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City, Crime, Daily Bread, University

Daily Bread for 9.1.24: Official Release of Information on Student Fatally Shot

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 73. Sunrise is 6:21, and sunset is 7:27, for 13h 06m 31s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 2.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1939,   Germany and Slovakia invade Poland, beginning the European phase of World War II.

On Saturday afternoon, UW-Whitewater released a statement following the identification of the victim of a fatal shooting in the city. That statement, from Chancellor Corey King, appears in full below:

Message from Chancellor King

Dear students, faculty and staff,

It is with great sadness that we announce a University of Wisconsin-Whitewater student has passed away. Kara Welsh, age 21, from Plainfield, Illinois, died in a shooting off campus on Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. More information is available on the City of Whitewater website.

Kara was majoring in management in our College of Business and Economics and was a standout member of the Warhawk gymnastics team, winning an individual national title on the vault in 2023.

We know the news of Kara’s death is heartbreaking for our close-knit university community. It is a time when we are all called upon to support one another, to process, and to grieve.

Please know that counseling services are available to you. For students, please contact the University Health and Counseling Services. For faculty and staff, please contact Acentra, the Employee Assistance Program.

Since learning of this tragedy, our colleagues across Whitewater have come together to respond and to engage in layers of support for our students, faculty and staff.  

  • Our Dean of Students office is connected with Kara’s family and is helping them navigate through the unimaginable situation of the loss of their loved one.
  • Our Athletics leadership brought together the gymnastics team and coaches to inform them in person, and University Health and Counseling Services offered counseling support. 
  • Our Academic Affairs staff are planning to provide extra support and flexibility to affected students with classes beginning on Tuesday.
  • Our UW-Whitewater Police Department continued their close collaboration with the City of Whitewater Police Department by providing assistance in the investigation.
  • The Chancellor’s Cabinet and other university leaders continue to stay in contact and take action to lead us through this difficult time.

Details for memorial services will be shared when they are available. I have directed that the UW-Whitewater flag fly at half-staff on Tuesday, Sept. 3, in Kara’s memory. 

Sincerely,
Corey King
Chancellor

City, Crime, Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 8.31.24: A Fatal Shooting in the City

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 81. Sunrise is 6:20, and sunset is 7:29, for 13h 09m 18s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 5.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1939,  Nazi Germany mounts a false flag attack on the Gleiwitz radio station, creating an excuse to attack Poland the following day, thus starting World War II in Europe.

One reads this Saturday morning from a press release and professional reporting that there was a fatal shooting in the city shortly before midnight on Friday. From that reporting, Whitewater Police: 21-year-old woman dies from ‘multiple gunshot wounds’:

A 21-year-old woman has died after sustaining “multiple gunshot wounds,” according to information released Saturday by Whitewater Police Chief Dan Meyer. 

Meyer, within the release, stated that police responded Friday, just before midnight, to an apartment in the 100 block of W. Whitewater Street after receiving a report of an individual who had suffered gunshot wounds. 

Upon arrival, police found a woman deceased in the apartment. 

Also present, the release read, was a 23-year-old male who was known to the deceased woman. 

An investigation has led police to believe that prior to the shooting, an altercation occurred between the male and female, according to the release. 

The male has been detained and the investigation remains ongoing, the release noted. 

“We are confident that there is no threat to the community at this time,” the release reported.

The department was right to publish quickly a succinct release to inform the city and prevent rumor.

This fatal shooting is a fathomless loss for which one offers condolences to the family and friends of the deceased woman.

City, Daily Bread, Politics

Daily Bread for 8.29.24: Scouting Whitewater’s Political Landscape

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 84. Sunrise is 6:17, and sunset is 7:32, for 13h 14m 52s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 18.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1997,  Netflix launches as an internet DVD rental service (streaming came later, in 2007).

Joe Tarr reports on the enthusiasm that Kamala Harris is generating among many college students in Young Wisconsin Democrats fired up with Harris at the top of the ticket. Tarr’s story begins with an anecdote from UW-Whitewater:

Alyssa Wahlborg knows that her politics don’t always gel with that of the community where she attends college. 

While a lot of students and faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater might lean left, the larger community “leans a bit red,” she told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” Nevertheless, Wahlborg sees hope that the Democratic Party can make gains in rural Walworth County and elsewhere. 

“Having conversations with people on our campus makes you realize how blue we can get, and how we can flip our district,” Wahlborg said. “We even flipped our city council blue. We (elected) Democrats to our school boards.”

First and foremost, to all those arriving on campus: Welcome to Whitewater. It’s a beautiful city. There’s no better place to live.

The story inspires me to update a series of posts I wrote in 2021 about politics in the city proper (city politics that are evolving and different from red Walworth County). Here are those posts from 2021: 2021 Unofficial Spring Election Results, The Kinds of Conservatives in Whitewater, The City’s Center-Left, The City’s Few Progressives, The Campus, The Subcultural City, Marketing, COVID-19: Skepticism and Rhetoric, Majoritarianism, and The Limits of Local Politics.

Kevin the Canadian Chihuahua calculates the task ahead:

City, Daily Bread, Good Ideas, University

Daily Bread for 8.20.24: The Young

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 73. Sunrise is 6:08, and sunset is 7:47, for 13h 39m 22s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 99 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1794, American soldiers are victorious at the Battle of Fallen Timbers:

American troops under General “Mad” Anthony Wayne defeated a confederation of Indian forces led by Little Turtle of the Miamis and Blue Jacket of the Shawnees. Wayne’s soldiers, who included future Western explorer William Clark and future President William Henry Harrison, won the battle in less than an hour with the loss of some 30 men killed. (The number of Indian casualties is uncertain.)

The battle had several far-reaching consequences for the United States and what would later become the state of Wisconsin. The crushing defeat of the British-allied Indians convinced the British to finally evacuate their posts in the American west (an accession explicitly given in the Jay Treaty signed some three months later), eliminating forever the English presence in the early American northwest and clearing the way for American expansion.

The battle also resulted in the 1795 Treaty of Greenville, in which the defeated Indians ceded to Wayne the right of Americans to settle in the Ohio Valley (although the northwestern area of that country was given to the Indians). Wayne’s victory opened the gates of widespread settlement of the Old Northwest, Wisconsin included.

I had heard, and now have read, that the Irvin Young Auditorium will rebrand itself as The Young.

The change is a clever, contemporary way to describe the venue. The Young is pithy and, in its way, more familiar than the longer formal name (as people in families have sometimes have diminuitives for their relatives’ names).

Well done.

Underwater video shows marine life flourishing in railcars:

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority deployed two decommissioned railcars into the Atlantic Ocean to create a new reef habitat.

City, Daily Bread, Good Ideas, Health

Daily Bread for 8.19.24: A Public Health Vending Machine in Jefferson, WI

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 75. Sunrise is 6:07, and sunset is 7:49, for 13h 42m 01s of daytime. The moon is full with 100 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater School Board’s Policy Review Committee meets at 5:30 PM. The full board goes into closed session shortly after 6 PM, to return to open session at 7 PM. Whitewater’s Library Board meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1944, the Liberation of Paris begins as the city’s residents rise against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.

I don’t believe that Whitewater has a public health vending machine, but it would be a good idea to install one. Jefferson, Wisconsin has done so, as WKOW reports:

Rangers Band and Tag Northern Royal Albatross Chicks Across the Colony:

The Northern Royal Albatross chicks from the Top Flat and Top Flat Track nests received their steel leg bands and Geo Location Sensor (GLS) tags on August 9. Watch rangers and staff from the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) arrive to affix a stainless-steel band to the right leg of the Top Flat Track chick in this highlight.

City, Daily Bread, Elections, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.14.24: Proposed Wisconsin Constitutional Amendments Fail

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 82. Sunrise is 6:01, and sunset is 7:56, for 13h 55m 05s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 68.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill sign the Atlantic Charter stating postwar aims.

Two proposed Wisconsin constitutional amendments on the ballot yesterday failed decisively:

Statewide, Question 1 (Prohibit Legislature from Delegating Appropriations) lost 57.4% to 42.6% and Question 2 (Require Legislative Approval for Federal Funds) lost 57.5 to 42.5%.

In Whitewater, the questions had a similar fate (combining totals from Jefferson and Walworth counties):

Question 1 (Prohibit Legislature from Delegating Appropriations) lost 68.8% to 31.2% and Question 2 (Require Legislative Approval for Federal Funds) lost 68.6 to 31.4%.

See also No on Amendment Questions 1 and 2 (“Questions written nebulously, and presented to voters on a month of traditionally lower turnout, deserve rejection. Government, and the questions it presents, are meant to be more than semantic trickery”).

Watch video from space of the moon setting into auroras:

Matthew Dominick, a flight engineer on the International Space Station, shared on Monday (August 12) a captivating timelapse showcasing the moon setting among vibrant red and green auroras.

City, Conflicts of Interest, Development, Economy, Local Government, Planning, Special Interests

Daily Bread for 8.13.24: Inflation Abates, Again

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 81. Sunrise is 6:00, and sunset is 7:58, for 13h 57m 38s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 59.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1961, East Germany closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin to thwart its inhabitants’ attempts to escape to the West, and construction of the Berlin Wall is started. The day is known as Barbed Wire Sunday.

Update 8.14.24: Yesterday (below) was a post on wholesale inflation. Today, one sees that the consumer price index is also lower: Inflation Slipped to 2.9% in July, Lower Than Expected (‘CPI report likely seals case for the Fed to begin cutting interest rates at its next meeting’). Good news, all around.

Of wholesale inflation, Jeff Cox reports Wholesale inflation measure rose 0.1% in July, less than expected:

A key measure of wholesale inflation rose less than expected in July, opening the door further for the Federal Reserve to start lowering interest rates.

The producer price index, which measures selling prices that producers get for goods and services, increased 0.1% on the month, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. Excluding volatile food and energy components, the core PPI was flat.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for an increase of 0.2% on both the all-items and the core readings.

A further core measure that also excludes trade services showed a rise of 0.3%.

On a year-over-year basis, the headline PPI increased 2.2%, a sharp drop from the 2.7% reading in June.

Inflation is abating, and growth is up, and in these improving conditions residents of both big cities and also small towns (like Whitewater!) have a chance to avoid the economic mistakes of the past (and those who made them).

Some of Whitewater’s special-interest men (from the 2000s and 2010s) are like declining athletes who should have retired from the game years ago. They stayed too long, and now can’t hit, can’t field, can’t circle the bases. Overweight and underpowered. They want to blame everyone else for their below-average performance. One wonders: why pretend it’s a major-league game with these minor-league banjo-hitters stumbling up to the plate?

Whitewater deserves better.

Orbits:

Books, Censorship, City, Daily Bread, Education

Daily Bread for 8.10.24: The Store That Only Sells Fake Food

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 72. Sunrise is 5:57, and sunset is 8:02, for 14h 05m 11s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 30.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1519, Ferdinand Magellan‘s five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. The Basque second-in-command Juan Sebastián Elcano will complete the expedition after Magellan’s death in the Philippines.

This Store Only Sells Fake Food:

From the Barbie movie to Netflix’s series The Gentlemen, this fake food artist from Scotland has served up the most REALISTIC-LOOKING food for film sets all over the world. Want some fake Ice cream? She’ll make it. What about fake Jell-O with a gun inside? Easy! That’s a piece of cake for Kerry Boyes. This is YOUR how to guide for making fake food look real.

Giant pandas make public debut at San Diego Zoo:

The San Diego Zoo officially opened its new panda enclosure to the public allowing people to finally see Yun Chuan and Xin Bao — the first Chinese giant pandas to enter the United States in 21 years.

Books, Censorship, City, Daily Bread, Education

Daily Bread for 8.9.24: Tracking Book Bans

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 71. Sunrise is 5:56, and sunset is 8:03, for 14h 07m 39s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 22.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1944, the United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time.

Richelle Wilson reports Wisconsin’s ‘banned book queen’ tracks book challenges and worries about widespread bans (‘Tasslyn Magnusson keeps a public database of book bans around the country and advocates for students, authors and librarians’):

Magnusson worries about increased efforts to ban books from school libraries. Last year, Wisconsin was the second-leading state nationally in the number of school library book removals, according to a new report she and others wrote for PEN America. A big reason for that was one parent in the Elkhorn Area School District who requested a review of 444 books.

Other districts around the state are dealing with debates around book bans, too. Magnusson lives with her family in Prescott, a small town in western Wisconsin where the St. Croix River and the Mississippi River meet. She said local school districts have been feeling the strain of increased book challenges, which often lead to heated discussions at school board meetings.

An aspiring children’s author herself, Magnusson started participating in the “kid lit” community on social media after getting a master’s degree in writing for children and young adults. That’s when she first noticed that some of her own favorite authors, including young-adult fiction writer Laurie Halse Anderson, were having their books taken off shelves.

In 2021, Anderson posted on X that her 1999 novel “Speak” seemed to be getting banned more often. She suggested that someone should start tracking book bans around the country. 

Magnusson took note. 

“I was like, ‘Wow, Laurie Halse Anderson asked. I can do that. I know how to use a Google spreadsheet,’” Magnusson recalled on WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “So, I took it upon myself to make a spreadsheet. And here we are three years later.”

This book-banning panic will subside when it meets opposition; opposition, however, requires awareness of the censors’ and scolds’ work.

See also PEN America, New Report Finds Unprecedented Surge in School Book Bans.

The physics of fish hearing:

City, Daily Bread, University, UW System

Daily Bread for 8.8.24: Arrive for the Campus, Stay for the City

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 79. Sunrise is 5:55, and sunset is 8:05, for 14h 10m 06s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 15.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1974, President Nixon, in a nationwide television address, announces his resignation from the office of the President of the United States effective noon the next day.

Whitewater has a public university, and a goal of this community should be to encourage graduates of UW-Whitewater to remain in the city as residents after their graduation. Statewide, the Universities of Wisconsin have had success with graduates remaining in the Badger state. A local goal should be to encourage the graduates of our campus to take up long-term residency in Whitewater.

Of the state figures, Abbey Machtig reports Universities of Wisconsin graduates stay in state, according to ‘Facts and Trends’:
 

Almost 90% of Wisconsin residents with a bachelor’s degree from the Universities of Wisconsin were still living in the state five years after graduation.

That compares to 10% of graduates who were originally from Minnesota and 16% of graduates from other parts of the country or world, according to data from 2021. These findings, and more, were shared in a report the system released Wednesday. The report, “Facts and Trends,” includes information on state funding trends, enrollment and participation rates, affordability and tuition.

That Wisconsin residents stay in Wisconsin does not surprise me: this is a congenial place to live.

The goal for Whitewater, however, should be to encourage UW-Whitewater students, from whatever communities before attending our campus, to become long-term residents of our community after graduation.

See Universities of Wisconsin, Facts & Trends 2024.

What do Team USA Olympians listen to before they compete?:

City, Daily Bread, University, UW System, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 8.1.24: Direct Admission for UW-Whitewater and Many Other Public Universities in Wisconsin

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with scattered afternoon thunderstorms and a high of 84. Sunrise is 5:47, and sunset is 8:14, for 14h 26m 32s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 9.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1774,  British scientist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen gas, corroborating the prior discovery of this element by German-Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.

After years of discussion, many Wisconsin public universities will begin to offer direct admissions. Henry Redman reports Thousands of Wisconsin high school students to be directly admitted to UW schools for 2025:

Starting next week, tens of thousands of high school students across Wisconsin will be directly admitted to Universities of Wisconsin schools without filing applications. 

The admissions are part of a new program, launched in December, to boost admission on the state’s public university campuses. 

Next week through September, students will start receiving emails letting them know they’ve been admitted. School districts across the state participating in the Direct Admit Wisconsin program shared student grade point averages and course credits with University of Wisconsin administrators for rising seniors. The program identifies if a student qualifies to be directly admitted to any of the 10 participating campuses. 

UW-Madison, UW-La Crosse and UW-Eau Claire are not participating. 

Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman said this week 50,000 students across 330 high schools are eligible under the program. 

This is a sensible policy as it reduces one unnecessary step to entry.

Previously at FREE WHITEWATER: Direct Admission into the UW System Is a Sensible Idea (8.21.22) and supporting A Direct-Admissions Proposal for the UW Schools (12.8.23).

August 2024 Skywatching Tips from NASA:

What are some skywatching highlights in August 2024? Mars and Jupiter have a super close meetup, the conditions look good for the Perseid meteors, and how to observe a stellar nursery – the Lagoon Nebula.