Good morning. 
Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy, with scattered showers, and a high of 72. Sunrise is 5:27 AM and sunset 8:33 PM, for 15h 05m 37s of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 2.2% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1839, Ebenezar G. Whiting of Racine receives patent #1232 for his improved plow, the first patent issued to someone from Wisconsin.
Recommended for reading in full —
Rich Kremer reports Eau Claire County District Attorney to Resign Amid Sexual Harassment Investigation:
Eau Claire County District Attorney Gary King, who is being investigated for sexually harassing employees and being intoxicated in court, will resign from office in August.
In a letter sent to employees Friday, King said he will step down from his position Aug. 14.
“I feel this decision is in the best interest of the office,” wrote King. “It is my hope that this decision will allow the work of the office to move forward without further distraction.”
King had been the focus of a sexual harassment investigation since Feb. 10. After an employee had asked the county’s human resources department for assistance in addressing her concerns about King’s behavior, an outside attorney was hired to write an investigatory report.
The report contained interviews with unnamed employees in the district attorneys office that cited instances where King had rubbed a female employee’s foot when she had taken a shoe off, pulled her onto his lap and asked her if she would participate in a threesome with him and a resident living nearby the county courthouse.
Mitchell Schmidt reports Tony Evers vetoes bills eliminating personal property tax, creating legislative human resources office:
Another bill vetoed Thursday would have established a nonpartisan human resources office with a director appointed by and reporting to the Joint Committee on Legislative Organization, which Republicans control.
The office would have provided human resources services to the Legislature, and also with establishing a formal complaint process to review and investigate allegations of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, violence or bullying by legislators or legislative or service agency staff.
Open records advocates raised concern over specific language in the bill regarding confidentiality that they said could be used to shield investigatory records from public access.
“While I would support a clean bill that establishes a Legislative Office of Human Resources, I cannot support a bill that would be used to hide official misconduct from public scrutiny,” Evers wrote in a veto message.
Dan Spinelli reports Under Trump, Presidents Got More Power to Fire Agency Heads. Biden Just Used It:
On Friday, Joe Biden fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a Trump administration appointee who had clashed with congressional Democrats and disability rights activists. Originally appointed by Donald Trump in 2018, Saul’s term was set to last until 2025.
….While federal law says that the Social Security Commissioner can only be fired for cause, recent Supreme Court rulings have strengthened Biden’s ability to oust independent agency leaders as he likes. Last year, in a case brought during the Trump administration, a conservative majority of the Supreme Court ruled that Congress’ mandate that the president only be able to fire the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau “with cause”—and not “at will”—was unconstitutional. The issue arose after the Obama-appointed CFPB director, Richard Cordray, resigned to run for governor of Ohio, kicking of a complicated legal- and power- struggle over the agency’s leadership.
Under that ruling, Biden was able to replace Trump’s permanent CFPB director shortly after entering the Oval Office. Last month, the justices ruled that the president can similarly fire the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency without cause, clearing the way for Biden to quickly replace the Trump holdover leading that office.