City Cast Madison

Leopold Elementary School in Madison. Leopold Residence Hall at UW-Madison. The Leopold Nature Center in Monona. Look around Madison and you can see any number of tributes to one of Wisconsin’s most influential residents, Aldo Leopold, author of A Sand County Almanac.Carrying that legacy forward today is The Aldo Leopold Foundation of Baraboo, started by his family in 1982. Their goal? To inspire an ethical relationship between people and nature.This week, they’re hosting a series of free online talks from influential thinkers, writers and doers in scientific and conservation circles, from novelist Diane Wilson to science journalist Ed Yong.  Bianca Martin caught up with Buddy Huffaker, executive director of The Aldo Leopold Foundation, to learn what’s on tap this week.Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The City Cast team is here to round up the news of the week. Bianca Martin and Molly Stentz recap the weird-ass weather, the precarious state of affordable housing in Madison, and the deal for our new Madison Metropolitan School District Superintendent. Plus, meet Phil Surkis, our new producer!Mentioned on the show:🫠 What winter?Is Wisconsin's lost winter a harbinger of winters to come? [Wisconsin State Journal]Temperature swing in Madison sets new record [Badger Herald]😱 Madison HousingTime may run out for tenants at two Madison apartment buildings [Cap Times]Madison affordable housing projects face possible closure [Cap Times]2 biggest Madison homeless projects could close within months, leaving city scrambling [Wisconsin State Journal]What is Housing First? [National Alliance to End Homelessness]Heartland Alliance cuts 65 jobs, shuts affordable housing division [Chicago Sun Times]🚌 Madison SchoolsSee details of Madison schools superintendent Joe Gothard's contract [Wisconsin State Journal]Madison superintendent contract: $299,000, 87 sick days [Cap Times]Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s not every day that a strip club becomes a local grocery store. But that’s what happened on Madison’s east side, where the Visions Club once operated. It’s now been completely renovated and turned into Gooh Grocery, which offers a mix of food from around the world. Where else can you get fresh plantains, labneh cultured yogurt, millet, spicy peppers and halal meat all at the same place? Just for starters. Molly Stentz sat down with owners Samba Baldeh and Jerreh Kujabi to learn what’s good.Join us every Thursday as we explore Madison's food culture, from the brewers and bakers to the chefs and cheesemakers.Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether you’re taking full advantage of this unseasonably warm weather, finding everything green in your closet for St. Patrick’s Day, or looking for a few new ways to explore our fair city, Bianca Martin and Hayley Sperling have you covered. Here’s what’s happening around Madison this month. Our picks:🧥Wisconsin Vintage Fest🧼The Soap Opera’s 52nd anniversary🧋Sencha Tea’s Taylor Swift Pop-up🎙️Several Questions with Nate Chappelle podcast taping ☘️St. Patrick’s Day Parade🌝PINK FLOYD Dark Side of the Moon 50th Anniversary FULLDOME Program 🎧Madison’s Planetarium is a Hidden Gem podcast episode🏆Vote for us as Madison’s Favorite Podcast🫱🏽‍🫲🏻Do you love local businesses and local journalism? We’re hiring a sales executive!Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It seems like you cannot find a single weekend in Madison without a drag brunch or bingo. Even drag meat raffles are starting to catch on! But Madison hasn’t always had this deluge of drag events. So where did this boom come from? And with all the options these days, how do you pick which event to go to? Host Bianca Martin chats with local drag queen legend, Cynthia Mooseknuckle, about how the Madison drag scene has evolved in the last decade and why these events are building support for the queer community. Find out where the Moose will be loose next! Follow Cynthia on Instagram for upcoming events.Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

UW-Madison announced some ambitious goals for the planet: power the entire campus with renewable sources of electricity by 2030, send no new waste to the landfill by 2040, and become carbon neutral by 2048. For an institution with 420 buildings and another 9,500 acres of off-campus property, that’s no small feat. So how will they get there? Dylan Brogan talks to two people at UW-Madison who are making it happen: Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies Dean Paul Robbins and Associate Vice Chancellor for Facilities Planning & Management Cindy Torstveit.Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The City Cast team is here to round up the news of the week. Bianca Martin, Hayley Sperling and Molly Stentz recap the latest in our U.S. Senate race: incumbent Tammy Baldwin is being challenged by Eric Hovde… again! And what will become the fate of the 100 block of Mifflin Street downtown? Plus, we examine changes coming to UW admissions, after Governor Evers signs a new bill mandating direct admission for the top 10% of all Wisconsin high school students.Mentioned on the show:🏇U.S. Senate RaceWho is Eric Hovde? What to know about Republican candidate challenging Tammy Baldwin [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]Businessman Eric Hovde enters U.S. Senate race, setting up Wisconsin contest against Tammy Baldwin [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]🏗️ Future of Mifflin Street Demolition proposed along Mifflin arcade for state historical center [WKOW]Downtown's next big change? Hovde Properties aims to raze buildings by Capitol Square [Wisconsin State Journal]Monday’s Plan Commission Meeting [City of Madison]🦡UW AdmissionsWisconsin's top high schoolers now guaranteed UW system admission [Cap Times]Direct Admissions Spreads, State by State [Inside Higher Ed]Direct Admit Wisconsin [UW]🤝🏾We’re hiring! Could you be City Cast Madison’s Senior Sales Executive?🏆Vote for us! Best of Madison nominations run now through February 29th. Best Local Podcast and Best News Website are under Arts and Entertainment.   Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Wisconsin first became a state, it was one of the largest wheat producers in the country. Now, closer to two centuries later, southern Wisconsin is seeing a revival of interest in small grains. Not just wheat, but buckwheat, rye, spelt, oats and other grains are increasingly being grown locally for their taste and nutrition rather than large-scale production. From tortillas to bread to spirits, there’s a growing interest in tasty grains from the Madison area. Molly Stentz caught up with Cap Times Food Editor Lindsay Christians to learn more about the local grain movement. Read Lindsay’s story:https://captimes.com/food-drink/waves-of-grain-how-wisconsins-sustainable-grain-movement-is-growing/article_744266e2-c43c-11ee-b1ac-97065ccabfd8.htmlCheck out Lindsay’s favorite cookbook for learning to bake with grains: Mother Grains: Recipes for the Grain RevolutionJoin us every Thursday as we explore Madison's food culture, from the brewers and bakers to the chefs and cheesemakers.Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New apartment buildings in Madison promise many amenities: granite countertops, fitness centers, and rooftop decks. But one new development, Bakers Place, promises something more: a chance to save us from climate change. The building uses a classic material – wood – with a new twist. It’s the first building in Madison to use mass timber, an engineered material to replace steel and concrete, which are environmentally costly to produce. The wood material also promises to slow climate change by keeping carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. The 14-story apartment building is currently under construction on East Washington Avenue on Madison’s east side, across from Breese Stevens field. Dylan Brogan caught up with Jason Joyce, Isthmus publisher, who profiled the 25-year old developer behind the project. Read Jason’s story: https://isthmus.com/news/cover-story/nate-helbach-is-a-fresh-face-in-madisons-development-scene/Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As one of the leading research universities in the country, UW-Madison marshals more than a billion dollars in research money annually. And the way Provost Charles Isbell sees it, the university’s scale and its public service mission makes it the perfect place to be at the forefront of the country’s artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, where computer systems are emulating human cognition. He’s UW-Madison’s new provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs and one of the most powerful people on campus. And he’s got a bold vision to hire 50 new researchers to study AI’s transformative impacts on all aspects of our society. Dylan Brogan caught up with Isbell to learn his hopes and fears about this rapidly evolving technology.Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices