Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 72. Sunrise is 6:16 and sunset is 7:33, for 13 hours, 17 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 34.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1949, the Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, known as First Lightning or Joe 1, at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.
It’s fallen to Vice President JD Vance to improve the reputation of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. Yesterday, Vance visited La Crosse, part of Derrick Van Orden’s congressional district, in that effort:
LA CROSSE – Looking to reshape public opinion on the Trump administration’s sweeping tax and spending law, Vice President JD Vance made a stop in western Wisconsin to promote its effects on the manufacturing industry and its efforts to lower taxes for workers while dismissing Democrats’ concerns that it will disrupt access to health care and food aid.
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Manufacturing and agriculture are the largest sectors of Wisconsin’s economy. The manufacturing industry employs nearly half a million people in the Badger State, and it contributes more than $70 billion per year to the state’s Gross Domestic Product. But economic uncertainty has brought challenges to the industry, as employers struggle to hire and retain workers and combat inflation and rising material costs.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” contains provisions designed to incentivize manufacturers to invest in research and development and to build new factories in the U.S. Such “Made in America” efforts have seen bipartisan support in Wisconsin.
The law also makes changes to government assistance programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as FoodShare in Wisconsin.
Ahead of Vance’s visit, Gov. Tony Evers’ administration released a new analysis estimating the sweeping tax and spending law will cost the state $284 million every two years once fully implemented.
“I’ve been clear from the get-go that Republicans’ so-called ‘big beautiful bill’ is bad for Wisconsin,” Evers said in a statement. “And now, it’s also clear this bill is just as bad for Wisconsin taxpayers, who will be forced to help foot the bill for Republicans’ red-tape requirements just to make it harder for folks to get the care they need and food to eat.”
See Jessie Opoien and Laura Schulte, Vice President JD Vance, in Wisconsin visit, touts Big Beautiful Bill’s impact on manufacturing jobs, tax cuts, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 29, 2025.
Van Orden’s fate rests on how his constituents view Trump, and (less probably) whether the Wisconsin Supreme Court orders congressional redistricting before the November 2026 election.
For himself, however, Vance is confident that he’s tanned, rested, and ready after the eight vacations he’s taken in the seven months since becoming vice president:
“I've gotten a lot of good on-the-job training over the last 200 days,” JD Vance said in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY, when asked if he was ready to assume the role of commander-in-chief.
— USA TODAY (@usatoday.com) August 28, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Milky Way galaxy seen crossing firmament in timelapse from ancient Syrian city of Palmyra: