Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of seventy-two.

Common Council meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

On 6.18.1812, America goes to war:

The day after the Senate followed the House of Representatives in voting to declare war against Great Britain, President James Madison signs the declaration into law–and the War of 1812 begins. The American war declaration, opposed by a sizable minority in Congress, had been called in response to the British economic blockade of France, the induction of American seaman into the British Royal Navy against their will, and the British support of hostile Indian tribes along the Great Lakes frontier. A faction of Congress known as the “War Hawks” had been advocating war with Britain for several years and had not hidden their hopes that a U.S. invasion of Canada might result in significant territorial land gains for the United States….

Puzzability has a new series about summer, running from 6.17 to 6.21:

Summer Is a-Comin’ In
We’ll be welcoming in the new season every day this week. For each day, we started with a word, added the six letters in the word SUMMER, and rearranged all the letters to get a new phrase. Both pieces are described in each day’s clue, with the shorter one first.

Example:
Fish tank scum; church basement flea market-style event

Answer:
Algae; rummage sale

Here’s the puzzle for Tuesday:

Dense Italian ice cream that’s a summer treat; repasts featuring only the finest ingredients.

Good morning.

Whitewater’s week begins with a sunny day with a high of eighty-six, and a one-in-five chance of isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Whitewater’s LIbrary Board meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1972, five burglars – but not just any five – were arrested:

In the early morning of June 17, 1972, five men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate, an office-hotel-apartment complex in Washington, D.C. In their possession were burglary tools, cameras and film, and three pen-size tear gas guns. At the scene of the crime, and in rooms the men rented at the Watergate, sophisticated electronic bugging equipment was found. Three of the men were Cuban exiles, one was a Cuban American, and the fifth was James W. McCord, Jr., a former CIA agent. That day, the suspects, who said they were “anti-communists,” were charged with felonious burglary and possession of implements of crime.

On June 18, however, it was revealed that James McCord was the salaried security coordinator for President Richard Nixon’s reelection committee. The next day, E. Howard Hunt, Jr., a former White House aide, was linked to the five suspects. In July, G. Gordon Liddy, finance counsel for the Committee for the Re-election of the President, was also implicated as an accomplice. In August, President Nixon announced that a White House investigation of the Watergate break-in had concluded that administration officials were not involved. In September, Liddy, Hunt, McCord, and the four Cubans were indicted by a federal grand jury on eight counts of breaking into and illegally bugging the Democratic National Committee headquarters.

In September and October, reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward of The Washington Post uncovered evidence of illegal political espionage carried out by the White House and the Committee for the Re-election of the President, including the existence of a secret fund kept for the purpose and the existence of political spies hired by the committee. Despite these reports, and a growing call for a Watergate investigation on Capitol Hill, Richard Nixon was reelected president in November 1972 in a landslide victory.

Puzzability has a new series for us, running from 6.17 to 6.21:

Summer Is a-Comin’ In
We’ll be welcoming in the new season every day this week. For each day, we started with a word, added the six letters in the word SUMMER, and rearranged all the letters to get a new phrase. Both pieces are described in each day’s clue, with the shorter one first.

Example:
Fish tank scum; church basement flea market-style event

Answer:
Algae; rummage sale

Here’s the puzzle for Monday:

Preserving with a VCR; classic Wrigley’s product.

Good morning.

Whitewater has a beautiful Sunday ahead, with sunny skies, a high of eighty-three, and light winds from the northwest at 5 to 10 m.p.h. Sunrise was at 5:16 a.m., and sunset will be at 8:36 p.m. The Moon is in its first quarter.

Today in 1884, a first for America:

On this day in 1884, the first roller coaster in America opens at Coney Island, in Brooklyn, New York. Known as a switchback railway, it was the brainchild of LaMarcus Thompson, traveled approximately six miles per hour and cost a nickel to ride. The new entertainment was an instant success and by the turn of the century there were hundreds of roller coasters around the country.

In Wisconsin history, on this day in 1845,

First [Superficially] Free Public School Opened in Wisconsin
On this date the first free public school in Wisconsin was opened in Southport (now Kenosha). Michael Frank, a member of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature, introduced bills authorizing the establishment of a Wisconsin public school system in 1843, 1844, and 1845. These attempts were failures so Frank sponsored a bill authorizing Southport to establish a public school supported by property tax dollars. [Source: Wisconsin Mosaic]

Good morning.

Saturday brings a day of scattered showers and a high of seventy-eight to Whitewater.

On this day in 1215, King John affixes his seal:

Following a revolt by the English nobility against his rule, King John puts his royal seal on the Magna Carta, or “Great Charter.” The document, essentially a peace treaty between John and his barons, guaranteed that the king would respect feudal rights and privileges, uphold the freedom of the church, and maintain the nation’s laws. Although more a reactionary than a progressive document in its day, the Magna Carta was seen as a cornerstone in the development of democratic England by later generations.

Here’s a link to the text as it remains in force to this day, from the United Kingdom’s legislative website, a service of the British government’s National Archives.

He’s used up one life, but he has eight left — cat survives boa constrictor (with help):

On this date in 1832, The Black Hawk War gets a new commander:

1832 – General Winfield Scott Ordered to Assume Command in Black Hawk War

On this date General Winfield Scott was ordered by President Andrew Jackson to take command at the frontier of the Black Hawk War. Scott was to succeed General Henry Atkinson, thought to be unable to end the war quickly. General Scott moved rapidly to recruit troops and obtain equipment for his army. However, while in New York, the troops were exposed to an Asiatic cholera. Just outside of Buffalo, the first cases on the ships were reported and death often followed infection.

By the time the ships reached Chicago, the number of soldiers had dropped dramatically from 800 to 150, due to disease and desertion. Rather than going on to the front, Scott remained with his troops in Chicago, giving Atkinson a brief reprieve. [Source: Along the Black Hawk Trail, by William F. Stark, p. 90-91]

Good morning.

It’s a beautiful end to the week, with mostly sunny skies, and a high near 75.

On this day in 1777, Congress chooses a flag for the new nation:

During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress adopts a resolution stating that “the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white” and that “the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” The national flag, which became known as the “Stars and Stripes,” was based on the “Grand Union” flag, a banner carried by the Continental Army in 1776 that also consisted of 13 red and white stripes….

On June 14, 1877, the first Flag Day observance was held on the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes. As instructed by Congress, the U.S. flag was flown from all public buildings across the country. In the years after the first Flag Day, several states continued to observe the anniversary, and in 1949 Congress officially designated June 14 as Flag Day, a national day of observance.

Puzzablity has a new weekly theme for June 10-14: “Paternity Test
There’s a bit of a generation gap this Father’s Day week. Each day’s clue is a series of words, each with one letter replaced by a dash. Fill in the missing letters one way to get the first (or only) name of a famous father, real or fictional, then fill them in another way to get the name of a child of his.”

Example:
ADO-E / HO-SEFLY / PA-PER / CHE-K / CHE-RY
Answer:
ADOBE HORSEFLY PAUPER CHECK CHEERY
ADORE HOUSEFLY PAMPER CHEEK CHERRY
Bruce & Rumer (Willis)

Here’s June 14th’s puzzle, the final one in the current series:

RE-ORDING / S-RED / SWE-TER / F-AGRANT / ENTIT-ES / M-SSAGE / WHI-PERING