Morning Update

Another alder resigns

Morning Update: Tuesday, May 3

In this newsletter

Image via Flickr user WordRidden

🌨️ Today's weather: Rainy pretty much all day. High: 48° Low: 33°

Good morning, folks.

It’s Tuesday and I’ve got a bit of good news for all of the nurses and teachers out there.
Colectivo has free coffee for you this week.

Teachers can stop by any Colectivo location today and get a free medium brewed coffee. Nurses can expect the same treatment on Friday.

Why the free coffee? Well, today happens to be National Teacher Appreciation Day and May 6 is National Nurses Day.

Serious question, who comes up with and designates all of these “National XYZ Days”? Has it always been this way? How did we get here? These are the things that keep me up at night.

— Hayley

P.S. If you, like me, are anxiously awaiting the bloom of Olbrich Gardens’ corpse flower, don’t worry, you haven’t missed it. But there was a cute baby owl out and about in the gardens yesterday.

👋 Another Madison alder announced their resignation.

District 20 Ald. Christian Albouras announced he will resign from the Madison City Council effective May 20. Albouras was elected in April 2019 and re-elected in 2021.
Why? He’s moving out of the district.
The bigger picture: Albouras is the second alder to hand in an early resignation this year. District 3 Ald. Lindsay Lemmer's last day on the council is May 11. And while he hasn’t officially resigned yet, Ald. Syed Abbas announced a run for State Assembly last month, meaning he’ll also be making an early departure from the council.

📣 Days Without Latinxs and Immigrants.

Hundreds of students and activists rallied on East Washington and at the Capitol Monday calling for in-state college tuition and driver’s licenses for undocumented people.
In both his 2019 and 2021 budgets, Gov. Tony Evers included provisions that would allow undocumented people access to drivers licenses and eligibility for in-state tuition. Both times Republicans nixed those provisions and re-wrote the budget.
Some context: The protest was part of Voces de la Frontera's Day Without Latinxs and Immigrants general strike. The group also held a May Day march Sunday in Milwaukee.

🎭 A look at the Overture Center's 2022-23 schedule.

The center dropped their much-anticipated lineup Monday night. The Broadway at Overture series will include Pretty Woman, Jesus Christ Superstar, Tootsie, The Lion King, Six, Hadestown, and Chicago.
New this year is the Up Close series, in which guests can expect an intimate and personal experience with artists on the Capitol Theater Stage.

🏫 What's in a name?

Madison Metropolitan School District received 42 proposals for Thomas Jefferson Middle School’s new name.
Proposals ranged from names of people associated with Jefferson, like Sally Hemings and Eston Hemings Jefferson, to local names Odell Taliafaro (he founded Madison’s first NAACP chapter) and Jeff Erlanger (a disability rights advocate and MMSD alumnus).
You can check out the full list of suggested names courtesy of Cap Times here.

💸 Potential rate hikes in the name of clean energy.

We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service, owned by WEC Energy Group, submitted applications to increase electric rates by 8.4% and 6.2%, respectively.
WPR reports the rate increase is meant to help cover the companies' more than $1 billion of investments in renewable energy.
If approved, the plan would increase the typical electric bill for residential customers by approximately $5 to $6 a month in 2023.

🏝️ From obscurity to destination.

The city is considering a proposal to turn the under-used space atop a downtown Madison Water Utility well into a community gathering destination.
Where? "Crowley Station" is a two-tiered, concrete platform at 201 S. Hancock St. It sits comfortably beside Madison’s infamous “hairball” intersection and overlooks Lake Monona.
The State Journal reports city and neighborhood partners have submitted a $525,000 proposal to turn the currently lackluster space into “Lakefront Porch on Wilson at Crowley Station," an inviting space complete with seating, community gardens, lights, and (of course) a Little Free Library.

💊 Your lunchtime read: 'Completely overwhelmed': Fentanyl, pandemic fuel record opioid overdose deaths.

From Wisconsin State Journal: "COVID-19’s disruption of regular life and an increased presence of fentanyl in other types of illicit drugs, often with users not knowing, have spurred record levels of fatal opioid overdoses around the country, including in Wisconsin, officials say. The state had 1,227 opioid overdose deaths in 2020, 32% more than in any previous year. The preliminary total for 2021, as of Tuesday, was 1,237, a figure that may grow."

📅 Events

Tuesday, May 3

Star Wars Trivia at The Rigby. 7-9 p.m.
Public Domain Movie Night: Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968) at Bierock. From IMDb: “Astronauts landing on Venus encounter dangerous creatures and almost meet some sexy Venusian women who like to sun-bathe in hip-hugging skin-tight pants and seashell brassieres.” 8 p.m. Free.
Grown Up Improv Show at the High Noon Saloon. Classic improv games and more in two whole acts of hilarious improv comedy. Show at 7:30 p.m. $15.
Alec Benjamin at The Sylvee. Music at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $29.50.

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