City Cast Madison

Wisconsin has long had mixed feelings about America’s largest rodents. Beavers have been hunted, trapped, had their dams blown up, and were generally considered to be a nuisance by many of the state’s human residents. Once hunted for their fashionable pelts, they’re now removed by the thousands across the state for a variety of reasons. Madison Parks says beaver dams could cause flooding in nearby soccer fields, golf courses and parking lots; beavers also chew trees at their base, creating potential safety hazards in public areas. Beavers have also been blamed for making streams too warm for trout. Yet many other states welcome beavers, even importing them for their ecosystem benefits. Among other things, they create wetlands, which can act as fire breaks, reducing wildfire damage. They’re known as a keystone species, because they create habitat for many other animals. So why is Wisconsin an outlier? Susan Lampert Smith gives us the lay of the land (and water). She wrote about Wisconsin’s fight over beaver management for Isthmus. Read more:Leave it to the beavers [Isthmus]Also mentioned on the show:Madison Public Market Open House [City of Madison]DNR Looking to Buy Red Pine Cones [WI DNR]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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Political parties have long known that controlling WHO can vote in an election carries a strategic advantage. Pick your voters, win your election. Hence, we fight over maps. Data science has made it easier than ever to create maps designed to ensure political outcomes. We now have fewer political districts that look like odd-shaped creatures and more that come from strategic targeting of voters based on data profiles and algorithms. Princeton University’s Gerrymandering Project calls Wisconsin’s political maps “some of the most extreme partisan gerrymanders in the United States.” The U.S. Supreme Court declined to strike down Wisconsin’s political maps in 2018. But there are two new lawsuits asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to do so now.Jordan Ellenberg, UW-Madison math professor, explains how he can prove Wisconsin’s maps are gerrymandered. Also on the show:🤓 NerdNite MadisonWanna 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. Dylan Brogan and Molly Stentz discuss what’s being done in the wake of a horrifying attack on a UW student in a downtown neighborhood last week. Also, we’re on impeachment watch as Republicans threaten to oust a recently elected Wisconsin Supreme Court justice. What’s new: Democrats are spending millions to fight it.Read more:Three felony charges filed against suspect of 'horrific' Madison assault [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]Here's what UW-Madison is doing to increase student safety in the wake of 'horrific' assault [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]Download the BadgerSAFE app [UWPD]The WI GOP’s Doomsday Plan for 2024 [The Bulwark] Wisconsin Democrats pledge a $4 million-plus blitz to counter GOP on impeaching Protasiewicz [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]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? Sign up for the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads at citycast.fm/advertise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex Booker, owner of Booker Botanicals, was the only Black farmer from Wisconsin at last year’s National Black Farmers Association Conference. He’s committed to changing that. Not only does Alex run a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program in the Madison area where he provides weekly boxes of fresh produce and herbs to members, he also hosts educational wellness events that connect more Black and brown Madisonians to local agriculture. We catch up with Alex to learn why he’s passionate about teaching Madisonians how to grow their own food. And he dishes on the best basil.Join us every Thursday as we explore Madison's food culture, from the brewers and bakers to the chefs and cheesemakers.​​To attend Alex’s fundraising event on Sept. 24, email bookerbotanicals@gmail.com. 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

Madison was the first city in the nation to offer curbside recycling service. But 55 years of celebrating recycling’s virtues has driven us to optimism. We wishfully toss things in the cart and hope for the best. Friends, we are here to tell you that is NOT how this works. In fact, your good deeds are messing things up — gumming up machines and putting workers in harm’s way.Can you recycle plastic bags? Nope. Those little tabs from your bread bags? Nope. Bottle caps? Nope. And please, for the love of Gaylord Nelson, no shower curtains.So what’s a Madisonian to do? The city’s Recycling Coordinator Bryan Johnson is here to help sort it all out.♻ Ready to become a recycling evangelist? Check out Sustain Dane’s Recycle Better program. 🚮 Learn what can be recycled in Madison and in nearby communities. Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Twitter and Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Sign up for the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads at citycast.fm/advertise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Voice-identification systems, like Siri and Alexa, are becoming common. But they do more than play music or give us directions, they’re now being used as a security measure, like a fingerprint. Banks are beginning to use them to grant us access to our bank accounts. The only problem? They can be fooled. And not just by generating a computer-generated deepfake. By speaking through a PVC plastic tube. We catch up with UW-Madison Electrical and Computer Engineering Ph.D. students Shimaa Ahmed and Yash Wani, and assistant professor Kassem Fawaz to learn how. 🗣️ Read their research.💻 See their presentation at the Usenix Security Symposium.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, Dylan Brogan and Molly Stentz recap the week of kerfuffles on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. GOP lawmakers are talking about impeaching sitting Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz after she rebuffed their request to recuse herself on upcoming redistricting lawsuits. Plus, parents and educators from Lake View Elementary are upset after the Madison School District deems wooden benches a risk. And where was the best place to see the blue supermoon in Madison?Mentioned on the show:🎧 Hear why the stakes are so high for the new Wisconsin Supreme Court [City Cast Madison]⚖️ Read the latest about the Wisconsin Supreme Court fight over redistricting [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]🪵 Read about the Lake View Elementary Benchgate [Cap Times]🎧 Hear Dylan debate the moon with the Madison School Planetarium Director [City Cast Madison]🚨 Slate’s Political Gabfest is coming to Madison!! [Majestic Theatre]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

If it feels like there’s a bunch of new restaurants in Madison lately, you’re not alone. Our pal Lindsay Christians of the Cap Times clocked more than 30 new places that have either just opened or are coming soon. And she’s here to tell us what’s good. Join us every Thursday as we explore Madison's food culture, from the brewers and bakers to the chefs and cheesemakers.Also on the show:Taste of Madison is September 2 - 3Wanna 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

Do you have family or friends visiting for Labor Day weekend? Where do you take them to show off Madison? Or maybe you’re hoping to squeeze in a quick getaway this weekend and you’re looking for some ideas? We got you.We thought we’d wager a friendly bet with our friends at City Cast Chicago. We asked our friend, host Jacoby Cochran, to plan a perfect day in our fair city. And then, OF COURSE, we had to offer our ideas for an ideal day trip to Chicago. What do you think? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram.Also on the show:🚨 Slate’s Political Gabfest is coming to Madison!!📽️ See recently discovered footage of Thelonious Monk at MMOCA’s Rooftop CinemaWant 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

Elephants are everywhere in Baraboo: painted on the highway overpass, displayed as public art in the park, depicted on murals.But one place they’re not anymore: at Circus World. Circus World was the original home to the Ringling Brothers Circus. For more than a hundred years, they’ve included elephants as part of their circus performances. Today, you can still see circus acts there; they’re now owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society.But as of August 27th, there’s one mammoth change: no more performing circus elephants. Circus World’s last remaining elephants have retired and will now live at a sanctuary in Oklahoma. So what it’s REALLY like working with elephants? We spoke with professional circus clown Karen DeSanto. Karen worked for both Ringling Bros. and Circus World. 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