Morning Update

Something to sip on

Morning update: Friday, July 22

In this newsletter

Happy Friday, Besties!

We've made it through the week. Proud of us.

Here's a quick update on our community calendar: ICYMI, earlier this week we launched our brand new, interactive events calendar! This has been a long time in the making and while it's still technically a first draft, we think it's pretty awesome.

Right now, the calendar is only available to paying Madison Minutes members. We told you at the beginning of this week that we would make the calendar available to everyone once we hit 200 members — and we're getting close.

We started the week with 143 members (hi, we love you), and at the time of publishing this newsletter, that number has increased to 169. A huge thank you to everyone who has stepped up to support us this week, we hope you're enjoying the calendar.

If you want access to all the events, consider becoming a Madison Minutes member today. In addition to knowing everything that's going on in our city, you'll also have our undying love and affection. Pretty sweet deal, right?

Join us

— Hayley

P.S. Did you catch us on the news last night? Sam and I had a chance to catch up with local journalist Brady Mallory to talk about all things Minutes.

😋 Get pumped for Northstreet.

The folks behind Young Blood Beer Company, Bloom bakery, and Cafe Domestique are teaming up to bring a new hangout spot to the Eken Park neighborhood.
Northstreet, named for its location — 557 North St. at Commercial Avenue — will offer baked goods, coffee, and, of course, beer. Cap Times reports the space will have plenty of outdoor patio seating as well as an indoor bar. Northstreet will also have a full kitchen but doesn't intend on competing with its neighbors at Ogden’s North Street Diner or Tip Top for the lunch and dinner crowds. Instead the plans to serve lighter fares, like soups, salads, yogurt parfaits, and fresh bread.
Northstreet is set to open this November.

🐈 Java Cat will temporarily relocate while its home is getting rebuilt.

If you'll recall, developers have plans to demolish the buildings on the corner of Monona Drive and Cottage Grove Road (aka Java Cat's current home) and construct a five-story mixed-use building with apartments and retail space.
The feline-themed coffee shop announced it will move this fall to 4221 Lien Road while the Monona Drive space is under construction.
Madison Magazine reports Java Cat will continue to operate out of its current location "until the last possible minute." Owner Renee Raspiller told the magazine they expect to move in October and stay in the new location until their space at Monona Drive is ready for move in, likely some time in 2024.

🍎 The shortage of substitute teachers is hitting Madison.

Data shows in the past three of four school years (not including 2020-21 because it was mostly virtual), Madison Metropolitan School District classrooms struggled to fill roles when staff members were sick or on vacation.
The Cap Times analyzed data from the 2018-19, 2019-20, and 2021-22 school years and found "significant disparities by school building" when it came to filling substitute roles.
There's no clear pattern to determine which schools had lower fill rates for its substitute needs. The overall teacher shortage has largely impacted the district's ability to meed its staffing needs, District spokesperson Tim LeMonds told the news outlet.

“Schools and school districts are competing for substitute teachers from a pool of candidates much smaller than ever before. With such a high demand for substitute teachers, we are in a time and place where substitutes are able to pick and choose what school and what district they want to work in," LeMonds told Cap Times.

☕ Grace Coffee is opening two new locations.

Madison-based Grace Coffee Co. is expanding again. This time, the coffee shop has its eyes on Cottage Grove and McFarland.
The Herald and Independent reports the Cottage Grove Village Board approved a conditional use permit in June for Grace to operate out of 3,500-square-foot space in the Edge at Cottage Grove Commons (2515 Gaston Rd.). In McFarland, Grace will become the first tenant at the new Atwater apartment complex (4719 Farwell St.). The location will feature a drive through.
Some context: Grace Coffee Co. has only been on the scene for a few years but has managed to make headlines on multiple occasions already — both good and bad. The first location opened on State Street in 2019, immediately making waves in the city when the owners painted its 135-year-old building black without the city's permission. By fall 2021, the company had expanded to six stores in and around Madison. But with that rapid growth came pains. In October 2021, Grace made headlines again for racking up dozens of health code violations across its locations. Most recently, Grace was back in the news for abruptly closing its State Street location.

📱 CapTel is laying off hundreds of employees.

The company that provides phone captioning services is laying off 276 employees in Madison and Milwaukee.
Channel 3000 reports 28 of the affected workers are in Madison while the rest are in Milwaukee. The layoffs are the result of a new technology that gives CapTel users the option to use automatically-generated captions (rather than human-generated captions).

📻 Like turning knobs? WORT needs engineers.

Everyone's favorite community radio station is in need of board operators. No experience is necessary and the fine folks at WORT will teach you everything you need to know. Learn more here.

🗳️ Your lunchtime read: Middleton tech startup believes it has found a better way to vote.

Via Cap Times: "Tad Milbourn left Silicon Valley for his home state of Wisconsin two years ago with a lofty goal: start a tech company that would quietly lay the groundwork for a better democracy.

In August 2020, after the pandemic gave him the option to work anywhere, the Intuit project manager and Green Bay native moved his family to Middleton. Just a few months later, he quit his job and began working full time on RankedVote, a one-man startup that hosts online polls and elections.

It’s similar to familiar tools like Survey Monkey, but it offers only ranked-choice voting, an election system proponents say can reduce polarization and negative campaigning."

🐶 Friday Floof

It's floof time, y'all. Meet Vinnie, aka Vincent Van Go-Dog-Go. He's an 8-year-old wirehair terrier/mutt and recent transplant to the Middleton area from Baraboo. His person Molly says he waits anxiously twice-daily to explore the neighborhood and cool off in Lake Mendota.

Do you have a floof you want to see in the Minutes? Send me an email and we might just make your dreams come true.