FREE WHITEWATER

Business, Open Government, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 3.23.26: Microsoft Makes the Right Decision on Data Center Non-Disclosure Agreements

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 43. Sunrise is 6:52 and sunset is 7:10 for 12 hours 18 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 26 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1965, NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States’ first two-man space flight (crew: Gus Grissom and John Young).

Microsoft, Inside the World’s Most Powerful AI Datacenter, Microsoft Blogs (Sept. 18, 2025), https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2025/09/18/inside-the-worlds-most-powerful-ai-datacenter/ (photograph of Mount Pleasant data center campus).

This libertarian blogger has contended for minimal state regulation of data centers — local communities should decide what’s best for them, proposal by proposal. What municipalities should not do, however, is sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with companies proposing data centers. If local communities are to decide for themselves, then residents need plentiful information about data center proposals. Microsoft now acknowledges that community need:

Microsoft announced last week it would stop signing nondisclosure agreements that keep its data center proposals secret, a move that received praise from open government advocates.

Less attention was paid to the other party to those NDAs: local governments.

“Hopefully, the industry follows,” said Wisconsin state Rep. Clint Moses, R-Menomonie, where the city signed an NDA, then put a proposed data center on hold. Microsoft “just realized that it’s not a successful formula when you come into a community under darkness.”

Moses said a bill he introduced to ban data center NDAs, which stalled in the Legislature, is still needed to prevent local governments from signing the agreements. If local officials sign them, “hopefully voters will remember it and hold them accountable,” he said.

Microsoft did not sign NDAs in the Racine County communities of Mount Pleasant, where a multibillion-dollar data center complex is under construction, or in Caledonia, where it withdrew a data center proposal amid community opposition. But its announcement comes at a time of public backlash against data centers proposed in Wisconsin.

The company said its new position on NDAs is an effort toward transparency “as we continue to build trust with the communities around the world in which we operate, and that it would work with local governments to terminate current NDAs. Microsoft has one in Kenosha, where a data center is proposed.

See Tom Kertscher, Local data center critics praise Microsoft’s pledge to stop using NDAs, but remain skeptical, Wisconsin Watch, March 23, 2026.

Legislation banning NDAs with data center companies — or local governments — wouldn’t be necessary if each party understood that this level of secrecy is understandably and rightly objectionable to residents in these communities.

It would be far better if we lived in conditions where no company and no local government even considered the possibility of a non-disclosure agreement for a data center. We do not live in those conditions, although Microsoft’s announcement, if sincere, might move other companies to accept conditions of open and transparent government over these centers.

Bison get a bronze tribute for America’s 250th birthday:

Three bison statues cast in bronze have taken up a permanent display outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington.

Business, Food, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 3.22.26: Sixty Million Gummies Per Day from Wisconsin to America

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 57. Sunrise is 6:54 and sunset is 7:09 for 12 hours 15 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 15.9 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1894, the Stanley Cup ice hockey competition is held for the first time, in Montreal, Canada (decades before the establishment of the NHL).

From Pleasant Prairie to the rest of America:

Haribo is one of the largest gummy candy manufacturers in the world, with its Wisconsin factory producing 60 million Goldbear gummies a day. Hershey, best known for chocolate, has expanded into pretzels and dipped fruit snacks. Ferrara, meanwhile, owns a range of chewy, hard and powder-based candy brands like Jelly Belly, Laffy Taffy and Fun Dip. But Haribo takes a different approach—focusing solely on gummy candy as its advantage. WSJ explores how Haribo uses local factories and regional flavors to grow its global presence.
Chapters:
0:00 Haribo gummies
0:30 Gummy candy strategy
2:03 Factories
2:52 Decentralization and localization
5:07 What’s next?

Hubble telescope accidentally recorded a comet breaking apart:

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope observed comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) fragmenting into multiple pieces, offering scientists a rare look at a comet breakup event and the forces driving it.

Legislature, State Government, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 3.21.26: Wisconsin Will See a New State Government

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will see partly sunny skies and a high of 72. Sunrise is 6:56 and sunset is 7:08 for 12 hours 12 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 8.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1952, Alan Freed presents the Moondog Coronation Ball, generally considered the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Wisconsin’s future will bring a new governor, a new Assembly speaker, and a new state Senate majority leader:

Spring isn’t the best season (that’s Fall, obviously!), but this new season does have its delights. For those who’ve been waiting, it’s your time:

Click image to play video

Legislature, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 3.20.26: Another WISGOP State Senator Retires

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Good morning.

Spring in Whitewater begins with cloudy skies and a high of 60. Sunrise is 6:58 and sunset is 7:07 for 12 hours 9 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 3.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1815, after escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his “Hundred Days” rule.

State Senate Majority Leader LeMahieu announced his retirement yesterday:

In Devin LeMahieu’s tenure as GOP leader, he initially oversaw lopsided Republican majorities. He began with a 21-12 majority in 2021, and by 2023, Republicans held a 22-11 edge. 

He flexed that power when possible. The GOP’s two-thirds supermajority meant Senate Republicans could vote to override governor’s vetoes, although the overrides never passed with enough votes in the Wisconsin Assembly. LeMahieu also held up numerous appointees of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, and voted to fire many of them.

But the dynamic changed under new, more competitive political maps passed by Republicans in early 2024 under pressure from the Wisconsin Supreme Court. With half of all Senate districts up for election that year, Democrats flipped four districts, shrinking the GOP majority to 18-15 and putting Democrats in position to potentially win control of the Senate in 2026.

See Shawn Johnson, Wisconsin Senate GOP Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu to retire, Wisconsin Public Radio, March 19, 2026.

A real possum appears among plush toy animals in an Australian gift shop:

On shelves crammed with cuddly toy native animals in an Australian airport gift shop, one fluffy possum stood out: Its big brown eyes were moving. Airport staff were able to remove the possum from the airport unharmed.

Cats

Friday Catblogging: Cat Keeps Crossing the U.S.-Canada Border

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A cat named Louis Vuitton regularly defies U.S-Canadian border policy:

On Zero Avenue in South Surrey, B.C. lives a cat without a care in the world, and a supercilious name to match.

Louis Vuitton has become a local legend for doing with ease what most humans wouldn’t dare.

Each day, he leaps back and forth across a narrow ditch that sits smack dab on the Canada-U.S. border.

“He hasn’t always been such a rebel, but he is extremely friendly,” Deb Tate, Louis’ owner, told As It Happens host Nil Koksal.

He just loves people, says Tate, and he doesn’t care what side of the border they’re on.

“He will walk up, greet people, get his pats and belly rubs and then continue on when he’s done.”

See Kayla McLean, No passport, no problem. Meet the border-hopping cat who comes and goes as he pleases (‘This free-spirited feline has gone viral for casually hopping back and forth over the Canada-U.S border’), CBC Radio, March 19, 2026.

On the serious matter of people, credit where credit is due: no living American has done more — or could have done more — to harm relations with our friendly neighbor to the north than Donald J. Trump.

The very idea of bad relations with Canada was once so silly that Matt Stone and Trey Parker made it the intentionally absurd plot of their movie Bigger, Longer & Uncut (“When Eric Cartman and his friends go see an R-rated movie, they start cursing and their parents think that Canada is to blame”):

City, Film

Film: Tuesday, March 24th, 1:00 PM @ Seniors in the Park, Song Sung Blue

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Tuesday, March 24th at 1:00 PM, there will be a showing of Song Sung Blue @ Seniors in the Park, in the Starin Community Building:

(Biography/ Music)

Rated PG–13 2 hours, 12 minutes (2025)

Lightning and Tunder, a Milwaukee husband and wife Neil Diamond tribute act, experience soaring success and devastating heartbreak in their musical journey together. Stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson (Golden Globe and Oscar nominations for Best Actress).

One can find more information about Song Sung Blue at the Internet Movie Database.


Law, Schimel, Trump, Wisconsin

Daily Bread for 3.19.26: Brad Schimel Assumes a Subordinate Position

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Good morning.

Thursday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 53. Sunrise is 6:59 and sunset is 7:06 for 12 hours 7 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waxing crescent with 0.4 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Community Development Authority meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 2003, Pres. George W. Bush addresses the nation, announcing the invasion of Iraq.

A little over a week ago, a judicial panel decided not to extend Brad Schimel’s tenure as U.S. Attorney. This libertarian blogger wrote at the time that it was “possible, of course, that the Trump Administration [would] attempt a circumvention to keep Schimel in the role.” And so they have:

Brad Schimel, the former Wisconsin Attorney General, will continue to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Wisconsin under a new title, the U.S. Justice Department announced.

Schimel had been interim U.S. Attorney, but that appointment expired on March 16. Schimel could have been made the U.S. Attorney by the district’s judges, but they declined to do so, opting not to insert themselves into the process.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Schimel as First Assistant United States Attorney, announcing the move March 18.

The position is traditionally the number two in the office, but Schimel will lead the office and the position of the U.S. Attorney will remain vacant.

[…]

Previous First Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Frohling will continue to serve in an executive position, according to a release.

The move by the Justice Department mirrors what has happened in a couple of other federal districts, where the office is run by a Trump-appointed person with the title of First Assistant U.S. Attorney.

That move happened in the Western District of Virginia, where Robert Rracci [sic — should be Tracci] is now the first assistant.

In the Central District of California, the biggest federal district in the nation, Bilal A. Essayli has been running the office as first assistant since late last year. That happened after a federal judge ruled that Essayli could not legally continue as acting U.S. Attorney, but wrote that he may lead the office as first assistant.

See John Diedrich and Jessie Opoien, Brad Schimel to continue leading US Attorney’s office under new title, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 18, 2026.

In this case, the United States Department of Justice (but truly the Trump White House, as we no longer have an independent Justice Department) has simply moved everyone down one level, and… the normal appointment process has been circumvented.

Schimel is sure to be happy with this; after losing his reelection bid as Wisconsin Attorney General and a subsequent Wisconsin Supreme Court race, he will take whatever work he can get on the public tab.

As always, this reminder about the Trump Administration: if they’d like you to join, it should be a reminder that something’s gone wrong with your career.

Meanwhile, on the East Coast, a judge throws prosecutor out of court and orders leaders of NJ’s US Attorney’s office to testify:

Vexed by the Justice Department’s chaotic oversight of federal prosecutions in New Jersey, a judge threw a government attorney out of a hearing and ordered the three officials in charge of the state’s U.S. Attorney’s office to answer questions under oath.

Daily Bread, Legislature, State Government, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 3.18.26: The Slowly Changing Landscape for the WISGOP

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Good morning.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be mostly cloudy with a high of 39. Sunrise is 7:01 and sunset is 7:05 for 12 hours 4 minutes of daytime. The moon will be new this evening.

Whitewater’s Parks and Recreation Board meets at 5:30 PM.

On this day in 1925, the 1925 Tri-State tornado hits Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killing 695 people.

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Public Domain, Link.

Fifteen years is a long time. From 2011 to today, the WISGOP has controlled both chambers of the Wisconsin Legislature. The prospect of losing control of the Wisconsin Senate now looms:

The potential for Republicans to lose the Senate majority in the next election cycle cast a shadow over the Wisconsin State Senate’s last regular day of work this legislative session. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) faced criticism from his members for bringing bills to a vote without a majority of support from his caucus and one longtime Republican announced his retirement.

Wisconsin Republicans currently hold an 18-seat majority in the 33-seat state Senate. The 17 odd-numbered seats will be up for election this year for the first time under the new maps adopted in 2024, which puts the majority in play this November. Democrats have not been in the Senate or Assembly majority since the 2009-10 session. 

LeMahieu drew fire from members of his own party for allowing votes on bills supported by Democrats to legalize sports betting in Wisconsin and to provide funding to the University of Wisconsin to help pay student athletes for their name, image and likeness. Some Republicans who opposed the bills said it would lead to LeMahieu losing his leadership position and to Republicans losing their Senate majority in November.

Sen. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater), who is one of the most conservative lawmakers in the state Senate and is retiring at the end of his term, said voters will hold Republican lawmakers “to account for selling out their interests” in November.

“The passage of these two unpopular bills will help pave the way to minority status for Republicans come November,” Nass, who has served in the Legislature since 1991, said in a statement.

See Baylor Spears, With majority at stake this fall, WI Senate GOP’s divisions and departures mark last session day, Wisconsin Examiner, March 18, 2026.

Republicans were likely already on the way to minority status in the Wisconsin Senate. In any event, Nass’s reasoning makes no sense. If the bills are unpopular and most Republicans oppose those same bills, then most Republicans should benefit by their opposition.

Instead, LeMahieu calculates that the bills are sufficiently popular, and that the Republican caucus’s majority is out of step, so he’s allowed bills forward without a majority of WISGOP senators in favor. (That’s a quality that any party should want in a legislative leader: the ability to assess and compromise for an overall benefit.)

Nass has held office for decades, having lost the sense (if ever he had it) that a majority of the WISGOP caucus does not always mean a majority of the Legislature, let alone a majority of Wisconsinites.

That lack of sense — senselessness, one might say — is one of the many reasons Nass’s pending retirement has been overdue.

Video captures a suspected meteor falling over Ohio and Pennsylvania:

A suspected meteor that fell from the sky over the Cleveland area shook homes and startled residents who heard a boom that some compared to an explosion. People hundreds of miles away reported seeing the bright fireball at about 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Art, City, Daily Bread, Local Government, Open Government, School District

Daily Bread for 3.17.26: Perspective

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Good morning.

St. Patrick’s Day in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of 23. Sunrise is 7:03 and sunset is 7:02 for 12 hours 0 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 2.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater Common Council meets at 6 PM.

On this day in 1776, the British Army evacuates Boston, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.

If it’s true (and it is) that most people in Whitewater are sharp and capable (as are people in all places), then why do policies go bad? (After all, the special interest men in town have mucked the city up for years. See A Candid Admission from the [OLD] Whitewater CDA and Meeper Technology Loan Investigation, Memo and Documents.)

There are surely many reasons, but I’ll illustrate one reason that seems an obvious explanation for longtime residents’ mistakes (regardless of where they sit ideologically). A closed group, whether in government or a small private faction, often finds itself with a problem of perspective.

It’s almost spring, so consider the beauty of this renowned Italian Renaissance painting about spring:

Bright, intriguing, and lively, isn’t it?

Well, no. It’s hard to believe that anyone would remember the portion that I’ve embedded above as a masterpiece of any era. It might not even be a painting — it might as well be someone’s ugly placemat.

And yet, and yet, what if the viewer were to step back, and in doing so realize that what appears above is only a small part of a masterpiece?

By Sandro Botticelli, Primavera, c. 1482. Left to right: Mercury, the Three Graces, Venus, Flora, Chloris, Zephyrus, Public Domain, Link.

Now that’s a world-historical work. Stand too close, however, and one sees too little.

There lies a problem: some residents often see too little by standing too close to the objects of their desire. They hear too little by talking only to each other. They read too little by looking only at each other’s messages.

Some may spend months on a goal (or for the special interest men months on a scheme), but their interlocutors are too narrowly selected, confirming only their own biases. There’s no effort to test or challenge the views of the small circle they’ve assembled. On the contrary, in an environment of toxic positivity, the only recognized toxin is a candid critique.

I’ll acknowledge that there are insights to be gained by proximity. How unfortunate that some fail to see that excessive proximity brings a countervailing, often fatal, loss of perspective.

Daily Bread, Open Government, School District

Daily Bread for 3.16.26: Soil Remediation

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Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be windy with a high of 26. Sunrise is 7:05 and sunset is 7:02 for 11 hours 57 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater School Board will meet virtually at 6 PM.

On this day in 1995, Mississippi formally ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was officially ratified and took effect in 1865.

On the agenda of the Whitewater School Board meeting tonight, the board’s prefatory remarks before public comment have been modified. This libertarian blogger has been critical of the board’s prior, stifling statement before public comment. It’s to the good that the board has revised the statement.

(I’ve been critical of those who have encouraged the public to look away from school board actions, encouragement most notably from a former school board member who also served as school board president, Community Development Authority member, and chairman of that body. See Yesteryear’s Familiar Tune.)

Why would it matter? It shouldn’t be hard to see why.

Because a small group that speaks only to itself produces poor work. Years (more than five) of an increasingly closed approach — most notably during the last five — have left the community with less participation than it would otherwise have had. (It did little good during the prior five years to hold unplugged sessions where the then-superintendent said little and left all the plugging to her subordinates.)

One approach is to say forget the past, and focus on the present. (A few booster residents could flack it as a slogan: Focus on the Now!™) Well, if only that were possible — a community conditioned to expect less gives less in return.

The success of a new farmer depends not only on a proposed seed stock but the condition of the soil into which he’ll plant it. Past destructive use of herbicide should not, indeed cannot, be overlooked. Soil remediation requires that harmful chemicals, still lingering destructively, be acknowledged and removed.

Good crops won’t flourish in unremediated soil.

That’s why it matters.

Fireball streaks across skies of several European cities:

A fireball was captured over the skies of Belgium and the Netherlands on Mar. 8, 2026. Full Story: https://www.space.com/stargazing/mete…

Business, Daily Bread, Legislation, Legislature, Wisconsin, WISGOP

Daily Bread for 3.15.26: It Shouldn’t Be So Hard to Sell Home Goods in Wisconsin

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Good morning.

Sunday in Whitewater will see rain followed by evening snow, with a daytime high of 44. Sunrise is 7:06 and sunset is 7:01 for 11 hours 55 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 13.2 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 44 BC, a group of senators assassinate Julius Caesar, the dictator of the Roman Republic, on the Ides of March.

It shouldn’t be so hard to sell cottage foods:

Wisconsin lawmakers created an exemption for selling home-canned foods without a license under a 2010 law that’s known as the “pickle bill.” But it limits annual sales to $5,000 per person, and [small businessman Scott] Weber said that dollar amount has never been adjusted to reflect the much higher costs that he and other home producers are facing nearly 16 years later. 

[…]

This legislative session, there was a new push to update the pickle bill and expand the licensing exemption to home bakers. 

The GOP-authored legislation would have expanded the annual sales limit for cottage food producers to $40,000 per person. It also would have created new requirements for training and inspecting home kitchens.

The bill, which failed to gain traction among lawmakers, received pushback from advocates of cottage foods, who felt the new inspection requirements were too vague and not supported with funding to implement them. 

Wisconsin home bakers were also opposed to limiting their sales to $40,000. They currently face no revenue limit because they’re operating under an exemption created by a 2017 court ruling against the state.

Weber said he feels the two different operating rules for home bakers and home canners has left them at odds on getting behind a legislative fix. 

But both sides seem to agree that Wisconsin should follow neighboring states in creating a more comprehensive law around cottage food. 

In Iowa, cottage food producers can sell a wide range of shelf-stable foods directly to consumers and don’t have an annual sales cap. Minnesota’s law allows residents to sell up to $78,000 in shelf-stable foods, but does require producers to register and complete a food safety course. 

See Hope Kirwan, Homemade pickle sellers say $5K sales limit holds back rural small businesses (‘A 2010 law set the limit and lawmakers haven’t updated it despite rising costs, business concerns’), Wisconsin Public Radio, March 12, 2026.

One hears so much from the WISGOP about support for businesses, and yet WISGOP legislators are still unable to use their majorities to effect comprehensive small business legislation. If these WISGOP men were half so effective as they claim to be, they’d be able to craft and pass comprehensive legislation for these small businesses.

While small cottage businesses offer consumers delicious products, they’ve one disadvantage at the Capitol.

They’re not in the position to offer legislators big donations.

What is powering this supernova?:

Supernovae are colossal explosions triggered as ancient stars come to the end of their lives. Scientists have done huge amounts of work to identify and understand these cosmic fireworks but, in the last 20 years or so, astronomers have spotted some supernovae that don’t make sense. Superluminous supernovae are 10 to 100 times brighter than expected, and while different theories exist, no one is quite sure how that’s possible. Now the wobbling signal from one of these super bright explosions has provided a possible answer.

Cats, City, Daily Bread, Weather

Daily Bread for 3.14.26: Canadians Are Preparing for Snowfall, Too

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Good morning.

Saturday in Whitewater will be cloudy with a high of 39. Sunrise is 7:08 and sunset is 7:00 for 11 hours 52 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 20.7 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

It’s Pi Day:

In 1988, the earliest known official or large-scale celebration of Pi Day was organized by Larry Shaw at the San Francisco Exploratorium, where Shaw worked as a physicist, with staff and public marching around one of its circular spaces, then consuming fruit pies. The Exploratorium continues to hold Pi Day celebrations.

As Whitewater prepares for snowfall, we are not alone. Canadians — both people and cats — are getting ready, too:

Click image to play video

Meanwhile, in the Pacific Northwest, two lion cubs are weighed:

Click image to play video