Weather Forecast for June 22

Yesterday’s weather saw the warmest temperatures, around 85 F, at midnight. They fell after a broken line of showers and storms passed through the area, levelled out at 75 F during the day, and resumed their fall as the sun set. Nighttime high temperatures are seen more often in winter than in summer, but the outgoing airmass was hot and the one we enjoyed today is from the northern Great Lakes.

Conditions at 11 pm EDT, June 21

https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/sfc/namussfcwbg.gif

We are under an area of high pressure, on the side which tends to transport air from points north. The cold front has pushed precipitation well to our southeast.

The clouds from this morning partially cleared by sunset as drier air came in from the northwest.

Forecast for June 22-23

Today will be a fairly raw day for mid-June. Temperatures will struggle toward 70 F at best. Clouds will increase as the day goes on, with a possible drop or two of rain. There may be a little clearing as sunset approaches and the frigid air a mile above us begins to moderate.

Tonight will be cool, with mostly cloudy skies. GFS suggests 52 F as the low temperature Wednesday morning, but it’s sort of hard to see how we go from 72 F to 52 F on a short, cloudy June night.

Tomorrow will see the clouds persist, though we will have exchange low-level stratus for mid-level clouds. It will be the kind of day that the Irish call “bright”: little sun but not nearly as gloomy as today. High temperatures will be in the low to mid 70s. Little to no rain is expected here, though metro Chicago will see light showers.

Whither the Journal and Courier?

The Journal and Courier dropped its Opinions section on Easter Sunday, and the loss is hard to bear — even for people who disagree with the moderate Republican slant of the editorial board. Dave Sattler’s comics are missed, and the J and C did not even publish his farewell cartoon.

As a highly literate community of 170,000 people, it is astounding that we only have one daily newspaper year-round and two during the school year with the Exponent. It’s not quite as astounding as metro Indianapolis’ million-plus making do with the Indianapolis Star as its sole general-readership daily, but it is still not a good showing. (Indy does have NUVO, an entertainment weekly, and the Indianapolis Recorded, an African-American weekly.)

\The number is more astonishing when surrounding counties, where the J and C is sold, are taken into consideration. Frankfort, whose county boasts 32,776 people has the Frankfort Times, which is part of a small chain based in Marion, Indiana. Montgomery County, population 38,146, has two: the Crawfordsville Journal-Review and the Montgomery County Paper. All are reasonably competent papers.

The J and C is partially sustained by subscribers in the surrounding counties, but as it continues to shed columnists and coverage, readers outside Tippecanoe County will have little reason to pick up a J and C other than to look at mug shots or read Dave Bangert’s column.

The loss of the Opinion section is even more painful in these polarized times. Social media is all too happy to provide news calibrated precisely to each user’s politics. Social norms in this part of Indiana militate against talk of politics across party lines. The Opinions page was a place where competently-written letters and articles across the local political spectrum could be found and there was no avoiding opinions that the reader did not like.

Sen. Brandt Hershman introduces nation’s worst anti-solar bill.

State Senator Brandt Hershman (R-Buck Creek) introduced Senate Bill 309, which would insist that people with solar panels sell excess solar power at wholesale rates (3 cent/kWh) but buy utility power at retail rates (11 cents/kWh).

It was referred to the Committee on Utilities.

Here are the phone numbers and office addresses of our local state Senators and Representatives. Gerrymandering has split the Cities of Lafayette and West Lafayette, so the list may be longer than it would be in a representative democracy.

To find which Representatives have been hired to represent you, the Indiana General Assembly’s webpage is very helpful.

Sen. Brandt Hershman (R-07): 800-382-9467, 317-232-9400

Sen. Ron Alting (R-22): 317-232-9400, 800-382-9467

Rep. Don Lehe (R-25): 317-232-9674, 800-382-9841

Rep. Sheila Klinker (D-27): 800-382-9842

Rep. Sharon Negele (R-13): 800-382-9841, 317-232-9816

Dr. Tim Brown (R-41): 317-232-9651, 800-382-9841

List of progressive, social justice and community activists at the Who’s Left Expo

The Who’s Left expo was held at the Tippecanoe Arts Federation building north of downtown today. Following is a list of the groups, activists and others with tables at the Expo.

The ACLU of Indiana was present. It has vowed resistance to Trump’s attacks on Constitutional liberties through the courts.

Be Smart for Kids seeks to reduce the number of unintentional shootings of children. If you take their quiz, they pledge to provide a gun lock for a parent who wants it.

Bicycle Lafayette has been trying to make Lafayette more bicycle-friendly since before being bicycle-friendly was cool. (Seriously, it is de rigeur for cities advertising at Union Station in Chicago to include a scene of happy bicyclists.)

The Citizens’ Climate Lobby was asking Expo-goers to write to Todd Rokita asking him to pay more attention to the climate. They recommend a carbon tax at the source, with the money collected from the carbon tax to be distributed among taxpayers.

A group of local mothers compiled a recipe book called Cocktails for Survival, with recipes by Drunk Publius. Savor an Impeach Mint, gulp down a Going Rogue or try one of many other recipes for adult drinks. The Amazon order page can be found here.

Greater Lafayette Immigrant Allies‘ Facebook page states that “Our focus is fellowship with, advocacy for and support of immigrants in our community and nation.” With Trump’s executive order barring Muslims from countries where he has no business interests, their Facebook page has been extremely active.

Greater Lafayette Progressives was there. They organized a meeting to resist Trump on January 15, and their next meeting will be on Wednesday, February 15…I believe at the West Lafayette Public Library at 5:30 pm. On January 15, the group split into interest groups that concentrate on one area of interest to cover over the next month. It will be great to hear what the other five groups did…mine wrote letters to Sen. Young and Sen. Donnelly.

The Greater Lafayette Younger Women’s Task Force is a program of the American Association of University Women that seeks to “fight for social justice.” They urge that everybody call their Senators to oppose Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education.

Harry Targ was there with a number of his books.

This may be a surprise to the older generation, for whom Roller Derby was an exploitive, misogynistic form of entertainment, but the Lafayette Brawlin’ Dolls had a table. Their next home game is on April 19 at the Fairgrounds.

LTASH, the Lafayette-Tippecanoe Association of Secular Humanists state “Your beliefs do not make you a better person, or better than anyone else. But your behavior and treatment of others sure do! The link goes to their Meetup site.

Open Sourcing Mental Illness is a group that fights the stigma of mental illness in the tech industry and beyond. They have a discussion forum and maintain a collection of guidelines, resources and links to raise awareness and help employees, employers and HR organizations understand their rights and responsibilities regarding mental illness.

Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky was there with a table and volunteers. They are currently targeted by Republicans for defunding and figured prominently in last weekend’s Women’s Marches.

The Purdue Social Justice Coalition has been active since the trustees appointed by Mitch Daniels foisted Mitch Daniels upon Greater Lafayette as President of Purdue University. #OccupyPurdue has been carrying on a business-hours occupation of Hovde Hall, where the administration is housed.

Here is a very lightly edited list of their demands. Most of the wording is theirs, not mine.

They demand that Mitch Daniels denounce the white supremacist group posting around campus, that posters in support of white supremacy be removed, that the Chief Diversity Office position be reinstated, that a course on the history of racism and anti-racist struggle be taken by all Purdue students, and that all staff, students and faculty participating in democratic protests be free to do so without retaliation, persecution and discrimination.

Showing Up for Racial Justice: Greater Lafayette describes itself as “a national network of groups and individuals organizing White people for racial justice”. Their handout offers tips on how white people can engage white friends, relatives and acquaintances in discussions of racial justice, which may be a subtle art.

Von’s Book Shop, the State Street standby, set up a table offering discounts on the books they brought to anyone who took a picture of them. They are an independent book store with a large selection. The Journal and Courier wrote about the desire of developers to purchase the building, but the owner is staying firm.

And last but not least, Who’s Left: Local Action for Lafayette Activists, the group who organized this expo.

If any groups were missed, I apologize.