Your Daily Guide

⛪ Frank Lloyd Wright Church Celebrates 75 Years: First Unitarian Church is celebrating the 75th anniversary of its Unitarian Meeting House designed by legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The congregation will cap a year of events with a gala celebration Friday at another Wright-designed building – Monona Terrace. [Cap Times, 🎧 City Cast Madison]

💰 Milwaukee Street Homeowners Balk at $7,000 Bill: Some homeowners on Milwaukee Street will pay over $7,000 is special tax assessments for sewer and water improvements. While city officials say the improvements are necessary to replace aging pipes, some residents believe they’re tied to the massive Voit Farm housing development under construction nearby, and think the developers should pay more of the costs. [WKOW, City Cast Madison]

💸 Black Chamber Gives $600K in Grants: Forty local businesses are receiving $602,281 in Department of Administration grants administered through the Madison Black Chamber of Commerce. Grants were handed out at a ceremony at the Black Business Hub. [Madison365]

✍️ mk zariel Named New Madison Youth Poet Laureate: Nonbinary butch theater artist mk zariel has been named the new Madison Youth Poet Laureate by the Madison Arts Commission. Zariel, who will be honored at a ceremony on Sept. 22, wants to promote spaces in Madison for trans artists and make poetry more accessible. [City of Madison]

🦒 Henry Vilas Zoo Gets New Director: Jeff Mitchell has been selected to be the new director of Henry Vilas Zoo. Mitchell currently serves as director of Saskatoon Farm Park and Zoo, and if approved by the Dane County Board, he will start in late October. [News 3]

😆 Charlie Berens Gets Serious About Data Centers: Wisconsin comedian Charlie Berens has started a new nonpartisan organization called Build Wisconsin Better to connect local communities facing “Big Tech” development proposals like hyperscale AI data centers. Berens has spoken out about the environmental and economic concerns brought about by such projects, calling it “the most bipartisan issue since beer.”

• 💻 Is it real, or is it AI? On the City Cast Madison podcast today, UW-Madison assistant journalism professor Ross Dahlke talks to host Bianca Martin how people are interacting with and affected by AI-created content. Plus, Madison365 executive editor Rob Chappell talks about changes at Breese Stevens Field, both on and off the field. [Build Wisconsin Better, 🎧 City Cast Madison]

Summer is fading, but that doesn’t mean the ticks are going away. Public Health Madison & Dane County said that this past spring saw an uptick (no pun intended) in tick-related visits to urgent care, which usually means a corresponding increase in the fall as well.

Here’s some details on what to know about the fall tick season, how health officials are monitoring it, and how to protect yourself against the little guys. [PHMDC, 🔒WSJ]

🪲 Ticks in Autumn

Fall tick season usually peaks in October, driven by large adult ticks that are easy to spot rather than small larval creatures. Ticks start decreasing in late November, but if temperatures don’t drop below freezing, they could even stick around into December.

This year’s tick-related emergency visits peaked at 73 visits per out of 10,000 visits in late May, and health officials are predicting another jump in emergency visits in October. As of Sept. 6, tick-related visits accounted for three out of every 10,000 visits. [PHMDC]

🔎 How Health Officials Track Ticks

PHMDC has an online dashboard tracking all kinds of reportable disease data, including tick-related illnesses.

This summer, health officials set out “tick check stations” in Dane County parks that include info on tick diseases, tweezers to remove ticks, a jar to put removed ticks in and a QR code linking to an online survey to report the tick activity.