In 2022, the Guardian published a report showing that Wisconsin led the nation in murder rate for black women and girls, with 20 homicides per 100,000 residents.  Black women and girls living in Wisconsin face a murder risk five times higher than their counterparts in New York.  For the third legislative session in a row, Wisconsin Assembly District 78 representative Shelia Stubbs has introduced legislation (LRB-2995/1) to create a task force to study the issue. Two previous attempts to pass similar bills died in the state senate.  Representative Shelia Stubbs joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on August 11, 2025.

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The Great Taste of the Midwest beer festival is being held this Saturday, August 9th, at Olin Park in Madison.  This is the 38th year the event has been held which makes it the second oldest in the country.  Over 1,400 beers will be on tap but there is one small little twist of lime to the event this year.  A reinterpretation of the relevant Wisconsin alcohol bill requires expensive permitting for brewers not already permitted in the state, which has made it prohibitively expensive for some out-of-state brewers.  Organizers have overcome this issue by backfilling with in-state brewers and alternative breweries already permitted to sell in Wisconsin so there will be no decrease in the number of beers available to attendees.  Fred Swanson, brewery liaison for the event, joins Tony Castañeda to talk about all things foamy, and maybe how to score an elusive ticket.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unslash

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How best to address the issue of chronic homelessness is being debated again with the recent executive order coming from Washington.  This order requires enforcing prohibitions on urban camping and effectively criminalizing homelessness under the guise of keeping communities safe.  In terms of federal funding, the strategy of providing shelter, Housing First, with case work to address addiction and mental health issues, is being defunded with a new impetus on enforcement and institutionalizing offenders of vagrancy laws.  Michael Basford, Director of the Wisconsin Interagency Council on Homelessness, joins host Tony Castañeda to speak about the effectiveness of these strategies and how these new directives could impact our urban areas.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

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Today on the too Turnt Up Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Tara Wilhelmi and Antoine McNeail, Myra McNair, founder, owner, and executive director of Anesis Center for Marriage and Family Therapy joins us to talk about her story, what Anesis is, what they’re doing for the community, and the upcoming 2nd annual Anesis Multicultural Mental Health Conference.

More information on the conference, coming up August 21-22 at Monona Terrace in Madison: https://anesistherapycenter.com/conf25 

Going on around town:

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First sailed in 1958 to protest nuclear weapon testing in the Pacific, the Golden Rule still sails for peace, disarmament, justice, and climate action. Project manager for the boat, Michelle KanoeLehua Marsonette, talks about their collaboration with Veterans for Peace to promote ending nuclear weapons and war. Marsonette discusses the project, volunteer involvement, parts of their 22,000 mile journey, and where their journey will take them next.

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Jessica Lanius and AJ Juarez stopped in at the Wednesday Buzz to talk about the grand opening of their multi-discipline art space, Art House 360, a collaborative project 3 years in the making. In an effort to show that art isn’t just for the wealthy, this converted schoolhouse will be home to six different resident companies, ranging from dance, theater, visual arts, classes, studio rentals, and more. The open house will be Thursday, August 14th, 2025, with ribbon cutting at 10AM and an open house following. For more info, visit their website.

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Inspired in part by Duty Free Shoppers and General Atlantic Partners leader Chuck Feeney, the reluctant billionaire who advocated “giving while living” and rigorously gave away over $8 billion in his lifetime, and trading his billionaire status for a modest and simpler life, the “Giving Pledge“, commitment by over 200 billionaires to donate much or all of their wealth to charity, celebrates 15 years this year. Bella DeVaan, Associate Director of Charity Reform at the Institute for Policy Studies, recently co-authored a report “Giving Pledge at 15“. In that report, the investigators tracked those donors, their wealth, and their donations to-date — finding that the increase in wealth far exceeded the donations by the subscribers. As an example, Zuckerberg’s wealth has increased by $174 billion in the past 15 years, but his donations total only $10B. Given the fact that charitable donations are tax-deductible and basically underwritten by taxpayers, the reports suggests that taxing the wealth of billionaires would be a better mechanism to solve some of the inequity.

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Since 2015, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has maintained a network of some 2,500 trail cameras equipped with motion detectors to discreetly observe wildlife across the state.  The project, called Snapshot Wisconsin, recently celebrated not only its tenth anniversary, but also the 100 millionth photo snapped during that time.  A hundred million photos is a lot to classify, and the DNR is looking for volunteers to help.  Christine Anhalt-Depies, Project Leader for the Wisconsin DNR Snapshot Wisconsin project stopped by the Monday 8 O’Clock Buzz to tell us more.

Featured image of buck looking at camera from Snapshot Wisconsin.

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The world is a terrible mess right now.  Climate change, government upheaval, warfare have many of us on edge and filled with anxiety about the future.  The University of Wisconsin-Madison Nancy M. Bruce Center for Design and Material Culture asked its Design and Innovation graduate students to contemplate the question, “what if everything turns out OK?”  The result is the exhibit “The Future Is…” on display now through August 10th at the Ruth Davis Design Gallery on the University of Wisconsin campus.  Coe Douglas, Creative Manager, Instructor Master of Science in Design + Innovation School of Human Ecology Welcome, Coe.  along with Masters of Design and Innovation candidates Quyen Tonnu and Egor Shalamov joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on August 4, 2025.

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Under the U.S. Constitution, defendants in court have the right to understand the proceedings against them, to participate in their own defense, to consult with a lawyer and to question witnesses.  All of that becomes more complicated when defendants don’t speak the same language used in court.  In Wisconsin, about 3% of the resident population, or about 178,000 people, lack the English proficiency necessary to participate in a court hearing.  Federal and state law requires that counties provide interpreters for non-English speakers in court, but qualified interpreters are in short supply.  Wisconsin Assembly Bill 292, introduced by New Berlin representative Dave Maxey, would allow courts to use artificial intelligence, instead of human interpreters. Kevin Smith, Janesville Regional Attorney Manager for Wisconsin State Public Defenders joined the Monday Buzz on August 4, 2025.

Photo of Dane County Courthouse by Brian Standing for WORT News.

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