🇵🇸 Pro-Palestine student group suspended

🎵 Dessa Show Postponed After Singers Denied Visas

• Minneapolis rapper and author Dessa is postponing her tour, including a scheduled Madison show Aug. 15 at Atwood Music Hall because the South African ensemble she was planning to tour with was denied visas by the U.S. government.
• The ensemble called 29:11 aims to foster hope and reconciliation through music and collaboration. But the Cape Town-based ensemble was denied a visa to tour in the United States without explanation. “It's a big disappointment for everyone who'd planned to collaborate with them; for everyone with a ticket to an upcoming show who will miss the chance to have their hearts blown open,” Dessa wrote in an email to ticketholders.
• Dessa will instead perform with her usual band at Atwood Music Hall on Dec. 13. [ 🎧 City Cast Madison, PBS, Atwood Music Hall]

🇵🇸 Pro-Palestine Student Group Says UW Suspended Them

• In an Instagram post, the UW-Madison chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine said that university administration has suspended them.
• The student organization said that they had been accused of violating five university policies at a campus event. That event appears to be an April appearance by former U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, where a small group of pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted the event.
• SJP Representatives said a hearing committee recommended an extended period of disciplinary probation, but the students say Dean of Students Christina Olstad overruled those recommendations and imposed the suspension. University officials have not yet issued a statement on the suspension. [Instagram, Daily Cardinal]

💸 What’s the Effect of UW Budget Cuts? They Won’t Say.

• While UW-Madison officials have asked for across the board spending cuts, they’ve been reluctant to reveal what the effects of those cuts will be on students and employees, critics said.
• The university denied an open records request from the Cap Times for the plans for those cuts, saying they were “drafts” and would “harm the competitive position of the university.”
• Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, questioned the university’s definition of the documents as drafts. “I think it is contrary to law and disrespectful to the public, who have an interest in how the UW-Madison is run,” he said. [UW, Cap Times]

Chris Martin of Coldplay sang “It was all yellow” at Camp Randall earlier this month. But he had no idea how yellow Madison was about to get.

This week is all about mustard in the Madison area, as Middleton’s National Mustard Museum celebrates National Mustard Day on Aug. 2. The museum is regularly featured in the national media (including most recently on “CBS This Morning”), and thousands are expected to flock to Middleton this weekend to celebrate this uncommon condiment.

How did the Mustard Museum come to be, and how are mustard lovers celebrating this week? Hopefully this explainer will cut the...well, you know.

Red Sox, Yellow Obsession

Mustard Museum Founder & CEO Barry Levenson says his lifelong obsession with mustard began at one of the lowest points of his life, when his beloved Boston Red Sox lost the 1986 World Series to the New York Mets. While wandering the aisles of his local grocery store, he bought a dozen jars of mustard as solace.

He continued collecting mustards while working as an assistant attorney general for the state of Wisconsin, eventually leaving the law in 1991 to devote himself full-time to his beloved condiment.

If You Build It, They Will Squirt

Levenson opened the first National Mustard Museum in Mount Horeb in 1992, then moved it across the street to a bigger space in 2000, and then to its current home in downtown Middleton in 2009.

The museum now boasts over 7,000 varieties of mustard from 70 different countries, as well as vintage ads, antique mustard pots, and exhibits that showcase the history of mustard and its nutritional benefits. Each year, the museum also hosts the World-Wide Mustard Competition, where competitors from around the world hope that their yellow brings home the gold.

Meet Charlotte! This 3-year-old cat has tested positive for Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV), a lifelong condition that could affect her health and make her more susceptible to infectious diseases. FeLV-positive cats can live happy lives for years, especially if they receive regular veterinary check-ups, proper nutrition, and are not subjected to a lot of extra stress.

She was thin and emaciated when she arrived at DCHS in early June, and after reviewing tests and examining her, DCHS vets determined she had a form of anemia that is common in FeLV cats. She was placed on medication, and has been thriving. She’s a sweet feline who enjoys head pets, chin rubs, and lots of treats. Since FeLV can pass to other cats via saliva (it is not transmissible to humans or other animals), Charlotte is looking to go to a home that either has no cats or other FeLV-positive cats.