Good morning. Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 69. Sunrise is 5:39 and sunset is 8:03, for 14 hours, 24 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 85.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1945, the German Instrument of Surrender signed at Berlin-Karlshorst comes into effect. Midwest migration…
Daily Bread
Business, Daily Bread, Economy, Tariffs
Daily Bread for 5.7.25: Small Businesses Face Tariff Shock
by JOHN ADAMS •
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…
Business, Daily Bread, Tariffs
Daily Bread for 5.6.25: Tariffs and Supplies
by JOHN ADAMS •
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…
Business, Daily Bread, Tariffs, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 5.5.25: Solar Takes a Tariff Hit
by JOHN ADAMS •
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…
Business, Daily Bread, Demographics, Tariffs, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 5.4.25: Economics of Wisconsin’s Demographics
by JOHN ADAMS •
Daily Bread, Plants
Daily Bread for 5.3.25: Growing the World’s Largest Flower
by JOHN ADAMS •
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…
Daily Bread, Gubernatorial Race 2026, Politics, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 5.2.25: One Candidate Enters Gubernatorial Race Still Far Away
by JOHN ADAMS •
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…
City, Daily Bread, Local Government, Open Government, Police, School District
Daily Bread for 5.1.25: More on a Whitewater School Resource Officer
by JOHN ADAMS •
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…
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
by JOHN ADAMS •
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…
Daily Bread, Elections, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 4.29.25: Fusion Voting
by JOHN ADAMS •
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.
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.
Agriculture, Daily Bread, Economy, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 4.28.25: Needless Uncertainty During Wisconsin Agriculture’s Planting Season
by JOHN ADAMS •
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).
Art, Daily Bread, Language
Daily Bread for 4.27.25: Why Do We Call the Mona Lisa the Mona Lisa?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 67. Sunrise is 5:54 and sunset is 7:51, for 13 hours, 57 minutes of daytime. The moon is new with 0.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1945, Benito Mussolini is arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting escape disguised as a German soldier.
Sophia Smith Galer on why we call the Mona Lisa the Mona Lisa:
The Most Unusual Churches in the World:
America, Babbittry, Boosterism, City, Daily Bread, Economics, Economy, Special Interests, That Which Paved the Way, Trumpism, Willful Ignorance, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 4.26.25: Consumer Sentiment Falls, and Web Searches for Economic Calamity Rise
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 59. Sunrise is 5:55 and sunset is 7:50, for 13 hours, 54 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 2.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1954, the first clinical trials of Jonas Salk‘s polio vaccine begin in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Two charts tell the tale of Americans’ economic concerns:
See Alex Harring, Americans are getting flashbacks to 2008 as tariffs stoke recession fears, CNBC, April 26, 2025.
When sentiment declines, it’s understandable that Americans would look for examples of other difficult times.
For modern Whitewater, the Great Recession’s influence is the key to understanding both economics and politics in the city. It is Whitewater’s signal modern event. Those difficult years from 2007-2009 led to an aftermath that still afflicts the city.
The failure of local officials and community leaders during that time was astonishing: the boosters1 wanted to deflect past others’ suffering, the special-interest men diverted valuable resources to their own schemes while Whitewater stayed poor2, the center-left grew but still struggles to land a decisive blow3, and the rightwing populists4 now in the city owe their present role as a faction to forces they can’t or won’t grasp.
_____
- Narrow of mind and small of heart. See the FREE WHITEWATER category on Boosterism. ↩︎
- Avaricious schemers failing time and again to match the accomplishments of the generation before them. See the FREE WHITEWATER category on Special Interests. ↩︎
- It does no good to talk to a hyena in a soft voice hoping that the vile creature will give up meat for vegetables. See Wisconsin Senate Democrats Hope Hyenas Will Stop Eating Meat. ↩︎
- An authoritarian populist movement of recrimination and revenge. See Defining Populism. ↩︎
Hubble views of Mars and more for space telecope’s 35th anniversary:
Authoritarianism, Daily Bread, Education, Trumpism, UW Madison, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 4.25.25: UW-Madison, Beloit College, and Lawrence University Reject Trump’s Demands
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 56. Sunrise is 5:57 and sunset is 7:49, for 13 hours, 52 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 7.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1898, the United States Congress declares that a state of war between the U.S. and Spain had existed since April 21, when an American naval blockade of the Spanish colony of Cuba began:
A bill declaring that war exists between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, First. That war be, and the same is hereby, declared to exist, and has existed since the twenty-first day of April, A.D. 1898, including said day, between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain.
Second. That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of the United States and to call into the actual service of the United States the militia of the several States, to such extent as may be necessary to carry this act into effect.
Approved, April 25, 1898.
The leaders of University of Wisconsin-Madison, Beloit College, and Lawrence University joined hundreds of other university leaders in rejecting Trump’s demand to control higher education in America:
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin, Beloit College President Eric Boynton and Lawrence University President Laurie Carter were among hundreds of college leaders nationally who signed the April 22 letter condemning government overreach.
Trump’s political interference is “endangering American higher education,” the letter said. “We must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses.”
College leaders said they didn’t oppose “legitimate government oversight” but rejected the “coercive” use of public research funding. The signers came from a mix of Ivy League institutions, small private schools, large public research universities and higher education associations. The American Association of Colleges and Universities circulated the letter.
Harvard University President Alan Garber was among the signatories. The nation’s oldest and wealthiest university has been in a standoff with the Trump administration since it said it would not agree to the government’s sweeping demands, including reducing faculty power, government audits of university data and changes to its admissions system. The government responded by freezing more than $2.2 billion of its grants and contracts.
Harvard has dominated headlines in recent weeks, but nearly all higher education institutions have been upended since Trump started his second term.
See Kelly Meyerhofer, UW-Madison chancellor, Beloit College president sign letter opposing Trump’s interference in higher education, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 23, 2025.
The letter defends the right of free speech and injury in America:
America’s system of higher learning is as varied as the goals and dreams of the students it serves. It includes research universities and community colleges; comprehensive universities and liberal arts colleges; public institutions and private ones; freestanding and multi-site campuses. Some institutions are designed for all students, and others are dedicated to serving particular groups. Yet, American institutions of higher learning have in common the essential freedom to determine, on academic grounds, whom to admit and what is taught, how, and by whom. Our colleges and universities share a commitment to serve as centers of open inquiry where, in their pursuit of truth, faculty, students, and staff are free to exchange ideas and opinions across a full range of viewpoints without fear of retribution, censorship, or deportation.
See Signatories, A Call for Constructive Engagement, American Association of Colleges and Universities, April 22, 2025.
Notably, Trump’s claim that his control of higher education is necessary to combat hate speech is a shallow lie. He’s an authoritarian who seeks to limit legitimate speech, at public or private colleges, that’s not to his liking. The American university system is the finest in the world; Trump would ruin it for the sake of his movement’s perpetual control.
These university leaders are right to defend their institutions against his depredations. Harvard and others are right force him to fight for every inch of ground he wishes to control.
Arbor Day: What to know about the holiday celebrating trees: