Thursday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 27. Sunrise is 7:10, and sunset is 4:20, for 9 hours, 10 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 19.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1879, the Humane Society of Wisconsin is organized in Milwaukee: “Inspired by Henry Bergh, a New York City philanthropist, and his Humane Movement, the state Humane Society was formed to protect both animals and children. However, with the formation of child protection laws in the early 1900s, the Humane Society of Wisconsin began to focus primarily on animal protection.”
Yesterday’s post was meant to be a video of the Royal Society Publishing Photo Competition 2024. That video was only on YouTube briefly, as the Society later removed it. Instead, I went back a year and updated with the 2023 winners (equally beautiful) from Facebook. Today, because persistence can be a good trait1, here are the 2024 winners as posted on Facebook:
In Whitewater, as change is slow and some are obstinate, persistence is also a useful trait of criticism: one returns to a topic again and again, sometimes across years. No force is so powerful and decisive as attrition. ↩︎
Wednesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 36. Sunrise is 7:09, and sunset is 4:21, for 9 hours, 11 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 12 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1943, President Roosevelt closes down the Works Progress Administration, because of the high levels of wartime employment in the United States.
Update, Wednesday morning — The 2024 winners are down on YouTube right now, so we’ll go with the 2023 winners — Something of a palate cleanser today — the Royal Society Publishing Photo Competition 2023:
Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 30. Sunrise is 7:08, and sunset is 4:21, for 9 hours, 13 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
We live in time when past judicial decisions are discarded, at the federal and state level. It should not surprise, although it still does, that prior legislation and prior court rulings to it are again set aside. And so, as one would have expected since July, Act 10 has been ruled unconstitutional:
Judge Jacob Frost ruled that Act 10, passed by the state Legislature’s Republican majority in 2011 and signed by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker in his first year in office, was unconstitutional in making some public safety workers exempt from the law’s limits on unions but excluding other workers with similar jobs from those protections.
The ruling essentially confirmed Frost’s ruling on July 3, 2024, when he rejected motions by the state Legislature’s Republican leaders to dismiss the 2023 lawsuit challenging Act 10.
In that ruling, Frost declared that state Capitol Police, University of Wisconsin Police, and state conservation wardens were “treated unequally with no rational basis for that difference” because they were not included in the exemption that Act 10 had created for other law enforcement and public safety employees.
For that reason, the law’s categories of general and public safety employees, and its public safety employee exemption, were unconstitutional, Frost wrote then.
Frost reiterated that ruling Monday. “Act 10 as written by the Legislature specifically and narrowly defines ‘public safety employee,’” Frost wrote. “It is that definition which is unconstitutional.”
In addition, the judge rejected the suggestion that Act 10 could remain in effect without the law’s public safety employee carve-out, and that either the courts or the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission could resolve a constitutionally acceptable definition in the future.
“The Legislature cites no precedent for this bold argument that I should simply strike the unlawful definition but leave it to an agency and the courts to later define as they see fit,” Frost wrote. “Interpreting ‘public safety employee’ after striking the legislated definition would be an exercise in the absurd.”
This video captured the California Highway Patrol rescuing a man trapped on the side of a cliff above Baker Beach in San Francisco. The man was hoisted safely to the beach below.
Monday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 28. Sunrise is 7:07, and sunset is 4:21, for 9 hours, 14 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 2.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Police & Fire Commission meets at 6:30 PM.
Wisconsin’s agriculture industry has grown over the last five years. But new data shows farming and food’s contribution to the state’s economy has gotten smaller.
The study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that agricultural production and food processing contributed $116.3 billion in revenues to the state’s economy in 2022.
That’s nearly 11 percent higher than the same report from 2017, growth that’s been celebrated by Gov. Tony Evers’ administration and the ag industry.
The study also found that farming and food processing made up 14.3 percent of the state’s total revenues, which is 2 percentage points less than in 2017.
Steve Deller, UW-Madison professor of agricultural and applied economics and co-author of the report, said that’s because the state’s overall economy is growing.
“The size of the pie is getting bigger,” Deller said. “Agriculture’s slice of that pie is also getting a little bit bigger, but it’s not growing at the same pace as the state’s economy is growing.”
Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 25. Sunrise is 7:06, and sunset is 4:21, for 9 hours, 15 minutes of daytime. The moon is new with 0.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
TOKYO (AP) — A frog holding a taro-leaf umbrella. A parade of frolicking animals. An Ukiyo-e style Mount Fuji. Giant waves. A Japanese artist who goes by the name Lito carves these delicate designs on fallen leaves, giving life back to them.
The world of Lito’s delicate art, which he began in 2020 and posts on social media almost daily, has won fans from around the world. The leaf art has also given him solace after earlier struggles with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and a purpose in life — the joy of making people happy with his art.
He enjoys working at night. From a pile of leaves treated with a wrinkle-free chemical, he picks one and places it on a cutting board.
Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 24. Sunrise is 7:05, and sunset is 4:22, for 9 hours, 17 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 0.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1939, the Soviet Red Army crosses the Finnish border in several places and bombs Helsinki and other Finnish cities, starting the Winter War.
For physicists, there’s been one answer that has worked for nearly one hundred years – take two particles and smash them together as hard as you can. But the current generation of massive colliders like the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, haven’t produced the flood of new particles some scientists were expecting. So attention is turning to a new type of experiment, using a particle that has never been collided before; muons.
Friday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 26. Sunrise is 7:04, and sunset is 4:22, for 9 hours, 18 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 2.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1961, Enos, a chimpanzee, is launched into space. The spacecraft orbits the Earth twice and splashes down off the coast of Puerto Rico.
A wondrous journey, through realms natural and mystical, Flow follows a courageous cat after his home is devastated by a great flood. Teaming up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog to navigate a boat in search of dry land, they must rely on trust, courage, and wits to survive the perils of a newly aquatic planet. From the boundless imagination of the award-winning Gints Zilbalodis (Away) comes a thrilling animated spectacle as well as a profound meditation on the fragility of the environment and the spirit of friendship and community. Steeped in the soaring possibilities of visual storytelling, Flow is a feast for the senses and a treasure for the heart.
Thanksgiving in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 30. Sunrise is 7:03, and sunset is 4:22, for 9 hours, 19 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 6.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Via www.quadrangle.org/ images/Duryea.GIF, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37692679
On this day in 1895, the first American automobile race takes place over the 54 miles from Chicago’s Jackson Park to Evanston, Illinois. Frank Duryea wins in approximately 10 hours:
The day was snowy and 38 °F (4 °C), the roads muddy, with snow drifts in places.
The first car to arrive at the starting line was a German-made car by inventor Karl Benz. In total, three Benz cars ran in the race. The only other four-wheeled car to run in the race was Frank Duryea‘s motorized wagon. The two other vehicles that took part were two-wheeled automobiles. The “motorcycles” lacked the power to climb one of the course’s grades. Another entrant was electric-powered, whose battery died from the cold weather before getting far. Just after starting, one Benz struck a horse and was forced to leave the race. On the return trip from Evanston, the Duryea began to take the lead.[citation needed]
The Duryea car finished the race first, completing the race after 7 hours and 53 minutes of running time, 10 hours and 23 minutes total time, having traveled an average of 7 mph (11 km/h). The Benz entered by Oscar B. Mueller crossed the finish line an hour and a half later. From point 31 of the course to the finish Mueller’s car was driven by Charles Brady King because Mueller went unconscious from exposure. King was originally an umpire to the race and of this motorcycle. None of the other vehicles finished.
Thanksgiving traditions come alive! From pies and pumpkin pie to sweet potatoes, marshmallows, turkey made of tofu, Native American cuisine, and chosen family moments… Pull up a chair and join us as we celebrate food, culture, and the holiday spirit.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 40. Sunrise is 7:02, and sunset is 4:23, for 9 hours, 21 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 12 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
A record number of Wisconsinites are expected to travel for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, according to AAA. The group says nearly 1.6 million residents are expected to drive or fly this week.
Wisconsin’s last record for Thanksgiving travel recorded by AAA was set in 2019. Midwest Public Affairs Director Nick Jarmusz told WPR that holiday travel overall declined in subsequent years due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Between Tuesday and Monday, Dec. 2, AAA projects more than 1.4 million Wisconsin residents will hit the roads for their Thanksgiving holiday festivities. Around another 115,000 are expected to fly to their family gatherings.
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“It’s a reflection of what we’ve seen throughout the year with other travel holidays during the summer that we monitored, and just you know, a reflection of people’s improving confidence in the economy and their ability to spend the money necessary to take trips like these,” [American Automobile Association Midwest Public Affairs Director Nick] Jarmusz said.
This many would not have been traveling over the summer of 2024 and would not travel over Thanksgiving 2024 if economic conditions were poor. The summer of 2024 and Thanksgiving 2024 precede January 20, 2025. It’s not until then but instead right now that we have good economic conditions.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 36. Sunrise is 7:00, and sunset is 4:23, for 9 hours, 23 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 18.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
[A]fter moving from the temporary capital in Burlington, Iowa, the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature assembled in Madison for the first time. Two years earlier, when the territorial legislature had met for the first time in Belmont, many cities were mentioned as possibilities for the permanent capital — Cassville, Fond du Lac, Milwaukee, Platteville, Mineral Point, Racine, Belmont, Koshkonong, Wisconsinapolis, Peru, and Wisconsin City. Madison won the vote, and funds were authorized to erect a suitable building in which lawmakers would conduct the people’s business. Progress went so slowly, however, that some lawmakers wanted to relocate the seat of government to Milwaukee, where they also thought they would find better accomodations than in the wilds of Dane Co. When the legislature finally met in Madison in November 1838 there was only an outside shell to the new Capitol. The interior was not completed until 1845, more than six years after it was supposed to be finished.
One might imagine that Speaker Robin Vos has never been right about anything. It’s not true! He’s right about at least one thing:
In a Sunday morning interview on WISN-TV’s “Upfront,” Assembly Speaker Robin Vos repeated calls for former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who he hired, then fired, to investigate the 2020 election, to be disbarred and “never allowed to practice law in Wisconsin again.”
“I certainly hope Michael Gableman loses his law license. I hope he goes back to work at Home Depot, where he was working prior to working for us,” Vos said. “As I look at what the Office of Lawyer Regulation is saying happened, it’s an embarrassment for anybody who practices law.”
The Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation filed a disciplinary complaint Tuesday alleging Gableman violated the Rules of Professional Conduct for Attorneys, including engaging in “disruptive behavior” during a court hearing, making false statements about the integrity of a judge and violating the state’s open records law.
Monday in Whitewater will be cloudy with afternoon showers and a high of 46. Sunrise is 6:59, and sunset is 4:24, for 9 hours, 24 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 26.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
The Whitewater School Board’s Policy Review Committee meets at 5:30 PM, and the full board goes into closed session shortly after 6 PM, resuming open session at 7 PM. The City of Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 5:30.
In a statement, the Schimel campaign said “leftist judges in Wisconsin and around the country are failing to enforce our laws,” and called the Nov. 5 election “a repudiation of the left’s radical agenda that made life more dangerous and expensive for Wisconsinites.”
“From opening the border, to releasing criminals on our streets, to rogue judges on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court breaking norms to advance their radical agenda. Brad Schimel is a judge of the people who will stop the madness and defend what is right,” the statement said.
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In a statement, Crawford said the state needs a court that is “committed to upholding the rights and freedoms of all Wisconsinites.”
“I’ve spent my career standing up for Wisconsin values like safe communities, reproductive rights, clean air and water, and fair elections. As a prosecutor, I took on tough cases to hold criminals and sex offenders accountable and bring justice to victims. As an attorney, I fought for working people, families, and teachers when their rights were threatened and being trampled on,” she said. “Now, as a circuit court judge, I work every day to deliver justice impartially, keep our communities safe, and treat everyone fairly under the law.”
