That’s an interesting question.

And a timely one, too.

Just last week WI Public Radio reported:

With road mortality a leading cause of death for turtles in Wisconsin, the state Department of Natural Resources is urging the public to keep an eye out for the animals crossing the road this summer. 

Wisconsin is home to 11 native turtle species. DNR Conservation Biologist Andrew Badje said many roads bisect wetlands and rivers in nearby uplands — areas female turtles consider quality nesting habitat. He’s most concerned about the decline in female turtles across the state.

As they peek out of rivers, lakes and wetlands, female turtles begin laying eggs from late May through June in sunny areas and well-draining uplands, according to the DNR. 

Most turtles are killed when they are hit by vehicles while crossing roads during mating season, which in Wisconsin occurs from late May to early July.

Turtle crossing signs help alert motorists of their presence, according to WI Public Radio.

Tuesday night at the regular meeting of the Franklin Common Council during the citizen comment period (ends at the 7:53 mark):

Read more from the DNR.

Briefs are posted every weekday morning, M-F

NEWS

Milwaukee has had a historically dry spring, and the conditions don’t look to be letting up anytime soon.

Before Monday’s drizzle, it had only rained once in the last 29 days, according to Aidan Kuroski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sullivan.

The lack of rain was notable, not just because of how infrequently it rained, but how little rain fell over the last two months.

April saw 2.24 inches of rain, below the monthly average of 3.86 inches.

May in Milwaukee was even dryer, with the region only receiving .88 inches of rain, far below the monthly average of 3.54. The region received 2.96 inches of rain in May 2022, and 2.38 inches of rain in May 2021, both below historic averages, but much higher than this year’s precipitation.

“These are the primary times to get rain, and because we are not it’s becoming more concerning,” Kuroski said.

He specifically pointed to challenges farmers in the region may have getting sufficient growth out of crops, especially fruit, with the decreased rainfall.

Looking ahead, while there is likely to be rain on Saturday, dry conditions are expected to continue, which combined with the elevated temperatures in the region, could lead to a drought.

The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center has identified the Milwaukee area, along with virtually all of southern Wisconsin, as being uniquely

The meteorologist classified southern Wisconsin as “abnormally dry,” but said that if conditions persisted, Milwaukee could progress to a moderate or even severe drought.

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Wisconsin pharmacists would be allowed to prescribe some forms of birth control under a bipartisan bill getting a hearing in the Legislature for the first time since the state’s abortion ban took effect.

Similar efforts have been pursued in previous legislative sessions, and while they have not become law, they have continued to gain support in the Legislature, while some lawmakers remain skeptical, if not outright opposed.

The state Assembly passed the bill with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2021, but it was never taken up by the Senate.

Under the bill, women would still need a prescription to obtain birth control — but it would add pharmacists to physicians and advanced practice nurses in their ability to provide that prescription.

The bill would allow pharmacists to prescribe and dispense hormonal contraceptives in pill and patch formats to women who are at least 18 years old. To do so, the pharmacist would need to verify that the medication is not contraindicated for the patient based on a self-assessment questionnaire and blood pressure screening. After prescribing the contraceptive, the pharmacist would be required to send a report to the patient’s primary care practitioner.

Pharmacists who are morally opposed to birth control would not be required to prescribe it.

Supporters argue the bill would reduce unplanned pregnancies and generally expand access to reproductive health care. While birth control is the most common use for contraceptives, they are also used to prevent ovarian cysts, treat endometriosis and lessen the severity of menstrual side effects including migraines.

Arguments against the bill include suggestions that it is unsafe for women to be prescribed birth control without visiting their primary care provider and that hormonal contraceptives act as abortifacients, along with a general moral opposition to contraception.

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

State employees are leaving facilities such as veterans homes, prisons and mental health facilities, leading to a high number of vacant positions across state agencies, according to a new study from the nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum.

Over the last several years, state workers have been leaving their jobs at higher rates and those jobs are remaining unfilled for longer than they typically do. The analysis shows that turnover and vacancy rates for state workers outside of the University of Wisconsin System rose to record levels in fiscal year 2022, with 16.4% of the 28,000 employees leaving their jobs, including 10.2% who left for voluntary reasons other than retirement.

In addition, 5,770 full-time positions, or 17.7% of the total authorized positions in state government outside of the UW System, were vacant as of June last year.

“The trend reflects both current factors such as record inflation, a hot labor market, and retiring baby boomers, as well as a long-term increase in state turnover that may call for more reflection by policymakers,” the Policy Forum study says.

In particular, agencies that require a round-the-clock workforce are being impacted the most.

The turnover within the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Corrections and the Department of Health Services has been higher, placing strain on state prisons, veterans homes and treatment facilities, the study said.

—The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

New York City and much of the Northeast were breathing “unhealthy” air Tuesday as the region was blanketed in smoke from Canadian wildfires.

As a red sun rose over the boroughs and covered the city in an orange haze, officials advised New Yorkers to limit strenuous outdoor activity and urged groups who have trouble breathing to stay inside.

The smoky conditions were expected to continue Wednesday as wind patterns blew smoke from wildfires in Quebec downstream.

By 10 p.m. Tuesday night, air quality in parts of the Big Apple reached a “very unhealthy” level, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s index.

All five boroughs were placed under an Air Quality Health Advisory until Wednesday night.

The city also canceled all outdoor activities at public schools for Wednesday as the air quality is expected to worsen throughout the day.

“We have a low-pressure system off the coast that’s pulling in the smoke down across our area, so that’s why we see the smoke coming in,” Fox Weather meteorologist Samantha Thomas explained.

More than 400 wildfires were blazing across Canada on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

—NY Post

Protesters briefly scuffled and punches flew Tuesday as a Southern California school district decided whether to recognize June as Pride month.

Several hundred people gathered in the parking lot of the Glendale Unified School District headquarters, split between those who support or oppose exposing youngsters to LGBTQ+ issues in schools.

Some opponents wore T-shirts emblazoned with: “Leave our kids alone.”

Across the nation, Pride month celebrations are kicking off amid rising backlash in some places against LGBTQ+ rights. Community parade organizers, school districts and even professional sports terms have faced protests for flying rainbow flags and honoring drag performers. While some Republican-led states are limiting classroom conversations about gender and sexuality and banning gender-affirming care, some Democratic cities and states are seeking to expand LGBTQ+ rights and to honor the community’s contributions.

In Glendale, police quickly moved in to stop clashes, separated the two groups and cleared the parking lot. Police said they arrested two people on suspicion of obstructing officers and one person for unlawful use of pepper spray. TV reports also showed a man being taken away after lying down in the street and refusing to move.

No injuries were reported.

Inside the packed meeting room, the school board late Tuesday night approved, for the fifth year in a row, a resolution designating June as LGBTQ+ Pride month.

However, most of those who addressed the school board discussed broader issues of how sex and gender are handled under district policy, with supporters arguing that LGBTQ+ children need to feel safe and included in classrooms while opponents contended that schools are usurping parental authority and pushing unnecessary and even harmful views on gender.

—Associated Press

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson surprised his Twitter followers with a ten-minute episode of his new show, which was released at 6:00 pm eastern time on Tuesday.

The ten-minute video aired his monologue about his thoughts that mainly focused on the recent dam that exploded in the Kherson region of Ukraine amid the ongoing war. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other for the attack. Regions near the now-damaged dam have flooded.

“The question is who did it? Well let’s see. The Kakhovka dam was effectively Russian. It was built by the Russian government. It currently sits in Russian-controlled territory. The dam’s reservoir supplies water to Crimea, which has been for the last 240 years, home of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Blowing up the dam may be bad for Ukraine, but it hurts Russia more,” Carlson said in the opening of the video.

Carlson talks about what he often talked about on his popular show when he was with Fox News: Lindsey Graham, UFOs, and the decline of the news media.

“As of today, we have come to Twitter, which we hope will be the shortwave radio under the blankets. We’re told there are no gatekeepers here. If turns out to be false, we’ll leave. But in the meantime, we are grateful to be here. We’ll be back with much more very soon,” Carlson said to close out the show.

—Townhall

Hunter Biden will be hauled into court again next month and faces potential imprisonment if he doesn’t answer questions in his child support case, a judge ordered Monday.

The mother of Hunter’s child launched her case in a Batesville, Arkansas court in May 2019 demanding child support for their daughter Navy Joan Roberts – who Hunter initially denied was his.

In recent months the First Son, 53, asked the court to reduce his payments to baby momma Lunden Roberts, 32, and to deny her request to change Navy’s last name to Biden.

But he got into legal hot water after failing to answer financial questions posed by Roberts’ lawyer, Clint Lancaster.

In an order issued on June 5, Independence County Circuit Judge Holly Meyer told Hunter he must answer or provide evidence for 13 unanswered questions from Lancaster, and will hear from both parties to ‘determine if a finding of contempt and sanctions are appropriate’.

The questions include requests for copies of Hunter’s historic bank records, though most other details are redacted in the publicly available court filings

The order says if found to be in contempt, the First Son could face six months incarceration, attorneys fees of up to $20,000 as well as a fine, and an automatic loss on his legal arguments.

Meyer ordered Hunter to appear at the courthouse in Batesville on July 10 at 10am and to ‘show cause, if any exists, why he should not be held in contempt’.

—The Daily Mail

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which brands mainstream conservative and Christian organizations as “hate groups,” placing them on a map with chapters of the Ku Klux Klan, added a slew of parental rights organizations to that “hate map” for 2022 and labeled them “antigovernment groups.”

“Schools, especially, have been on the receiving end of ramped-up and coordinated hard-right attacks, frequently through the guise of ‘parents’ rights’ groups,” the SPLC’s “Year in Hate and Extremism” report claims.

“These groups were, in part, spurred by the right-wing backlash to COVID-19 public safety measures in schools,” the SPLC report says. “But they have grown into an anti-student inclusion movement that targets any inclusive curriculum that contains discussions of race, discrimination and LGBTQ identities.”

“At the forefront of this mobilization is Moms for Liberty, a Florida-based group with vast connections to the GOP that this year the SPLC designated as an extremist group,” the report notes. “They can be spotted at school board meetings across the country wearing shirts and carrying signs that declare, ‘We do NOT CO-PARENT with the GOVERNMENT.’”

The SPLC report does not once mention the Left’s aggressive promotion of sexualized material for children in schools and at other venues. It does not mention the “Drag Queen Story Hour” movement or the fact that many of the books which parents demand removed from school libraries include pornographic content. It does not mention how many on the Left champion the idea that children should be able to identify with a gender opposite their biological sex, hide that identity from their parents, and even obtain life-altering drugs without parental consent. Instead, it acts as though the parental rights movement emerged in a vacuum, or worse, is motivated by hatred.

—The Daily Signal

America’s teenagers are seeing a lot less of one another.

The share of high school seniors who gathered with friends in person “almost every day” dropped from 44 percent in 2010 to 32 percent in 2022, according to Monitoring the Future, a national survey of adolescents. Social outings for the typical eighth grader dwindled from about 2 1/2 a week in 2000 to 1 1/2 in 2021.

The nation’s teens have traded face time for Facetime. Adolescents are spending less time gathering in shopping malls, movie theaters and rec rooms, and more time connecting on Instagram, TikTok and Discord.

“Teens are spending a lot more time communicating with each other electronically and a lot less time hanging out with each other face to face,” said Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of “Generations,” a new book about generational differences.

“Going to the mall has gone down. Driving in the car for fun has gone down. Going to the movies has gone down,” she said. “We’re talking about kids who are spending five, six, seven hours a day on social media.”

Twenge sees a connection between the decline of adolescent gatherings and the rise of teenage loneliness.

“If it’s not smartphones and social media that have caused the rise in teen depression, what is it?” she said.

The average teen spent eight hours and 39 minutes on daily screen time for entertainment in 2021, up from six hours and 40 minutes in 2015, according to Common Sense Media, publisher of a closely watched Common Sense Census.

—The Hill

Monday can be a downer as folks leave weekend play behind. Now, researchers say Monday might also be the most common day for deadly heart attacks.

Doctors at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland determined this by analyzing patient data in Ireland, though they can’t determine the reason why.

Past research has suggested it might have to do with circadian rhythm — the body’s sleep/wake cycle.

“Someone is admitted to hospital due to a life-threatening heart attack every five minutes in the U.K., so it’s vital that research continues to shed light on how and why heart attacks happen,” said Nilesh Samani, medical director at the British Heart Foundation.

“This study adds to evidence around the timing of particularly serious heart attacks, but we now need to unpick what it is about certain days of the week that makes them more likely,” Samani said in a heart foundation news release. “Doing so could help doctors better understand this deadly condition so we can save more lives in future.”

—Newsmax

A husband’s inconsiderate parking has left his neighbor enraged, as the internet debates how best to handle the awkward situation.

In photos of the incident posted on Reddit, a blue Volkswagen Beetle can be seen parked diagonally across a dividing line so that it takes up two spaces in an apartment carpark.

One of his neighbors gave some context for the situation, alleging that the man was a repeat offender and, in fact, parked that way on purpose most days.

“My neighbor, everyone. He parks like this when his wife isn’t home and moves it back when she’s back so they can both park in one of the few spots with shade,” the neighbor posted to the “Mildly Infuriating” Reddit group.

“This has been happening for months already and the administration doesn’t do anything about it.”

Reddit users, naturally, had plenty of ideas about how to rectify the issue and debated among themselves what forms of petty revenge would work best.

Many suggested using a bird feeder or scraps of bread to attract wildlife, which could defecate on the man’s badly parked car.

“You don’t even have to hang a bird feeder. Just throw peanuts around his car, the crows will come,” one user said.

Another popular suggestion was to join in on the angle-parking trend and block the man’s Volkswagen in.

“Block them in. If they love that spot so much they can stay there,” another replied.

Some Redditors were more measured in their responses, making suggestions to de-escalate the situation.

“Get a business card from a towing company and leave it on the windshield … Wait and see if there is a change. It might actually work with no confrontation,” one user wrote.

Another added: “That’s a small enough car to get a couple guys to help you just pick it up and move it.”

“Am I the only one that thinks this is actually kind of sweet of him?” one such user asked. “I get the frustration from others, but you got to respect that commitment and care for his partner.”

—NY Post

OPINION

Joe Biden became the new national spokesperson for Life Alert when he fell and couldn’t get up at the US Air Force Academy commencement ceremony. He tumbled hard at his age, which could have led to severe health complications. He’s 80 years old, and the liberal media and Democratic lackeys were quick to pivot away from the president collapsing for all to see, once again exposing that the man isn’t healthy enough to be president. This event was an easy public appearance. He must make several or so a day once the 2024 campaign gets kicked into high gear. This trip-up isn’t the first time he fell. Meanwhile, networks and liberal media figures were popping champagne and peddling conspiracy theories about Donald Trump walking down a ramp slowly at West Point’s graduation in 2020.

The Left donned their finest tin foil hats because Trump sauntered, but Biden, who looked confused and stared into the abyss at the Air Force Academy, fell, couldn’t get up, and there were no follow-ups. Nothing about whether Joe Biden is healthy to occupy the Oval Office.

—Matt Vespa, Townhall

Yesterday was the 79th anniversary of D-Day. More than 150,000 American and Allied troops, many just 18 years-old or in their early 20s, landed on the beaches of Normandy to liberate an entire continent from the evils of national socialism (Nazis).

We might be able to honor those brave men best today by re-reading the tremendous prayer that President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered to the nation as the liberation of Europe was under way. Here is a brief excerpt:

“Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity. Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith…

“And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events … deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

“With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy… Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen.”

The leftists obsessed with race and “systemic racism” should learn the history of World War II. America and our allies defeated the evil of Nazism that was also obsessed with race and really made systemic racism part of its totalitarian regime.

—Gary Bauer

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY – In 1982, Graceland—Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis, Tennessee, where he died in 1977—was opened for public tours and became one of the top tourist attractions in the United States.

Briefs are posted every weekday morning, M-F

NEWS

The Milwaukee Bucks and Adrian Griffin have agreed to terms on a contract, and the 48-year-old has begun his duties as the 17th head coach in franchise history.

After parting ways with Mike Budenholzer on May 4, the Bucks began a lengthy search process that included interviewing about a dozen candidates with a variety of experience.

“Adrian is a widely respected coach and former player, who brings great leadership and experience to our team,” Horst said in the statement released by the team introducing Griffin. “His championship-level coaching pedigree, character, basketball acumen and ability to connect with and develop players make him the ideal choice to lead our team. He has earned this opportunity.”

Griffin spent the last five years as an assistant coach with Toronto, including the 2018-19 championship season.

He began his coaching career with the Bucks in 2008 under head coach Scott Skiles.

Griffin said in the release, “The Bucks are a championship organization and I’m thrilled to work with an established roster of high character and talented players. I’m excited to be back in Milwaukee and I can’t wait to get started.”

—Milwaukee Journal Sentienl

Unemployment in Wisconsin continues to run well below the national average, but some sectors of the local economy are indicating a slowdown could be underway.

The pace of job growth in Wisconsin remains remarkably strong. The state reports that the number of jobs in Wisconsin is a new record total of 3,003,600 — 9,600 jobs above the pre-COVID peak in January 2020.

The national unemployment rate is 3.7%.

In Racine, where unemployment has been typically higher than in other parts of the state, unemployment is at 2.7%, in the Milwaukee-West Allis area the rate is 2.4% and in Madison it’s 1.6%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Similar trends are seen in more rural parts of the state which typically have higher jobless rates.

In Wausau it’s 2%, in Eau Claire it’s 2.4%, in Fond du Lac it’s 1.9%; in Oshkosh-Neenah it’s 1.8%; in Appleton it’s 1.8%; in Sheboygan it’s 1.7%; in Green Bay it’s 2% and there are several other cities that are seeing similar numbers.

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Nationally, the number of people working from home between 2019 and 2021 tripled from 5.7 percent to 17.9 percent, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

More recently, though, there are signs that the number of people working from home is slightly declining, in Wisconsin and nationally. A Morning Consult poll in April found nearly half of U.S. employees prefer working in-person. But attempts to bring workers back to the office also face challenges, and at least some companies are planning to keep hybrid or work-from-home options around indefinitely.

In Wisconsin, remote work could make the relatively low-cost state more competitive as people with higher incomes boost rural areas, experts say. But some worry that with people working for companies outside the state, local services that might benefit from their expertise could lose out.

—WI Public Radio

If a local government funding bill doesn’t pass the state Legislature — providing desperately needed funding to Milwaukee, Milwaukee County and communities across the state — voters should blame legislators in Madison, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said at a meeting with Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editors and reporters.

“If we don’t get something passed, this is not the City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County’s fault,” Crowley said Monday. “We inherited issues like many other elected officials across the state did.”

If no local governments across the state get the funding they need for the people they represent, “I think the only place to blame is the state Legislature and … the legislative process in Madison for the simple fact that for 20, 25, 30 years, we have been sounding the alarm at the local level. We need help,” said Crowley, who served as a state representative before he was elected county executive.

At the same time, Crowley said, the biggest liability for him and Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson as they face re-election in April 2024 is to not get a deal done.

“Whether we are in these seats or not, the next person or ourselves will be telling people these cuts are coming down the pipeline and they’re going to be drastic and they’re going to affect your quality of life,” he said.

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

When heading outdoors this summer, you’re likely to encounter ticks just waiting to latch on to your skin. It doesn’t matter if you’re hiking through the woods, or if you’re downtown, experts say you still need to watch for these pests.

Ticks are usually most active in Wisconsin from May to November. The state has a variety of ticks, most commonly the Deer tick, which spreads diseases, and the Wood tick, which rarely carries diseases.

The state had some really warm weather this spring in early March, which gave the ticks an early start.

“They’re bad this year, but they’re bad every year,” said Rebecca Osborn, a vectorborne disease epidemiologist.

Reported cases of Lyme disease have more than doubled over the past 15 years. In 2020, Wisconsin had 3,076 estimated cases of Lyme disease, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. However, the CDC estimates the total number of cases is more than 10 times higher than what’s reported.

Wisconsin is one of the states reporting the highest number of cases in the country, according to DHS.

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

There was the hope that when mask mandates on planes ended and people got used to traveling again, airplane passenger behavior might improve. Perhaps all those midair scraps, diverted flights and the abuse and harassment of flight attendants might die down.

That dream’s been dashed.

Unruly passenger incidents were more than a third higher in 2022 than in 2021, a new global analysis by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has revealed.

The aviation body has recorded an increase of 37% year on year, with the most common types of incidents being ones that involve non-compliance, verbal abuse and intoxication.

Smoking of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, vapes and “puff devices” in the cabin or lavatories was the No.1 non-compliance issue highlighted by the IATA, followed by failure to fasten seat belts when instructed, exceeding the carry-on baggage allowance or failing to store baggage when required, and consumption of own alcohol on board.

—CNN

A state school board in Oklahoma voted Monday to approve what would be the first publicly funded religious school in the nation, despite a warning from the state’s attorney general that the decision was unconstitutional.

The Statewide Virtual Charter School Board voted 3-2 to approve the application by the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma to establish the St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Charter School. The online public charter school would be open to students across the state in kindergarten through grade 12.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond had warned the board that such a decision clearly violated the Oklahoma Constitution.

—Associated Press

A Vermont school district has agreed to settle out of court with a $125,000 payment to a family that district officials punished over their criticism of a boy the district allowed to use the girls’ locker rooms at the school.

Last year, a coach objected to rules set by Randolph Union Middle School in Vermont, where a teen boy who claimed to be a “transgender girl” was allowed to “creep out” girls in the girls’ locker rooms. The situation escalated when the school’s girls’ soccer coach, Travis Allen, complained to district officials that the boy was causing the real girls to feel uncomfortable.

After his complaint, though, the district suspended Allen.

The coach was specifically fired for “misgendering” the boy for being in the girls’ locker rooms. Last Oct., he told Fox News, “I made a media post, or sorry, a social media post that referred to the male student as a male, and I was punished because I misgendered him.”

—Breitbart News

Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald justified the firing of two employees who called the police when three masked thieves robbed a Georgia store by saying that the company has a “zero-tolerance policy” for engaging with thieves and that employees should “let the theft occur.”

“We have a zero-tolerance policy that we train our educators on around engaging during a theft,” McDonald said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” as he used Lululemon’s company terminology that refers to employees as “educators.”

“We put the safety of our team, of our guests, front and center. It’s only merchandise,” he also said. “They’re trained to step back, let the theft occur, know that there’s technology and there’s cameras and we’re working with law enforcement.”

“We take that policy seriously because we have had instances – and we have seen with other retailers, instances – where employees step in and are hurt, or worse, killed. And the policy is to protect them. But we have to stand behind the policy to enforce it,” McDonald added.

—Just the News

Good news for fans of breakfast burritos and omelets: egg prices are dropping.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show the average price for a dozen grade A, large eggs has dropped 32% between January and April, and The Wall Street Journal this week reported that supermarket executives say retail egg prices are set to return to historic averages in the coming months.

Industry experts say the shift comes as the effects of last year’s avian influenza outbreak begin to wane.

“There are now more hens and more eggs on the market. That is, supply has increased, and prices have normalized,” University of California, Davis agricultural economics professor Daniel Sumner said in an email to USA TODAY.

While grocery prices across the board were up about 11% between January 2022 and January 2023 due to inflation, egg prices jumped 70% in that time frame, according to BLS data.

Prices have since dropped. Wholesale prices are now just over $1 per dozen, down nearly 80% from their peak of $5.30 in December, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

—-USA TODAY

Another summer blockbuster season is here, and every major movie studio is hoping they’ll have the hottest film of the year. Unfortunately, not everyone can be a winner — especially when negative early reviews influence movie goers. Even the much-anticipated “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” faces an uphill battle thanks to multiple unflattering reviews online. Movie reviews posted by professional critics are usually a fairly accurate predictor of how a movie will fare at the box office, but researchers from the University of California-Davis are surprisingly turning that notion on its head. Their study actually found the exact opposite; bad reviews often predict hits while positive reviews signal a film will flop.

“We contend that it’s essential to differentiate among movie critics, arguing that the influence of reviews on box office performance isn’t uniform across all critics,” says the study’s lead author, Pantelis Loupos, assistant professor of marketing and business analysis for the Graduate School of Management, in a university release. “In our analysis, we demonstrate that not all positive or negative reviews necessarily signal a movie’s success or failure, respectively.”

Researchers analyzed numerous pre-release movie reviews written by film critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Interestingly, when these critics penned positive pre-release reviews, they signaled that the movie would be a flop,” Prof. Loupos explains. “Conversely, their negative reviews hinted towards the film being a success. The stronger the sentiment in either direction, the stronger the predictive signal.”

For example, films such as “Baywatch” and “Tomb Raider” received positive pre-release reviews yet performed very poorly at the box office during their opening weekends. Notably, this pattern even held up among top critics. According to Prof. Loupos, these findings suggest expertise does not always lead to accurate predictions.

—Study Finds

Travis Kelce attempted to play President for a moment – and Patrick Mahomes, playfully, had none of it.

The Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs made their visit to the White House on Monday and the team’s star tight end and quarterback appeared to have some fun during their second trip to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the past three years.

After the duo posed for a photo on stage with President Biden with a Chiefs no. 46 jersey, Kelce – dressed in a red suit and black shirt — walked over to the podium with the Presidential seal and began addressing the crowd.

“So I’ve been waiting for this …” Kelce said before Mahomes stepped in to cut him off.

The former MVP looked like a secret service agent pushing his tight end back with the rest of the team.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Mahomes said.

It’s unclear if it was something the two planned or if Kelce was going to throw his hat into the 2024 race, but it got plenty of laughter from those in attendance.

—NY Post

Astrud Gilberto, the Brazilian singer, songwriter and entertainer whose off-hand, English-language cameo on “The Girl from Ipanema” made her a worldwide voice of bossa nova, has died at age 83.

Born in Salvador, Bahia and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Gilberto became an overnight, unexpected superstar in 1964, thanks to knowing just enough English to be recruited by the makers of “Getz/Gilberto,” the classic bossa nova album featuring saxophonist Stan Getz and her then-husband, singer-songwriter-guitarist Joao Gilberto.

“The Girl from Ipanema,” the wistful ballad written by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, was already a hit in South America. But “Getz/Gilberto” producer Creed Taylor and others thought they could expand the record’s appeal by including both Portuguese and English language vocals. In a 2002 interview with friends posted on her web site www.astrudgilberto.com, Astrud Gilberto remembered her husband saying he had a surprise for her at the recording studio.

“I begged him to tell me what it was, but he adamantly refused, and would just say: ‘Wait and see …’ Later on, while rehearsing with Stan, as they were in the midst of going over the song ‘The Girl from Ipanema,’ Joao casually asked me to join in, and sing a chorus in English, after he had just sung the first chorus in Portuguese. So, I did just that,” she explained.

“When we were finished performing the song, Joao turned to Stan, and said something like: “Tomorrow Astrud sing on record… What do you think?” Stan was very receptive, in fact very enthusiastic; he said it was a great idea. The rest, of course, as one would say, ‘is history.’”

—ABC News

OPINION

Do you think it matters that our alleged president has fallen myriad times and can’t get up? You do? You sap.

Watching President Gumby trip all over mystery sandbags at the Air Force Academy just reinforces what we all already know. He’s a senile, desiccated, crusty weirdo with delusions of mental competence. And no one cares, at least no one with the power to put this broken nag out to pasture. The mass of normal people might care if they really understood just how far the decay has gotten. Fortunately, we have a fearless truth-telling class of journalists who are unwilling to allow off-narrative facts to prevent them from bravely speaking truth to power. And if you believe that, you need to watch out for those cunning sandbags because you’re mentally defective too.

Donald Trump walked down a wet ramp and steadied himself and this was a five-alarm 25th Amendment emergency. But Grandpa Badfinger spills all over the place, whether on a bike or an airplane ladder or a flat surface, and it’s no big deal. It’s racist for you to even notice. Or maybe sexist, or transphobic. It’s something bad.

Today, it’s going to be that a president’s ability to perform basic functions is irrelevant. Tomorrow, with another Republican, it’ll be super-relevant once again only because it will be useful again. We shouldn’t bother pointing it out to each other. We shouldn’t bother highlighting the difference between how they treated Trump’s personal life and how they’ve treated Hunter’s stripper-baby’s granddaddy. Facts and truth are irrelevant to the situation. There is only power, which means we’ve got to get power and use it to crush the left. They’ll cry. They’ll complain. They’ll tell us it’s against our conservative principles to fight our enemies, and our proper response is to laugh at them. And to keep crushing them.

Biden’s not running the country. He’s probably not even changing the channel to Matlock on the old Magnavox. He’s a puppet, and the left’s left hand is all the way up to him.

Some normals might look up from their chicken tenders long enough to notice, but it’s unclear if they’ll actually care. The pain hasn’t gotten bad enough yet. But don’t worry. The Democrats’’ combination of corruption, gross incompetence, and burning hatred of normal Americans will make it get worse, and eventually the people will react. It’s just going to take a while. Things are going to have to get darker before they get lighter. So, if you think the mere fact that this Oval Office occupant demonstrating his utter inability to perform as a president is going to make any difference in the short term, you’re the one who is tripping.

—Columnist Kurt Schlichter

Just a few weeks ago, at the G-7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Biden almost tripped when walking down concrete stairs. He was not holding the railing and a fall could have been catastrophic and seriously injured him.

Sadly, Biden is very frail, and his health is a ticking time bomb. After speeches, he often gets lost and does not know where to go. He could easily tumble off a stage and require hospitalization or surgery.

This nightmare for the American people needs to end immediately. At 80 years old, Joe Biden needs medical care, treatment, and rest. He does not have the physical or mental capabilities to manage the most demanding and powerful position in the world.

Many medical experts, including former White House Physician and U.S. Congressman Ronny Jackson (R-TX) believe Biden is suffering from a serious “cognitive decline.” According to Jackson, “People like Jill Biden and people that surround him and are supposed to love him and care about him. They should be doing something about this, and they should be stopping this, because it’s a shame.”

Why doesn’t the First Lady end this farce? Obviously, it is because she selfishly enjoys the limelight, the prestige and benefits that are associated with her position.

As Jackson noted, “I think his lack of physical ability and his physical decline is now starting to highlight the cognitive decline that we’ve been watching for so long now.” In Jackson’s view, this “package…doesn’t sell around the world, and it’s becoming a national security issue for us, we have to do something.”

—Columnist Jeff Crouere

As many of you are aware, Matt Walsh produced an excellent documentary last year called, “What Is A Woman.” On the one-year anniversary of the film, Walsh thought he had negotiated a deal to stream the movie on Twitter. At the last minute, Twitter executives backed out, citing various lame excuses.

When Elon Musk learned of this decision, he immediately said it was a mistake. He also promoted the film on his Twitter page, saying, “Every parent should watch this… A child is not capable of consent, which is why we have laws protecting minors.”

So far, the film has been viewed 165 million times and retweeted 120,000 times. This is a huge victory for truth and free speech!

As we have repeatedly noted, the left has been trying to make it impossible to hear or see the conservative message on virtually every issue. Conservatives are shouted down on university campuses. Donald Trump was kicked off social media platforms. Tucker Carlson was kicked off Fox News.

Controlling the debate and censoring voices is the only way the left can win, the only way its insanity can prevail.

—Gary Bauer

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY –The Allied invasion of France codenamed Operation Overlord commenced in the early hours of June 6, 1944. It was the beginning of the end for Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist Workers (NAZI) Party and its reign of terror across Europe — an epic battle in defense of American Liberty and, by extension, that of all mankind.

Briefs are posted every weekday morning, M-F

NEWS

The Kohl’s department store in Oak Creek was evacuated and closed Friday afternoon after receiving a bomb threat that police later determined was not a credible threat, according to a press release issued by the Oak Creek Police Department.

Oak Creek Police received reports of the bomb threat at Kohl’s, 9035 S. Howell Ave., about 2:15 p.m. Friday, one of several stores across the United States to receive threats on Friday.

A Kohl’s store in Milwaukee, at 27th Street and Loomis Road, also was evacuated “out of an abundance of caution,” WISN reported. Kohl’s stores in several other states, including Florida, Kentucky and Indiana, also reported receiving bomb threats on Friday, according to TV news reports.

In Oak Creek, several businesses near Kohl’s also decided to temporarily close while law enforcement searched the area, according to the release.

Following their search, investigators did not find any physical evidence to indicate there was a credible threat to safety, the release says.

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

An abnormally dry spring is causing concern for farmers in the southern and northwestern parts of Wisconsin. Some regions have seen up to three inches less rain than normal during the past three months.

The U.S. Drought Monitor’s map of Wisconsin shows large swatches of abnormally dry conditions in the northwest and most of the southern half of the state. The far southeastern corner of Kenosha is experiencing a moderate drought.

“It’s extremely dry,” Kenosha County farmer Randal Rossi said. “We’ve missed some rains, and we just got to hope for rain. You can’t change the weather, you just wait for it to rain. If it don’t rain it’s going to be a problem.”

Kate Abbott is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in La Crosse. She said Wisconsin’s average precipitation for the month of May is between 3.5 and 4.5 inches, but many areas of the state had less than an inch of rain in May this year.

—WI Public Radio

While the City of Milwaukee’s 2025 fiscal cliff has drawn significant attention, Milwaukee County is facing serious problems of its own.

Without changes at the state level, the county’s challenges are expected to come to a head starting in 2025 and could lead to the cutting of as much as one-third of remaining employees over subsequent years as the annual budget gap grows.

The focus on the county’s finances comes as state legislators take up sweeping legislation that would allow voters to authorize the City of Milwaukee to levy a 2% sales tax and Milwaukee County to add a 0.375% sales tax on top of its current 0.5% tax. (A coalition of Milwaukee-area business leaders, organizations and others last week also urged legislators to allow Milwaukee County to instead add a 0.5% sales tax on top of its existing tax.)

The legislation also includes a boost of millions of dollars in the shared revenue that the state returns to the city and county, as well as for the other counties and municipalities across Wisconsin.

County leaders project that by 2027 state-mandated services will consume so much of the county’s tax levy that no local funding will be left for parks, transit and other services.

County Budget Director Joe Lamers said there’s no longer room to cut into state-mandated services, pointing to the backlog in the court system, staffing challenges in the jail and the minimum funding currently allocated to mental health services.

“We just don’t see an opportunity to make cuts to mandated services to a great extent anymore and without some form of solution we just won’t continue to have levy for our non-mandated services,” he said.

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A proposal to provide state funds to help pay for a minor league soccer team’s downtown Milwaukee stadium is dead.

Gov. Tony Evers’ 2023-’25 state budget proposal included $9.3 million for the $45 million stadium.

But a new list of statewide construction projects recommended for funding over the next two years by the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee doesn’t include the stadium.

Republicans who control the Legislature have vowed to reduce the proposed spending by Evers, a Democrat. Both chambers of the Legislature are to vote on the budget in June.

“While we are disappointed in the decision, we’re committed to working with the state on future funding opportunities to bring USL Championship soccer to Wisconsin for the 2025 season,” said S.R. Mills, chief executive officer of Kenosha-based Bear Development LLC, which is leading the effort.

The 8,000-seat stadium would be part of the Iron District, a development that initially included an indoor concert venue and hotel on 11 acres west of North Sixth Street and south of West Michigan Street.

But plans for the 3,500-seat concert venue have been changed, with Bear Development instead pitching a smaller events facility.

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Search and rescue crews have found no survivors at the wreckage of the small plane that went silent, triggering a national security response in D.C.’s restricted airspace on Sunday afternoon.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) scrambled F-16 fighter jets in an attempt to reach its pilot when authorities saw the plane flying erratically and without authorization around 3:20 p.m.

Barbara Rumpel, president of a Florida company with which the plane is registered, posted on social media: “My family is gone, my daughter and granddaughter.” She was responding to condolences from others responding to news of the plane crash.

The small Cessna 560 was registered to her and her husband John Rumpel’s company Encore Motors based in Melbourne, Florida.

The prominent business family confirmed that their adopted daughter and only granddaughter were aboard the doomed flight, which at one point registered a chilling descent of 20,000 feet a minute, John Rumpel said.

“Nobody could survive a crash from that speed,” he told The New York Times.

John Rumpel told The Washington Post that his 50-year-old daughter and her daughter were his “entire family.”

They were meant to be returning home to Long Island after a four-day visit to him and his wife in North Carolina. The pilot and the family’s live-in nanny were the other two people onboard.

The Cessna crashed into the mountainside in the George Washington National Forest, southwestern Virginia, around 3:30 p.m.

—The Epoch Times

As the Democratic Party becomes more progressive, radical, and insistent on its push for a liberal agenda, young Americans are stepping away and leaning toward the Right.

According to data from Nate Cohn with the New York Times, millennials are shifting towards the Republican Party.

Liberalism is not what it used to be before the 2000s. Being liberal in today’s society does not mean walking around barefoot, selling flowers along the highway, and burning your bra. Instead, it means supporting LGBTQ propaganda and being brainwashed by an 80-year-old president who doesn’t remember where he is half the time.

The data from the study found that nearly 50 percent of people born between 1980 and 1984 now vote Republican in presidential elections— a trend widely compared to the voting habits of the youngest Generation X voters who came before them. Moreover, despite millennials born between 1985 and 1994 still voting for the Democratic candidate, the data shows they have made definitive shifts towards the Right since 2012, the same year President Obama was re-elected.

According to Times estimates, while millennials backed Obama, only half of those voters supported President Joe Biden in 2020. Exit polls show an even broader shift, with “Biden winning by just 51-45 among voters who were 18 to 27 in 2008.”

A Times/Siena College poll found that the same group of voters “preferred Democratic congressional candidates by just 10 points” in last year’s midterms, adding that “the Democrats and the Democratic brand are in deep trouble.”

—Townhall

The New York Times faces criticism after publishing an article attempting to paint President Joe Biden as a young, vibrant man who never embarrasses himself or the country.

Titled “Inside the Complicated Reality of Being America’s Oldest President,” reporters Peter Baker, Michael Shear, Katie Rogers, and Zolan Kanno-Youngs fawned over Biden’s achievements, describing him as a “fit, sharp” 80-year-old who has “striking stamina.”

“The two Joe Bidens coexist in the same octogenarian president: Sharp and wise at critical moments, the product of decades of seasoning, able to rise to the occasion even in the dead of night to confront a dangerous world,” the article read.

Despite acknowledging Biden’s diminishing cognitive and physical health, the reporters downplayed his repeated public gaffes and instead said the president was just a “quirky” man.

“Yet a little slower, a little softer, a little harder of hearing, a little more tentative in his walk, a little more prone to occasional lapses of memory,” the article continued. “He can be quirky; when children visit, he may randomly pull a book of William Butler Yeats off his desk and start reading Irish poetry to them.”

The article went as far as claiming Biden— who doesn’t do anything until 11 am and nothing past 4 pm, including weekends— exercises five days a week and does not drink, adding that the senior president is “fit and trim.”

Critics of the NYT article, however, called the reporter’s bluff over Biden’s— who has fallen several times and forgotten where he was more often than not— so-called “perfect” health.

—Townhall

Video footage showing a South Carolina-based children’s choir being stopped by a Capitol Police officer from singing the national anthem in the U.S. Capitol has gone viral with millions of views.

Capitol Police said singers with the Rushingbrook Children’s Choir from Greenville were stopped because of a “miscommunication,” which occurred May 26.

Capitol Police initially issued a statement that said they were under the impression the group didn’t have permission to perform in the building but clarified later that they “were not aware that the Speaker’s Office had approved this performance.”

Choir director David Rasbach and another choir leader said the visit was approved by the office of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., which the speaker’s office confirmed.

“I was shocked, I was dismayed, I was stunned,” Rasbach, who said he secured permission from three congressional offices to perform at the U.S. Capitol, told the Daily Signal. “I couldn’t believe that was happening, that they would stop the national anthem, of all songs.”

“Recently somebody posted a video of a children’s choir singing the Star-Spangled Banner in the U.S. Capitol Building and wrongfully claimed we stopped the performance because it ‘might offend someone,’” the Capitol Police said. “Here is the truth. Demonstrations and musical performances are not allowed in the U.S. Capitol.”

“Of course, because the singers in this situation were children, our officers were reasonable and allowed the children to finish their beautiful rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner,” the statement added.

—NY Post

Sub, hoagie, grinder, hero or spuckie? The nickname for a sandwich varies from state to state, but everyone knows there’s a right answer – we just may not agree on it.

Regional colloquialisms aside, the contents of a sandwich generally stay the same wherever you go. Deli meat, cheese, veggies and a condiment or two.

According to Statista, turkey is the most popular deli meat in the U.S. based on bulk meat sales, with ham following closely behind.

The healthiest deli meat option is the one you get fresh sliced at the deli counter. According to registered dietitian nutritionist Danielle Crumble Smith, deli meat is the freshest and healthiest from the counter because it has fewer ingredients.

“That is not always feasible for people … but if you can and you’re able to choose organic sources, something like Applegate Turkey that’s going to have minimal added ingredients, minimal preservatives, that’s going to be a healthier choice,” Crumble Smith says.

There are a few kinds of deli meat that are healthier choices: turkey, chicken or roast beef, Crumble Smith says. Salami, bologna, pepperoni and pastrami, for example, have more sodium and are generally more processed.

—USA TODAY

Albeit a fictional world, the “Barbie Land” erected for the upcoming Greta Gerwig film “Barbie” impacted real-world infrastructure, causing an international shortage on pink paint.

The color pink is practically synonymous with Barbie dolls and its accessories – an element Gerwig did not want to deviate from for her movie.

“Maintaining the ‘kid-ness’ was paramount,” Gerwig told Architectural Digest of not straying away from the famous features of the Mattel Inc. toys. “I wanted the pinks to be very bright, and everything to be almost too much.”

“Too much” was a direction not taken lightly when it came to set construction.

The film’s production designer Sarah Greenwood admitted that “the world ran out of pink,” referencing one particular fluorescent hue from Rosco paint.

The film starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken premieres on July 21.

—FOX Business

OPINION

Christianity Today published a curious piece by Paul Miller on Thursday calling for everyone to forgive each other for our supposed “pandemic sins.”

He doesn’t exactly say who sinned, just that “We got things wrong,” and “Some officials made mistakes in the early days.” Things happened. Mistakes were made. It’s time to move on. Miller’s argument is basically a warmed-over, lightly Christianized version of the essay Brown University economics professor Emily Oster wrote for The Atlantic last November, which argued for a “pandemic amnesty” on account of how “uncertain” and “complicated” things were in the face of a once-in-a-century pandemic like Covid. The ruling class did its best, OK?

Oster’s piece elicited well-deserved scorn from many on the right, including our own Joy Pullmann, who noted that a genuine amnesty “requires an admission of guilt and a commitment to repairing the wrongs done.” The absence of such an admission and commitment to change, says Pullmann, is “an indication that you’re going to do it again,” and makes it impossible to rebuild trust.

Of course, the people responsible for shutting down the economy, closing schools and churches, destroying countless businesses, and condemning the elderly to die alone in their hospital rooms are not at all sorry about what they did. To this day, they don’t acknowledge any wrongdoing whatsoever. Certainly not Anthony Fauci, who in an April interview with The New York Times defiantly faulted ordinary Americans for failing to listen to him, the self-proclaimed embodiment of science.

The same people who needlessly imposed massive learning losses on schoolchildren, or barred families from burying their dead, then foisted an ineffective vaccine on the public and tried to shame or coerce everyone into taking it, regardless of their age or health status. Plenty of Americans, including those in the military and medical professions, were faced with the terrible choice of taking a shot they didn’t trust or losing their careers and livelihoods.

None of the very powerful people who made cruel and ruinous decisions during the pandemic have asked for forgiveness or even acknowledged their devastating failures. None of them have been held accountable. There has been no justice.

There is zero reason to “forgive” those people, because they believe, to this day, that they were justified in their wrongdoing.

It’s worth noting, too, the unbelievable hypocrisy of a publication like Christianity Today running a piece like this. As some commentators noted, during the pandemic, CT was outspoken in pushing for mask and vaccine mandates as well as school and business closures, and it shamed everyone who dissented as a bad Christian.

My colleague Sean Davis put it bluntly: “You told people they were bad Christians and risked going to Hell if they went to church, didn’t wear masks, or refused a dud vaccine. Repent for what you did, acknowledge the damage you inflicted on the church, and seek forgiveness. Until then: shut up, you little snakes.”

With apologies to Miller, that about sums it up. No forgiveness without repentance. And no forgetting what the ruling class did to this country. Ever.

—John Daniel Davidson is a senior editor at The Federalist

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY – In 2004, American politician Ronald Reagan—who, as the 40th president of the United States (1981–89), became known for his conservative Republicanism, his fervent anticommunism, and his appealing personal style—died at age 93.

AND in 1968, while running for U.S. president, Robert F. Kennedy was fatally shot by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles; he died the following day.