FREE WHITEWATER

Author Archive for JOHN ADAMS

City, Daily Bread, Education, School District

Daily Bread for 7.12.23: The Early Childhood Inclusion Presentation of 7.10.23

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will see thundershowers with a high of 76. Sunrise is 5:28 AM and sunset 8:33 PM for 15h 04m 54s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 24.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1812, the American Army of the Northwest briefly occupies the Upper Canadian settlement at what is now Windsor, Ontario.

July Update WUSD Early Childhood Inclusion Service Delivery ModelDownload

Link: Early Childhood Inclusion.pdf

On Sunday, FREE WHITEWATER listed school-related posts since March, on Monday a sketch on the basics of a good education, and on Tuesday a review of a middle-school science curriculum presentation at the 7.10.23 school board regular session. Today’s post addresses the Early Childhood Inclusion presentation (embedded above). 

About thirty-six minutes into the meeting, for about an hour, the district’s Director of Pupil Services and several district employees spoke to the community about the district’s Early Childhood inclusion program. (Early childhood programs are for children not yet attending full-day classes.)

A few remarks are in order. 

It matters, and it will always be necessary, that there is an update to the school board about this programming. That’s a necessary, yet insufficient, measure of a program’s success in a district responsible and responsive to the community. To the community means all the community (not simply the board, or parents, but all residents): it’s a public school district. There would not have been so much consternation last year about the district’s early childhood program — and honest to goodness there was! — if the community had been better informed. 

The board, a few administrators (the district leadership team), and those who watch and record these meetings are a tiny fraction of the audience this district needs. Communication isn’t accomplished simply because seven board members are in the know. If residents don’t hear about a topic fully, then they’ve been sold short. When they later learn that they’ve been sold short, they will show up at board meetings and start yelling. How much Maalox does the district office want to keep in stock? An ounce of prevention, a pound of cure…

One other point, that this district for over a decade has not understood: it’s not enough that an administrator finds a teacher wonderful, or beloved. It’s meaningful but not decisive. What’s decisive is whether students are performing well. Love may take a student along the way to success, but a teacher’s love must be measured by the results that the teacher produces. To be useful to the public, those results must be measurable.

(Old Whitewater had the bad habit of using praise as a substitute for genuine accomplishment. Respect for one’s education means looking for, and expecting of others, measurable results. This is no more than following the good example of one’s teachers, professors, and mentors. It’s not harsh to write as much; it is, in fact, an expression of love and honor all its own.) 

Two Reasons Why the US Is Avoiding Recession:

City, Daily Bread, Education, School District

Daily Bread for 7.11.23: The Middle-School Science Curriculum Presentation of 7.10.23

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 82. Sunrise is 5:27 AM and sunset 8:33 PM for 15h 06m 15s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 33.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 6 PM. 

On this day in 1914, Babe Ruth makes his debut in Major League Baseball.

Science AdoptionDownload

Link: Science-Adoption.pdf

Sunday’s post listed school-related posts at FREE WHITEWATER since March, and Monday’s post offered a sketch on the basics of a good education. Today offers a review of a middle-school science curriculum presentation at the 7.10.23 school board regular session (embedded above). 

About five minutes into the meeting, for thirty-one minutes, the district’s Director of Teaching & Learning and three science teachers presented to the board on a new middle-school curriculum. Their discussion (including questions from the board) will lead to a vote on the proposal at a subsequent meeting. 

A few remarks are in order. 

Whitewater now has a Director of Teaching and Learning, and that’s a proper title: what does the district teach, and how are students learning? The proposal under review seeks to adopt a new curriculum with a more active, participatory student approach to middle-school science.

As it stands now, fewer than half of our middle-school students are proficient or advanced in science. When measured under an age-appropriate curriculum and teaching methods, fewer than half is too few. Almost all students — and all people, truly — are capable of proficiency. There are barriers to learning for some (illness, severe disability, deprivation) but most students will learn well if taught well.

What does Whitewater need? She needs a good curriculum, good teaching, measurement of that teaching’s effectiveness, and community awareness of what’s being taught. (This last need is lacking, and no means of communication under the district’s control is adequate to get a message out widely. District or city officials who think their own means of communication are effective are mistaken. They miss more people than they reach. This is, however, a topic for another day.)

There are costs involved in changing a curriculum and approach, but the costs of remaining enmired where we are now are incomparably higher.  

British philosopher Thomas Dolby understood the adventure and romance of science: 

The 80s have always been an under-appreciated decade…

City, Daily Bread, Education, Law, Responsibility, School District

Daily Bread for 7.10.23: The Basics of a Good Education

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 87. Sunrise is 5:26 AM and sunset 8:34 PM for 15h 7m 32s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 44.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater School Board’s Policy Review Committee meets at 9 AM, and the board meets again going into closed session shortly after 5 PM, to resume open session at 5:30 PM for a workshop, and streaming its regular open session at 7 PM.

  On this day in 1832, Fort Koshkonong Construction Begins: 

On this date General Henry Atkinson and his troops built Fort Koshkonong after being forced backwards from the bog area of the “trembling lands” in their pursuit of Black Hawk. The fort, later known as Fort Atkinson, was described by Atkinson as “a stockade work flanked by four block houses for the security of our supplies and the accommodation of the sick.” It was also on this date that Atkinson discharged a large number of Volunteers from his army in order to decrease stress on a dwindling food supply and to make his force less cumbersome. One of the dismissed volunteers was future president, Abraham Lincoln, whose horse was stolen in Cold Spring, Wisconsin, and was forced to return to New Salem, Illinois by foot and canoe. [Sources: History Just Ahead: A Guide to Wisconsin’s Historical Markers edited by Sarah Davis McBride and Along the Black Hawk Trail by William F. Stark]

Yesterday’s post listed school-related posts at FREE WHITEWATER since March. Today offers a simple statement on the basics of a good education. There are in the Whitewater School District myriad and incessant discussions, but not every discussion matters as much as others. As it turns out, for many years, this district has used most of its public meeting time for second or third-order matters.

A person who can read and write, as most people can, should be able to list a few fundamentals that should be part of every meeting in a public district. Those fundamentals deserve the greatest amount of attention. The over-complication of educational policy and action, or the attention to small matters, betrays an inability or unwillingness to address fundamental concerns.

Far from advancing education, these errors discourage lifelong learning. There’s nothing impressive in those who cannot explain a topic succinctly and plainly, or those who cannot see the forest for the trees.

And so, and so, from one among many in Whitewater who has learned to read and write, a simple list follows.

The district should provide a substantive education in academics, art, and athletics, in conditions of individual liberty, fair treatment, and open and responsible government.

Every item in this list is significant; there is no item in this list that is not, in a public school district, a community matter.

How a Burmese Street Vendor Serves Over 500 People at the Queens Night Market: 

City, Daily Bread, School District

Daily Bread for 7.9.23: Whitewater School-Related Posts Since March

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 82. Sunrise is 5:25 AM and sunset 8:34 PM for 15h 08m 46s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 56.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1943, the Allied invasion of Sicily begins, leading to the downfall of Mussolini and forcing Hitler to break off the Battle of Kursk.

A list of school-related posts at FREE WHITEWATER since March: 

The Whitewater School Board Election (1) (‘On March 11th, at the Whitewater City Hall, six candidates running for three seats on the Whitewater Unified School Board participated in a candidates’ forum. The Whitewater Area League of Women Voters sponsored the 90-minute event. Embedded immediately below is a video recording of the forum. I’ve added the six questions that each candidate was asked, along with the timestamp at which that portion of the discussion begins’).

The Whitewater School Board Election (2) (‘It’s telling — and practical of the candidates at the March candidates’ forum for the Whitewater Schools’ board — that not one of them made referendum questions the centerpiece of his or her remarks’).

The Whitewater School Board Election (3): (‘Three of the questions from the candidates’ forum attracted less interest from most candidates (and notably Hicks and Linse) than presumably for those who posed the questions. The question about future referendums was one of those three, and I posted about that question yesterday. The other two were about dual-language learning and CRT….And so, and so… these topics (like the topic on future referendums) saw less critical commentary from the candidates than from some in the community. This begs the question, however, whether what the candidates profess now will be what officeholders do months from now’). 

The Whitewater School Board Election (4): (‘It’s true that a survey would have to be prepared professionally, with questions crafted plainly and without ambiguity. A serious survey requires serious design and distribution, and neither the school board nor Whitewater’s superintendent & administrators are skilled in the task. If there are to be annual surveys, and that’s a good idea, then they should be designed and disseminated with a professional standard of care. Whitewater can find the money for the work as she’s found (wasted, truly) money for less important work‘).

The Whitewater School Board Election (5) (‘These recent years have seen discussion after discussion of liberty, of freedom. Liberty has been as misused these last few years as any noun in memory. Liberty is an individual right or it’s no right at all. The liberty of a person that depends on the group, the mob, the horde, is not a right of being free from others’ control. That sort of liberty is a mere chance, a favor from the group to the individual that may be pulled away at the group’s discretion’). 

The Whitewater School Board Election (6) (‘Parents reasonably hope that their children receive education in language, mathematics, and science. Determining how much they’ve learned often falls to standardized tests, including the ACT. These standardized tests are imperfect yet useful measures of overall performance….It’s not school board candidates, however, who have the key obligation to assure that students’ understanding of fundamentals is sound. It’s the superintendent, administrators, and faculty members. They are the ones who are employed full-time in our district. Each and every regular school board meeting in this district should have a report on academic progress, and what is being done to improve learning, and support those who are teaching’).

The Whitewater School Board Election (7) (‘A school board race, on terms of conventional educational and managerial policy? Fair enough, that’s much needed here. An internecine culture war in this district, with a candidate who calls for regression? Wrong to begin, but right to defend against. Supporters throwing anything and everything at the wall — a torrent of lies, fallacies, and substandard English — to see what sticks? These overwrought men who flinch and squeal at even the slightest critique must think others are made of sugar. So be it; it doesn’t matter half so much how these men think as how one responds’).

After the Spring Election in Whitewater (‘Big changes require big discussions. Those aren’t discussions with a board, or the district leadership team, they’re discussions with the community. Those aren’t discussions through a board, administrator, or principal, they are discussions from the superintendent directly with the community in large settings….It’s now clear that the administration will not be able to carry on successfully without a dialogue and reconciliation with community groups. There’s been some talk about the role of the superintendent and the board, but that’s secondary as a practical matter. It’s the relationship of the superintendent to the community that this electorate expects to be addressed’). 

‘Some College, No Degree’ Isn’t Whitewater’s Problem (‘A thousand times over: Whitewater’s fundamental challenge is graduating students from Whitewater High School so that they remain engaged, lifelong learners. Students must be able to read, write, and reason adequately. These skills are not deferred talents, to be acquired in trade schools, colleges, graduate or professional programs, or only after one finds a job. This should be the mandate for our district: we are to achieve literacy, basic mathematics, and reasoning abilities in our students before they are graduated. It is impossible — impossible, damn it  — to believe that it cannot be done. There must be no letting go, no yielding, of this conviction’).

What’s the Whitewater Unified School District Board’s Mandate? (‘If the board majority now decides to embark on policies that might have been raised during the election but were not, then that majority owes the community a thorough explanation why those policies are being advanced only after the election’).

What about Management of the Whitewater Unified School District? Wasn’t That an Issue in the Last Election? (‘It is, by the way, the board’s obligation to oversee (literally, to supervise). Candidates who will not speak openly and plainly of officials before an election, but instead only sotto voce among themselves and their allies in the community, have not presented serious matters seriously. Incumbents who have said too little in the public meetings they have for years attended have similarly failed in their obligation to transparent, responsible government. Talking to your friends and cronies is not good government. Scheming with a few trolls is not good government. Crafting tactics to see what sticks is not good government. There are no monarchs or aristocrats here, and no secret rituals. We have a Whitewater Unified School District and not a Whitewater United Magic Kingdom’).

The Pool (‘The rational course is a settlement that assures ongoing operation at minimal cost while further discussions on medium and long-term solutions are crafted. A reduction in political temperature — down to, let’s say, negative 30 Fahrenheit — would serve this community well’).

Arizona fires extinguished with air tankers:

Animals, Daily Bread, Weird Tales

Daily Bread for 7.8.23: Giant Land Snails Are Invading Florida (Another Reason to Love Wisconsin)

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 78. Sunrise is 5:25 AM and sunset 8:35 PM for 15h 09m 57s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 66.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1850, James Jesse Strang, leader of an estranged Mormon faction, the Strangites, was crowned king (the only man to achieve such a title in America):

When founder Joseph Smith was assassinated, Strang forged a letter from Smith dictating he was to be the heir. The Mormon movement split into followers of Strang and followers of Brigham Young. As he gained more followers (but never nearly as many as Brigham Young), Strang became comparable to a Saint, and in 1850 was crowned King James in a ceremony in which he wore a discarded red robe of a Shakespearean actor, and a metal crown studded with a cluster of stars as his followers sang him hosannas. Soon after his crowning, he announced that Mormonism embraced and supported polygamy. (Young’s faction was known to have practiced polygamy, but had not at this time announced it publicly.) A number of followers lived in Walworth County, including Strang at a home in Burlington. In 1856 Strang was himself assassinated, leaving five wives. Without Strang’s leadership, his movement disintegrated.

Giant Land Snails Are Invading Florida:

Crowds flock to see Yosemite’s waterfalls gush from historic snowmelt:

Bad Ideas, Blogging, City, Culture, Daily Bread, Good Ideas, Local Government, School District, University

Daily Bread for 7.7.23: Prioritization in a Small Town

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 78. Sunrise is 5:24 AM and sunset 8:35 PM for 15h 11m 03s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 76.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1832, during the Black Hawk War, General Atkinson leads his entire militia, which includes future presidents Abraham Lincoln and Zachary Taylor, to a camp just south of Palmyra.

This libertarian blogger’s list of general topics is plain, but even then priorities are necessary. See What Ails, What Heals. 

Commentary, or any participation in civic life, should be principled, methodical, and prioritized.

It’s this last requirement — a balance between addressing harms and promoting better outcomes, and a priority ordering within each — that’s often missing. See Heals & Ails, General & Particular, Public & Private:

In a community requiring extraordinary care, a critique must be devoted principally to what ails over what heals (to staunch the worst injuries in the community), to the general over the specific (as precepts themselves will be unclear), and to public over private action (as government action will have  grown excessive or distorted). In a healthy society, more time can be devoted to what heals over what ails, the specific over the general, and private over public action.

Some attention must be given across categories, but a person’s primary attention should be focused as if a triage. 

From a conceptual list of maladies and treatments a person can make his or her way to specifics, and through a list one can establish priorities that respect the boundaries between public and private, acknowledging the importance of the later over the former. 

There’s a tendency in Whitewater for people to flit from issue to issue, supposed crisis to crisis. For example, is there a need to address the substantive quality of a Whitewater public education, an athletic field, or a pool? Is there a need for housing, to address poverty, or to improve the lakes, etc.? These and other matters are important, but which matters more, and in which order should they be addressed?

Everything Everywhere All at Once is a film, not a public policy program. 

One would prefer to focus on what heals, so much as one can, yet cannot overlook what ails. It is not true, however, that every ailment is the same, or needs the same attention.

This applies to commentary, too: some matters require only a limited number of posts, but others require a long campaign, to be addressed again and again, either to attrit what is harmful or encourage what it helpful.

A reader recently reminded me that, in effect, one could not wait to address only a single major topic: they come along plentifully, of varying intensities. 

Triage is not inaction, but prioritized action.

And so, and so, one has to choose: what negatives must be addressed in what order, and what positives should be promoted in what order? 

The Incredible School For Adaptive Surfers:

City, Film

Film: Tuesday, July 11th, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret

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Tuesday, July 11th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:

Family/Comedy/Drama

Rated PG-13

1 hour, 46 minutes (2023)

Judy Blume’s classic novel finally comes to the screen. When her family moves from the city to the suburbs, 11 year old Margaret encounters new friends, new experiences, and growing up.  Starring Abby Ryder Fortson, Rachel McAdams and Kathy Bates.

One can find more information about Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret at the Internet Movie Database. more >>

Cats

Friday Catblogging: They’re Crepuscular

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Kate Underwood answers the question Are Felines Nocturnal?:

It’s a common response for cat owners to believe their cats are nocturnal, and that’s why they keep odd hours. However, nocturnal is not the correct term for domestic cats. There are three terms for the time of day when an animal is the most active: nocturnal, diurnal, and crepuscular.

No, cats are not nocturnal, although that’s a popular misconception. As AllThingsNature.org explains, cats are crepuscular, not nocturnal.

…

Cats are crepuscular animals, meaning they are naturally wired to be at their most active during twilight. So during those hours just before you’d go to bed and the early morning or dawn hours, your cat may be inclined to meow, nudge, or otherwise try to engage with you.

As AllThingsNature.org notes, “crepuscular” originates from the Latin word “twilight.” Crepuscular animals can take advantage of those low-light hours between day and night for hunting and finding water. Being crepuscular benefits some animals because visibility becomes more challenging to predators in the wild, and the temperatures are cooler.

City, Culture, Daily Bread, Local Government, School District, University

Daily Bread for 7.6.23: Heals & Ails, General & Particular, Public & Private

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 80. Sunrise is 5:23 AM and sunset 8:35 PM for 15h 12m 06s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 87.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets at 6 PM.

On this day in 1933, the first Major League Baseball All-Star Game is played in Chicago’s Comiskey Park. The American League defeated the National League 4–2.

There’s a view of small-life that depicts rural residents as thoughtfully laconic. That’s true for some, but it’s seldom the case in Whitewater for officials and those active in political issues. Many of the men and women who gravitate to politics in Whitewater are overwrought and under-thought. They come into meetings cranked up over an issue and leave the meetings cranked up over that issue.

There’s a lot of maneuver, with short bursts of activity, but less sustained effort over the long term. While some moments are important, requiring immediate attention, there are fewer of those moments than excitable people imagine. It’s attrition, not maneuver, that decides most disputes.

What Ails, What Heals. So one does well to ponder what matters most. That would be the point of a post like What Ails, What Heals. It’s a simple list, from this libertarian blogger’s view, of what would help (or what now hinders) Whitewater. Anyone could make a list of his or her own, but watching how excitable some residents are it seems unlikely that many take the time  to do so. (The long view seems a rare perspective in Whitewater.) 

From that post, what ails: boosterism, toxic positivity, regulatory capture, populism, closed government, news deserts, and violence. 

From that post, what heals: free markets, charity, tragic optimism, open government, impartial government, a professional press, and individual rights. 

General and Particular. A list like What Ails, What Heals is by design general, not particular. The categories there, of concern or hope, could encompass different, specific  topics (of government, of the community, or both). 

Public and Private. There are concerns about both public and private life in Whitewater, as there are opportunities for both public and private life. This, however, should be true in a well-ordered free society: private life should be the greater, and public life the lesser, part of community activity and emphasis. Government (city, school district, and public university) should be limited, responsible, and humble. A free society, grounded in private ownership of property, remains free when private action is the largest portion of all activity. 

A troubled community, including a troubled small town, is one in which government holds the stage while private life stands in the wings. A troubled community, including a small troubled town, is also one in which a few private individuals manipulate public life to their special advantage. 

Worth noting, too, is the problem of true diversity and dynamism in a small town. While private life should predominate within a healthy community, private life in fit-form depends on vibrancy and activity. For a community to thrive, to flourish, it must be active.  

In a community requiring extraordinary care, a critique must be devoted principally to what ails over what heals (to staunch the worst injuries in the community), to the general over the specific (as precepts themselves will be unclear), and to public over private action (as government action will have  grown excessive or distorted). In a healthy society, more time can be devoted to what heals over what ails, the specific over the general, and private over public action.

Some attention must be given across categories, but a person’s primary attention should be focused as if a triage. 

From a conceptual list of maladies and treatments a person can make his or her way to specifics, and through a list one can establish priorities that respect the boundaries between public and private, acknowledging the importance of the later over the former. 

Riders Stranded Upside Down on Roller Coaster at Forest County Festival in Wisconsin:

Daily Bread, Good Ideas, Health, Opioids, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 7.5.23: Bad River Tribe Provides Free Opioid Reversal Drugs Through Mail

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy, with scattered afternoon thundershowers, and a high of 88. Sunrise is 5:23 AM and sunset 8:36 PM for 15h 13m 06s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 94.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1832, General Atkinson and his troops enter the area known by the Native Americans as “trembling lands” in their pursuit of Black Hawk. The area was some 10 square miles and contained a large bog. Although the land appeared safe, it would undulate or tremble for yards when pressure was applied. Many of the militiamen were on horses, which plunged to their bellies in the swamp. The “trembling lands” forced Atkinson to retrace his steps back toward the Rock River, in the process losing days in his pursuit of Black Hawk. 

Both morality and practicality require that the people of Wisconsin provide assistance to those in the grip of addiction. One first preserves life so that one may thereafter improve daily health. Addressing opioid addiction properly requires providing lifesaving antidotes. See from FREE WHITEWATER Narcan and Prudent UW System Campuses Are Installing Opioid Overdose Kits, posted on 12.15.22. (On 3.25.23, UW-Whitewater announced UW-Whitewater partners with Wisconsin Voices for Recovery to install overdose kits.)

Danielle Kaeding reports A new program run by the Bad River tribe is providing free opioid reversal drugs through the mail (‘The program seeks to reduce opioid overdose deaths as they’ve climbed to record levels’):

A new program run by the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is providing free medication to reverse opioid overdoses via mail as Wisconsin has seen a record number of overdose deaths in recent years.

Wisconsin saw a 900 percent increase in opioid overdose deaths from 1999 to 2018, while such deaths have reached record levels in more recent years. In 2021, the state Department of Health Services reported a record 1,427 opioid overdose deaths, of which opioids like fentanyl accounted for 91 percent of lives lost.

Preliminary state data shows opioid overdose or poisoning deaths declined slightly last year to 1,358, according to Wisconsin Watch. The investigative news outlet noted that’s still a 62 percent increase from five years ago.

As overdose deaths have spiked, the Gwayakobimaadiziwin Bad River Harm Reduction program is offering the opioid reversal drug nalaxone, more commonly known as Narcan, for free through the mail along with fentanyl test strips.

“Wisconsin has a very high opioid overdose mortality rate, and figuring out different ways of reaching people who are at risk is something that we’re experimenting with,” said Philomena Kebec, economic development coordinator for the Bad River tribe.

A caring community facing a scourge must often be a creative community. The Bad River tribe offers an example of what caring & creativity mean. 

Why did Megalodon go extinct?:

America, Daily Bread, Holiday

Daily Bread for 7.4.23: Happy Independence Day

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny, with scattered showers, and a high of 90. Sunrise is 5:22 AM and sunset 8:36 PM for 15h 14m 02s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Independence Holiday events continue today at the Cravath Lakefront with a carnival.

Festival Food Vendors after parade to 11 PM
Whippet City Mile 9:45 AM
4th of July Parade 10 AM
Live Music – Steve Meisner Band 2-4 PM
Live Music – Whiskey Flats Trio 5-7 PM
Live Music – The Britins 8-11 PM
Fireworks 10 PM

On this day in 1863, the Army of Northern Virginia withdraws from the battlefield after losing the Battle of Gettysburg, signaling an end to the Confederate invasion of U.S. territory. At the Siege of Vicksburg, Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to U.S. forces under Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege.

Senator John F. Kennedy Reading Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1957:

Webb Telescope detects ‘never before seen in space’ molecule in Orion Nebula:

City, Daily Bread, Housing, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 7.3.23: Wisconsin Home Prices Have More than Doubled over Last Decade

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 88. Sunrise is 5:21 AM and sunset 8:36 PM for 15h 14m 55s of daytime. The moon is full with 100% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Independence Holiday events continue today at the Cravath Lakefront with a carnival.

On this day in 1863, the third and final day of the Battle of Gettysburg ends in Union victory.

Joe Schulz reports Wisconsin home prices have more than doubled over the last decade
(‘UW Report: State went from second-lowest prices among neighbors to second-highest’):

The median home price in Wisconsin has more than doubled over the last decade, as supply has failed to keep up with demand after homebuilding slowed during the Great Recession.

That’s according to new data from the Wisconsin Realtors Association, or WRA, and a new report from the University of Wisconsin-Extension.

Median home prices in Wisconsin have risen from $144,000 in May 2013 to $294,000 in May 2023, according to realtors association data. 

In fact, from February 2012 to the same month this year, Wisconsin went from having the second-lowest median home sale price among its neighbors — Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan and Iowa — to the second-highest, according to UW-Extension.

The Extension report says supply of new housing hasn’t kept up with demand, putting upward pressure on prices for both homeowners and renters. 

Steven Deller, professor of agricultural and applied economics at UW-Madison, authored the report. He said many were hoping to see downward pressure on prices in response to the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, but that hasn’t happened yet.

Deller said high mortgage rates have had a modest effect on demand for homes, but a greater influence on those who currently own a home to postpone older couples from downsizing or young families upsizing, keeping some homes off the market.

“The normal churn in the housing market, the new supply of housing or the increase of existing homes going on the market is actually dropping a little bit more than the decline in demand,” he said.

There are few communities where policymakers (public officials and private special interests) have understood less about the significance of the Great Recession (2007-2009) than Old Whitewater’s policymakers during that recession and throughout the Teens. In the decade after the Great Recession, among bankers, landlords, public relations men, and their local government dogsbodies in office there was below-average policy and above-average grandiosity. 

Whitewater turns to these types yet again, or puts them back into appointed positions, only because this ilk has left the community in a condition others are discouraged to take on.

While this libertarian blogger understands the concerns of others, there is no reason to be discouraged. Now is the time to continue and intensify one’s efforts, picking a few particular topics from among a general list of concerns and solutions, and seeing a campaign through.

Whitewater is, after all, the work — and the adventure — of a lifetime. 

Do octopuses dream? Brain recordings provide the first clues: