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Articles by Dustin Beilke
Teamwork and Bargaining Reform Fuel Union’s Gender Discrimination Victory in Verona
June 7, 2023 This week’s settlement of a federal Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) gender-based pay discrimination complaint in favor of women teachers in the Verona Area School District did not happen on its own. It happened after members and leaders in the Verona Area Education Association (VAEA) talked with each other and worked with WEAC and WEAC Region 6 leaders and staff to research and uncover pay gaps between male and female educators.
Hardy grapes contribute to boom in Wisconsin wineries
Tim Burton Tim Burton More City Life At last count, there were 120 wineries in Wisconsin. In 2000, only 18 could be found in the state. Advancements in growing and breeding cold, hardy grapes get most of the credit for this explosion. But a lot of challenges remain, including lengthy permitting processes, unavoidably labor intensive grape harvesting practices, pest control and finding customers in a highly competitive market. Many wineries grow their own grapes.
What is the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's Epic decision?
Photo by Epic Systems Photo by Epic Systems More City Life We’re accustomed here in Dane County to seeing Verona-based Epic Systems Corp. in the news. But the health care software giant made headlines this past spring for something other than its local economic impact.
Madison startup leads the way for web scraping
Image copyright 2018 Getty Images. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Image copyright 2018 Getty Images. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
8 independent Madison bookstores
Photo by Sarah Jessick Mystery to Me Photo by Sarah Jessick Mystery to Me More Arts & Culture At last count, there are eight independent bookstores going strong in and around Madison. Arcadia Books Long-time American Players Theatre play director James Bohnen opened Arcadia Books in Spring Green in 2011. It includes a popular café. 102 E.
Madison's independent bookstores buck the online sales trend
Photo by Thomas Devillers Sandi Torkildson of a Room of One's Own Photo by Thomas Devillers Sandi Torkildson of a Room of One's Own More City Life Reports of the death of independent bookstores have been greatly exaggerated. “We have never done better than now,” says Sandi Torkildson, co-owner of downtown Madison’s Room of One’s Own since 1975.
Local distilleries are on the rise
Photo courtesy of The Visual Soundtrack Old Sugar Distillery Photo courtesy of The Visual Soundtrack Old Sugar Distillery More City Life Nonchemists might have trouble understanding Old Sugar Distillery production manager Dave Van when he describes the process of distilling whiskey, brandy, rum and liqueurs.
10 craft distilleries in the Madison area
Photo by Julie Fix Photo by Julie Fix More Dining & Drink Dancing Goat Distillery This distillery adjacent to the Cambridge Winery opened in November. The tasting room hours will expand come spring. 909 Vineyard Drive, Cambridge, dancinggoat.comDeath’s Door Distillery The largest craft distillery in Wisconsin gets its name from the shipping lane between the Door County peninsula and Washington Island, where all the wheat grown is used by the distillery.
14 'best of' Madison burgers
Photo courtesy of Food Fight, Inc. DLUX Photo courtesy of Food Fight, Inc. DLUX More Dining & Drink Hamburger beauty is in the eye of the beholder. One person’s unnecessary and pretentious artisanal condiment is another person’s minimum requirement. Who are we to say? Fortunately, we don’t have to make those difficult decisions because every year Madison Magazine readers tell us who serves the best burgers in town in the Best of Madison poll.
4 great bar burgers in Madison
Sometimes you are a restaurant that serves alcohol, and sometimes you are a bar that serves food. Let’s not overthink it. The four establishments on this list are great bars that serve great burgers. We know Alt n’ Bach’s Town Tap is a bar and not a restaurant because it has summer and fall volleyball leagues. No restaurant would have a fall volleyball league. The burgers? Oh, they’re good. They use only Knoche’s beef and Colonial Bakery buns.
3 surprising places to get good burgers in Madison
There are some restaurants in the city that serve up great burgers when you wouldn’t even expect to be able to get a mediocre one. And life is too short to eat mediocre burgers. Items on the Tavernakaya menu have names like “Tofu Buns” and the “M.C. Hama” sushi roll (raw hamachi, cucumber, scallion and jalapeño). There are 18 kinds of sashimi and nigiri. But a burger? Indeed, there is a burger on the menu at this Japanese gastropub.
13 'oldies but goodies' restaurants
The restaurant business is a tough racket. A recent study by Perry Group International found that more than half of all independent restaurants close in the first year, and at least 70 percent of the remainder close by year five. Other studies say the first-year failure rate is as high as 90 percent. So there is a lot to be said for just sticking around.
Privatizers Continue Assault on Public Schools through Charters and Vouchers - EXPOSEDbyCMD
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.
Trump and DeVos Push ALEC Privatization Scheme as Studies Document Voucher Failures
President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos during a parent-teacher education meeting, at the White House in Washington, February 14, 2017.
Trump and DeVos Push ALEC Privatization Scheme as Studies Document Voucher Failures
Never one to be persuaded by scientific evidence, President Donald Trump is in Florida today pushing one of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)'s school privatization schemes even as a fresh batch of evidence emerges showing that private and religious school vouchers harm the students who use them along with the public schools robbed of taxpayer funds in too many states.
Trump's Education Pick: A Billionaire Heir of Right-Wing Dynasty and Champion of School Privatization Efforts
Betsy DeVos, former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and a founding funder of the modern education privatization movement, with President-elect Donald Trump after they met at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, November 19, 2016.
Boots on the Ground for Public Schools
The shoulder on Highway 9D between Garrison and Cold Spring, New York, is nearly nonexistent in places, and if you attempt to walk side-by-side your pant leg will get covered in burrs. I learned this last Wednesday, when I joined some 20 marchers on their way from New York City to Albany in pursuit of education funding promised a decade earlier. "We're walking so we can be heard," Mindy Rosier, a special education teacher, told me.
With New Grants, Dept. of Ed Continues to Pour Millions Into Charter School Black Hole
With New Grants, Dept. of Ed Continues to Pour Millions Into Charter School Black Hole Today, the U.S Department of Education announced today that it had approved $245 million in grants to eight states under the federal Charter School Program. The states, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, will receive $177 million in grant money.
New Grants Announced: Education Department Continues to Pour Millions Into Charter School Black Hole
Last week, the US Department of Education announced that it had approved $245 million in grants to eight states under the federal Charter School Program. The states, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, will receive $177 million in grant money. In addition, 15 charter management organizations, including IDEA Public Schools in Texas and KIPP's public charter school network in California, will receive $68 million in taxpayer dollars.
A Reality Check for 'Charter School Week'
For the U.S. Department of Education, promoting charter schools is not exactly a unique event befitting a holiday. One could be forgiven for thinking "National Charter School Week" already happened. The made-up "National School Choice Week" was just 14 weeks ago. It's an easy mistake to make. For education observers in the U.S., every week seems like Charter School Week.
Colorado's Not Quite Independent Oversight of Charter Schools
Colorado's Not Quite Independent Oversight of Charter Schools The Colorado Department of Education and the charter school industry are a little too close for comfort. A new review of documents provided to the Center for Media and Democracy/PRWatch from the state of Colorado shows close relationships between the agency charged with administering public education and the growing charter school industry.
Obama Administration Enables Billionaire Takeover of America's Public Schools
The Feds are cheerleaders, as the Walmart Family, Reed Hastings and others are using billions to turn public schools into private charters.
Not just chick lit
The narrator of UW-Madison alum Lauren's Fox's Still Life with Husband is working on a book of love poems to fish.
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