💰A big, not so beautiful price tag for Wisconsin

💰 Wisconsin’s Price Tag For ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’? $284 Million

• Gov. Tony Evers said changes enacted by President Donald Trump’s 'Big, Beautiful Bill” will hike costs for Wisconsin taxpayers by $284 million in the next two years. In addition, the Department of Health Services estimated that 270,000 people will lose their health insurance, and thousands will lose food assistance.
• The analysis looked at how new restrictions on Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program would affect residents. For example, taxpayers would need to pay more than $72 million each year for training for Medicaid recipients. [News 3]

👮 Interim Chief John Patterson To Lead Madison Police

• John Patterson, who has been serving as interim Madison Police Chief for the last six months after previous Chief Shon Barnes left to oversee Seattle’s police department, has been tapped by the Police and Fire Commission to be Barnes’ permanent replacement.
• Patterson has been with the department for 30 years, and previously served as an assistant police chief. He was chosen from a pool of 20 applicants, and had the support of current and former officials as well as community members.
• 🎧 Dig deeper: We talk about why Patterson was the obvious choice for the role on the Friday news roundup on the City Cast Madison podcast. We also talk about disturbing connections from this week’s shooting in Minneapolis to Madison’s Abundant Life school shooting, the fate of the homeless encampment on State Street, and some good news for Dane County Humane Society. Listen in! (News 3, Cap Times, 🎧 City Cast Madison)

💍 Claire’s Jewelry Stores in Madison To Close

• Madison tweens will have to find a new place to get their ears pierced, as Claire’s announced it was closing hundreds of locations nationwide, including the stores at East Towne Mall and West Towne Mall.
• The company announced this week that it had been sold to a private equity firm for $100 million. The firm plans to downsize the company, and announced plans to close 290 stores, including both Madison locations and the store at the Johnson Creek outlet mall. The date of each store’s closing has not been announced. (WMTV)

Meet Mr. Gustafson! If that name sounds familiar, that's because he’s named after Jack Lemmon’s character from the movie “Grumpy Old Men.” “Gus” for short is a “cat in a dog world,” his people say. He walks on a leash and is always up for a car trip. Since he was adopted from Angel’s Wish in Verona, Gus has been to 27 states and six Canadian provinces. He doesn’t seem grumpy in the least!