Eric

Perhaps the only person in the country to choose 2023 as the year to start using Twitter. Send tips, feedback, & reading recommendations to [email protected]

[Eric @EricIsReporting]

Many in Madison were shocked when Nazis marched downtown last month. Madison police were surprised too, only alerted once the group started marching down State Street. More on the little-known group who also showed up in Watertown & Hudson, WI this summer

https://t.co/0BIWKzgZw3

[Eric @EricIsReporting]

Madison is "maxed out" on federal public housing units by law. But the city now wants to build multiple large-scale, mixed-income housing projects on city-owned land to address the failures of the private market. My story on "social housing" in Madison: https://t.co/nm4Yd339iN

[Isthmus @isthmus]

Madison is set to ban all but emergency vehicles from the bottom of State Street for parts of next summer, turning three blocks into a new pedestrian mall from Hawthorne Court to Gorham Street, reports @ericisreporting.
https://t.co/MhO07pDZbS

[Eric @EricIsReporting]

Thanksgiving week is typically one of the busiest for food pantries. But though the holiday is over, need still remains: Madison food pantries have seen "record demand" in 2023, driven by the expiration of federal COVID aid and rent increases.

https://t.co/oE2I7xD6hD

[Eric @EricIsReporting]

Red Cup Day is "the most miserable day to be a worker at Starbucks," says one leader of the Madison baristas' union effort. The day is also one of the company's biggest promotions. "It’s a really good day to shut it down and get the word out.”

https://t.co/PJ6IADr2RD

[Eric @EricIsReporting]

Starbucks baristas in downtown Madison want to derail the company's #RedCupDay with a walkout and rally tomorrow, on one of the company's busiest days. They're calling it the #RedCupRebellion. My story:

https://t.co/PJ6IADr2RD

@Starbucks @SBWorkersUnited @statestreetbux

[Eric @EricIsReporting]

When I think of a community meeting about zoning, I don't often picture a room full of young people. But plenty turned out to one this week to support raising the height limit on part of Madison's Brayton Lot, a 2-acre parking lot blocks from the capitol: https://t.co/Y6PIrGAac0

[Isthmus @isthmus]

“The composition of this room will tell you a lot about how young people are struggling in our community. Ten years ago at public meetings it didn’t look like this at all.”
@EricIsReporting checks in from Monday's Brayton log meeting:
https://t.co/jttJQdC0W8

[Isthmus @isthmus]

Before the Madison city council approved additional, final funding to make the Madison Public Market a reality, vendor Carmell Jackson had an urgent plea: ‘Y’all, I ain’t getting no younger,’ she told them. @EricIsReporting reports: https://t.co/gnIuCzSSO6

[Eric @EricIsReporting]

Madison will soon release the results of its study of potential locations for an Amtrak station. Looking at more sites than initially planned, one "downtown" site the city is eyeing is an area near MG&E's Blount Generating Station. My story: https://t.co/ioFvp73GmT

[Eric @EricIsReporting]

Madison is finally redeveloping a two-acre city-owned parking lot blocks from the Capitol known as the Brayton Lot. You can now weigh in on what should go there: https://t.co/nOz2zgrL0G

I covered the first meeting where residents weighed in here: https://t.co/zTW6ftboDv

[Isthmus @isthmus]

The typical Wisconsin worker’s buying power dropped for the first time in a decade in 2022, as high inflation erased pandemic-era wage gains, according to a new report from @highroadCOWS. @ericisreporting dives into the “State of Working Wisconsin 2023”:
https://t.co/S28WkopWsd

[Eric @EricIsReporting]

Journalists shouldn't be so harsh on our AI colleagues. Just this morning I was admiring the writing of @Lede_AI: "The Suns' train of momentum chugged along the final-quarter tracks with a 7-0 points differential." Great use of metaphor, and the reader knows exactly what happened

[Eric @EricIsReporting]

Two days after the investigation, LeMonds' lawyer sent a letter to MMSD's legal team saying LeMonds "will litigate this matter using every legal option available to him." Two weeks later, the sides had a separation agreement that paid LeMonds $40,000

[Eric @EricIsReporting]

Breaking: A new outside investigation into former MMSD spokesperson Tim LeMonds finds he engaged in bullying, false statements, insubordination & retaliation against employees for filing complaints, according to docs I obtained through a records request:

https://t.co/8qbeWqxtU2

[Eric @EricIsReporting]

The latest investigation of LeMonds began in May, after records from the first investigation had been requested but before they had been released. An outside law firm conducted the investigation.

[Isthmus @isthmus]

Competition from high-income newcomers to Madison since the pandemic is putting buying a home out of reach for current residents, according to the city’s latest Housing Snapshot report. @‌EricIsReporting has the story: https://t.co/T3vt8MK6LN

[Eric @EricIsReporting]

In 2010, black households in Madison could generally afford to rent on the north & south sides. By 2021, those areas were no longer affordable. With rent jumping 14% last year, they've only gotten less so.

More details on the city's new Housing Snapshot: https://t.co/pU5cE8OS9w

[Eric @EricIsReporting]

A wave of high-income newcomers to Madison since the pandemic is pushing home prices out of reach for current residents, according to a draft of the city's latest Housing Snapshot report, with typical buyers paying tens of thousands above asking price:

https://t.co/pU5cE8OS9w

[Eric @EricIsReporting]

About half of renters in Madison can't afford their apartments, by the city's measure, a number that has been growing since 2019. (Data for 22/23 isn't out yet.) The report says that for 11,695 Madison households, no available unit in the city would be affordable on their income.