Good morning. 
Saturday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 42. Sunrise is 6:31 AM and sunset 5:42 PM, for 11h 11m 20s of daytime. The moon is full with 99.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1782, the British House of Commons votes against further war in America.
Recommended for reading in full —
Rich Kramer reports Data Show Wisconsinites Flocked to the Outdoors as a Respite from the Pandemic:
The number of people turning to the state’s parks, hunting and fishing amid the COVID-19 pandemic grew significantly in 2020 according to new research from the non-partisan Wisconsin Policy Forum.
A new report titled “Take It Outside: Pandemic Spurs Outdoor Pursuits” shows that sales of state parks stickers jumped by more than 42 percent compared with sales in 2019. The report notes that is despite some state parks being closed in spring of 2020.
Fishing license sales grew by more than 13 percent between March 2020 and January of this year. The report notes that 93,414 individuals bought their first Wisconsin fishing license during that timeframe. That’s more than twice the number of first-time licenses sold between March 2019 and January 2020. License sales to non-residents also jumped by nearly 39 percent.
Wisconsin Policy Forum researcher Jason Stein told WPR it will take time to know if last year’s boost was an aberration or a new trend. But he said it will likely have some impact moving forward.
“It’s like anything, you know — if you can get a bunch of people to try something new, birdwatching or cross-country skiing or whatever it is,” said Stein. “For some of them, it’s really going to click with them.”
David Smith reports Biden visits disaster-hit Texas as Cruz basks in warmth of Florida right-fest:
America’s political divide was on display on Friday as Joe Biden flew to Texas to comfort victims of a deadly winter storm while Ted Cruz, a senator from the beleaguered state, basked in Florida sunshine and joked about his recent holiday in Mexico.
The US president, who made empathy the core of his election campaign, and the first lady, Jill Biden, travelled to Houston for his first trip to a major disaster site since taking office on 20 January.
….
Addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Cruz made light of a controversy last week in which he flew to Cancún, Mexico, for a family holiday even as millions of Texans shivered in unheated homes. “Orlando is awesome,” Cruz said. “It’s not as nice as Cancún, but it’s nice!”
The crowd laughed at the quip.
Matt Zapotosky and Spencer S. Hsu report FBI focuses on video of Capitol Police officer being sprayed with chemicals before he died in pro-Trump riot:
Investigators have uncovered video appearing to show someone spraying a chemical irritant at Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick and other law enforcement personnel fending off rioters in last month’s attack, though they have yet to identify the person or tie the activity directly to Sicknick’s death, according to people familiar with the matter.
Sicknick’s death has vexed investigators exploring the Jan. 6 riot, as they have struggled to figure out how precisely he died and whether someone could be held criminally accountable in connection with the death.
Investigators determined Sicknick did not die of blunt force trauma, people familiar with the matter said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. U.S. Capitol Police in a statement Jan. 8 said that Sicknick died “due to injuries sustained while on duty.” No autopsy or toxicology report has been made public, unusual seven weeks after a death.