FREE WHITEWATER

Wisconsin

Courts, Daily Bread, Law, Recall, Speaker Vos, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.26.24: Enough Signatures for a Recall Against Vos

by  •  •  Comments

Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will become partly sunny in the afternoon with a high of 82. Sunrise is 5:18 and sunset 8:37 for 15h 18m 56s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 75.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1974, the Universal Product Code is scanned at a retail store for the first time to sell a package of Wrigley’s chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio.

Perhaps there will be a recall against Speaker Robin Vos after all. Rich Kremer reports WEC staff: Vos recall organizers submitted enough signatures, but legal question remains (“Because Wisconsin Supreme Court declared old legislative districts unconstitutional, whether Vos can be recalled in his old district ‘remains an unresolved legal question’ “)

The recall organizers have enough signatures:

Recall organizer Matthew Snorek said he submitted more than 9,000 signatures to the WEC on May 28. After an initial review, WEC staff determined that organizers turned in 6,866 valid signatures from residents in Vos’ old 63rd Assembly District. 

In order to trigger a recall election organizers needed 6,850 signatures, which equates to 25 percent of the number of people who voted in that district during the last election for governor. According to the WEC staff memo, they cleared that mark by just 16 signatures.

The legal question:

But whether Vos can even be recalled from the 63rd Assembly District “remains an unresolved legal question” according to the WEC staff memo. That’s because the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority declared in December that maps drawn by Republicans in 2022 were unconstitutional, ruling that no future elections could be held using those districts. That includes Vos’ old 63rd Assembly District. 

The WEC asked the court to clarify whether the old maps or new maps passed by Republicans and signed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in February should be used for potential recall elections. Justices declined that request in April, stating the commission, not the court, has the responsibility for administering elections. 

While the Wisconsin Elections Commission may see this as an ‘unresolved legal question,’ the Wisconsin Supreme Court does not. The WEC has a decision to make. They can turn to past Wisconsin Supreme Court orders (Clarke v. WEC, 2023 WI 79; No. 2023AP1399-OA Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission), but it is the WEC that will have to decide.

Speaker Vos has incited opposition from all quarters. In his political maneuvering, Vos is like a man who, over many years, carelessly scattered banana peels on the floor, only to find that he’s now unsure which way safely to turn.

Metro station floods in China’s Changsha city:

Severe flooding caused by heavy rainfall inundated streets and infrastructure in central China’s Hunan province on Monday (June 24), eyewitness footage shared on social media showed. Reuters was able to confirm the location and the date of the footage.

Business, Daily Bread, Development, Foxconn, Technology, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.25.24: Wisconsin Tries to Leave Foxconn (and Its Misguided Boosters) Behind

by  •  • 2 Comments

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny in the afternoon with a high of 89. Sunrise is 5:18 and sunset 8:37 for 15h 19m 21s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 84.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1950, the Korean War begins when North Korea invades South Korea.

Scott Cohn reports Wisconsin wants to be a tech mecca. After Foxconn’s broken promises, the state says this time is for real. The story comes in three principal parts: then, now, and the future.

Then:

In 2017, then-President Trump and Wisconsin’s governor at the time, Scott Walker, announced that Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn had chosen Wisconsin for a huge manufacturing and technology complex, designing and building giant video displays.

The company promised to spend $10 billion and hire 13,000 new employees for a new campus in Mount Pleasant, about 30 miles south of Milwaukee. At a groundbreaking the following year, Trump said the new facility would be “the eighth wonder of the world.”

Wisconsin pledged more than $3 billion in state and local subsidies — by far the biggest such deal in the state’s history — and Walker proclaimed that the region would henceforth be known as “Wisconn Valley.” But it soon became clear that most of that was hype.

Within months, Foxconn began scaling back its plans, citing labor costs. As the company missed hiring target after hiring target, Walker, a Republican, lost his reelection bid in 2018 to Democrat Tony Evers. Evers’ administration renegotiated the Foxconn incentive package, but not before the state and local governments spent hundreds of millions of dollars on infrastructure improvements and land acquisition, displacing more than 100 homes in the process.

Now:

There are some glimmers of hope in Mount Pleasant. In May, Microsoftannounced it was increasing its investment in Mount Pleasant. The company announced last year it would spend $1 billion to build a data center on land that had been set aside for Foxconn. Now, the company said it would more than triple that investment to $3.3 billion, and that the data center would focus on artificial intelligence, adding more than 2,000 permanent jobs.

Racine County Board Chairman Tom Kramer, who came into office after the Foxconn deal was signed but dealt with much of the fallout, said the Microsoft deal proves that all the spending on infrastructure was not such a bad idea after all, even though the site was built for a massive factory but will get a much smaller data center instead.

The uncertain future:

[Mount Pleasant resident Kelly] Gallaher bristles when people suggest that all’s well that ends well in Mount Pleasant.

“We’ve watched our village go through a few years of desperation,” she said. “One of the worst aspects is the cynicism that it has caused among people.”

She said that cynicism extends to both Microsoft and the Tech Hub.

“The idea that we’re going to put our faith in our future in one company, I think should make every community pause,” she said.

Gallaher’s response is what reasonable people can and should expect after past policymakers talked big but delivered small, when they fumbled through project after project, and bemoaned any critique of their development failures.

See also A Sham News Story on Foxconn and FREE WHITEWATER‘s dedicated category on FOXCONN.

How to keep your dog cool in the heat:

Bad Ideas, Daily Bread, Environment, Insects, Nature, Weird Tales, WI DNR, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.24.24: The Latest Strange, Bad Idea is Harvesting Cicadas

by  •  •  Comments

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 83. Sunrise is 5:17 and sunset 8:37 for 15h 19m 42s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 92.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 4:30 PM. The Whitewater School Board goes into closed session shortly after 5:15 PM, and returns to open session at 7 PM.

On this day in 1948, the Berlin Blockade begins as the Soviet Union makes overland travel between West Germany and West Berlin impossible.

It wouldn’t occur to a sensible person to remove large numbers of periodic cicadas from a Wisconsin state park, thereby interrupting their natural lifecycle. The report seems too odd to be accurate, and yet, these are odd times. On Sunday, the Wisconsin DNR issued a press release warning against cicada harvesting:

MADISON, Wis. – Following multiple reports of people harvesting cicadas at Big Foot Beach State Park in Walworth County, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reminds the public that state law prohibits the capture and removal of animals, including insects, from state park properties.

There are exceptions for hunting and fishing activities that are otherwise authorized by law, but these exceptions do not provide for the collection and removal of cicadas.

DNR park staff and wardens have been instructed to make efforts to first educate the public on cicadas in state parks, and wardens may take enforcement action in response to violations.

If you are aware of cicada harvesting happening at any other state park locations in Wisconsin, please report it to the DNR’s Violation Hotline online or by calling or texting 1-800-847-9367.

Please note that no further information is available and we are not accepting interview requests on this topic at this time.

Honest to goodness, anyone so implicated is ignorantly destructive.

Bear snacks inside concession stand and scares worker:

Crime, Daily Bread, Ethics, Law, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.23.24: In Wisconsin, Even a Felony Conviction Wouldn’t Lead to Automatic Suspension or Disbarment for former Dane County Judge Jim Troupis

by  •  •  Comments

Good morning.

Sunday will be partly cloudy with a high of 76. Sunrise is 5:17 and sunset 8:37 for 15h 19m 58s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 97.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1911, native John Schwister becomes a pioneer in Wisconsin aviation by flying the state’s first home-built airplane. The plane, named the “Minnesota-Badger,” was constructed of wooden ribs covered with light cotton material. Powered by an early-model aircraft engine, the “Minnesota-Badger” flew several hundred feet and reached a maximum altitude of 20 feet. [Source: Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame.]

On this day in 1917, in a game against the Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox pitcher Ernie Shore retires 26 batters in a row after replacing Babe Ruth, who had been ejected for punching the umpire.

Sarah Lehr offers a primer revealing laxity of Wisconsin’s attorney regulation in Will former Dane County Judge Jim Troupis lose his law license over false elector plot? (Troupis, along with Kenneth Chesebro and Michael Roman, face felony charges in false elector plot):

Felony conviction doesn’t necessarily lead to loss of Wisconsin law license

But, even if he’s found guilty, a felony conviction would not automatically lead to the loss of Troupis’ law license. 

That’s unlike in other states, such as Texas and Maine, where people with felony convictions cannot practice law.

“Not all crimes are created equal and not all result in discipline,” said Stacie Rosenzweig, an attorney who specializes in legal ethics and licensing.

In Wisconsin, attorneys must report to the state’s Office of Legal Regulation and the Wisconsin Supreme Court if they’re convicted of crime, whether that’s a felony or misdemeanor, Rosenzweig said.

That report triggers an investigation from the office. But Rosenzweig said regulators will only pursue disciplinary action if they determine that the crime reflects negatively on someone’s ability to practice law.

Attorney rules prohibit dishonesty, fraud

“Crimes involving dishonesty, misrepresentation fraud — those are always going to reflect aversely to varying degrees,” Rosenzweig said. “Truthfulness is paramount.”

A section of the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s rules of professional conduct bars attorneys from actions “involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.”

Those rules apply “24/7,” Rosenzweig said.

“Whether you’re practicing law at the time or not, you’re not allowed to lie or commit fraud,” Rosenzweig said. “So anything like that is going to be looked at.”

The better standard would be to apply an automatic suspension for any attorney convicted of a felony, pending a subsequent disciplinary proceeding (to suspend, disbar, reprimand & restore to practice, or simply restore to practice). The public — clients and potential clients — are best protected when disciplinary actions place them as the group of preeminent concern.

That’s not Wisconsin’s approach, but an approach that does not address the public first and practitioners second disrespects both the public and the practitioner.

See also Troupis’s Suspension (Criminal Defendants Don’t Belong on Judicial Advisory Panels) (describing suspension from an advisory panel, not the practice of law).

How French artist Henri Roche developed his #pastels:

City, Daily Bread, Economy, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.21.24: Wisconsin Workers’ Average Pay Increases 5.3% Year Over Year

by  •  •  Comments

Good morning.

Friday will be partly cloudy with a possibility of afternoon showers and a high of 88. Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset 8:37 for 15h 20m 19s of daytime. The moon is full with 99.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1944, Camp Janesville was established when 250 German POWs arrived in Rock County to help pick and can peas, tomatoes, and sweet corn. The camp was a small town of tents that housed guards and the POWs, many of them from the defeated Afrika Corps led by the “Desert Fox”, Field Marshall Rommel. Another 150 prisoners were assigned to a similar camp in Jefferson. The German POWs were primarily in their mid-20s. They were eventually transferred to an undisclosed camp on September 25, 1944.

On this day in 1945, the Battle of Okinawa ends when the organized resistance of Imperial Japanese Army forces collapses in the Mabuni area on the southern tip of the main island.

Wisconsin workers’ average pay — an average — increased significantly over the last year. David Clarey reports Wisconsin workers’ average pay jumps 5.3% from last year:

Wisconsin workers’ pay rose over 5% from a year ago at this time, slightly outpacing the national average, according to a new report.

The June 5 report from payroll company ADP shows that the median annual pay in Wisconsin in May reached $59,000, up 5.3% from a year ago. That slightly beat out the nationwide median pay of $58,300 and 5% increases.

ADP’s report uses salary data from about 10 million employees over a 12-month period to calculate the data, it said in a media release.

….

ADP’s figures are slightly higher than what USA TODAY reported in February. That report showed that the average annual salary in Wisconsin was $58,552.

The United States Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported its official statistics for May 2023 in April 2024. At that time, it said the annual average wage was $59,500 out of 2,885,990 workers in Wisconsin. Nationally, the annual average wage was $65,470.

These reported wage increases are averages, and ADP’s method is a private assessment. Even within Wisconsin, there are sure to be significant variations in employment levels and salary gains. Nonetheless, gains in individual and household incomes are a foundational measure of community prosperity. The measure of an advanced, productive market economy is whether it advances personal and household well-being across all parts of a community. In this regard, the goal should be the broader the gains, the better.

Some of us in Whitewater have done well over the last generation, but some of us is an inadequate achievement. How odd that, despite having lived long in this city, a few of us don’t seem to grasp this fundamental economic goal (and moral principle).

Wildfires rage in California and New Mexico:

Courts, Daily Bread, Law, Legislation, State Government, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.20.24: Wisconsin Supreme Court Considers Gubernatorial Partial Veto

by  •  •  Comments

Good morning.

Thursday, the first day of summer, in Whitewater, will be cloudy with a possibility of afternoon showers and a high of 83. Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset 8:36 for 15h 20m 23s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 97.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1944, the Battle of the Philippine Sea concludes with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.”

Wisconsin governors, since 1930, have had the power to veto legislation in whole or part, and that power has been controversial for nearly as long. Rich Kremer reports High Court To Review Wisconsin’s Nearly-Century-Old Veto Power (‘Business group’s lawsuit challenges Gov. Evers’ partial veto to create 400 years of funding’):

The state’s partial veto dates back to 1930, when concerns about state lawmakers adding multiple appropriation and policy items into what are known as omnibus bills came to a head. The Wisconsin Constitution was amended to give more power to governors to reject those items, one by one.

“Appropriation bills may be approved in whole or in part by the governor, and the part approved shall become law,” the new amendment read.

According to a study by the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, proponents believed governors needed a check on the new budgeting process. But opponents worried giving governors more veto authority extended the already broad powers of the executive branch.

When he was campaigning for governor, Philip La Follette said the proposal to expand veto powers “smack[ed] of dictatorship.” The amendment was approved by around 62 percent of voters in 1930, and after he was elected, La Follette became the first governor to use it.

Nine times, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has heard challenges to the partial veto. The case now pending before the Wisconsin Supreme Court will make it an even 10.

This tenth challenge is over Evers’s use of the partial veto power:

Evers’ partial veto last summer caught the Republican-controlled Legislature by surprise. By crossing out a 20 and a dash before he signed the state’s two-year budget, Evers authorized school districts to collect additional property taxes to fund a $325 per-pupil increase for more than 400 years. The Legislature intended the increase to expire in two years.

Republican lawmakers were outraged. The GOP-controlled Wisconsin Senate voted to override Evers’ veto, but the Assembly never followed suit.

The challenge the Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed to hear Monday, which was brought by the business lobbying group Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, alleges Evers’ veto violates the state’s constitution. The first legal briefs are due by July 16.

Evers’s expansion of the legislative funding until 2425 was unexpected (and I’d argue that expansion goes too far). And yet, and yet, his actions are a clever expression (and send-up) of political gamesmanship. I don’t know Evers’s childhood reading and viewing habits. Still, his partial veto suggests someone who enjoyed the irony and satire of Mad magazine or has a Bugs-Bunny-level cleverness.

(Bugs is, possibly, one of the sharpest Americans ever. In my household, to trick someone playfully, to pull something clever over on someone, is to ‘Bugs Bunny‘ that person. Evers certainly Bugs Bunny-ed the legislative majority with his partial veto.)

Bugs Bunny’s first on-screen appearance in A Wild Hare. Fair Use.

Japanese salamanders can live up to 80 years:

The aptly named Japanese giant salamander can grow up to five feet long and weigh over 50 pounds. But despite its primitive look, this amphibian is highly evolved. When it detects a threat, it excretes a pungent ooze that smells like a pepper. If left alone, the salamanders can live up to 80 years, but pollution and over-collection are threatening this fascinating creature. This is the Japanese giant salamander.

Adventure, Daily Bread, Nature, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.19.24: Thru-Hiking in Wisconsin

by  •  •  Comments

Good morning.

Juneteenth in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a possibility of afternoon showers and a high of 87. Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset 8:36 for 15h 20m 23s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 93.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Lakes Advisory Committee meets at 3:30 PM, the Finance Committee meets at 5 PM, and the Parks & Recreation Board meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1814, Fort Shelby is dedicated in Prairie du Chien:

During the War of 1812, Missouri governor William Clark recognized the location’s strategic importance and sent approximately 150 soldiers to build the fort. The fort did not remain in American hands for long; British troops with the assistance of 400 Indians took the fort on July 20th and renamed it Fort McKay. After the end of the war, the British burned the fort, but the Americans constructed another building at the site in 1816 and named it Fort Crawford.

On this day in 1865, over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Galveston, Texas are officially informed of their freedom. The anniversary was officially celebrated in Texas and other states as Juneteenth. In 2021, Juneteenth officially became a federal holiday in the United States.

While I’m a cyclist and not a hiker, there’s much to admire about dedicated hiking. That commitment is apparent from the hikers in Colleen Leahy’s story Thru-hiking the Ice Age Trail: Why some hikers become ‘thousand-milers’ in Wisconsin (‘Hiking the entire Ice Age Trail has exploded in popularity since the 2010s’):

Wisconsin’s own 1,200-mile Ice Age Trail was recently designated a National Scenic Trail. 

Since the 2010s, thru-hiking the Ice Age Trail has exploded in popularity. From 2012 to 2018, more than 100  people thru-hiked the trail — compared to 76 thru-hikers total in the first four decades of the trail’s existence.

The first-ever thru-hiker has been cited as Earl Shaffer, who hiked the entire Appalachian Trail in 1948, 11 years after trailblazers finished building the trail from Maine to Georgia. 

Thru-hiking started to become more mainstream in the 1990s and really exploded after the 2012 publication of Cheryl Strayed’s memoir, “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail.”

Still, why would someone choose to put themselves through the physical pain, dirtiness and occasional dangers that come with living outside for months at a time? 

Melanie Radzicki McManus, who set a record in 2013 for the fastest-known time thru-hiking the Ice Age Trail, joined WPR’s “Wisconsin Today,” and explained how she felt throughout the hiking process. 

“When you get on a trail, all you have to do day after day is walk, eat, go to sleep,” she said. “It’s amazing how relaxing it is. I don’t think people spend enough time with themselves or their thoughts.”

Thru-hiking likely has similarities to multi-day riding, and if so, then one can see that thru-hiking would be relaxing.

Sound of Space Data: Crab Nebula Sonification:

Courts, Daily Bread, Elections, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.18.24: Wisconsin Likely Has Her 2025 Supreme Court Candidates

by  •  •  Comments

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 89. Sunrise is 5:16 and sunset 8:36 for 15h 20m 20s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 87.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Alcohol Licensing Committee meets at 5:30 and the Whitewater’s Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 2023, Titan, a submersible operated by OceanGate Expeditions, implodes while attempting to view the wreck of the Titanic, killing all five people on board including the co-founder and CEO of the company, Stockton Rush, in the North Atlantic Ocean.

The Badger State likely has her two candidates for a Wisconsin Supreme Court race next year, as Shawn Johnson reports All 4 liberal justices back Crawford’s Wisconsin Supreme Court campaign (‘All 4 liberal justices back Crawford’s Wisconsin Supreme Court campaign’):

Just two days after she announced she was running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Dane County Judge Susan Crawford received endorsements from all four of the court’s liberal justices — a rare sign of unanimity behind a single candidate this early in the campaign cycle.

In a written statement released by Crawford’s campaign Wednesday, Justices Ann Walsh Bradley, Rebecca Dallet, Jill Karofsky and Janet Protasiewicz all pledged to support her candidacy.

The court has had a 4-3 liberal majority since last year after Protasiewicz defeated former conservative Justice Dan Kelly, ending the court’s conservative majority that had been in place since 2008. That will be up for grabs next year with Bradley set to retire.

….

While races for the court are officially nonpartisan, in practice, Democratic and Republican activists are heavily involved. Right now, the 2025 race is shaping up as a contest between Crawford, the choice of liberals, and Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel, the choice of conservatives.

Schimel, a Republican who was Wisconsin’s Attorney General from 2015 to 2019, was the first candidate to enter the race, announcing his candidacy more than six months ago. He said last month that he’d already raised more than $500,000 for his court bid.

A race between Dane County’s Crawford and Waukesha County’s Schimel might seem a match between Wisconsin’s traditional ideological battlegrounds of left and right, but the WOW counties aren’t as influential statewide for the WISGOP as they once were.

Red-Tailed Hawk Chick Makes Foray Towards Fledge Ledge On Exploratory Morning:

City, Daily Bread, University, UW System, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.17.24: Significant Progress on UW-Whitewater’s Budget

by  •  •  Comments

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 91. Sunrise is 5:15 and sunset 8:36 for 15h 20m 12s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 78.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Police & Fire Commission meets at 6 PM.

On this day in 1673, Marquette & Joliet reach the Mississippi: “Here we are, then, on this so renowned river, all of whose peculiar features I have endeavored to note carefully.”

On this day in 1850, Vega becomes the first star (other than the Sun) to be photographed.

Deficits continue for a handful of Universities of Wisconsin campuses. Joe Schulz reports 6 UW campuses projected to have deficits, even after cost-savings efforts (‘Regent: UW-Oshkosh has depleted its reserves ahead of 2024-25 school year’):

The number of Universities of Wisconsin campuses projected to have budget deficits heading into next school year is down from 2023. But one campus has already used all of its reserves as efforts to address budget shortfalls there have negatively impacted staff morale.

Six UW schools are projected to have deficits next school year, down from 10 last year, according to Board of Regents finance committee documents. The structural deficits at those schools range from nearly $9 million to more than $500,000. 

The six campuses are UW-Oshkosh, UW-River Falls, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Superior, UW-Parkside and UW-Whitewater.

….

According to system projections, UW-Oshkosh is facing the largest deficit of any campus going into the 2024-25 school year. 

The other structural deficits are: 

  • UW-River Falls at $3.2 million, up from $2.0 million;
  • UW-Eau Claire at $1.6 million, down from $5.6 million;
  • UW-Superior at $1.5 million, up from $600,000;
  • UW-Parkside at $1.0 million, down from $5.3 million; 
  • And UW-Whitewater at $509,174, down from the $5.9 million.

There’s good news for Whitewater: this is a significant reduction in the structural deficit for our local campus. UW-Whitewater is in a better position now than some other campuses, however uncomfortable deficit-reduction has been.

Colorado rescue team frees dog trapped in house vent:

A twelve-week old Pekingese puppy was rescued in Parker, Colorado, on Tuesday (June 11) after being trapped for three hours in a townhouse vent.

Daily Bread, Nature, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.15.24: Most-Visited Wisconsin State Parks (and the Popular Park Close to Whitewater)

by  •  •  Comments

Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 82. Sunrise is 5:15 and sunset 8:35 for 15h 19m 44s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 62.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

 On this day in 1832, General Winfield Scott was ordered by President Andrew Jackson to take command at the frontier of the Black Hawk War:

Scott was to succeed General Henry Atkinson, who was thought to be unable to end the war quickly. General Scott moved rapidly to recruit troops and obtain equipment for his army. However, while in New York, the troops were exposed to an Asiatic cholera. Just outside of Buffalo, the first cases on the ships were reported and death often followed infection. By the time the ships reached Chicago, the number of soldiers had dropped dramatically from 800 to 150, due to disease and desertion. Rather than going on to the front, Scott remained with his troops in Chicago, giving Atkinson a brief reprieve.

On this day in 1844,   Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber.

Among the most-visited Wisconsin State Parks, Devil’s Lake ranks first. Devil’s Lake is not far away, and it’s exceptional in beauty and diversity of offerings.

The second-place destination, however, may surprise. It’s even closer to Whitewater:

Number 2: Kettle Moraine State Forest-Southern Unit attracts about 1.5 million visitors annually. The busiest month is July, when more than 168,000 people arrive.

Clouded leopards from Indonesia:

America, Daily Bread, Holiday, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.14.24: Flag Day

by  •  •  Comments

Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 79. Sunrise is 5:15 and sunset 8:35 for 15h 19m 25s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 52.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

 On this day in 1822, Charles Babbage proposes a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society.

On this day in 1885,  the first recognized observance of Flag Day in Wisconsin occurred at the Stony Hill School near Waubeka. The event was led by Bernard J. Cigrand, a teacher. Flag Day did not become a national observance until 31 years later when Woodrow Wilson recognized it on June 14, 1916.

It’s flag day in America. Right side up:

Embed from Getty Images

Ohio town invaded by swarm of mayflies:

Courts, Crime, Daily Bread, Ethics, Law, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.13.24: Troupis’s Suspension (Criminal Defendants Don’t Belong on Judicial Advisory Panels)

by  •  • 2 Comments

Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 86. Sunrise is 5:15 and sunset 8:34 for 15h 19m 01s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 43.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Board of Review meets at 4 PM.

On this day in 1777,  Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, lands near Charleston, South Carolina, to help the Continental Congress train its army.

Scott Bauer reports Former Trump attorney in Wisconsin suspended from state judicial ethics panel:

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended former President Donald Trump’s Wisconsin lawyer from a state judicial ethics panel a week after he was charged with a felony for his role in a 2020 fake electors scheme.

Liberal advocates have been calling for Jim Troupis to step down from the Judicial Conduct Advisory Committee, saying he is unsuitable due to his role advising the Republicans who attempted to cast Wisconsin’s electoral votes for Trump after he lost the 2020 election in the state to Democrat Joe Biden.

Troupis, a former judge, Kenneth Chesebro, another Trump attorney, and former Trump aide Mike Roman were all charged by state Attorney General Josh Kaul last week for their role in the fake electors plot.

Troupis did not return a voicemail or text message seeking comment Tuesday.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court, in its order, notified Troupis and the judicial advisory committee that he was “temporarily suspended” from serving on the panel effective immediately. The court did not give a reason for the suspension. 

(In March 2023, the former conservative majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court reappointed Troupis to a second term despite awareness and objections at the time of his role in the fraudulent electors’ scheme. There was no requirement in 2023 that he be reappointed, and as there were many other suitable candidates for appointment, he should not have been given a second term.)

Now, almost a year and a half later, it should not — and among the ethically-minded people has not been — merely the center-left demanding Troupis’s suspension. Pending the outcome of criminal proceedings against him, he is unsuited to serve actively on the advisory committee. Should he be convicted, he is unsuited to remain a member.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court did not state a reason for Troupis’s suspension, as they might have, but then again, the reason should be apparent.

A glass that builds and heals itself:

Daily Bread, Elections, State Government, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.11.24: A Bipartisan Vote for Wisconsin Elections Commission Chairperson

by  •  •  Comments

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 74. Sunrise is 5:15 and sunset 8:33 for 15h 18m 02s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 25.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Involvement and Cable TV Commission meets at 5 PM and the Public Works Committee meets at 6 PM.

 On this day in 1935,  inventor Edwin Armstrong gives the first public demonstration of FM broadcasting in the United States at Alpine, New Jersey:

In June 1936, Armstrong gave a formal presentation of his new system at the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) headquarters. For comparison, he played a jazz record using a conventional AM radio, then switched to an FM transmission. A United Press correspondent was present, and recounted in a wire service report that: “if the audience of 500 engineers had shut their eyes they would have believed the jazz band was in the same room. There were no extraneous sounds.” Moreover, “Several engineers said after the demonstration that they consider Dr. Armstrong’s invention one of the most important radio developments since the first earphone crystal sets were introduced.” Armstrong was quoted as saying he could “visualize a time not far distant when the use of ultra-high frequency wave bands will play the leading role in all broadcasting”, although the article noted that “A switchover to the ultra-high frequency system would mean the junking of present broadcasting equipment and present receivers in homes, eventually causing the expenditure of billions of dollars.”

In a state and nation seldom bipartisan, Wisconsin saw a bipartisan vote yesterday: Bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission unanimously chooses Democrat as chair for 2 years. Scott Bauer reports:

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The same Democrat who led the Wisconsin Elections Commission during the contested 2020 presidential election will be back in the helm in the swing state this year after being unanimously elected Monday by the bipartisan panel.

Ann Jacobs was the only commission member nominated to serve as chair, reprising the role she had from 2020 to 2022. The unanimous vote included one from a Republican commissioner who attempted to cast Wisconsin’s electoral votes for Donald Trump in 2020 even though he lost the state.

The six-member commission administers and enforces Wisconsin election laws, but elections are run locally by more than 1,800 clerks in towns, villages, cities and counties. State law requires that the chair of the commission alternate between a Republican and a Democrat every two years.

Two key departures from normal yet persist on the commission (assuming anyone can define normal, let alone recall when that condition last held sway).

First, Bob Spindell remains a WISGOP commissioner. Yet, he is one of ten fraudulent presidential electors who admitted under a civil settlement that their actions were part of an attempt to overturn wrongfully the 2020 presidential election results. Spindell wouldn’t belong on the elections board of the smallest hamlet on the planet, let alone this state’s elections commission.

Second, Wisconsin’s elections administrator, Meagan Wolfe, remains a holdover employee in her full-time state position. A well-ordered politics would not have holdovers, as the appointments & confirmation process would not be intermittent.

The joy of snacking:

Archaeology, Daily Bread, Elections, Recall, Speaker Vos, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.10.24: So Is This a Political Crisis for Robin Vos?

by  •  •  Comments

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 69. Sunrise is 5:15 and sunset 8:33 for 15h 17m 25s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 17.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Planning & Architectural Review Commission meets at 6 PM.

 On this day in 1999,  NATO suspends its airstrikes after Slobodan Milosevic agrees to withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo.

It’s possible that Speaker Robin Vos is “in the flight of his life” over a possible recall and then November election campaign, as emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Mordecai Lee contends. See Rich Kremer ‘The fight for his life’: Vos faces 2 challengers in district race who helped with ongoing recall (‘A Republican primary challenger and independent candidate facing off against longtime Assembly Speaker Robin Vos assisted with second effort to remove him from office’).

Kremer reports:

The Wisconsin Elections Committee is currently vetting more than 9,000 signatures submitted by organizers of the Racine Recall Committee. Committee members are confident they’ll have enough signatures to trigger a recall election, despite falling short with their first attempt earlier this year. 

A Friday press release from the Racine Recall Committee says the group is “extremely confident” it has enough signatures. A statement from the Vos-aligned group Wisconsinites for Liberty Fund posted by WisPolitics last week claims recall organizers have “once again fallen woefully short on collecting the required number of signatures.”

On Friday afternoon, Vos filed a challenge to the Racine Recall committee’s petition, claiming that organizers initiated it in the wrong Assembly District. 

A press release from Vos’ campaign called the second recall attempt a failure. It claims organizers allowed hundreds of people to sign recall petitions multiple times and states 2,000 signatures were collected from outside Vos’ old 63rd Assembly District. 

Vos is now running in the new 33rd Assembly District, where he will face up to three challengers, two of them people who have helped the latest recall effort.

They include Andrew Cegielski of East Troy, who plans to run against Vos in the Republican primary, Kelly Clark of Sturtevant, who plans to run in the general election as an Independent, and Democrat Alan Kupsik of Lake Geneva.

See also FREE WHITEWATER’s dedicated Speaker Vos category.

So is this a political crisis for Robin Vos? At the least, one can say that Vos’s tenure has been a political crisis for others.

There are probably a few people — including in Whitewater — who are obtuse enough to think that dropping Vos’s name still reflects well on them. If doing so ever reflected well on those so inclined, it’s been so long that only historians and archeologists can mark that ancient time.

Embed from Getty Images

World’s first drone delivery on Mount Everest a success: