Daily Bread for 4.10.17

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will see a high of seventy on a day with a probability of thunderstorms. Sunrise is 6:19 AM and sunset 7:32 PM, for 13h 12m 57s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 99% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}one hundred fifty-third day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first day.{end-tooltip}

On this day in 1866, Henry Bergh founds the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in New York City. On this day in 1861, 26 volunteers from Sauk County depart for Madison where they would become part of the First Wisconsin Infantry, Company F. (By the end of the war, over one thousand men would serve in the Union Army from Sauk County alone.)

Recommended for reading in full —

Emily Steel reports that Fox Asks Law Firm to Investigate Bill O’Reilly Harassment Claim: “21st Century Fox has enlisted the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to investigate at least one accusation of sexual harassment against the Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. The move is the latest in the response to a New York Times investigation published this month on Mr. O’Reilly’s settlements with five women who complained of sexual harassment or other inappropriate behavior. Wendy Walsh, a former guest on Mr. O’Reilly’s show who detailed accusations against him to The Times, called 21st Century Fox’s anonymous hotline last week, prompting the investigation. “21st Century Fox investigates all complaints and we have asked the law firm Paul Weiss to continue assisting the company in these serious matters,” the company said in a statement on Sunday. Paul Weiss is the same law firm that conducted an internal investigation into Roger Ailes, the former Fox News chairman. 21st Century Fox executives decided to dismiss Mr. Ailes after the lawyers took statements from at least six women who described inappropriate behavior by him.”

Danny Vinik outlines Trump’s threat to the 2020 Census: “Already, Congress’ inability to agree on a full-year funding measure for fiscal 2017 has forced the Census Bureau to cancel multiple field tests and delay opening three field offices. It also had to cut back on new, less labor-intensive methods for verifying household addresses, a critical undertaking that was supposed to make the 2020 Census more cost-effective and accurate. And more broadly, the Trump administration’s hardline rhetoric and executive orders cracking down on undocumented immigrants may already be creating a major new risk for the census, making members of minority and immigrant communities less likely to respond. “If you imagine that the federal government is asking for personal information and you feel that the federal government is hostile and that if you were to answer this, perhaps they would use this against you,” said Terry Ao Minnis, director of the census and voting programs at Asian Americans Advancing Justice. “That of course will make people less inclined to participate.”

Lindsey Rupp, Lauren Coleman-Lochner, and Nick Turner report that America’s Retailers Are Closing Stores Faster Than Ever: “Extrapolating out to the full year, there could be 8,640 store closings in 2017, Buss said. That would be higher than the 2008 peak of about 6,200. Retail defaults are contributing to the trend. Payless is closing 400 stores as part of a bankruptcy plan announced on Tuesday. The mammoth chain had roughly 4,000 locations and 22,000 employees — more than it needs to handle sluggish demand. HHGregg Inc., Gordmans Stores Inc. and Gander Mountain Co. all entered bankruptcy this year. RadioShack, meanwhile, filed for Chapter 11 for the second time in two years. Other companies are plowing ahead with store closures outside of bankruptcy court. Sears Holdings Corp., Macy’s Inc. and J.C. Penney Co. are shutting hundreds of locations combined, reeling from an especially punishing slump in the department-store industry.”

Shawn Boburg and Robert O’Harrow Jr. describe How Bannon’s multimedia machine drove a movement and paid him millions: “A Washington Post examination found that Bannon was able to produce more than a dozen conservative documentaries over the past decade by drawing on a network of two dozen nonprofit organizations and private companies. Bannon helped arrange donations from wealthy Republicans to the nonprofits that paid him for films and other work, documents show. At the same time, Bannon and his firms took in at least $2 million from the nonprofits and an additional $5?million from the private companies, records show. Bannon, who had already made millions on Wall Street, often was paid in multiple ways for each project — a common practice in Hollywood, where he had worked as an entertainment financier. Because he was paid through the nonprofit and private companies, which have limited obligations to disclose details about their activities, the total pay to Bannon remains unknown. In a personal financial disclosure released by the White House last month, Bannon reported his net worth as between $11.8 million and $53.8 million. Bannon, the White House and Schweizer did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Tax specialists told The Post that some of Bannon’s activities raise questions about compliance with Internal Revenue Service restrictions against using tax­exempt charities to attack a political candidate or for excessive personal financial benefit.”

Simon Whistler presents The Rubber Band: Holding It Together Since 1820: