Milwaukee, WI
Should Biden drop out presidential race? Milwaukee voters weigh-in
MILWAUKEE — President Joe Biden will be back in Wisconsin Friday, following a weak performance last week at the first presidential debate.
As his campaign works to assure Americans that the 81-year-old is in the race for the long haul, TMJ4’s Tahleel Mohieldin spoke with Milwaukee voters about the upcoming visit and Biden’s ability to take on a second term.
Here’s what three voters had to say:
Kellie Szymczak
“I consider myself independent,” SzymczakI said. “I do head towards more Trump but just cuz Biden is older.”
She said she believes Biden should drop out of the presidential race.
Mohieldin asked Szymczak if she would consider voting Democrat if the party chose a different candidate. Szymczak said that was a possibility.
“I mean it really just really depends on the people and their input,” she added. “People that could have a longer-term and newer ideas than the older generation.”
Tom
Tom, who didn’t want to share his last name, told Mohieldin he thinks it’s great Biden is coming to Wisconsin. He views the visit as an opportunity for the president to redeem himself with voters in the swing state.
Tom admits following the presidential debate he was worried about Biden’s ability to take on a second term but hopes the poor showing was nothing more than a bad day.
“I don’t think President Biden should avoid anything,” Tom said. “Some people say it’s an episode, others say that it’s just him altogether. We don’t know that we can’t prove it, at least not now.”
Tom also said he supports Biden’s running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris, should it come to that.
Erick Gallegos
“President Bidens is old, he barely can walk,” Gallegos said. “I don’t know to be honest.”
Gallegos told Mohieldin he’s on the fence about the democratic party choosing a new presidential candidate this late in the game. He said though he has concerns about Biden he’s not ready to write him off.
“He’s been saying a lot of things he’s going to change for our community but he’s not doing anything to be honest,” Gallegos explained. “We can give him a second chance but at this point, we’re already disappointed.”
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It’s Monday in Milwaukee, and here are some things we think you should know about. If you would like your event to be considered for this column, please submit your news by clicking here at least two weeks in advance.
The Milwaukee Police Department District 7 will hold its monthly crime and safety meeting from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Monday, July 8 at 8424 W. Center St. Several topics will be discussed, including crime statistics, traffic stops and more. More information here.
VIA Community Development Corp. will hold a neighborhood meeting from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 9 at 3730 W. National Ave. The meeting will focus on the reconstruction of West National Avenue. Click here to register. More information here.
The African American Roundtable invites young people, ages 13 to 24, for a day filled with activities and conversations. The Youth Hangout will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, July 10 at Uihlein Soccer Park, 7101 Good Hope Road. Lunch will be provided. Click here to register. More information here.
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Kids, from newborn to 6, can come to Alice’s Garden Urban Farm to spend the morning learning shapes, numbers and more in the garden. Drop-in hours are from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 11 at 2136 N. 21st St. More information here.
Sixteenth Street Community Wellness and Wehr Nature Center are partnering to lead a forest bathing. Individuals, 14 and up, will spend time connecting with nature in a therapeutic way. The event will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 11 at Jackson Park, 3500 W. Forest Home Ave. Click here to register. More information here.
Amani United will hold its first Saturday meeting at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 13, due to the Fourth of July holiday weekend. The meeting will take place at the Dominican Center, 2470 W. Locust St. Click here to join virtually, or watch at www.amaniunited.org. More information here.
Young people, ages 6-17, can receive free meals at over a dozen Milwaukee Recreation summer playground locations. Milwaukee Rec staff will serve two free meals to youth every weekday through Aug. 16. Click here to see a list of playground locations and free meal times at each site. More information here.
Manawa director of public works speaks briefly about July 5 flooding
Josh Smith, city of Manawa’s director of Public Works and fire chief for the Manawa Rural Fire Department speaks briefly about flood waters in Manawa, Wisconsin on July 5, 2024.
Continuing a rainy summer, more showers and thunderstorms will move into the Milwaukee area early this week — though no severe weather is expected.
On Sunday, showers and storms are possible further west, and some weak storms might move through later tonight.
Both Monday and Tuesday “looks like fairly scattered activity,” National Weather Service meteorologist Denny VanCleve said. Showers and storms could happen at any point during the day Monday.
Tuesday looks like it could be drier, and any rain or thunder is more likely to happen in the afternoon. More rain is possible on Wednesday and Thursday, but the chances will taper off toward the end of the week.
There “could be a few stronger storms, locally heavy rainfall. But right now, it looks like we don’t have quite the setup for severe weather,” VanCleve said. “Just kind of general daytime thunderstorms that we can often see during a summer day.”
Will Hurricane Beryl impact Wisconsin?
Meteorologists are also tracking the path of Tropical Storm Beryl, which is expected to reach the Texas coast as a hurricane early Monday. The path of impacted areas could include part of southeast Wisconsin, but main areas expected to see higher moisture are central Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and lower Michigan, VanCleve said.
“Whoever does have this come through will probably see good rainfall amounts,” he said, likely around the middle of the week. “We can expect places to probably see at least a couple of inches of rainfall along the higher swath.”
Wisconsin has been hammered by rainfall this summer, causing flooding in some areas. A dam did not fail in the city of Manawa this weekend, but earth on the sides of the dam became eroded enough to give way to the waters behind the dam. The city received about four inches of rain.
More: What we know about the flooding in Manawa in Waupaca County
This summer “has certainly been on the wetter end,” VanCleve said. “If you look back a year ago, all of Wisconsin was in drought, and parts of southern Wisconsin were in severe drought. And now a year later, we’ve got no areas in Wisconsin are in drought.”
More: Wisconsin is finally drought-free after a year. Here’s what that means for the state.
LOS ANGELES – Too soon to panic, Dodger fans?
It’s probably fair to suggest that the past week, when the Dodgers were 3-4, lost two games off an 8½-game division lead and had their starting pitchers compile a 9.00 ERA in those seven games, represented a short sample size in a long season rather than a troubling trend.
Calm down, folks. Crisis averted. For now.
James Paxton made it through five innings Saturday, reinventing himself as he goes. And some late inning thunder and a managerial move that almost backfired but didn’t – we’ll explain – gave the Dodgers a 5-3 win over Milwaukee, the NL Central leader, and cinched their first series win in over a week.
If you’re seeking a reason why spirits have been so down – or at least up and down – among certain segments of the fan base, here’s a hint: The first 12 questions manager Dave Roberts fielded in his pre-game briefing Saturday involved injury updates. Among the revelations: Max Muncy has stopped swinging the bat in his rehab process, because the oblique injury that has kept him out of the Dodgers’ lineup since May 15 just won’t allow him to do so freely.
“Everything he does, turning and rotating, is good except swinging the bat,” Roberts said.
Given that swinging the bat is what Muncy does best, and is not only his best contribution to a Dodgers lineup but creates a giant chasm when he’s not in it, that’s a problem.
Go down the list. Clayton Kershaw has another simulated game lined up Sunday, as he tries to regain momentum after a slight rehab setback of his own. Joe Kelly is getting hitters out for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes but is probably still at least a couple more outings away from returning. MVP candidate Mookie Betts, recovering from a broken left hand, is doing some baseball-type activities but is still a few weeks away – and he, too, can’t swing a bat yet. (But his appearance in the Dodgers’ TV booth Wednesday night suggested he could have a post-career future in the booth if he wants it).
Meanwhile, relievers Brusdar Graterol and Ryan Brasier are still working out at Camelback Ranch, Michael Grove and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are in various stages of their rehabs … and the list goes on. The upshot: A team that still has a healthy division lead also has plenty of needs as the July 30 trading deadline approaches. Clearly, $1.1 billion doesn’t guarantee health.
Layered over all of this is the realization, within the organization as well as among its fan base, that the only achievement that means anything has to come in October.
So on social media, our current bastion of learned discourse, Dodger fans are chill, nobody’s suggesting any outlandish trades and Roberts isn’t getting hammered for his in-game decisions, right?
Right??
Hey, if you allow it to, following baseball can be a nightly nervous breakdown.
To be sure, Roberts gave the wannabe managers more ammunition Saturday. Nursing a 3-2 lead, he used Daniel Hudson in the sixth, Blake Treinen in the seventh and normal closer Evan Phillips in the eighth, guessing that Phillips could handle the middle of the order in that inning and Alex Vesia could pitch the ninth for the save. Roberts had done so at the start of the last road trip against the woeful White Sox and got away with it.
This time, Christian Yelich sent a 2-2 pitch into the net above the kids’ play area in dead center field off Phillips to tie the game 3-3.
But Roberts ultimately got away with it again. Miguel Vargas pinch-hit for Gavin Lux leading off the bottom of the eighth and hit a paint-scraper that just cleared the left field fence to break the tie. Two hitters later Shohei Ohtani left no doubt with his 28th homer of the year, a 430-foot cannon blast (one estimated foot longer than Yelich’s). And Vesia retired the Brewers in order in the ninth, so what could the critics say?
“It was a right, left, right” situation, Roberts said afterward, given that righties William Contreras and Willy Adames bookended the left-handed Yelich. You could make the counter argument that the dominant hitter in the eighth, Yelich, was left-handed, while right-handed Rhys Hoskins – who had already homered in the fourth Saturday, after hitting a grand slam Friday night – was likely due up in the ninth.
“I feel confident with Alex versus either, but I think that for me, just having the righty on Contreras and Adames, I like that,” Roberts said. “And, you know, (Phillips) had count leverage on Yelich (it was 2-2) and left a sweeper middle, middle. But if I had to do it over again, I’d do the same thing.”
Footnote: Vesia struck out Hoskins on a 2-2 slider to start the ninth.
Meanwhile, maybe Paxton provided a sliver of hope by battling his way through five innings and 83 pitches and leaving with a 3-2 lead.
He acknowledged he’s not the same pitcher he was before Tommy John surgery in 2021, and Saturday he was working with a four-seam fastball that topped out at 93.9 mph and averaged 92.8, a couple of ticks below his 93.3 average for the year. He’s thrown mostly four-seamers and knuckle curves this season, with a few changeups and very few cutters (Saturday he threw two). Three years ago he was throwing the cutter nearly 30 percent of the time according to Baseball Savant; this year, less than four percent.
“I think I’m just evolving as a pitcher,” he said. “You know, my stuff isn’t what it used to be, but I’m pitching differently, pitching to weak contact, and still trying to give us a chance to win.
“I kind of figure it out as I go.”
That’s sort of the way baseball works in general. In this case, they’ll be figuring it out not only on the field and in the dugout but in the executive suite as July 30 approaches.
Meanwhile, after this series the Dodgers head to Philadelphia to play the team with baseball’s best record. So if your daily mood depends on the previous night’s results, you might want to hold on tight for a while.
jalexander@scng.com
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