Monday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 58. Sunrise is 6:51, and sunset is 4:28, for 9 hours, 37 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 89.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Police and Fire Commission meets at 6 PM, and the Library Board meets at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1928, the Walt Disney Studio releases the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon.
Thursday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 76. Sunrise is 6:02, and sunset is 7:55, for 13h 52m 30s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 78.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.
On this day in 1944, Operation Dragoon begins as Allied forces land in southern France.
In suburban Milwaukee, state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, lost to state Sen. Dan Knodl, R-Germantown, in a race for the recently redrawn 24th Assembly District.
And in eastern Wisconsin’s new 20th Senate District, former state Rep. Timothy Ramthun of Campbellsport was defeated by state Sen. Dan Feyen of Fond du Lac.
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Brandtjen lost despite being endorsed by former President Donald Trump ahead of the primary. Brandtjen has promoted false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and has echoed calls for the results to be overturned in Trump’s favor.
These two defeats are not enough, but they are something. Some days one settles for something.
Stonehenge, the Neolithic stone circle on Salisbury Plain in southern England, has captivated archaeologists, antiquarians and sightseers for centuries. For decades researchers have tried to find the origins of the stones, with some being sourced to the surrounding landscape and some from the Preseli Hills in Wales. But new geochemical analysis of the Altar Stone, a partially buried slab of sandstone at the center of the stone circle, suggests that this stone originally came from the Orcadian Basin in Scotland, over 700 kilometers away.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 68. Sunrise is 5:19 and sunset 8:25 for 15h 05m 25s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 63 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Lakes Advisory Committee meets at 4 PM.
On this day in 1848, Wisconsin becomes the 30th state to enter the Union with an area of 56,154 square miles, comprising 1/56 of the United States at the time.
A group of right-wing activists enraged by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’ failure to appease their calls for a more aggressive response to claims of election fraud and their demand that he fire the chief state election official, has for the second time filed signatures to force a recall election against Vos.
The group tried to recall Vos earlier this year, submitting more than 10,000 signatures in support of the effort in March. However the effort failed because those 10,000 signatures did not all come from the proper district.
Which district the signatures should come from has caused some confusion among the recall petitioners and officials at the Wisconsin Elections Commission because the map under which Vos was elected have been declared unconstitutional, while the new map won’t go into effect until this fall’s elections. The recall group gathered signatures from the district Vos currently represents and the new district created under the new maps.
The group also gathered signatures from various other parts of the state, which were immediately declared invalid.
On Tuesday, the group announced it had gathered about 9,000 signatures. There must be 6,850 valid signatures submitted to force a recall election in the district.
“We are highly confident we have the sufficient number,” former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman said outside the WEC offices Tuesday afternoon.
Vos is the longest serving Assembly Speaker in state history. He’s served in the Legislature, representing a district outside of Racine, since 2005 and as the Speaker since 2013, presiding over the state Republican party’s decade-long stranglehold on legislative power.
However right-wing activists have turned against Vos in recent years, claiming that he has not sufficiently responded to their allegations that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Vos brought this on himself. He schemed with schemers who were as persistent but twice as nutty, only to have them turn on him. Dante could not have devised a poetic punishment more haunting than Vos’s fate: to be stalked forever by Michael Gableman.
Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 73. Sunrise is 5:29 and sunset 8:13 for 14h 43m 31s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 59.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.
On this day in 1842, the first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail from Elm Grove, Missouri, with 100 pioneers.
Conservative activists trying for a second time this year to remove Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos from office have launched a $50,000 ad campaign encouraging residents of Vos’ district to sign on to the effort.
Meanwhile, a group aligned with the speaker is running radio ads calling recall organizers “radicals” and encouraging residents to reject the effort.
The Racine Recall Committee’s latest radio ad accuses Vos of protecting Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe from impeachment and includes audio of him saying he would work to keep former President Donald Trump from becoming the Republican nominee.
“Vos is bad for elections, bad for Wisconsin and bad for America,” the ad said. “If you live in his district in Racine County, sign the new recall petition.”
Here’s that radio ad against Vos:
Vos brought this on Wisconsin and himself by advancing conspiracists like Michael Gableman.
Somewhere, possibly in Whitewater, there’s someone (albeit someone impossibly dense) who thinks Robin Vos is a shrewd man whose name is worth dropping now and again.
No, and no again.
How unfortunate that Mad magazine is no longer publishing; Vos would have been a contender for that publication’s cover.
Monday in Whitewater will see afternoon showers with a high of 74. Sunrise is 5:32 and sunset 8:09 for 14h 37m 24s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 31.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 4:30 PM, and the Planning Commission meets at 6 PM.
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.
A rural Wisconsin community’s decision to eliminate electronic voting machines has attracted the attention of federal investigators who are questioning how voters with disabilities cast ballots in the town of fewer than 1,000 people.
The vote by a small board overseeing the Town of Thornapple in Rusk County, population 711, to rely solely on hand counting paper ballots took place last year and caught the eye of state and federal officials after the April presidential primary election when advocates for voters with disabilities rang alarm bells.
The decision was made in June 2023, according to town supervisor Tom Zelm ? around the time of a discussion in the local newspaper over whether to abandon electronic voting machines and amid visits to the area by one of the nation’s most prominent purveyors of election conspiracy theories. Town officials would not tell the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel exactly what prompted the vote, which could violate federal laws mandating accessible voting options, and have so far not responded to requests under the state’s public records law for minutes of the town board meeting during which the vote was taken.
But Thornapple voter and Rusk County Democratic Party chairwoman Erin Webster says she discovered the roots of the decision are in former President Donald Trump’s falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election.
In a recording made by Webster of an April 2 telephone conversation with town supervisor Jack Zupan that was posted to YouTube, Zupan tells Webster that the board voted to remove the machines because “we believe that there was a stolen election and the computers have to go because they’re full of error.”
Here’s Webster’s recording of Thornapple Supervisor Jack Zupan talking about eliminating electronic voting machines:
Erin Webster writes of her recording: “I called my Supervisor Jack Zupan after I voted and there was no voting machine at my polling location. The County clerk told me it was legally required per Federal ADA guidelines. I wanted to know why the town would not have the electronic machines, so I called him. I realized immediately I should record what he was saying.”
Here’s Zupan’s unfounded, conspiracy-based position about the 2020 election:
0:02: well we made that decision and we’re going to stand with it so why was that 0:08 we believe that that that there was a stolen election and and the computers have to go
Zupan’s full remarks are an example of motivated reasoning.
Thornapple, Wisconsin has work to do. But then, on fardifferent matters closer to home, so do we in Whitewater, Wisconsin.
Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 67. Sunrise is 5:41 and sunset 8:01 for 14h 19m 30s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 9.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The director of Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign in Wisconsin, who pushed allegations of widespread fraud that were ultimately debunked, has been hired to run the Republican Party of Wisconsin heading into the November election.
Andrew Iverson will serve as executive director of the Wisconsin GOP as it prepares to host the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July, the state party announced Friday. He takes over for Mark Jefferson, who left in February to serve as executive director of the Tavern League of Wisconsin.
Iverson, a graduate of Wisconsin Lutheran College, most recently worked as regional political director for the Republican National Committee. He previously worked on campaigns in Wisconsin for U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil. In 2020, Iverson was the state director for Trump Victory, a joint operation of the Trump campaign and the RNC.
“Here’s the drill: Comms is going to continue to fan the flame and get the word out about Democrats trying to steal this election. We’ll do whatever they need (inaudible) help with. Just be on standby in case there’s any stunts we need to pull,” Iverson said in the recording of a meeting two days after the November election that was obtained by The Associated Press.
Good Friday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 54. Sunrise is 6:39 and sunset 7:18 for 12h 39m 25s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 84.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1973, the last United States combat soldiers leave South Vietnam.
A second recall attempt has been launched against Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, the effort driven by the same organizers who appear to have fallen short of signatures in their first attempt to remove the powerful Republican from office.
Burlington resident Matthew Snorek filed paperwork with the Wisconsin Elections Commission Wednesday. It states Vos “should be recalled for his tacit support of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a “lack of election integrity” and “flagrant disrespect for his own constituents by calling them ‘whack-jobs, morons and idiots.’”
The insults from Vos were directed at Snorek and others behind their first recall attempt, which started in January.
According to the WEC, signed petitions for the new recall effort would be due no later than May 28.
Thursday in Whitewater will see scattered afternoon showers with a high of 52. Sunrise is 6:41 and sunset 7:17 for 12h 36m 31s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 90.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
One could say better late than never, but Speaker Robin Vos’s better-late-than-never recognition of Michael Gableman’s misconduct comes only after years of conspiracy-mongering. Anya van Wagtendonk report Vos: Gableman, leader of failed 2020 election probe, should be ‘disbarred’ (‘Assembly Speaker Robin Vos hired former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, and fired him 14 months later’):
Michael Gableman — the former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who led a pricey probe into the 2020 presidential election that turned up no evidence of wrongdoing — should be “disbarred,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said in an interview that aired over the weekend.
Vos, who initiated that investigation, told WISN-TV’s “UpFront” program that hiring Gableman “is probably the single biggest embarrassment that I have ever had.”
“I hope eventually he gets disbarred,” Vos, R-Rochester, said. “He should not be an attorney. Anybody who thinks about hiring him, call me, because I will tell you what an awful decision that I made to hire him.”
Well, yes. Gableman should be disbarred. Vos did make an awful decision.
Good morning. Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 54. Sunrise is 6:35 and sunset 5:39 for 11h 03m 33s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1986, the People Power Revolution forces the president of the Philippines Ferdinand…
Monday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 43. Sunrise is 6:55 and sunset 5:22 for 10h 27m 34sof daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 10.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Equal Opportunities Commission meets at 5 PM, the Alcohol Licensing Committee also meets at 5 PM, and the Planning Board meets at 6 PM.
Grothman, in fact, delivers more floor speeches than nearly any other House member. Last Congress, he ranked first for number of “special order” speeches delivered and in the top 10 for one-minute speeches — remarks typically given at the end of the day on a topic of a lawmaker’s choosing. He’s continued that trend so far this Congress.
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So just what does Grothman find important?
His speeches are wide-ranging and have covered everything from touting the benefits of Vitamin D to fight the effects of the COVID-19 virus to pushing back against diversity and inclusion programs and what he’s called “an obsession with race in our military.”
During one general speech last July, Grothman began by saying he had “a few issues” that ought to be “brought to the attention of the news media to help them with articles that would educate the American public a little bit on issues of importance.”
He then delivered 29 minutes of remarks in which he pondered the possibility of reaching a settlement in the war between Ukraine and Russia, speculated without evidence that there are more transgender people now than 30 years ago because “it is presented favorably as a lifestyle for a lot of young people,” lamented the “break down” of the nuclear family and railed against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at universities.
So, idle hands are the devil’s workshop after all…
Good morning. Sunday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 48. Sunrise is 6:22 AM and sunset 5:49 PM for 11h 27m 16s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 96.53% of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1981, the ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, is launched by Sinclair…
Good morning. Thursday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 30. Sunrise is 6:50 AM and sunset 4:29 PM for 9h 39m 08s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 41% of its visible disk illuminated. Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM. On this day in 1820, Captain Nathaniel Palmer…
Good morning. Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 53. Sunrise is 7:08 AM and sunset 6:13 PM for 11h 05m 05s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 77.4% of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt is shot in Milwaukee: Roosevelt was in Wisconsin…
Good morning. Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 80. Sunrise is 6:05 AM and sunset 7:51 PM for 13h 46m 02s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 56.6% of its visible disk illuminated. Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM. On this day in 1868, French astronomer Pierre Janssen…
