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| |  | With all the traffic changes expected, at least John Nolen Drive is beautiful! (Courtesy of City of Madison) |
| More Traffic Changes are Coming To John Nolen Drive | Starting next week, traffic on John Nolen Drive will move to the newly-built southbound roadway from the northbound lanes. Crews will begin making the changes at midnight on Monday July 13 (AKA next week!) and the new traffic pattern will be in place by Tuesday morning. | | As part of this phase of construction, the Capital City Trail is closing from Lakeside Street to Broom Street, and trail users will have to detour around Monona Bay. North Shore Drive will also stay closed for two additional weeks. | | Buckle up because this new traffic pattern and the trail closure are expected to last until July 2027. [City of Madison] | | Wider John Nolen Drive Reconstruction | This is the newest phase of a larger city project that will provide infrastructure design improvements along the causeway from Beltline and South Broom Street. | | The project came about as the bridges faced the end of their usable life time, and the city decided that if it was rebuilding the bridges, it should also fix other issues. When the project is complete there will be nine new bridges and a multi-use path with 10 feet for bikes and six feet for the walking path. [City of Madison, Isthmus] | | Construction Will Continue With Madison LakeWay | Madison LakeWay, a project to transform 1.7 miles of the Lake Monona waterfront, will begin its construction once the John Nolen Drive reconstruction project reaches its conclusion. | | The master plan created by design firm Sasaki was adopted by Madison’s City Council back in 2024. | | The first phase of the project will be building out boardwalks to increase pedestrian access to the lakes. Elements of the LakeWay project were actually proposed by John Nolen himself in the early 1900s. [Madison LakeWay, 🔒 Wisconsin State Journal] | |
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| | | Q: How can a banker help a business grow—not just manage money? | A: Business owners have to ask themselves some hard questions: Do I hire another person? Is it time to expand? Can I afford that new equipment? Those are big decisions. And you shouldn't have to figure them out alone. Let’s sit down, talk about where you’ve been, where you’re headed, and how we can help you get there faster. 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 |
|  | Juliana Bennett (on the left in a red jacket) is one of five candidates running in the democratic primary for State Assembly District 76. (Hayley Sperling/City Cast Madison) |
| 🗳️ National Democratic Socialists Endorse Madison Candidate: After months of vetting and a unanimous recommendation from the Madison chapter, the Democratic Socialists of America endorsed Juliana Bennett in her run for state Assembly District 76. The 76 Assembly District is currently held by gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong and covers much of the isthmus and the city’s east and north sides. Also running are Democratic legislative aide Isaia Ben-Ami, former Madison alder and legislative chief of staff Juliana Bennett, social worker and WORT show host Tony Castañeda, Madison Ald. Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford, and journalist Zoe Sullivan. | - 🎧 Dig deeper: Want to learn more about the candidates in that race? We have a full recording and transcript of the Democratic candidate forum. [The Cap Times, City Cast Madison]
| | 😭 No More Noodles and Co. on Near West Side: After 23 years, the Noodles and Co. at 3600 University Ave. has closed. It was the chain’s first standalone restaurant in Madison, but its sixth location. UW Business School Graduate, Aaron Kennedy, started the popular chain in Denver and opened the second restaurant location on State Street. While a location in Cottage Grove also recently closed, there are still nine remaining Noodles and Co. locations in Madison. [🔒Wisconsin State Journal] | | 🚨 Toxic Environment at West Side Elementary School: According to documents obtained by The Cap Times, staff at Van Hise Elementary School have repeatedly raised concerns about an unhealthy workplace to the district. The documents point to the school’s principal Rebecca Stein as the root cause. This reflects concerns parents reported of teachers feeling micromanaged and bullied in a formal complaint filed with the district in the 2025-26 school year. In a district review after the complaint, the district concluded that Stein did not violate any policies and that the culture issues at the school predated Stein. The Cap Times] | | 💀 Is Mad Lit Dead? The summer concert series that highlighted hip-hop artists and other Black and brown musicians has lost city funding. It was founded after the pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 as a way to help make downtown more inclusive to people of color and revitalize it. Mad Lit’s Founder and Madison artist Rob Dz and Karen Reece, who is co-president of the Urban Community Arts Network with Rob join Bianca on today’s episode of City Cast Madison to dig into what has happened. [ 🎧 City Cast Madison] | |
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| |  | Wink and Sativa are so cute cuddled up. (Photo by Kevin S) |
| Our Friday Floofs this week are Wink and Sativa. Sativa has “more of an indica vibe (lazy), Wink is missing a leg and an eye, therefore very attached and equally adorable." I also can be a bit lazy and am very attached to my people (friends), so I relate to these two.
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📰 Extra! Extra! The historic ghost murals on 301 W. Johnson St. are coming back. After outrage over Cleopatra Ink Tattoo’s decision to paint over the ads with grey paint, redditors spotted workers removing the paint. |
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