Morning Update

Bear goes the neighborhood

Where were you when a bear came to the west side?

In this newsletter

This isn't the bear that was on the west side over the weekend but it is in fact a black bear. Photo via Wisconsin DNR.

Good morning, Madison!

Madison’s latest local celebrity is a black bear that wandered into the west side over the weekend.

"I couldn’t believe my eyes. There was a bear roaming the front of my yard," one resident told NBC15. "I posted the video to Facebook and a lot of people responded and were like, ‘Oh my gosh! Where is this?’ And I’m like ‘The west side of Madison!’"

The sleepy bear made its way through yards and eventually climbed a tree to take a nap. (Relatable.) Department of Natural Resources officials hope it will head back to the woods on its own.

While this kind of sighting isn't the norm in cities like Madison, they have become more common. If you spot the bear, don't approach it. If you want tips for keeping bears out of your yard, the DNR has you covered.

— Hayley

🏐 Professional volleyball is coming to Madison.

It's no question that Madison is a volleyball city — just look at the Badgers. That's part of the reason why League One Volleyball chose Madison as one of six cities that will get a professional team in 2024.
League One Volleyball is the first professional full-season volleyball league in the United States.
“We’ve been talking about Madison really since the very beginning in terms of identifying it as such an amazing community to build a team around,” League One Volleyball’s CEO told NBC15.
In addition to the team, the league is partnering with the Madtown Juniors club to develop a brand-new facility for local youth and pro-players alike to train.

📻 Want to help break a local radio record?

In 1999, a host at WORT set the radio station’s record for the most people interviewed in one hour with 71 guests. This Friday, current Friday Buzz host Andy Moore will attempt to break the 24-year-old record.
The station is inviting community members to take part in the record-breaking event and claim their "14 seconds of fame." All you have to do is show up outside the WORT studios by 7:45 a.m. Friday.

🌊 The committee's preference for the Lake Monona waterfront redesign.

The committee tasked with leading the project also favors the Saski plan, with 12 of 13 members scoring it as their first choice, according to Cap Times.
If you'll recall: A survey of more than 2,400 people showed a preference for the Sasaki design. The plan would add an elevated boardwalk, nature center, and boathouse to the area. You can see a video of the proposal with more details here.
What's next? The committee will meet again this month to make their final recommendation to the city. According to the newspaper, the city has $200,000 set aside to enter into a contract to refine a master plan.

⛔️ Upcoming traffic changes on East Washington Avenue.

This Thursday marks the start of the next phase of the Blair Street South project, bringing with it lane closures on East Washington Avenue and other traffic changes downtown.
The work will take four to six weeks to complete and includes concrete pavement removal and replacement, excavation, and grading. The project will be fully complete this fall, according to the city.

🌳 Your lunchtime read: Reckoning with the racist legacy of Wisconsin’s conservation heroes.

Via Tone Madison: "To this day, we still talk about Muir and Leopold and their contemporaries like folk heroes in Madison. Golden boys who rewrote the rules of how people engage with the land.

But the conservation movement was deeply flawed—full of racist, eugenicist men whose goals were often to build a kind of wilderness that benefited them. This left a legacy of Native erasure and white supremacy in environmentalism that contributed to our current environmental and climate crises."

📬

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🎙️ Today on City Cast Madison

Dane County’s Latest Phosphorous Fight

Like many things, too much of a good thing can be very, very bad for you. And the case of Madison-area lakes and rivers, too much phosphorous fertilizer has been a very bad thing: it causes stinky and hazardous algal blooms and fish kills. It’s one reason why many of our beaches get so stinky that public health has to post advisories not to swim in them.

The Madison Sewerage District must decide how to clean up phosphorous in its waste water. Prompted by state and federal regs, they can invest in technology to clean up more of it — or dump the treated wastewater into the Badfish Creek, which can better absorb the phosphorous. The sewer district says redirecting the water is the cheaper and easier solution.

But the problem? That water currently feeds Badger Mill Creek in the heart of Verona. And Verona Mayor Luke Diaz says the Madison Sewerage District’s plan puts their prized trout stream at risk.

Listen now