🐕 This dog’s ‘Little Free Stick Library’ is so fetch

🔗 Will Big Ten Schools Band Together Against Trump?

• With universities experiencing unprecedented funding cuts and lawsuits from the Trump administration, UW-Madison faculty want the university to join forces with the 17 other Big Ten schools in a NATO-like “mutual defense compact.”
• The Faculty Senate voted nearly unanimously in a nonbinding resolution to ask UW Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin to join a pact to work together on legal challenges and lawsuits against the federal government, and to coordinate on lobbying legislators and communicating with the public. [ 🎧 City Cast Madison, 🔒 WSJ]

🇺🇦 Restaurant Started By Ukrainian Refugees to Close

• Touch of Ukraine, a Winnebago Street restaurant started by three Ukrainian immigrants who fled their country after Russia attacked it, will close at the end of the month.
• The restaurant opened in July 2023, serving Ukrainian cuisine like chicken Kiev and borscht. Property owner Gary Gorman, who sponsored a dozen immigrants from Ukraine and helped them launch the restaurant, said a new restaurant will open at the location in June from the management group that owns Rare steakhouse on the Capitol Square.
• The group has offered jobs to all of the Ukrainian staff, Gorman said. [Facebook, 🔒WSJ]

🎒More Madison Schools Getting 4K Classes This Fall

• The Madison Metropolitan School District plans to add 4-year-old kindergarten classes this fall to Stephens Elementary School, Lincoln Elementary School, and Elvehjem Elementary School.
• The proposal would add at least six all-day 4K classes to the Madison schools, hiring an additional 10 full-time staff for the program at a cost of over $1 million. Adding more 4K classes was one of the items MMSD promised last fall when they successfully asked voters to approve $607 million in building and operating referenda.
• The schools are also hoping to spend $917,000 to hire 11 new custodians for the district. [Cap Times]

For a city that loves its baked goods as much as Madison does, it’s a little strange that we’ve long lagged when it comes to our donut game. Longtime residents like myself remember the seemingly endless wait to get a Krispy Kreme here, only to have it close a few years later.

But all that has changed. Madison foodies had the big-city experience of waiting in line for a doughnut last weekend when Level 5 Donuts opened its brick-and-mortar location on Atwood Avenue. On the City Cast Madison podcast today, host Bianca Martin talks to co-owner and head baker Caitlin Rockey about how Level 5 became Madison’s new sensation.

And Level 5 isn’t alone in leveling up Madison’s donut game. Here are some of our favorite donuts in town. Let us know if we missed your favorite!

Level 5 Donuts

An open secret for years through selling their vegan donuts at coffee shops, popups, and festivals, Aaron Mooney and his wife Caitlin Rockey sold 1,200 donuts at their grand opening recently. They currently serve 14 types of donuts, including chai, blueberry, and cherry. But they also do special seasonal boxes and plan on concocting new flavor offerings at the shop.

Greenbush Bakery

The only certified kosher bakery in the region, Greenbush has been a Madison institution on Regent Street since Marv “Donut Man” and Barb Miller opened the spot in 1996. The sour cream donuts are the most popular ones – I’m partial to the blueberry.

Zippy Lube

A former Jiffy Lube on North Sherman Avenue has new life as a place to fill up on coffee, fried chicken, and donuts, which are designated both “premium” and “super premium.” You can even live dangerously and get Zippy Lube’s breakfast sandwich served on a halved donut.

Bloom Bake Shop

If you fancy a cake donut, the Bloom Bake Shop location on Monroe Street is for you. The bakery mixes up both regular and rotating seasonal flavors.

Located in Oneida County about 200 miles north of Madison, Minocqua is an active Wisconsin vacation spot for those looking to escape the city. Visitors can see the constellations in the night sky, learn about Native American heritage and history, and so much more.

City Cast Madison sat down with Krystal Westfahl, CEO and president of the Minocqua Area Visitors Bureau, to talk about all that Minocqua has to offer.

For those who haven’t been — or maybe even haven't heard of it — how would you describe Minocqua as a vacation spot?

It is really a quintessential vacation area. I romanticize it quite a bit. I think about movies like “The Great Outdoors” and “Dirty Dancing” and that classic resort culture from the ‘30s and ‘40s. We still have all of that here, with a whole lot of other things.

Can you give us some of your favorite attractions to see while visiting, if you had to narrow it down?

There are things to do in all seasons if you're into outdoor recreation. We've got 2,300 lakes, rivers, and streams to choose from. Talking about our attractions, one of the big ones is the Wildwood Wildlife Park, the second-largest zoo in the state of Wisconsin. We also have the longest running amateur water ski show in the nation, called the “Min-Aqua Bats.”

I hear this is going to be a big year for spotting the Northern Lights! What makes Minocqua such a special place for stargazing?

I think any time you get away from the big city lights, you're gonna see stars. But when you come to the Northwoods, you see all of the stars. And of course the Northern Lights are gonna be a part of that. What takes people’s breath away the most is when they get away from town, and they look up, and they go, "Whoa!"

Want to learn more about vacationing in Minocqua? Visit the Minocqua Area Visitors Bureau!