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Earth Day the Wisconsin way

Morning Update: Thursday, April 21

In this newsletter

Goooooood morning, Madison.

It's Thursday, the sun is shining, and tomorrow is Earth Day.
There are plenty of ways to celebrate Mother Earth daily, but if you need some inspiration for tomorrow, thankfully we've got you covered.
Madison Magazine rounded up a helpful list of 15 Earth Day events ranging from cleanups, to plant sales, and bike rides.
If those aren't your fancy, you can always celebrate the Wisconsin way, aka with beer.
The folks at Hop Haus Brewing Company teamed up with Honeybee Cannabis Company to create a limited-edition ale that will support the Clean Lakes Alliance and the Henry Vilas Zoo.

The beer, aptly titled “Bee Better Have My Honey” uses honey from Honeybee Cannabis to create a blonde ale.
Cheers to Mother Earth!
— Hayley

🏘️ City Council signed off on plans for a permanent men's shelter.

  • At their meeting Tuesday, the Madison City Council unanimously approved plans to build a new men’s homeless shelter on the east side.
  • The plans for the shelter, to be located at 1902 Bartillon Drive, were initially announced in March with funding coming from both the city and county.
  • The project will take an estimated three years to complete, with tentative plans to begin construction in early 2023.

🎒 MMSD students are going to have to make up for time lost to Covid-19.

🚧 Slowly but surely, Judge Doyle Square is inching toward completion.

  • After more than a decade of multiple contracts and dashed hopes, the hotel aspect of Judge Doyle Square is finally entering the construction phase.
  • City officials held a "ceremonial construction kickoff" for the future Embassy Suites by Hilton earlier this week. As Cap Times reports, "The Embassy Suites will be a nine-story, 260-room hotel which will include 4,000 square feet of office space as well as a bar and restaurant" and is expected to open in early 2024

🎺 Get ready for the 2022 La Fete de Marquette.

  • After a two-year hiatus, the annual festival and fundraiser for Madison’s Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center will return to McPike Park July 14-17.
  • The event will feature four stages of music, a New Orleans-style Second Line parade, wine garden, and activities for kids and families, in partnership with Red Caboose Child Care Center.
  • You can check out the full music lineup and more from Isthmus.

😐 A stalemate for Zoe Bayliss cooperative.

  • Some context: Zoe Bayliss cooperative is one of the last remaining student housing co-ops in Wisconsin. The building is slated for demolition to make way for the new Levy Hall College of Letters and Science Building.
  • In the latest update to the story, UW-Madison offered to renovate part of Phillips Hall at 1950 Willow Drive, into a student cooperative community housing 34 students. The co-op ultimately voted to reject that proposal, citing the increased rent costs that would accompany the move and the fact that they were told there was a “60% chance the space would be ready for fall 2023,” The Daily Cardinal reports.
  • The co-op will now likely have to pursue off-campus housing options because of the impasse. As the State Journal reports, the university "doesn't have plans nor an obligation to provide other alternatives."

👶🏾 Meet AfribbeanBaby.

  • Nina Akli was on a mission to find African print clothing for her one-year-old daughter. When she found no affordable options, she decided to make some herself.
  • Akli officially launched her business AfribbeanBaby in 2017 and despite ups and downs, she was accepted to and graduated from the UpStart program through the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation in January, Madison Magazine reports. She now runs her business from the Progress Center for Black Women. You can check out and shop the brand here.

💻 Your lunchtime read: A former Foxconn Executive tries to explain what went wrong in Wisconsin.

  • From The Verge: "Alan Yeung is a professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the former head of the Foxconn project in Wisconsin." He sat down with reporters from The Verge to detail exactly what did — and didn't — happen with the tech giant's plan to revive US manufacturing in Wisconsin.

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