Bottling magic at Sector67
What's next for Sector67, the great hacking and tinkering space on Winnebago Street? That's a key question for central Madison's emerging tech scene. Sector67, founded in 2010 by UW-Madison mechanical...
View ArticleThe Madison-Milwaukee divide
What is it about Milwaukee and Madison -- that potent mix of mutual disdain, disregard and ignorance that characterizes their odd relationship? In fall 2011, I found myself mulling that question as I...
View ArticleWMC rips liberal critics, avoids naming Epic
The war between Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and its liberal critics escalated today as WMC wrapped itself in the flag of free speech and denounced the critics for running "an organized...
View ArticleBehold the farm bill
So often something mind-numbingly boring and horribly complicated can be really, really important. Forgive me, then, for subjecting you to a column about the 673-page farm bill of 2008.
View ArticleWMC's predicament
Could there have been a more marvelous day for the pro-business leaders of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce than June 21, 2002? WMC President James Haney and Vice President James Buchen must have...
View ArticleKickapoo Country Fair celebrates organic farming's success
The Kickapoo Country Fair, which runs next Saturday and Sunday, July 26-27, requires a 90-or-so-mile trip from Madison to La Farge. It's a marvelous drive. Highway 14 west through the rolling hills and...
View ArticleFarm talk with the Mayors Innovation Project
When Mayor Dave Cieslewicz convened a meeting of the Mayors Innovation Project recently in Madison, the topic of local food was high on the agenda for the gathering of progressive-minded city officials...
View ArticleWelcome to the Nerad era
Toward the end of a 70-minute interview, Supt. Dan Nerad was discussing the 24,000-student Madison school district when he used an interesting term: tipping point.
View ArticleHoe improvement
Not that it means much for the jungle that is my garden, but I have a fine collection of hoes and weeders in my tool shed: short-handled ones, long-handled ones, Korean style, swope style, hula style...
View ArticlePart of the solution
Twice a month at Madison's Whole Foods store, marketing director Amanda Jahnke Bauer leads a tour of the grocery, pointing out ways shoppers can economize. Buy from the bulk aisles, purchase...
View ArticleR.P.'s Pastas frozen dinner debuts at Metcalfe's Sentry
As the local food movement burgeons in Dane County, synergy has taken hold in a really good way. Creative and entrepreneurial advances seem to elicit even more enterprise. A new, locally sourced frozen...
View ArticleApocalypse Mistele
You have to wonder about Nancy Mistele: She's turned a political victory into a personal defeat, and she has no one to blame but herself.
View ArticleMy most memorable concerts of 2008 in Madison "and" Milwaukee
It was a marvelous moment, yet another reason why I love live music. The pleasures are visceral, surprising and life affirming. It's why I headed for the concert hall and the clubs 50-plus times in...
View ArticleWelcome to boom town
Nobody's lit up the fireworks yet or popped open the Veuve. But maybe someone should. The central city is booming in a way unimaginable only a decade or so ago. Construction cranes frame the skyline...
View ArticleEdgewater Hotel subsidy not worth it
So many things have gone wrong in downtown Madison it's understandable Mayor Dave Cieslewicz wants to make a big, bold statement by supporting the $109 million Edgewater Hotel renovation and expansion,...
View ArticleState of chumps
Todd Berry blames it on our genes. The president of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance suggests the state's chronic indifference to federal help is buried deep within our political DNA. I think the late...
View ArticleThe GOP's dilemma
What an interesting state of affairs. The Republican Party has seemingly become a shell operation controlled by a vibrant and growing conservative movement. It views the GOP as a tool to put...
View ArticleMy favorite concerts of 2009, in Madison and (slightly) beyond
Recorded music only takes you so far. My soundtrack is constantly recharged by live music. I saw more than 40 shows in 2009, some notable ones out of town. What follows are my favorite concerts close...
View ArticleMayor Dave is leading the wrong way on the library and the Edgewater
I'll say this for him: Mayor Dave Cieslewicz took the 11th-hour collapse of the Fiore Co.'s library plan in stride. Without missing a beat, he announced that the city will move quickly to Plan B --...
View ArticleUnlock the Madison east rail corridor
Mired in a rough patch of downtown redevelopment, City Hall has had a hard time managing these crises. In recent years, major development proposals -- Union Corners, Avenue 800, the Fiore library plan...
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