Isthmus

10/08/2026

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway now has eight challengers, most recently Natalia Hacerola, a "visual artist, designer, activist and musician." See our updated candidate tracker for more info!

The primary election on Feb. 16 will narrow the field to two.

09/28/2026

Michael Mayo, voter protection, PhotoMidwest, John Green, Nick Brown and MORE going on this week in Madison! Read all about it at isthmus.com.

09/18/2026

Cremains in UW Lakeshore Nature Preserve add bump to nature center plans

In 1998, when Cathie Bruner was manager of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve, she got a call from the UW medical school, saying they had “another load” for her. “A load of what?” she asked. The man told her it was the cremated remains of people who had donated their bodies to the school for research and instruction. If families didn’t want the ashes returned to them, the school buried them in the preserve.

When the man showed up at the preserve with a 5-gallon bucket of cremains, they found a spot in a large pile of dirt from the excavation of UW Hospital, dumped just north of Bill’s Woods next to the Campus Maintenance Yard. There the cremains could be buried without disturbing existing plants and trees.

Eventually the UW-Madison grounds department built a large berm that included the dirt pile, says Bruner. The berm separated the maintenance yard, used to hold piles of mulch, scrap concrete, and other materials, from the woods to the south and the Eagle Heights Community Gardens to the north. Over the years more buckets were added to the berm, which was seeded with grass and maintained.

When Bruner heard of the university’s proposal to build a road to the maintenance yard crossing the berm, she knew she had to speak up.

Read the rest of this story at isthmus.com.

09/17/2026

For nearly half a century, W***y Street Fair has taken over Madison’s eccentric near east side, marking an unofficial ending to the summer festival season with one of the city’s largest block parties. Tents featuring local artists and restaurants line three blocks of Williamson Street (known to most as W***y Street), accompanied by the sounds of some of the Madison area’s best musicians.

The free, two-day fair is back on Sept. 19-20 on the 800, 900 and 1000 blocks of Williamson, from noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Produced by Common Wealth Development and the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center, all proceeds benefit the two nonprofits that provide services to thousands of community members every year.

For what to know before you go, check this story at isthmus.com!

09/16/2026

SPONSORED | Each month Community Shares of Wisconsin presents the Backyard Hero Award to organizations and people making change happen in our community. This month’s hero is Ann Marie Zagzebski. Ann Marie has volunteered with Sierra Club Wisconsin since 2013, where she has supported campaigns and sent thousands of letters on behalf of Sierra Club. Ann Marie is dependable and thoughtful and brings warmth to every task. Thank you, Ann Marie!

The Backyard Hero Awards are sponsored by Isthmus, 105.5 Triple M, and Budget Signs Specialties.

https://www.communityshares.com/backyard-hero-ann-marie-zagzebski/

09/15/2026

Historically, sea shanties coordinated physical labor, allowing sailors to pull ropes, raise sails, and complete demanding tasks according to a shared rhythm. In 'Steady She Goes,' that tradition becomes a metaphor for collective life aboard the ship. Survival depends upon cooperation, yet cooperation becomes difficult when the crew cannot agree whose voice should establish the rhythm. At its best, the music resembles a conversation between authority and community. One voice offers a call, and the group decides how, or whether, to respond.

Read more of Charles Payne's review at isthmus.com.

09/10/2026

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin announced in a virtual news conference today that it has filed a “first of its kind” constitutional challenge to two Wisconsin abortion restrictions — the mandatory 24-hour waiting period, which requires patients to make two separate visits to receive treatment, and the requirement that only physicians provide abortion care.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin v. Ozanne, filed in Dane County Circuit Court, lists District Attorney Ismael Ozanne as a defendant (as a class representative of district attorneys statewide), along with members of the state Medical Examining Board and members of the state Board of Nursing.

Tanya Atkinson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said at the news conference that the lawsuit is asking Wisconsin courts to “protect something fundamental. Our freedom to make our own decisions about our lives, our health and our futures.”

“At the heart of this case is a powerful promise,” she said. “The Wisconsin Constitution begins by declaring that all people are born equally free and independent and possess inherent rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This case asks our court to recognize what we believe that promise means. That our constitutional freedom includes the ability to make deeply personal decisions about our reproductive health care without unnecessary government interference.”

Read more at isthmus.com.

08/25/2026

Please join us and moderator Angela Russell (Founder & Host, Black Oxygen Podcast) for a panel discussion with local journalists and educators to learn about and discuss AI and how it is impacting local media. Panelists include Judy Davidoff (Editor/President, Isthmus), Omar Waheed (Reporter and Photographer, Madison365), and Mike Wagner (Director, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, UW-Madison).

Please RSVP here:

Local journalism has not been immune to the impact of AI. Come learn and discuss how AI is affecting media in Madison, Wisconsin.

08/25/2026

UW Cinematheque, Madison downtown's repertory venue and the nexus of all cinematic avenues, is doubling up this fall season. Or, more accurately, skillfully squeezing in 12 of the 14 cancelled screenings this summer after a chilled water line burst on June 29. That means Katsuhito Ishii's lovingly eccentric The Taste of Tea (2004) will be lighting up the local screen after all (on Oct. 23).

In a couple of cases, summer holdovers are paired in a double feature, like The Producers (1968) and The Twelve Chairs (1970) on Sept. 19 in honor of Mel Brooks' centennial, or utilized to complement the tone and timbre of a new selection, like Dorothy Arzner's The Wild Party (1929) following another early sound-era melodrama, Clarence Brown's Letty Lynton (1932) on Oct. 16.

Though, if you'd ask one of the senior programmers, Mike King, the 25th anniversary, 35mm presentation of Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan's postmodern music chronicle Josie and the Pussycats (2001) on Nov. 7 reigns supreme. A film that King has stanned for years and watched more than 10 times since its initial release, "its sugar-rush satire of product placement seems to finally be building up a bit of a fanbase, so it's nice that people are catching on and I'm no longer in a cult of one," he playfully writes via email.

The aforementioned features define the Cinematheque's mission to be a home to all decades of the medium. But even if you'd cherry-pick a handful on the fold-out print calendar, it wouldn't quite reveal the breadth of what the UW-Madison campus program has artfully assembled most Thursdays through Saturdays between Aug. 27 and Dec. 13 at 4070 Vilas Hall.

Read the rest of this preview at isthmus.com!