Your Daily Guide

🙌 Center For Black Excellence Set To Open Wednesday

• After years of planning by Black leaders in Madison, the new Center for Black Excellence will open Wednesday on West Badger Road with a grand opening and open house.
• The building took two years to construct, and includes a library, art galleries, a 280-seat theater, and other spaces designed to bring Madison’s Black arts community together. The grand opening event includes performances by The House Urban Arts Initiative, Theola Carter, G Stylez, and more. [Center for Black Excellence, Isthmus]

✊ Cap Times Reporters, Nurses Unionize

• All eight eligible employees at the Capital Times, Madison’s century-old news site and weekly publication, told management last week they were forming a union and seeking voluntary recognition.
• The new Cap Times News Guild is affiliated with The News Guild-CWA, the country’s largest union for reporters and other news workers. Cap Times publisher Paul Fanlund said in a statement he recognizes his employees’ right to organize, but did not say whether management would recognize the union. (Newsletter editor Rob Thomas is a former employee of the Cap Times.)
• Meanwhile, hundreds of nurses at Dean-SSM Health and St. Mary’s clinics said last week that they plan to unionize as well. In an open letter, the nurses called for more time spent with patients, higher compensation, and for staffing decisions to be based on patient care needs rather than numbers. [Cap Times, Isthmus, WKOW]

🏥 UW Health Struggles To Keep up With Rising Demand

• As the population of Dane County continues to grow, UW Health is telling prospective new patients they will need to wait to see a primary care physician.
• The health system serves about 283,000 patients across its family medicine, general pediatrics, and internal medicine clinics in Dane County. On average, a primary care physician and their support staff serves about 2,100 patients.
• The UW Health Welcome Center says that patients will have a better chance of finding a provider if they already have an immediate family member being served by UW Health. [Cap Times]