Maps by Jade Iseri-Ramos and Martin Rakacolli. “I think I’m okay,” says Francesca Hong. Last night she beat out six other challengers in the Democratic primary to represent downtown Madison, for the state Assembly seat formerly occupied for nearly a decade by Representative Chris Taylor. “You’d think like a couple of hours after, I’d be more […]
Meet Assembly District 76 Candidates Ali Maresh and Nicki Vander Meule...
Today, we continue our interview series with the eight candidates running to represent Assembly District 76 in the Wisconsin State Legislature, which covers downtown Madison (see the full map here). In this episode, we meet candidates Ali Maresh and Nicki Vander Meulen. Wisconsin is holding its partisan primary election on Tuesday, August 11. The general […]
Democratic Candidates for Open Assembly Seat Present Their Positions i...
The Capital Times held a forum last night for the seven Democratic candidates running to represent Wisconsin’s 76th Assembly District. The incumbent, state representative Chris Taylor, is leaving the seat to serve on the Dane County Circuit Court. The 76th Assembly District contains the northeast parts of Madison, including the Truax Air Force Base. In […]
MMSD Board approves preliminary 2020-2021 budget
Last Monday, the Madison school board voted 5-2 to approve a preliminary 2020-2021 budget. The decision comes after a tumultuous financial year for the district as they struggle with fiscal estimates for the coming school year. As the state continues to cope with economic fallout from the pandemic, how much Madison schools will receive from […]
Nicki Vander Meulen, Disability Rights, & the Run for Madison Sch...
Nicki Vander Meulen currently holds Seat 7 on the Madison Metropolitan School District’s Board of Education. Vander Meulen is a juvenile attorney, has been a disability-rights advocate since a young age, and was elected to Seat 7 in 2017, becoming the first school board member who is openly on the autism spectrum — not just […]
Do Madison schools need their own police officers?
That’s the question our reporting interns Peyton Barber and Mario Canacasco set out to investigate. For the past two decades, there have been MPD police officers stationed in each of the major Madison high schools, paid for by the school district. But recently, this deal has come under scrutiny by community members who say that […]
