🦫 Why does Wisconsin hate beavers?

👀 Madison Mayor Among Harris’ DNC Guests

• On the final night of the Democratic National Convention, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway was among the guests in presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ box.
• Other guests included Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, Sen. Mark Kelly, and former Rep. Gabby Giffords, along with vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Gwen Walz. [Wisconsin Examiner, Washington Post]

⛽ Madison Is Ditching Its Gas Guzzlers

• When Mahanth Joishy became Madison’s Fleet Service Superintendent, the city had zero electric vehicles in its fleet. Now it has nearly 100, and counting.
• Host Bianca Martin spoke with Joishy on how Madison aims to reach its goal of running city operations on 100% renewable energy and with net zero carbon emissions, all by 2030. [City Cast Madison 🎧]

🏫 Mass Layoffs Approved for UW-Milwaukee

• In a nearly unanimous vote, the UW Board of Regents voted Thursday to terminate the positions of nearly three dozen tenured faculty at UW-Milwaukee’s branch campuses.
• Regents utilized a decade-old policy allowing for the suspension of faculty whose programs have been terminated or because of financial difficulty. Tenure protections were eliminated from state law in 2015.
• Many regents said they felt compelled to make this decision because of insufficient financial support from the state.
• Dozens of faculty protested on Thursday demanding a meeting between their union reps and UW system chancellors. [Wisconsin State Journal]

🚧 State Road Improvement Projects Get $177M Boost

• Gov. Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation announced Thursday that the Surface Transportation Program was receiving more than $177 million in additional funding for improvement needs across Wisconsin.
• More than 150 local road and bridge improvement projects will benefit from $200 million in federal Surface Transportation Program funding. [Channel 3000]