Election results, film fest recs, cat pic

Morning Update: Wednesday, April 6

Good morning, Madison.

It's Wednesday and we've got a lot of ground to cover today.

Let's dive in.

— Hayley

🗳️ Who won and who lost in Tuesday's elections.

School board: Newcomer Laura Simkin defeated challenger Shepherd Joyner for Seat 3. While Simkin and Joyner shared many platforms, Simkin is a proponent of reinstating police in schools. Ali Muldrow defeated write-in challenger David Blaska to secure another term on Seat 4. Former MMSD administrator Nichelle Nichols, who ran unopposed, won Seat 5.
County board: Of the 10 contested races, incumbent Dane County Board Supervisors managed to hold onto their seats. Due to redistricting, all 37 seats were up for election. Nearly a third of the board’s incumbents chose not to run for reelection, leaving room for plenty of newcomers to run unopposed for the vacant seats.
Appeals Judge: Conservative-backed Waukesha County judge Maria Lazar defeated incumbent Court of Appeals Judge Lori Kornblum, who was appointed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in November.
Milwaukee mayor: Yes, I know this is *Madison* Minutes, but Milwaukee elected Cavalier Johnson as mayor, making him the city's first Black elected mayor, which is some pretty big news. Johnson has served as interim mayor since December 2021, when former longtime Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett left the role to serve as a U.S. ambassador in Luxembourg.

💰 Laying the groundwork for Madison's 2023 capital budget.

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway laid the foundation for her 2023 capital budget in a recent memo to city department leaders. As the Cap Times reports, she's "prioritizing fiscal responsibility, new projects and plans for when the town of Madison merges with the city in October 2022."
Rhodes-Conway wants budget proposals to be focused on future neighborhood and community investments, rather than figuring out how to return to pre-pandemic conditions.
While there's still a ways to go before the 2023 budget comes out, the Cap Times writes Rhodes-Conway is looking to take bold action when it comes to addressing issues related to affordable housing, transit, climate, and equity.
Related: The difference between the Town and the City of Madison

🎥 Make your plans for the Wisconsin Film Festival.

The Wisconsin Film Festival kicks off this week for eight days of in-person film screenings across town. With dozens of film offerings, it's easy to get lost in a sea of choices. Thankfully, the writers at Tone Madison and Cap Times have highlighted some standouts.
Some highlights include Hit The Road, Anonymous Club, Emily the Criminal, and Re-Animator. Check out the full list of recommendations from Tone Madison here and from Cap Times here.

📚 Help rename Madison’s Jefferson Middle School.

🌞 Powering the city and Madison schools with solar.

Madison Gas and Electric’s (MGE) newest solar array is bringing solar energy to the City of Madison and the Madison Metropolitan School District.
The 8-megawatt Hermsdorf Solar Fields located in southeast Madison is expected to increase renewable energy use in city operations by nearly 20% and by about 16% for MMSD.

🍷 Have any empty wine bottles on hand?

Local startup Saffi Foods is looking to collect wine bottles to use in its Zero Waste line.
As Madison Magazine writes, you can bring empty green, Bordeaux-style wine bottles to Green Life Trading Co. or the Saffi Foods warehouse throughout the month of April for recycling.
Bonus: If you remove the labels before dropping bottles off at Green Life, you’ll get a $1 coupon at the store.

From Cap Times: "Kit Saunders-Nordeen had an interesting definition of fun. It involved fighting for fairness, fighting for funding, fighting for respect and best of all, eventually winning all those fights. But when UW-Madison’s first director of women’s athletics spoke of the challenges she faced building a program from the ground up, she was known to add three little words about the experience: 'Wasn’t it fun?'”