Bucky overboard

Happy Friday, Madison!

Everyone's favorite badger had a bit of a close call on a jet ski this week.

In what started off as a cute video, Bucky was spotted on the back of a jet ski on Lake Mendota. The badger and his driver didn't make it too far before the Wisconsin mascot rolled the watercraft and ended up in the lake himself, fully — well, more or less — clothed.

Thankfully Bucky was scooped up quickly by rescuers. Hopefully, he'll be spending the weekend in dryer locations.

— Hayley

👔 Goodman Community Center is helping Madisonians dress for success.

• The local community center recently opened its “Career Closet” where community members can access free professional clothing and resources.
• According to Madison365, the closet hosted a kickoff event earlier this month and is working to grow the initiative into a full-on career service center.
• The closet offers clothing, accessories, and shoes for anyone in need. But right now, the center needs help keeping the closet stocked. If you have any gently used professional clothing, shoes, and accessories, you can drop them off at the Ironworks building (149 Waubesa St.) during regular hours.
• All sizes are accepted but the center is in particular need of all sizes of men's clothes and women's clothes in sizes XS-M.

🛼 Madison's DIY skate space The Shred Shed is closing.

• After three and a half years of skating and community building, The Shred Shed is closing.
• "Thank you to everyone who donated, fundraised, helped build, skated, etc. All of you helped make this an important part of our lives for so long and these memories will live on in our hearts forever," an Instagram post announcing the closure read.
• The group will be tearing down the space the first weekend in July.

⚖️ By doing nothing, the legislature left Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban in place.

• As expected, Republicans on Wednesday swiftly gaveled in and out of a special session meant to protect reproductive rights in the state.
• Democratic Gov. Tony Evers called for the special session earlier this month in an attempt to get lawmakers to repeal Wisconsin's 173-year-old criminal abortion ban. The ban has been unenforceable since the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
• Hundreds of abortion rights supporters flooded the Capitol rotunda in hopes of pressuring Republican lawmakers to allow a debate on the issue. According to a recent Marquette University Law School poll, more than half of Wisconsinites consistently say they want abortion to remain legal.
• Related: What would a post-Roe Wisconsin look like? (Cap Times)
• Further reading: If Roe v. Wade is overturned, what will it mean for pregnancy loss care in Wisconsin? (WPR)

🛥️ All aboard the pontoon!

• Pontoon rides and rentals at Madison parks are now officially available for the season. The initiative is part of Madison School and Community Recreation’s (MSCR) summer program.
• The boats are available at Tenney Park, Olbrich Park, Warner Park, and Goodspeed Peir for drop-in rides, rentals, and specialty trips, through September 30, NBC15 reports.
• Drop-in rides are given on a first-come-first-served basis and cost $5 per person (children under three are free).
• Related: How will Madison beaches fare this summer? (Isthmus)

🌱 The city is looking to local businesses to adopt planting beds in major street medians.

• If you’ll recall, back in April I told you about a city proposal to turn dozens of median planting beds into turf and concrete citing a lack of funding for their maintenance. Ultimately, however, the City Council didn't act on a proposed budget amendment to proceed with that plan.
• Now, still lacking funds and private contractors, the city is hoping local businesses will step up and "adopt" the 89 planting beds on medians, which support pollinators.
• “We realize this is an imperfect solution but given the city’s financial situation and the current labor market economy, it is where we are,” assistant city engineer Greg Fries told the Wisconsin State Journal.

🍓 Berry picking, anyone?

• Strawberry season is officially upon us and now is the perfect time to get into the fields and bring home a bushel of berries (now say that 10 times fast).
• The berries are typically available in the state from late May through early July. If you're looking for fields in the area, you're in luck. The Cap Times did a true public service by creating a list of all the local strawberry farms located within an hour drive of Madison. Check out the full list here.

🎗️ Your lunchtime read: New novel by UW–Madison French professor explores love and loss in the early years of the AIDS crisis.

• Via Madison Magazine: "Richard Goodkin wrote the first draft of what would become his new novel, “Mourning Light,” over the course of a few months back in 1993. For the University of Wisconsin–Madison French professor, working on the novel was a way of processing some difficult personal emotions surrounding the loss of his partner two years earlier — and so he wrote a fictionalized story about a UW–Madison professor who loses his partner during the early years of the AIDS epidemic. Now, three decades and countless drafts later, the semi-autobiographical love story will be published by the University of Wisconsin Press and celebrated with a launch event at Room of One’s Own bookstore on July 18."

🐶 Friday Floof

Welcome back to another edition of Friday Floof! This week's fuzzy friend is a 4-year-old rescue named Tarzan. Here, the handsome boy is working on recall and showing off his treat catching skills. Truly incredible stuff. Thanks to Lisa J. in Sun Prairie for sharing your floof with us. Tarzan is truly a Good Boy.

If you have a four-legged friend you'd like to see in the newsletter, send us an email and we might just make your dreams come true.

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