Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be cloudy, with snow this afternoon, and a high of 32.  Sunrise is 7:04 AM and sunset 7:02 PM, for 11h 57m 45s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 4.1% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Planning Commission is scheduled to meet via audiovisual conferencing at 6 PM, and the Whitewater Unified School District Board is scheduled to meet via audiovisual conferencing in closed session at 6:15 PM and open session at 7 PM. 

 On this day in 1783, in an emotional speech in Newburgh, New York, George Washington asks his officers not to support the Newburgh Conspiracy. The plea is successful and the threatened coup d’état never takes place.

Recommended for reading in full — 

 Rich Kremer reports Tech Schools See Big Enrollment Declines (‘Pandemic reduces enrollment nationally 10%, report says. State schools see similar trend’):

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reports that at public, two-year community and technical colleges, enrollment fell this spring by 9.5 percent compared to spring of 2020. Undergraduate enrollment at public four-year universities dropped by 3.3 percent, and at non-profit, private universities, enrollment fell by 2 percent. The report is based on preliminary data from 43 percent of colleges and universities in the U.S.

….

The national trend tracks with what administrators at some Wisconsin technical colleges are seeing. Laura Bray, Milwaukee Area Technical College vice president for college advancement, told WPR’s “The Morning Show” that they’re seeing fewer students as the pandemic continues.

“In terms of enrollment and where we’re at, we have already projected to a decline of 9,100, what we call FTE or full time equivalent students,” said Bray. “And we do expect to fall short of that for this year.”

In an email sent to WPR, MATC spokesperson Ginny Gnadt said the projected 9,100 students this year works out to a 9-percent drop in enrollment compared to the 2019-2020 school year.

Western Technical College President Roger Stanford told WPR he estimates enrollment is down by around 15 percent compared to last spring. Stanford says fewer students have been able to stay in school during the pandemic.

 Molly Beck and Eric Litke report Why Milwaukee ranks near the top of U.S. cities receiving federal stimulus dollars:

Cities received allocations based on a formula that incorporates how population growth compares to other cities of similar size, poverty rates and the amount of overcrowded housing. Funding for counties was determined largely by population and unemployment rates were a factor in how much state governments received.

About a quarter of Milwaukee’s population is considered to be living in poverty and about 35% of working-age residents are not in the labor force, according to 2019 U.S. Census data.

In Wisconsin, Milwaukee receives the most — at $406 million. Milwaukee County will receive $183 million, Dane County $106 million, Waukesha County $78 million, Brown County $51 million, Madison $49 million and $47 million for Racine.

 Amy Brittain and Josh Dawsey report New York’s vaccine czar called county officials to gauge their loyalty to Cuomo amid sexual harassment investigation:

New York’s “vaccine czar” — a longtime adviser to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo — phoned county officials in the past two weeks in attempts to gauge their loyalty to the embattled governor amid an ongoing sexual harassment investigation, according to multiple officials.

One Democratic county executive was so unsettled by the outreach from Larry Schwartz, head of the state’s vaccine rollout, that the executive on Friday filed notice of an impending ethics complaint with the public integrity unit of the state attorney general’s office, the official told The Washington Post. The executive feared the county’s vaccine supply could suffer if Schwartz was not pleased with the executive’s response to his questions about support of the governor.

 Patrol Ship Hits Massive Waves Near Antarctica:

Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 45.  Sunrise is 7:06 AM and sunset 7:01 PM, for 11h 54m 49s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing crescent with 1.2% of its visible disk illuminated.

 On this day in 2017, a naming ceremony for the chemical element nihonium takes place in Tokyo, with then Crown Prince Naruhito in attendance.

Recommended for reading in full — 

 Shane Goldmacher writes The Imperious Rise and Accelerating Fall of Andrew Cuomo:

Mr. Cuomo’s governorship is imperiled, as he faces allegations of groping, sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior made by six women; an independent investigation into those accusations; an impeachment inquiry by state legislators; a federal investigation into his handling of nursing homes during the pandemic; and collapsing support from leaders in his own party.

Yet for all of that, Mr. Cuomo is now furiously plotting a path to salvage his job, his legacy and even a potential fourth-term re-election run in 2022, according to Democrats familiar with his thinking. In defiant remarks on Friday, Mr. Cuomo accused Democratic leaders of “playing politics” by calling for him to resign and demanded they wait for the “facts” as he impugned the motives of the women who have come forward.

“A lot of people allege a lot of things for a lot of reasons,” Mr. Cuomo said, denying he ever sexually harassed anyone.

Be it his self-regard, his disdain for fellow Democrats or his imperious demeanor, Mr. Cuomo alienated allies and enemies alike on his way up in politics, and now finds himself sliding from hero-level worship to pariah-like status with the kind of astonishing speed that only the friendless suffer. It is a downfall foretold in a decade-long reign of ruthlessness and governance by brute force, according to interviews with more than two dozen lawmakers, elected officials, current and past Cuomo administration officials, political activists and strategists in the state.

 David Smith reports Trump’s Washington hotel echoes to silence of missing MAGA crowd:

The hotel in Washington made just $15.1m in revenue last year, a drop of more than 60% from the year before. Then came Trump’s election loss and impeachment for inciting a deadly insurrection a short distance away at the US Capitol on 6 January, inflicting huge reputational damage.

….

Kevin Chaffee, senior editor of Washington Life magazine, said: “The Trump hotel has been struggling for quite a while and, without him being there, people don’t need to curry favour by staying there. Some embassies had their events there and they don’t need to do that now.”

 The Guardian reports Lara Trump-linked dog rescue charity spent $2m on Trump properties:

A dog rescue charity that has links to Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, has spent almost $2m at Trump properties in the last seven years, according to US media reports.

While other companies and groups have distanced themselves from the Trumps since the 6 January attack on the capital, the Florida-based Big Dog Ranch Rescue is expected to spend another $225,000 at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago country club for an event this weekend, according to a permit filed with the town of Palm Beach, which was reported by HuffPost.

The former president has been living in the club full time since leaving the White House in January following his election defeat.

HuffPost reported that Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filings show that the charity has spent as much as $1,883,160 on fundraising costs for events at Mar-a-Lago and a nearby Trump golf course since 2014. Lara Trump, who is married to Eric Trump, has been a chairwoman for charity events since 2018.

How This Artist Made $69 Million Selling Digital Art With NFTs [Non-Fungible Tokens]:

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 56.  Sunrise is 6:07 AM and sunset 5:59 PM, for 11h 52m 01s of daytime.  The moon is new with none of its visible disk illuminated.

 On this day in 1862, the Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves is passed by the United States Congress, effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation.

Recommended for reading in full — 

Ron Johnson says Capitol attackers ‘love this country’ but he would have felt unsafe if Black Lives Matter stormed building instead:

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson is facing accusations of racism after saying the supporters of former President Donald Trump who stormed the U.S. Capitol in January didn’t worry him but that he might have been concerned if they had been supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“I knew those were people who love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law, so I wasn’t concerned,” Johnson said about the predominantly white crowd that marched to the U.S. Capitol to overturn a presidential election and triggered an assault that left five people dead, 140 police officers injured and windows smashed.

“Now, had the tables been turned, and Joe — this is going to get me in trouble — had the tables been turned and President Trump won the election and tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and antifa, I might have been a little concerned,” Johnson said during an interview with syndicated radio show host Joe “Pags” Pagliarulo.

Paging @RacismDog

— American Bridge 21st Century (@American_Bridge) March 12, 2021

“What, white people love this country and Black people don’t? That’s exactly what he’s saying,” Sen. LaTonya Johnson, a Democrat from Milwaukee who is Black, said.

Johnson, who is not related to Ron Johnson, said it wasn’t Black Lives Matter protesters who triggered an insurrection that left five people dead, including a police officer.

 The Associated Press reports Green Bay mayor calls GOP hearing on election process ‘Stalinist show trial’:

Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich said a legislative committee hearing attended only by Republicans that featured testimony from invited conservative critics of how his city ran the November election was a “Stalinist show trial and a three-ring circus.”

Genrich told WLUK-TV on Thursday that neither he nor any city employees were invited to the Assembly Campaign and Elections hearing at the state Capitol on Wednesday. No one from the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which is charged with running elections, was invited to testify either.

Instead, a conservative attorney who sued to block Green Bay from being awarded grant money to help run the election, the Republican former county clerk and a Republican state representative all testified.

 Timothy Bella reports Trump requests a mail-in ballot after months of falsely crying ‘fraud’ on mail-in ballots:

Former president Donald Trump recently requested a mail-in ballot for a municipal election in South Florida, according to Palm Beach County records, voting again by mail despite months of repeatedly promoting false claims of election fraud without evidence.

Records from the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections, first reported by the Palm Beach Post, show that a mail-in ballot for the town’s local election this week was requested on Friday for the former president’s residence at Mar-a-Lago, his private club on Palm Beach.

 One-take drone video of Minnesota bowling alley goes viral:

Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 49.  Sunrise is 6:09 AM and sunset 5:58 PM, for 11h 49m 05s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 0.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

 On this day in 2009, financier Bernie Madoff pleads guilty to one of the largest frauds in Wall Street’s history.

Recommended for reading in full — 

 Mike Baker reports Seattle’s Virus Success Shows What Could Have Been:

One year later, the Seattle area has the lowest death rate of the 20 largest metropolitan regions in the country. If the rest of the United States had kept pace with Seattle, the nation could have avoided more than 300,000 coronavirus deaths.

During a year in which the White House downplayed the virus and other political leaders clashed over how to contain it, Seattle’s success illustrates the value of unified and timely strategies: Although the region’s public health experts and politicians grappled behind the scenes about how to best manage the virus, they came together to present a united front to the public. And the public largely complied.

“We could not afford to have mixed messages,” said Jenny Durkan, Seattle’s mayor.

The restrictions that have been in place off and on for the better part of a year have brought widespread disruption to lives and the economy. But as governors elsewhere have cited the economy as a reason to ease lockdowns, Seattle’s success showed that an alternative pathway was doable: Amid widespread economic turmoil, the state’s unemployment rate has been about average nationally, outperforming some places that have pressed ahead with wider reopenings, including Arizona and Texas.

David Leonhardt writes Follow-up: A Covid mystery:

In response to Monday’s newsletter about the mystery of the relatively low Covid death tolls in Africa and Asia, several researchers wrote to me to add a potential explanation that had not been on my list: obesity.

Countries with higher obesity rates have suffered more Covid deaths on average, as you can see in this chart that my colleague Lalena Fisher and I put together:

Obesity can cause multiple health problems, including making it harder to breathe, as Dr. David L. Katz told me, and oxygen deprivation has been a common Covid symptom. A paper by Dr. Jennifer Lighter of New York University and other researchers found that obesity increased the risk of hospitalization among Covid patients.

It’s a particularly intriguing possibility because it could help explain why Africa and Asia have suffered fewer deaths than not only high-income countries but also Latin American countries. Latin Americans, like Europeans and U.S. residents, are heavier on average than Africans or Asians.

Oliver Darcy reports Fox begs viewers not to tune away:

Meanwhile, Fox on Thursday night continued to make the case for why it should be referred to as a right-wing talk channel and not a news network. While Biden delivered his address, the network featured a box in the bottom corner of the screen showing Tucker Carlson’s live reactions.

And as Biden continued to speak, the network essentially begged viewers to stick around and not tune out for the night. “BIDEN SPEECH NEARLY FINISHED; TUCKER WILL RESPOND,” one on-screen banner promised. “TUCKER RESPONDS IN LESS THAN 60 SECONDS,” another read.

When Biden wrapped his address, Fox wasted no time commencing the Biden bashing. Carlson slammed Biden, telling the president, “How dare you tell us who we can spend the Fourth of July with.” Sean Hannity said Biden should “pick up the phone” and “call Mar-a-Lago” and “thank President Donald Trump.” Mark Levin said the speech was the “most disgusting, propagandistic speech that a demagogue, even a politician, has ever given.”

(One is reminded of Voltaire’s prayer: O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.)

The Rise Of Wind Power In The U.S.:

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 52.  Sunrise is 6:11 AM and sunset 5:57 PM, for 11h 46m 09s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 3.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

 On this day in 2011, an earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes 130 km (81 mi) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people.

Recommended for reading in full — 

Rob Mentzer reports Marshfield Police Chief Charged with Sexual Assault Will Get $72K from City for Resignation:

The city of Marshfield last week struck a deal to pay its police chief $72,000 in a separation agreement as he faces sexual assault charges. At a meeting Tuesday night, members of the public sounded off on a conflict between the city’s mayor and its Fire and Police Commission that has the mayor facing removal hearings.

Chief Rick Gramza submitted his resignation to the city Thursday, just days before Police Commission hearings on his behavior were set to begin. Gramza is charged with sexually assaulting a female officer he supervised, first as a lieutenant and later as chief. A judge last month dismissed related charges of misconduct in office.

The police chief’s resignation is part of broader turbulence in the central Wisconsin city of about 18,000 people, which includes a complaint against Mayor Bob McManus that stems from a conflict with the Fire and Police Commission. At the Common Council meeting Tuesday, members of the public blasted the commission, which some in the community perceive as having protected Gramza while moving against McManus.

Annie Karni and Maggie Haberman report Trump, Hungry for Power, Tries to Wrestle Away G.O.P. Fund-Raising:

It was a familiar play by Donald J. Trump: lashing out at his enemies and trying to raise money from it.

The former president this week escalated a standoff over the Republican Party’s financial future, blasting party leaders and urging his backers to send donations to his new political action committee — not to the institutional groups that traditionally control the G.O.P.’s coffers.

“No more money for RINOS,” he said in a statement released on Monday by his bare-bones post-presidential office, referring to Republicans In Name Only. He directed donors to his own website instead.

The aggressive move against his own party is the latest sign that Mr. Trump is trying to wrest control of the low-dollar online fund-raising juggernaut he helped create, diverting it from Republican fund-raising groups toward his own committee, which has virtually no restrictions on how the money can be spent.

 Russ Choma writes Trump Has Gone to War With the GOP Over His Fundraising Brand. He Will Lose:

“The committee [Republican National Committee] has every right to refer to public figures, that is unambiguously true, individuals and entities engaging in political speech can talk about people, reference people, quote people,” says Alexandra J. Roberts, a law professor who teaches trademark law at the University of New Hampshire School of Law. “If they want to refer to Trump’s policies, Trump’s supporters—that’s always fine, well within the sphere of the First Amendment.”

The RNC itself did not seem particularly concerned about the letter, sending out a slew of Trump-heavy fundraising pitches in the days since. One missive was an email encouraging recipients to send a “virtual thank you” to Trump—an expression of gratitude that required making a donation to the RNC. As long as the RNC—or any other political fundraising committee—sends messages along that line, which clearly exploit a recipient’s potential affection for Trump, but don’t make any representations that Trump is involved with the effort or is endorsing anything, there’s not much he can do, Roberts says.

Scientists discover glow-in-the-dark sharks off New Zealand:

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 60.  Sunrise is 6:13 AM and sunset 5:56 PM, for 11h 43m 15s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 8.6% of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater School Board’s Policy Review Committee meets via audiovisual conferencing at 10 AM.

 On this day in 2006, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars.

Recommended for reading in full — 

 Laura Schulte reports ‘We just want to be OK’: Residents of a small island near La Crosse battle massive ‘forever chemical’ contamination:

TOWN OF CAMPBELL – Getting the kids ready for bed is now a production for Amanda Hartley.

It involves close supervision, as each child fills up a cup from the 5-gallon jug of water in the corner of the kitchen and walks it to the bathroom, using it to wet their toothbrush, brush their teeth and rinse their brush at the end. Her family can no longer use the water from the tap to brush their teeth or drink.

It’s contaminated with “forever chemicals” and could pose a risk to their health.

It’s a constant concern for Hartley, who has to ensure that everyone is drinking, cooking and brushing their teeth only with water from the 5-gallon jug in the corner of the kitchen, even the cats. They don’t want to risk exposure to the chemicals, fearful of the lasting health effects chemicals known as PFAS have been linked to. It’s been a lot of work to make sure the kids — ages 7, 9, 12 and 14 — learn all new habits.

 Kari Paul reports A few rightwing ‘super-spreaders’ fueled bulk of election falsehoods, study says:

A report from the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP), a group that includes Stanford and the University of Washington, analyzed social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok during several months before and after the 2020 elections.

It found that “super-spreaders” – responsible for the most frequent and most impactful misinformation campaigns – included Trump and his two elder sons, as well as other members of the Trump administration and the rightwing media.

The study’s authors and other researchers say the findings underscore the need to disable such accounts to stop the spread of misinformation.

“If there is a limit to how much content moderators can tackle, have them focus on reducing harm by eliminating the most effective spreaders of misinformation,” said Lisa Fazio, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University who studies the psychology of fake news but was not involved EIP report. “Rather than trying to enforce the rules equally across all users, focus enforcement on the most powerful accounts.”

Bob Smietana reports Bible teacher Beth Moore, Trump critic and advocate for sexual abuse victims, splits with Southern Baptist Convention:

“I am still a Baptist, but I can no longer identify with Southern Baptists,” Moore said in the phone interview. “I love so many Southern Baptist people, so many Southern Baptist churches, but I don’t identify with some of the things in our heritage that haven’t remained in the past.”

Moore told RNS that she recently ended her longtime publishing partnership with Nashville-based LifeWay Christian. While LifeWay will still distribute her books, it will no longer publish them or administer her live events. (Full disclosure: The author of this article is a former LifeWay employee.)

Kate Bowler, a historian at Duke Divinity School who has studied evangelical women celebrities, said Moore’s departure is a significant loss for the Southern Baptist Convention.

Moore, she said, is one of the denomination’s few stand-alone women leaders, whose platform was based on her own “charisma, leadership and incredible work ethic” and not her marriage to a famed pastor. (Moore’s husband is a plumber by trade.) She also appealed to a wide audience outside her denomination.

Why Central Banks Want To Get Into Digital Currencies:

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 66.  Sunrise is 6:14 AM and sunset 5:55 PM, for 11h 40m 19s of daytime.  The moon is a waning crescent with 15.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

 Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 6 PM.

 On this day in 1954, CBS television broadcasts the See It Now episode, “A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy.“

Recommended for reading in full — 

 Patrick Marley reports If approved, Republican voting legislation would face a wave of lawsuits in Wisconsin:

The state could face a raft of legal challenges if Republican lawmakers succeed in enacting restrictions on how voting is conducted in Wisconsin.

“There are numerous constitutional and federal law violations (in the legislation), some of which are just low-hanging fruit. They’d be easy cases to win,” said Jon Sherman, litigation director for the Fair Elections Center in Washington, D.C.

Republican Sen. Duey Stroebel of Saukville disputed that, saying the bills he recently unveiled could withstand legal challenges.

“I’d be hard-pressed to find a more litigious area of the statutes than election law,” Stroebel said in a statement.

….

Republicans who control the Legislature have made changes to voting laws a top priority after Joe Biden narrowly defeated Donald Trump in Wisconsin’s presidential election.

It’s unclear what measures will get approved, and those that do are sure to be vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. But if Republicans win the governor’s race in 2022, they may gain a free hand to make the changes they want.

 Kelly Meyerhofer reports UW-Madison chancellor apologizes for keeping COVID-19 discussions private:

UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank apologized on Monday for emails she sent last summer suggesting COVID-19 communications between Big Ten leaders be moved to the network’s private portal, an approach one expert on Wisconsin’s public records law called “clearly illegal.”

“I regret the language I used in my email exchange with other Big Ten chancellors, which appears as though I intended to use the Big Ten board portal to skirt my public records responsibilities,” Blank said in a statement to the Wisconsin State Journal. “This was surely not my intention and I apologize for that appearance.”

The University of Wisconsin System is reviewing the matter after learning about it late last week, a spokesperson said Monday.

….

Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, criticized Blank on Monday for encouraging secret discussions on a topic he said is clearly in the public’s interest.

“It’s clearly illegal for her to use this backdoor channel to conduct the public’s business,” he said. “The calculation with which Chancellor Blank has tried to evade the requirements of our open records law is deeply troubling. I think she’s embarrassed the university and state of Wisconsin.”

 Jennifer Rubin writes The MAGA phenomenon has never been about economics:

An Iowa study found, “Economic distress is not a significant factor in explaining the shift in Iowa voters from Democrat to Republican between 2008 and 2016. The election outcomes do not signify [a revolt] among working-class voters left behind by globalization.”

The Post after the 2016 election reported, “Among people who said they voted for Trump in the general election, 35 percent had household incomes under $50,000 per year. … Trump’s voters weren’t overwhelmingly poor. In the general election, like the primary, about two thirds of Trump supporters came from the better-off half of the economy.” The same was true in 2020. President Biden crushed the incumbent 55 to 44 percent among voters making less than $50,000 and 57 to 42 percent among those making between $50,000 and $100,000.

Albatross faceplants to fame on New Zealand live stream: