🌭 More apartments proposed for Oscar Mayer

🚶 Wisconsin Journalist Missing in Norway Rescued

• Alec Luhn, a climate journalist originally from Stoughton, was found alive Wednesday after going missing for days while hiking in a Norwegian national park.
• Luhn had gone hiking in Folgefonna National Park last Thursday, and was reported missing by his wife on Monday after he failed to board his flight home to London. The Norwegian Red Cross said Luhn was found by a helicopter search crew and taken for medical treatment for injuries to his legs.
• Luhn worked at both The Badger Herald and Wisconsin Watch while a student at UW-Madison, and has since written for National Geographic and The New York Times. [News 3, Badger Herald, Wisconsin Watch]

🌭 Apartments Proposed For Old Oscar Mayer Parking Lot

• The large parking lot once used by workers at the Oscar Mayer Plant on Madison’s north side could become home to a 241-unit apartment building, the latest housing project proposed for the shuttered property.
• The development is an $85 million building that would include apartments priced to be affordable to residents making below the area’s median income.
• The project goes before the Urban Design Committee later this month. If approved, construction would start in mid-2026 and finish in mid-2028. [ 🔒 WSJ]

🎮 Unionized Raven Software Employees Have Their First Contract

• Video game testers at Middleton-based Raven Software have ratified their first union contract, three years after making headlines for being the first workers to unionize at a major U.S. video game studio.
• Raven, best known for making the popular Call of Duty series of games, is owned by industry powerhouse Activision Blizzard which in turn is owned by tech giant Microsoft.
• Testers walked off the job in December 2021 to protest the layoff of a dozen colleagues, and announced they were forming a union a month later. [Wisconsin Watch]

For a decade, Madison Black Restaurant Week has celebrated the diversity of the city’s Black-owned restaurants, food trucks, catering services, and other delicious food vendors. On the City Cast Madison podcast today, host Bianca Martin talks to Camille Carter, president and CEO of the Madison Black Chamber of Commerce, about the origins of the week, this year’s participants, and the special events they’ve planned.

Madison Black Restaurant Week starts on Aug. 10 and runs through Aug. 17. Here are a few of the city’s Black-owned establishments to enjoy on this or any other week. Check out our map of these spots on Overlook Maps!

Les Delices de Awa

West African cuisine comes to Atwood Avenue with this elegant spot, where the restaurant’s complex stews and soups can take hours to prepare. The menu also offers grilled meats prepared with the guidance of Islam (AKA halal), and starters like fish beignets and small pan-fried meat pies known as pastels.

Fya Syde Kitchen

Speaking of spices and flavor, this new Monroe Street spot offers both traditional Jamaican dishes like curry goat and oxtail stew along with Jamaican twists on burgers and tapas.

Buraka

For decades, Madison foodies have been able to brag that we have a top-quality Ethiopian restaurant. Now located on Willy Street, Buraka is enticing a new generation with its dorowot stew and coconut curry chicken.

JustVeggiez

Vegetarians and vegans know all about this State Street fast-casual spot, which includes grab-’n’-go vegan pizzas, Beyond Meat burgers, seitan fries, and more. They also offer an innovative monthly meal plan.

Each week, our City Cast Madison Neighbors get the chance to shout out a business, a nonprofit, or some other cool thing in Madison that helps connect them to the city and to their fellow neighbors. Here’s what folks are spotlighting this week.

Lisa C. wanted to give props to Communication, “a fantastic sober, all-ages third space that hosts masks-required music and arts events.” Communication is moving from its Milwaukee Street location to a suite in the Roundhouse Studios space on Commercial Street, and Lisa wants your help with their relocation fundraising campaign!

Brooke L. says that if you’re looking for native plants for pollinators, go to Two Ferns Native Nursery! “Athena is an amazing source of knowledge, and can help you with ideas for your garden design.”

Nicole S. wants to shout out United Way of Dane County! “It’s a critical community convener and has the unique ability to multiply the effects of many individual nonprofits doing important work.”

📣 Want to give your own shoutout? Become a City Cast Madison Neighbor!