Restaurant in Overture made Downtown shine
The iconic Madison restaurant Fresco has been closed since 2021. Who at the city is responsible for securing a first-rate restaurant for this important location in Downtown Madison? Has an effort been made to recruit a top-notch restaurateur to offer a new dining experience to visitors to the Overture Center for the Arts?
Maybe the needed renovations to the building could be done in conjunction with the upgrade to the rooftop sculpture garden at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art?
I miss the nights where we would come Downtown to visit a new art exhibit, have a nice dinner on the rooftop of Overture and then enjoy a world-class performance at one of the theaters -- all under one roof. That was especially appreciated on a cold winter day.
People are also reading...
Fred Klancnik, Middleton
'Skip the stuff' to limit carryout plastic waste
Recently, and particularly during and following the COVID-19 pandemic, single-use plastic in restaurants has exploded. More than 36 billion disposable utensils a year are given out in the U.S, according to National Geographic. Laid end to end, they could wrap around the globe 139 times.
Currently, accessories are included by default by most restaurants for takeout orders. Most of the time they are unnecessary because most orders go straight home or to another location where there are reusable utensils and bulk condiments.
These single-use plastic items are rarely recycled (only 6% or less of all plastics are recycled, according to Last Beach Cleanup and Beyond Plastics,). Bioplastics, also known as compostable plastic, behave the same as fossil fuel-based plastics, risking human and wildlife health as they degrade into smaller and smaller pieces known as microplastics. They aren't the solution.
A national campaign called "Skip the stuff" was initiated by Upstream Solutions in response to this single-use plastics crisis. Employing an opt-in versus opt-out model can make a huge dent in single-use plastic waste while saving restaurants money. If customers want the accessory items, they can simply ask.
Look for "Skip the stuff" decals popping up in the windows of Madison's restaurants, and thank them for participating in this effort.
Thomas Hanley, Madison
Supreme Court should revisit 2nd Amendment
In light of recent shootings, it is important to keep the issue of gun control visible. A straightforward approach would be for the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit the issue. The justices had no problem revisiting the long-standing ruling on abortion and are primed to revisit the ruling on same-sex marriage. They should have no difficulty revisiting earlier rulings on gun control.
There are several options. Since an early function of the militia in the Second Amendment was to control slaves and put down slave rebellions, the constitutional originalists could declare widespread gun ownership illegal because the militia was no longer needed. Or the originalists could declare most modern guns illegal because muzzle loaders were the guns in circulation at the time the Constitution was written.
More realistic would be for originalists to find commonsense arguments that would ban assault weapons, high-capacity magazines and bump stocks.
The United States has more guns than people. Limiting guns by revisiting rulings that allow the proliferation of guns, including assault weapons, seems much more realistic than trying to predict who might make use of easily accessible guns.
J. Denny Weaver, Madison
NASA's rover deserves funds to find life on Mars
NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars has just made a potentially historic discovery: a biosignature for ancient life not of this Earth. This amazing peer-reviewed research was published recently in the science journal Nature.
Though amazing, the studies by instruments on the Perseverance rover on Mars are not as sophisticated as what can be done by scientists here on Earth. So to know for certain, NASA must bring samples collected by the rover back home.
Yet instead of committing to pursuing this discovery, the Trump administration has proposed slashing NASA's science budget by half, cutting Perseverance rover's continuing operations by a quarter, and abandoning the Mars Sample Return mission.
Congress has begun to show some bipartisan support for NASA science funding. You can help by contacting Washington and urging our representatives to fund Mars Sample Return in the budget.
Now is the time to press onward and upward. Future discoveries await if Congress acts. It is not the time to retreat from progress and surrender to China in space.
George Perkins, Madison
Pricing program isn't helping those in need
As a recent retiree in southwest Wisconsin, I'm spending more time learning about health care and reforms making national and state headlines, including one needing attention now: the 340B Drug Pricing Program.
Since 1992, this federal program was meant to help safety-net clinics provide free or reduced-cost care to uninsured and low-income patients. But due to vague statutory language and years of weak oversight, it has ballooned into the second-largest federal prescription drug program and is now a major source of profit for large chain pharmacies.
Since 2010, 340B hospitals have been allowed to contract with an unlimited number of outside pharmacies. But instead of expanding access for patients in need, many of these contract pharmacies are in affluent areas of Wisconsin, not in communities the program was meant to serve. These pharmacies -- and the third-party administrators they own and require hospitals to use -- are making huge profits off a program originally intended to help vulnerable patients.
According to a recent report by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, a CVS subsidiary made $1.6 billion from the 340B program over five years.
It's time for other lawmakers to step in and help U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, fix this for those who need it most.
Mark LaBarbera, Hazel Green
As winter arrives, know the darkness will end
Sadly, our nation has mimicked seasonal progression since President Donald Trump's election to a second term.
As the autumnal equinox arrives, we find ourselves enduring ever-darkening political days and hurtling toward the sunless winter solstice of our social, cultural and environmental lives.
Conditions in this country are dark and getting darker. Rational, caring beings have become second-class citizens in Trump's stygian America.
Immigrants, whose hope and sacrifice mirror the very founding of our own country, face unthinkable mistreatment. Educational and cultural institutions are under vicious, baseless attack. Progress made to remedy centuries of racial and gender inequity has been unconscionably reversed. Our standing in the international community is low.
The existential light of our days grows shorter as basic American freedoms are systematically destroyed.
But despite Trump abusing his office for personal gain and retribution and making a mockery of truth and honesty, he is still subject to constitutional term limits. Just as the darkest days of winter must give way to welcome vernal illumination, Trump's callous, tyrannical reign will soon be nothing more than a sad, painful memory. Then we can look forward with hope to a return to sanity, a lengthening of rational days and an increase in the light of our lives.
Dennis B. Appleton, Madison
Trump and GOP are ruining democracy
In nearly 80 years on this planet, I never thought our country would be in a situation like we're now in.
I never thought people would support a convicted felon, a sexual abuser or a man who ordered our own military into the streets of our cities. I never thought anyone would support a man who lied about "ending wars," bringing prices down and just about everything else. He can't even play a game of golf without cheating.
How does one support a man who wants to be a dictator?
Meanwhile, the Republican legislators sit by, smile and nod, and pledge their allegiance to him. They are just as complicit in the ruining of our democracy.
Barbara Voyce, Lone Rock
Plan your fall agricultural adventure in Wisconsin
From wineries to farmers markets, corn mazes to orchards, and breweries to farm stays, agricultural tourism has something to meet every visitor's preference.
The Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association and state leadership has kicked off Wisconsin's agricultural tourism fall season, from Sept. 11 to Nov. 2, by visiting and recognizing many agricultural tourism destinations.
This fall guests are invited to explore Wisconsin agricultural tourism destinations. Agricultural tourism provides opportunities for families to have authentic experiences filled with learning, food and fun on the farm. With only 1.2% of the population working directly in growing row crops, specialty crops or raising livestock, most Americans are removed from the people and activities that grow their food, fiber and lumber.
For insider knowledge and travel tips, be sure to scan the 18 blogs and 32 podcasts at wiagritourism.com to assist you in planning your next Wisconsin ag-venture.
Remember, winter, spring, summer and fall -- Wisconsin is America's agricultural tourism destination. Get out and explore.
Sheila Everhart, Janesville, executive director, Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association
AI rewards aren't worth environmental damage
The impact of technological advances rolls over us as individuals. If something can be done, and it creates wealth and jobs and an increase in the tax base, the powers that be say it should be allowed to expand unimpeded.
So far this is the story with artificial intelligence. The process of producing the wonders of AI to date requires so much water and electricity that it appears to doom progress in controlling climate change. The environmental impact on communities near the plants is significant.
So far, I have not read which benefits AI can produce that will offset the destruction of the environment created by the process of its production. Having all the knowledge in the world at our fingertips will supposedly lead us to achieve -- what?
If we cannot be assured of answers, then we should stop this production process until we find ways to produce AI that doesn't require the environmental impact we now have.