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| |  | Blue-green algae is a type of bacteria that grows toxic blooms in our lakes. (Photo by City of Madison) |
| 🔬What to Know About Toxic Traits in Madison Lakes | Public Health Madison & Dane County and the Clean Lakes Alliance are partnering this summer on a new study to look at the rise of E. Coli in the Yahara chain of lakes. Here’s what they’re studying – and how you can help. | | Life’s a beach: PHMDC already tests 27 Madison beaches weekly from Memorial Day to Labor Day for E.Coli and blue-green algae and its toxins. If levels are worryingly high, the beaches may be temporarily closed. (According to this tracker, as of May 28 only McDaniel Park Beach is closed.) | | What’s new this summer: In addition to that weekly testing, this summer they’ll start testing after heavy rainfalls, when bacteria often increases. | | “The goal is to help us better understand the sources of contamination, so we can work toward proactive solutions.
” | Jennifer Lavender Braun | Environmental Health Scientist for Public Health Madison & Dane County |
| | Don’t swim in pea soup: Blue-green algae blooms can grow fast, so keep an eye out for them and avoid swimming if you see them. While they’re often blue-green in color, they can also be green, reddish-purple, or brown, and make the water murky. | | If the water looks like pea soup, green or blue paint, or has a layer of scum on the top, avoid swimming in it. And make sure your pet doesn’t get in the water either. | | Citizen science: You can report a blue-green algae bloom or illness to the Wisconsin Harmful Algal Blooms Program or contact Public Health at (608) 243-0357 or email lab@publichealthmdc.com. | | How to stay informed: To keep tabs on the quality of Madison beaches, sign up for daily email alerts from PHMDC or check the website. And if you go to a beach, check before you get into the water to make sure there aren’t signs warning of high bacterial levels or algae blooms. | | Beach town or not beach town? With all this concern about water quality, Madison MUST be a beach town, right? The City Cast Madison team put on their flip-flops and debated our “beach town” status on the podcast earlier this week. | | The debate continues...We got some pushback to our “beach town” argument from a listener, which we share on today’s podcast. We also talk about that big fire at Madison-Kipp Corporation, the beagle adoption boom at Dane County Humane Society, and, as a special treat, Tom Farley comes on the pod to chat about Madison Mallards Recovery Night on June 2! [City of Madison, PHMDC, DHS, 🎧 City Cast Madison] | | |
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| | | Q: If I don’t want to refinance my mortgage, what can I use to tap into the equity in my home? | A: A Home Equity Line of Credit, or HELOC lets you borrow against the equity in your home. It works like a credit line. You can draw funds as you need them, pay interest only on what you use, and reuse the line as you pay it down. Reach out to us at oak.bank to learn more. | | Do you have banking or financial questions for an expert in Madison? Submit your questions for Oak Bank HERE, and they might answer it in next week's segment. |
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| What Madison's Talking About |
| | 💻 Dane County Weighing Its Own Data Center Pause: The Dane County Board will vote June 4 on an 18-month moratorium on data center developments on county land. The pause would not apply to cities or villages who do their own zoning, but proponents hope those areas follow suit. [Isthmus] | | ⛪ Mt. Zion Plans $10M Expansion: Mount Zion Baptist Church, Madison’s largest Black church, is proposing a $10 million expansion in the form of a 20,000-foot Family Life Center. The expansion of the church building would house offices, programming, a larger food pantry, and a behavioral health clinic. [ 🔒WSJ] | | 🏥 County Stops Handing Out Pipes to Battle Overdoses: For years, Dane County health officials handed out free pipes to reduce the health risks from smoking drugs, much like clean needle programs. The only problem? It was illegal under state law. [Wisconsin Watch] | | 🐺 Madison Man Attacked By Pack of Coyotes: A man and his dog were attacked by several coyotes while walking near Nuestro Mundo Community School on Buckeye Road last week. Department of Natural Resources staff are searching for a coyote den in the area. [WKOW] | | 😆 The More You Know...In addition to laughing my butt off at the Comedy Bang! Bang! show at the Barrymore on Wednesday, I learned that Madison has a “realistic haunted house prop” shop called Dapper Cadaver. So gross, yet cool! [Dapper Cadaver] | |  | If Bella ever drops a singer-songwriter solo album, this should be the cover photo. (Photo by Leslie V.) |
| 🐕 Friday Floof! Meet Bella, the “Floofmistress,” shown here gazing majestically over The Glen Golf Park! Gaze upon her majesty. If you’ve got a pet you would like featured as a Friday Floof, let us know all about them! |
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| — Rob Thomas | ✏️ Thanks to City Cast Madison executive producer Hayley Sperling for editing this week’s newsletter! |
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