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🏒 UW Beats Ohio State For Women’s Hockey Championship

• For the second consecutive year, the UW-Madison Badgers women’s hockey team are the NCAA champions, beating the Ohio State Buckeyes 3-2 Sunday.
• It was the fourth straight year that the two teams had met in the title game. Senior forward Claire Enright scored the winning goal late in the third period.
• The game was also the final time on the ice as a Badger for defender Caroline Harvey, who on Saturday was voted this season's Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner as the top player in the league. Harvey is only the third defender in 29 years to win the award. [ 🔒 WSJ, ESPN]

🎥 County Proposal Would Cut Funding For Flock Cameras

• A resolution before the Dane County Board of Supervisors would eliminate funding for Flock surveillance cameras that the Dane County Sheriff’s Office use. The 2026 county budget currently has $80,000 allocated to fund such cameras.
• The department forbids the use of data from the cameras for immigration enforcement. But data is shared with more than 140 law enforcement agencies across eight states, and critics say the cameras are an invasion of privacy and could be misused by police.
• Madison doesn’t have a contract with Flock and Verona ended its contract last November. When Flock Safety ignored requests by Verona officials to take down the cameras, the city covered them with black plastic bags. [WMTV, 🎧 City Cast Madison, Bolts]

🇮🇪 Ireland Meets France at This Year’s La Fete de Marquette

• La Fete de Marquette, the annual east side festival that celebrates music from French-speaking parts of the world, will showcase a new country – Ireland. For the first time at this year’s festival, July 9-12 at McPike Park, Madison Irish Fest will be part of La Fete on the latter three days, having its own dedicated stage devoted to Celtic music and Irish dance.
• Madison Irish Fest has had many homes over the years, last year was held at three separate sites, including Garver Feed Mill.
• The two strains of music aren’t as far apart as they might seem. In particular, some musicologists think the music of the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec was heavily influenced by the Irish immigrants who moved there. [ La Fete de Marquette, 🔒WSJ, Madison Irish Fest, Radio Canada]

💰 State Puts Two Downtown Buildings Up For Sale

• Two more state buildings downtown went on the market last week, part of an overall “Vision 2030” effort by state government to “right-size” its real estate holdings and reduce maintenance costs.
• The two office buildings, located next door to each other at 101 and 105 S. Webster Streets, contain roughly 400,000 square feet of office space, and were appraised last fall at $45.5 million. [Cap Times]