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Courts, Daily Bread, Education, Law, Litigation

Daily Bread for 12.10.24: U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Eau Claire Parents’ Challenge to Gender Identity Support Plans

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 32. Sunrise is 7:15, and sunset is 4:20, for 9 hours, 6 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 72.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 5:00 PM.

On this day in 1864, during his March to the Sea, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman’s Union Army troops reach the outer Confederate defenses of Savannah, Georgia.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from a decision of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (based in Chicago):

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take a Wisconsin case that could have made it easier for parents to fight schools’ efforts to support transgender and nonbinary students.

Three of the court’s six conservatives — Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh — said they would have taken the appeal.

A group of Eau Claire parents argued challenges to gender identity support policies are being dismissed by judges across the country before they can be fully litigated because parents can’t show they’ve been affected.

….

The Eau Claire Area School District of Wisconsin, which is defending its guidelines for ensuring a supportive environment for transgender students, countered that the parents are trying to create a new standard for lawsuits that would allow parents to preemptively challenge any school policy even if it doesn’t apply to them.

….

The template Gender Support Plan prepared by the Eau Claire Area School District in 2022 recognizes that parents may not always be involved in a plan’s creation for a student. School personnel are supposed to check with a student before discussing their transgender status with a parent. But the support plan will be released to parents who request it.

A three-judge panel of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in May that none of the parents challenging the policy “has experienced an actual or imminent injury.”

See Maureen Groppe, Supreme Court rejects Wisconsin parents’ challenge to schools’ gender identity support plans, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, December 9, 2024.

Did Tesla Go From Cool to Cringe?:

City, Daily Bread, Economy, Special Interests

Daily Bread for 12.9.24: A Fundamentally Strong National Economy (and a Local Reminder)

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 49. Sunrise is 7:14, and sunset is 4:20, for 9 hours, 6 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 61.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater School Board meets at 5:30 PM to review a community referendum survey.

On this day in 1775, British troops and Loyalists, misinformed about Patriot militia strength, lose the Battle of Great Bridge, ending British rule in Virginia.

Now, in December 2024, America has a fundamentally sound economy:

The economy added 227,000 jobs in November, making for a strong jobs report despite a slight increase in the unemployment rate. Although the labor market has cooled this year, the Trump administration stands to inherit a fairly healthy labor market, with decent job growth across many sectors.

The number of jobs was bolstered by the return of striking workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report. Employment in transportation equipment manufacturing rose by 32,000 jobs. Boeing machinists who went on strike in September seeking higher pay and better retirement benefits reached a deal in November.

The agency also revised up the number of jobs added in the October and September reports by 56,000 jobs combined.

Although the unemployment rate ticked up from 4.1% to 4.2%, the economy is looking strong, particularly when you look at gross domestic product, said Louise Sheiner, with the nonpartisan Brookings Institution.

“It’s been remarkably strong. If you look at what the Congressional Budget Office projected the level of real GDP before the pandemic, it’s higher now. We’ve just had a really strong economy,” said Sheiner, who focuses on fiscal policy.

See Casey Quinlan, US adds 227,000 jobs in what analysts say is a healthy economy, Wisconsin Examiner, December 8, 2024.

There are three reasons to mark the present state of the national economy: (1) a simple affirmation of the truth, (2) a reminder that the national economy has been good before when local special-interest types failed to capitalize on it (notably 2014 to 2017 and 2019 to early 2020) in Whitewater, and (3) a reminder that these old-guard types expect deference today despite serial failures for many years.

Amazon is using generative AI to drive more same-day shipping using smarter robots and better routes:

Daily Bread, Democrats, Education, Elections, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 12.8.24: A Challenge (from the Left) in the State Superintendent Race

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 50. Sunrise is 7:13, and sunset is 4:20, for 9 hours, 7 minutes of daytime. The moon is in its first quarter with 50.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1941, President Roosevelt declares December 7 to be “a date which will live in infamy,” after which the U.S. declares war on Japan.

Jill Underly, Wisconsin’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, faces a challenge from the left in her race for re-election:

Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly, who is running for her second term in office with the backing of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, faces a challenge from Sauk Prairie School District Superintendent Jeff Wright, a Democrat who says he wants to improve DPI’s communication. 

Elections for the state superintendent are technically nonpartisan. Candidates run on the same ballot in the February primary, and the top two advance. The primary is Feb. 18, 2025 and the general election is April 1. No other candidates have entered the race so far.

….

Prior to winning her first term in 2021, Underly served as the superintendent of Pecatonica School District, a rural district in southwestern Wisconsin. She has also previously worked as a principal, a teacher and a state consultant to Title I schools in Milwaukee and across the state.

Wright, who launched his campaign about a month after Underly, has served as the superintendent of Sauk Prairie School District since 2019 and was named Administrator of the Year in 2024 by the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance. He also previously served as a principal in Chicago. He hasn’t held public office before, but has run unsuccessful campaigns in 2016 and in 2018 for the state Assembly. 

Wright said in an October interview with the Examiner that he probably aligns closely with the current superintendent on many issues, but he thinks there is currently a “disconnect” between DPI and schools.

“They’re not bringing the people together from the teachers’ union, the administrators’ associations and other groups to have an active conversation about what concrete steps are we taking right now to get this work done,” Wright said. “Schools want to know what’s happening at the DPI. We don’t want to be surprised by changes. We want to be in conversation so that it’s very clear that we’re working on the same team.”

See Baylor Spears, State superintendent race kicks off: Underly faces challenge from Sauk Prairie superintendent, Wisconsin Examiner, December 5, 2024.

Underly has the backing of the state’s Democratic Party, and Wright has the backing of the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) Political Action Committee and Kirk Bangstad’s Minocqua Brewing Company SuperPAC.

I’m not a Democrat (rather a Never Trump libertarian who supported Harris-Walz), but it’s hard for me to see how these political action committees can overcome the organizational strength of a major political party. There’s as yet no announced Republican candidate in the race, but there is sure to be at least one (for an office that is, nominally, non-partisan).

Admittedly, any campaign, against almost any incumbent, is likely to make headway with the contention that the public has a lack of information (or in the case of the DPI, technical information that’s been made readily comprehensible to most residents). No one ever went broke, so to speak, by arguing that government statistics were opaque. Still: an outsider’s climb against an organizationally-backed candidate is uphill.

Watch this bird-inspired robotic drone leap into the air:

Daily Bread, Holiday, Weird Tales

Daily Bread for 12.7.24: Austria’s Scariest Christmas Tradition

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 45. Sunrise is 7:12, and sunset is 4:20, for 9 hours, 8 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 39.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1941,  the Imperial Japanese Navy carries out a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Is This Austria’s Scariest Christmas Tradition?:

Across Austria’s alpine villages, December 5th marks the arrival of Saint Nikolaus—a merry visitor who delivers gifts to well-behaved children. But Saint Nick doesn’t come to town alone. The dreaded Krampus is by his side. For centuries, groups of men across the region have dressed as Krampus during the Christmas season. The fearsome figure appears as a horned, half-goat, half-demon who punishes children who misbehave

I wish the people of Austria (and closer to home) only the best, but this tradition will always be strange to me.

Groucho never, ever disappoints:

City, Daily Bread, Holiday

Daily Bread for 12.6.24: Christmas at Cravath’s Parade of Lights

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 33. Sunrise is 7:11, and sunset is 4:20, for 9 hours, 9 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 28.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Christmas at Cravath events tonight include a parade at 6 PM. The parade will begin in our downtown and end at the Cravath Lakefront. There is also a holiday market tonight from 5 to 8 PM at the Cravath Lakefront Community Center.

On this day in 1884, the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., is completed.

Armadillo on the move:

Cats, Toys

Friday Catblogging: Cat Toys

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At The Telegraph, Lucy Tobin reviews cat toys (and each and every feline is deserving as they’ve all been good this year):

Cats in the wild spend their days chasing prey, but in the home they look purrfectly (sorry, couldn’t resist) happy just lolling around on a sofa. So why is it important to find them the best cat toys? Samantha Prior, a cat behaviour and training expert at Woodgreen Pet Charity, explains: “Toys are important to help keep cats active and entertained. They provide a form of exercise, helping them to stay physically healthy, and are also great mental stimulation for them. Without appropriate mental stimulation, your cat may become bored, leading to depression, obesity, over-grooming and unwanted behaviours such as attacking people and other animals in the home due to a build-up of frustration.”

….

Which are the best cat toys in 2024? At a glance

See Lucy Tobin, Best cat toys for play, exercise, and mental stimulation, The Telegraph, December 5, 2024.

City, Film

Film: Tuesday, December 10th, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Genie

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Tuesday, December 10th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Genie  @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:

Holiday/Comedy

Rated PG

1 hour, 33 minutes (2023).

Flora (Melissa McCarthy), a genie trapped in an antique jewelry case, is accidentally called into service by a workaholic Dad to win his family back before Christmas. Written by Richard Curtis (“Love Actually“) also stars Alan Cumming, host of “PBS Masterpiece Mystery.”

One can find more information about Genie  at the Internet Movie Database.

Daily Bread, Photography

Daily Bread for 12.5.24: Now, the Royal Society Publishing Photo Competition 2024

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 27. Sunrise is 7:10, and sunset is 4:20, for 9 hours, 10 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 19.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1879, the Humane Society of Wisconsin is organized in Milwaukee: “Inspired by Henry Bergh, a New York City philanthropist, and his Humane Movement, the state Humane Society was formed to protect both animals and children. However, with the formation of child protection laws in the early 1900s, the Humane Society of Wisconsin began to focus primarily on animal protection.”

Yesterday’s post was meant to be a video of the Royal Society Publishing Photo Competition 2024. That video was only on YouTube briefly, as the Society later removed it. Instead, I went back a year and updated with the 2023 winners (equally beautiful) from Facebook. Today, because persistence can be a good trait1, here are the 2024 winners as posted on Facebook:

See Nasa’s spectacular new images of Jupiter:

  1. In Whitewater, as change is slow and some are obstinate, persistence is also a useful trait of criticism: one returns to a topic again and again, sometimes across years. No force is so powerful and decisive as attrition. ↩︎

Daily Bread, Photography

Daily Bread for 12.4.24: Royal Society Publishing Photo Competition 2023

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 36. Sunrise is 7:09, and sunset is 4:21, for 9 hours, 11 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 12 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets at 6 PM.

On this day in 1943, President Roosevelt closes down the Works Progress Administration, because of the high levels of wartime employment in the United States.

Update, Wednesday morning — The 2024 winners are down on YouTube right now, so we’ll go with the 2023 winners — Something of a palate cleanser today — the Royal Society Publishing Photo Competition 2023:

Coyote prowls NYC streets:

Courts, Daily Bread, Law, Legislation, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 12.3.24: Act 10 Ruled Unconstitutional, These Years Later

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 30. Sunrise is 7:08, and sunset is 4:21, for 9 hours, 13 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1947, the first TV station in Wisconsin, WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee, is established. The seventeenth television station in the country, WTMJ-TV is the first in the Midwest.

We live in time when past judicial decisions are discarded, at the federal and state level. It should not surprise, although it still does, that prior legislation and prior court rulings to it are again set aside. And so, as one would have expected since July, Act 10 has been ruled unconstitutional:

Judge Jacob Frost ruled that Act 10, passed by the state Legislature’s Republican majority in 2011 and signed by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker in his first year in office, was unconstitutional in making some public safety workers exempt from the law’s limits on unions but excluding other workers with similar jobs from those protections.

The ruling essentially confirmed Frost’s ruling on July 3, 2024, when he rejected motions by the state Legislature’s Republican leaders to dismiss the 2023 lawsuit challenging Act 10.

In that ruling, Frost declared that state Capitol Police, University of Wisconsin Police, and state conservation wardens were “treated unequally with no rational basis for that difference” because they were not included in the exemption that Act 10 had created for other law enforcement and public safety employees.

For that reason, the law’s categories of general and public safety employees, and its public safety employee exemption, were unconstitutional, Frost wrote then.

Frost reiterated that ruling Monday. “Act 10 as written by the Legislature specifically and narrowly defines ‘public safety employee,’” Frost wrote. “It is that definition which is unconstitutional.”

In addition, the judge rejected the suggestion that Act 10 could remain in effect without the law’s public safety employee carve-out, and that either the courts or the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission could resolve a constitutionally acceptable definition in the future.

“The Legislature cites no precedent for this bold argument that I should simply strike the unlawful definition but leave it to an agency and the courts to later define as they see fit,” Frost wrote. “Interpreting ‘public safety employee’ after striking the legislated definition would be an exercise in the absurd.”

See Erik Gunn, Judge strikes down core parts of Act 10 that stripped most public workers’ union rights, Wisconsin Examiner, December 2, 2024.

Video captures cliffside rescue in San Francisco:

This video captured the California Highway Patrol rescuing a man trapped on the side of a cliff above Baker Beach in San Francisco. The man was hoisted safely to the beach below.

Agriculture, Daily Bread, Economy, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 12.2.24: Wisconsin Agriculture Grows More Slowly than Rest of State’s Economy

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 28. Sunrise is 7:07, and sunset is 4:21, for 9 hours, 14 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 2.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Police & Fire Commission meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 2001, Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Hope Kirwan reports that while the Wisconsin agriculture industry grew over a 5-year period, agriculture became a smaller part of Wisconsin’s overall economy:

Wisconsin’s agriculture industry has grown over the last five years. But new data shows farming and food’s contribution to the state’s economy has gotten smaller.

The study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that agricultural production and food processing contributed $116.3 billion in revenues to the state’s economy in 2022.

That’s nearly 11 percent higher than the same report from 2017, growth that’s been celebrated by Gov. Tony Evers’ administration and the ag industry.

The study also found that farming and food processing made up 14.3 percent of the state’s total revenues, which is 2 percentage points less than in 2017.

Steve Deller, UW-Madison professor of agricultural and applied economics and co-author of the report, said that’s because the state’s overall economy is growing.

“The size of the pie is getting bigger,” Deller said. “Agriculture’s slice of that pie is also getting a little bit bigger, but it’s not growing at the same pace as the state’s economy is growing.”

See Hope Kirwan, Report: Wisconsin farm, food industry grows slightly behind the rest of state’s economy, Wisconsin Public Radio, December 2, 2024.

Wind power is making a comeback in shipping:

Art, Daily Bread, Faraway Places

Daily Bread for 12.1.24: Intricate, and Faraway, Art

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 25. Sunrise is 7:06, and sunset is 4:21, for 9 hours, 15 minutes of daytime. The moon is new with 0.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1934,  Sergei Kirov is assassinated, paving way for the repressive Great Purge and Vinnytsia massacre by General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin.

Mayuko Ono, Shuji Kajiyama, and Mari Yamaguchi report on the intricate work of a Japanese artist:

TOKYO (AP) — A frog holding a taro-leaf umbrella. A parade of frolicking animals. An Ukiyo-e style Mount Fuji. Giant waves. A Japanese artist who goes by the name Lito carves these delicate designs on fallen leaves, giving life back to them.

The world of Lito’s delicate art, which he began in 2020 and posts on social media almost daily, has won fans from around the world. The leaf art has also given him solace after earlier struggles with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and a purpose in life — the joy of making people happy with his art.

He enjoys working at night. From a pile of leaves treated with a wrinkle-free chemical, he picks one and places it on a cutting board.

See Mayuko Ono, Shuji Kajiyama, and Mari Yamaguchi, A Japanese artist finds solace and global fans with intricate leaf-cutting, Associated Press, December 1, 2024.

Sky & Telescope’s Sky Tour Podcast – December 2024: