UP: CTM Madison Family Theatre. The 41-year-old theater company announces it's raised more than $410,000 to retire $300,000 in debt and resume operations, after canceling its season last January due to financial woes. It will re-open with its annual production of A Christmas Carol in December. To prevent future problems, the theater plans to scale back from six to three productions a year, and has launched a campaign to raise an additional $100,000.
DOWN: Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce. The state's big-business lobby has begun running issue ads in an effort to unseat Democrat Gov. Jim Doyle, who has bent over backwards trying to please it. Of course that's the group's prerogative, but it follows WMC president Jim Haney's statement to Isthmus, reported last week, that 'I don't think we're doing anything with the governor's race.' It's enough to make a person wonder whether to believe anything Haney and his group have to say.
