Hopefully, by the time you read this, the Brewers will be thick into this season‘s Race for the 2025 pennant! This is the chronicle of the City of Milwaukee and the State of Wisconsin and their 55 year love affair with the Milwaukee Brewers, and the incredible yet heartbreaking run in the 1982 World Series. (Our day will come). You’ve got to believe!
Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 78. Sunrise is 6:08 and sunset is 7:47, for 13 hours, 39 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 3.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Lakes Advisory Committee meets at 4:30 PM and the Community Development Association meets at 5:30 PM.
On this day in 1883, an F5 tornado strikes Rochester, Minnesota, leading to the creation of the Mayo Clinic.
In an Aug. 12 letter to state agency leaders, Evers said a 4-2 ruling from the Supreme Court means there “no longer remains any statutory requirement to wait for legislative committee review before promulgating a rule once I have approved it.”
“I respectfully request that you analyze areas in which the Legislature’s prior abuse of power forestalled, delayed, or halted prior rulemaking in service of the people of our state,” Evers said.
In July, the Supreme Court struck down parts of state law that allowed the Republican-controlled Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules, or JCRAR, to indefinitely suspend rule changes.
Gov. Evers is applying the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision from July to other stalled rule changes, and here he’s likely to prevail in any possible litigation with the Legislature. The same reasoning that Wisconsin’s high court applied in July would apply to other administrative rules as well.
The politics will depend on how one views the rules advanced by the Evers Administration and may influence the 2026 gubernatorial race.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 77. Sunrise is 6:07 and sunset is 7:48, for 13 hours, 42 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 8.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Parks and Recreation Board meets at 5:30 PM.
On this day in 1968, Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring. East German participation is limited to a few specialists due to memories of the recent war. Only Albania and Romania refuse to participate.
This was supposed to be a new golden age, but for Wisconsin’s dairy farms (and so many other businesses), it’s not turning out that way:
The Trump administration’s recent tariff actions could make it difficult for Wisconsin dairy farmers to export excess milk products and for beef producers to access Chinese markets, state farm leaders told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”
Consumers are contending with the highest average effective tariff rate since 1933, at 18.6 percent, according to the most recent estimate from the Budget Lab at Yale.
President Donald Trump’s recent tariff modifications are part of his goal “to take back America’s economic sovereignty by addressing the many nonreciprocal trade relationships that impact foreign relations, threaten our economic and national security, and disadvantage American workers,” according to a White House press release.
But Wisconsin Farmers Union President Darin Von Ruden said dairy farmers rely on international trade to export excess milk.
“We’re currently coming out of our highest milk production part of the year,” Von Ruden said. “When you have that scenario, plus these new tariffs coming on, countries not being able to afford our products … it stays here, which just then adds to that problem of lowering the price that farmers receive for their products.”
Hurricane Erin was captured by International Space Station cameras on Aug. 19. 2025. Erin is the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season. Fly throught its eye: https://www.space.com/astronomy/earth…
Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 78. Sunrise is 6:05 and sunset is 7:50, for 13 hours, 44 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 15.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1944, the Liberation of Paris begins as Paris rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.
Pres. Trump wants a movement to end mail-in voting, but leaders from both of Wisconsin’s major parties know that ending mail-in voting would be a bad idea:
“I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we’re at it, Highly ‘Inaccurate,’ Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES,” Trump wrote.
…
Neither the president nor the federal government has the authority to manage election administration in this way. The law gives individual states broad power to decide how to run their own elections.
After Trump’s post, the Democracy Defense Project-Wisconsin board, which includes former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, former Attorney General JB Van Hollen, former U.S. Representative Scott Klug, and former Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate, said in a statement that such an action would increase inaccuracy in the state’s elections.
“The Constitution is clear: the federal government does not administer elections at the state level,” the group said. “In fact, improved access to voting methods, including the electronic machines Wisconsin uses that produce paper ballots and are unable to be connected to the internet, have benefitted Republicans just as much as Democrats. Wisconsin has displayed time and time again that our elections are safe and secure, and while we can always make them more efficient, there is no tolerance for inaccuracy in our results.”
Trump has gone back and forth on mail-in voting, and the GOP spent millions last year supporting mail-in voting. In any event, Trump’s executive order will not have the force of law across states that administer their own elections. Some may act to end mail-in ballots, but others will see that both major parties have benefited from the practice.
It’s likely Trump knows that mail-in voting will continue in many states, and the purpose of his campaign against them is to claim falsely that a vote next year against him will have been fraudulent. Mid-cycle redistricting, complaining about ballots, compelling private media to toe his line: all of these efforts and more are designed to preserve his authoritarian project against voters’ will.
NISAR is one big step closer to beginning its mission to study Earth’s changing surfaces. Following its launch on July 30, 2025, commands were sent to the satellite on Aug. 15, 2025, to unfurl its 39-foot-wide (12-meter-wide) antenna reflector. It’s the largest reflector NASA has ever deployed in space. The reflector is one of NASA’s key hardware contributions to the NISAR mission. Short for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, NISAR is collaboration between NASA and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation). The mission will use an advanced, dual-band radar system — with complementary radar instruments provided by each agency — to collect high-resolution, near-global coverage of Earth, providing insights into natural hazards, agriculture, glacier and ice sheet movement, and more. The reflector plays a crucial role for both radars, which is why the successful deployment of the hardware is such a significant milestone.
Monday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 84. Sunrise is 6:04 and sunset is 7:51, for 13 hours, 47 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 24.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Since being appointed to the court by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, Bradley has reported that several conservative groups or legal centers have picked up nearly $52,000 in lodging, meals, airfare and other expenses so she could attend 20 out-of-state conferences and seminars since 2015.
No other sitting justice reported receiving even a third of Bradley’s travel expenses covered by outside groups.
In 2023 alone, Bradley’s excursions took her to conferences at The Royal Hawaiian resort in Honolulu, the Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Alaska, and the Henderson Beach Resort in Destin, Florida. A Virginia-based legal center footed the $12,000 cost for Bradley to attend those three events.
Bradley, an outspoken conservative, has also had her expenses covered to go to seminars in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Park City, Utah; and Laguna Beach, California, records show. In 2019, she even attended a three-day “Symposium on the Law and Economics of Marijuana Legalization” in Denver. Marijuana is not legal in Wisconsin.
A race between Justice Bradley and Wisconsin District IV Court of Appeals Judge Chris Taylor, if there is one, will center on issues beyond travel. As in so many races across America, the Wisconsin contest will serve as a referendum on federal policies. Trump will, in effect, be on the ballot in races big and small across America.
And yet, and yet, opposition video after opposition video of the exotic travel locales she’s visited would only diminish Justice Bradley’s image as a tireless warrior for conservative populism.
The self-indulgence that works in the White House or Mar-a-Lago won’t work for a Wisconsin candidate.
_____
Conservative Justices Ziegler and Hagedorn did attend. ↩︎
People returned to Palacios de Jamuz, a village in north-west Spain, after homes, crops and trees were badly burnt in recent blazes. Relentless heat and raging wildfires continue to ravage southern Europe, with one-quarter of weather stations in Spain recording temperatures of 40C (104F) or above over the weekend. Wildfires rage in Spain and Portugal amid searing heat.
Sunday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 80. Sunrise is 6:03 and sunset is 7:53, for 13 hours, 50 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 34.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 2008, American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals at one Olympic Games.
It’s one year until the Wisconsin primary for the 2026 gubernatorial race, and fifteen months until the general election. Other than Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, no major candidate has announced in either party.
So far this summer, it’s been vanity statements about the possibility of running from Walker and Thompson, WISGOP long-shot announcements from Bill Berrien and Josh Schoemann, and now an announcement from beer vendor Ryan Strnad.
Those who have not followed every announcement (notably those from Walker and Thompson) have done themselves a favor. We’re a small state, and with relatively inexpensive media, there’s time and money enough to flood the Wisconsin many months from now.
When the field takes shape, it will be under the constant influence of federal issues and federal pressure. It’s hard not to see every competitive race in America as having that federal influence. Wisconsin’s 2026 gubernatorial race will be something like three-quarters Wisconsin and one-quarter federal (perhaps generously expressed in favor of Wisconsin).
The US Air Force’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron flew into the eye of Hurricane Erin. Also, see time-laped footage of the storm from NOAA’s GOES-19 satellite.
Saturday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 89. Sunrise is 6:02 and sunset is 7:54, for 13 hours, 52 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 46 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Watch a harrowing rescue by Menomonee Falls Fire and Police personnel on Aug. 11, 2025, when a man was pulled from surging Menomonee River flood waters.
Firefighters in Spain, Portugal, Greece and Turkey continue to battle wildfires that have raged on for weeks. Hot and dry conditions are expected to persist, challenging efforts to contain the blazes.
Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 87. Sunrise is 6:01 and sunset is 7:56, for 13 hours, 55 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 56.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1944, Allied forces land in southern France in Operation Dragoon.
Wisconsin has had large state budget surpluses rarely, and the recent years of those surpluses are now coming to an end:
With this budget, the state has now used most of the surplus that has formed the backdrop for the last few budgets. The surplus, [communications director and policy researcher at the Wisconsin Policy Forum Mark] Sommerhauser said, was mostly the result of federal pandemic aid and was also created in part by an increase in tax revenue, especially through the sales tax, as a result of inflation. At one point the surplus had grown to over $6 billion.
“[A large surplus is] not business as usual in Wisconsin,” Sommerhauser said. “More often you see the opposite. You see shortfalls that lawmakers are having to scramble to figure out a way to bridge.”
Sommerhauser said that with the smaller reserves, the next budget is likely “going to be kind of coming back to Earth.”
By July 1 2027, Wisconsin’s general fund balance is projected to be $770.5 million — a drop of about $3.6 billion and the lowest balance since 2018. The state will also have $2.1 billion in its rainy day fund.
This leaves Wisconsin with a projected $2.8 billion in its reserves — about 11% of Wisconsin’s net general fund appropriations in fiscal year 2027, Sommerhauser said.
“That’s certainly not disastrous. It’s not cataclysmic at all. It is more than the state has had in reserve for many years prior to the pandemic,” Sommerhauser said. “Of course, it’s a lot less than the last couple of budgets here.”
A new hydrogel is an effective adhesive even on wet surfaces, opening up the way for its use in surgery and underwater repair. Researchers developed the hydrogel using inspiration from nature. By using data mining to find sticky proteins, they produced hydrogels with these adhesive properties, which they then refined with further testing and machine learning. They hope that their approach can inspire other researchers to use AI to help design new materials. Read the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158…
Wednesday, August 20th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Humphrey Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes@ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Biography/Documentary
Rated G. 1 hour, 39 minutes (2024)
The iconic actor’s journey to stardom from vaudeville to Hollywood as seen through unprecedented rare personal footage from his estate, including his own personal narration and that of his wife, Lauren Bacall, son Stephen, and other notable actors and actresses. The man, the myth, the legend!
Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 81. Sunrise is 6:00 and sunset is 7:57, for 13 hours, 57 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 68.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1948, an Idaho Department of Fish and Game program to relocate beavers known as Beaver Drop takes place. The program relocated beavers from northwestern Idaho to central Idaho by airplane and then parachuting the beavers into the Chamberlain Basin.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 80. Sunrise is 5:59 and sunset is 7:59, for 14 hours, 0 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 78.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Equal Opportunities Commission meets at 5 PM.
Whitefish Bay manufacturing CEO Bill Berrien says he supports eliminating state permit requirements for firearm owners who want to carry guns in a concealed fashion, a policy known to supporters as constitutional carry.
“I believe that every American is granted a carry permit and that’s in the form of the Second Amendment and I think we need to get back to personal responsibility, freedom and this focus on constitutional carry is one of those examples,” Berrien told conservative radio host Jay Weber on Aug. 5. “I’ve shot tens of thousands of rounds during my time in the SEAL teams and a gun safe full of guns and all that. We should not have government assuming that everyone is incompetent until they prove otherwise. It is their right under the Second Amendment.”
….
Berrien’s support of the change comes as most Wisconsinites — 69% — support the state’s current law of requiring licenses and training. An overwhelming 82% of voters polled said they opposed the idea of removing concealed carry permits, according to 2022 polling by the Marquette University Law School.
It’s possible to support Second Amendment rights, as I do, without believing that those rights negate concealed carry requirements (they don’t, and that’s why Berrien’s plan would require a change in Wisconsin law).
Berrien is almost certainly where the WISGOP primary voter wants the party to be on this issue. His positions will force other candidates (so far, only Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann) to move as far right as Berrien on most issues Berrien supports.
He may seem like a long shot, and as a candidate, he still is. As the coordinator of the WISGOP platform committee, however, Berrien’s already five weeks into the job.
River Falls agrotourism farmer Kerri Harting has been through a lot in the last two years, but still wants to spread the joy of animals and farming through alpacas and other fluffy friends.
Tuesday in Whitewater will see morning showers and then cloudy skies with a high of 81. Sunrise is 5:58 and sunset is 8:00, for 14 hours, 2 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 87.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 5:15 PM.
US prices continued to rise in July, according to key economic data released on Tuesday, as Donald Trump’s international tariffs shakeup started to impact consumer costs.
Prices were 2.7% higher last month compared with a year ago, according to the consumer price index (CPI), which measures the prices of a basket of goods and services. Though inflation dipped down in the spring, the annualized inflation rate jumped up 0.4% since April.
Though the inflation rate stayed stable between June and July, core inflation, which excludes the volatile energy and food industries, went up 3.1% over the last month – a higher pace than what was seen in June.
The report is the latest to show that the US economy is experiencing some turbulence from Trump’s unparalleled shakeup of US trading policy, despite insistence from Republicans that the economy is “firing on all cylinders”.
On top of a 10% universal tariff on all imports, Trump has set higher tariffs for dozens of countries, including the US’s top trading partners. On Monday, hours before a midnight deadline, Trump delayed enacting steep tariffs on China for another 90 days while negotiations continue.
Although many of these tariffs only went into effect 7 August, Trump’s 10% universal tariff, along with higher tariffs on certain industries like steel and aluminum, have been in effect since the spring.
Economists say that it takes time for tariffs to show up in consumer prices. Some retailers have been stocking up their inventory to delay the impact of tariffs and keep prices stable. But the jump in prices suggests that companies have started to pass down costs to customers, as leaders of companies like Walmart, Nike and Macy’s have said would happen.
Tariffs have also hit the labor market harder than economists had anticipated. Data released earlier this month dramatically revised down job figures that initially showed a healthy job market. The government had reported 291,000 jobs were added to the economy in May and June, but the revision brought the total down to 33,000.
How can this be? Didn’t Whitewater’s special interest men, these aged few with a few others they’ve brought along, tell you that Mr. Trump was America’s best option for the economy? They did say that, and on more than one of their rental properties they posted signs declaring their convictions:
It is these tired men who have, yet again, shown themselves as gentlemen of below-average understanding but above-average confidence. They carry on as though they have been granted a dispensation to say whatever they want without accountability for anything they have said or done in this town. (Any person plucked off the street in America’s smallest town could have done as well as Whitewater’s special interest men.)
It’s sensible to take them literally; it’s reckless (and silly) to take them seriously.
The most effective way to reduce costs would be for America to abandon Trump’s tax policies, tariff policies (a tax on consumers and businesses n its own right), and spending policies.
Lightning struck along a highway in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, on August 11. The lightning strike brought down wires and caused power outages and traffic delays, Mount Pleasant Police Department said in a statement on social media.
