Saturday evening will be beautiful across Southeast Wisconsin with temperatures in the 70s and mainly clear skies. Overnight clouds will increase, and lows will remain around 70 degrees.

Sunday will be a very warm day with highs in the upper 80s and lower 90s. Dew points remain elevated, in the mid to upper 60s. Skies will be partly to mostly cloudy through the day. A few spotty showers are possible early, with an isolated pop-up shower or thundershower possible in the afternoon. But overall, Sunday looks largely dry.

By late Sunday night into early Monday, storms will develop over Southeast Wisconsin. Waves of rain and storms are likely through Monday, Monday night, into Tuesday morning. Anywhere from 1-2″ of rain is likely for much of the area.

Once these showers and storms clear, cooler and drier air filters into Wisconsin. Cooler and comfortable conditions are expected for the remainder of the week.

TONIGHT: Increasing CloudsLow: 70
Wind: Var 5 mph

SUNDAY: Slight Chance AM Shower; Partly Sunny & Warm; Slight Chance PM Storms
High: 90
Wind: SW 5-10 mph

MONDAY: Rain/Storms Likely; Mostly Cloudy
High: 78

TUESDAY: Rain Early; Mostly Cloudy, Breezy
High: 71

WEDNESDAY: Partly Sunny; Cooler & less Humid
High: 77

THURSDAY: Mostly Cloudy
High: 76

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MANITOWOC – In the port cities that line Wisconsin’s eastern coast, access to Lake Michigan supports a broad swath of industries including cargo transportation, heavy machinery manufacturing, agricultural exports and the malt supply for some of Wisconsin’s iconic craft brewing operations.

In a recent visit to three of those ports, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was traveling in his official capacity, despite reports indicating he is likely in consideration as a potential running mate for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris is expected to meet this weekend with several candidates as she takes the helm of the Democratic presidential ticket, following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race late last month.

While Buttigieg — a former mayor of South Bend, Ind., and 2020 presidential candidate — adhered to the constraints of traveling as a representative of the federal government rather than a campaign, his message was clear: the investments he was highlighting exist in the context of an administration that enacted the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, $17 billion of which was directed to ports and waterways.

“The last administration (under Republican former President Donald Trump) talked a good game about infrastructure but failed to get a package through,” Buttigieg told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel during a Tuesday stop at Briess Malt & Ingredients Co. “This is different. This is a season of infrastructure, not just a so-called Infrastructure Week, which was getting to be a bit of a joke in Washington in the last administration. This is an infrastructure decade, and we’re in the middle of it.”

The $1.2 trillion package, which Biden signed into law in 2021, addresses nearly every facet of American infrastructure, including public transportation, roads, bridges, ports, railways, power grids, broadband internet, as well as water and sewage systems. It marked the largest investment in the country’s infrastructure in decades and, Buttigieg said, will make streets safer, improve the climate and save lives.

“Everything about this excites me. And it’s just so powerful to look at the difference between talking and doing,” he said.

Buttigieg had made his way down to Manitowoc from Menominee, Mich., and visited Milwaukee the following day.

The Menominee Harbor port received $21 million in federal funding in June to reconstruct deteriorating port infrastructure and boost rail capacity. 

In Manitowoc, Buttigieg toured Broadwind Heavy Fabrications, which processes more than 100,000 tons of steel each year, enabling the production of a variety of components and machinery including large cranes used by the U.S. Navy, mining equipment and wind turbines.

He then visited Briess, a family-owned business of more than 100 years that produces malts, or malted barley, used by breweries including New Glarus, Central Waters, Great Dane and Milwaukee Brewing Company.

“Our real goal here is to look at another side of America’s supply chains. Container shipping at the coast is important, but that’s only part of the story. Another very important part of the story is our Great Lakes ports, and the economy that connects into them,” Buttigieg said.

In the Marinette, Wisconsin and Menominee, Michigan area, Buttigieg said, he saw how much the port has grown and noted the influence of the wind industry and pulp movement on the supply chain and the creation of good-paying jobs.

“Here (in Manitowoc), we saw these enormous, colossal cranes that are such an important part of America’s defense system, and the range of products from that, to the barley that we’re looking at as part of this malting process, that they’re all only possible because of goods movement,” he told the Journal Sentinel. “And that’s why we’re investing in the ports as well as the railroad improvements, the roads and bridges and highways and everything else. That’s part of the Biden-Harris infrastructure package.”

Asked what, as transportation secretary, he would like to see from Congress to further support infrastructure funding, Buttigieg noted the government is “smack in the middle of the life of this five year bill, (so) we’re already starting to talk about what will happen in 2026.”

“We need sustained support for meaningful infrastructure investments,” he said. “Some of these, including the port infrastructure development programs, are funded with year-to-year appropriations. So it’s not just the Biden-Harris infrastructure package; we need support every single year to keep these programs going, to make investments like the ones we’re making in Wisconsin.”

Buttigieg said it’s also important for lawmakers to stay engaged with the federal government to ensure local projects are receiving the support they need.

“This is something that we talk to (Wisconsin Democratic Sen.) Tammy Baldwin a lot about,” he said. “She was there for us when we were trying to get the (infrastructure) bill passed. She’s also very focused on things like ‘made in America’ and project delivery that are going to help make sure the projects are successful.”

As Harris and Trump face off for the presidency, Baldwin faces a challenge from Republican businessman Eric Hovde as she seeks a third Senate term.

In a call with reporters ahead of his Wisconsin visits, state Republican officials called Buttigieg’s events a “taxpayer-funded trip for the secretary to come out and audition for vice president.”

“What he’s not going to do is talk to voters, show up at a grocery store checkout counter and understand the frustration that people have with the Biden-Harris administration,” U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil said. 

Asked about federal grants for infrastructure that Buttigieg is highlighting in Wisconsin, Steil said “logical investments in our state infrastructure is a positive thing.”

“(The) concern that all of us have with the Biden-Harris administration is the overall amount of reckless spending,” he said. “When you see the secretary come in, he’s going to cherry-pick key investments. What he’s not going to do is highlight the number of flawed investments that his administration is trying to shove through, in particular electric vehicle charging stations, the inability of the FAA to operate efficiently.”

Republican Party of Wisconsin Chairman Brian Schimming referred to Buttigieg’s visit as “the Democrat vice presidential Olympics” making an appearance in Wisconsin.

Asked what kind of role he’d like to hold in a potential Harris administration, Buttigieg said, “All I’ll say is I’m proud to be doing the work that I’m doing.”

Buttigieg said he’s honored the Biden-Harris administration trusted him with the opportunity “because there’s never been a more dynamic or exciting time to be the Secretary of Transportation.”

Hope Karnopp of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed.

Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com.

This is the next in the series comparing some statistical rankings between BigTen opponents and UW. This week’s comparison is with the Penn State Nittany Lions. UW last played them in the 2017 Fiesta Bowl.

Here’s a list of the previous teams covered:

Composite Ranking Comparison

We again start by looking at the final rankings in the Massey Composite (https://masseyratings.com/ranks) over the last 9 years between the teams.

Wisconsin has finished in the top-25 five times-the same number of times as UW. Twice they finished in the top-10; again, that is the same number of times as UW. And Wisconsin always finished in the top 50 over this recent period. But, their two worst years have been their last two years, which is not a good trend.

SRS

Here is the picture in the Simple Rating System, SRS, (https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/years/2023-ratings.html).

The view here doesn’t look much different. Wisconsin had a very good year in 2017 and finished above UW in 5 seasons.

F+

Here’s a look at the F+ ratings for both teams. As a reminder, F+ is a combination of two advanced stats: FEI and SP+. This should be representative of most of the advanced stats.

Wisconsin was just barely above UW in 2015 (1.17 vs 1.11), and clearly ahead in 4 other seasons. And again you see Wisconsin dropping off the last two seasons.

Talent Comparison

Here is the talent comparison using the average rating by 247Sports for all of the scholarship players. (https://247sports.com/Season/2023-Football/CollegeTeamTalentComposite/)

Wisconsin has closed the talent gap. And that is continuing with the 2025 class. UW’s average rating is currently 88.36 while Wisconsin’s is 88.20. And when looking at their recent recruiting classes, a large percentage of their top-rated commits are on the offensive or defensive line. For example, in the 2021 class, their top 4 commits were either offensive or defensive linemen.

Final Thoughts

The emphasis on offensive line and defense by Wisconsin has suited them well in the BigTen, especially when there were divisions in the conference. The question now is whether that strategy will continue to work when there are no divisions and with the addition of 4 teams that have had great offenses. It didn’t work out well for them in 2023 when they lost to WSU both times they played. And this year Wisconsin plays both USC and Oregon-two of what should be the best offenses in the country. And Wisconsin also plays host to Alabama this year-and we know that DeBoer should have Alabama’s offense playing well.

UW is scheduled to play at Camp Randall Stadium in 2025. Wisconsin is currently scheduled to play at Husky Stadium in 2028. Despite the drop in performance in the last two seasons, Wisconsin is probably not a team to take lightly.