Good morning. Monday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of seventy-nine. Sunrise is 6:20 AM and sunset 7:29 PM, for 13h 09m 23s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 96.9% of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1897, Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope. Recommended for reading…
179 search results for "Great Recession"
Coronavirus, Education, Justice, Law, Laws/Regulations, Public Health, School District
Whitewater School Board Meeting, 8.24.20: 5 Points
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Unified School District’s board, the board heard, among other items, a report on summer school, a report on the district’s use of seclusion and restraint, approved unanimously a new metric the district will use to determine its next instructional plan beginning September 28th, and held a budget hearing.…
CDA, City, Economy, Local Government, Poverty, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Walworth County, WEDC, Wisconsin
Whitewater & Walworth County’s Working Poor, 2020 ALICE® Report
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The 2020 ALICE® report, on those who are “asset limited, income constrained [yet] employed” is now available. These latest data were collected before the recent recession – one can be sadly confident that hardship reaches farther now. For Wisconsin, 11% of households were below the poverty level, and 34% (including those below the poverty level) were…
City, Coronavirus, Education, Open Government, Public Health, School District
The Whitewater School Board’s Decision on Early Fall Instruction: 4 Points
by JOHN ADAMS • • 4 Comments
Updates, afternoon of 7.28.20: (1) I’ve added a recording of the 7.27.20 meeting. The best record is a recording. (2) A reader emailed to ask where I stand on recent pandemic-related public actions. On masks, I supported the city’s ordinance (to take effect 8.1) as an unfortunate necessity to preserve safe mobility in the marketplace.…
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.3.20
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning. Friday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with scattered afternoon thundershowers and a high of eighty-nine. Sunrise is 5:22 AM and sunset 8:36 PM, for 15h 14m 17s of daytime. The moon is waxing gibbous with 96.5% of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1863, the Union is victorious on…
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.2.20
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning. Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of eighty-nine. Sunrise is 5:21 AM and sunset 8:36 PM, for 15h 15m 09s of daytime. The moon is waxing gibbous with 90.9% of its visible disk illuminated. The Whitewater Fire Department meets at 6:30 PM via audiovisual conferencing. On this day…
City, Culture, Politics
Barriers to Substantive Change in a Small Town
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Several recent posts here are FREE WHITEWATER are, collectively, a cautionary series on the difficulty of effecting substantive change in Whitewater, Wisconsin. One might want change; realism demands a clear-eyed assessment of its likelihood. Other towns might have better (or even worse) odds; Whitewater is not, by definition, another town. A listing of challenges, with…
Daily Bread
Daily Bread for 7.1.20
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Good morning. Wednesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of eighty-eight. Sunrise is 5:21 AM and sunset 8:36 PM, for 15h 15m 56s of daytime. The moon is waxing gibbous with 83.4% of its visible disk illuminated. On this day in 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg begins. Recommended for reading in full…
City
Candidates’ Expectations
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
An out-of-town candidate for a public job in Whitewater should do some research on both the job and the community. Along the way, the candidate will visit the city, and perhaps be introduced to so-called stakeholders in Whitewater. Those introductions may be revealing, but they’re sure to be brief, and blur with other events on…
Babbittry, Boosterism, CDA, City, Culture, Economy, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government, Police, Press Release, School District
Built Against Substantive Change
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Over time, no matter how small the city, national conditions and trends make their way to the edge of town. Some towns will address these conditions, but others will be resistant to substantive change. For those towns in the latter category, business as usual and rhetorical feints suffice in response to powerful forces to which…
Crime, Documentary, Drug War, History, Opioids, Public Health
The Public Health Crisis before the Public Health Crisis
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Frontline’s Opioids, Inc. (full film): Pushing opioids. Bribing doctors. Making millions. FRONTLINE and the Financial Times investigate how Insys Therapeutics profited from a fentanyl-based painkiller up to 100 times stronger than heroin — and how some Wall Street investors looked the other way. Since 2007, communities like Whitewater have faced a Great Recession, an opioid…
Coronavirus, Courts, Federal Government, Law, Local Government, Public Health, State Government, Trump
Practical Implications After Wisconsin v. Palm: The Divide over the Novel Coronavirus
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
On March 24th, I first began a draft of this post. It seemed to probable then – and it is true now – that Trump would effectually abandon a social distancing or stay-at-home approach, and encourage business as usual to resume promptly. The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s ruling in Wisconsin v. Palm has brought that abandonment to Wisconsin…
City, Education, School District
The (Unexpectedly) Divergent Paths Before the Whitewater Schools
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
The Whitewater Unified School district is looking for a new district administrator. The public K-12 district serves Whitewater and some smaller towns nearby. Over the last two days, the two finalists for that position participated in public forums held via audiovisual conferencing. There’s no reason whatever to doubt that both candidates are sincere in their…
Babbittry, Boosterism, City, Culture, Local Government, Politics
Local Voting & Voting Locally in Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
The spring election, conducted during a pandemic, is now behind Wisconsin. There’s little question that statewide, it was a good night for Jill Karofsky and Lisa Neubauer. (I supported both candidates.) Whitewater – the city proper – also supported these candidates. A majority of the city’s voters did, in fact, prefer these voters even while…