Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 65. Sunrise is 5:27 AM and sunset 8:15 PM for 14h 47m 52s of daytime. The moon is new with nearly none of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1780, New England’s Dark Day, an unusual darkening of the day sky, was observed over the New England states and parts of Canada:
Since communications technology of the day was primitive, most people found the darkness to be baffling and inexplicable. Many applied religious interpretations to the event.
In Connecticut, a member of the Governor’s council (renamed the Connecticut State Senate in 1818), Abraham Davenport, became most famous for his response to his colleagues’ fears that it was the Day of Judgment:
I am against adjournment. The day of judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for an adjournment; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles may be brought.
Davenport’s courage was commemorated in the poem “Abraham Davenport” by John Greenleaf Whittier. Edwin Markham also commemorated the event in his poem “A Judgement Hour,” found in The Gates of Paradise and Other Poems.
(Citations omitted.)
Davenport’s position is a reasoned expression of faith in uncertain conditions. Those of us who are religious (I worship with a liberal Episcopal Anglo-Catholic parish) will find in Davenport’s demeanor a worthy model of faith in action.
Scott Bauer reports Wisconsin Republican lawmakers at odds over local government funding bill (‘Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu says he expects changes to legislation boosting state aid to local governments, which Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says “could kill the bill.”‘):
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Senate and Assembly Republicans are at odds over a key ingredient of a proposal long sought after by local governments, first responders and others that would significantly boost state aid to pay for essential services.
The Assembly passed a wide-ranging bill on May 17, following months of closed-door negotiations, that would increase aid at least 15% for all local governments in the state, and give Milwaukee city and county the ability to raise additional revenues if voters approve higher sales taxes. Milwaukee city and county leaders oppose that provision, which appears to also be a sticking point between Assembly and Senate Republicans.
But Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said May 18 that the Senate will likely remove that provision, and make other unspecified changes, when it votes on the bill, likely in early June.
The Senate and Assembly must approve the same bill before it would go to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who on May 17 said he was confident that a bipartisan compromise could be reached.
But Vos told The Associated Press that the Assembly would not pass a bill that does away with the vote requirement for Milwaukee.
“That could unfortunately kill the bill and all of our good work,” Vos said. “Requiring voter approval for enacting a new tax, which was included in the original Evers proposal, should not be all that controversial.”
Vos said on May 17 he was “done negotiating” on the bill.
LeMahieu said at a news conference on May 18 that he had “no idea” that Vos would say he’s done negotiating.
“That’s unfortunate that he’s drawing a line in the sand now with this version of the bill and stopping negotiations on a bill that not everybody’s in agreement on,” LeMahieu said.
LeMahieu said that he supported having the local governing boards approve a sales tax increase because he thinks a referendum vote of the people would fail.
See also from 5.12.23 Shared Revenue Changes Advance and from 5.18.23 Wisconsin Assembly Passes Revised Shared Revenue Bill.
Tiger Shark Rams Into Kayaker off Hawaii Coast: