Second thoughts over the StartingBlock tech incubator for Madison
Let's give the skeptics their say. Sure, they acknowledge, the StartingBlock Madison proposal seems like a powerful idea that, in theory, could galvanize the downtown tech scene. It would gather in one...
View ArticleMautz property owners move forward on site plan for StartingBlock Madison
Early reports in July on the StartingBlock Madison proposal were unclear on who would develop the startup complex at the Kleuter Building, located on a sizable chunk of the old Mautz paint factory site...
View ArticleThe FDA looks into Quincy Bioscience's claims for Prevagen
Quincy Bioscience, the fast-growing Madison brain supplement maker, has all but settled its problems with the federal Food and Drug Administration, says Quincy president Mark Underwood.
View ArticleEpic opportunity
"Epic will be our equivalent of Microsoft in Seattle, of Dell computers in Austin," predicts Mark Bakken, founder of Epic-focused Nordic Consulting. This is a familiar comparison for Epic watchers in...
View ArticleThe offbeat Bioethics Forum at Promega explores the nature of life
Imagine a serious discussion about LSD. Not "oh wow" accounts from nostalgic baby boomers or "oh hell" accounts from cops and mental health professionals. But something measured yet edgy about how the...
View ArticleFighting web fraud
Timur Yarnall describes it as a "near-death experience." This was mid-2012, when the Madison entrepreneur worried he would lose his company, Broadcast Interactive Media, to web fraud.
View ArticleYou want jobs, Wisconsin? They're in tech, stupid!
Millennials are poised to grow the state's economy, but the old guard is standing in the way.
View Article'What the hell do they do?'
This is a problem. The state's most powerful business voice has conspicuously little contact with Wisconsin's rising technology industry. Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, which claims more than...
View ArticleEpic Systems makes strategic next moves for expansion
What do you do after you've won the gold rush? When you've claimed the richest veins of ore? That's the big question for Epic Systems, the medical software giant that has become Dane County's signature...
View ArticleEpic Systems backs down on noncompete clause
Dane County's fledgling health IT industry has dodged a bullet, but more may be headed its way. The usual Epic paradox was at work: The Verona-based worldwide leader in electronic health records looms...
View Article'20th century argument in the 21st century'
Your head could explode from the cognitive dissonance caused by Wisconsin's recent economic news. It's the confluence of -- and disconnect between -- the very old and the very new.
View ArticleEpic's App Exchange: Overhyped?
It's a good bet that Madison-area software writers, many of them bright Epic expats, jumped up pumping their fists when they read that Epic would shortly launch the "App Exchange" and "open the...
View ArticleDavid Krakauer moves on
The Wisconsin Institute for Discovery director had hoped the multi-disciplinary institute could bring about systemic change at the UW-Madison. But now he’s giving up.
View ArticleThirty 2013 concerts to remember -- and a few to forget -- from Madison and...
Leonard Cohen was old -- 33 -- when he released his first album in late 1967. A respected Canadian poet and fiction writer, he put aside a proper literary career at a critical cultural moment. This was...
View ArticleFifteen memorable 2014 concerts in Madison and its Midwestern neighbors
Maybe it was happenstance. Maybe it was the surge line of a big trend. Either way, 2014 was the Year of the Woman for the more than 60 concerts I saw.
View ArticleHow to fix the UW, etc.
David Krakauer took over as head of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery in 2011, hoping to shake up the UW-Madison. Now he’s leaving for a new job in Santa Fe, but offers some parting shots about...
View ArticleNews Analysis: The great snipe hunt
Republican lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker signed a law in 2013 to make it easier to open an iron ore mine in the Penokee Hills. But there is still no mine. It was a costly mistake at a time the state...
View ArticleMy favorite concerts in 2015, in Madison and beyond
This is the 10th time I’ve written this yearly roundup of favorite concerts. I saw more than 70 performances and searched for musical extremes in 2015.
View ArticleWhat would Tommy do?
When Tommy Thompson was governor, he sang the praises of the UW, welcomed its experts to the Capitol and spearheaded a massive university expansion. Those days are long gone.
View ArticleClass dismissed
The best way for the state to nurture the economy is to help young companies grow, report two UW experts. While this is common sense to most local officials, it’s a lesson ignored in the Capitol.
View ArticleUW to honor Thompson
On May 13, UW-Madison will grant Gov. Tommy Thompson an honorary degree for meritorious activity. He’ll speak and probably tell a classic story of education’s liberating power. His own.
View ArticleLake effects
Madison has one of the most beautiful state capitols in the country. But the disconnect between the Capitol Square and the shores of Lake Monona has long been a major disappointment. Will the city’s...
View ArticleRemembering David Medaris
David Medaris began writing for Isthmus when he was still in high school at West. He went on to spend almost three decades at the paper, exploring the profound as well as the mundane.
View ArticleMusical serendipity
Marc Eisen saw more than 80 live music performances in 2016. He presents his top 16, ranging from ambient to punk.
View ArticleA fan's notes: Ten years of Madison concerts, 2006-15
Former Isthmus editor Marc Eisen has seen approximately 500 concerts in the past ten years. He looks back at the music that transfixed and transported him at concerts in Madison...and beyond.
View ArticleClear-cut fraud?
Quincy Bioscience has made a fortune on its brain enhancement supplement, Prevagen. Now, the FDA and New York State claim it’s defrauded customers of millions by making bogus claims. Will the company...
View ArticleBridge of steel
He’s only had one monster hit, but that hardly matters to pat mAcdonald. The prolific singer/songwriter is working on his legacy, building a community of artists and songwriters in Sturgeon Bay and...
View ArticleThe Two Wisconsins
Call it “the two Wisconsins.” While Dane County booms and the bigger cities in the Fox River Valley and western Wisconsin prosper, the rest of the state is largely mired in a downturn that is a...
View ArticleStart me up
Wisconsin’s recovery from the Great Recession has been hopelessly incomplete. Dane County is flourishing while rural communities and Milwaukee languish. However, there are other ideas for jump starting...
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