Wednesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 78. Sunrise is 5:32 and sunset is 8:10, for 14 hours, 37 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 96.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater Equal Opportunities Commission meets at 5 PM.
On this day in 1973, NASA launches Skylab, the United States’ first space station.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 77. Sunrise is 5:33 and sunset is 8:09, for 14 hours, 35 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 99.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The Public Works Committee meets at 5 PM, and the Whitewater Common Council at 6 PM.
On this day in 1985, police bomb MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia, killing six adults and five children, and destroying the homes of 250 city residents.
Two petitions before the Wisconsin Supreme Court now challenge Wisconsin’s congressional maps. SeeTwo Lawsuits Against Wisconsin’s Congressional District Maps. If one of those lawsuits should prevail, what would be the likely result for district boundaries? Roll Callexplains:
Democrats have long criticized the Wisconsin congressional map as heavily favoring Republicans in a closely divided state. The GOP holds six of the state’s eight House seats. And of those six Republican-held seats, just two are considered competitive by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales: the 1st District represented by Rep. Bryan Steil and the 3rd District represented by Rep. Derrick Van Orden.
Redistricting was an issue in this year’s Wisconsin Supreme Court race – a nominally nonpartisan contest that was won by the Democratic-backed Susan Crawford and helped preserve the court’s 4-3 liberal majority. Some Republicans had speculated that Crawford’s election would lead to the state’s congressional map being redrawn to Democrats’ benefit ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Van Orden told CNN earlier this year that he and Steil would “both lose” under new congressional lines if Crawford won.
Well, Van Orden’s right: redistricting would make these two seats more competitive, and both Van Orden and Steil would likely lose in more competitive districts. Both federal representatives have positioned themselves as committed conservative populists. They’re ill-suited to districts that would be even slightly more centrist.
Most likely outcome: redistricting Wisconsin’s congressional boundaries would take Wisconsin from a 6-2 Republican advantage to a 4-4 split between the major parties.
Monday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 81. Sunrise is 5:35 and sunset is 8:08, for 14 hours, 33 minutes of daytime. The moon is full with 99.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater School Board moves into a closed-session meeting shortly after 5 PM. Whitewater’s Plan and Architectural Review Commission meets at 6 PM.
The last Wisconsin Supreme Court elections were expensive races (2024 @ $53 million and 2025 @ over $100 million).
There’s a reasonable prediction on spending: while there is enough money in America to make every Wisconsin Supreme Court race a $100 million dollar contest, there’s only the willingness to do so while Wisconsin remains a swing state and in the absence of more compelling swing-state priorities.
The 2024 contest was one of many spending priorities across the country; the 2025 contest stood by itself in April of an off year. In both cases, Wisconsin was a swing state, but in one case a swing state competing with the attraction of other swing-state races across the nation.
There’s also a difference between changing the balance of a court and spending money knowing the ideological margins won’t change even after a barrel of money. The 2026 race will not flip the court. (Rebecca Bradley, if she says in the race rather than receiving and accepting a U.S. Court of Appeals appointment, would be running in Wisconsin only to remain in the minority.)
Mother’s Day in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 75. Sunrise is 5:36 and sunset is 8:07, for 14 hours, 31 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1997, Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of a rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.
Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 73. Sunrise is 5:37 and sunset is 8:06, for 14 hours, 28 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 95.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1773, the Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by reducing taxes on its tea and granting it the right to sell tea directly to North America:
The Act granted the Company the right to directly ship its tea to North America and the right to the duty-free export of tea from Britain, although the tax imposed by the Townshend Acts and collected in the colonies remained in force. It received the royal assent on May 10, 1773.
Colonists in the Thirteen Colonies recognized the implications of the Act’s provisions, and a coalition of merchants, smugglers, and artisans similar to that which had opposed the Stamp Act 1765 mobilized opposition to the delivery and distribution of the tea.
So there’s a claim that if you impose tariffs (they’re taxes) on imports from foreign manufacturers, then out from the ground will spring domestic manufacturing. It’s a dubious claim. Consider textiles:
Iris Acevedo of Milwaukee researches sustainable textile materials, like plant-based fibers, to teach students at Mount Mary University and Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design how to create low cost, high quality clothing.
On “Wisconsin Today,” she said tariffs in the textile and apparel industry are concerning, as China is the leading exporter of denim in the world. Meanwhile, the U.S. is the top consumer of denim.
In 2023, America imported about $31 billion in apparel from China and Vietnam, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.
Last month, President Trump imposed a 145 percent tariff on Chinese imports, while there’s a 125 percent retaliatory tariff by China on U.S. goods.
“We do a lot with China,” she said. “I know [U.S.] cotton producers who export to China for manufacturing are concerned.”
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Acevedo said it would be a great time to think about reintroducing domestic production to reduce the cost of shipping jeans overseas — effectively a tax due to the tariffs.
However, that comes with costs of building infrastructure that could replace the supply coming from China, as well as labor to produce the apparel.
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And despite small-scale businesses like Acevedo’s and growing interest in the textile and apparel industry, there’s simply no quick, straightforward transition away from the current global market.
Under tariffs, Americans will pay more or go without for years in the hope that more expensive domestic options will eventually arise. Tariffs are an imposition on consumers and a reallocation of wealth that could be better applied where Americans are already more efficient than foreign producers.
They’re an ignorant person’s idea of being knowledgeable.
(It’s a coyote not a wolf, but the person speaking on the recording is likely experiencing a coyote invasion for the first time and so does not identify this invader accurately. He’ll become more experienced after many thousands of these animals conquer his borough block by block.)
Friday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 69. Sunrise is 5:38 and sunset is 8:04, for 14 hours, 26 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 91.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
There are now two lawsuits filed against the current apportionment of Wisconsin’s Congressional districts. A story from WPR does a good job of summarizing the petitions (each filed in state court).
One of the petitions was filed by the Democratic firm Elias Law Group. It claims the state’s congressional map, endorsed by the court’s former conservative majority in 2021, violates several sections of the Wisconsin Constitution.
The case claims the map violates Democratic voters’ rights to free speech and association under the state constitution because despite nearly equal numbers of Democratic and Republican votes in Wisconsin’s statewide elections, the GOP has been able to hold six of eight congressional districts.
“This congressional map directly discriminates against Petitioners, who support Democratic candidates in Wisconsin and—because of that affiliation—are effectively silenced and shut out from casting a meaningful congressional vote,” the lawsuit states. “Wisconsin’s Constitution prohibits this injustice several times over. This Court should grant this original action and replace the adopted congressional map with a lawful alternative.”
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The Campaign Legal Center’s challenge [petition here] claims the congressional map violates the state constitution’s guarantee of equality because it “does not equally apportion population among Wisconsin’s eight congressional districts.”
The suit also focused on the number of counties that were split when the current congressional map was approved by the court three years ago. It claims the former conservative majority erroneously put more importance on the “least changes” directive than “traditional redistricting” principles in the Wisconsin Constitution, like minimizing the number of counties that are split to form congressional districts. It alleges an “eight district map need only have seven county splits to achieve population equality” while the current map has 12.
“Thus, in addition to being unequally populated, the current congressional map is an improper court-imposed remedy because it elevated ‘least change’ over Wisconsin’s traditional redistricting criteria of minimizing county splits, resulting in the needless splitting apart of counties (and therefore communities of interest),” the lawsuit states.
Second, while I’ve read both petitions, but have read only the accompanying memorandum of law in the Campaign Legal Center’s filing, I’ll not offer an opinion on the relative strengths of the respective cases. (Proper practice is to see both petition and memorandum from each.)
Easiest, most obvious contention, however: there’s much ahead, in state (and likely federal) court.
A massive underwater volcano located nearly 300 miles off the coast of Oregon is showing signs of activity and could soon erupt. KING’s Brady Wakayama reports.
Tuesday, May 13th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Sing Sing @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Docudrama/Prison drama
Rated R (language)
1 hour, 47 minutes (2023)
Divine G (Colman Domingo), imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he did not commit, finds purpose by acting in a theater group with other incarcerated men and an unforgettable ensemble cast of actual, formerly incarcerated actors. Nominated for three Oscars, including Best Actor, Song, and Screenplay.
Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 69. Sunrise is 5:39 and sunset is 8:03, for 14 hours, 24 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 85.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
More than 300 bird species, from warblers to waterfowl, songbirds to raptors, migrate from Mexico, Central and South America, flying north to the U.S. and Canada to breed and nest for the warmer months each spring. Then, as the leaves begin to turn and drop for autumn, these same travelers head back south to warmer climates for the winter.
During these long journeys, many migrating birds follow a path in the sky known as the Mississippi Flyway, which roughly follows the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio rivers. As birds follow the Flyway, they need to find places where they can rest, eat and shelter, seeking out rivers, wetlands, prairies, forests and other Midwest habitats to take their sanctuary.
SeeMidwest Migratory Birds (‘Millions of migratory birds are using TNC sites to rest and refuel as they migrate through the Midwest’), The Nature Conservancy, April 23, 2025.
Valencia’s Las Fallas Festival is one of Spain’s most fiery art traditions, a celebration of Saint Joseph where towering handcrafted sculptures, or ninots, are built over months, only to be set ablaze. Blending satire, art, community, and centuries-old custom, it’s a spectacle like no other. In this video, we follow artists Pepe and Marina Puche as they complete their monumental falla, Cupid’s Problems, before it meets its fiery end…
Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 69. Sunrise is 5:40 and sunset is 8:02, for 14 hours, 22 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 78.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Starin Park Water Tower Committee meets at 6 PM, and the Landmarks Commission at 7 PM.
The sweeping tariffs imposed by the current administration are already fueling inflation, disrupting supply chains, and pushing small businesses to the brink. Local retailers, independent producers and small manufacturers — the very backbone of our neighborhoods — are being hit hardest.
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The problem is clear and devastating: suppliers can’t get the goods they need, vendors are questioning whether they can stay afloat and customers — grappling with rising prices and financial anxiety — are pulling back from shopping locally. Sales reps are going unpaid as orders are canceled, and stores of all sizes are bracing for empty shelves. In short, the social fabric that binds our communities is beginning to fray under the weight of uncertainty.
The National Retail Federation recently warned that these tariffs threaten the American dream — and they’re right. Small businesses aren’t just part of our economy; they’re central to our national identity, job creation, innovation and the strength of our local communities.
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The stakes couldn’t be clearer. Without immediate action, we face shuttered storefronts, lost jobs and an avoidable recession. According to Gallup, Americans’ economic outlook is now worse than at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic or the global financial crisis — a sobering indicator of just how fragile the moment is.
This is not a partisan issue. It’s a matter of economic survival, community resilience and protecting the American dream for generations to come.
Trump’s tariff strategy has become a cornerstone of his economic policy — and a lightning rod for criticism. In recent months, his administration has slapped a staggering 145% tariff on Chinese imports, escalating an already tense trade war. China quickly retaliated with its own tariffs of 125%.
According to Jones, even if the White House walks those tariffs back to 40% or 50%, the damage is already done.
“Even when he does that … it’d be the largest tax increases since the ’60s,” Jones said. “So you can kind of take 2%, 3% off growth.”
The Sh2-46 nebula has been captured by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. The nebula is 6000 light years away from Earth.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, DIRECTLY FROM SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT: May 6, 2025
Whitewater, WI – Joint Statement from the Whitewater Unified School District Board President Stephanie Hicks and Whitewater Common Council President Patrick Singer
We acknowledge and appreciate the concerns expressed by parents, students, educators, and community members regarding the School Resource Officer (SRO) contract. Our students’ safety, well-being, and success are a shared responsibility, and we remain committed to working together to ensure our schools are secure, safe, and supportive.
This is to notify you that diplomatic conversations on the Student Resource Officer agreement are ongoing between leadership governance groups, the Common Council, and the School Board.
We aim to rebuild trust, support our educators and law enforcement professionals, and ensure every student feels secure and safe in our schools. By working together in good faith, we aim to strengthen relationships across our institutions and ensure a thoughtful and responsive outcome.
We also want to appreciate the hard work contributed by the staff of both institutions in this complex situation, and their service to the Common Council and the School Board.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 75. Sunrise is 5:42 and sunset is 8:01, for 14 hours, 19 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 70 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater Unified School District’s Finance Committee meets at Noon. Whitewater’s Alcohol Licensing Committee meets at 5:30 PM, and the Whitewater Common Council meets at 6:30 PM.
Stock markets plunged for days after President Donald Trump announced steep tariffs on imports from around the world. The sell-off ebbed only when he suspended most, but not all, of the new measures for 90 days. The ticker tape is just one indicator of an economy, and other signs are growing more and more ominous—including at the Port of Los Angeles, where high tariffs on China are crushing maritime traffic. “Essentially all shipments out of China for major retailers and manufacturers have ceased,” Eugene Seroka, the executive director of the port, said on April 24.
The economy, and the supply chains that allow it to function, can adjust fairly quickly to certain shocks, including weather disasters and even a pandemic. Early in the COVID shutdowns, toilet paper was in short supply as Americans spent more time at home and less at workplaces and schools. The problem eased as manufacturers ramped up production, transportation systems adapted, and consumer anxiety decreased.
But Trump’s trade war is different because it is unpredictable and indefinite. Even if he were to renounce tariffs tomorrow, Trump has already shaken global confidence in American economic-policy making. No one can comfortably make business decisions based on what he does.
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Tariffs don’t just reduce the flow of goods coming into the country; they also cause an atrophying of the logistics system that moves products into, out of, and around the United States. “Less cargo volume, less jobs. That’s the rule here,” Mario Cordero, CEO of the Port of Long Beach, said recently, describing how one in nine jobs in the greater Los Angeles region arises directly or indirectly from its ports. “Port complexes are like your baby toe on your foot,” Peter Neffenger, the former commander of the Coast Guard sector that includes Los Angeles and Long Beach, told me. “You don’t think about it until you break it one day and realize, ‘I can’t walk.’”
It’s not true that with tariffs all items will be available at a higher price (or that consumers will bear those prices); some items won’t be available.
Monday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 62. Sunrise is 5:43 and sunset is 8:00, for 14 hours, 17 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 60.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater Unified School District Board meets in open session at 6:30 PM, then enters closed session at 6:50 PM.
Additionally, the Trump administration announced planned tariffs on Chinese solar products sold from southeast Asia, ranging from 41 percent to more than 3,500 percent depending on the country. Those tariffs still need to be finalized and would require a vote by the International Trade Commission.
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Ismaeel Chartier, development director at RENEW Wisconsin, said the combination of tariffs could make some projects in the state “economically unfeasible,” especially if the tariffs on imports from southeast Asia take effect.
“They no longer ink out,” he said. “The return on investment is not a 10-year return on investment, it becomes a 30-, 40-, 50-year return on investment.”
The tariffs on steel and aluminum raise the costs of the metal racking used to mount solar panels, while the duties on China and the planned targeted solar tariffs would increase the costs of panels themselves, Chartier said.
I’ve no claim about whether tariffs will make the proposed Whitewater project too costly; they are likely to affect at least some of the nearly 20 Wisconsin projects either underway or awaiting approval.
