Good morning. Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 87. Sunrise is 5:16 AM and sunset 8:37 PM for 15h 20m 15s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 34.7% of its visible disk illuminated. Whitewater’s Tech Park Board meets at 8 AM, and the Park Board meets at 5:30 PM.…
Police
City, Daily Bread, Local Government, Newspapers, Open Government, Police, University
Daily Bread for 6.14.22: When (Local) Government Treats Abnormal as Normal
by JOHN ADAMS • • 11 Comments
Good morning. Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 97. Sunrise is 5:15 AM and sunset 8:34 PM for 15h 19m 13s of daytime. The moon is full with 100% of its visible disk illuminated. Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 6 PM. On this day in 1775, the Continental Army is established by…
City, Daily Bread, Newspapers, Open Government, Police
Daily Bread for 6.13.22: Wisconsin Examiner Reports ‘Complaints mount over conduct of Whitewater PD’
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Good morning. Monday in Whitewater will see afternoon thundershowers with a high of 87. Sunrise is 5:15 AM and sunset 8:34 PM for 15h 18m 47s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.5% of its visible disk illuminated. Whitewater’s Planning Commission meets at 6 PM. On this day in 1777, Gilbert du Motier,…
City, Culture, Daily Bread, Education, Fire Dept, Freedom of Speech, Local Government, Open Government, Police, School District
Daily Bread for 6.7.22: Big Changes Require Big Explanations
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Good morning. Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 74. Sunrise is 5:16 AM and sunset 8:31 PM for 15h 14m 50s of daytime. The moon is in its first quarter with 49.4%% of its visible disk illuminated. The Whitewater Unified District School Board meets in closed session at 6 PM and…
Coronavirus, Daily Bread, Police, Public Health, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 1.31.22: COVID-19 the leading cause of death in the line of duty for Wisconsin police officers and firefighters
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Good morning. Monday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 31. Sunrise is 7:09 AM and sunset 5:07 PM for 9h 58m 21s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 0.7% of its visible disk illuminated. Whitewater’s Library Board meets at 6:30 PM. On this day in 1846, after the Milwaukee…
City, Daily Bread, Police
Daily Bread for 12.4.21: Whitewater’s Police Chief Placed on Administrative Leave
by JOHN ADAMS •
Daily Bread, Government Spending, Police, Politics
Daily Bread for 8.22.21: ‘Defund the Police’ Was a Molehill
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Daily Bread, Ethics, Free Markets, Law, Medicine, Misconduct, Police
Daily Bread for 8.21.21: Hundreds of Wisconsin Police Officers Back on the Job after Being Fired or Forced Out
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning. Saturday in Whitewater will be variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms and a high of 81. Sunrise is 6:08 AM and sunset 7:46 PM, for 13h 37m 26s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.9% of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1911, the Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincenzo…
City, Housing, Local Government, Police, Press
Broken Policymaking Over a Voucher Program
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Whitewater has a local government that taxes and legislates, and that hires officials who exercise authority over the city’s residents, in a nine-square-mile area. Our local government has its own municipal building, in which it holds regular public meetings, and in which officials can talk to each other and residents in person, by email, text,…
Charity and Mercy, City, Culture, Local Government, Newspapers, Police, Politics, Poverty
‘Communicate, Communicate, Communicate’ Isn’t So Easy in a Fractured Town
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Some years ago, an administrator (no longer with the school district) told others that a good practice for leaders was to ‘communicate, communicate, communicate’ with the community. The concept makes sense: craft a message and then make sure it’s heard by repeating it. In a small town, how hard could that be? As it turns…
Kenosha, Never Trump, Police, Protests, Race, Trump, Trumpism, Unfit
The Advantage for His Opponents in Trump’s Visit to Kenosha
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Despite the requests of Wisconsin’s governor and Kenosha’s mayor, Trump is set on visiting Kenosha tomorrow. There’s no power to stop him from attending, however recklessly disruptive the visit may prove to be. There is, however, an advantage for Trump’s opponents in his visiting Kenosha on September 1st. With two months to go until November…
Babbittry, Boosterism, CDA, City, Culture, Economy, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government, Police, Press Release, School District
Built Against Substantive Change
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Over time, no matter how small the city, national conditions and trends make their way to the edge of town. Some towns will address these conditions, but others will be resistant to substantive change. For those towns in the latter category, business as usual and rhetorical feints suffice in response to powerful forces to which…
America, Police, Protests, Race, Trump
Why Now?
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Social historians, looking at the many protests against police violence (protests taking place across America and in other countries) will be able (if imprecisely) to assess the motivations of these recent events. Of two things one can be confident, without being a historian: these protests are in response to specific acts of law-enforcement violence, with…
Babbittry, City, Corruption, Federal Government, Law, Local Government, Official Misconduct, Open Government, Police, Politics, State Government
Cameras, Not Committees
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Recent protests across America against excessive and biased use of police force began after ordinary people in those communities recorded official (to the point of murderous) actions, and then shared their recordings with others. It was not government – local, state, or federal – that promptly shared these recordings of excessive force; it was ordinary…