Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 66. Sunrise is 7:09 and sunset 6:59 for 11h 49m 45s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Police and Fire Commission meets at 6 PM and the Public Works Committee also meets at 6 PM.
On this day in 2009, financier Bernie Madoff pleads guilty to one of the largest frauds in Wall Street’s history.
Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) rejected the state Department of Public Instruction’s early literacy curriculum recommendation and, instead, chose to approve a smaller list of instructional guidelines recommended by the Early Literacy Curriculum Council.
The curriculum recommendations are part of the state’s work to improve the way reading is taught by shifting early literacy education to a “science of reading” approach, which emphasizes phonics and learning to sound out letters and phrases, and away from a “balanced literacy” approach, which focuses on pictures, word cues and memorization.
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For the 2024-25 school year, the council’s final list included: Core Knowledge Language Arts K-3, Our EL Education Language Arts, Wit and Wisdom with Pk-3 Reading Curriculum and Bookworms Reading and Writing K-3.
DPI, however, had submitted a longer list of 11 recommended early literacy curricula to the Joint Finance Committee last month for consideration. The agency’s list threw out the “Bookworms” curriculum, saying it did not include instruction in some of the components included in the Act 20 definition of science-based early reading instruction, and included the other three council recommendations along with eight other options.
The committee approved the council’s final curriculum list in a 10-4 vote on Monday.
Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 62. Sunrise is 7:11 and sunset 6:57 for 11h 46m 50s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 1.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
MADISON, Wis. — Backers of an effort to oust Wisconsin Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos from office over his opposition to former President Donald Trump announced Sunday that they’ve collected enough signatures to force a recall vote.
Supporters of the recall campaign plan to present signatures Monday to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, saying they have more than the required 6,850 signatures from voters in Vos’ southeast Wisconsin district.
“With more than 10,000 signatures on our recall petition, they’ve said it loud and clear: they’re tired of the status quo and demand new representation,” Matt Snorek, who started the campaign in January, said in a statement.
Vos has dismissed the recall attempt as a waste of time and resources, which he reiterated in a statement Sunday. He questioned the group’s tactics and the validity of the signatures, promising that a team he had assembled would “evaluate each individual signature.”
Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 45. Sunrise is 7:12 and sunset 6:56 for 11h 43m 55s of daytime. The moon is new with 0.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 241 BC, at the Battle of the Aegates, the Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end.
Wisconsin’s employment and jobs picture got off to a strong start in January, setting records in the number of jobs, the number of private sector jobs, the number of construction jobs as well as overall employment, the state labor department reported Thursday.
“We’ve been setting new employment records most of all last year and continued into this year,” said Dennis Winters, chief economist at the Department of Workforce Development (DWD), in a briefing Thursday on the January numbers. Looking ahead, there’s “nothing, that seems to us, that’s going to turn things down much.”
Data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projected that nearly 3.05 million Wisconsin residents were employed in January. The figure is derived from a federal government household survey.
From a separate survey that asks employers how many jobs they have on their payroll, the BLS projected there were nearly 3.03 million jobs in Wisconsin, including more than 2.6 million private sector jobs and 140,000 construction jobs.
All four data points marked new records for the state, Winters said.
Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 40. Sunrise is 6:14 and sunset 5:55 for 11h 41m 07s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1841, the U.S. Supreme Court rules in the United States v. The Amistad case that captive Africans who had seized control of the ship carrying them had been taken into slavery illegally.
PBS Wisconsin’s Here & Now aired last night a segment on Wisconsin’s new law on reading instruction. That segment is embedded below:
See alsoThe Wisconsin DPI List of Science-Based Reading Curriculums: ‘Wisconsin, and other states, have moved to a public science of reading curriculum as a matter of law. In this way, the course (for now) on the general approach toward literacy in early grades has been set, even if the debate has not been settled between different academic perspectives (the science of reading or balanced literacy). Adopting a science of reading approach is state policy rather than a local decision.’
Friday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 45. Sunrise is 6:16 and sunset 5:54 for 11h 38m 12s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 5.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1775, an anonymous writer, thought by some to be Thomas Paine, publishes “African Slavery in America,” an article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery
No principled person, having observed over these recent months the conduct of the Whitewater School Board and its superintendent, could remain unconcerned.
Since 2007, when FREE WHITEWATER first began publishing, no official in this city has advanced action through counsel against a resident, whether a private party or government official, to restrain free speech & debate1. For this superintendent to have done so was a grave mistake. Since 2007, when FREE WHITEWATER first began publishing, no official in this city has sought refuge in closed sessions, so obviously to conceal error, as this board president and some other boardmembers have done.
Since 2007, no official in this city has suggested, as this school board president has done, that a board member might be liable to censure for lawful speech. Principled men and women in Whitewater should not tolerate — must not tolerate — efforts to stifle speech through threats of censure.
The particular compensation awarded to an employee is less important than the method of the award by whom awarded and to whom awarded (especially if through a procurement policy). Everyone who works in the Whitewater Unified School District works as an employee of a public institution paid at public expense. No employee of the Whitewater Unified School District has a private contract with a private employer. They have public contracts with a public employer.
Those in this district who wish to work as private employees should — and must — seek private employment. There can be no private exceptions for anyone working for the public Whitewater Unified School District.
This superintendent must abandon any legal action against the free speech rights of either boardmembers or residents. Failure to abandon action against speech rights should be disqualifying from public employment in the Whitewater Unified School District. It is impossible for a principled person committed to free expression to hold otherwise.
This board president and any other board members must abandon the threat of censure against another board member over this matter. Failure to abandon the threat of censure should be disqualifying from membership on the Whitewater Unified School District Board.
The Whitewater Unified School District Board meets in regular session on Monday, March 18th. That regular session must offer an open dialogue between this superintendent and the residents of the community, other than a mere public comment period, to answer residents’ questions fully to the reasonable satisfaction of those residents. That regular session must offer an open dialogue between this school board and the residents of the community, other than a mere public comment period, to answer residents’ questions fully to the reasonable satisfaction of those residents.
The decision of this board president, other board members, and this superintendent to engage in dialogue is the right path forward to reconciliation. It is fair for all parties. Failure to take this opportunity should be disqualifying from employment or board membership in this district.
There is time, but only a little time, left for this board, this board president, these board members, and this superintendent to speak candidly to Whitewater. Principled men and women in Whitewater should not tolerate — must not tolerate — concealment through closed sessions, cease-and-desist actions, and threats of censure.
Americans, including those of us in Whitewater, are inclined to kindness. Many of us these last few months have been restrained, and through this restraint, shown respect and kindness. Franklin Roosevelt was right, when speaking of our people, that no one should mistake our kindness for weakness.
True in his time, and true in ours.
1. Someone once did worse, but then his career in this city later came to a deservedly ignominious end.
Thursday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 52. Sunrise is 6:17 and sunset 5:53 for 11h 35m 17s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 11.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1799, Napoleon captures Jaffa in Palestine and his troops proceed to kill more than 2,000 Albanian captives.
Wisconsin’s Early Literacy Curriculum Council and the Department of Public Instruction have released their highly anticipated lists of recommended reading curriculums, as required by the state’s aggressive new literacy law Act 20.
Act 20, signed into law last summer, requires curriculum to be backed by the “science of reading”: a decades-old body of research that explains how the brain learns to read. It includes an emphasis on phonics, which teaches students the sounds letters make and how those sounds combine in predictable patterns to form words.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 52. Sunrise is 6:19 and sunset 5:51 for 11h 32m 22s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 20 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1820, the Missouri Compromise is signed into law by President James Monroe. The compromise allows Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, brings Maine into the Union as a free state, and makes the rest of the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory slavery-free.
Gov. Tony Evers signed legislation increasing Wisconsin’s child and dependent care tax credit Monday and at the same time renewed his call for broader state support for child care providers.
“We need a long-term solution to our state’s looming child care crisis—including direct support for providers through Child Care Counts—and I will work with anyone from either side of the aisle who’s ready to work together to get this done,” Evers said.
The governor signed the legislation — AB-1023 — in a ceremony at a Waukesha child care center, La Casa de Esperanza.
The bill raises the state income tax credit for a family’s child and dependent care expenses to 100% of the federal tax credit from the current 50%. It also raises the maximum amount of expenses that can be counted to calculate the credit.
The child care tax credit is the only measure of four Republican-authored tax cut bills introduced in January that won broad support from Democratic lawmakers and the only one the Democratic governor signed. On Friday Evers vetoed the other three bills — changing the state’s second-lowest tax bracket, exempting the first $75,000 to $150,000 of retirement income, and nearly doubling the maximum tax credit for married couples.
More tax reductions are in order, but if one had to pick one of these bills only (although it wasn’t a choice of only one!), the child care credit hike was the best choice.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 52. Sunrise is 6:21 and sunset 5:50 for 11h 29m 27s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 29.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
There will be a session of the Whitewater Common Council tonight at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1953, Joseph Stalin, mass murderer and longest-serving leader of the Soviet Union, dies at his Volynskoe dacha in Moscow after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage four days earlier.
A note and an agenda for today.
The note: I’ll hold a bit on a series about the school district, awaiting new developments. It’s not true — as a clever but mistaken resident once said — that this libertarian blogger comments hastily. Not at all. Some posts or series wait for the right time, and that time may come weeks or months after an event.
For the schools, more time will lead to a dispositive assessment.
Monday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny during the day, and rainy this evening, with a high of 64. Sunrise is 6:22 and sunset 5:49 for 11h 26m 33s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 39.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
There will be Election Inspector Training today in Whitewater at 2:30 PM and 4:30 PM. Whitewater’s Lakes Advisory Committee meets at 5 PM, and the Equal Opportunities Commission also meets at 5 PM.
On this day in 1776, the Continental Army fortifies Dorchester Heights with cannon, leading the British troops to abandon the Siege of Boston.
Two quick reminders on local government, special interests, etc.:
Second, a good way to measure the strength of a position (considering its quality of being strong, its merit, and its desirability) is to ask: would one trade that position for another one?
Sunday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 68. Sunrise is 6:24 and sunset 5:48 for 11h 23m 40s of daytime. The moon is in its third quarter with 50.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
“It was hard to break through but it’s good to get out here for a good cold plunge,” a voice narrates, poking at the icy crust that still glazed the lake. Slowly, the camera pans to reveal a shirtless Hovde, nipple-deep in Lake Mendota.
Hovde, a Republican, is running for a U.S. Senate seat in Wisconsin while also running a company that is not based in the Badger State. He reportedly shot the video near a home he owns on Lake Mendota.
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“So the Dems and Sen. Baldwin keep saying I’m not from Wisconsin, which is a complete joke,” Hovde continued, back hair fluttering in the frigid breeze. “Alright Sen. Baldwin, why don’t you get out here in this frozen lake and let’s really see who’s from Wisconsin.”
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin had a one-word response to Hovde’s invitation to go jump in a lake to prove how Wisconsin-y she is. “No.”
Wisconsin Democrats were not so amused by the stunt.
“If California bank owner Eric Hovde thinks sitting in a lake is going to stop us from telling Wisconsinites about his California bank, California megamansion, and California ties, he’s going to be swimming a whole lot for the next eight months,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Rapid Response Director Arik Wolk said in a statement.
Holy Moly, Hovde must be totally nuts a tad insecure to film a stunt like this. He doesn’t need political consultants — he needs counseling.
Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 60. Sunrise is 6:26 and sunset 5:47 for 11h 20m 46s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 61 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1983, compact discs and players are released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had previously been available only in Japan.
Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 47. Sunrise is 6:27 and sunset 5:45 for 11h 17m 53s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 70.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1917, the Zimmermann Telegram is reprinted in newspapers across the United States after the U.S. government releases its unencrypted text.
Most of the run-government-like-a-business rhetoric leaves this libertarian blogger cold. There are fundamental distinctions between public and private that the mantra about making both run the same way ignores. And yet, ironically, a description of how private corporate boards work, from Matt Levine, is a good starting point for a discussion of public municipal boards. Levine explains when The Board of Directors Is in Charge (and when it’s not):
The basic rule is that the board of directors of a company is in charge of the company, and when they are faced with a decision, the directors are supposed to make the choice that they believe is best for the company and all of its shareholders. The shareholders don’t make the decision; the board does.[1]
Now, the directors are elected by the shareholders, and when the company has a controlling shareholder, the idea that the directors are in charge can feel somewhat absurd. The controlling shareholder — say, a founder and chief executive officer who owns 60% of the stock — can come into the boardroom and say “I want you to sell all of the company’s assets to me for $1,” and the directors will say “no, in our independent judgment that’s a bad idea,” and the founder/CEO/shareholder will say “okay you’re fired,” and she will replace them with more pliable directors. And she can do that, because she has the votes.[2] But still: The directors are supposed to exercise their independent judgment and do what is in the company’s best interests, and if they conclude that the founder/CEO’s plan is bad, they have to say no and get fired. They can’t just say “well, ultimately she controls the company, so we have to do what she asks.” Exercising independent judgment is their job.
I cannot promise that every board of directors of every company sees things this way — I think some directors of private startups see their job as “advise and empower the founder/CEO” rather than “exercise independent judgment” — but the courts in Delaware, where most US public companies are incorporated, definitely see things this way.[3]
(Levine is always worthy reading — insightful and artful.)
There’s much in this description that one can apply to public councils and boards.
First, ordinarily, a council or board is, and should be, the primary authority in a public institution.
Second, they are to make decisions in the public interest (as directors are to make decisions in shareholders’ interests).
Third, just as some shareholders gain so much leverage over an institution that they become controlling shareholders, so in disordered communities special interests sometimes gain control over a council or board and misdirect its attention and efforts to their own selfish ends.
Fourth, the distinction between private and public action is fundamental: public institutions belong to all, while private institutions belong to those who have ownership interests. In the case of Whitewater, the answer to the question Who Owns Whitewater? should and must be Everyone and Yet No One.
There should be, and must be, a large space for private activity, but just as all cannot be public in a productive society that necessarily depends on private property, so not all can be private in a society that respects equally the rights of individuals.
While controlling shareholders may dominate and manipulate a private corporation and its directors, however risky that may be, private residents must not dominate public institutions in the same way.
Reasonable people are able to make relevant and material distinctions between private and public.
Applied to Whitewater: recently the Whitewater Common Council and for many years the Community Development Authority were run as though this city had a few controlling shareholders who counted for more than others. These controlling shareholders were no better than others, if not in many ways worse.
There is reason to be concerned that the same special interests (acting as though they are controlling shareholders) are even now plotting a return, first to capture again the CDA and then to capture again the Common Council in the years afterward.
Repeated encroachments will only lead to an escalated campaign against their efforts; a campaign against them will not stop until they stop.
While the city has had a problem with a few residents who have acted as controlling shareholders and catspaw directors, the school district has a different problem: the district has a board that simply will not listen to any shareholders, and is run with, so to speak, a CEO and weak board of directors that allows too much from the CEO and listens too little to the shareholders.
The city has seen too much influence from a few entitled men; the district has seen too little influence from well-meaning ordinary men & women.
This, it seems, is the least responsive school board and administration since FREE WHITEWATER began publishing in 2007. (Honest to goodness, I never thought a board and administration would be less responsive than when Steinhaus was administrator, but never say never. See Dr. Steinhaus’s Glass House and Dr. Steinhaus vs. Student: Student Wins!)
I’ll offer a series next week on how we got here, and how to set the district on a better path.
This Leap Day in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 43. Sunrise is 6:29 and sunset 5:44 for 11h 15m 00s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 78.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1796, the Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain comes into force, facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations.
A former Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) warden who served on the agency’s committee to create a new wolf management plan for the state is under investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for killing a wolf in his yard in December. He has claimed self-defense, but he posted on Facebook in November that he was baiting the animals with doughnuts and rice crispy cereal.
The warden, Patrick Quaintance, also sits on the Wisconsin Conservation Congress where he holds positions on the body’s fur harvest and bear committees. The conservation congress serves as an important pathway between residents in Wisconsin and environmental policy makers. In the past, conservation groups have complained that the body is controlled by pro-hunting interests.
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The investigation into Quaintance was first reported by Wisconsin Public Radio and the Ashland Daily Press. The Examiner has confirmed the investigation with the DNR and U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
A month before killing the wolf, in November, Quaintance posted a photo of a wolf from a trail camera on his property to his Facebook page. In the comments, he is asked what he’s baiting them with.
He first responds with an emoji of a doughnut before adding that he used “rice crispy.” Another commenter responds with “snap crackle POP.”
Because wolves are currently listed by the federal government as endangered in Wisconsin and the upper Midwest, a wolf can only be killed in self-defense. The hunting and trapping of wolves, including the use of bait, are currently illegal in Wisconsin.
Quaintance did not respond to a request for comment.
Quaintance’s career places a special burden on him: a warden, or former warden who respects the legacy of his service, cannot uphold the law by breaking it. As a smaller matter, it should be obvious that wolf-hunting with rice crispies is simply a weakling’s method. No bragging rights here, old boy.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 41. Sunrise is 6:31 and sunset 5:43 for 11h 12m 08s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 85.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1983, the final episode of M*A*S*H airs, with almost 110 million viewers.
Readers in the area may remember the sham Harry Potter Warriors & Wizards festival that Jefferson, Wisconsin once held. That so-called festival was a threadbare event that advertised extravagantly yet produced shabbily.
Well, Scotland has its own version of this problem, as different promoters are working from the same promise-big-deliver-nothing playbook. Benj Edwards reports Cops called after parents get tricked by AI-generated images of Wonka-like event (‘Dull in-person warehouse for kids doesn’t live up to technicolor AI-generated promo images’):
On Saturday, event organizers shut down a Glasgow-based “Willy’s Chocolate Experience” after customers complained that the unofficial Wonka-inspired event, which took place in a sparsely decorated venue, did not match the lush AI-generated images listed on its official website (archive here). According to Sky News, police were called to the event, and “advice was given.”
“What an absolute shambles of an event,” wrote Stuart Sinclar on Facebook after paying 35 pounds per ticket for himself and his kids. “Took 2 minutes to get through to then see a queue of people surrounding the guy running it complaining … The kids received 2 jelly babies and a quarter of a can of Barrs limeade.”
The Willy’s Chocolate Experience website, which promises “a journey filled with wondrous creations and enchanting surprises at every turn,” features five AI-generated images (likely created with OpenAI’s DALL-E 3) that evoke a candy-filled fantasy wonderland inspired by the Willy Wonka universe and the recent Wonka film. But in reality, Sinclair was met with a nearly empty location with a few underwhelming decorations and a tiny bouncy castle. In one photo shared by Sinclair, a rainbow arch leads to a single yellow gummy bear and gum drop sitting on a bare concrete floor.
The promise and the reality differed:
apparently this was sold as a live Willy Wonka Experience but they used all AI images on the website to sell tickets and then people showed up and saw this and it got so bad people called the cops lmao pic.twitter.com/tfkyg0G0WG
