🏫 César Chávez Elementary will be renamed

🏫 Madison Will Rename Cesar Chavez School

• Following a New York Times investigation that found multiple allegations of sexual assault against the late labor leader César Chávez, Madison school officials will rename the elementary school named after him.
• Madison Metropolitan School District policy allows the district to rename a school if its namesake no longer aligns with district values. The district is currently in the process of renaming Charles Lindbergh and Conrad Elvehjem elementary schools.
• Beginning April 29, the public will have 30 days to suggest alternate names for Chávez Elementary. The school board will create a naming committee to oversee the change at its May 18 meeting. [🔒 NYT, News 3]

💻 UW’s New AI College Gets $100M Gift and Its First Dean

• UW-Madison’s new College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence will launch July 1 with a $100 million philanthropic gift and a founding dean.
• The Catalyst Collective, a group of alumni, industry leaders, and corporate partners like Epic, pledged the $100 million to help the college hit the ground running, including swiftly hiring 50 new faculty members.
• UW also named the college’s first dean, Remzi Arpaci-Dusseau. He currently serves as director of the School of Computer, Data & Information and led the effort to create the college. [UW-Madison]

🪧 Animal Rights Group Sues Ridglan Farms and Sheriff

• Two animal rights activists are suing the Dane County Sheriff’s Department and Ridglan Farms following a massive April 11 protest at the Blue Mound beagle breeding and scientific research facility.
• Over 1,000 protesters showed up at Ridglan Farms, which has been cited for multiple animal abuse violations, for a protest that the group said remained peaceful. Sheriff Kalvin Barrett countered that 300 to 400 of the protesters turned violent, attempting to injure law enforcement and forcibly enter the facility.
• Law enforcement officers used pepper spray, tear gas, and rubber bullets to quell the crowd, and Ridglan Farms built a manure-filled trench in an attempt to thwart the protesters. The lawsuit alleges excessive force and civil rights violations. [Fox47, WPR]

Over 55 years after they broke up, The Beatles still have a hold on the culture like nobody else. Paul McCartney still sells out stadiums at 83, new books and remastered albums are constantly being released, and not one but four movies about the Fab Four are coming in 2028.

Sean Michael Dargan feels that love for The Beatles when he takes the stage with his tribute band, the Madison Mystery Tour. While other Beatles cover bands dress up in costumes and moptops, the MMT focus on the music, with its five core members backed up with a 16-piece orchestra.

The Madison Mystery Tour is returning to the Barrymore Theatre on May 3 for “The Beatles Singles,” playing some of the band’s most famous singles and most obscure B-sides. Dargan, a fixture on the Madison music scene for years, talked about why it’s still so much fun to play The Beatles.

How did you find yourself in a Beatles tribute band?

I love The Beatles. Always have. They were the first band I really, really loved. I stole all my sister's records. But I hadn't really planned on doing a Beatles tribute, The Beatles tributes that I knew all dressed up like The Beatles and pretended to have a British accent. I didn't really want to be any part of that sort of scene. But these guys just play The Beatles like they play their own stuff, and they try to play it note for note.

How did you hit on the idea of “The Beatles Singles”?

The original premise of the band, which started over 10 years ago, was to play every Beatles album on its 50th anniversary. To be blunt, we ran out of albums and we needed something to keep playing.

The singles idea was just another way to build a show that's a little different than what we've done in the past. It’s the same canon, obviously, just more of a smattering across time. We’re doing A-sides and B-sides, so we’re getting all kinds of flavors of The Beatles.

⬆️ Last Week’s Photo

They’re located off the bike path near Atwood Avenue and Dunning Road! The “Smiling Mushroom” sculpture was relocated from Boyum’s backyard.

🎉 Congratulations to Kendell G., Meghan A., and Sean Michael D. (found elsewhere in this newsletter!) for being the first three people to guess correctly!

⬇️ This Week’s Photo

Can you track down where this artwork is located? A few clues:

• It’s on the east side
• It’s in a building named after a 19th-century Madison mayor
• Hit the books if you need another hint!