💧 Cleanup on Aisle Everywhere at Woodman’s

🧑‍⚖️ Supreme Court Sides With Regulators Over PFAS

• In a big win for environmentalists, the Wisconsin Supreme Court sided Tuesday with the Department of Natural Resources ruling that state regulators can force companies to clean up emerging pollutants known as PFAS.
• Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s powerful business lobby, argued the DNR shouldn’t be able to force businesses to test for or clean up PFAS until they are formally classified as hazardous chemicals. Environmentalists countered that the process could take years and requires legislative approval, and contamination would be allowed to grow in the meantime.
• 🎧 Dig deeper: Cap Times state government reporter Erin McGroarty told City Cast Madison host Bianca Martin that the case is part of a larger legal battle in Wisconsin over how much power state agencies have to regular private businesses. [News 3, 🎧 City Cast Madison]

💸 UW-Madison Readying For Deep Budget Cuts

• Facing both severe cuts in federal funding for research and threatened cuts by state legislative Republicans, UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin directed university departments to implement 5 to 7% cuts in next year’s budgets.
• The university has already paused travel and nonessential expenses and is reevaluating planned capital projects and hiring plans, Mnookin said. The Trump administration wants to cut back so-called “indirect” research funding for overhead costs that could cost UW-Madison between $65 to $130 million per year, and Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Republicans want to cut the Universities of Wisconsin’s overall budget by $87 million. [WPR, 🎧 City Cast Madison, WisPolitics]

⚖️ McFarland Man Swept Up in ICE Mass Arrests

• A McFarland man with no criminal record who came to the United States from Cuba in 2022 seeking asylum was arrested last month by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
• Miguel Jerez Robles, 26, had flown to Miami in May for what he thought was a routine hearing for his asylum application. Instead, a federal attorney asked the immigration judge to immediately dismiss his asylum claim, and he was then arrested by plainclothes agents waiting outside the courtroom. Immigration rights activists say federal attorneys, judges, and agents seem to be coordinating their efforts to detain immigrants like Jerez.
• Jerez was whisked to a detention center in Tacoma, Washington under a process called “expedited removal,” which allows the government to deport some immigrants without hearing their cases in court. “Everything fell apart in a moment,” Jerez’s wife, Geraldine Cruz Dip, said. [Wisconsin Watch/Cap Times]

⬆️ Last Week’s Photo

This neon sign is located in the window of the Hubbard Avenue Diner in Middleton!

🎉We got a lot of correct responses for this one – you folks love your pie! Congrats to Carl M., Helen M., and Jen G. for the first three to guess correctly!

⬇️ This Week’s Photo

Do you know where this mural is located? A few clues:

• It’s on Madison’s north side
• The mural is a “trompe l’oeil,” meaning it conveys the illusion that it’s three-dimensional
• You might see it after doing some thrifting or playing a little pickleball!