🖌️ Why Dayton St. will look prettier next week

🏊 Why Were Students With Disabilities Cut From the Swim Team?

• Two Madison West High School students with disabilities were cut from the girl’s swim team, and their parents want the school to reconsider. Asha Shukla is a senior living with Down syndrome who has been on the team for the last two years as an “exhibition” swimmer. Her parents say being part of the swim community has been enormously beneficial for her.
• School officials said they’re ending the exhibition program for students with disabilities. Shukla and Aurelia Bergstrom, a West freshman who has a neurogenetic disorder, would have to try out without any accommodations for their disabilities to get a spot on the team. Late Thursday, West High officials sent a letter to parents and students apologizing for the incident, and said Principal Dan Kigeya is working with the parents of the two students to determine a solution.
• 🎧 Dig deeper: The City Cast Madison team talks about the controversy on the Friday news roundup. We also talk about the big, big apartment buildings being proposed for downtown, the tentative bus drivers contract, and new direct flights to sunny spots. Come fly with us! [ WKOW, 🎧 City Cast Madison]

🏫 School District and High School Mascots Get New Logos

• Madison Metropolitan School District unveiled a snazzy new logo this week, which combines an image of the Capitol dome, the letter “M,” and an open book. The logo was created by a longtime Madison resident who asked to be anonymous.
• Meanwhile, all four Madison high schools adopted redesigned mascot logos, even though the designs got some pushback from community members. Most people responding to a school survey said they either didn’t like the new designs, or thought the schools should stick with the original designs. School officials said the new logos will be phased in gradually. [ WMTV, Cap Times]

✈️ Feds Offer F-35 Noise Mitigation – For Eight Homes

• After rejecting a grant application for $18 million in funding to mitigate noise for 162 homes near Truax Field Air Force Base, the Pentagon invited Wisconsin to apply for a $1.1 million grant that would help just eight homes.
• The Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs applied for the grant, but getting an invitation to apply is no guarantee of success, state officials said. According to a report by Dane County Regional Airport, around 2,200 residents near Truax will be subjected to noise levels “incompatible with residential use” by 2027. [Isthmus]

Meet Mrs. Dalloway! She was adopted from the Dane County Humane Society, and unlike her literary namesake, she loves sleeping in the sun, sitting in boxes, and eating spiders. Simultaneously elegant and clumsy, she has the ability to jump straight up on the back of the couch, and yet insists on awkwardly clambering up with her claws. She’s very friendly, and demands that guests give her pets.