Madsplainers

We're back! With epidemiologist and Madsplainers regular Malia Jones! If you listen to this podcast regularly, you’ve probably heard Malia talk about the pandemic before. Now, halfway through the school year, Madison's public schools again face the big decision: remain virtual or return some students for in-person learning in late January. As the mom of two school-age kids, Malia has, like so many of you, been living through ...

Listeners, we've got some news. We'll start with the bad: This is the last episode of the Madsplainers, at least for the time being, as Abby and Natalie shift gears to focus full-time on reporting. We've loved making this show, and we hope you've loved it too, and we hope to keep Madsplainin' the answers to your questions through our reporting. Now the good news: We got a favorite and frequent guest, Cap Times K-12 education report...

When protests broke out across the country this summer in response to the police killing of George Floyd, some argued that the way the police responded to the protests only made things worse. This week on the podcast, reporter Clara Neupert explains what we know about how policing can change protests, and how Madison — at least at one point — offered what seemed like a better way. Clara is a reporting fellow with Wiscon...

The COVID pandemic has taken an especially fierce toll on Madison’s Latinos, who have disproportionate infection and hospitalization rates and fewer safety nets. But for every way this virus and its fallout have unevenly hit them, they've punched back, working together to protect themselves and keep their businesses afloat. This week on the podcast, reporter and Madsplainers co-host Natalie Yahr explains why Latinos have face...

Across the country, local officials faced an extraordinary challenge this year: How to allow Americans to cast ballots in the November election without exacerbating the ongoing pandemic or overwhelming the postal system. That meant changing everything from how ballots were collected to how polling places worked. But in Madison, the record voter turnout and quick counting process suggest success. On this episode, Abby and ...

It's no secret that Madison doesn't have enough housing for its low-income residents, and as the city grows and rents rise, the need is only growing — to say nothing of the challenges posed by a pandemic that's put many out of work. This week on the podcast, Cap Times metro reporter Nicholas Garton explains why so many of Madison's affordable housing developments have left low-income renters behind — and what the city a...

Before the coronavirus pandemic, most Americans probably didn't spend a lot of time thinking about how to avoid getting a highly contagious and potentially life-threatening disease. But as an environmental services technician at University Hospital, tasked with cleaning and sanitizing everything from patient rooms to nurses' stations, Dwayne Collins has spent years doing exactly that. This week on the podcast, Cap Times investigati...

When the coronavirus pandemic took hold in Wisconsin in spring, many restaurant owners, like many of us, thought maybe things would go back to normal in a couple months. Boy, were we all wrong. As winter sets in and the pandemic continues to rage in Wisconsin, Madison area restaurants that have fought to survive this long are up against a whole new set of challenges, since eating outdoors in January is sure to be an acquired taste....

In the lead-up to Election Day, all eyes are on Wisconsin, a key battleground state, and Cap Times reporters have been digging into the various factors that might affect the outcome to help Dane County residents know what to expect. This week on the podcast, city and county government reporter Abigail Becker explains how Madison signed up a record number of poll workers, investigative reporter Katelyn Ferral breaks dow...

As Madison voters cast their ballots for the Nov. 3 election, they're being asked to decide whether to increase local property taxes to provide additional funding for the city's schools. Madsplainers hosts Abby Becker and Natalie Yahr wanted to better understand how these kinds of questions end up on the ballot, what the district says it would do with these new funds, and who's arguing for and against the measure, so they asked K-1...

Black student athletes, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and beyond, have long demanded more seats at the table within a college athletics system that uniquely depends on them for success and survival. Now, amidst growing national concern over racism, UW students and athletic staff are pushing the university to take concrete steps to support Black athletes and reduce disparities. This week on the podcast, Cap Tim...

Caught in a polarizing national environment and located in one of the nation’s COVID-19 hotspots, Wisconsin organizers and campaigns are taking different approaches to reaching voters in this key swing state. Cap Times political reporter Briana Reilly shares what she's learned by following them throughout "battleground Wisconsin."

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It's been a year since Madison had a permanent police chief, and as police killings and the ensuing protests have prompted growing numbers of people to question the role of police in their communities, it's certainly an unusual moment to be filling the vacancy. Cap Times local government reporter Abigail Becker has spent the last few months listening to what community members, officers and activists say they'd like to see in the ci...

Across the nation and in Wisconsin, the militia movement is flourishing, fueled by outrage over stay-at-home orders, mask mandates and public unrest. In increasing numbers, armed militia members and vigilantes have inserted themselves into highly charged confrontations between protesters and police, with sometimes violent consequences. When Kyle Rittenhouse brought an assault rifle to a Kenosha racial justice protest in August and ...

Virtual school hasn't been easy for anyone, but for students with disabilities, it's posed some extra challenges. Those students often depend on school for therapy and other specialized services that can't easily move online, and their parents have had to figure out not only how to tutor their children but how to administer physical or occupational therapy. On this week's show, Cap Times K-12 education reporter Scott Girard explain...

Earlier this summer, an incident in Monona made headlines when a neighbor called police on a Black man for being “suspicious,” when, as he explained at gunpoint, in handcuffs, he had permission to be in the house. Incidents like these are unfortunately all too common. With police killings in the news this summer, much attention has been focused on reforming police departments and changing police officers’ att...

Across the country, Black communities are pleading with police to treat them with respect, while police are pleading with Black communities to trust them. In Madison, where the police department has earned national recognition for its approach to community policing, Black youth still feel conflicted about the role of police, and recent local and national incidents have only added to the mistrust. Metro reporter Nicholas Garton look...

As UW-Madison students head back to school this week with a mix of in-person and online classes, lots of eyes are on students’ physical health. The university has mandated coronavirus testing for students living in dorms and has been posting the number of tests and virus cases they detect online. But as Cap Times intern Sophie Bolich found, the pandemic is also taxing students' mental health and straining colleges' alrea...

National attention has been focused on Wisconsin since Sunday evening, when Kenosha police shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, in the back, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. In the days since, protesters have filled the streets of Kenosha and Madison calling yet again for an end to police violence against Black Americans. This week on the podcast, we hear from Cap Times local government reporter and Madsplainers co-host Abigail...