FREE WHITEWATER

Press Release

Daily Bread, Politics, Press Release, School District, U.S. Senate, US Senate Race 2022

Daily Bread for 4.15.22: A Local Visit & Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate Race

by  •  •  Comments

Good morning. Good Friday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 45.  Sunrise is 6:11 AM and sunset 7:37 PM for 13h 26m 19s of daytime.  The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.1% of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1947, Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball’s…

Conflicts of Interest, Elections, Local Government, Newspapers, Politics, Press, Press Release, School District

Campaign Conflicts of Interest at a Self-Described Local News Source

by  •  • 5 Comments

The Whitewater Unified School District’s board will see a contested February primary and a contested April general election. Regrettably, Whitewater has no professional newspaper, print or electronic, to cover that race. A post from today at the Whitewater Banner, entitled “Whitewater Unified School District Returns to In-Person Learning; Tom Ganser Photos Show the Excitement at…

Business, CDA, Charity, Development, Economics, Economy, Failure, Free Markets, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Poverty, Press Release

Markets and Markets

by  •  • 4 Comments

One reads that Whitewater now has an option, for most of the city, of grocery delivery from nearby cities. As it is, Whitewater has a Walmart, but no stand-alone, full-service grocery. Private delivery service is a benefit to the community. It’s better to have more grocery options than fewer. These are private enterprises providing private delivery…

Babbittry, Boosterism, CDA, City, Culture, Economy, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government, Police, Press Release, School District

Built Against Substantive Change

by  •  • 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…

Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economics, Economy, Foxconn, Government Spending, Local Government, Press Release, WEDC

A Reminder About Opportunity Zones: Bad Policy Flacked Locally

by  •  •  Comments

Those following what passes for economic policy in Whitewater know that this website has been rightly critical of the economic opportunity zones that were part of Trump’s tax bill. See About that Trump Tax Bill, More About that Trump Tax Bill, and The Trump Tax Bill: That’s Not Reform. Jenny Schuetz, commenting on part of Trump’s…

Education, Open Government, Press Release, School District

Whitewater Schools: Paltry “Community Input”

by  •  • 4 Comments

Update, 2.10.20 – Since this post, the location has now been changed to Whitewater High School’s more spacious and inviting library. There’s a story in a local newspaper about a public forum for community input on the search for a permanent Whitewater school district administrator. Here’s the beginning of the newspaper’s account of the district’s efforts:…

Assault Awareness & Prevention, Crime, Disinformation, Fact Checking, Marketing, Mendacity, Misconduct, Police, Press Release, University

UW-Whitewater’s Administration Covers Crap with Catsup

by  •  • 10 Comments

For months, UW-Whitewater has publicized on its website a sham study from a burglar-alarm company as confirmation that Whitewater has the safest campus in Wisconsin. The study is a shabby fraud, with a methodology so far below proper academic standards that it taints the serious work of faculty and students at the school, in the UW…

Animals, Cats, Faraway Places, Nature, Press Release

Friday Catblogging: First lynx born in the Catalan Pyrenees for more than a century

by  •  •  Comments

A press release from the MónNatura Pirineus Wildlife Recovery Center release tells the tale: Today [8.9.19], the first lynx born in the Catalan Pyrenees for more than a century has been presented at MónNatura Pirineus. The animal, which is in perfect health, was born on May 28 at the MónNatura Pirineus Wildlife Recovery Center and…

America, Blogging, History, Newspapers, Press, Press Release, Public Relations

Sullivan on Public Officials as Reporters

by  •  •  Comments

Editors of small-town newspapers sometimes lack the judgment (and self-respect) to remain independent of government.  During these lapses of decision-making, one finds that elected or appointed officials become, themselves, reporters on their own stories.  (For a case like this in Whitewater involving a school board member, see Public Officials Should Not Be Reporters.) Margaret Sullivan, of the…

Bad Ideas, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Government Spending, Local Government, Newspapers, Press, Press Release, State Capitalism, That Which Paved the Way

The Middle Lane is a Dirt Road to Decay, Pt. 2

by  •  •  Comments

Last month, this site linked to media critic Margaret Sullivan’s observation that The media feel safest in the middle lane. Just ask Jeff Flake, John Kasich and Howard Schultz: Who is the media’s middle-lane approach actually good for? Not the public, certainly, since readers and viewers would benefit from strong viewpoints across the full spectrum…

CDA, Press Release

On the Whitewater CDA’s Press Release (A Picture Reply Is Worth a Thousand Words)

by  •  •  Comments

Not long ago, on March 27th, the executive director of Whitewater’s Community Development Authority, Dave Carlson, issued a press release lauding the efforts of Donald J. Trump, Scott Walker, Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin, and James Sensenbrenner on a part of the Trump tax bill. A follow-up release was published in the Banner about two weeks later. The…