Sunday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 72. Sunrise is 6:18 and sunset is 7:33 for 13 hours 15 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 27.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1945, the U.S. Ninth Army under General William H. Simpson crosses the Elbe River astride Magdeburg, and reaches Tangermünde — within 100 miles of Berlin.
If consumer sentiment is down — and it is — then what condition, what variable, explains the low level of consumer confidence? Writing in Strength in Numbers, G. Elliott Morris has a plausible theory:
I’ve got some data I’m going to dig into next week that speaks to this more directly. But for now, look at the following chart from the Michigan survey itself. It tracks the share of consumers who cite high prices as the reason they are personally struggling financially.
Before 2021, this number hovered near zero percent. Empirically speaking prices were a non-factor in how people viewed the state of the economy.
Then, everything changed. The share of adults citing high prices as a source of anxiety went exponential during the 2021-22 inflation spike and never came back down. It’s now above 50%, likely because of the gas prices spike from the war in Iran.
[…]
While inflation dropping from 8% to 3% reflects a “cooling off” of the economy, but evidently people still mostly just see high prices for things and get upset about that. And fair enough!
My theory is that price levels account for much to most of the “puzzle” of why consumer sentiment is lower than you would predict based on the historical relationship between CPI, unemployment, the cost of money and etc.
There are many measures of economic performance, but American consumers have settled on inflation (rather than other measures like unemployment, interest rates, etc.). While there are relationships (of course) between all these measures, ordinary Americans have made high prices their high priority.
This focus on higher prices places a federal administration that is pushing higher tariffs and struggling to assure the resumption of tanker transit in the Persian Gulf in a notably weak position with consumers.
There’s a longstanding claim that Trump cheated to get into Wharton (from Trump’s own niece and aunt!). I’ve no idea about his conduct back then, but his grasp of economics is below that of an ordinary person. Here’s Trump contending that because it’s hard to get oil from the Persian Gulf, nations are sending their empty tankers to America and fill up on American oil:
“Massive numbers of completely empty oil tankers, some of the largest anywhere in the World, are heading, right now, to the United States to load up with the best and “sweetest” oil and gas anywhere in the World.”
This libertarian blogger has no idea whether Trump’s lying yet again about current events, but anyone sensible can say what increased demand for a product in one place means during a shortage in a global market: higher prices for whatever is still available. Competition over scarce oil will drive up prices for domestic and foreign buyers. This is Trump telling people they’ll pay more for oil without expressly telling people they’ll pay more for oil.
Honest to goodness.
Upcomingposts (in no decided order): The Regents, Economic Demand, Trump on Daycare, Claims of Legacy, a Particular Species of Democrat, and a Whitewater Comparative Analysis.
Lava poured from Kilauea on Thursday. It was the 44th time the Hawaiian volcano has erupted. The lava fountain reached a peak of 800 feet, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Saturday in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 55. Sunrise is 6:19 and sunset is 7:32 for 13 hours 13 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 37 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
A detachment of troops of the U.S. 9th Armored Infantry Battalion, from the 6th Armored Division, part of the U.S. Third Army, and under the command of Captain Frederic Keffer, arrived at Buchenwald on 11 April 1945 at 3:15 p.m. (now the permanent time of the clock at the entrance gate). The soldiers were given a hero’s welcome, with the emaciated survivors finding the strength to toss some liberators into the air in celebration.
Consumer prices spiked in March as the Iran war sent energy costs soaring and took the Federal Reserve further from its inflation target, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report Friday. Underlying inflation, however, was relatively tame.
The consumer price index increased a seasonally adjusted 0.9% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 3.3%, pushed by a 10.9% surge in energy costs. Both numbers were in line with the Dow Jones consensus. The annual rate was the highest since April 2024 and up from 2.4% in February.
Consumer sentiment fell in April to the lowest level recorded in the 70-plus-year history of the University of Michigan’s survey, evidence of Americans’ concerns that the Iran war will hit the domestic economy.
The survey’s initial April reading came in at 47.6, versus 53.3 in March. Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal were expecting a drop to 52. The April reading is below the previous low point of 50 recorded in June 2022, when the economy was facing searing inflation.
Upcomingposts (in no decided order): The Regents, Economic Demand, Trump on Daycare, Claims of Legacy, a Particular Species of Democrat, and a Whitewater Comparative Analysis.
Artemis II’s crew of four have emerged one-by-one from their lunar capsule Friday after a splashdown in the Pacific. The three Americans and one Canadian set a distance record for space travel during their lunar flyby, surpassing NASA’s Apollo 13.
Friday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 52. Sunrise is 6:21 and sunset is 7:31 for 13 hours 10 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 46.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1606, the Virginia Company of London is established by royal charter from James I of England with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.
Twenty years ago this April, residents in town might have pointed to the Whitewater Register, the Daily Jefferson County Union, or the Janesville Gazette as leading (if imperfect) sources of local news. Few, if anyone, would have said then that the Royal Purple (https://royalpurplenews.com), whatever its strengths, was a leading source of community news off campus, especially news of Whitewater’s local government and public school district. (FREE WHITEWATER came along in 2007, and it has never been, nor ever aspired to be, a newspaper. This is a “website of commentary on politics, policy, and popular culture, published from Whitewater, Wisconsin since 2007.”)
In the years since, how the landscape has changed: Over the last few years, the Royal Purple has done a better job of covering local government (while also covering campus issues) than any other newspaper in this community. The stories covering public affairs are more solidly rooted in journalism, more consistent in coverage of local public bodies, and better written than competing news and media publications in our area.
The paper’s local election coverage is a good example (but only one). The Royal Purple placed all the local candidates for the Whitewater Common Council and the Whitewater Unified School District Board in the same concise, yet informative, story. Longtime newspaper readers know that’s a standard journalistic format for a reason — elections are about choices and choices are made easier through at-the-ready comparisons. See Eric Arguelles, Macey Hotz, and Lily Adams, Common Council, School Board candidates share priorities, April 6, 2026.
Throughout the year, the paper has ably covered local government in this town. Now here’s the kicker (for those who’d like to imagine otherwise): it has done so more ably than any other newspaper. The paper doesn’t publish all year, but it’s a fine newspaper for Whitewater during the majority of the year when it does publish.
Obvious point: this libertarian blogger has no connection to the Royal Purple, or any other area local newspaper or news site, except as a reader. I’m quite satisfied being an ordinary newspaper reader at a suitable remove from other publications.
The Royal Purple has become what this town needs: solid, consistent, earnest — yet lively.
If it’s not near the top of your Whitewater reading list, it should be. You’ll be glad to have bookmarked the site: Royal Purple (https://royalpurplenews.com).
Upcomingposts (in no decided order): The Regents, Economic Demand, Trump on Daycare, Claims of Legacy, a Particular Species of Democrat, and a Whitewater Comparative Analysis.
A new species of spider has been captured on video for the first time. Researchers in southern Spain are racing to learn more about the tiny Cryptodrassus michaeli arachnid and the ecosystem it inhabits.
A research group led by Professor Masao Miyazaki at Iwate University, Japan, has now shown that domestic cats may stop eating not only because they are full, but also because smell plays an important role in regulating feeding motivation. The study suggests that feeding behavior in cats is dynamically influenced by olfactory habituation and dishabituation. The study was published in Physiology & Behavior.
[…]
In further experiments, the researchers tested whether the decline in intake caused by repeated presentation of the same food could be reversed by introducing a different food. Cats were given the same food for five consecutive trials and a different food in the sixth. Intake decreased significantly from the first to the fifth trial, but increased again when a new food was introduced, regardless of whether it was more or less palatable than the original one.
Remarkably, even without changing the food itself, simply introducing the odor of a different food restored intake. The researchers also found that continuous exposure to the same food odor between feeding cycles led to a further reduction in subsequent food intake. However, this effect was mitigated when a different odor was introduced during the intervals.
Tuesday, April 14 at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of If I Had legs I’d Kick You @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:
Psychological Drama
Rated R (language) 1 hour 53 minutes (2025)
With her life crashing down around her, Linda (Rose Byrne) attempts to navigate her child’s mysterious illness, her absent husband (Christian Slater), a missing person, and an increasingly hostile relationship with her icy therapist (Conan O’Brien). A Best Actress Oscar nomination (and golden Globe winner) for Rose Byrne in a stunning, exhausting disturbingly brilliant performance.
Thursday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 62. Sunrise is 6:23 and sunset is 7:30 for 13 hours 7 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 55.6 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1865, Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the war.
Each election season, Whitewater has its share of political yard signs throughout the city. A yard sign may simply represent a property owner’s expressed feelings, without any design to affect the outcome of an election. Political speech is often like this: speaking one’s mind.
As a practical matter, however, yard signs are a poor indicator of political outcomes in Whitewater.
First, it’s typical of local landlords (mostly if not exclusively right-leaning) to place yard signs for candidates on their properties. The location of these plentiful clusters, especially the ones on Main Street, are well-known to the community as student rental operators’ properties. (That is, they don’t represent the sentiments of the manyresidents therein, but instead of a fewowners thereof.1) Anyone who’s been in town for more than a year sees this, so the many yard signs on rental properties are reasonably discounted as a false indicator of popular opinion.
Imagine the landlords’ thinking:
Behold, our utilitarian buildings lovely properties of multi-tenant individually-owned residences that will trick convince Whitewater’s voters as an astroturf a grassroots movement in favor of our latest set of disposable beloved catspaws candidates!
I’d guess that local landlords see the clustered placement of their preferred candidates’ yard signs as a significant electoral advantage for their candidates. It’s obviously not.
Second, yard signs are overrated even in a media desert like ours. As a form of campaign advertising, yard signs are a low-cost, but also a low-impact, medium. A study from Columbia University in 2016 suggests that yard signs influence vote share only slightly:
After pooling the results of the four experiments and examining their averages, it appears that lawn signs raise vote shares, on average, by slightly more than 1 percentage point.
Based on pooled results, lawn signs are “on par with other low-tech campaign tactics such as direct mail that generate … effects that tend to be small in magnitude.”
Signs, in some scenarios, do not appear to be as effective when they make reference to a specific political party or ideology.
One percent is something, yet not a huge influence.
Yard signs are part of Americana, but they’re unlikely to change any races in Whitewater.
I’ll take a moment to discuss another medium that didn’t affect the Spring Election outcome. Social media in Whitewater, and that means Facebook, was ablaze in December and January with posts that suggested a significant right-leaning local trend. Relying on those winter posts would have been a false reliance on sincere but, as it predictably turned out, ephemeral sentiments. Facebook burns hot but fast. A steady candidate, holding his or her nerve, can weather a political torrent on social media. Neither fickle human nature nor an edgy algorithm keeps its focus for long.
Upcomingposts (in no decided order): Newspapers, the Regents, Economic Demand, Trump on Daycare, Claims of Legacy, and a Particular Species of Democrat.
_____
It’s still one person, one vote in Wisconsin, isn’t it? ↩︎
Wednesday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 65. Sunrise is 6:24 and sunset is 7:29 for 13 hours 5 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 65.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1820, a Greek farmer discovers the Venus de Milo on the Aegean island of Milos.
With Wisconsin’s Spring Election now over, I’ll offer preliminary remarks (beginning locally from the City of Whitewater and moving outward). Unofficial local results for all precincts below are from the election websites of Walworth, Jefferson, and Rock counties. Unofficial results for the Wisconsin Supreme Court race for >95% of the vote are from The New York Times.
WhitewaterCommon Council. Three Common Council contests for the City of Whitewater saw two incumbents (Orin Smith and Brian Schanen) re-elected and one new member (Gavin Kelleher) earning a seat on the council:
Whitewater Council At Large
Orin Smith
1,081 (Walworth 920, Jefferson 161)
Aubrey Thompson
861 (Walworth 700, Jefferson 161)
Whitewater Council District 2
Gavin Kelleher
190
Sean Liebherr
46
Whitewater Council District 4
Brian Schanen
375
Chuck Mills
210
Whitewater’s local government has been on the right path these last three years. Re-electing Smith and Schanen and electing Kelleher most effectively preserves the positive momentum the city has seen since 2022. This was the best possible outcome for Whitewater.
A ceaseless effort to deny evident municipal progress, sometimes relying on the use of non-residents’ false and ludicrous claims, did not obscure the progress that actual residents saw with their own eyes. In the end, truth is the most skillful advocate, achievement the finest rhetorician.
Doubt not, however, that the special interest men will say whatever they can, and do whatever they can, to control this city to their particular benefit. There are long years, and important work, yet ahead. One wakes up every day as a dark-horse underdog.
Whitewater Unified School District. In this race, four candidates (incumbents Stephanie Hicks, Lisa Huempfner, Christy Linse, and first-time candidate Terri Jones) sought three seats. Unofficial results show Huempfner and Hicks returned to office, joined by newcomer Jones.
Lisa Huempfner
2,053 (Walworth 1614, Jefferson 297, Rock 142)
Stephanie Hicks
2,044 (Walworth 1543, Jefferson 321, Rock 180)
Terri Jones
1,849 (Walworth 1447, Jefferson 279, Rock 123)
Christy Linse
1,707 (Walworth 1289, Jefferson 272, Rock 146)
I’ve been a critic of our school board, and I’ll leave more particular remarks on that matter for another time. Whether there will be a change of board direction, toward a genuine embrace of open government, I’ll not venture beyond the expression that hope springs eternal.
Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Statewide:
Chris Taylor
905,155 — 60.1%
Maria Lazar
600,044 — 39.9%
In Whitewater:
Chris Taylor
1,749 (Walworth 1,431, Jefferson 318) — 74.7%
Maria Lazar
591 (Walworth 489, Jefferson 102) — 23.4%
Judge Taylor ran even better in Whitewater than statewide.
Hers was also a more lopsided contest than even favorable polling (albeit admittedly sparse) suggested. Consider these figures from the Times website:
County type
Leader margin
Who is ahead of their benchmark?
Large cities 391,831 votes in
Taylor +60
Taylor by 12 pts. Needed at least +48
Smaller cities and suburbs 645,852 votes in
Taylor +7
Taylor by 21 pts. Lazar needed at least +14
Rural 337,810 votes in
Taylor +4
Taylor by 23 pts. Lazar needed at least +19
In each geographic category — for cities, suburbs, and rural areas — Taylor significantly exceeded the benchmark vote that she needed to win. In Walworth County, where Trump won by 22 points in 2024, Maria Lazar only won by 0.9 points in 2026 (that’s zero point nine, an amount less than one percent).
Here’s the Wisconsin vote by county from November 2024 and April 2026:
I know it's risky to read much into state-level elections, but the difference in these two maps is pretty striking. The left shows county-level votes for Trump and Harris in 2024 in Wisconsin. The right shows the results of yesterday's Supreme Court race, where the Democrat won in a landslide.
Upcomingposts (in no decided order): Yard Signs, Newspapers, the Regents, Economic Demand, Trump on Daycare, Claims of Legacy, and a Particular Species of Democrat.
Whitewater is the work — and adventure — of a lifetime.
Tuesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 43. Sunrise is 6:26 and sunset is 7:28 for 13 hours 2 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 73.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1927, AT&T engineer Herbert Ives transmits the first long-distance public television broadcast (from Washington, D.C., to New York City, displaying the image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).
I’ve read somewhere that today is election day in Wisconsin… Sometimes, in Whitewater, there’s a small flurry of schemes and lies in March that precede the April local election. We have not had that this year. (This year in Whitewater, the schemes and lies came along in February.)
This Election Day isn’t merely the end of a political season; it’s the beginning of a new one. It brings the commentary assessing the result and preparing for what comes next.
People choose freely. Afterward, one makes one’s way in the world of those choices.
Monday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 45. Sunrise is 6:28 and sunset is 7:27 for 12 hours 59 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 81.5 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
Whitewater’s Urban Forestry Commission meets at 5:30 PM and the Police and Fire Commission meets at 6 PM.
On this day in 1965, the Communications Satellite Corporation’s ‘Early Bird‘ (Intelsat I) becomes the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.
Ariel Waldman, explorer and filmmaker, has a new series on PBS: LIFE UNEARTHED. The first episode (Antarctica: Life at the Edge) is now available. Upcoming episodes include examinations of fireflies, wetlands, prairies and prairie fires, dry valleys with Mars-like conditions, and Antarctica.
Before and after politics — before and after this long conflict that grips America — the natural order. Sometimes, as respite and rejuvenation, even now.
Easter Sunday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 51. Sunrise is 6:30 and sunset is 7:25 for 12 hours 55 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 89 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1621, the Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth, Massachusetts on a return trip to England.
Saturday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 49. Sunrise is 6:31 and sunset is 7:24 for 12 hours 53 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 93.7% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1818, Congress, affirming the Second Continental Congress, adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 at that time).
Taylor’s opposition, while a Democratic state lawmaker, to the Republican-backed 2011 state law requiring identification to vote.
Her introduction of a 2017 bill, which did not become law. It would have provided driver’s licenses to unauthorized residents, but the licenses would have been labeled: “Not valid for voting purposes.”
Taylor’s opinion, in a 2024 appeals court ruling, which said absentee ballots count even if voters’ witnesses fail to give election clerks their full address. Citizenship is required to vote in Wisconsin, but Wisconsin election officials generally do not verify citizenship when a person registers.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
And look, and look — the Lazar campaign is crawling to Election Day. Multiple blood transfusions wouldn’t be enough to save that anemic campaign. This false claim about noncitizen voting isn’t about winning the election.
It’s simply a desperation move before the clock run out.
Good Friday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 57. Sunrise is 6:33 and sunset is 7:23 for 12 hours 50 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 97.5% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1948, President Truman signs the Marshall Plan, authorizing aid for 16 countries.
The president of the University of Wisconsin system said in letters obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday that he has been told to either resign or be fired, but has been given no reason and won’t step aside.
Jay Rothman, president of the multicampus 165,000-student university system since 2022, said in a letter addressed to the head of the Board of Regents dated March 26 that he has been given no reason why regents want him to leave.
Rothman said he has been told that his options are to resign or retire, and that if he doesn’t then the board “was prepared to terminate my employment despite all that has been accomplished.”
[…]
In the letter addressed to Bogost, Rothman said he had not been “provided any substantive reason or reasons for the Board’s finding of no confidence in my leadership.”
Because of that, Rothman said, “I am not prepared, as a matter of principle, to submit my resignation.”
Rothman also refused to resign in a second letter sent to two other regents on Wednesday after he said they urged him to step down during a Tuesday meeting. Rothman said the regents told him if he didn’t resign, the board was prepared to meet this weekend to fire him.
Rothman said those regents also could not give a reason for them wanting him to resign or be fired.
A public action over a public official — including over his or her tenure — must be publicly and thoroughly explained. The Regents do not serve in a private capacity and so may not act in a private capacity on behalf of the Wisconsin state university system.
These are public actions all the way through. There may be sufficient reasons for Rothman’s removal; they must be publicly explained and adequately justified.
Failure to do so is disqualifying for those serving on the Board of Regents.
The four astronauts on NASA’s lunar mission have spoken about their journey so far via video. Their Orion capsule is approaching 100,000 miles from Earth as it heads towards the moon, putting them on track to reach the farthest distance humans have ever travelled in space.
