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MIDDLETON–In partnership with Fitchburg Family Pharmacy, MOM (Middleton Outreach Ministry) will host a pop-up vaccine clinic using the two-part, Pfizer vaccine.

Dose 1 will be distributed on May 5 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at MOM, 3502 Parmenter St., Middleton, WI.

The second clinic will be held on May 26 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at MOM. Dose 2 will be administered, or participants may get their first dose (and get their second dose directly through Fitchburg Family Pharmacy). No appointment is necessary, anyone 16 and older is welcome, but 16 and 17 year-olds must be accompanied by an adult if they are not pre-registered.

To pre-register for the clinic, go to momhelps.org. Paper copies will be available on-site.

The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, visit: https://momhelps.org/.../covid-19-vaccination-clinic-at-mom/

MIDDLETON–The Middleton Plan Commission approved various items related to two new businesses planned to open soon in Middleton. With the approvals Hidden Cave Cidery and Poké Bar are a few steps closer to opening up shop.

Hidden Cave Cidery, a craft hard cider producer, which bottles its cider at its facility inside the Old Sugar Distillery on Main Street in Downtown Madison is moving its operation and opening a tasting room at 2500 Pleasant View Rd. in Middleton. The new location is expected to open in May.

Hidden Cave Cidery was founded by UW-Madison Alumni Walker Fanning. Fanning majored in Agronomy and worked as the Director of Urban Agriculture for FH King Students for Sustainable Agriculture while attending UW.

Fanning now also works as an orchard manager at Eplegaarden in Fitchburg and sources the locally grown apples to make his ciders.

CROSS PLAINS–After a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year, Trout Days in Cross Plains will see an abbreviated version of the annual fishing competition and festival from April 29-May 1. 

The Lions Club will have two brat and burger stands located in the village this year. Signs will be posted directing visitors to the stands. Proceeds will benefit the Zander Park Pavilion Project.

Raffle ticket sales will also take place, but they will be sold throughout the summer. The drawing will take place in the fall at the organization’s fish fry.

MADISON–Sitting at the double-decked keyboard of a 72-year-old pipe organ that he and a crew spent 8,000 hours restoring, Bruce Case reminisced about how he developed a lifelong passion for the instrument.

“I started playing organ in church when I was 14. I really loved the organ and one day the organ tuners were there and left a door open and that gave me a look at all this (organ components) and I became really intrigued,” Case said.

Intrigued enough that Case would put his enthusiasm for the pipe organ and a mechanical engineering degree to work on organ building and restoration for 47 years, many of them working out of a shop in the Town of Middleton’s Cherrywood neighborhood.

While in college, Case worked for a Sauk City organ builder and upon earning his degree, headed to England to restore organs that are twice as old as those in the US.

MIDDLETON–Residents in the City of Middleton will be able to exchange their old incandescent and compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs for new LED bulbs at two separate events on April 23 and April 28. The events are sponsored by the Middleton Sustainability Committee.

The first event is at the Middleton Recycling Center at the corner of Parmenter Street and Schneider Road from 3-5 p.m. You may bring up to five lightbulbs to exchange per family. 

MIDDLETON–The Middleton Public Library has announced it will open for some in-person hours beginning April 29. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the library was first closed, then offering only curbside service. 

Residents will be allowed inside the library three days per week, Thursdays from 9 a.m.-8 p.m., Fridays from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Curbside service will continue Mondays from 12-6 p.m., Tuesdays from 12-8 p.m. and Wednesdays from 12-6 p.m. They will remain closed on Sundays.

Guests will be allowed to browse the physical collection, self-check holds pick-ups and use computers, printers, fax and scan documents and use the WIFI. Restrooms will also be open. The inside book drop will also be open during the new hours, and curbside drop off is still available 24/7.

Guidelines for in-person visits include:

• No food or drink

• Masks must be worn at all times

MADISON–Dane County Sheriff David Mahoney says one of the reasons he wanted to join the 30x30 Pledge–an initiative to hire 30 percent women to law enforcement by 2030–was to lead by example. And as the head of the National Sheriff’s Association, he has a big audience, the organization has 3,080 sheriff’s offices as members throughout the country.

“When it was brought forth to me, I immediately felt it was the right direction for us to move in, and I was happy to sign,” Mahoney said of the measure.

Policing Project, a division of the NYU law school, outlines that female officers are less likely to use excessive force, have fewer complaints and lawsuits, are perceived to be honest and compassionate, have better outcomes for crime victims, especially sexual assault cases and make fewer discretionary arrests, particularly of non-white residents.

A member of one of Middleton’s most beloved families died tragically Sunday. Molly Elizabeth Lillard, who grew up here as Molly Toon, was shot to death by her husband in Scottsdale, Arizona, according to police.

She was 28 years old.

According to a statement issued by the Scottsdale Police Department, just prior to 5 p.m. on Sunday officers responded to reports of a shooting at a residence in the 8600 block of East Thornwood Drive. On arrival, officers discovered a female subject “to the front of the residence with obvious gunshot wounds.”

She was quickly extricated from the scene and transported to an area hospital. She did not survive her injuries.

Police said at the same time, it was learned that the male shooter, who was the victim’s husband, had gone back into the house. Barricade procedures were initiated by police.

MIDDLETON–The City of Middleton was awarded a state grant that will allow the electricity generated by solar panels on the roof of the Middleton Police Department Building to be stored in the building’s basement, the Public Service Commission (PSC) announced last week.

The city will use the $212,000 Energy Innovation Grant to purchase and install batteries that will store power from the 100-kilowatt solar installation on the roof of the biggest city-owned energy user, according to the grant application.

“(T)his will be our first battery storage project, but hopefully not the last,” Kelly Hilyard, the city’s sustainability coordinator wrote in an emailed reply to a reporter’s questions.

DANE COUNTY–Residents in Dane County that have relied on pantries for food and farmers who have been providing fresh, local produce will benefit from an extension of the Farm to Foodbank program, which started nearly a year ago in response to the pandemic. The program, which is managed through Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin, will add $10 million dollars and 12 months to the program, County Executive Joe Parisi said at a press conference Monday. 

“This partnership recognizes that as we navigate the final phases of this difficult year gone by, recovery won't come as quickly for some and there are basic needs to be met for many families in the months ahead,” Parisi said. “Few things done in the course of the past year rival the success we have seen by linking Second Harvest with our local farmers. These dollars will not only help keep people fed but also ensure markets remain as our local growers bounce back from this pandemic as well.”