Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of thirty-five. Sunrise is 7:09 AM and sunset 4:21 PM, for 9h 11m 58s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 14.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1967, the 20th Century Limited makes its final run from New York to Chicago. On this day in 1947, Wisconsin’s first television station, WTMJ-TV, is established.
Worth reading in full —
Bill Glauber writes that an Embattled Tomah VA dentist resigns: “Officials at the troubled Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center said Friday that the dentist responsible for possibly infecting nearly 600 veterans has resigned. The dentist has not been named. The announcement came after House Speaker Paul Ryan of Janesville and Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson expressed outrage that the dentist was still working at the facility. On Tuesday, Victoria Brahm, acting medical director at the center, announced that the VA was in the process of notifying 592 veterans treated by the dentist that they may be infected with hepatitis B, hepatitis C, or HIV because he did not follow proper sterilization procedures.”
Patrick Marley and Jason Stein report that a Federal judge denies quick halt to recount: “Madison — A federal judge Friday denied an emergency halt to the recount of the presidential vote in Wisconsin, allowing the process to continue until a Dec. 9 court hearing at least. There is no need to halt the recount just yet because it will not do any immediate harm to Republican President-elect Donald Trump or his supporters, U.S. District Judge James Peterson wrote in a three-page order that called for both sides in the case to lay out written arguments before he takes any action.”
Russ Choma exclaims Holy Conflict of Interest! The Firm Holding Much of Trump’s Debt May Be Up for Sale: “Coming to an auction block near you: Donald Trump’s $100 million mortgage on Trump Tower? As Mother Jones has detailed for months, Trump owes hundreds of millions of dollars to a variety of lenders, giving his bankers a huge amount of potential leverage over the man who will soon occupy the most powerful office in the world. Already there are concerns about Trump’s biggest lender, the troubled Deutsche Bank, which he owes at least $364 million. On Friday, Reuters reported that his second-biggest lender, a small Wall Street firm called Ladder Capital Strategies, may be putting itself up for sale to the highest bidder. Public records show Trump owes the firm at least $282 million, on four lines of credit. This means that other big money players—Wall Street firms, American banks, overseas banks, financial institutions partly owned by foreign governments—could move to buy up the debts of a US president and create a host of conflicts of interest.”
The Wisconsin State Journal reports that Donations top $87,700 for children’s Christmas toys: “Since 1918, the Empty Stocking Club has provided Christmas toys to needy children in the greater Madison area. You can help again this year. Send your gift online at emptystockingclub.com or mail it to: The Empty Stocking Club, Wisconsin State Journal, Box 8056 Madison, WI 53708″
A big holiday sometimes brings frustration as well as happiness. That was true in Maryland, after a beaver trashes dollar store after finding only artificial Christmas trees: “A beaver in Maryland apparently tried to get into the Christmas spirit at a dollar store in Charlotte Hall. But after discovering the store only offered artificial trees, it made like a crazed Black Friday shopper and trashed the place….The St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office joked that the “suspect attempted to flee the area,” but it was safely rescued by animal control. The office tweeted that the beaver was released to wildlife rehabilitation, and it included an adorable GIF for proof.”
Cpl. Yingling had a unique call for service when the suspect, pictured, was witnessed causing prop. Destruction at a store in Char. Hall. pic.twitter.com/6qKlu7tqA7
— St. Mary’s Sheriff (@firstsheriff) November 30, 2016
The beaver tweet may go viral! All joking aside, the beaver was safely rescued by animal control & was released to a wildlife rehabilitator. pic.twitter.com/0VyLXJPjxh
— St. Mary’s Sheriff (@firstsheriff) November 30, 2016