Retiring Guy's Digest: 2024-06-09

Saturday, June 15, 2024

Fourteen02 on Park mixed-use development, Madison WI (June 2024 construction site visit)

Photos and video by Retiring Guy

Wisconsin State Journal, 4/11/2024

Building design problems have delayed the opening of a much-awaited grocery store on Madison’s South Side, and the city may deliver another $1 million to fix the problems, which could get Maurer’s Urban Market open perhaps late this year.
The 24,000-square-foot grocery store was slated to open by the end of 2023 or early 2024, in the $42 million six-story, mixed-use redevelopment on what had been long-vacant city land at 815 Cedar St., formerly 1402 S. Park St.
Rule Enterprises, of Milwaukee, and nonprofit Movin’ Out, of Madison, recently completed construction of 150 units of lower-cost housing and parking at the project, called Fourteen02 Park. If the extra $1 million is approved, the city now estimates the new grocery will open in late 2024 or early 2025.

Yellowstone Apartments: Foundation work underway at affordable housing project on Madison WI far west side (June 2024 construction site visit)

Photos by Retiring Guy

Rendering: Wisconsin State Journal, 11/22/2023

Location indicated by orange box

5/5/2024 update starts here

Photos by Retiring Guy

Original 4/14/2024 post starts here

Photos by Retiring GUy

Another current view of the site

Previous site visit:

November 2023

Now playing at Market Square in Madison Wisconsin: The Marquee luxury apartments

Photos by Retiring Guy

Rendering: The Marquee

Floor plans

Say your final goodbyes to Market Square Theater, say hello to proposed 6-story housing project. (8/8/2022)

6-story apartment building going up on site of Market Square Theater. (3/1/2024)

April construction sit visit. (4/13/2024)

New UW Credit Union office building on Madison's far west side (June 2024 site visit)

The new construction includes a connection to the former AFSCME headquarters.

Photos by Retiring Guy

Google Maps aerial view (red box added)

The Company Wisconsin Keeps: Prison crisis headlines stack up

Photos by Retiring Guy

Headlines: Invest in Louisiana, Mississippi Today, WMBA,

Daytona Beach News Journal, Oregon Live, Capital Times email

You can lay the current prison crisis in Wisconsin at the feet of Scott Walker. (2/6/2024)

GET ME REWRITE: Wisconsin GOP delegation all over the map with defense of Trump's "horrible city" comment

Headline: WisPolitics

(Other sources include Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Hill)

Related post:

Real reason Trump thinks Milwaukee is a "horrible city". (Hint: Not enough people from Norway.). (6/13/2024)

GET ME REWRITE: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dismisses evidence of climate change found all over South Florida

Headline: Miami Herald, 6/15/2024)

Screenshot: CBS News, 6/14/2024

The Virginia Gardens project was one of roughly two dozen projects related to stormwater or drainage that DeSantis vetoed on Wednesday, surprising even his Republican allies who are used to municipal sewer funding surviving the governor’s yearly pruning of Legislature-approved spending.

[snip]

Last month, DeSantis signed a bill passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature that removed a directive to address climate change as an element of the state’s energy policy. “We don’t want our energy policy driven by climate ideology,” DeSantis said at a press conference in Hollywood on Friday.

Related posts:

2024

Flooding all the time: The future of South Florida in 6 screenshots. (6/13)

Ron DeSantis cancels climate change. Unfortunately for Florida residents, its effects are only going to get worse. (6/8)

Welcome to Ron DeSantis's Florida: Don't say gay, don't say climate change. What idiocy is next? (5/21)

2020
Donald Trump pet, Ron DeSantis, stretches the leash on climate change to the breaking point. (1/3)

2016

The video doesn't tell us about the incidents of sunny-day flooding. (10/24)
Cherry Grove, South Carolina: Call it nuisance flooding or high-tide flooding or sunny day flooding, but most of all call it more likely to happen. (2/23)
Norfolk, Virginia. (2/23)

2014
Sunny-day flooding in Miami Beach: The everyday reality and the political denial. (5/9)

GET ME REWRITE: The company disgraced former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker keeps is typically white and male (BONUS ROUND)

And suited up.

This tossed-off item -- original on 7/14/2015; update on 6/8/2023 -- is now sitting at #1 RGD's list of "Popular Posts". Time for a bonus round.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons (taken 1/27/2017)

6/8/2023 update starts here

@ScottWalker

Original 7/14/2015 post, "The Company He Keeps: Scott Walker is one of 9 Presidential candidates attending the July 18th Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa", starts here.

But first he has a bunch of visits leading up to this event.

The Family Leadership Summit 2015

Its purpose: To inspire, motivate, and educate conservatives regarding worldview applications and the most pressing issues facing America's families. The Summit will provide Iowans with the opportunity to engage with national conservative leaders and hear their leadership vision on issues that matter most to the future of America.

Some of the that Scott Walker keeps:

Gary Bauer, Chairman of Campaign for Working Families PAC, whose primary mission is to elect conservative candidates to Congress
Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council, a pro-life, pro-family lobbying organization
Bob Vander Plaats, CEO, Family Leader, Iowa-based social conservative political organization.

Friday, June 14, 2024

Every Picture Tells A Story

File this one under Horror

Wisconsin 2024 elections: Democrat Joe Sheehan and Republican Amy Binsfield face off in 26th Assembly District

Paul Tittl (R-Manitowoc) has represented the 26th district January 2013. He has also served on the Manitowoc City County (2004-2008) and Manitowoc County Board of Supervisors (2016-2013). As a result of redistricting, he now lives in the 25th District, where he is running for re-election.

Democrat Joe Sheehan served as Sheboygan Area School District Superintendent and Executive Director of the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation. Republican Amy Binsfield has represented the 27th District since 2023. She chose not to challenge Tittl in a GOP primary.

WisPolitics rates the 26th district as 51.2% Democratic.

Maps: Wikipedia

Headline: WHBLWHBL, 4/25/2024

The new Senate and Assembly maps:

AD 1. (4/17/2024)

AD 2. (4/28/2024)

AD 3. (5/5/2024)

AD 4. (4/29/2024)

AD 5. (6/4/2024)

AD 6. (6/4/2024)

AD 7. (4/30/2024)

AD 8. (6/7/2024)

AD 11. (4/29/2024)

AD 12. (5/11/2024)

AD 13. (6/13/2024)

AD 15. (5/2/2023)

AD 21. (5/18/2024)

AD 22. (4/27/2024)

AD 24. (4/27/2024)

AD 28. (5/7/2024)

AD 31. (4/24/2024)

AD 32 (4/26/2024)

AD 33. (6/1/2024)

AD 35. (5/4/2024)

AD 36. (6/4/2024)

AD 37. (4/24/2024)

AD 38. (4/24/2024)

AD 39. (4/24/2024)

AD 40. (6/3/2024)

AD 42. (5/1/2024)

AD 43. (6/1/2024)

AD 46. (5/31/2024)

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AD 48. (5/31/2024)

AD 50. (6/2/2024)

AD 51. (4/17/2024)

AD 52. (5/10/2024)

AD 53. (2/25/2024)

AD 54. (5/12/2024)

AD 55. (5/12/2024)

AD 56. (5/12/2024)

AD 57. (6/3/2024)

SD 20. (4/19/2024)

AD 58. (6/14/2024)

AD 59. (5/10/2024)

AD 60. (5/10/2024)

AD 61. (5/5/2024)

AD 62. (4/19/2024)

AD 65. (4/22/2024)

AD 66. (4/20/2024)

AD 68. (4/20/2024)

AD 73. (5/9/2024)

AD 74. (5/4/2024)

AD 75. (4/23/2024)

AD 76. (5/5/2024)

AD 77. (4/26/2024)

AD 78. (4/26/2024)

AD 79. (4/26/2024)

AD 80. (4/30/2014)

AD 81. (4/30/2024)

AD 82. (4/25/2024)

AD 83. (5/2/2024)

AD 85. (5/14/2024)

AD 87. (4/16/2024)

AD 89. (4/29/2024)

AD 90. (4/17/2024)

AD 93. (5/6/2024)

AD 94. (4/28/2024)

AD 97. (4/25/2024)

AD 98. (5/4/2024)

AD 99. (4/25/2024)

Why are some counties experiencing population increases? They are now in the orbit of a metro area. (Dallas County/Des Moines Iowa edition)

Dallas County, located just west of Des Moines, remained a rural county throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. From 1920 to 1970, its population hovered in the 23,000-26,000 range. It even lost residents during1930s and 1940s. Now it's Iowa's fastest-growing county due to its proximity to Des Moines.

Population: Wikipedia

Headline: EdNC, 6/10/2024

Related posts:

June 2024

Sharon Pennsylvania still figuring out how to stem its population loss. (6/12)

May 2024

Springfield/Greene County is Missouri's fastest growing metro area. (5/30)

U.S. Census Bureau 2023 population estimates for West Virginias 10 most populous cities. (5/27)

U.S. Census Bureau 2023 population estimates for Ohio's 10 most populous cities. (5/26)

U.S. Census Bureau 2023 population estimates for New York's 10 most populous cities. (5/26)

U.S. Census Bureau 2023 population estimates for Wisconsin 10 most populous cities. (5/24)

Drug overdoses accelerate Baltimore's population loss. (5/23)

U.S. Census Bureau 2023 population estimates for Wisconsin's 10 most populous counties. (5/20)

Waukee is Des Moines' fastest-growing suburb. (5/17)

After decades of decline, Detroit's population finally turns a corner. (5/17)

Jacksonville, Illinois, desperately tries to reverse its decades-long population decline. (5/17)

Residents in Warren County Pennsylvania continue to fight over organization of school district. (5/8)

April 2024

BIG PICTURE: Rural population loss in Illinois is rampant. (4/2)

BIG PICTURE: Rural Kansas counties continue to lose population. (4/2)

BIG PICTURE: Alabama and the long decline of rural population. (4/2)

Population loss: Northern and western rural counties lead the way in Pennsylvania. (4/2)

BIG PICTURE: Then there's rural Valley County, Montana, where the population has dropped 56% since its 1960 peak of 17,080. (4/2)

March 2024

Residents of fastest growing county in Arkansas aren't big fans of Donald Trump. (3/23)

Population loss along U.S. highway 6 in Pennsylvania. (3/19)

14 of Wisconsin's 72 counties have experienced population gain of at least 1% since 2020. (3/18)

One-third of Wisconsin's 72 counties have lost population since 2020. (3/18)

GET ME REWRITE: Amarillo Mayor and City Council join GOP War on Women

Photo credits: Amarillo City Council

Headline: The Texas Tribune, 6/14/2024

Other posts on the intensifying GOP War on Women:

June 2024

Texas suffers setback in its GOP War on Women. (6/13)

You might also say that the Southern Baptist Convention has long been a tool of the Republican Party. (6/12)

In the lead-up to 2024 elections, far-right conservatives double down on GOP War on Women. (6/5)

May 2024

Trump juices the GOP War on Women. (5/24)

GOP War on Women continues apace in Louisiana. (5/23)

Louisiana GOP enthusiastically joins forces in the Republican War on Women. (5/21)

April 2024

Idaho jumps in front to lead the GOP War on Women. (4/21)

Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Canady and State Representative Jennifer Canady, tag team anti-abortion fanatics, rig the referendum on Amendment 4 to state constitution. (4/8)

A second Trump administration will quash reproductive rights across the board. (4/7)

January-March 2024

Oklahoma pushes pedal to the metal in its GOP War Against Women. (3/21)

What's the matter with Iowa? All-male, all-white House majority leadership fights on the front lines of the GOP War Against Women. (3/17)

Missouri on front lines of GOP War Against Women. (3/7)

This is a map that shows where at least one United States senator is on the front lines of the GOP War Against Women. (3/5)

Meet Joel Urmanski, GOP waterboy in the campaign to quash reproductive rights in Wisconsin. (2/20)

Wisconsin Assembly representative Chuck Wichgers planned to intensify the GOP war on women with abortion bill amendments. (1/26)

Republican states, abortion, and the GOP war on women. (1/26)

GET ME REWRITE: Republican Bryan Steil brings Wisconsin-style voter suppression tactics to Washington DC

Headline: Roll CallRoll Call, 6/13/2024

Headline

Promoting access to voting. The horrors!!!

House Administration Chair Bryan Steil sent subpoenas to 15 Biden Cabinet officials on Thursday requesting documents related to an executive order aimed at promoting access to voting.

It’s the latest move by Steil and House Administration Republicans, who have spent the bulk of this Congress highlighting perceived threats to election security and advancing a series of conservative proposals that would encourage states to adopt policies like mandatory voter identification.

Related posts:

2024

Wisconsin Supreme Court lapdogs side with their GOP masters on voter suppression. (6/13)

3 conservative members of Wisconsin Supreme Court freak out over any effort to remove barriers to voting. (4/15)

2023

Wisconsin GOP works to suppress the vote and disenfranchise voters. (6/23)

Wisconsin GOP leadership fights crime and inflation by ignoring Black priorities and promoting voter suppression. (2/15)

2022

Tighty Whities at WILL keep up their campaign of voter suppression. (9/15)

2021

When Rick Esenberg tells the 4 lapdogs on the Wisconsin Supreme Court to roll over, they earn themselves a doggy bone. (6/12)

2020

Wisconsin GOP Hitt man continues the push for voter suppression. (9/30)

Thursday, June 13, 2024

GET ME REWRITE: Wisconsin Supreme Court lapdogs side with their GOP masters on voter suppression

Headline: Wisconsin State Journal, 6/13/2024

Justice Rebecca Bradley, one of the three dissenting conservative justices, said the order by the liberal majority was the latest in an “ongoing effort to resolve cases in a manner benefitting its preferred political party.”
Bradley said that putting a court’s interpretation of the law on hold is “without precedent, and for good reason — doing so is nonsensical.” She and the other two conservative justices agreed with the four liberal justices in keeping the court’s ban on mobile voting sites in place.

Related posts:

2024

3 conservative members of Wisconsin Supreme Court freak out over any effort to remove barriers to voting. (4/15)

2023

Wisconsin GOP works to suppress the vote and disenfranchise voters. (6/23)

Wisconsin GOP leadership fights crime and inflation by ignoring Black priorities and promoting voter suppression. (2/15)

2022

Tighty Whities at WILL keep up their campaign of voter suppression. (9/15)

2021

When Rick Esenberg tells the 4 lapdogs on the Wisconsin Supreme Court to roll over, they earn themselves a doggy bone. (6/12)

2020

Wisconsin GOP Hitt man continues the push for voter suppression. (9/30)

Real reason Trump thinks Milwaukee is a "horrible city". (Hint: Not enough people from Norway.)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts

Related reading:

The Guardian, 4/24/2024

GET ME REWRITE: No surprises accompany this Oklahoma Supreme Court decision

They should all be given brooms.

Photo credit: Oklahoma Supreme Court

Headline: Politico, 6/12/2024

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit of the last two survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, dampening the hope of advocates for racial justice that the government would make amends for one of the worst single acts of violence against Black people in U.S. history.
The nine-member court upheld the decision made by a district court judge in Tulsa last year, ruling that the plaintiff’s grievances about the destruction of the Greenwood district, although legitimate, did not fall within the scope of the state’s public nuisance statute.

GET ME REWRITE: Texas suffers setback in its GOP War on Women

Headline: The Texas Tribune, 6/13/2024

This case originated in Amarillo, where only one anti-abortion judge hears almost all cases, and then went to the conservative 5th Circuit in New Orleans, which upheld most of the ruling. The Supreme Court stepped in at that point and allowed mifepristone to remain on the market while the case proceeded.
With abortion all but banned in more than a dozen states, these medications have become a key part of the strategy to help people continue to access the procedure — and, as a result, a major focus for anti-abortion groups.
This ruling comes as a relief to abortion providers and advocates, but also pharmaceutical companies, who had expressed concern about the precedent of allowing a judge to overturn a long-standing drug approval.

Other posts on the intensifying GOP War on Women:

June 2024

You might also say that the Southern Baptist Convention has long been a tool of the Republican Party. (6/12)

In the lead-up to 2024 elections, far-right conservatives double down on GOP War on Women. (6/5)

May 2024

Trump juices the GOP War on Women. (5/24)

GOP War on Women continues apace in Louisiana. (5/23)

Louisiana GOP enthusiastically joins forces in the Republican War on Women. (5/21)

April 2024

Idaho jumps in front to lead the GOP War on Women. (4/21)

Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Canady and State Representative Jennifer Canady, tag team anti-abortion fanatics, rig the referendum on Amendment 4 to state constitution. (4/8)

A second Trump administration will quash reproductive rights across the board. (4/7)