🚨 Chief takes parting shot at watchdog

🚔 Police Chief Slams Independent Monitor On Way Out

• Outgoing Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes, who will become Seattle’s top cop on Feb. 1, dinged Madison’s Office of the Independent Monitor, complaining that it overstepped its role in police oversight.
• Barnes said the monitor’s job should be to take complaints from the public and investigate them. But he said that the monitor has become a “hammer looking for a nail” by hiring a data analyst to look for disparities in the department. The analyst, Greg Gelembiuk, said Barnes misunderstands the role of the monitor: “We are not the complaint department.”
• Dig deeper: Listen to Barnes talk about his four years in Madison with host Bianca Martin on the City Cast Madison podcast. And Bianca talked with the city’s independent monitor about the department’s role. [Madison365, 🎧 City Cast Madison]

🚨 Did Nashville Shooter Have Ties With Abundant Life Shooter?

• In the wake of a shooting at a Nashville high school last week, police are investigating whether there was a link on social media between the suspected shooter and the student suspect in Madison’s Abundant Life Christian School shooting last month.
• Solomon Henderson allegedly opened fire, killing one student and wounding another, before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police said Henderson may have been in contact online with Natalie Rupnow, who law enforcement authorities say killed a fellow student and a teacher at Abundant Life in December. [ABC, 🎧City Cast Nashville, 🎧 City Cast Madison]

🍩 Level 5 Donuts Will Hole Up in New East Side Store

• Level 5 Donuts, which began as a pop-up business offering vegan doughnuts at Madison events and music festivals, will open its first brick-and-mortar store on Atwood Avenue this year.
• The donuts, including blueberry lemon and churro flavors, are currently sold at Willy Street Co-op, The Green Owl, and various cafes around town. Owners Caitlin Rockey and Aaron Mooney hope to have the storefront open by late spring or early summer. [Madison Magazine]

Wisconsin is gearing up for another big election on April 1 that could shape the political landscape in the state. Voters will go to the polls to elect a new Wisconsin Supreme Court justice to replace retiring Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, and the political ads that are already airing show how both sides see it as a race with significant consequences.

Why It Matters

While the court is technically nonpartisan, conservatives controlled the court for 15 years until 2023, when the election of Justice Janet Protasiewicz tipped the balance 4-3 in favor of liberal justices.

The new progressive majority made their influence felt. They reinstated the use of ballot drop boxes, and threw out GOP-created legislative maps that critics say made Wisconsin one of the most gerrymandered states in the nation.

If liberals win the 2025 election, they will maintain control of the court until at least 2028. In addition, two more conservative justices, Annette Ziegler and Rebecca Bradley, are up for re-election in 2026 and 2027, so they could expand their majority by flipping those seats on the court.

Who Are the Candidates?

The conservative candidate is Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County judge who has statewide name recognition from serving as former Gov. Scott Walker’s attorney general.

The progressive candidate is Susan Crawford, a Dane County judge who has been endorsed by all four of the Supreme Court’s liberal justices.

We hope to have both candidates on the City Cast Madison podcast to talk about their positions.