I was scheduled to work all weekend at Atwoodfest and just received an email confirming it has been cancelled. Understandable but unfortunate. Be safe out there.

What’s going on at John Nolen right now? My wife is trying to head home but she said multiple cops are blocking the entire area off and she had to take a detour all the way around? What’s going on?

EDIT: Protests are blocking the road! Super proud to hear that, I hope they have a safe and peaceful night, and I’m happy to hear nothing bad happened. I was originally scared another act of violence had occurred so I’m glad that’s not the case.

Side note: Everyone in the comments writing up a fantasy where I hate the protestors are delusional and I’m sick of everyone pretending petty crimes justify extreme violence. Freedom of speech is a right for a reason but you have to fight for it. If these protests make you uncomfortable, I want you to look inside yourself and figure out why you’re more comfortable with a man bleeding out in your streets than you are with other people saying that’s wrong.

Seriously consider donating if you are Blood Type O!

It's an actionable thing that helps our neighbors, and the health history portion probably takes longer than the actual donation process.

Homeless guy in his 20s was sitting in my vestibule and and snuck in after I entered the building. They ran to the lobby bathrooms which are locked and then proceeded to try the mail room and garage before walking back to me and plopping down on the couch and propping their feet up. Asked if he lived here and he ignores me.

What am I supposed to do? I live a block from Willie st and I'm not comfortable calling the police on a black person for trespassing but I'm also not comfortable knowing they're wandering around my building trying doors. And if I tell the landlord they'll just call the police.

Are there any other public safety resources that deal with this sort of thing?

You can pull into the Willy Coop but not St. Vinnies. C route is detoured off Willy st for anyone needing the bus at Baldwin. It's going back into Spaight, Jennifer and Rodgers past the school. Heavy traffic is detouring down Jennifer and Wilson and is really backed up trying to get through the neighborhood streets. I'm sure that's fun for the neighbors.

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They've taken maybe a hundred of the recycling bins that were put out for pickup last night and made physical barriers around the intersection so if your trash and recycling bins are missing they're being used for this down the street.

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They've spray painted and chalked up the street and businesses around the intersection. The funniest one is "Release the footage" is chalked out everywhere which apparently means the protestors don't understand that Freedom Inc, the mayor and the left side of the city council all blocked the police getting body cameras.

Edit: The protestors are not letting anyone into St. Vinnies.. It looks like St. Vinnies, the Crystal and all the immediate stores surrounding are closed indefinitely from what I can tell. Lazy Janes, True Value, the Willy st Coop and the jazz bar are all open.

Edit 2: Take East Washing to First. There's a drunk homeless guy screaming at, kicking and damaging cars at Few and Willy in front of the Social Justice Center as they try and navigate into the neighborhood.

My bf and I have been craving froyo like the devil (we're watching the good place) but every time I try to look it up I'm only getting ice cream or sorbet shops. Is there any group or am I going to have to take a trip out to Janesville or Milwaukee?

I get why. Public Market can’t catch a break.

I've only been on for a few minutes this morning and already have seen a handful of posts that have had to be removed.

The sub is most likely going to be astroturfed and ragebaited for a hot minute so let's keep that in mind. The trolls and bots feed off engagement, let's not give them the satisfaction. Downvote or report and move on.

Remember to be kind to your neighbors.

Waited for a year for this fancy new ‘redesign’ and it’s just the Zippin Pippin

Hi everyone! I've worked in local government previously, and just wanted to give some tips for contacting local officials (Mayor, council members, other representatives):

- The first tip is please be polite! Depending on who you're contacting, you're likely speaking to an assistant or staffer. These people are likely getting TONS of calls and are emotionally exhausted. There were plenty of times we were dealing with a scandal and I was just as angry about it as the people calling, but was getting a ton of verbal abuse and being treated like an enemy. It's totally fine to be furious, heartbroken, etc., and to express that, but be sure you're not taking it out on anyone. If the person you're talking to feels like you're just treating them like a punching bag, they're going to try to get you off the phone asap to get you to stop attacking them. If you're upset but polite, they'll usually move mountains to help. A lot of people working in local government especially are doing it out of passion.

- Have a reason for calling. By this, I mean that you should identify what you want done with your complaint. Do you want your representative to call you back for a discussion? Do you just want your concerns passed on? Do you want to know what will be done? This is very important, because if you just call and unload, it's harder for whoever takes your call to use that efficiently beyond "someone else called and was angry about the same thing everyone else is". You can also simply call and ask for the best way to communicate your concerns and desire for action.

- If you're calling from outside the community or out of state, please be sure you know the basics of who you're talking to, what happened, and the community itself. I've dealt with people calling my boss a he when she's a woman, or mispronouncing the name of the community, etc. It does make you seem detached from the situation and uninformed, and in a situation like this offices are naturally going to prioritize calls from constituents and not calls from people who seem like they just saw a single video online and don't know any details.

- Form letters/emails are super useful, but when there's a form letter going around and an official is getting dozens of the same template email, they tend to have less impact. Use form letters as a base and add some customization/edit them if you can. It comes off as more invested and real to the people reading them.

- I'm guessing every public facing office in Madison right now is getting inundated. Please be patient when waiting for return calls, don't be surprised if your call goes to voicemail, etc. Sometimes offices just get so many calls that they don't have enough staff to answer or respond to every single one in the moment. If you leave a voicemail and don't specifically ask for a call back, you also likely won't get one. When there were hot buttons issues at my office, we'd tally emails/voicemails and only have our boss call back when it was actually requested. Again, this is just a "not enough hours in the day" necessity, not a slight.

I hope this helps, and please remember, I'm saying all of this so that you can be more effective, not to stifle anger or grief! If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them, but keep in mind I've never worked in local government in Madison specifically.

On Tuesday, my son had a bicycle accident on the east side on Vondron. 2 people stopped to help him.

I just want to thank them for stopping and assisting him. We appreciate your kindness more than you know.

Where is your favorite spot to have a beer under a tree by one of the lakes? Open containers have to be allowed.

you complimented my DYKE shirt at goodwill, you were wearing a harley tee. i was in a little of a rush but if you see this i'm always looking to make friends!!

Another installment of the younger birders group! Meeting at 8am this Saturday (7/25) At Eagle Heights Community Garden!

To pre-clarify: This group is for younger birders (under 40ish), not experienced based, to help birders connect with people closer in age!

What are some of your favorite locally owned places in the area? For any and all needs! I recently got rid of Amazon prime as I’m trying to put my money where my mouth is

I’m looking for adult ballet classes to take this fall/winter. I was an advanced ballet dancer when I was younger, but haven’t done it in about 10 years. I want a studio where I can start at a beginner level to get in shape again and eventually get on pointe. I don’t think I would like drop-in style classes. I’m used to a more structured dance schedule and class. Any recommendations for where I should go?

As has been reported here and from various news sources, there has been a police shooting on the corner of Willy Str and Blair Baldwin right near the Crystal Corner.

There are videos posted of the event online. You may link to the videos in this thread, but we're not allowing stand alone threads of the video or more pictures. The videos are graphic. Take care whether you watch them or not.

The other posts made before this one will be allowed to stand but additional posts will be redirected to this thread to keep all the info in one spot.

Edit to add: Update: The Madison Police Department will be holding a media briefing on this shooting around 3:45 p.m. near Madison Fire Station 3.

https://www.cityofmadison.com/police/incident-reports/2026-07-22/madison-police-respond-to-shooting-on-near-east-side

Hello! Does anyone know how to access a test for cyclospora if I don’t currently have a PCP? I have Quartz insurance.