🗳️ Teens want Wisconsin to lower voting age

🌳 Meet Madison’s 100,000th Tree

• Madison recently celebrated the planting of its 100,000 trees lining its streets and roadways. The milestone tree was a New Horizon elm planted in a downtown terrace at the corner of West Washington Avenue and North Henry Street.
• The New Horizon elm is a hybrid strain developed by UW-Madison researchers that is resistant to Dutch elm disease. The 100,000 total does not include the thousands of additional trees in city parks, private residences, and stormwater greenway land.
• Dig deeper: Who takes care of the city’s trees? Madison’s forestry staff, of course. [City of Madison, 🎧 City Cast Madison]

🗳️ Why Can’t Teenagers Vote in School Board Elections?

• Perhaps nobody is more directly affected by the outcome of a school board election than students, and yet the voting age in all elections is 18. So a group of Madison West students in the school’s Civics Club have asked the Dane County Board to urge state lawmakers to lower the voting age to 16 for those elections.
• The change would require a constitutional amendment, meaning that the state legislature would have to approve the referendum in two separate sessions and then put it on the ballot for voters to approve. [WORT]

🪰 Madison Is Pretty Fly These Days

• It was the Mother’s Day present almost nobody wanted – swarms of tiny insects called midges filling the skies in and around Lake Monona. Midges (not to be confused with mayflies) typically do their mating dances around this time of year, but entomologists are trying to figure out why there have been so many this time.
• 🎧 Insects are an ongoing concern during a Wisconsin summer. Today on the City Cast Madison podcast, host Bianca Martin talks to PJ Liesch, aka the “Wisconsin Bug Guy” about the midge population, how many mosquitos we can expect this year, and dishes on Wisconsin’s weirdest bug. Trust me, it’s really weird. [WPR, 🎧 City Cast Madison]

Memorial Day is next Monday, which is both a solemn remembrance of those who have died serving their country and a joyful kickoff to summer. Here’s some of the ways you can both observe the holiday and enjoy yourself this weekend.

Memorial Day Events

Monona pulls out all the stops for its Memorial Day Parade on May 26, which begins at 9:30 a.m. with the playing of the national anthem in front of the flags at Monona Grove High School. The parade starts at 10 a.m. and ends at noon at Sennett Middle School. Monona Drive and several other streets on the parade route will be closed to traffic during that time.

In a new initiative this year, banners along the parade route will honor local veterans and their families.The parade will also showcase local groups and business, and have plenty of family-friendly touches, including vintage cars, dogs in costumes, and even an appearance from Bucky Badger.

VFW Post 7591 will conduct several ceremonies honoring veterans at cemeteries around town, including Blooming Grove Cemetery at 11:15 a.m., Roselawn Memorial Ceremony at noon, Highland Memorial Cemetery at 1 p.m., and Madison Veterans Memorial Park at 2 p.m.

At 10 a.m., Madison Veterans Council will host a ceremony at Union Rest in Forest Hills Cemetery, and Fitchburg will have its Memorial Day Observance at 12:30 p.m. at Gorman Wayside Veterans Memorial Park, featuring Oregon/Brooklyn VFW Post 10272.

Madison Veterans For Peace will have its annual Memorial Day Peace Rally at 1 p.m., featuring a keynote address from John Nichols of the Cap Times and music by Old Cool. Veterans For Peace will also set up its Memorial Mile display honoring veterans who have lost their lives in Olin Park from May 24 to 31.

The Wisconsin Veterans Museum is closed on Memorial Day, but is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, and is full of exhibits highlighting veterans from Wisconsin who served from the Civil War to present day.