Random News and Notes 13 September

On this date:

• 1515 – King Francis of France defeats the Swiss army under Cardinal Matthaus Schiner at Marignano, northern Italy.
• 1549 – Pope Paul III closes the first session of the Council of Bologna.
• 1564 – On the verge of attacking Pedro Menendez’s Spanish settlement at San Agostin (Saint Augustine). Florida, Jean Ribault’s French fleet is scattered by a devastating storm.
• 1759 – British troops defeat the French on the plains of Abraham, in Quebec
• 1774 – Anne Robert Turgot, the new controller of finances, urges the king of France to restore the free circulation of grain in the kingdom.
• 1782 – The British fortress at Gibraltar comes under attack by French and Spanish forces.
• 1788 – The Constitutional Convention authorizes the first federal election resolving that electors in all the states will be appointed on January 7, 1789.
• 1789 – Guardsmen in Orleans, France, open fire on rioters trying to loot bakeries, killing 90.
• 1846 – General Winfield Scott takes Chapultepec, removing the last obstacle to U.S. troops moving on Mexico City.

• 1862 – Union troops in Frederick, Maryland, discover General Robert E. Lee‘s attack plans for the invasion of Maryland wrapped around a pack of cigars. They give the plans to General George B. McClellan who sends the Army of the Potomac to confront Lee but only after a delay of more than half a day.
• 1863 – The Loudoun County Rangers route a company of Confederate cavalry at Catoctin Mountain in Virginia.
• 1905 – U.S. warships head to Nicaragua on behalf of American William Albers, who was accused of evading tobacco taxes.
• 1918 – U.S. and French forces take St. Mihiel, France in America’s first action as a standing army.
• 1940 – Italy invades Egypt.
• 1945 – Iran demands the withdrawal of Allied forces.
• 1951 – In Korea, U.S. Army troops begin their assault in Heartbreak Ridge. The month-long struggle will cost 3,700 casualties.
• 1971 – The four-day revolt at the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York, ends when hundreds of state police officers storm the complex in a hail of gunfire. Thirty-nine people were killed in the disastrous assault, including 29 prisoners and 10 prison guards and employees held hostage since the outset of the ordeal.
• 1993 – The Oslo Accords, granting limited Palestinian autonomy, are signed by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat at the White House.

We start the news at the MVAP weather desk. The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season has set a new record for the latest start in the satellite era, surpassing previous benchmarks with zero hurricanes by mid-September. As of September 12, the 2026 season has seen only tropical storms Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, and Edouard, marking the latest hurricane-free stretch since 1941 and breaking satellite-era records from 2002 and 2013. Meteorologists point to a powerful El Niño creating wind shear, plus Saharan dust and dry air, as the main disruptors keeping storms from organizing.

Meanwhile, the central Pacific is experiencing a more active than normal season. The Hawaiian island of Kauai is recovering from Hurricane Lowell that hit as a category 2 storm last week.

A rogue judge in Massachusetts got her comeuppance. On September 10, Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court publicly reprimanded Judge Shelley Joseph for creating an appearance of impropriety in a 2018 case. She discussed an ICE agent’s presence off-record with lawyers and had the audio turned off while a drug-charge defendant with an immigration warrant was in court.

Not what I would prefer, but it is a start.

Skipping across the pond, Scottish First Minister John Swinney, Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth, and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill will meet in Cardiff on Monday alongside Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald to sign a memorandum of understanding. The document asserts self-determination rights, calls for independence referendums, and covers cooperation on economy, energy, Europe, and constitutional issues. Swinney called the UK government system unsustainable, aiming to pressure Westminster amid shifting political alignments in the devolved nations.

While I get the desire for self rule, I really don’t understand what they think will happen if this goes forward. All three entities use the British Pound, rely on the Royal Navy and British Army for defence, and generally rely on British institutions to run their ‘countries’. Without the support of Westminster, they are screwed, particularly Northern Ireland. The Stormont Parliament has been suspended far more than it has been active since partition.

Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany has a close call yesterday. While flying home from a Lincoln Day dinner, the plane lost power on approach to Wausau Downtown Airport and came down on Lake Wausau. Tiffany and the pilot got out as the aircraft started to sink, swam to shallower water, and waited for boats from the Wausau Fire Department. 

While returning home from the La Crosse County Lincoln Day Dinner tonight, the plane I was traveling in lost power as we approached the Wausau Downtown Airport. The pilot made an emergency water landing in Lake Wausau.

After landing, we called 911. As the plane began to submerge, we exited the aircraft and swam to a shallow area, where we waited until emergency responders reached us by boat.

I want to express my deepest gratitude to the pilot, the Wausau Fire Department, and all of the first responders who came to our aid so quickly. They got us safely off the water and transported us to Aspirus Wausau Hospital, where we received excellent care. Thankfully, both the pilot and I sustained only minor injuries.

God was watching over us tonight, and I am incredibly grateful to be here in the hospital with my wife, Chris, by my side. An experience like this reminds you just how precious life is.

Tiffany and the unnamed pilot suffered minor injuries and were treated and released.