Tag Archives: Madison WI

April 16: Life in the 119th Congress

Posted on April 21, 2025 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Rich Leffler

Congressman Mark Pocan explained to us the political conditions in this, our Trumpian Moment. Most of the tax cuts will eventually come out of Medicaid, etc., and go to the top 1%. DOGE will cut much less than its claimed $1 trillion of spending. Expect cuts in Social Security. Tariffs are chaotic, make no sense, “a monkey throwing dung.” So far, the legal system is defending the rule of law.

There is little resistance to these policies by Congressional Republicans, out of fear of Trump and concern for their families’ safety. An insightful question, was asked: What about resistance by Congressional Democrats to Trumpian authoritarianism? No answer was attempted.

If you missed our meeting last week, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/KFGcGwDGmDw.

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Posted in Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

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April 9: Passing the Citizenship Test

Posted on April 14, 2025 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Rich Leffler

Caitlin Mackesey, head of the ESL and the Citizenship programs of the Literacy Network and a former student, now instructor, Alejandra Munoz Contreras, spoke to us of the effort to help immigrants prepare for the tests to become American citizens. They gave a pop quiz of some of the questions from the official test, which a sizable percentage of Rotarians could not answer correctly. Questions in Civics, U. S. government, and history. In addition, competence in reading, in writing, and in speaking must be demonstrated. Classes and tutoring are offered. Fifty people in the program became citizens last year and, so far, 18 this year. A great program, you say? The federal government just cancelled their $70,000 grant, with no notice.

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Posted in Madison WI, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

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April 2: Innovation at the WI Dept of Revenue

Posted on April 7, 2025 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Rich Leffler

Dave Casey, Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, and a fellow Rotarian, offered us a view of the Department’s complexity of data collections and the innovative software that it uses to serve the public efficiently and securely: It is “a full-on service organization.” Amazon Connect listens to 700,000+ telephone calls and summarizes them for staff, cutting call times and wait times. “Call Sentiment” detects when callers are angry, allowing intervention. Amazon Q will be able to answer questions. Google Document is 99% accurate in reading documents. Direct File plus Wis. Tax creates a tax return. Taxpayers only have to OK it. Security is a concern, but Google Info is on premises; Amazon is on the cloud and only Wisconsin can access it. But the IRS? That’s a worry: will it make our information available to ICE?

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Posted in 2. Meetings, Madison WI, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker

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March 26: Focused Interruption Shares Story of Gun Violence Intervention

Posted on March 28, 2025 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Valerie Renk

Anthony Cooper and Mark Cash

We show up at the hospital when gun violence victims and families need answers and support. We show up when police, during developing situations, ask for help verbally de-escalating a potentially violent situation.
That’s how Anthony Cooper, Sr, Founder/CEO, described some of the work of Focused Interruption. Their gun violence prevention programs include this outreach plus:

• Community Safety Work
• Mentorship
• Aftercare & Recovery

Cooper said they partner with hospitals, community groups, government and law enforcement. He concluded saying the organization’s goal is to improve lives by interrupting cycles of violence and trauma in communities.

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Posted in 2. Meetings, Madison WI, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker

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Wes Sparkman Receives Rotary Club of Madison’s Club Service Award

Posted on March 26, 2025 by | Leave a comment

–presented by Joyce Bromley on March 26, 2025

Today, Wes Sparkman is being recognized with a Rotary Club of Madison Club Service Award for his service to our Club.

Professionally, Wes Sparkman is the Director of the Dane County Tamara D. Grigsby Office for Equity and Inclusion.

Wes joined our Rotary Club in 2005. In these past 20 years he has held leadership roles and has been involved in a variety of club committees.

He has served as trustee on our Club Board of Directors and as our Club President during our Centennial Year in 2012-13 and also served as President of our Madison Rotary Foundation.

Among the committees he has served are Ethics Symposium, Scholarship, Program, Orientations and DEI. He has also served as a Rotary scholar mentor.

For his continuing dedicated service, we are naming Wes with a 2025 Rotary Club of Madison Club Service Award. The Club has made a gift of 200 Paul Harris Fellows points in Wes’s name to The Rotary International Foundation as part of this recognition.

Congratulations to Wes on receiving this recognition! At the meeting, President-elect Anthony presented Wes with a certificate and a special pin to recognize him with this award.

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Posted in 2. Meetings, Madison WI, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Club Service Award

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March 19: Harrison Green Prompts Rotarians to Tell Their Stories

Posted on March 21, 2025 by | Leave a comment

–submitted by Valerie Renk

“Stories connect people,” says Danielle Hairston Green, after telling a story about her personal life. She is cohost of Madison Moth StorySlam. The non-profit has been a platform for people’s stories since 1997 on the second Monday of each month at High Noon Saloon. Ten people are selected to share their five-minute story.

StorySlam has told 90,000 stories, had 90 million video downloads, travelled to 28 major US cities plus Melbourn and London at 9,000 events.

“We need both qualitative and quantitative information to tell a story,” Green reminded everyone, as she urged them to share their own stories.

If you missed our meeting this week, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/l2sD-LwSZe0.

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Posted in 2. Meetings, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Guest Speaker

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