Capitol Bank Celebrates 25th Anniversary by Donating $25,000

Capitol Bank celebrated 25 years in business on October 9, 2020. With an in-person event not possible, they came up with a unique and impactful way to celebrate the milestone instead. The 25 longest-tenured employees of Capitol Bank each selected a non-profit to receive a $1,000 donation. This “$25,000 for 25 Years” campaign was promoted virtually by the Bank and its employees through Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

“All that has happened in 2020 really put this milestone in perspective for us. Giving $25,000 was our way of recognizing our employees, customers and community, and it’s been a rewarding experience all around,” said Ken Thompson, President and CEO of Capitol Bank.

While all the donations were special and rewarding in their own way, of notable significance was the $1,000 Thompson chose to have donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society – Wisconsin Chapter. Capitol Bank’s former founder and president, Jim Dolister, passed away in 2017 from leukemia. Jim’s wife, Sandy, was in attendance when the donation was presented to LLS in his honor.

In addition to the donations, Capitol Bank asked a few customers, employees and community members to participate in a video to commemorate the month-long celebration.

For a list of the 25 organizations that received the $1,000 donations, and to view the 25^th anniversary videos, click here: https://www.capitolbank.com/25years/

About Capitol Bank: Capitol Bank, locally owned and operated since 1995, is committed to serving the communities in which we live, work and do business. We are proud of the partnerships we have established with organizations, businesses and individuals in the Dane County area. Our philosophy of community support is demonstrated at the corporate level, as well as in the time and energy our employees devote to our community each year. Capitol Bank is Member FDIC.

Contact: Natalie Gregerson
Director of Marketing/Officer
Capitol Bank
710 N. High Point Road
Madison, WI 53717
608.836.1616

MSCR Announces Friends of MSCR Auction

November 10, 2020

For Immediate Release

Contact: Nicole Graper at ngraper@madison.k12.wi.us

MSCR Announces Friends of MSCR Auction
Proceeds support MSCR Programs

Since 2013, the Friends of MSCR has gifted $430,000 to MSCR. These funds support new program initiatives and much needed equipment including outdoor and environmental education, adapted recreation and inclusion services, Latino community outreach, afterschool clubs and neighborhood center programming, to better serve the Madison community.

Please join MSCR and bid on fabulous items in the 2020 Online Auction! Items include pet care, gift baskets, entertainment, spa services, sports memorabilia and much more.

“We are grateful to the Friends of MSCR for their support of recreation programming in the Madison community. Thank you to the generous donors and bidders who make this online auction possible. Every bid and donation help ensure access to high quality affordable recreation and enrichment for our community members,” described Janet Dyer, MSCR Executive Director.

This year’s Online Auction is supported by the following generous sponsors:
Community Believers – $1,000+

• Oak Park Place
• Park Bank
• Anne & Phillip Duffy, in memory of Robert Parenteau

Recreation Enthusiasts – $500

• Slow Roll Cycles

Afterschool Advocate – $300

• Greenleaf Media
• QTI Group
• Stroud, Willink, & Howard LLC

Check out 32auctions.com/mscr2020 to view all of the items. The auction takes place through November 20.

MSCR offers many recreation programs for all ages that are accessible and affordable.  Fee assistance is available. Please call 608-204-3000 or visit mscr.org for more information.  MSCR is Madison’s public recreation department serving the community since 1926.

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LÜM: The Music Modernization Act is Stifling Innovation in the Music Industry

By Max Fergus, LÜM CEO

We were told when we started our company that the institutions within the music industry were always going to be against us. In fact, many people told us these institutions would do everything in their power to curb innovation to make sure the money stayed where it always has – in the pockets of the major labels and the major music streaming services.

Finally, after 10 years of archaic practices in the music streaming industry, which widened the financial gap between the one percent of the music industry stakeholders and the rest of the starving artists, the Music Modernization Act (“MMA”) was created. At its most basic level, the goal was to take the onus off of major streaming platforms to track and remit royalties generated from these major platforms into the pockets of the right artists/labels in a more timely fashion through a new government-subsidized organization known as the Mechanical Licensing Collective (“MLC”).

Sounds great, right? Wrong. This will set back the music industry for years to come.

Imagine starting a process to MODERNIZE MUSIC and how music is monetized for all artists, yet the only stakeholders the MLC brought in to discuss how the MMA and the MLC would operate are the major streaming platforms and major labels themselves.So, what did they do? They structured the MLC in a way that will save these major corporations millions of dollars while completely neglecting the reason why the law was written in the first place – to oversee the music streaming platforms that have consistently, purposefully and negligently not paid the creators – whose content drives their service – their fair share in a transparent and efficient way.

The MMA was designed to regulate and modernize the practices of “royalty-bearing” music streaming services like Spotify, YouTube, and Apple. Next year, the MLC will open its doors and, as part of its first year of operations, it requires the companies included within the MLC to help pay for “start-up fees.” Companies outside of the largest music streaming companies, such as smaller DSPs and smaller royalty-bearing music streaming platforms, must also share unproportionally in these expenses. Essentially, the MLC and the largest streaming platforms want smaller services to pay more than their fair share for the MLC to oversee and audit the largest players in the music streaming industry…even those services who operate to fix the same problems as the new entity itself.

It gets worse.

Is the MLC Putting Smaller Streaming Platforms Out of Business?

LÜM was created to serve a similar foundational mission to these entities – to help guide an industry that needs to better support its creators through innovation. Because of that, we made a choice to not be a part of the traditional recorded music industry. We pay NO royalties and instead have proven that there is a better future. Instead of royalties, LÜM created the first virtual gifting system in a music discovery platform that allows fans to help directly support their favorite independent artists. The result?

Artists on LÜM earn an average of ~6x more per stream than every single other music streaming platform in the U.S.

Just like so many other companies that are trying to advance the music industry, LÜM is now facing an uphill battle against an organization (MLC) that was developed in conjunction with the same stakeholders who put the music industry in this position in the first place. The fees LÜM and other innovative companies are facing, to help fund the MLC, are substantial. Every new innovative company will face them and will provide a financial hurdle that will leave the majority of current and future innovative music startups dead in the water. No new entrants and no new competition mean the industry will stay exactly where it has for the last 15 years – putting money in the pockets of the rich and neglecting those that are trying to change the industry for the better.

We cannot let this happen. Innovation must continue or we face a scary reality for the music industry and the majority of artists and innovators that have been neglected by it.

DeWitt Earns 17 Tier One Rankings in 2021 “Best Law Firms”

MADISON | MILWAUKEE | MINNEAPOLIS – DeWitt LLP announced today it has earned 17 Metropolitan tier one, nine Metropolitan tier two, nine Metropolitan tier three, and one national tier three rankings in the 2021 edition of the U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms.”

The rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes the collection of client and lawyer evaluations, peer review from leading attorneys, and review of additional information provided by law firms as part of the formal submission process.

The full list of DeWitt’s rankings are as follows:

National Tier 3

• Land Use & Zoning Law

Metropolitan Tier 1

Madison

• Commercial Litigation
• Corporate Law
• Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law
• Employment Law – Management
• Environmental Law
• Family Law
• Government Relations Practice
• Labor Law – Management
• Land Use & Zoning Law
• Litigation – Patent
• Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs
• Real Estate Law
• Tax Law
• Trusts & Estates Law
• Water Law

Milwaukee

• Litigation – Real Estate

Minneapolis

• Family Law

Metropolitan Tier 2

Madison

• Banking and Finance Law
• Copyright Law
• Litigation – Intellectual Property
• Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs
• Trademark Law

Milwaukee

• Commercial Litigation
• Litigation – Tax
• Tax Law

Minneapolis

• Patent Law

Metropolitan Tier 3

Madison

• Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
• Construction Law
• Municipal Law
• Patent Law

Milwaukee

• Construction Law
• Corporate Law
• Litigation – Insurance
• Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs

Minneapolis

• Litigation – Patent

About DeWitt

DeWitt LLP is one of the ten largest law firms based in Wisconsin, with an additional presence in Minnesota. It has nearly 140 attorneys practicing in Madison and Metropolitan Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, in a variety of legal areas and has the experience to service clients of all scopes and sizes. The firm is known for its work in several areas, including intellectual property, patents, trademarks and copyright law, civil rights litigation, construction litigation, corporate law, employment, environmental, employee benefits, estate planning, family law, government relations, health care, litigation, real estate, and tax law.  More information is available at dewittllp.com.

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Wisconsin Union: Thanksgiving To Go Returns With Multiple Menu Options, Traditional Favorites

Nov. 6, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE          

Contact Information:
Shauna Breneman, Wisconsin Union
Email: sbreneman@wisc.edu

THANKSGIVING TO GO RETURNS WITH MULTIPLE MENU OPTIONS, TRADITIONAL FAVORITES

Wisconsin Union to offer affordable, gourmet, pick-up Thanksgiving meals

MADISON — The Wisconsin Union team has made affordable, gourmet Thanksgiving To Go meals available for purchase this year, with ordering available now through Nov. 20 and pick-up on Nov. 25.

This year’s menu options include bourbon roasted turkey; gingersnap mustard glazed ham; sage stuffing; mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows; housemade cranberry orange relish; and pumpkin, pecan or fudge bottom pie. Customers can purchase these items à la carte or as a personal-size or family-size meal.

Customers can also order à la carte items or a personal-size meal from a vegetarian menu that includes creamy butternut squash lasagna; herbed green beans; buttered, dill rainbow carrots; housemade cranberry orange relish; a fresh dinner roll with butter; and a slice of pumpkin, pecan or fudge bottom pie.

The Wisconsin Union team will provide the meals cooked, chilled and packed in reheatable containers. The multiple course individual-size meal starts at $14 per person, and the family-size meal starts at $145 for a family of six. The Wisconsin Union is offering University of Wisconsin-Madison students that purchase with a Wiscard a discounted individual-size meal for $10.

This year, the Wisconsin Union team in partnership with the Dean of Students Office will provide UW-Madison students in need with a free individual-size meal. Customers can add a donation to their orders at checkout to help provide a meal to a student in need. Students in need of a free meal can complete the meal request form here.

This year presented unique challenges with modified operations in light of COVID-19, but the Wisconsin Union team worked together to make Thanksgiving To Go, a years-long tradition of the Wisconsin Union, possible.

“Thanksgiving To Go takes so much stress out of Thanksgiving,” said Carl Korz, associate director of dining and hospitality at the Wisconsin Union. “Instead of spending hours planning and cooking, with Thanksgiving To Go, customers can have a gourmet, affordable meal that helps them maximize time with the people they care about. We also want to ensure those students that need to stay on campus during November break have a delicious, cost effective meal option.”

Customers can pick up their Thanksgiving To Go orders on Nov. 25 in Tripp Commons in Memorial Union or curbside at the west entrance to Memorial Union on North Park Street. While ordering, customers will select a 30-minute period during which they will pick up their orders.

Customers must wear a mask or another form of face covering for curbside and in-person pick-up, and those students that order with a Wiscard must bring their Wiscards to pay for the meal on-site.

Those interested in learning more or ordering Thanksgiving To Go may visit union.wisc.edu/thanksgiving.

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About the Wisconsin Union

The Wisconsin Union enhances the lives of members and visitors through recreational, cultural, educational and social opportunities. Formed in 1907, the Wisconsin Union is a membership organization that blends study and leisure to create unique out-of-classroom opportunities. Learn more about the Union and its tradition of providing experiences for a lifetime: union.wisc.edu.

To read this release online, visit union.wisc.edu/about/news/thanksgiving-2020.