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Budget, Daily Bread, Fair Maps, Gerrymandering, Wisconsin, WisDems, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 7.8.25: How Fair Maps Concentrate the WISGOP’s Mind

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will see scattered afternoon showers with a high of 82. Sunrise is 5:24 and sunset is 8:35, for 15 hours, 10 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 94.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 5:15 PM.

On this day in 1776, church bells (possibly including the Liberty Bell) are rung after John Nixon delivers the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.

There’s a story today from reporter Baylor Spears about two Democrats running for the 17th Senate District seat that Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) now holds. This post isn’t about the Democrats1 mentioned in that story; it’s about the district in which they’ll be running. Spears reports on the political composition of the district before and after redistricting toward fairer maps:

Marklein won the district with 60% of the vote in 2022, but Senate District 17 changed considerably under the new maps. According to an analysis by John Johnson, a research fellow at Marquette University, the district leaned Democrat by 1 percentage point in the 2024 presidential election and by over 4 percentage points in the 2024 U.S. Senate race. 

See Baylor Spears, Democratic Rep. Jenna Jacobson launches challenge to one of GOP’s top senators (‘Seat in 17th Senate District among those eyed in 2026 campaign to topple Legislature’s Republican majority’), Wisconsin Examiner, July 8, 2025.

Sen. Howard Marklein accepted the budget deal with Gov. Evers. He did so because, like other officeholders in the WISGOP, he needed that budget deal if he were to have any hope of remaining an officeholder next year.

The loss of a gerrymandered 60% district to a -1% to -4% district has a way, it seems, of making WISGOP legislators more amenable to compromise. Underlining Marklein’s supposed bipartisanship is little more than a political incumbent’s survival instinct.

_____

  1. Rep. Jenna Jacobson (D-Oregon) and Lisa White. ↩︎

Zooming into the site of a double detonation supernova:

Astronomers have obtained the first visual evidence of a white dwarf that exploded not once but twice. Credit: ESO

Budget, Daily Bread, Fair Maps, Gerrymandering, Wisconsin, WisDems, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 7.7.25: ‘Bipartisanship’ in Wisconsin Is Simply the Vulnerability of the WISGOP Under Fair Maps

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 80. Sunrise is 5:24 and sunset is 8:35, for 15 hours, 11 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 89.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1928, sliced bread is sold for the first time (on the inventor’s 48th birthday) by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri.

There’s much exuberance, all of it unfounded, that the agreement between Gov. Evers and WISGOP legislators means bipartisanship has returned to the Badger State. If bipartisanship means genuine congeniality and cooperation from legislators in both parties (and that’s the proper connotation), then Wisconsin does not have bipartisanship.

Instead, Wisconsin has a better political environment because the WISGOP that profited from gerrymandering now faces fairer districting across the state:

But the negotiation process that led to the latest biennial budget was drastically different than in previous budget cycles since Evers took office in 2019, which were largely conducted on party-line votes without significant negotiations. 

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse political science professor Anthony Chergosky said last year’s redistricting was one key. Under the new maps, Democrats failed to win a legislative majority in November, but gained 10seats in the Assembly and four in the state Senate.

“With the slimmed-down (Republican) majority, they had to lean on Democrats because they could not pass the budget with just their own members, and that transformed the negotiations compared to what we’ve seen in previous budgets,” Chergosky said.

The final budget vote in the Senate was 19-14, with four Republicans voting in opposition. Without the votes of Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, the compromise would have fallen apart.

See Rich Kremer, Experts, Dems say new voting maps laid groundwork for Wisconsin budget compromise (‘With smaller state Senate majority, Republicans cut a deal with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’), Wisconsin Public Radio, July 7, 2025.

That’s it: When the WISGOP lost their gerrymandered majorities, and when national policies incited protests across the state this year, Speaker Robin Vos came to a deal because he was too weak to do otherwise.

See also Vos Admits That Worry Over National GOP Policy Compelled WISGOP Deal With Evers, On the State Budget Deal, Evers Seems to Win Most, and It’s Not a Wisconsin Budget Negotiation, It’s Another WISGOP Display of Bad Faith Claims.

Tesla shares fall as Musk’s ‘America Party’ riles investors:

(Businesses require an attention that ketamine-fiend Musk seems to lack. In any event, there’s only room for one dysfunctional daddy in the GOP, and it’s not gonna be Musk…)

City, Film

Film: Tuesday, July 8th, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, My Old Ass

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Tuesday, July 8th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of My Old Ass @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:

Coming of Age/Comedy/Drama

Rated R (language). 1 hour, 29 minutes (2024)

An 18th birthday mushroom trip brings free-spirited Elliott face to face with her wise-cracking 39 year old self. But, when Elliott’s “old ass” starts handing out warnings about what her younger self should and shouldn’t be doing, she realizes she has to rethink everything about her family, life, and love during this transformational summer.

One can find more information about the film at the Internet Movie Database.

Birds, Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 7.6.25: Mealtime Along Alaska’s Colville River

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will see scattered morning showers with a high of 78. Sunrise is 5:23 and sunset is 8:35, for 15 hours, 12 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 82.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1885,  Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies on Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog.

Whitewater’s Independence Holiday celebration concludes today at the Cravath Lakefront:

Carnival Only – Last chance for rides and a wrist band session.
Christman Family Amusements Wrist Band Special: 12 to 4 PM, $25 each

Mealtime along Alaska’s Colville River:

Watch as a pair of Rough-legged Hawks work together to raise their chicks, in this excerpt from our documentary on the raptors of the Colville River Special Area, Alaska. Cornell Lab cinematographer Gerrit Vyn takes you up onto a steep cliffside for intimate views of the mom tending her growing chicks during the long days of the Arctic summer. Watch the full Colville River Raptors documentary and learn more: https://allaboutbirds.org/news/alaska…

A Cat of Yore:

Birds, Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 7.5.25: Pigeons (Often Underrated, Seldom Appreciated)

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with evening thunderstorms and a high of 87. Sunrise is 5:22 and sunset is 8:36, for 15 hours, 13 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 75.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1937, Spam, the luncheon meat, is introduced into the market by the Hormel Foods Corporation:

Ken Daigneau, the brother of a company executive, won a $100 prize that year in a competition to name the new item. Hormel states that the meaning of the name “is known by only a small circle of former Hormel Foods executives,” but a popular belief is that the name is a contraction of “spiced ham”. It has also been speculated to be an acronym for “shoulder of pork and ham.”

Spam musubi variant which includes egg. Spam musubi may take many forms, either with the spam on top of rice, or sandwiched between rice. Other possible additions include pickled radish and furikake. When having egg, it is commonly known as potama, especially in Okinawa (Japan). By Dllu – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link.

Whitewater’s Independence Holiday celebration continues today at the Cravath Lakefront:

Christman Family Amusements Wrist Band Sessions 12-4 PM, 5-9 PM: $25 
Civic Organization Food Vendors 12 PM to 11 PM
40th Annual Car Show 2-6 PM
Live Music at the Frawley Amphitheater:
12-1:30 PM Brian Matteson
2 PM Sawyer Road
5 PM Gebel Girls
8 PM Brightside

Fireworks 10 PM

Note: Weather may lead to a change in the fireworks schedule, including an earlier start time, if conditions permit. See Whitewater’s Annual Fourth of July Celebration @ Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BxVHxdBLJ/, for updates.

Pigeons:

See Ben Crair, This Reviled Pest Is the Unsung Hero of Every Major City in the World, New York Times, June 24, 2025.

Watch as a dust storm hits in Las Vegas:

America, City, Daily Bread, History, Liberty, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 7.4.25: Happy Independence Day

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Good morning.

Friday in Whitewater will see scattered morning showers giving way to sunnier afternoon skies and a high of 89. Sunrise is 5:22 and sunset is 8:36, for 15 hours, 14 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 66.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence.

Whitewater’s Independence Holiday celebration continues today at the Cravath Lakefront:

Whippet City Mile: 9:45 AM along parade route
4th of July Parade: 10 AM
Civic Organization Food Vendors: 10 AM to 11 PM
Christman Family Amusements: 12-4 PM Wrist band Session
Live Music at Frawley Amphitheater:
After the Parade – enjoy one of the bands in the parade on stage!
2 PM Jeff Winard Polka Party
5 PM Rural Route 3
8 PM Stetsin and Lace
Fireworks: 10 PM

Jennifer Rubin of The Contrarian considers passages from the Declaration:

We know it as an aspirational document (“We hold these truths…”). We understand it as a repudiation of tyranny (“Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.”). It is both those things, but it is also a compendium of complaints, a description of an autocrat’s offenses against a free people. And that was the part I found strangely relevant to our times.

The signers railed about exclusionary immigration policies that hurt the colonies (“He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither”). They inveighed against barriers to trade (“cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world”). And they condemned imposing “Taxes on us without our Consent,” which, if we remember that unilaterally imposed tariffs are a consumer tax, also sounds familiar. Tyrants, then and now, seek to dominate and micromanage commerce to the detriment of ordinary people seeking a better life.

And notice the common problem, then and now, when a tyrant attempts to corrupt the rule of law by seeking to intimidate and threaten members of the judiciary (“He has obstructed the Administration of Justice…. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices”); seeks to impair due process (“depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury”); and even ships people out of the country for punishment (“Transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences”). The tyrant playbook has not changed much in nearly 250 years.

See Jennifer Rubin, Check out the Declaration’s list of grievances, The Contrarian, July 3, 2025.

Sophia Smith Galer on words for wine:

Budget, City, Daily Bread, Gov. Evers, State Government, Wisconsin, WisDems, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 7.3.25: Vos Admits That Worry Over National GOP Policy Compelled WISGOP Deal With Evers

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 88. Sunrise is 5:21 and sunset is 8:36, for 15 hours, 15 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 57.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1863, the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg culminates in Confederate defeat following Pickett’s disastrous charge.

Whitewater’s Independence Holiday celebration begins today at the Cravath Lakefront:

Christman Family Amusements Wrist Band Session: 5-9 PM, $25 each wrist band
Family Day Sponsored by Generac 4-7 PM
Karaoke at Frawley Amphitheater: 4-6 PM
Miss Whitewater Pageant at Frawley Amphitheater: 6:30 PM
Civic Organization Food Vendors: 4-11 PM

There’s a new state budget, despite grumbling about the terms from many Democrats and some Republicans. I’m neither a Democrat nor a Republican (nor of any political party), and perhaps that makes it easier to discern insightful reporting from the stenography of posturing and whining. Fortunately, Anya van Wagtendonk accurately reports on the underlying WISGOP weakness that Gov. Evers exploited:

That speed [in adopting a budget] was motivated by a deadline out of Washington, as Congress works to pass President Donald Trump’s signature “Big Beautiful” budget bill before a self-imposed July 4 deadline. That far-reaching tax and immigration legislation includes massive cuts to Medicaid, including a cap on how much money states can request from the federal government through hospital assessment fees. 

The Wisconsin state budget passed Wednesday night raises its assessment fee to the maximum amount. By passing the budget before the Trump bill is signed into law, Wisconsin lawmakers dodged the new cap.

Earlier in the day, Assembly Speaker Vos said legislative Republicans and Evers’ office were aligned in trying to pass the budget quickly for that reason.

“We all understand that once the signature goes on at the federal level, it really limits the options for us to capture that federal revenue,” he said. “I think that’s one area we found pretty widespread agreement.” 

As he signed the bill into law early Thursday morning — a contrast to past budget cycles, when he has acted days after passage, during the day and often flanked by kids — Evers referred to the truncated timeline, too. 

“We want our health care system to be in good shape, and in order to do that, we’re going to need help from the federal government, and whatever we can do before they pass through … the federal budget, we will be able to access help from them to keep our hospitals afloat,” he said. “It’s absolutely critical for us to do that.”

(Emphasis added.)

See Anya van Wagtendonk, In wee hours, Legislature passes and Evers signs 2-year, $111-billion state budget, Wisconsin Public Radio, July 3, 2025.

That’s it: national Republican policy made state Republicans vulnerable to a looming deadline (a vulnerability that Evers exploited with dispatch). Vos was weak, not strong or ‘bipartisan’; Evers shrewdly exploited that weakness.

In Whitewater, the city’s declining and aged special interests look to Vos as patron and exemplar. In this, their judgment is weak and their prospects poor.

Sierra Nevada red fox spotted on camera in California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park:

Courts, Daily Bread, Law, Legislation, Legislature, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 7.2.25: Wisconsin Supreme Court Majority Rules That Last Fifty Years of Wisconsin Abortion Legislation Effects a Repeal of 1849 Abortion Ban

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 84. Sunrise is 5:21 and sunset is 8:36, for 15 hours, 16 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 47.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets at 6 PM.

On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress adopts the Lee Resolution severing ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain, although the wording of the formal Declaration of Independence is not adopted until July 4.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), overturning Roe v. Wade (1973), the application of an 1849 Wisconsin statute became a legal controversy in Wisconsin. Did that old statute come into force after Dobbs as a ban on abortion, was the statute more limited (and so not a general ban on abortion), or was the 1849 no longer effective under some other principle of law?

In 2023, a Dane County Circuit Court ruled that the 1849 law was limited in scope, and so did not work as a ban on Wisconsin abortions. Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski appealed that circuit court decision, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court took the case directly on appeal.

Today, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, ruled that the 1849 law has been repealed impliedly through fifty years of more recent Wisconsin legislation on abortion. The Legislature retains the right to draft new legislation on abortion policy in the state.

Today’s opinion, Josh Kaul v. Joel Urmanski, 2025 WI 32, No. 2023AP2362 (July 2, 2025), with concurrences and dissents, appears below:

2025 WI 32Download

The Night Sky for July 2025:

Some months are astronomically quiet others are bursting with a variety of interesting events to try and see, keeping in mind the moon phases and weather. This year, July is somewhere in the middle; throughout the July night sky, you’ll have the chance to spot planets, shooting stars, and even some deep-space objects. In any case, there are plenty of reasons to get out and enjoy the night sky this month, and I hope you take full advantage of them. Whether you’re heading out on your own, trying out some new equipment, or bringing family or friends out to share the wonders of the universe with them, here are the best events in the July night sky to plan your stargazing sessions around.

Budget, Daily Bread, State Government, Wisconsin, WisDems, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 7.1.25: On the State Budget Deal, Evers Seems to Win Most

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Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 82. Sunrise is 5:20 and sunset is 8:37, for 15 hours, 17 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 37.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg begins.

There’s a deal this morning between Gov. Evers and the WISGOP legislature over much of the next biennial state budget. The news comes only this morning, and involves only part of the budget. With those caveats, a review of published accounts of the deal suggests that Evers has managed negotiations with the WISGOP well. There are four principal terms of the deal:

[1] Evers and Republicans agreed to $1.3 billion in income tax cuts largely targeting the middle class. More than 1.6 million people will have their taxes cut an average of $180 annually. 
The deal would expand the state’s second lowest income tax bracket and make the first $24,000 of income for people age 67 and over tax-free. It also eliminates the sales tax on electricity, saving taxpayers about $156 million over two years. 

….

[2] The Universities of Wisconsin would see a $256 million increase over two years, the largest funding increase for the UW system in about two decades. UW Regents had asked for an $855 million overall increase and Republicans in June floated the possibility of an $87 million cut.

The deal also imposes a faculty minimum workload requirement and calls for an independent study on the system’s future sustainability.

….

[3] There will be $200 million in additional tax revenue to pay for transportation projects, but Evers and Republican leaders did not detail where that money would come from. 

The agreement increases funding for child care programs by $330 million over two years, a third of which will be direct payments to providers. The money will replace the Child Care Counts program started during the COVID-19 pandemic. That program, which provides funding to child care providers, expired on Monday. Evers, Democrats and child care advocates have been pushing for additional funding to address child care shortages throughout the state.

Funding for K-12 special education programs will increase by $500 million.

State employees, including at the university, would get a 3% raise this year and a 2% raise next year.

….

[4] Once the budget clears the Legislature, Evers will be able to make changes using his expansive partial veto powers. But his office said Evers would not veto any budget provisions that were part of the deal he reached with Republicans.

Evers, who is midway through his second term, has said he will announce his decision on whether to seek a third term after he has signed the budget. He has 10 business days to take action on the spending plan once the Legislature passes it.

See Scott Bauer, Wisconsin’s Democratic governor reaches budget deal with Republicans to cut taxes, fund university, Associated Press, July 1, 2025.

Devil’s in the details, yet this looks like a good deal for Evers. Some in the WISGOP will balk, but Evers will have enough Democratic legislative support to overcome any WISGOP defections.

French wildfire smoke engulfs highway:

Wildfires broke out in France’s southwestern Aude department, where temperatures topped 104 degrees Fahrenheit, burning 988 acres and forcing some evacuations, authorities said.

Animals, Daily Bread, Nature, Photography

Daily Bread for 6.30.25: Summer from the Nature Conservancy

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 85. Sunrise is 5:20 and sunset is 8:37, for 15 hours, 17 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 29.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1934, the Night of the Long Knives, Hitler’s violent purge of his political rivals in Germany, takes place.

These frogs think you’re up to something:

Bear spotted on airport tarmac in northern Japan:

A bear was spotted running across the tarmac at Japan’s Yamagata airport on Thursday morning. Akira Nagai, deputy manager of Yamagata airport, told reporters that the runway was temporary closed and over 10 flights were affected.

Music

Monday Music: The United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, On Parade

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Why red coats:

The musicians of this unit recall the days of the American Revolution as they perform in uniforms patterned after those worn by the musicians of General George Washington’s Continental Army. Military musicians of the period wore the reverse colors of the regiments to which they were assigned. The uniforms worn by the members of the Corps are dated circa 1784, and consist of black tricorn hats, white wigs, waistcoats, colonial coveralls, and distinct red regimental coats.

Cats, Daily Bread, Weather

Daily Bread for 6.29.25: Stay Hydrated

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 89. Sunrise is 5:19 and sunset is 8:37, for 15 hours, 18 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 20 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 2007,  Apple Inc. releases its first mobile phone, the iPhone.

By Carl Berkeley from Riverside California – iPhone First Generation 8GB Uploaded by Partyzan_XXI, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

Stay Hydrated:

Sometimes territoriality goes too far:

Daily Bread, Newspapers, Politics, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 6.28.25: How Many Journal Sentinel Reporters Does It Take to Flack Unnamed WISGOP Sources? At Least Four.

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 86. Sunrise is 5:19 and sunset is 8:37, for 15 hours, 18 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 12.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1902, Congress passes the Spooner Act, authorizing President Theodore Roosevelt to acquire rights from Colombia for the Panama Canal.

One reads at the Journal Sentinel from four reporters (Molly Beck, Jessie Opoien, Daniel Bice, and Lawrence Andrea) that Tim Michels and Eric Hovde are considering running for governor. It’s less a news story than filler. See Businessmen Tim Michels, Eric Hovde considering return to politics with runs for Wisconsin governor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 27, 2025.

This is a story from “Republican sources” and “sources who spoke with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.” The reporters then use embattled WISGOP chairman Brian Schimming to comment on the rumors. (In fairness, Michels looks improbable even to Schimming, who laughably adds that he thinks Tom Tiffany might run. Tiffany might run, but if so it would be more economical to jump ahead to Tiffany’s inevitable outcome and say that Tiffany lost.)

These sources won’t be quoted by name for an anodyne story about whether Hovde or Michels might run? It’s not a controversial topic. It’s not news that two out-of-state mediocrities might want to buy the governor’s mansion to run for office again. The story is simply an attempt by political operatives to float (and launder, truly) their choices through the press. There’s no groundswell for Michels or Hovde. Never was.

Indeed, Michels and Hovde are so out-of-state that the Journal Sentinel has to tell readers in the story’s title that the paper’s sources say they might run for Wisconsin governor. Knowledgeable readers might otherwise wonder if Hovde was thinking about the West Coast and Michels about Connecticut.

Fireball in the sky over US as suspected meteor rattles Georgia and the Carolinas: