Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with afternoon rain and a high of 77. Sunrise is 5:22 and sunset 8:20 for 14h 57m 58s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1844,  Samuel Morse sends the message “What hath God wrought” (a Biblical quotation, Numbers 23:23) from a committee room in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland, to inaugurate a commercial telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington D.C.

There’s more information at a WPR interview between Lisa Stern, Chief of Railroads and Harbors at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, and WPR host Rob Ferrett:

Rob Ferrett: Take us on a tour. What are the basics of the Borealis route?

Lisa Stern: The Borealis route will complement the existing Empire Builder. It’s going to leave from both Chicago and the Twin Cities — St. Paul, actually — around 11 to 11:30 in the morning, and then arrive at their destinations between 6:30 and 7. So it’s a very convenient time frame. 

It’ll be running through Wisconsin through the middle of the day. It will also provide a much more reliable schedule eastbound. I think a lot of people have been using the Empire Builder. And if you have, you know that sometimes that trip from Seattle back to Chicago has significant delays. But with this route, it will be just between the Twin Cities and Chicago and it will be a much more reliable schedule.

RF: What do you know about demand for this new route? You’ve built it, will the passengers come and ride the rails?

LS: The passengers are already coming. This started on Tuesday, and we have very high levels of train tickets being sold already. For this weekend, we were looking at 70 percent of the train already being sold out (as of) earlier this week. So there is a demand there. 

When we were looking at the service to start with, and evaluating the Empire Builder, 60 percent of the people who got on in Wisconsin got off within this route. So there was already a demand. 

Given the choice between driving to Minnesota and riding a train, I’d take a train most of the time. These stations on the route are not close to Whitewater, but driving to one would still offer advantages over a longer drive to the Twin Cities.

Howler monkeys are dropping dead from trees in Mexico’s intense heat:

It’s so hot in Mexico that howler monkeys are dropping dead from trees. At least 83 of the midsized primates, who are known for their roaring vocal calls, were found dead in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco. Others were rescued by residents, including five that were rushed to a local veterinarian who fought to save them. (AP/Luis Sánchez) Read more here: http://apne.ws/bAQVkXg