Good morning.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy, with a high of forty-three, and a one-third chance of afternoon showers. Sunrise is 6:57 AM and sunset 4:25 PM, for 9h 28m 35s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 38.2% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1963, Pres. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas. On this day in 1906, noted Wisconsin lawyer and UW Regent Elizabeth Hawkes was born.
Worth reading in full —
Locally, Walworth County’s just not growing anymore: “Through the 1990s until about 2008, Walworth County was one of the fastest-growing counties in the state, according to census numbers from the Wisconsin Department of Administration. Since then, however, population growth in the county has stagnated. Todd Berry, president of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, said the reason for flat growth is simple: The number of people dying matches the number being born or moving to the county. He said the alliance predicted slow growth from 2010 to 2040. The trend is an issue for the whole state, not just Walworth County, Berry said. “One of Wisconsin’s biggest challenges is that few people leave the state, but few people come,” Berry said. For some, flat population growth is not worth a worry. But for others, slowing growth can make modernizing public infrastructure more difficult.”
Ed Trevelen reports that a Federal judges panel finds state redistricting plan an ‘unconstitutional gerrymander’: “A panel of federal judges on Monday ruled that Wisconsin’s 2011 legislative redistricting plan, created by Republican leaders virtually in secret, is an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The map “was intended to burden the representational rights of Democratic voters … by impeding their ability to translate their votes into legislative seats,” wrote federal appeals court Judge Kenneth Ripple, the senior judge on the three-judge panel, adding that “the discriminatory effect is not explained by the political geography of Wisconsin nor is it justified by a legitimate state interest. “Consequently, Act 43 constitutes an unconstitutional political gerrymander,” Ripple wrote.”
Ananya Bhattacharya’s reports on a Handy cheat sheet of false and misleading “news” sites: “In the wake of a debate over the role of fake news in the US election, a professor is doing what Facebook has failed to: identifying untrustworthy sources. Melissa Zimdars, an associate professor of communication and media at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, has created a public Google Doclisting news sites that distribute incorrect information. Titled “False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and Satirical ‘News’ Sources,” the list includes blatantly incorrect URLs like”abcnews.com.co” and “drudgereport.com.co,” but also sites whose stories are of dubious origin and sourcing.”
Tanya Ganeva writes about drug warrior Jeff Sessions’s ridiculous anti-drug crusade: “A few days ago, it looked as if the popularity and profitability of marijuana would spare pot reform from the lurching chaos of Donald Trump’s administration. But then Sen. Jeff Sessions — probably the only person on earth who’s nostalgic about Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign — was announced as President-elect Trump’s choice for attorney general. As my fellow guest blogger Steven Hale wrote on Friday, Sessions’s record and public statements indicate that he’ll be a nightmare for civil liberties. In terms of drug policy, Sessions stands out even in the GOP for his steadfast rejection of scientific evidence.”
Toads get around well enough, but no one would call them graceful —
I just love how ungainly these #toads are in #slowmo! pic.twitter.com/94x1fHGJWp
— Grantham Ecologist (@GranthamEcology) October 27, 2016