🗳️ Hovde says he lost, but still won’t concede

🗳️ Hovde Admits He Lost, But Doesn’t Concede

• Republican senate candidate Eric Hovde lost to U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin by 29,000 votes last week. But he has not yet conceded the race, and has cast doubts about the results in a video released Tuesday. Hovde said he was “shocked by what happened on Election Night,” pointing to alleged concerns about absentee ballot counting in Milwaukee.
• But in a radio interview, Hovde called the result “the most painful loss I have ever experienced.” The Milwaukee Elections Commission rejected Hovde’s criticisms as baseless. [Cap Times]

💰 City of Madison Adopts 2025 Budget

• A week after voters approved a $22 million referendum for the city, the Madison Common Council approved a $432.5 million operating budget for 2025.
• The budget included an amendment for an additional $100,000 for resources for older adults, including case management and culturally targeted programming. It also preserves funding for the city’s Police Oversight Board and independent monitor. [WMTV, 🔒 WSJ]

🌿 UW Study Looks at How THC Affects Driving

• UW-Madison researchers want to study the effects of Delta-8 and Delta-9 THC on users’ ability to drive. The team is currently seeking test subjects, who will be administered a preset dose of either Delta-8 or Delta-9 (or a placebo) and then use a driving simulator to see if and how they are impaired.
• The test is a clinical trial, and researchers hope to stage bigger studies to help law enforcement refine their sobriety tests to determine if drivers are impaired by THC.
• Dig deeper: On the City Cast Madison podcast, cannabis activist Alan Robinson talked about what is and isn’t legal when it comes to weed in Wisconsin. [WPR, 🎧 City Cast Madison]

Madison is a cocktail city. Whether you’re ordering a sweet Old Fashioned at a dive bar or a complicated cocktail with a dozen ingredients from a mixologist, there’s something out there for you. On the City Cast Madison podcast today, Cap Times food editor Lindsay Christians talks with Bianca Martin and Hayley Sperling about some of their favorites in the city.

Here’s an incomplete and extremely subjective list of some of Madison’s great cocktails. Let us know what you think we should order next.

🍒 Cherrywood Smoked Old Fashioned, Northside Lounge

There are many great Old Fashioneds in town, but the one from this recently-opened spot won Cap Times’ Madison Old Fashioned Week. Lindsay said on the podcast that she likes how the smokiness is captured in the aroma of the cocktail, but isn’t present in the drink itself.

🖤 Black Walnut Manhattan, Leopold’s

Leopold’s has a cocktail list that’s as elegant and diverse as the bookstore around it. But, like a reader who keeps reading their favorite author over and over, I can’t order anything from the bar except the perfectly balanced Black Walnut Manhattan, featuring Maker’s Mark, black walnut liqueur, and Angostura bitters.

🥃 Sazerac, Merchant

I used to play bar trivia at Merchant and order the “Dealer’s Choice” cocktail and let the bartender pick what to make. Even when I was getting the questions wrong, I felt like a winner when a Sazerac arrived. Merchant’s take on the New Orleans classic is the best in town, with rye, maraschino liqueur, Peychaud’s bitters, and an absinthe rinse.