trump’s safety in Milwaukee, as well as that of other convention-goers.

Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera, Wisconsin’s largest immigrant rights group, condemned political violence but blamed Trump for fostering anger.

“It’s undeniable that Trump’s rhetoric, policies and actions have contributed to a climate of increased violence and legitimized hate crimes,” she said.

Peter Wilt, 64, of Whitefish Bay, Wis., was in the crowd Monday morning. He held a sign that read “Now Will U Ban Automatic Weapons.” Wilt said the sign referred to the assassination attempt.

“Common-sense gun laws are just that. Common sense,” he said. “The GOP has refused to enact common-sense gun laws, in part because it hasn’t hit home for them.”

There was a heavy police presence in the city, with officers from multiple jurisdictions providing security. Pentagon officials said 1,700 National Guard troops, mostly from Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota, were on active duty at the convention as well.

Milwaukee officials and federal authorities have repeatedly said their priority is safety and insist that they’ve made free speech accommodations.

Information for this article was contributed by Kathleen Foody and Lolita Baldor of The Associated Press.

    Protestors march near the Fiserv Forum during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention, Monday, July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
  

    Protestors march near the Fiserv Forum during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention, Monday, July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
  

    Protestors speak at Red Arrow Park near the Fiserv Forum during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention, Monday, July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
  

    Protestors speak at Red Arrow Park near the Fiserv Forum during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention, Monday, July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
  

    Protestors speak at Red Arrow Park near the Fiserv Forum during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention, Monday, July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
  

    Protestors march near the Fiserv Forum during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention, Monday, July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
  

    Peter Wilt, 64, of Whitefish Bay, Wis., holds a sign Monday, July 15, 2024, during protest in downtown Milwaukee, by the Coalition to March on the RNC 2024. Wilt said his sign referred to the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. “Common sense gun laws are just that. Common sense,” he said. “The GOP has refused to enact common sense gun laws, in part, because it hasn’t hit home for them.” (AP Photo/Corey Williams)
  

    Protestors march near the Fiserv Forum during the first day of the 2024 Republican National Convention, Monday, July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
  

Lev Roth works the front desk at a downtown Minneapolis condo building, helping residents use the building’s facilities and keeping an eye on who’s coming in and out. Roth says they have run into frustrations in recent years, like workplace safety concerns and scheduling headaches.

“We are given some amount of vacation time, but it’s so hard to find people to fill the shifts that we miss,” Roth said. “Having some way to make sure that people can use their vacation and sick and safe time would be fantastic.”

Those are the kinds of issues that Roth thinks a city labor standards board could address. Roth has been organizing with their union, SEIU Local 26, to advocate for the creation of a board — and the idea has long had support from the Minneapolis City Council.

After a lengthy process, council members say they plan to share language establishing the board and vote on it soon — but even before that happens, business owners and labor advocates are at odds over the idea.

What would the board do?

While specific details are still in the works, in general the board — if formed — would be able to study specific industries in Minneapolis, like property services or restaurants.

The board would form subcommittees specific to an industry, made up of workers, business owners and community stakeholders, like consumers and academics. Subcommittees could come up with recommendations for new regulations, to be forwarded to the City Council for consideration.

The standards board on its own could not enact regulations. Its recommendations would still need to go through the council’s full legislative process. 

City Council members voted last winter to draft the design for the board. They are currently still working with city staff to craft the language; neither business owners nor labor advocates have seen a draft of the resolution.

Councilmember Aurin Chowdhury is one of the resolution’s authors. She says workers need the forum with employers that the board would provide.

“Working people are dealing with rising cost of living, and wages oftentimes not meeting that,” Chowdhury said. “We had a number of different workers come forward and share that they are struggling in different ways.”

Pushback from business owners

But the idea has set off alarm bells for some employers. Several Minneapolis restaurant owners have rallied with Hospitality Minnesota, calling for the standards board to be blocked. 

Chef Gustavo Romero owns Oro by Nixta, a Mexican tortilla and taco restaurant in northeast Minneapolis. 

Romero said he’s worried about the possibility that more regulations could arise from a labor standards board, creating more challenges for an industry that struggled through the pandemic.

“It looks like we’re finally getting momentum into the restaurant where people are coming out again, and it feels like they’re waiting for us to get on our feet so they can swipe us back,” Romero said. 

Romero was one of 120 restaurant owners who signed a letter to the council in June opposing the board. The letter-writers noted that a third of its signatories identify as people of color and said they would be hit hard by new rules.

Romero said he runs on thin margins, like many minority restaurant owners who struggled to get their businesses running in the first place. He worries that more regulations could mean more expenses, and it’s not easy to bring in more revenue. 

“I cannot charge you $6 for a taco today and $10 tomorrow,” Romero said. “We know realistically that doesn’t work.”

He’s worried members of a city labor standards board won’t understand that. 

Waiting for the draft language

City Council Vice President Aisha Chughtai said the board is designed to avoid those misunderstandings. That’s why any board research into specific industries would include employers and employees, she said.

Chughtai said she believes misinformation is behind much of the backlash. She said the council is working to include as many voices as possible in the creation of the labor standards board.

“Community members and workers and local entrepreneurs are left behind in policymaking around labor standards, or feel left behind in that type of policy creation,” Chughtai said. “I think that’s where the support of this type of policy comes in in the first place, is just people feeling like their voices weren’t considered.”

Meanwhile, proponents of the policy say they want to see the process speed up. The idea for a labor standards board was first floated two years ago, when a majority of the City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey came together with labor unions in support.

Brian Elliott is the executive director of SEIU’s Minnesota State Council. He said he thinks it will be easier to negotiate with business owners once stakeholders can see the draft language — which he says is taking longer than with other city policies he’s been involved in.

“When people don’t know, they really go for the worst-case scenario, so one of the challenges we have is actually getting out a draft ordinance,” Elliott said. “For this policy, we are all waiting for a draft.”

City Council members said they hope to have a resolution ready to review in the coming weeks.

The labor standards board is part of a bigger push, in Minneapolis and nationwide, to give workers a seat at the table. Unionization efforts have gained momentum in recent years, including at several Minneapolis restaurants. Kim’s in Uptown recently unionized, after owner Ann Kim told workers to vote against the effort. Workers at Colita and the four locations of Café Cerés announced their intent to unionize last month. 

Lev Roth says they want that seat at the table.

“The backlash I’ve heard is from employers who say that they know best what their employees need. I can’t imagine that employers know better than employees what employees need,” Roth said. 

City Council members say they’ll schedule more meetings with employees and employers to hear opinions about the board as they continue drafting the resolution.