🚨 Why Madison’s police monitor resigned

🏫 UW Plan Would End Ethnic or Cultural Studies Requirement

• Universities of Wisconsin students would no longer be required to take an ethnic or cultural studies class under a proposal being floated by system administrators.
• Officials say the idea would standardize requirements across all 13 UW schools and make it easier to transfer from one school to another. But some students and faculty say such a change would remove a core concept of higher education and erase part of history.
• The proposal follows UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin’s decision to close the university’s diversity, equity, and inclusion office, and the Trump administration’s threats to defund institutions that support DEI. [ 🔒WSJ, Madison365]

💉 Madison Health Providers Now Offer COVID-19 Vaccine

• Amid mixed messaging from federal health officials, UW Health and other health care providers in Madison are beginning to schedule appointments for patients to receive the updated COVID-19 vaccine. Local pharmacies, including Walgreens and CVS locations, are also scheduling appointments.
• The Centers for Disease Control recommended last week that those under 65 should consult with a physician or pharmacist before getting the vaccine. But Wisconsin’s Department of Human Services has recommended the COVID-19 vaccine for anyone six months or older. That advice echoes the recommendations of professional medical societies.
• Public Health Madison & Dane County officials have scheduled free vaccination clinics for school-aged children for flu and vaccine. While PHMDC’s website says they currently do not have the COVID-19 vaccine available, they are offering free influenza vaccination for anyone over 19 whose insurance does not pay for vaccinations. [Cap Times, NPR, DHS, PHMDC]

🚨 Madison Independent Police Monitor Resigns

• Robin Copley stepped down last week as Madison’s independent police monitor, citing medical reasons.
• Copley, who had served in the role since 2022, had been criticized by some for a lack of timely reporting and questions involving oversight, including complaints about being slow to respond to public records requests.
• The city’s Police Oversight Board said it will accept applications for an interim monitor while it looks for a permanent replacement.
• Dig deeper: Copley was Madison’s first ever independent police monitor. City Cast Madison host Bianca Martin spoke to Copley when she first got the job about her vision and hopes for the office. [News 3, 🎧 City Cast Madison]

At Atwood Music Hall in September, audience members got to see a pop culture event that spanned a century. On a movie screen played Fritz Lang’s 1927 sci-fi silent movie epic “Metropolis.” And on stage, Madison turntablist DJ Slimzy provided a live, mostly improvised soundtrack on his deck.

The Winnebago Street venue has hosted several silent movie live DJ events since. This Friday, Oct. 10, DJ Slimzy (who offstage is named Andrew Thomas), will host a Halloween-themed double feature, playing live scores to 1920’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” and 1928’s “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Like all the screenings, the event is free.

For Thomas, it’s a chance to take his passion for both movies and music in an exciting new direction. He talked with Madison Minutes about how the screenings started, how he approaches his live soundtracks, and the audience member who liked it so much she gave him a thank-you card.

How did these silent movie events start?

I was actually approached by Toffer [Christensen] the owner of the Atwood [Music Hall]. I had initially DJed their soft grand opening, and he floated the idea of these free events. Silent films, most of them are in the public domain, so there aren’t any copyright issues. But also, because they’re silent, it’d be easy to have a DJ bring their own music into it. I had never done anything like it before, but it sounded really intriguing.

How do you prepare for each screening?

I thought it would be a little tedious, and it would take some of the fun out of it if I tried to plan the music out to match the narrative scene by scene. My general approach with “Metropolis” was to create a little more of a soundscape. I do it entirely with vinyl records. I have my two record players and my mixer, so the entire score was done mixing vinyl live.

I had quite a bit of contemporary classical music, and quite a bit of ambient music as well. And then I had some other fun, funky soul music that I would throw in with it [that] felt appropriate. I would say I probably planned out ahead of time about 35% of what I was going to play during particular scenes.

Meet Pepper! This 13-year-old cat can be shy with new people, but she warms up to show she’s sweet and friendly. Pepper likes receiving pets and will purr with happiness and give head bumps asking for more. She also likes being kissed on the top of her head, and sometimes responds by licking your forehead.

Pepper is looking for a quiet retirement home where she can nap and receive lots of pets and love. As a bonus, adoption fees for Pepper and other Lonely Hearts Club animals at DCHS are waived in October.