Good morning.

Sunday brings a one-third chance of afternoon showers and thunderstorms, with a high in the mid-seventies. We’ll have southeast winds at 10 to 15 mph. The Moon’s a waxing crescent with 1% of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1974,

[w]ith a spectacular victory at the Belmont Stakes, Secretariat becomes the first horse since Citation in 1948 to win America’s coveted Triple Crown–the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes. In one of the finest performances in racing history, Secretariat, ridden by Ron Turcotte, completed the 1.5-mile race in 2 minutes and 24 seconds, a dirt-track record for that distance.

In Wisconsin history in 1915,

1915 – Guitar Pioneer Les Paul Born
On this date guitarist Les Paul (aka Lester Polfus) was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Best known for the guitar that bears his name, Les Paul was a country-music guitarist, jazz-pop musician and pioneer in music technology. In 1941, Paul built his first solid-body electric guitar and over the next decade he developed revolutionary engineering techniques such as close miking, echo delay, and multi-tracking. Paul was also well known for recording with his wife, singer Colleen Summers (a.k.a. Mary Ford). Their biggest hits included “How High the Moon” (1951) and “Vaya Con Dios” (1953), both reaching #1. The recordings of Les Paul and Mary Ford were not only popular hits, they also showcased Paul’s pioneering use of overdubbing, or the layering of guitar parts one atop another. In 1952, Les Paul introduced the first eight-track tape recorder as well as the solid-body electric guitar he is known for. Built and marketed by Gibson, the Les Paul guitar has been used by such guitarists as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. [Source: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]

Good morning.

Saturday will be partly sunny with a high of seventy-two. Sunrise was at 5:17 a.m. and sunset will be at 8:32 p.m. There will be a New Moon at 10:57 a.m.

On this day in 1944, the Allies consolidate gains at Normandy:

U.S. General Omar Bradley, following orders from General Eisenhower, links up American troops from Omaha Beach with British troops from Gold Beach at Colleville-sur-Mer. Meanwhile, Russian Premier Joseph Stalin telegraphs British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to announce that the Allied success at Normandy “is a source of joy to us all,” and promises to launch his own offensive on the Eastern Front, as had been agreed upon at the Tehran Conference in late ’43, and thereby prevent Hitler from transferring German troops from the east to support troops at Normandy.

It’s Frank Lloyd Wright’s birthday:

1867 – Architect Frank Lloyd Wright Born

On this date Frank Lincoln Wright (he changed his middle name after his parents divorced) was born in Richland Center. An architect, author, and social critic, Wright’s artistic genius demonstrated an extraordinary capacity to create architectural space and vocabulary that drew inspiration from both nature and technology. The son of William Cary Wright, a lawyer and music teacher, and Anna Lloyd Jones, a school teacher, Frank Lloyd Wright’s family moved to Madison in 1877 to be near Anna’s family in Spring Green.

Wright briefly studied civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, after which he moved to Chicago to pursue a career in architecture. Wright started his own firm in 1893 and between 1893 and 1901, 49 buildings designed by Wright were built.

Some notable Frank Lloyd Wright structures in Wisconsin include S.C. Johnson and Son, Inc. Administration Building in Racine, the A.D. German Warehouse in Richland Center, and Taliesin and Hillside in Spring Green. The Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center in Madison was also based on Wright’s design. Frank Lloyd Wright died on April 9, 1959, in Phoenix, Arizona. [Source: American National Biography, Vol. 24, 1999, p.15]

Good morning.

There’s a slight chance of a few showers, but we’ll have a mostly sunny Friday, with a high of sixty-seven.

Descent:

The #NSA – part of the military – now has direct access to every corner of Americans’ digital lives. http://t.co/rlNAzcW5Lq #surveillance

— ACLU (@ACLU) June 7, 2013

Forewarning:

FISA Reminder: Rand Paul and Ron Wyden Warned Youhttp://t.co/bAMzLJkkPG

— Grüss Gott (@clasicaliberal) June 7, 2013

Here’s the final puzzle of Puzzablity‘s weekly theme for June 3-7: “For each day this week, we’ll give you as a clue a review we wrote of a Tony-winning Best Play. Remove any spaces and punctuation, then delete exactly half of the letters from anywhere in the clue to reveal, reading the remaining letters in order, the title of the play. (You’ll need to add spaces for your final answer.)”

Example:
A HUGE BUST ONSTAGE, ACTED WITHOUT SANITY!
Answer:
August: Osage County

Here’s June 6th’s puzzle:

AMAZING, FORMALLY STAGED PLAY’S TONY BEST!

Good morning.

Whitewater will see showers throughout the day, with a high of sixty-three.

Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets tonight at 6 PM.

It’s the anniversary of the Normandy landings:

On the morning of June 5, 1944, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe gave the go-ahead for Operation Overlord, the largest amphibious military operation in history. On his orders, 6,000 landing craft, ships and other vessels carrying 176,000 troops began to leave England for the trip to France. That night, 822 aircraft filled with parachutists headed for drop zones in Normandy. An additional 13,000 aircraft were mobilized to provide air cover and support for the invasion.

By dawn on June 6, 18,000 parachutists were already on the ground; the land invasions began at 6:30 a.m. The British and Canadians overcame light opposition to capture Gold, Juno and Sword beaches; so did the Americans at Utah. The task was much tougher at Omaha beach, however, where 2,000 troops were lost and it was only through the tenacity and quick-wittedness of troops on the ground that the objective was achieved. By day’s end, 155,000 Allied troops–Americans, British and Canadians–had successfully stormed Normandy’s beaches.

On this day in 1822, a peculiar series of scientific experiments begins:

1822 – Shooting Leads to Medical Experiments
On this date Alexis St. Martin was accidently shot in the stomach at Mackinac Island. St. Martin was treated by Dr. William Beaumont, who saved his life but left an open wound in the young man’s side. Over many subsequent years, Dr. Beaumont conducted experiments through the opening in St. Martin’s stomach. Beaumont and the St. Martin family moved to Prairie du Chien for a period, where the doctor conducted 238 scientific experiments on St. Martin’s exposed stomach with only a spool of thread, a scissors, various foods, and a thermometer. Beaumont’s important discoveries about digestion were published in 1833 in “Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion.” His experiments proved to be crucial to a scientific understanding of how human digestion works. More information is available elsewhere at wisconsinhistory.org. [Source: Badger Saints and Sinners by Fred L. Holmes, p. 136-150]

Here’s Puzzablity‘s weekly theme for June 3-7: “For each day this week, we’ll give you as a clue a review we wrote of a Tony-winning Best Play. Remove any spaces and punctuation, then delete exactly half of the letters from anywhere in the clue to reveal, reading the remaining letters in order, the title of the play. (You’ll need to add spaces for your final answer.)”

Example:
A HUGE BUST ONSTAGE, ACTED WITHOUT SANITY!
Answer:
August: Osage County

Here’s June 6th’s puzzle:

THE ORCHESTRATION GETS SHRILL, NOT GAY!

Good morning.

Wednesday holds a likelihood of showers for Whitewater, with a high of 67 and southeast winds of 5 to 10 mph.

Whitewater’s Tourism Council meets at 9:00 AM, and the Community Development Authority meets this afternoon at 4:30 PM. The CDA amended agenda appears below:

1. Call to order and roll call.

2. HEARING OF CITIZEN COMMENTS. No formal CDA Action will be taken during this meeting although issues raised
may become a part of a future agenda. Items on the agenda may not be discussed at this time.

3. Action on Request to Waive 72 hour meeting notice as required by Chapter 2.62.060 of the Whitewater Municipal Code.

4. Adjourn into closed session per Wisconsin State Statutes 19.85(1)(e) “Deliberating or negotiating the purchase of public property, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business, whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session”.

a. Item to be discussed: Discuss negotiation of an agreement with the Greater Whitewater Committee, Inc. for governmental affairs consulting services related to State of Wisconsin approvals concerning Highway 12 improvements between the City of Whitewater and the City of Elkhorn.

5. Return to open session for possible action on closed session items.

6. Future agenda referrals.

7. Adjourn

On this day in 1942, Japanese troops occupy islands off Alaska:

…Japanese soldiers occupy the American islands of Attu and Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, as the Axis power continues to expand its defensive perimeter.

Having been defeated at the battle of Midway—stopped by the United States from even landing on the Midway Islands—the Japanese nevertheless proved successful in their invasion of the Aleutians, which had been American territory since purchased from Russia in 1867. Killing 25 American troops upon landing in Attu, the Japanese proceeded to relocate and intern the inhabitants, as well as those at Kiska. America would finally invade and recapture the Aleutians one year later—killing most of the 2,300 Japanese troops defending it—in three weeks of fighting.

Puzzablity has a new weekly theme for June 3-7: “For each day this week, we’ll give you as a clue a review we wrote of a Tony-winning Best Play. Remove any spaces and punctuation, then delete exactly half of the letters from anywhere in the clue to reveal, reading the remaining letters in order, the title of the play. (You’ll need to add spaces for your final answer.)”

Example:
A HUGE BUST ONSTAGE, ACTED WITHOUT SANITY!
Answer:
August: Osage County

Here’s June 5th’s puzzle:

PLOT’S THIN—YOU WON’T LIKE ACTORS!

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of seventy, and a one-in-five chance of morning showers. Sunrise was a 5:18 a.m., and sunset will be at 8:29 p.m. The Moon is a waning crescent with 14% of the its visible disk illuminated.

People should have, and mostly do have, the choice of what to eat. They may exercise their choices, however, either well or poorly:

On this day in 1942, a victory for America:

…the Battle of Midway–one of the most decisive U.S. victories against Japan during World War II–begins. During the four-day sea-and-air battle, the outnumbered U.S. Pacific Fleet succeeded in destroying four Japanese aircraft carriers while losing only one of its own, the Yorktown, to the previously invincible Japanese navy….

When the Battle of Midway ended, Japan had lost four carriers, a cruiser and 292 aircraft, and suffered an estimated 2,500 casualties. The U.S. lost the Yorktown, the destroyer USS Hammann, 145 aircraft and suffered approximately 300 casualties.

Japan’s losses hobbled its naval might–bringing Japanese and American sea power to approximate parity–and marked the turning point in the Pacific theater of World War II. In August 1942, the great U.S. counteroffensive began at Guadalcanal and did not cease until Japan’s surrender three years later.

On 6.4.1861, a medical first:

1861 – First Recorded Kidney Removal Occurs
On this date Dr. Erastus B. Wolcott, a Milwaukee surgeon, performed the first recorded removal of a diseased kidney. [Source: History Just Ahead: A guide to Wisconsin’s Historical Markers edited by Sarah Davis McBride, p. 22.]

Puzzablity has a new weekly theme for June 3-7: “For each day this week, we’ll give you as a clue a review we wrote of a Tony-winning Best Play. Remove any spaces and punctuation, then delete exactly half of the letters from anywhere in the clue to reveal, reading the remaining letters in order, the title of the play. (You’ll need to add spaces for your final answer.)”

Example:
A HUGE BUST ONSTAGE, ACTED WITHOUT SANITY!
Answer:
August: Osage County

Here’s June 4th’s puzzle:

ADEQUATE SHOW FAILS AT LATEST MATINEE!