A presidential campaign launches in Milwaukee

I'm Steve Martinez and this is the Daily Briefing newsletter by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Sign up here to get it sent to your inbox each morning .

We might see some occasional rain Wednesday morning while temperatures cool slightly to the low 70s. Expect cloudy skies. Thursday should be a perfect summer day with plenty of sun and highs around 74.

A presidential campaign launches in Milwaukee

Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday delivered her opening argument against a second Donald Trump presidential term in a state she knows she will need to win in November: Wisconsin.

Speaking in a packed gymnasium at West Allis Central High School just two days after she effectively replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, Harris put it bluntly.

“Ultimately in this election we each face a question: What kind of country do we want to live in?" Harris said at her first campaign stop as Democrats’ presumptive nominee. “Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion and rule of law, or a country of chaos, fear and hate?"

"We each have the power to answer that question," she added. "The power is with the people."

Here are some key takeaways from her visit . Her message was one pitting "chaos" against "compassion" in the election this fall .

Why are earwigs suddenly everywhere in Wisconsin?

It's not just your house: there are more earwigs skittering around Wisconsin this year.

Earwigs generally don't receive a lot of attention in terms of research and monitoring, so it's hard to pinpoint exactly how many more of the small, flat bugs we're seeing this year, according to P.J. Liesch, director of the UW-Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab. But Liesch said he's been hearing from sources across the state about the surge in earwigs.

"It does seem to be perhaps one of the best earwig years that I've ever seen," said Liesch, who has been studying insects for nearly two decades.

Reporter Maia Pandey explains why you might be seeing a lot more earwigs this summer in her most recent story .

Don't miss these

• Those 20-foot inflatable rainbow arcs you're seeing in downtown Milwaukee are part of a new public art exhibit. Here's what you need to know about it .
• Check out these photos from Kamala Harris' visit to Milwaukee on Tuesday .
• The future of energy could lie in nuclear fusion, which is good news for us because scientists at UW-Madison have taken a major step toward creating a clean, reliable and powerful source of energy .
• Did you know Milwaukee used to be home base for a reputed mob boss? His name was Frank Balistrieri . You can find out more about Balistieri in reporter Mary Spicuzza's "My Cousin Augie" podcast , in which Spicuzza tries to uncover who murdered her relative.
• And Wisconsin has one of the best school systems in the country , according to WalletHub.

Steve Martinez can be reached at steve.martinez@jrn.com . Follow him on Twitter/X at @stjmartinez .

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A presidential campaign launches in Milwaukee