Good morning,
It’s a snowy day for Whitewater, with a predicted high temperature of thirty-three, and little additional accumulation beyond the few inches already on the ground.
Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. The agenda is available online.
For Lakeview School, it’s a 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. PTA Culver’s Night. At Washington School, it’s the beginning of a book fair.
For those wondering how state government’s furlough program — where workers keep their jobs with several unpaid days off — wonder no more. Unlike private sector furloughs, state government has adopted a different approach. A story entitled, State agencies adopt approach to closings shunned by private-sector employers has the details:
ELKHORN — In a grinding recession that continues to affect bottom lines and tax collections, the payroll-slashing furlough — unpaid time off — has become the latest tool for controlling labor costs. The way Wisconsin state government is implementing furloughs, however, has some wondering whether officials bothered to consider how the public would be affected.
To help trim a projected $6.6 billion budget deficit for the 2009-’11 biennium, Gov. Jim Doyle and the Legislature ordered all state employees to take eight furlough days this year and eight more in 2011. But unlike private sector employers who attempt to spread out furloughs in order to minimize the impact on customers and clients, Doyle opted to shut down government on four furlough days for almost all state employees — Presidents Day (Feb. 15), the Friday before Memorial Day, Columbus Day and the Friday after Thanksgiving.
Jim Haney, president and CEO of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce in Madison, said this approach to managing furloughs is an example of the disconnect between the political class and the public.
“The whole furlough debate as it relates to state or local employees is sort of an indicator of why many of us in the private sector are leery about big-government programs,” Haney said. “Rather than focusing on the ‘business’ — in government’s case, service to the people — bureaucracies tend to focus on the care and comfort of their employees.”
Yes, they do.
On this day in 1980, at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, the United States scored a stunning upset of the Soviet Union in hockey, 4-3. The New York Times reported on the American victory:
Lake Placid, N.Y., Feb. 22 — In one of the most startling and dramatic upsets in Olympic history, the underdog United States hockey team, composed in great part of collegians, defeated the defending champion Soviet squad by 4-3 tonight.
The victory brought a congratulatory phone call to the dressing room from President Carter and set off fireworks over this tiny Adirondack village. The triumph also put the Americans in a commanding position to take the gold medal in the XIII Olympic Winter Games, which will end Sunday.
If on Sunday morning the United States defeats Finland, which ties Sweden, 3-3, tonight, the Americans will win the gold medal regardless of the outcome of the game between Sweden and the Soviet Union later that day. If the United States ties Finland, the Americans are assured of at least a bronze medal.
America went on to defeat Finland, 4 – 2, to win the gold medal in hockey.
Here’s footage from the U.S. – Soviet game: