Madison gets more state money for tight budget; now how to use it?
Mayor Paul Soglin was unusually cheerful when he walked into his conference room Monday afternoon for a press conference called earlier that morning. The reason was quickly evident. On Friday, the...
View ArticleBattles loom over Madison's funding for transit, arts and parks in Mayor...
Ald. Satya Rhodes-Conway will be fighting Mayor Paul Soglin's proposal to hike bus fares by 25 cents in his $266 million budget for next year. Rhodes-Conway calls the hike -- which comes on the heels...
View ArticleMadison alders find veto-proof support for restoring Overture Center funding
Council members will propose restoring $900,000 of the $1 million that Mayor Paul Soglin cut from the Overture Center. And they have enough sponsors -- 14 -- to override a mayoral veto. If approved,...
View ArticleMadison chronic drunk ordinance up for review
It's been a year since Madison began enforcing a no-sell list for "habitually intoxicated persons," and the results are mixed. Seventeen people were initially banned from buying alcohol, says Mark...
View ArticleMadison to lose nearly 25% of police to retirement
Madison Police Chief Noble Wray is sounding the alarm - the city stands to lose as much as a quarter of its officers in 2013 and 2014 as more of them become eligible to retire. "We have 90 commissioned...
View ArticleMayor Soglin blasts council amendment to give Overture Center more money
Mayor Paul Soglin is heaping harsh criticism on a proposal to amend his budget to provide $900,000 more for the Overture Center. In a press conference Monday morning, Soglin denounced the amendment,...
View ArticleChad Lee campaign worker Kyle Wood recants story that he was attacked for...
Kyle Wood, a campaign worker for the Republican congressional candidate Chad Lee, today recanted his statements about being assaulted and choked at his home on Oct. 24, according to Madison police. The...
View ArticleMadison arts study on 'facilities crisis' gears up
Karin Wolf, Madison's arts program administrator, often hears the same complaint. "What we hear at the city all the time is there's a facilities crisis. [People say], 'What we really need is some...
View ArticleAfter years of battles, Edgewater Hotel redevelopment slated to begin in...
The Edgewater Hotel redevelopment project -- which has been hotly contested for years -- moved closer to reality today, after the city approved two remaining conditions: proof of financing and approval...
View ArticleOccupy Madison reorganizes camp on East Washington Avenue
On Saturday, about a dozen people -- most of them homeless -- set up tents on the 800 block of East Washington Avenue, near the former Occupy Madison site. Occupy Madison started as a political protest...
View ArticleMadison alcohol policy director Mark Woulf now also oversees city's food policy
Because of budget cuts and changing priorities, Mark Woulf will no longer be just the city's alcohol policy coordinator. He'll also be its food policy coordinator. While alcohol policy tends to be...
View ArticleObama brings in Bruce Springsteen to get out Wisconsin vote
Although details on President Barack Obama's visit in Madison are still unfolding -- including the exact time and location -- state Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) is ecstatic about the opening act....
View ArticleArmy of election observers find few problems in Madison, but Milwaukee and...
Kurt Reinhold was expecting the worst. An election observer with President Obama's Protect-the-Vote campaign, Reinhold was sitting at the UW-Madison's Gordon Commons on Dayton Street, on the lookout...
View ArticleOpposition to mining unites activists in Wisconsin and El Salvador
El Salvador and northern Wisconsin seem like worlds apart. But the two societies face a common debate over mining operations. As the Wisconsin Legislature plans to take up a mining bill again next...
View ArticleMadison Common Council approves 2013 capital budget, set to grapple with...
The Madison Common Council's first night of deliberations over the 2013 budget was relatively uneventful. The "process" ended up being the most hotly debated issue of the evening. Just before midnight,...
View ArticleDane County plans warming center, then day shelter for homeless
Dane County officials are moving ahead with plans to operate a day shelter for the homeless, not just this winter, but year-round. On Monday night, the Dane County board approved a $698 million budget...
View ArticleRedevelopment of the 100 block of State Street moves ahead
The Block 100 Foundation is quietly moving ahead with redevelopment of the 100 block of State Street. The developers, Overture benefactors Jerome Frautschi and Pleasant Rowland, are renovating three...
View ArticleMary Kolar to run for Scott McDonell's seat on the Dane County Board
Although open downtown seats are rare for both the Dane County Board and Madison Common Council, the seat being vacated by county Supv. Scott McDonell so far has just one official candidate.
View ArticleWalker gives little indication of how he'll deal with Obamacare
About a year after Congress passed the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- a.k.a. Obamacare -- Wisconsin was one of six states to get a unique opportunity. The federal government awarded...
View ArticleMadison Common Council approves 2013 operating budget, despite potential...
The Madison Common Council approved a $267.1 million operating budget for 2013 last night, giving an additional $900,000 to the Overture Center. This came over protests from Mayor Paul Soglin, who...
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