Morning Update

FreakFest is canceled (and other news)

And it may never be coming back.

In this newsletter

What if we all moved to River Falls and lived in the hobbit home?

Just kidding... maybe...

Here’s your chance to FINALLY live like a hobbit. Currently listed for $315,000 in River Falls, WI. pic.twitter.com/VjSE45FgzM
— Zillow Gone Wild 🏡 (@zillowgonewild) September 16, 2022

There are 11,949 people on this list. That means we only have to pitch in $25 each to buy it. I'll Venmo request you!

— Sam

👻 FreakFest is canceled again, and it may never come back.

This is the third year in a row that FreakFest has been canceled. While the first two cancellations were due to Covid-19, this year's cancelation is due to "difficulty in drumming up funding," NBC15 reports.
“There’s a good chance as of now that we’ve ended the Freakfest chapter of a long State Street Halloween history,” said District 4 Alder Michael Verveer, who represents the State Street area.

🍕 “We’re getting away from the pizza, what I call routine, easy-to-execute items.”

MMSD school leaders say they’re improving school lunches by adding “more complex items” to student meals as soon as this week.
It’s been a rough start to the school year for the food service program, which has been producing lower-quality meals than in years past.
School leadership attributes the reduced quality to staffing shortages and supply chain issues.
Related: Pizza for 9 days straight? It may be a kid's dream, but parents fed up with Madison School District food program (State Journal)

🏐 A record-breaking 16,833 people came to the Wisconsin-Florida volleyball game.

UW athletics says that's an NCAA record crowd for a regular season match.
It was also the first time since 1998 that volleyball was played at the Kohl Center, according to Channel 3000.

🎀 Pink for Pyng

Instead of their school colors, students at Monona Grove High School wore pink to their Friday night football game to honor Charles Pyng, a teacher and coach who passed away suddenly last week.

🏫 MMSD Superintendent Carlton Jenkins will recommend a $5 wage increase for most hourly school staff.

A letter from Jenkins is included in tonight’s school board agenda items. “Together, we can demonstrate the importance of our hourly employees in a manner which is fiscally responsible and in alignment with our core values,” Jenkins writes.
The wage increase will affect educational assistants, as well as clerical, food service, and security staff.
Cap Times reports that school board members have expressed support for increasing wages and it is “likely they will approve the measure.”
Related: MMSD still dealing with staff shortage, over 250 job vacancies (Channel 3000)
Related:

🖼️ Your lunchtime read: Madison’s stagnant model for arts funding

“The Room Tax Commission decides what the city does with the taxes it collects on hotel-room stays. State law requires the commission to spend at least 70 percent of that money on 'tourism promotion and tourism development'—which can include arts funding. This is one of the main revenue streams the city relies on to fund the arts, including larger items like the Overture Center’s annual city subsidy, and smaller allocations like support for Madison Arts Commission grants and programs like Make Music Madison.

This means that a big portion of public arts funding (a big portion of not very much) in Madison is tied to tourism. I believe this is a major structural weakness, and it’s going to continue to limit Madison’s support for art until the city gets serious about finding another way to raise and allocate arts funding.”