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Author Archive for JOHN ADAMS

Business, Daily Bread, Economy, Tariffs

Daily Bread for 5.7.25: Small Businesses Face Tariff Shock

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 69. Sunrise is 5:40 and sunset is 8:02, for 14 hours, 22 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 78.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Starin Park Water Tower Committee meets at 6 PM, and the Landmarks Commission at 7 PM.

This day in 1718 is the traditional date on which Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville founds the city of New Orleans,

John Imes, Village President of Shorewood Hills, writes of the damage that tariffs will do to small businesses:

The sweeping tariffs imposed by the current administration are already fueling inflation, disrupting supply chains, and pushing small businesses to the brink. Local retailers, independent producers and small manufacturers — the very backbone of our neighborhoods — are being hit hardest.

….

The problem is clear and devastating: suppliers can’t get the goods they need, vendors are questioning whether they can stay afloat and customers — grappling with rising prices and financial anxiety — are pulling back from shopping locally. Sales reps are going unpaid as orders are canceled, and stores of all sizes are bracing for empty shelves. In short, the social fabric that binds our communities is beginning to fray under the weight of uncertainty.

The National Retail Federation recently warned that these tariffs threaten the American dream — and they’re right. Small businesses aren’t just part of our economy; they’re central to our national identity, job creation, innovation and the strength of our local communities.

….

The stakes couldn’t be clearer. Without immediate action, we face shuttered storefronts, lost jobs and an avoidable recession. According to Gallup, Americans’ economic outlook is now worse than at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic or the global financial crisis — a sobering indicator of just how fragile the moment is.

This is not a partisan issue. It’s a matter of economic survival, community resilience and protecting the American dream for generations to come.

See John Imes, Small businesses are the backbone of America — but right now, tariffs are breaking their backs, Wisconsin Examiner, May 7, 2025.

How big are these tariffs? Here’s hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones commenting on their magnitude:

Trump’s tariff strategy has become a cornerstone of his economic policy — and a lightning rod for criticism. In recent months, his administration has slapped a staggering 145% tariff on Chinese imports, escalating an already tense trade war. China quickly retaliated with its own tariffs of 125%.

According to Jones, even if the White House walks those tariffs back to 40% or 50%, the damage is already done. 

“Even when he does that … it’d be the largest tax increases since the ’60s,” Jones said. “So you can kind of take 2%, 3% off growth.”

(Emphasis added.)

See Shannon Carroll, A billionaire hedge fund manager has a chilling stock market warning (‘Paul Tudor Jones said that even if Trump walks back his tariffs, markets are headed “to new lows”‘), Quartz, May 6, 2025.

N.B.: I’ve no personal financial complaint in this: this is a community loss, a statewide loss, and a national loss.

Sh2-46 nebula captured by the VLT Survey Telescope – 6,000 light years away:

The Sh2-46 nebula has been captured by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. The nebula is 6000 light years away from Earth.

City, Police, School District

Update on School Resource Officer Discussions Between the Whitewater School District and the City of Whitewater

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There’s a positive development today in a joint press release from the Whitewater Unified School District and the City of Whitewater over a possible new agreement for a school resource officer. The release from the Whitewater Unified School District’s board president, on behalf of the district and the city, appears below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, DIRECTLY FROM SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT: May 6, 2025

Whitewater, WI – Joint Statement from the Whitewater Unified School District Board President Stephanie Hicks and Whitewater Common Council President Patrick Singer

We acknowledge and appreciate the concerns expressed by parents, students, educators, and community members regarding the School Resource Officer (SRO) contract. Our students’ safety, well-being, and success are a shared responsibility, and we remain committed to working together to ensure our schools are secure, safe, and supportive.

This is to notify you that diplomatic conversations on the Student Resource Officer agreement are ongoing between leadership governance groups, the Common Council, and the School Board.

We aim to rebuild trust, support our educators and law enforcement professionals, and ensure every student feels secure and safe in our schools. By working together in good faith, we aim to strengthen relationships across our institutions and ensure a thoughtful and responsive outcome.

We also want to appreciate the hard work contributed by the staff of both institutions in this complex situation, and their service to the Common Council and the School Board.

This is the sensible course, either through a brief contract extension first or via an amended agreement before the expiration of the current agreement. See Discussion of Whitewater’s School Resource Officer Merits a 120-Day Contract Extension (from 4.30.25) and More on a Whitewater School Resource Officer (from 5.1.25).

Negotiations in good faith toward a mutual agreement will serve the community well.

Business, Daily Bread, Tariffs

Daily Bread for 5.6.25: Tariffs and Supplies

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 75. Sunrise is 5:42 and sunset is 8:01, for 14 hours, 19 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 70 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Unified School District’s Finance Committee meets at Noon. Whitewater’s Alcohol Licensing Committee meets at 5:30 PM, and the Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1937, the German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.

By Sam Shere – Zeppelin-ramp de Hindenburg / Hindenburg zeppelin disasterBetter photo (JPEG Image, 1404 × 1080 pixels) , Public Domain, Link.

Tariffs are taxes, and those taxes will affect the demand for goods, and so affect the supply of goods, and the ability to supply them:

Stock markets plunged for days after President Donald Trump announced steep tariffs on imports from around the world. The sell-off ebbed only when he suspended most, but not all, of the new measures for 90 days. The ticker tape is just one indicator of an economy, and other signs are growing more and more ominous—including at the Port of Los Angeles, where high tariffs on China are crushing maritime traffic. “Essentially all shipments out of China for major retailers and manufacturers have ceased,” Eugene Seroka, the executive director of the port, said on April 24.

The economy, and the supply chains that allow it to function, can adjust fairly quickly to certain shocks, including weather disasters and even a pandemic. Early in the COVID shutdowns, toilet paper was in short supply as Americans spent more time at home and less at workplaces and schools. The problem eased as manufacturers ramped up production, transportation systems adapted, and consumer anxiety decreased.

But Trump’s trade war is different because it is unpredictable and indefinite. Even if he were to renounce tariffs tomorrow, Trump has already shaken global confidence in American economic-policy making. No one can comfortably make business decisions based on what he does.

….

Tariffs don’t just reduce the flow of goods coming into the country; they also cause an atrophying of the logistics system that moves products into, out of, and around the United States. “Less cargo volume, less jobs. That’s the rule here,” Mario Cordero, CEO of the Port of Long Beach, said recently, describing how one in nine jobs in the greater Los Angeles region arises directly or indirectly from its ports. “Port complexes are like your baby toe on your foot,” Peter Neffenger, the former commander of the Coast Guard sector that includes Los Angeles and Long Beach, told me. “You don’t think about it until you break it one day and realize, ‘I can’t walk.’”

See Juliette Kayyem, Don’t Look at Stock Markets. Look at the Ports (‘A drop in maritime traffic suggests that the worst is yet to come’), The Atlantic, May 3, 2025.

It’s not true that with tariffs all items will be available at a higher price (or that consumers will bear those prices); some items won’t be available.

A successful bald eagle release:

Business, Daily Bread, Tariffs, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 5.5.25: Solar Takes a Tariff Hit

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 62. Sunrise is 5:43 and sunset is 8:00, for 14 hours, 17 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 60.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Unified School District Board meets in open session at 6:30 PM, then enters closed session at 6:50 PM.

On this day in 1862, commemorated as Cinco de Mayo, troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico.

Solar farms are controversial in many communities, as with the Whitewater Solar Project. There’s another aspect of solar projects to consider. Tariffs will make the projects more expensive:

President Donald Trump has slapped 145 percent tariffs on China, which accounts for an estimated roughly 80 percent of the world’s solar manufacturing capacity. Trump also implemented 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports.

Additionally, the Trump administration announced planned tariffs on Chinese solar products sold from southeast Asia, ranging from 41 percent to more than 3,500 percent depending on the country. Those tariffs still need to be finalized and would require a vote by the International Trade Commission.

….

Ismaeel Chartier, development director at RENEW Wisconsin, said the combination of tariffs could make some projects in the state “economically unfeasible,” especially if the tariffs on imports from southeast Asia take effect.

“They no longer ink out,” he said. “The return on investment is not a 10-year return on investment, it becomes a 30-, 40-, 50-year return on investment.”

The tariffs on steel and aluminum raise the costs of the metal racking used to mount solar panels, while the duties on China and the planned targeted solar tariffs would increase the costs of panels themselves, Chartier said.

See Joe Schulz, Trump tariffs expected to increase costs, limit options for Wisconsin solar
(‘Combination of tariffs on China, steel and southeast Asia could make some projects ‘economically unfeasible’ ‘), Wisconsin Public Radio, May 5, 2025.

I’ve no claim about whether tariffs will make the proposed Whitewater project too costly; they are likely to affect at least some of the nearly 20 Wisconsin projects either underway or awaiting approval.

Bats v. Mosquitoes:

Business, Daily Bread, Demographics, Tariffs, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 5.4.25: Economics of Wisconsin’s Demographics

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will see a mix of clouds and sun with a high of 64. Sunrise is 5:44 and sunset is 7:59, for 14 hours, 15 minutes of daytime. The moon is in its first quarter with 50.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 2007, Greensburg, Kansas is almost completely destroyed by the 2007 Greensburg tornado, a 1.7-mile wide EF5 tornado. It was the first-ever tornado to be rated as such with the new Enhanced Fujita scale.

Greensburg, KS May 16, 2007. By Greg Henshall/FEMA – U.S. National Archives, Public Domain, Link.

At Wisconsin Watch, Natalie Yahr interviews University of Wisconsin researcher Matt Kures on Wisconsin’s aging workforce. Two key questions from that interview appear below:

And how about when it comes to long-standing trends in Wisconsin’s labor market or demographics? Are there numbers you like to bring up that you think people don’t tend to know?

If you look at the working-age population declining from 2020 to 2030, and then kind of leveling off from 2030 to 2040, we’re just not going to have strong growth in the number of individuals who are working age in the state. That’s mostly true across the state, although there are some counties that will be projected to grow, like Dane and Eau Claire. 

And then also, the combination of individuals of retirement age or nearing retirement age that are going to either leave the labor force or change the types of work they’re doing. If we look at the manufacturing sector, for instance, we have almost 131,000 individuals in that industry who are aged 55 or older, or almost 28% of that industry. So in those large employment sectors in the state, how do we think about replacing the workforce or augmenting the workforce going forward due to retirements or just shifting abilities due to the aging population?

….

How are the challenges or opportunities different in different parts of the state, say in urban areas versus more rural areas?

Certainly many of the non-metro areas do have an older population and will continue to have an older population going forward, so they will most likely face some of the bigger challenges in terms of some of the population shifts by age group. In some of those areas too, you have some of the bigger challenges in developing housing … to try and attract a new labor force. So those challenges are a bit twofold.

….

Which Wisconsin industries rely more on older workers?

Wisconsin’s working-age population is declining, leaving industries with more workers nearing retirement age. This U.S. Census Bureau data shows which industries in the state most relied on workers ages 55 and older in early 2024.

See Natalie Yahr, Wisconsin’s workforce is aging. How can communities and employers prepare for the future?, Wisconsin Watch, April 25, 2025.

The demographic challenges, in industries where they are present, are a refutation and rebuke to those who say ‘let’s boost manufacturing through tariffs’: it will be more difficult and take more time — if it should work at all — than advocates of tariffs glibly contend. The pro-tariff crowd might as well say let’s build time machines out of DeLoreans.

May the 4th be with you:

“Star Wars” fans around the world are celebrating the space epic this weekend through an unofficial, fan-made holiday. A sly nod to one of the films’ most popular catchphrases, May the 4th is known as Star Wars Day and has been embraced by businesses and communities over the years. (AP Video: Haven Daley) Read more here: https://bit.ly/42WHZbo

Daily Bread, Plants

Daily Bread for 5.3.25: Growing the World’s Largest Flower

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 56. Sunrise is 5:46 and sunset is 7:58, for 14 hours, 12 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 39.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1952, the Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time, on the CBS network.

Growing the world’s largest flower:

When you imagine a plant, what do you think of? Lush green leaves, the sweet smell of a flower or maybe some roots? Well, the world’s largest flower doesn’t have any of these! Rafflesia is a parasitic behemoth that has baffled scientists since its discovery. Taking years to grow from seed to flower, it undergoes most of its long life hidden discreetly on the forest floor. When finally ready, it explodes into the largest flower in the world. As an incredibly fussy grower, Rafflesia is rare even in pristine rainforest environments. Armed with some creative thinking and an endless supply of patience, the team at Bogor Botanical Gardens embarked on an outrageous quest to grow the flower in the middle of a bustling city…

Coyote Drinks from a Skylight in California:

Daily Bread, Gubernatorial Race 2026, Politics, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 5.2.25: One Candidate Enters Gubernatorial Race Still Far Away

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 61. Sunrise is 5:47 and sunset is 7:57, for 14 hours, 10 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 29.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 2011, Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI’s most wanted man, is killed by the United States Navy SEALs in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

The first of likely several Wisconsin gubernatorial candidates formed a committee yesterday:

Republican Josh Schoemann, the top elected official in a suburban Milwaukee county, this week created a committee to run for governor in 2026, making him the first candidate from either major party to get into the race.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has not yet said whether he will seek a third term. Evers has repeatedly said he will announce his intentions after the state budget is passed and signed into law, which typically happens around early July. Asked for a reaction, a spokesperson for Evers referred to a comment from the Wisconsin Democratic Party.

….

Schoemann, 43, filed to create a campaign committee on Wednesday. He is the executive of Washington County, one of the deepest red counties in Wisconsin, which President Donald Trump won with 67% of the vote in 2024. 

Schoemann has never run a statewide race before and is unlikely to be the only Republican candidate in the election that is 19 months away.

See Scott Bauer, Republican county leader Josh Schoemann enters Wisconsin governor’s race, Associated Press, May 1, 2025.

The last line above tells the tale: “is unlikely to be the only Republican candidate in the election that is 19 months away.” The race is so far away, in political and economic conditions so volatile, that beyond tallying entrants there’s nothing yet meaningful to add.

World’s tallest and shortest dogs meet up:

Guinness World Records organized a “fur-tastic” meeting between the world’s largest tallest and shortest living dogs.

City, Daily Bread, Local Government, Open Government, Police, School District

Daily Bread for 5.1.25: More on a Whitewater School Resource Officer

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 55. Sunrise is 5:48 and sunset is 7:55, for 14 hours, 7 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 19.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Public Arts Commission meets at 5 PM.

On this day in 1931, the Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City.

Where stands the contract for a school resource officer since only yesterday? Here: (1) the city has offered an amended SRO contract to be presented at its next council meeting (5.6.25), (2) the district issued a press release on 4.30.25 in reply with several accusations about the current SRO program, and (3) the city replied later in the day to the district’s press release.

Yesterday’s post addressed the possibility of a 120-day contract extension between the city and school district for a school resource officer. See Discussion of Whitewater’s School Resource Officer Merits a 120-Day Contract Extension. A contract extension would have been a commonplace approach between parties that share a good-faith commitment to work together.

Submitting a bid to other communities, as the Whitewater Unified School District’s board did on Monday, 4.28.25, is both rash and reckless.

The three developments, since my last post, deserve attention.

First, in city press release of 4.30.25, one sees the city will present an amended agreement for the Whitewater Common Council’s 5.6.25 agenda. A contract extension was a reasonable offer; an amended agreement from the city is likely to be as well.

Second, the district’s press release is a series of accusations, disputed by the city, that could and should have been addressed in ongoing discussions. The city offered the school district the chance for that discussion, and now offers an amended agreement. There are disputes over which one should be prepared to go one’s own way — this is not one of them. We are the same community, honest to goodness. These public bodies, council and board, are not engaged in arm’s-length transactions, where after a dispute one party could easily walk away from another.

Going to bid was rash because there was no impediment against continued discussions save an impetuous outlook. This libertarian blogger has been an occasional critic of policing in this city, and I’ve made my views plain more than once, but if there’s ever been a police chief open to discussion it’s this one. If Whitewater’s school district is impatient with city officials, then it suffers habitual impatience.

Rejecting a contract with the city for an SRO is also reckless. It’s impractical to expect some other community to supply an officer to this community.1 SRO positions in other communities are overwhelmingly supplied from the community’s own department (the exceptions are communities too small to do so). The city’s own research shows this to be true. Whitewater has had for years a police department able and willing to supply an SRO. No sensible department would want to send one of their officers to another city for this hyper-local, intra-community role.

Likewise, no nearby community privatizes its SRO, and it’s easy to see why: private security will not be as accountable in either training or on the public record. (On a larger scale, it’s the reason America has public armed forces rather than a private militia. Many activities should be private; a few should be public. Policing in public schools should be a public function. Private businesses like shopping malls use security guards; public schools use public police departments.)

It would be a mistake to reject a local contract, and thereafter find that Whitewater’s schools are left with no resource officer, or an ill-considered alternative. Ignoring the city’s offer creates needless controversy.

Third, the city’s reply shows an understanding of the SRO role that the decision to solicit bids simply does not. One might say that the district acted as it did to gain attention to its position. There are better ways to gain attention. Nonetheless, no one improves his negotiating position at the cost of undermining his overall condition. The district has for years used the services of a Whitewater SRO. Turning away from modifications to the existing arrangement for improbable or impractical alternatives creates needless risk. Those risks would not be borne by another community; they would be borne by this community.

The Whitewater Common Council will place an amended SRO contract offer with the district on its 5.6.25 agenda. Discussions thereafter between the parties should strive to achieve an agreement between Whitewater’s schools and the city’s police department as promptly as possible.

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  1. One can be a supporter of remote work yet see that policing is not, literally, a remote work position of one person from someplace else. ↩︎

Night Sky Events in May 2025 You Shouldn’t Miss:

City, Daily Bread, Local Government, Open Government, Police, School District

Daily Bread for 4.30.25: Discussion of Whitewater’s School Resource Officer Merits a 120-Day Contract Extension

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 65. Sunrise is 5:50 and sunset is 7:54, for 14 hours, 5 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 11 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1803, American representatives sign a treaty to purchase the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation.

Update, Wednesday morning: I’ll have more about this evolving topic for tomorrow’s post.

The sensible forum for a discussion about Whitewater is Whitewater. In this way, the sensible forum for a discussion of the role of a school resource officer for the Whitewater Unified School District is within Whitewater. Our goal should be to adopt the best practices of any community, discussed openly and applied, within this community.

For many years, the Whitewater Unified School District has had a school resource officer drawn from the ranks of the Whitewater Police Department. The SRO contract between the school district and city is due for renewal this summer.

In a letter dated 4.9.25, outgoing Superintendent Caroline Pate-Hefty raised concerns about police services to the district. At its 4.15.25 meeting, the Whitewater Common Council supported (1) an extension of the current agreement for 120 days to give time for a new superintendent to discuss the agreement with the city and (2) requested that the city’s proposed extension be included in the school district’s next agenda packet.

Whitewater’s Police Chief Dan Meyer followed this council action with a 4.17.25 letter to the WUSD board outlining the city’s position. In reply to an email from the district’s board secretary, the city’s chief of staff repeated the city’s request for an extension to be added to the school board’s next meeting.

The extension that the city and the city’s police chief requested was not added to the school board’s open-session 4.28.25 agenda. There was no reason not to include the city’s extension requests in the board’s agenda packet for open-session consideration. Instead, the school board voted to put the school resource officer position to bid to communities in the area.

This was both a rash and impractical decision. The Whitewater Unified School District and the City of Whitewater have, as the names of both reveal, a community in common. The Whitewater Common Council was owed inclusion of its request as a matter of open government, of good faith discussion within this community, and, plainly, of simple courtesy.

If there are concerns to be addressed, those concerns should be addressed first in this community. An extension of the existing contract would give time for this community to hear and respond to those concerns. Submitting the school resource officer position to a bid cuts short that discussion. (It most certainly has this effect, too: rejecting an extension is turning away from the incumbent department, placing it in a lower position than it now occupies. There’s a difference between holding a spot and having to reapply for it.)

This libertarian blogger offers today no position on the right contract provisions for an SRO for Whitewater’s schools. It’s enough to know that the decision deserves more intra-community deliberation than the 4.28.25 school board action allows.

Whitewater’s schools should not be so quick to turn away from Whitewater.1

An extension of the current agreement for a 120-day period is the most reasonable choice for the community, and it is one that the board should promptly adopt.

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  1. I don’t believe I’ve ever suggested that Whitewater could be made better by contracting away from Whitewater. We should be trying to do better here in Whitewater. ↩︎

Massachusetts residents take woodpecker invasion in stride:

A mating-season crazed woodpecker had damaged dozens of car mirrors in Rockport, Massachusetts, but residents remain amused rather than angry at their feathered neighbor (AP Video: Rodrique Ngowi) Read more here: https://bit.ly/42RnSeN

Daily Bread, Elections, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 4.29.25: Fusion Voting

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 61. Sunrise is 5:51 and sunset is 7:53, for 14 hours, 2 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 5.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1986, a fire at the Central library of the Los Angeles Public Library damages or destroys 400,000 books and other items.

So, how ’bout fusion voting:

Voters in Wisconsin could be seeing double on Election Day if the practice of fusion voting — which allows the same candidate to appear on the ballot under multiple party lines — makes a comeback in the battleground state.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday seeks to legalize the practice, saying it would empower independent voters and lesser-known political parties at a time of increasingly bitter partisanship between Republicans and Democrats. The lawsuit comes just four weeks after the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, which broke records for spending and saw massive involvement from the two parties and partisan interests. 

Common in the 1800s, fusion voting means a candidate could appear on the ballot as nominated by Republican or Democratic parties and one or more lesser-known political parties. Critics argue it complicates the ballot, perhaps confusing the voter, while also giving minor parties disproportionate power because major-party candidates must woo them to get their endorsements.

Currently, full fusion voting is only happening in Connecticut and New York. There are efforts to revive the practice in other states, including Michigan, Kansas and New Jersey.

See Scott Bauer, Same candidate, two parties. A Wisconsin lawsuit aims to bring back fusion voting, Associated Press, April 25, 2025.

Wisconsin voters can understand a fusion ballot, as much as voters in New York and Connecticut, leaving possible confusion as an unpersuasive objection. Beyond that, it’s hard to tell how this might shape Wisconsin elections in the near-term. New York and Connecticut seem to have managed; we could, too.

Blue Jays:

Agriculture, Daily Bread, Economy, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 4.28.25: Needless Uncertainty During Wisconsin Agriculture’s Planting Season

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be windy with evening thunderstorms and a high of 80. Sunrise is 5:52 and sunset is 7:54, for 14 hours, 0 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 1.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s School Board meets at 5:15 PM, goes into closed session at 5:30 PM, resuming open session at 7 PM. Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1845, the first issue of Scientific American magazine is published.

Where agriculture requires as much certainty as possible, Trump brings uncertainty beyond mere vagaries of the weather:

As Wisconsin’s planting season gets underway, cuts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and fluctuating tariffs on foreign trading partners are creating a new level of uncertainty for farmers.

Since President Donald Trump took office in January, the USDA has ended two programs that gave food banks and schools money to buy food from local ranchers and farmers. One of the programs, the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program, was used in more than 40 states, accordingto Politico. 

The other program, The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program, was used in all 50 states and provided up to $900 million in funding, according to the USDA and the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

See Trevor Hook, Wisconsin’s growing season arriving with uncertainty amid USDA cuts, tariffs (‘Reciprocal tariffs on US agricultural products and cuts to the federal agriculture department are adding new complexity to Wisconsin’s planting season’), Wisconsin Public Radio, April 25, 2025.

A New York Florida real estate man, having failed time and again at his business ventures, was the last person on Earth to grasp the needs Midwestern agriculture. See also Farmers and Farmers, Part 2 (Slogans and Reality).

Metamaterial origami robots:

Mechanical metamaterials are structures carefully designed to give rise to unique or unusual physical properties. Now a team has taken inspiration from origami to create a modular metamaterial system. These units couple twisting movement with compression or expansion, and by combining these modules in different ways the researchers behind this work have found applications across a range of fields, from lightweight dancing robots to mechanical computing.