City Life
College during COVID: UW undergrads share the experience of an unprecedented year
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In a semester that many have called “unprecedented,” students say they are simply “trying to cope” and “find normalcy” in their experiences on campus.
City Life
It’s finally Badger Gameday! Here’s what that means for campus-area bars
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At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, football Saturdays usually mean large crowds, packed bars, and a football stadium full of thousands of fans. But this year will be markedly different. Courtney Degen spoke to public health authorities, neighborhood leaders & a bar owner about what Badger football looks like in the pandemic era.
City Life
‘Keep a steady flow’: Small shop owners carefully navigating the pandemic
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Small business owners have seen a slow but steady flow of customers since Dane County loosened restrictions in early June in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic -- and some have been able to adapt, while others haven't.
With modified options such as operating under reduced hours, offering curbside pickups and focusing on take-out, small business owners on Monroe Street have responded to a changing economic environment making efforts to balance out public health protocols and their footing in the business.
City Life
Judge Nia Trammell makes history, brings a unique perspective to Dane County Circuit Court
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“It took 172 years to have a Black woman serving in this place in history and so I don’t take that for granted,” Nia Trammell said. Trammell is the first Black woman to serve as a judge outside of Milwaukee County in Wisconsin.
City Life
‘A service for the 99 percent’: New nonprofit aims to bridge academic access gaps through the pandemic
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In the wake of the COVID-19 public health crisis, a new Madison-based nonprofit startup is working to bridge the widening achievement gap due to the current global pandemic. On September 14, Pandemic Learning Tutors service, launched its tutoring service and has already begun recruiting and working with students in Dane county.
City Life
Private schools set to reopen after Supreme Court halts public health order
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Private schools across Dane County are planning to reopen their classrooms as early as Monday after the Wisconsin Supreme Court temporarily blocked an order issued by Public Health Madison & Dane County that had barred in-person instruction for grades 3-12.
City Life
The Bus Stops Here: When Improvement Means Back to 85% of Normal
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Beginning August 23, 2020 Madison Metro Transit resumed a roughly 85% level of regular service (revenue hours), a huge improvement over its much leaner "essential" routing that began near the end of March. At that time, Madisonians got to see how essential it is to have a public transit system that continues to operate, even during a pandemic, and even in a much-reduced form.
City Life
Everett Mitchell steps into new role as presiding judge of juvenile division for Dane County Circuit Court
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For Everett Mitchell, a Dane County Circuit Court Judge since 2016, one of the traits that he says makes a good judge is curiosity.
“It's never rubberstamping what people do, but rather be curious upon every hearing that you have. As long as you remain curious, you continue to ask the right questions, the best questions, the thoughtful questions and you push," he says, "and the community can bring the best out of what we can do."
City Life
Hundreds of protesters take to the streets in downtown Madison following shooting of Jacob Blake
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The protest in downtown Madison began peaceful, with protesters chanting “Black Lives Matter,” and ended, many hours later, with fires and vandalism to downtown businesses. Madison365's Fatoumata Ceesay was there to take pictures and report:
City Life
Domestic violence spikes in pandemic
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COVID-19 has brought forth a variety of issues for the country to address: access to healthcare, racial equity, and educational opportunity. However, one unforeseen and lesser acknowledged consequence of this virus is the pandemic of domestic abuse which has raged across the country. With Wisconsin’s COVID-19 infection rates regularly fluctuating, there is little certainty regarding when the state and regular business functions will return back to normal. For survivors of domestic abuse, especially women, this experience has brought forth a multitude of life-threatening challenges to combat in addition to staying physically healthy. “We are already seeing that people losing their jobs and not having a lot of income is creating a lot of stress for families and amplifying these issues,” said Shannon Barry, Executive Director of Domestic Abuse Intervention Services (DAIS), a Madison-based non-profit which has served victims of domestic abuse since 1977.
During the 2008 Recession, the center experienced a 107 percent increase in people reaching out for shelter services, Barry said.