🚆 Amtrak may come to Madison by 2030

🧑‍⚖️ Another Conservative Supreme Court Justice Will Retire

• On the heels of Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley declining to run for another term this year, Justice Annette Ziegler announced Monday that she will retire next year.
• Ziegler was elected to the seven-member court in 2007 and served as chief justice from 2017 until 2026, after liberals gained the majority on the court.
• Wisconsin Court of Appeals Judge Chris Taylor, who is backed by Democrats, is running against Wisconsin Court of Appeals Judge Maria Lazar, who is backed by Republicans, for Bradley’s open seat in the April 7 election. If Taylor wins and another progressive judge wins Ziegler’s seat next year, liberals would have six seats on a court that held a conservative majority for years. [News 3, City Cast Madison]

🚆 Amtrak Accelerates Plans To Bring Service To Madison

• Amtrak says it wants to connect Madison to Milwaukee and Chicago by 2030, with service to the Twin Cities to follow, under its updated plans to bring rail service back to the capital city for the first time since 1971.
• Arun Rao, senior director of state partnerships and development for Amtrak, said the initial plan is to extend two daily Chicago-to-Milwaukee rail services to Madison. That could even start by late 2029 by using a temporary station while a permanent one is built.
• Madison officials originally predicted that Amtrak would arrive no earlier than 2032 when it determined that the ideal location for an Amtrak station would be along an unused stretch of track between Wilson Street and John Nolen Drive. Rao said that location would be Amtrak’s preferred spot for a temporary station, but Amtrak will launch a public planning effort this spring. [ 🔒WSJ, WKOW]

✈️ F-35s Back in the Air For Evening Training This Week

• If it seems like you’re hearing more F-35s in the air at night this week, you’re right. The 115th Fighter Wing of the Wisconsin Air National Guard stationed at Truax Field is conducting evening training flights over Madison this week.
• The flights will run until 9 p.m. through Thursday night. None of the 15 to 20 F-35s stationed at Truax Field have so far been deployed to the conflict with Iran, a spokesman told the Wisconsin State Journal last week. [WMTV, 🔒WSJ]

⚽ Forward Madison FC’s New Season Kicks Off Saturday

• Madison’s professional soccer team, Forward Madison FC, will field an almost entirely new roster when they take the field Saturday at Breese Stevens Field for their season opener. The team will play against defending league champions One Knoxville.
• 👟 Hit the pitch! 2026 is going to be a huge year for Madison soccer fans, between the return of the Forward Flock and the debut of the new Rally Madison FC women’s pro soccer team. 365 Media Foundation executive editor Rob Chappell is all over it with his 608 Soccer Show podcast (formerly Talkin’ Flock).
• We’ve got him on the City Cast Madison podcast today to field questions about Madison’s soccer scene from host Bianca Martin. [Madison365, 🎧 City Cast Madison]

Anyone who needed evidence that Madison is a town for movie lovers should have been at Flix Brewhouse last week. Every seat in the theater’s spacious lobby was packed with film fans for the Wisconsin Film Festival’s First Look at the Fest. For $50, they got some free food and drink, but more importantly the chance to get a sneak preview of this year’s festival before anybody else.

Tickets went on sale last Saturday for the festival, which runs April 9 to 16 and is put on by the UW-Madison’s Communications Arts Department at multiple on-campus locations, Flix Brewhouse, the Barrymore Theatre, and the Bartell Theatre.

Several screenings have already sold out (although some rush tickets may be available at the door), but many more of the documentaries, indie films, restored classic movies and Wisconsin-made movies have plenty of tickets available.

Here are a few highlights of what’s at this year’s festival that still have advance tickets available.

Editor's note: The Wisconsin Film Festival is a City Cast Madison advertiser, but this article was independently produced.

“Steal This Story, Please!” (April 10, 6 p.m. Barrymore Theatre)

WORT-FM has featured Amy Goodman’s show “Democracy Now!” for many years. This documentary by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal (who previously made a documentary about Wisconsin’s Act 10 protests, “Citizen Koch”) looks at the long career of the trailblazing journalist as press freedoms in America are more fragile than ever before.

“Blank Check Presents Babe: Pig in the City” (April 11, 4:30 p.m., Barrymore Theatre)

“Blank Check” is one of my absolute favorite movie podcasts, with hosts David Sims and Griffin Newman taking deep dives into the oeuvre of directors like David Lynch, Peter Weir, and George Miller. The show’s researcher, JJ Bersch, lives in Madison, and is bringing the “Blank Check” team (minus Sims) to Madison for a live show to screen and talk about Miller’s porcine classic.

“Normal” (April 11, 8:15 p.m., Barrymore Theatre)

Did you know that “John Wick” was created by someone from Madison? Derek Kolstad graduated from Edgewood High, and the screenwriter returns home to present his latest action epic, starring Bob Odenkirk as a small-town Minnesota sheriff who finds out his seemingly sleepy village is full of killers.

“Wisconsin’s Own Horror & Sci-Fi” (April 11, 8:45 p.m. Music Hall)

Short film collections are a popular offering at the festival, and this crop of genre shorts from the Badger State should be a fun late-night show, including “Daniel Needs to Leave,” about the horror of trying to leave a party full of overly polite Midwesterners.

Meet Mimi! This 9-year-old is very sweet and friendly. She can be a little shy at first, but once she knows you’re her friend, she enjoys receiving pets and rolls for belly rubs. Mimi walks very well on a leash, she knows sit, and she is gentle when taking treats.

Mimi has lived with a cat and DCHS was told they often slept together. DCHS recommends introductions to other dogs be done slowly. Mimi is looking for a family who will spoil her with lots of companionship like taking strolls around the neighborhood, snuggling up on the sofa, and enjoying a few treats.