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Daily Bread, Politics, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 5.21.23: The Wisconsin Political Deceivers from a National Story

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 77. Sunrise is 5:25 AM and sunset 8:17 PM for 14h 51m 33s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 3.7% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1917, the Great Atlanta fire of 1917 causes $5.5 million in damages, destroying some 300 acres including 2,000 homes, businesses, and churches, displacing about 10,000 people but leading to only one fatality (due to heart attack).

Erik Gunn reports New York Times report finds political network with Wisconsin ties deceived donors:

Three Wisconsin men are identified in a New York Times report published Sunday as organizers of a network of political nonprofit fundraising groups that raised $89 million, ostensibly for political ends, but spending very little of that on anything except to pay the fundraisers themselves or other consultants.

The Times report [link is open] described a series of robocall campaigns by five different but closely connected groups that raised money in small amounts from donors “who were pitched on building political support for police officers, veterans and firefighters,” the Times reported. “But just 1 percent of the money they raised was used to help candidates via donations, ads or targeted get-out-the-vote messages, according to an analysis by The Times of the groups’ public filings.”

The newspaper report, published online, stated that about 90% of the money raised was paid back to fundraising contractors in what a lawyer who advises Republican campaigns described as “an elaborate self-licking ice cream cone” in which money that is raised goes to pay the cost of raising more money.

Four of the five nonprofits remain active, according to the Times. 

The Times identified the organizers of the groups as John W. Connors, Simon Lewis and Kyle Maichle. The three “were all active in college conservative politics in Wisconsin about 15 years ago, when Mr. Connors was the leader of campus Republicans at Marquette University,” the newspaper reported.

All three operate consulting firms that have contracted with one or more of the nonprofit fundraising groups. The nonprofits have paid altogether $2.8 million to the three, according to the Times, while paying most of the remainder to other consultants that did not appear to be connected with the organizers.

“In their calls, the groups identified themselves to potential donors as political organizations,” the Times reported. “Beyond that, they were often vague about whom they supported and how.”

(Emphasis added.)

Sneaky Bear Attempts to Creep Into Colorado Home:

Daily Bread, Education

Daily Bread for 5.20.23: Beyond Enrollment

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 71. Sunrise is 5:26 AM and sunset 8:16 PM for 14h 49m 43s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 0.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1862, President Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law, opening eighty-four million acres (340,000 km2) of public land to settlers:

An extension of the homestead principle in law, the Homestead Acts were an expression of the Free Soil policy of Northerners who wanted individual farmers to own and operate their own farms, as opposed to Southern slave owners who wanted to buy up large tracts of land and use slave labor, thereby shutting out free white farmers.

The first of the acts, the Homestead Act of 1862, opened up millions of acres. Any adult who had never taken up arms against the federal government of the United States could apply. Women and immigrants who had applied for citizenship were eligible.

There are few college administrators or faculty members — and no sensible ones — who think that enrollment numbers alone will secure a school’s future. With declining demographics, colleges are compelled to place more emphasis on retention. Corrinne Hess reports College completion program yields impressive results for Milwaukee students from low-income families (‘All-In Milwaukee graduating its first class with 90 percent success rate’):

Mailyn Santibanez-Tanon was the 2021 valedictorian of Milwaukee Public School’s Reagan High School. The first-generation student knew her parents couldn’t afford to pay for college, so she planned to attend technical college instead. 

To say her plans have drastically changed is an understatement.  

All-In Milwaukee, a college completion program that provides financial aid, advising and career support has been quietly changing the lives of hundreds of limited-income, high potential students in Milwaukee like Santibanez-Tanon. 

Santibanez-Tanon, 19, is now a sophomore at Marquette University. She’s on the dean’s list in the College of Business administration with a double major in accounting and supply chain management. And has already completed an internship at Johnson Controls.  

Now she has plans to study abroad and has two more internships lined up at Johnson Controls and Deloitte. She hopes to become an auditor. 

“It was a long shot to ever aim for Marquette,” Santibanez-Tanon said. “But it has been amazing. It has been a ride.”  

All-In Milwaukee is based on the successful model of Wallin Education Partners in the Greater Twin Cities Area. The Milwaukee program currently has 415 total students, all receiving discounted tuition at eight partner universities and one-on-one mentoring throughout their college careers.

The program has worked. This spring, the first cohort of students is graduating. 

Of the 41 students who enrolled four years ago, 29 are graduating, and another eight are expected to graduate in the next one to two years, said Allison Wagner, executive director of All-In Milwaukee. That’s a 90 percent success rate. 

Programs like this only seem expensive until one considers the enduring benefits of supported graduates who will become supportive alumni. 

New Sunspot blasts flurry of strong m-class flares in amazing time-lapse:

Budget, Daily Bread, Local Government, State Government, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 5.19.23: Wait, So It’s WISGOP Assembly v. WISGOP Senate? Hard to Believe These Congenial & Cooperative Politicians Can’t Agree Among Themselves

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 65. Sunrise is 5:27 AM and sunset 8:15 PM for 14h 47m 52s of daytime. The moon is new with nearly none of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1780, New England’s Dark Day, an unusual darkening of the day sky, was observed over the New England states and parts of Canada:

Since communications technology of the day was primitive, most people found the darkness to be baffling and inexplicable. Many applied religious interpretations to the event.

In Connecticut, a member of the Governor’s council (renamed the Connecticut State Senate in 1818), Abraham Davenport, became most famous for his response to his colleagues’ fears that it was the Day of Judgment:

I am against adjournment. The day of judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for an adjournment; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles may be brought.

Davenport’s courage was commemorated in the poem “Abraham Davenport” by John Greenleaf Whittier. Edwin Markham also commemorated the event in his poem “A Judgement Hour,” found in The Gates of Paradise and Other Poems.

(Citations omitted.)

Davenport’s position is a reasoned expression of faith in uncertain conditions. Those of us who are religious (I worship with a liberal Episcopal Anglo-Catholic parish) will find in Davenport’s demeanor a worthy model of faith in action.  

Scott Bauer reports Wisconsin Republican lawmakers at odds over local government funding bill (‘Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu says he expects changes to legislation boosting state aid to local governments, which Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says “could kill the bill.”‘):

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Senate and Assembly Republicans are at odds over a key ingredient of a proposal long sought after by local governments, first responders and others that would significantly boost state aid to pay for essential services.

The Assembly passed a wide-ranging bill on May 17, following months of closed-door negotiations, that would increase aid at least 15% for all local governments in the state, and give Milwaukee city and county the ability to raise additional revenues if voters approve higher sales taxes. Milwaukee city and county leaders oppose that provision, which appears to also be a sticking point between Assembly and Senate Republicans.

But Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said May 18 that the Senate will likely remove that provision, and make other unspecified changes, when it votes on the bill, likely in early June.

The Senate and Assembly must approve the same bill before it would go to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who on May 17 said he was confident that a bipartisan compromise could be reached.

But Vos told The Associated Press that the Assembly would not pass a bill that does away with the vote requirement for Milwaukee.

“That could unfortunately kill the bill and all of our good work,” Vos said. “Requiring voter approval for enacting a new tax, which was included in the original Evers proposal, should not be all that controversial.”

Vos said on May 17 he was “done negotiating” on the bill.

LeMahieu said at a news conference on May 18 that he had “no idea” that Vos would say he’s done negotiating.

“That’s unfortunate that he’s drawing a line in the sand now with this version of the bill and stopping negotiations on a bill that not everybody’s in agreement on,” LeMahieu said.

LeMahieu said that he supported having the local governing boards approve a sales tax increase because he thinks a referendum vote of the people would fail.

See also from 5.12.23 Shared Revenue Changes Advance and from 5.18.23 Wisconsin Assembly Passes Revised Shared Revenue Bill.

Tiger Shark Rams Into Kayaker off Hawaii Coast:

City, Film

Film: Tuesday, May 23rd, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Dead for a Dollar

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Tuesday, May 23rd at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Dead for a Dollar @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:

Western/Thriller

Rated R (violence, language); 1 hour, 47 minutes (2022)

Now for something, totally different: a Western! Chihuahua, New Mexico Territory, 1899. A bounty hunter is hired to find a prominent businessman’s wife being held hostage in Mexico. But, all is not as it seems…
A rousing tale of deceit, deception, and gunfights.
An excellent cast features Christoph Waltz, Willem Dafoe, and Rachel Brosnahan.

One can find more information about Dead for a Dollar at the Internet Movie Database.

Budget, Daily Bread, Local Government, State Government, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 5.18.23: Wisconsin Assembly Passes Revised Shared Revenue Bill

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 74. Sunrise is 5:28 AM and sunset 8:14 PM for 14h 45m 57s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 1.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM. 

On this day in 1756, the Seven Years’ War begins when Great Britain declares war on France.

Baylor Spears reports on the state budget bill in Assembly passes revised shared revenue bill after hours of delay and debate (‘Speaker Vos says Assembly Republicans are “done negotiating”’):

Assembly Republicans announced several last-minute changes to their local government funding plans Wednesday afternoon, including a bump in the payments that local governments would receive and some slight changes to other requirements they would need to meet. 

Just hours later, Assembly Republicans passed the amended bill, AB-245, despite the governor’s statement earlier in the day that there is more negotiation to come on the measure and a call from Democrats for the bill to be sent back to committee. Senate Republicans also have not signed on yet.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said his caucus will not accept any more changes and that they’ve worked on it in “good faith” for several months. He said the changes made Wednesday were meant to address concerns raised by Gov. Tony Evers. 

“Everybody has to take their own position, but we are done negotiating,” Vos said while standing alongside his caucus outside of the Capitol. “We are not going to take changes. We are not going to change the bill substantially. Before us is the deal that we are going to send to our colleagues in the state Senate.” 

In a floor session that stretched past 8 p.m., the bill passed 56-36 with Republicans Reps. Chuck Wichgers (R-Muskego), Janel Brandtjen (R-Menomonee Falls) and Scott Allen (R-Waukesha) voting with Democrats against it. 

Under the new proposal, almost all local governments would receive a minimum increase of 15% in existing county and municipal aid, instead of the 10% initially proposed, a change Vos said was requested by Evers. Milwaukee would still get the minimum 10% increase. 

See also from 5.12.23 Shared Revenue Changes Advance.

Meet the Grandmother of Churros:

Boosterism, CDA, City, Daily Bread, Economy, Local Government, Poverty

Daily Bread for 5.17.23: The Great Recession Returns (But Then, It Never Left)

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 65. Sunrise is 5:29 AM and sunset 8:13 PM for 14h 44m 00s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 5.5% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Park Board meets at 5:30 PM. 

On this day in 1673, Louis Jolliet, Father Jacques Marquette, and five French voyageurs departed from the mission of St. Ignace, at the head of Lake Michigan, to reconnoiter the Mississippi River. The party traveled in two canoes throughout the summer of 1673, traveling across Wisconsin, down the Mississippi to the Arkansas River, and back again.

Old Whitewater never understood the Great Recession, that steep economic downtown from ’07 to ’09 that attrited the socio-economic foundations of this small city (and much of the Midwest), the consequences of which are all around us even today. See Child Poverty from the Great Recession, Opioid Crisis : Great Recession :: Dust Bowl : Great Depression, Old Whitewater’s 3 Big Mistakes, the search term Great Recession, and categories on Boosterism (the futile outlook of Old Whitewater) and Poverty (what Old Whitewater’s outlook overlooked).

Here we find ourselves with What Ails, What Heals. 

A confident claim: policymakers in the city who do not appreciate that the Great Recession was the most significant socio-economic force in Whitewater in eighty years are either ignorant or incompetent. As it turns out, that also describes many who were in local office from 2007 to 2009, whose responses in that time and for years afterward were ineffectual. Some from that time still trudge on, substituting self-promotion and grandiosity for meaningful accomplishment.  

How very sad, indeed tragic, that during the Great Recession (and since!) those who claimed to have a special love for the city, and insisted that they above thousands possessed unmatched skills and insights, were truly the weakest leaders the city could have had. 

And look, and look — the Great Recession’s effects persist. Colleges’ problems with declining enrollment, including declining enrollment at UW-Whitewater, are a consequence of demographic changes begun during the Great Recession. Kevin Carey observes that 

In four years, the number of students graduating from high schools across the country will begin a sudden and precipitous decline, due to a rolling demographic aftershock of the Great Recession. Traumatized by uncertainty and unemployment, people decided to stop having kids during that period. But even as we climbed out of the recession, the birth rate kept dropping, and we are now starting to see the consequences on campuses everywhere. Classes will shrink, year after year, for most of the next two decades. People in the higher education industry call it “the enrollment cliff.”

Among the small number of elite colleges and research universities — think the Princetons and the Penn States — the cliff will be no big deal. These institutions have their pick of applicants and can easily keep classes full.

For everyone else, the consequences could be dire. In some places, the crisis has already begun. College enrollment began slowly receding after the millennial enrollment wave peaked in 2010, particularly in regions that were already experiencing below-average birth rates while simultaneously losing population to out-migration. Starved of students and the tuition revenue they bring, small private colleges in New England have begun to blink off the map. Regional public universities like Ship [Shippensburg] are enduring painful layoffs and consolidation.

In this and other ways, Whitewater and many other places never truly climbed out of the Great Recession: some effects lingered, and others are now felt as aftershocks. 

Bird withstands hail storm to protect eggs:

Budget, Daily Bread, State Government, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 5.16.23: Wisconsin’s Budget Surplus Still about $7,000,000,000

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 79. Sunrise is 5:30 AM and sunset 8:12 PM for 14h 42m 00s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 11.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM. 

On this day in 1868, the United States Senate fails to convict President Andrew Johnson by one vote.

Scott Bauer reports Wisconsin’s budget forecast dips slightly, still projected to be near $7 billion surplus: 

Wisconsin’s budget forecast dipped slightly Monday, but the latest projection still calls for the state to collect about $6.9 billion more than anticipated by the end of June.

The projection from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates that taxes collected over the next two years will be down about $755 million, or about 1% less than the previous forecast made four months ago. Taking into account other short-term cost savings, the surplus shrank from $7.1 billion to nearly $6.9 billion.

The new projection comes as lawmakers, Gov. Tony Evers and others are trying to strike a deal on a new, multibillion-dollar aid plan for local governments ahead of a vote Wednesday in the state Assembly.

The new forecast also comes ahead of votes in coming weeks over tax cuts, funding for K-12 schools and the University of Wisconsin System and a host of other priorities and programs as lawmakers piece together the next two-year state budget.

Painted-over dog discovered in early Picasso masterpiece:

City, Daily Bread, Demographics, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 5.15.23: Wisconsin Needs More Young People (But They Have to Want Wisconsin)

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 70. Sunrise is 5:31 AM and sunset 8:11 PM for 14h 39m 59s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 17.8% of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Alcohol Licensing Committee meets at 6 PM, and the Library Board meets at 6:30 PM. 

On this day in 1911, in Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, the United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an “unreasonable” monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up.

 Over the winter, Joe Schulz reported Wisconsin needs more young people to prevent worsening the labor shortage, but there’s no easy solution:

Twenty-five-year-old Matt Gill grew up in the Fox Valley. After a stint at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, he left Wisconsin last June.

“The reason I left is because I started working remotely after COVID, and my girlfriend got a job in Utah,” he said. “We will probably come back in the future to be closer to our family, but it depends on how her career goes.”

Gill works in information technology, or IT, while his girlfriend is a naturalist educator at a nature center in Utah.

But their story isn’t unique. Over the last decade, the state lost 106,000 people under the age of 26, according to a recent report by Forward Analytics, the research arm of the Wisconsin Counties Association. 

If Wisconsin doesn’t improve efforts to attract and retain young people, its labor shortage could get worse by the end of the decade — but there’s no simple solution to address the issue. And, if demographic trends continue, the state’s working-age population could shrink by about 130,000 people by 2030, the report found.

“Attracting and retaining these young people is critical for Wisconsin,” said Dale Knapp, director of Forward Analytics, in a statement last September. “Attracting and retaining them would not only grow the current workforce, it would also help long term as many of these young adults will soon be starting a family and raising the next generation of workers.”

Doing so, however, requires a combination of promoting IT jobs already in the state, recruiting industries young people want to work in and embracing the state’s growing diversity, according to local government officials, researchers and regional economic development organizations.

Dave Egan-Robertson, a demographer for the UW-Madison’s Applied Population Lab, said Wisconsin has traditionally been an importer of high school graduates and an exporter of college graduates.

He said the state generally sees a net gain in people between 15 and 19, but experiences a net loss of individuals between 20 and 24.

Young people have to want to come to Wisconsin and stay in Wisconsin. Young people have to want to come to Whitewater and stay in Whitewater. It’s their wants, and their needs, that will determine whether they’ll stay.

That’s the challenge for everyone else: recognizing that those needs are different, and then being willing to meet those different needs. ‘This is how we’ve always done it’ is the surest expression of how communities keep doing it the wrong way. 

Testing Out JPL’s New Snake Robot:

Daily Bread, Film, Holiday

Daily Bread for 5.14.23: Happy Mother’s Day

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 59. Sunrise is 5:32 AM and sunset 8:10 PM for 14h 37m 54s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 27.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1973, Skylab, the United States’ first space station, is launched.

Mather:

Following a day in the life of Demelza Mather, musician and mother, “Mather” is a film told through contrast. 16mm and digital, color and black and white, drums and mums.

Tiny Galápagos island birds make promising comeback:

Cats, Daily Bread, History, Science/Nature

Daily Bread for 5.13.23: When Domestic Cats Had Their Own Constellation

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 72. Sunrise is 5:33 AM and sunset 8:09 PM for 14h 35m 47s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 38.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1862, the USS Planter, a steamer and gunship, steals through Confederate lines and is passed to the Union, by a southern slave, Robert Smalls, who later was officially appointed as captain, becoming the first black man to command a United States ship.

Cats of Yore explains when domestic cats had their own constellation:

Forging Forgotten Ancient Greek Armor:

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City, Daily Bread, Government Spending, Legislature, Local Government, State Government, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 5.12.23: Shared Revenue Changes Advance

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with intermittent thunderstorms and a high of 73. Sunrise is 5:34 AM and sunset 8:08 PM for 14h 33m 39s of daytime. The moon is in its third quarter with 49.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1949, the Soviet Union lifts its blockade of Berlin.

Shawn Johnson reports Negotiations continue at Wisconsin Capitol over local government funding plan (‘Republicans say the full Assembly will pass a bill next week that would revamp the state’s shared revenue program’):

Under the GOP bill, every community would see at least a 10 percent increase in state funding, but larger cities like Green Bay and Racine receive millions less than they would under the governor’s plan. Some small towns would see increases of several hundred percent, though the total dollars they’d receive would be relatively modest.

“I’m not hearing anything about a big change in the formula,” Novak said of the ongoing negotiations. “But that may change.”

The Republican bill also attaches far more strings for local governments to receive the money. They include:

Whitewater’s concerns, however, exceed what this shared revenue plan, or any other, would meet. We’ll need a different approach to address those needs. See What Ails, What Heals, Waiting for Whitewater’s Dorothy Day, Something Transcendent, and in the Meantime, An Oasis Strategy, and The Community Space. 

This is how a conservationist restores a centuries-old painting:

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City, Film

Film: Wednesday, May 17th, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, All Quiet on the Western Front

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Wednesday, May 17th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of All Quiet on the Western Front @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:

Action/Drama/War

Rated R (war violence); 2 hours, 28 minutes (2022)

A German retelling of the classic story of a young German soldier’s terrifying experiences and distress on the Western Front during World War 1. Academy Award winner: Best International Film, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, and Best Production Design. This film will be shown with the original German dialogue and English subtitles.

One can find more information about All Quiet on the Western Front at the Internet Movie Database.