Your Daily Guide

🏈 It’s Homecoming Week! Congratulations to the Wisconsin Badgers, who suddenly seemed to have turned everything around with their comeback win over Penn State on Saturday just in time for Homecoming Week! A full lineup of events is here.

• Also, is this the photo of the year or what? And congrats to Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell, who was named Paul “Bear” Bryant National Coach of the Week for the stunning win over Penn State.
• On the City Cast Madison podcast today, host Bianca Martin talks to one of Madison’s favorite DJs, Nick Nice, about how to do a Badger gameday tailgate right! 🏈 [Wisconsin Badgers, UW Memorial Union, X.com, News 3, 🎧 City Cast Madison]

🏗️ Monona’s Biggest Development Starts Construction: Construction is underway on the largest development in Monona’s history. The development is located next to the Topgolf golf facility on West Broadway, a 12.5-acre mixed-use village with 700 apartments and a 1.5-acre city park. [🔒WSJ]

🚨 Madison Frat Suspended By National Chapter: After police charged its president and vice president with hazing and disorderly conduct, Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity has been suspended by its national chapter pending an investigation. The fraternity was disaffiliated with UW-Madison in 2015. [Daily Cardinal]

🧑‍⚕️ SSM Outpatient Nurses Vote to Unionize: A majority of nurses at SSM Health Dean Medical Group voted to unionize at the hospital’s 10 outpatient centers. A total of 340 nurses are expected to unionize with 71% of the vote. [News 3]

🔪 Ama Named One of Country’s Top 10 Family Restaurants: Ama means “mother” in Nepali, so it’s extra fitting that the popular Williamson Street restaurant Ama Kitchen has been named No. 8 on a list of top family-owned restaurants in the country, according to Yelp analytics. Ama, which serves Nepali, Tibetan, and Indian cuisine, is run by Rajan Pradhan, whose parents founded Himal Chuli on State Street. [🔒WSJ]

🍻 Working Draft Releases ‘I ❤️ Willy Street’ Beer: As the Williamson Street neighborhood struggles to recover from a fatal police shooting and resulting protests, Working Draft Beer Company is releasing a new “I ♥️ Willy Street” amber IPA on Oct. 2 to celebrate the neighborhood. One dollar from every 4-pack sold will be split 50/50 between the Social Justice Center and the Williamson-Marquette Business Association. [News 3]

On Sept. 25, Madison opened its first new public library in 26 years. And the Imagination Center at Reindahl Park looks pretty different from the nine other Madison Public Library branches that came before.

Filling the “library desert” on Madison’s far east side, city leaders say the Imagination Center reflects what libraries have become in cities – not just places to study and check out books but community meeting spaces, children’s activity zones, and more. Take a virtual tour of the Imagination Center and let your own imagination get fired up. [City of Madison, 🔒WSJ]

🌳 A Library in a Park?

As the name suggests, the Imagination Center at Reindahl Park is the first Madison public library built inside a public park. It’s Madison’s 10th public library, and cost $18 million to build, $5.5 million of that came from state grants and $4.5 million raised by the Madison Public Library Foundation.

The design of the library takes full advantage of the natural setting, with green floors and glass walls that blend in with the environment outside. The ceilings are high, allowing in lots of natural light to read by.

📗 Indoors/Outdoors

The Imagination Center is also the first Madison public library to have an outdoor park pavilion that takes up half of the 17,500 square feet of the facility.

The pavilion includes a large multipurpose gathering room with retractable walls that can divide the space in two. The space is envisioned to be a much-needed community hub, where residents can meet, host seminars, even have movie nights. The meeting rooms aren’t yet open, but residents can start reserving space in November for 2027 gatherings.