News Net Yucky state budget fortunately hasn’t shut down delicious craft beer

Since sifting through dull newspapers, hyperbolic blogs, and overflowing RSS feeds for meaningful news can be an arduous process, News Net catches and compiles both the amusing and the significant reports that were overlooked over the work week. Here are some things to think about as weekend begins.

• The owner of New Glarus Brewing Company sent many a beer connoisseur into a curse-laden tantrum this week by claiming that several Wisconsin craft brewers, including Furthermore Beer, have been “technically shut down” by provisions in the controversial state budget passed in June. Instead of being paralyzed with fear by a summer without Knotstock, Dane101 had the good sense to contact Furthermore owner Aran Madden to see how the brewery is coping. The short answer? Okay, but pissed off. They have lots of extra hoops to jump through, but they can keep making the beer you know and love for the foreseeable future. His full response is a stump speech for a pro-craft beer platform, hinting that Madden might be a candidate for governor that we can finally get behind.

• The Rose Bowl isn’t just a chance for the Badger coaching staff to get busted for nasty nervous habits, it’s also a time for the whole country to marvel at what a truly badass marching band can look like. Even will.i.am couldn’t stop gushing about the band: Quoted by the L.A. Times as he mingled with the band before they all performed together on Sunday night, the Black Eyed Peas member told band director Mike Leckrone, “I want to be like you when I grow up. You’re the coolest man on the planet.” To which Leckrone replied, “I want to be like you, so I can have metal robot hair for next year’s varsity band concert.”

• Mayor Soglin has called for a special committee to recommend new parking rules for scooters and mopeds in Madison, citing a need to evaluate the parking needs of mopeds in light of their popularity, in addition to changing standards for how mopeds are viewed legally. The city views them as bikes, allowing them to park near bike racks so long as they don’t block sidewalks, but the state treats them as motorcycles, with designated moped parking. While Soglin seems to be taking a pro-scooter stance at first blush, overzealous riders shouldn’t get their hopes up. We’re guessing the “park wherever the hell you feel like it” policy that works well for a lot of Madison scooters won’t make it to the committee’s final recommendations.

• Finally, in decisions that make the entire city happy, human touchdown machine Montee Ball has elected to return to UW for his senior year. He said that he’ll take the next year to improve his NFL draft stock, but we hope that he also uses it to serve Urban Meyer’s Ohio State a devastating defeat.