City, Crime, Daily Bread, University
Daily Bread for 9.1.24: Official Release of Information on Student Fatally Shot
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 73. Sunrise is 6:21, and sunset is 7:27, for 13h 06m 31s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 2.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1939, Germany and Slovakia invade Poland, beginning the European phase of World War II.
On Saturday afternoon, UW-Whitewater released a statement following the identification of the victim of a fatal shooting in the city. That statement, from Chancellor Corey King, appears in full below:
Message from Chancellor King
Dear students, faculty and staff,It is with great sadness that we announce a University of Wisconsin-Whitewater student has passed away. Kara Welsh, age 21, from Plainfield, Illinois, died in a shooting off campus on Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. More information is available on the City of Whitewater website.
Kara was majoring in management in our College of Business and Economics and was a standout member of the Warhawk gymnastics team, winning an individual national title on the vault in 2023.
We know the news of Kara’s death is heartbreaking for our close-knit university community. It is a time when we are all called upon to support one another, to process, and to grieve.
Please know that counseling services are available to you. For students, please contact the University Health and Counseling Services. For faculty and staff, please contact Acentra, the Employee Assistance Program.Since learning of this tragedy, our colleagues across Whitewater have come together to respond and to engage in layers of support for our students, faculty and staff.
- Our Dean of Students office is connected with Kara’s family and is helping them navigate through the unimaginable situation of the loss of their loved one.
- Our Athletics leadership brought together the gymnastics team and coaches to inform them in person, and University Health and Counseling Services offered counseling support.
- Our Academic Affairs staff are planning to provide extra support and flexibility to affected students with classes beginning on Tuesday.
- Our UW-Whitewater Police Department continued their close collaboration with the City of Whitewater Police Department by providing assistance in the investigation.
- The Chancellor’s Cabinet and other university leaders continue to stay in contact and take action to lead us through this difficult time.
Details for memorial services will be shared when they are available. I have directed that the UW-Whitewater flag fly at half-staff on Tuesday, Sept. 3, in Kara’s memory.
Sincerely,
Corey King
Chancellor
City, Crime, Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 8.31.24: A Fatal Shooting in the City
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 81. Sunrise is 6:20, and sunset is 7:29, for 13h 09m 18s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 5.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1939, Nazi Germany mounts a false flag attack on the Gleiwitz radio station, creating an excuse to attack Poland the following day, thus starting World War II in Europe.
One reads this Saturday morning from a press release and professional reporting that there was a fatal shooting in the city shortly before midnight on Friday. From that reporting, Whitewater Police: 21-year-old woman dies from ‘multiple gunshot wounds’:
A 21-year-old woman has died after sustaining “multiple gunshot wounds,” according to information released Saturday by Whitewater Police Chief Dan Meyer.
Meyer, within the release, stated that police responded Friday, just before midnight, to an apartment in the 100 block of W. Whitewater Street after receiving a report of an individual who had suffered gunshot wounds.
Upon arrival, police found a woman deceased in the apartment.
Also present, the release read, was a 23-year-old male who was known to the deceased woman.
An investigation has led police to believe that prior to the shooting, an altercation occurred between the male and female, according to the release.
The male has been detained and the investigation remains ongoing, the release noted.
“We are confident that there is no threat to the community at this time,” the release reported.
The department was right to publish quickly a succinct release to inform the city and prevent rumor.
This fatal shooting is a fathomless loss for which one offers condolences to the family and friends of the deceased woman.
Daily Bread, Wisconsin, Writing
Daily Bread for 8.30.24: Poet Anja Notanja Sieger Types Your Story
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 79. Sunrise is 6:18, and sunset is 7:31, for 13h 12m 05s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 11.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1862, Wisconsin troops rest on the White House lawn:
The 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin Infantry regiments fought in the Second Battle of Bull Run. By the end of this third day, more than 18,000 soldiers had been killed or wounded and Union forces had been pushed back to Washington, D.C. When the Wisconsin regiments arrived in Washington, they rested on the White House lawn. According to historian Frank Klement, “President Lincoln came out with a pail of water in one hand and a dipper in the other. He moved among the men, offering water to the tired and thirsty. Some Wisconsin soldiers drank from the common dipper and thanked the President for his kindness.”
On this day in 1945, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Douglas MacArthur, lands at Atsugi Air Force Base.
‘Writing is listening’ Poet Anja Notanja Sieger types your story | Wisconsin Life:
Cats, Science/Nature
Friday Catblogging: Why Cats Hate Closed Doors (Because, Ya Know, They Really Do)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Over at Live Science, Margaret Osborne asks (and answers) Why do cats hate closed doors?:
If you’ve ever witnessed a cat in front of a closed door, you might notice how much they seem to be annoyed by it. They might poke a furry arm under the crack, begin to paw at the door or even attack it while letting out agitated meows. But why do cats seem to hate closed doors so much?
Both evolution and pet owners themselves play a role, experts say.
….
A closed door hits on all of what cat behaviorist Jane Ehrlich calls the “three terrible C’s” that cats dislike: They hate not having choice, they hate not being in control, and they hate change. While cats don’t necessarily want to be involved in whatever is happening behind the door, they do want to know what’s going on, she said.
Cats also enjoy attention from their owners — which a closed door eliminates. A 2017 study published in the journal Behavioural Processes suggests most cats prefer human interaction to other stimuli, including food and toys. And cats don’t understand that a closed door is temporary, either, Johnson said.
“They just know that the spot that they previously had access to — where they feel safe, or they like to sleep or nap or eat or what have you — is now suddenly taken away,” [cat behavior consultant Ingrid] Johnson said. “When we control things for our cats, we create stress.”
City, Daily Bread, Politics
Daily Bread for 8.29.24: Scouting Whitewater’s Political Landscape
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning.
Thursday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 84. Sunrise is 6:17, and sunset is 7:32, for 13h 14m 52s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 18.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1997, Netflix launches as an internet DVD rental service (streaming came later, in 2007).
Joe Tarr reports on the enthusiasm that Kamala Harris is generating among many college students in Young Wisconsin Democrats fired up with Harris at the top of the ticket. Tarr’s story begins with an anecdote from UW-Whitewater:
Alyssa Wahlborg knows that her politics don’t always gel with that of the community where she attends college.
While a lot of students and faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater might lean left, the larger community “leans a bit red,” she told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” Nevertheless, Wahlborg sees hope that the Democratic Party can make gains in rural Walworth County and elsewhere.
“Having conversations with people on our campus makes you realize how blue we can get, and how we can flip our district,” Wahlborg said. “We even flipped our city council blue. We (elected) Democrats to our school boards.”
First and foremost, to all those arriving on campus: Welcome to Whitewater. It’s a beautiful city. There’s no better place to live.
The story inspires me to update a series of posts I wrote in 2021 about politics in the city proper (city politics that are evolving and different from red Walworth County). Here are those posts from 2021: 2021 Unofficial Spring Election Results, The Kinds of Conservatives in Whitewater, The City’s Center-Left, The City’s Few Progressives, The Campus, The Subcultural City, Marketing, COVID-19: Skepticism and Rhetoric, Majoritarianism, and The Limits of Local Politics.
Kevin the Canadian Chihuahua calculates the task ahead:
Courts, Daily Bread, Elections, Fellow Traveler, Fifth Columnist, Harris-Walz, Law, Never Trump, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 8.28.24: Live by Siphoning, Perish by Siphoning
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning.
Wednesday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 83. Sunrise is 6:16, and sunset is 7:34, for 13h 17m 38s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 27.1 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Lakes Advisory Committee meets at 4:30 PM, and the Finance Committee meets at 6:30 PM.
On this day in 1830, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad‘s new Tom Thumb steam locomotive races a horse-drawn car, presaging steam’s role in U.S. railroads.
Yesterday’s post looked at the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s dismissal of a complaint designed to keep the Green Party off the Wisconsin 2024 presidential ballot. See Green Party Worries Needlessly about Risks to Its Vote-Siphoning Operation in Wisconsin.
And look, and look: in an alternative history of our time, there might have been a legitimate Green Party candidate fighting for environmental issues, etc. That’s not Jill Stein. She is Putin’s catspaw: easily a fellow traveler, if not a fifth columnist. Her presence on the ballot serves only to siphon votes from the Democratic candidate. In this way, the right judicial decision (to keep her on the ballot) turns out to be the wrong political decision (Stein’s candidacy serves only those at home and abroad who would weaken American liberal democracy).
If, however, the adversaries of the American liberal democratic tradition won a small victory by keeping Stein on the ballot to pull left-learning voters, they suffered an equal defeat yesterday when the Wisconsin Elections Commission ruled to keep Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the Wisconsin ballot. MAGA-supporting RFK Jr. wanted to be off the Wisconsin ballot precisely because he knows (with what’s left of his brain) that he draws from MAGA-leaning voters.
Live by siphoning, perish by siphoning. These scheming candidates and their foreign backers are as risible as they are wrong.
Through all this, the right choice is stark and the imperative clear: Harris-Walz. Never Trump means never Trump.
Courts, Daily Bread, Elections, Fellow Traveler, Law, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 8.27.24: Green Party Worries Needlessly about Risks to Its Vote-Siphoning Operation in Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Good morning.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 94. Sunrise is 6:15, and sunset is 7:36, for 13h 23m 08s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 37.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1832, Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk tribe of Native Americans, surrenders to U.S. authorities, ending the Black Hawk War.
On this day in 1878, Christopher Latham Sholes patents the typewriter:
The idea for this invention began at Kleinsteuber’s Machine Shop in Milwaukee in the late 1860s. A mechanical engineer by training, Sholes, along with associates Carlos Glidden and Samuel Soulé, spent hours tinkering with the idea. They mounted the key of an old telegraph instrument on a base and tapped down on it to hit carbon & paper against a glass plate. This idea was simple, but in 1868 the mere idea that type striking against paper might produce an image was a novelty. Sholes proceeded to construct a machine to reproduce the entire alphabet. The prototype was sent to Washington as the required Patent Model. This original model still exists at the Smithsonian. Investor James Densmore provided the marketing impetus that eventually brought the machine to the Remington Arms Company. Although Remington mass-marketed his typewriter beginning in 1874, it was not an instant success. A few years later, improvements made by Remington engineers gave the machine its market appeal and sales skyrocketed. [Source: Wisconsin Lore and Legends, p.41]
Last week, advocates for the Green Party expressed alarm that the Wisconsin Supreme Court asked that political party to file briefs in a lawsuit from the Wisconsin Democrats aimed at keeping the Greens off the November ballot. Wisconsin’s high court gave the Greens a tight deadline, leading the party to contend it was being treated unfairly.
Yesterday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court dismissed the suit aimed at keeping the Greens off the ballot. The Greens misunderstood the purpose of the tight deadline to file briefs. Henry Redman reports that
The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit from the Democratic National Committee challenging Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein’s placement on the ballot in November.
With just one day before the Wisconsin Elections Commission decides which candidates will be allowed on the ballot this fall, the Court moved quickly in the case, asking parties late last week to file briefs in response to the Democrats’ petition to the Court before the Green Party of Wisconsin even had a lawyer.
The Democrats had previously filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) against the Green Party’s candidate for president, Jill Stein, alleging she should not be placed on the state’s presidential ballot because the Green Party of Wisconsin does not have official state officers who can serve as presidential electors.
The WEC denied the Democrats’ complaint on a technicality, prompting the party to bring the lawsuit to the Supreme Court.
Earlier this year, the WEC voted to allow the Green Party onto the ballot because it got at least 1% of the vote in a statewide election in 2022.
(Emphasis added.)
The Wisconsin Supreme Court set an accelerated briefing deadline not to burden the Greens but to dispose of the complaint against them before the Elections Commission meeting.
Admittedly, there’s something laughable about an established political party (Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has been running for president, while simping for Putin, for years) whose Wisconsin Party officials whine that
According to Michael J. White, co-chair of the Wisconsin Green Party, his party had no legal representation in Wisconsin when he was notified of the court order.
“That just strikes me as a little bit unreasonable,” he told WPR on Thursday afternoon.
Pete Karas, the state Green Party’s elections chair, said they found a lawyer “around midnight” after “a zillion phone calls.” That lawyer is Milwaukee-area attorney Michael Dean.
The next morning, the party sent out a mass email to its followers asking for donations.
“Lawyers are expensive, and we need your help today to ensure we can pay for these much-needed legal fees,” the mailer said.
Funny that the Green Party didn’t have a Wisconsin lawyer beforehand. One would have expected a better level of preparation from a 2024 vote-siphoning operation.
Daily Bread, Nature, Wisconsin
Daily Bread for 8.26.24: A New Season (The Best Season) Draws Close
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning.
Monday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 92. Sunrise is 6:14, and sunset is 7:37, for 13h 23m 08s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 48.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 5:30 PM.
On this day in 1920, the 19th Amendment to United States Constitution takes effect, giving women the right to vote.
Wisconsin’s breathtaking fall landscapes:
New robot will clean up dangerous ‘space junk’:
Music
Monday Music: The Bad Plus, French Horns
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Birds, Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 8.25.24: Birds
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning.
Sunday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 87. Sunrise is 6:13, and sunset is 7:39, for 13h 25m 53s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 59.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1835, the Michigan legislature incorporated the Wisconsin Internal Improvement Company to open communication between Green Bay and the Mississippi by land or water. The Governor of the Michigan territory (the Wisconsin territory was not yet created), Stevens T. Mason, also officially called for creating a western legislative council. Both actions were critical to the creation of the Wisconsin Territory.
Also on this day in 1835, the first Great Moon Hoax article is published in The New York Sun, announcing the discovery of life and civilization on the Moon.
Rare birds guided by microlight in assisted migration project:
Cats, Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 8.24.24: Unfazed
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 86. Sunrise is 6:12, and sunset is 7:41, for 13h 28m 35s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 70.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1970, Vietnam War protesters bomb Sterling Hall at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, leading to an international manhunt for the perpetrators.
This cat was unfazed by the heavy storm brewing outside its home Thursday in Phoenix, Arizona:
Post by @abcnewsView on Threads
The Story Behind Scotland’s Most Controversial Snack:
Daily Bread, Economy
Daily Bread for 8.23.24: The Federal Reserve Signals Rate Cuts
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning.
Friday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 79. Sunrise is 6:11, and sunset is 7:42, for 13h 31m 18s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 79.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1775, King George III delivers his Proclamation of Rebellion to the Court of St James’s stating that the American colonies have proceeded to a state of open and avowed rebellion.
Jeff Cox reports Fed Chair Powell indicates interest rate cuts ahead: ‘The time has come for policy to adjust’:
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell laid the groundwork Friday for interest rate cuts ahead, though he declined to provide exact indications on timing or extent.
“The time has come for policy to adjust,” the central bank leader said in his much-awaited keynote address at the Fed’s annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. “The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks.”
Watch live: Fed Chair Jerome Powell speaks from Jackson Hole conference
With markets awaiting direction on where monetary policy is headed, Powell focused as much on a look back at what caused the inflation that led to an aggressive series of 13 rate hikes from March 2022 through July 2023.
However, he did note the progress on inflation and said the Fed can now turn its focus equally to other side of its dual mandate, namely to make sure the economy stays around full employment.
“Inflation has declined significantly. The labor market is no longer overheated, and conditions are now less tight than those that prevailed before the pandemic,” Powell said. “Supply constraints have normalized. And the balance of the risks to our two mandates has changed.”
Good news, all around.
COVID-19 vaccines are updated and approved ahead of fall season: