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reporter's notebook: sheriff election, community police oversight & Black Restaurant Week in Madison, WI

aug. 08, 2026


it's been a wild couple of weeks in Madison, Wisconsin, and there are so many thoughts running through my mind. sooooo, here's a reporter's notebook & a few reflections on things in the community.


this dispatch discusses my thoughts on:

  • madison activists are advocating and demanding justice for Corey Ruiz from the mayor, and city council - captimes.com 

  • what the community wants to do about Ruiz's death

  • August 11 primary election - Dane County sheriff - captimes.com 

  • Madison Black Restaurant Week from Aug. 9-16 - captimes.com 

  • a discussion & workshop by me: Own Your Voice, Own Your Story

  • I'm looking forward to Idea Fest this year! learn more at captimes.com


TLDR: Madison police killed a man in broad daylight, and the community is justifiably angry about it. Dane County will elect a new sheriff this fall, and the incumbent faces a challenger. Black Restaurant Week is Aug. 9-16. I'm hosting more workshops and community conversations.






Madison Community Demands Justice for Corey Ruiz

Following the death of Ruiz, a 38-year old Black Hispanic man who was fatally shot by police, the community came together to grieve, mourn and heal. I spent some time at the former memorial encampment site at the intersection of Williamson and Baldwin Streets just talking with people, trying to get a sense of what the people’s movement was. I think a few different efforts were happening at the same time, which allowed movements and demonstrations to keep going for so long. Apparently, I spent more time out there than the mayor herself.


At this week’s city council meeting, a 7-and-a-half-hour-long virtual one, hundreds of residents spoke out about how leaders are responding to the fallout.



The takeaways from the Aug. 4 city council meeting

People want the police officer who shot and killed Ruiz arrested and charged

The state Department of Justice is investigating and will give its findings to the District Attorney's Office, led by Ismael Ozanne, who will decide whether to charge. Ozanne has been criticized by others for failing to charge any of the (10) police officers who've killed people while on the job in Dane County, and people need him to do better.

People, including Glass, also want the OIM to have full investigatory power and the right to hire/fire police officers.


The challenge with this is that the hire/fire power rests with the Police and Fire Commission under state law, and the police department has to have another agency investigate in situations when police shoot and kill civilians on the job. But I think the city could pursue change in the state legislature should a Democratic or Socialist candidate make it that far and prioritize it somehow.


But still, community members want the OIM to be able to investigate at the same time as the state Department of Justice and come up with a finding aligned with how the public sees it.


And just to be clear, the public watched an execution. We saw a police officer shoot Corey Ruiz three times in the head, online and in broad daylight, on July 22. If it was any other person who did it, they would be arrested and charged. People have a right to want the officer held responsible.


Regardless, the police department will also have to undergo its own investigation. But Chief John Patterson might find that the officer (whose name officials won't release, but the people know) did act out of alignment with its policies about de-escalation. I'm not entirely sure yet.

People want the Office of the Independent Monitor to be "fully funded" or have at least 1% of the Police Department's $100 million annual budget. The interim monitor, Meeka Glass, requested an additional $1.6 million to fund the mutual aid she's been doing, and then some. Police got drone footage of her getting grabbed by a swarm of police; it's disgusting.

The police showed up early Tuesday morning with state troopers and cleaned out the memorial encampment. It had turned into a safe zone for people sleeping in tents, gathering in community by the fire pit, eating meals grilled from the makeshift food tents, and dancing to music.


It's what community looks like when you don't know how to feel about yet another person whose blood has stained the streets where another bled less than 10 years ago.

Tony Robinson's face is on several murals around the city. Corey Ruiz's name remains where the community wept in the wake of his death.


They moved belongings from the memorial to another park on the north side, but I'm not sure where the statue our friends in Minneapolis brought us will go. It came from George Floyd Square. I wonder if Madison will sanction a Corey Ruiz Blvd.

Police end up becoming the first responders to far too many situations in the community, and this was another example of that. People want the amount of funding that goes to the police department to be reduced and redirected to social services programs that keep people out of the streets and safe in housing with support systems in place -- that's defunding the police in action.

Satya Rhodes-Conway is up for reelection next year. It’ll be a tough campaign for her. That's all I'll say.


Dozens of people have been arrested and some even injured when the police removed the memorial site on Tuesday. I'm surprised how fast community members gathered together outside the Public Safety Building downtown to give care packages to those who were bailed out.


I want to say something because I don’t normally write about the naysayers of the world, but something really bothered me throughout this whole thing: the people who had something negative to say about the police oversight agencies. These are the same people complaining month after month about property taxes, and honestly, it's getting old. I want them to shut tf up.


Seriously. We get it. But there are larger systems that are oppressing the working class, and we don't need to hear from the people whose only problem is that they bought the American Dream on layaway decades ago and the returns from a steady life of privilege and safety ain't adding up.

People love to protest in the capital city, but sometimes people don’t even know what they're protesting or how to really help out. However, I think it’s good that so many young people have been out there, even if they were white. I've seen the unconventional heroes and sheroes come together and make sure that each other was alright. That's what community is all about.


More to come on this.

August 11 Primary Election: Sheriff


Madison Black Restaurant Week



Own Your Voice, Own Your Story



This summer, I've spent a few hours creating and presenting a discussion and workshop about owning your voice and your story when speaking with the media as a civilian. I presented it to the Bridge Project, which helps young mothers of color in Milwaukee with financial assistance and introduces them to tools and resources to empower them and show up in their community. I also presented it as part of a workshop for the Free Press, a national organization dedicated to protecting free speech and democracy.


We gotta fight for media protections in the state legislature. There's too much going on in the community right now. That's why I'm trying to innovate with this journalism things.


Thank you for reading. Sign up for my newsletter, download my app, and stay connected!





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