Not long ago, I heard about a relative of mine, a recent graduate of the UW-Madison, who had moved out of the city. One of her main reasons for leaving was crime. Last year, Madison had a record 10 murders, many of them high profile, including that of Brittany Zimmerman, who was killed in her downtown Madison apartment in the middle of the day. No one has been caught or charged, and the killer is still (as far as we know) at large. This episode is at the heart of the story I did for Madison Magazine. It’s a profile of the police chief, Noble Wray, who has been at the center of many of the controversies surrounding these murders, and who Madison Magazine named its person of the year. The story just went online, and is the first piece I’ve done that’s given me serious nightmares.
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Frank Bures 
I’m African-American. I grew up in Madison during the 70’s, 80’s, and early 90s. We lived on the ‘far’ west side (Hill Farms) and never had one incident. I was part of the black middle and upper classes. We saw this coming. We were part of the small black professional and University class, but we went to school with kids from ‘refugee’ families. Families escaping Chicago, brought Chicago with them. There was a huge divide between our groups. Now that’s a story.