Why the pop superstar at the center of behind-the-scenes movie drama has a Packers tattoo

Welcome to the third day of the re-launched Daily Briefing newsletter by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, bringing another new character to your inbox. My name is JR Radcliffe, and you'll usually see me manning the Daily Briefing on Fridays.

I'm typically writing about sports as the trending sports reporter with the JS, but I'm broadening my horizons to talk about ... actually, it's still kind of sports. Sports-adjacent, anyway.

But first, the weather! It'll be sunny with a high of 81 degrees, so good heavens, get outside today.

The Packers start this weekend, and Harry Styles is probably their most famous fan?

Harry Styles, the 28-year-old megastar pop singer, has been at the center of the wild storylines related to the upcoming film he's starring in, "Don't Worry Darling." Which is all very interesting, probably, but more importantly, did you know he also has a Packers tattoo?

The Englishman in 2020 told NPR the story that led to him getting a "G" logo on the inside of his arm just above his elbow. He said a friend from Wisconsin first introduced him to the Packers and the NFL in general, and his fandom grew while playing as the Packers in football video games. The tattoo dates back to 2012 or 2013 when he made a friendly wager.

Who is Harry Styles' Wisconsin friend, you may ask? Twitter has gone to work trying to solve that mystery (and collected a litany of Styles/Packers references in the process). But, I'm going to be honest with you. It's me.

Presumably, Styles will be paying attention when the Packers open the 2022 season Sunday in Minnesota against the division rival Vikings.

Styles is one of many celebrity Packers fans who have proclaimed their varying degrees of adoration for the franchise over the years, joining the likes of Lil Wayne, Jodie Foster and Bon Iver. And Justin Timberlake, because the rule apparently is that each generation's boy-band breakout star must root for the Green and Gold.

But Styles, at least right now, is probably the most famous of the lot. The 28-year-old and "Don't Worry Darling" director Olivia Wilde began dating during filming, and the potential chilly relationship between co-star Florence Pugh and Wilde has been part of the entertainment discourse for a couple weeks. Earlier this week, a video that appeared to show Styles spitting on another co-star, Chris Pine, during the film's premier in Venice got everyone into an internet frenzy.

Man, and you thought following Aaron Rodgers' offseason was a journey ...

Anyway, on to news of greater consequence

• The City of Superior, in northwest Wisconsin, is planning what could be the first open access network in the state, a system where multiple internet companies would use city-owned fiber cable to deliver service and compete for customers in the process. It's a complex solution to expanding broadband to all corners of the state, though something similar has been done in more than 40 other U.S. communities.

• A data leak revealing the identities of Wisconsinites in the right-wing extremist group Oath Keepers includes six elected officials and four others in law enforcement.

• The massive Milwaukee Regional Medical Center just continues expansion, including plans for major road extensions and a stop on a new rapid bus line to accommodate its increasing number of employees and patients. That's just the tip of the iceberg for the project's cost, which has included hundreds of millions in developments.

• Mississippi has had some success implementing ideas into schools that have improved literacy. Could the reforms there work in Wisconsin? Maybe, but they're controversial.

• What in the world is a keystone plant, and why is it important to plant a bunch of them?

• Some interesting reads out this week, including a book written by a former Madison police chief turned ... priest?

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson isn't backing the Respect for Marriage Act

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin initially said he "saw no reason to oppose" legislation codifying same-sex marriage, but he now said he won't back the Respect for Marriage act.

Speaking in Hartford last week, Johnson maintained that he doesn't believe it's necessary but also says that he believes the 2015 Obergefell vs. Hodges case that granted same-sex couples the right to marriage was wrongly decided.

“I would not support it in its current state," Johnson said at a Common Sense Citizens of Washington County meeting last Thursday after reiterating his concerns about religious liberties, according to a recording obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"But at the same time I don’t want to see millions of lives disrupted either. To me, that was a wound that was healed. Let it go, OK. Move on, OK.”

Journal Sentinel columnist James Causey writes about the moment he prepared to end his life

Please take some time to read this from James Causey of the Journal Sentinel's Ideas Lab. He writes about the stigma of mental health and suicide and how it impacted him personally; he had planned to end his life before an act of intervention by his wife.

Causey also spotlights 48-year-old Christopher Burton, dealing with his own traumas and quest for mental health. While suicide rates in Milwaukee County have dipped slightly this year, the rates of African American suicides have spiked.

Appleton music festival featured in Rolling Stone

Did you see that Appleton got some major props from Rolling Stone, highlighting the city's Mile of Music festival that makes indie artists "feel famous for a weekend"? The festival, which debuted in 2013, drew 90,000 people this year, according to our colleagues at the Appleton Post-Crescent.

No shade to Summerfest, but that's basically a fifth of the attendance for the state's landmark music festival, and Appleton did it in four days compared to Summerfest's nine. Not bad, Appleton!

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JR Radcliffe can be reached at (262) 361-9141 or jradcliffe@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Harry Styles' love for Packers and Ron Johnson on marriage equality