12.04.2023

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Today’s Forecast

35º | Cloudy | 15% chance of sleet | Sunrise 7:28 a.m. | Sunset 4:39 p.m.

Madison’s wintry roads to be less a-salt-ed

Curbing salt use on Madison’s wintry roadways

There are nearly 1,800 miles of traffic lanes in Madison that the city has to plow. | Photo by 608today

Once salt hits the ground, it doesn’t go away. Locally, it ends up in our lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands. It only takes one teaspoon of salt to pollute five gallons of water to a level that is toxic to native aquatic organisms.

For more than six decades, the salt spread on roads in the state during winter has negatively affected our surface water, groundwater, and soil.

That’s why the City of Madison recently noted that it will be salting 50 miles less road this winter. By doing so, the city will save roughly 270 tons of salt from degrading our environment.

With winter upon us, and with an eye toward conservation, what’s being done?

🧂 The City

The city of Madison’s salt route is nearly half of all Madison traffic lanes (of which there are nearly 1,800 miles). Every time snow begins to accumulate, the route will be plowed and salted. The Streets Division assigns 32 trucks to the route.

The rest of Madison’s traffic lanes, mostly residential, are not salted. Those snow-covered roads will be spread with a sand mix.

When there’s three or more inches of snow on the ground, the city deploys 150 pieces of equipment to plow every Madison street. Some of those pieces have fun names.

For further information on the city’s snow and ice procedures, go here.

🧂 The Citizen

You might not be able to save 270 tons of salt, but you can do your part. Wisconsin Salt Wise, a coalition of organizations across Wisconsin offering education regarding salt pollution, offers a handful of suggestions:

Sidewalk with footprints in the snow.jpg — Madison property owners are required to clear the public sidewalks that border their property. | Photo by 608today

Shovel
The more you shovel your driveways and sidewalks, the less salt will be needed.
Scatter
You may not realize how effective salt can be. A coffee mug of salt is enough to treat a 20-ft driveway or 10 sidewalk squares.
Switch
Salt doesn’t work when pavement temperatures drop below 15 degrees. In frigid conditions, use sand instead.

Note: Madison property owners are required to clear the public sidewalks that border their property.

Asked

How many different types of snow shovels do you own?

A. One
B. Two
C. Three
D. Four or more

What's the scoop

Events

Monday, Dec. 4

Celebrating National Cookie Day | Monday, Dec. 4 | 7:30-10:30 a.m. | Future home of The Cesta, Terravessa Neighborhood, enter on Radicchio Dr. off of Lacy Rd., Fitchburg | Free | Free cookies. We repeat, FREE COOKIES.
Barrett Martin | Monday, Dec. 4 | 8-11 p.m. | The Bur Oak, 2262 Winnebago St., Madison | $20-$55 | The Grammy winner has collaborated with such acts as R.E.M., Mad Season, Screaming Trees, Queens Of The Stone Age, and many others.

Tuesday, Dec. 5

Madison Area Holiday Feast-ival | Tuesday, Dec. 5 | 4:30-7 p.m. | Delta Beer Lab, 167 E. Badger Rd., Madison | $10 | Celebrate the holidays with the Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce.
Midwest Winter Sports Reps Trade Show | Tuesday, Dec. 5 | Alliant Energy Center, 1919 Alliant Energy Center Way, Madison | Free | Celebrate the local winter sports industry with dealers and more.

Wednesday, Dec. 6

Creative Connections Madison | Wednesday, Dec. 6 | 10-11:30 a.m. | 100state, 17 S. Fairchild St., Fl. 7, Madison | Free | If you’re a small business owner, learn about how to thrive in the market.
Holiday Cocktail Class | Wednesday, Dec. 6 | 6 p.m. | Garver Feed Mill, 3241 Garver Green, Madison | $170 | Learn a thing or two with a cocktail or two in your hand.
Ian Maskin: Cello for Peace Tour | Wednesday, Dec. 6 | 7-9 p.m. | Arts + Literature Laboratory, 111. S. Livingston St., Ste. 100, Madison | $21-$45 | Get more mellow with some cello.

Thursday, Dec. 7

Bilingual Bingo | Thursday, Dec. 7 | 12:30-1:30 p.m. | Fitchburg Senior Center, 5510 Lacy Dr., Fitchburg | $1 | Want to have fun? BINGO.
Bus Stop | Thursday, Dec. 7-Friday, Dec. 8 | 8:30-10:15 p.m. | Madison College Studio Theater, 1701 Wright St., Madison | $13-$16 | This American classic play by William Inge ran on Broadway and was made into a movie starring Marilyn Monroe.

Friday, Dec. 8

Smells Like Nirvana (Tribute) | Friday, Dec. 8, Friday, Dec. 8 | Times vary | High Noon Saloon, 701 E. Washington Ave., Madison | $15 | Though known to be the Seattle grunge band, they did some recording right here in Madison.
Christkindlmarket | Friday, Dec. 8 | 3-7 p.m. | Seven Acre Dairy Co., 6858 Paoli Rd., Belleville | Free | Enjoy the holidays and celebrate Yuletide traditions.

Monday, Dec. 11

Read a Book & Learn to Cook: Peppermint Sugar Cookies | Monday, Dec. 11 | 10-11 a.m. | Willy Street Co-op - West, 6825 University Ave., Middleton | $15-$25 | Join Chef Lily in this hands-on cooking class for preschool-age children, where they’ll learn about food through story time, music, movement, and making peppermint sugar cookies together.*

Tuesday, Dec. 12

Trivia Night at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum | Tuesday, Dec. 12 | 7-8 p.m. | 30 W Mifflin St., Madison | Free | Test your historical knowledge as an individual or with a team at Wisconsin Veteran’s Museum virtual event (free, but RSVP in advance).*

Events calendar here

Click here to have your event featured.

Tech

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News Notes

Sports

The Wisconsin Badger football team is headed to Tampa to face the LSU Tigers in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Jan. 1, 2024. (Sports Illustrated)

Award

Congratulations to the Ho-Chunk Nation, which just received its first Emmy Award at the 65th Chicago/Midwest Regional Emmy Awards. The winning entry highlights the life of Ho-Chunk artist and teacher Truman Lowe. (WMTV)

Transit

Metro Transit is riding high. For the first time since the pandemic, Madison buses provided over 1 million rides in a single month. In October, Madison Metro Transit gave 1,075,549 rides, a 20% increase compared to last October. (WKOW)

Development

The picture is becoming clearer for what the Lake Monona waterfront may look like. After months of community input, a design consultant has refined its plan. The plan includes a plaza, an amphitheater, concessions, and bike and pedestrian underpasses. Construction can start as soon as 2026. (Wisconsin State Journal)

Community

Hilary Parker is the new chief executive officer of Habitat for Humanity of Dane County. She hopes to shift the nonprofit’s focus away from building single-family homes to more multi-family homes and condos to help meet the demand for local housing. (Wisconsin State Journal)

Edu

The National Science Foundation has ranked UW-Madison as one of the top universities in the nation for research. The school topped, for the first time, $1.5 billion in research expenditures. NSF ranks the school No. 8 among the nearly 900 public and private universities they surveyed.

Pets

To help make sure pets have happy paw-lidays, Fetch Wisconsin Rescue is having its annual winter donation drive. By donating, you’re supporting their year-round mission to rescue and rehabilitate unwanted, neglected, and abused dogs found in shelters across the Midwest.

Ranked

You might have a new neighbor soon. A new report states that Wisconsin is one of the “10 Best States to Relocate To.” The study analyzed data on job openings, quality of healthcare and schools, average house prices, the rate of violent crime, and average salaries. (Kiplinger)

Feel Good

It’s a mad sash to the finish line. The most recently crowned Miss Wisconsin and Miss Wisconsin Teen are preparing to compete on the national stage. The Miss America and Miss America Teen competitions will take place early January in Orlando. (WMTV)

Finance

Masterworks is a platform that helps you invest in multi-million dollar art by names like Banksy, Basquiat, and Picasso, for just thousands – not millions. When Masterworks sells a painting, like the 16 it’s already sold, investors can get a return. 6AM City readers can skip the waitlist to join.**

**Investing involves risk and past performance is not indicative of future returns. See important Reg A disclosures and aggregate advisory performance masterworks.com/cd.

Business

Arts

More Madison bookstores to visit

There are wide variety of independent bookstores locally, selling new and used. | Photo by 608today

City Editor Jonathan here. Last week, I made note of some great bookstores in our area. Some local bookworms let me know that there are others out there.

Well, thank goodness, because there are never enough bookstores.

Barnes & Noble, E. Towne Way #1; 7433 Mineral Point Rd., Madison — Jane D.
With locations on both sides of the isthmus, they’ve got all your reading needs within its friendly confines.

Frugal Muse, 6682 Odana Rd., Madison — Susan P.
Locally owned and operated since 1994, the store buys books, DVDs, CDs, LPs, graphic novels, and audiobooks.

Mimosa Books & Gifts, 409 State St., Madison
Seller of mystical wares, it has a good selection of books on crystals, astrology, and more.

University Book Store, several locations, Madison
The institution has been serving customers since 1894. It’s also a place to get a Bucky plushy.

Further afield, check out one of the oldest bookstores in the country, or fly out of Milwaukee.

The Buy

The Buy 12.04.23 (Affiliate + Six & Main)

A fun and useful gift that’s sure to get the holiday party started: a margarita machine.

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The Wrap

Today’s edition by:
Jonathan

From the editor

One of the things I look forward to in winter are those pre-dawn hours, going outside on my driveway with my snow shovel and seeing my neighbors do the same. We wave at each other. We wish each other a good day. We start shoveling.

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