📝 How about them apples?

🚑 Expanding CARES in Dane County

• Dane County Executive Joe Parisi announced a pilot program to expand Madison’s Community Alternative Response Emergency Service throughout the county. [Cap Times]
• The CARES program launched in 2021 as a partnership between Madison Fire Department paramedics and Journey Mental Health Center crisis workers. The team responds to non-violent behavioral health emergencies in place of police. So far, the team has responded to more than 3,000 calls.

🚲 A John Nolen Underpass is Inching Toward Reality

• Madison’s finance committee unanimously approved a $1 million budget amendment to fund design work for a pedestrian underpass below John Nolen Drive. [Wisconsin State Journal]
• Yes but, this doesn’t mean construction will begin anytime soon. The project's future is tangled up in the upcoming reconstruction of John Nolen Drive and the Lake Monona waterfront redesign project, which will take years to complete. If built, the underpass would run below the intersection of North Shore Drive and Broom Street. [City of Madison]
• Some context: Pedestrians and cyclists have long argued for an underpass at the intersection given its proclivity for collisions between pedestrians and motorists. [Madison Bikes]

🌭 Long Live the Wienermobile

• Four months after announcing the hot dog-shaped Wienermobile was changing its name to the Frankmobile, Oscar Mayer has reversed course. And frankly, we think it’s for the best.
• The local angle: Madison has a more-than-100-year history with Oscar Mayer. The company moved its headquarters from Chicago to Madison in 1957. In 2015, it shuttered its east-side plant. [Wisconsin State Journal]

🛝 Your Lunchtime Read: New accessible playground honors late friend of Mister Rogers

• “Jeff Erlanger, a passionate advocate for people with disabilities and a quadriplegic himself, was best known for his poignant appearance on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.” [Madison Magazine]

Thursday, Sept. 28

• Acoustic Happy Hour ft. Sad Songs with Robby Schiller at Garver Feed Mill
• Chat Pile at Majestic Theatre
• Friends of Olin-Turville concert series: Grouvin Brothers at Olin Park Pavilion
• Harm Reduction Open House at OutReach
• Maia Sharp + Maygen & The Birdwatcher at The Bur Oak
• Music Bingo at Starkweather Brewing Company
• Russell Dickerson at The Sylvee
• Samantha Bee at The Barrymore Theatre
• Wisconsin Book Festival Presents Joyce Carol Oates for ZERO-SUM at Central Library

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5 Local Apple Orchards Worth Visiting 🍎

In the final installment of how to make the most of fall in southern Wisconsin, Cap Times Food Editor Lindsay Christians shares her reporting on local apple orchards. She provides her picks for where to get apples for pies, where to pick-your-own, and which apple varieties you gotta try.  Who knew you could pickle apples?!

Join us every Thursday as we explore Madison's food culture, from the brewers and bakers to the chefs and cheesemakers.