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February 13, 2026

Top Stories

UW-Madison now will mandate that students disclose their vaccination status

Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison students now will be required to report their vaccination status to the university, campus officials said Thursday.

The mandate comes after UW-Madison announced earlier this month that a student living in an off-campus apartment tested positive for measles. University and Dane County officials said at least 4,000 people were exposed.

UW-Madison to require students share vaccination status for measles

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

UW-Madison has announced it will now require students to share their vaccination status for multiple diseases, including measles.

The policy change comes after a measles case in a UW-Madison student, which was reported in early February. The student visited several locations on and off campus while contagious, and university officials had to notify about 4,000 people who may have been exposed.

Research

Scientific studies calculate climate change as health danger, while Trump calls it a ‘scam’

Associated Press

“Health risks are increasing because human-cause climate change is already upon us. Take the 2021 heat dome for example, that killed (more than) 600 people in the Northwest,’’ said Dr. Jonathan Patz, a physician who directs the Center for Health, Energy and Environmental Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “The new climate attribution studies show that event was made 150-fold more likely due to climate change.”

I went into phone-free silence. Something disturbing happened.

The Washington Post

“We are often so externally focused that we don’t recognize what is going on in our minds, and when we begin to pay attention to that, it’s genuinely exhausting for most people,” Richard Davidson, a University of Wisconsin psychologist who studies meditation. It also can make us more anxious, at least at first.

Higher Education/System

College athletes’ NIL deals would be exempt from public records law under Wisconsin bill

Isthmus

UW-Madison is looking for an additional $14.6 million from taxpayers annually to maintain its athletics facilities.

But the state’s flagship public university also wants to ensure that name, image and likeness (NIL) contracts for the student athletes who train in them — and all other Badgers athletes — aren’t viewable by the public. Legislators on the Assembly Committee on State Affairs on Feb. 11 unanimously passed a bill which would exempt NIL contracts and revenue sharing for any UW campus from Wisconsin’s public records law.

Campus life

How safe is UW drinking water?

The Badger Herald

The Madison Water Utility oversees the 21 wells that service the City of Madison, including the University of Wisconsin campus, according to Grande. They closely monitor a wide variety of regulated contaminants, like volatile organic compounds, pesticides, inorganic compounds, bacterial contaminations and PFAS, according to Grande.

Global Impact Musician program brings East African players to Madison

The Cap Times

Music educator and violinist Zeynep Alpan believes music is more than entertainment — it teaches “life.”

Alpan, who works on music education programming with the New York Philharmonic and Lincoln Center, is the co-founder of Global Impact Musician (GIM), a nonprofit based in New York and partnered with the University of Wisconsin-Madison that works with young professional musicians in East Africa.

Health

UW nutritional experts weigh in on new dietary guidelines

The Badger Herald

The preparation of this year’s guidelines deviated from the past years’ processes, according to associate professor in the University of Wisconsin Department of Food Science Brad Bolling.

“There was a new scientific review process that didn’t follow the established public accountability and measures that typically the dietary guidelines goes through,” Bolling said.

The revised guidelines are lacking review and thought, retired senior clinical nutritionist of UW Hospital and Clinics Donna Weihofen said. The adaptation of the guidelines into effect is scary, given the existing controversy behind them, according to Weihofen.

The layout and suggestions presented in the new guidelines also confuse Weihofen. The graphic is completely flipped, and the placement of whole grains, an important source of fiber, on the bottom is a confusing choice, according to Weihofen.

“Fiber is really an important part of our diet … so to put that at the bottom of the pyramid doesn’t seem to make nutritional sense,” Weihofen said.