Good morning.
Spring in Whitewater begins with cloudy skies and a high of 60. Sunrise is 6:58 and sunset is 7:07 for 12 hours 9 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 3.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1815, after escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his “Hundred Days” rule.
State Senate Majority Leader LeMahieu announced his retirement yesterday:
In Devin LeMahieu’s tenure as GOP leader, he initially oversaw lopsided Republican majorities. He began with a 21-12 majority in 2021, and by 2023, Republicans held a 22-11 edge.
He flexed that power when possible. The GOP’s two-thirds supermajority meant Senate Republicans could vote to override governor’s vetoes, although the overrides never passed with enough votes in the Wisconsin Assembly. LeMahieu also held up numerous appointees of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, and voted to fire many of them.
But the dynamic changed under new, more competitive political maps passed by Republicans in early 2024 under pressure from the Wisconsin Supreme Court. With half of all Senate districts up for election that year, Democrats flipped four districts, shrinking the GOP majority to 18-15 and putting Democrats in position to potentially win control of the Senate in 2026.
See Shawn Johnson, Wisconsin Senate GOP Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu to retire, Wisconsin Public Radio, March 19, 2026.
A real possum appears among plush toy animals in an Australian gift shop: