The Big Ten is likely to cancel fall sports, including football, over coronavirus concerns, according to several reports. A formal announcement is expected Tuesday.
Reports: Big Ten Expected To Cancel Fall Football Season
Wisconsin Public Radio
August 11, 2020
Top Stories
Reported Big Ten football cancellation deals economic blow to Badger-reliant businesses
Wisconsin State Journal
An already-battered Madison hospitality industry could take another hit worth tens of millions of dollars if the Big Ten Conference ultimately decides to cancel the fall football season because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Report: Big Ten to cancel football season; announcement expected Tuesday
Wisconsin State Journal
In the past 72 hours, conference presidents and athletic directors have grappled with the decision to delay, postpone or cancel the season, while coaches and players have pleaded for the chance to play.
Research
Monday’s Campaign Round-Up
MSNBC
Noted: In Wisconsin, widely seen as a key 2020 battleground, a new poll coordinated by the UW-Madison Elections Research Center in collaboration with the Wisconsin State Journal, found Biden leading Donald Trump in the state, 49% to 43%. Among those who say they’re “certain” to vote, Biden’s lead grows to 52% to 44%.
Shutdown of Philadelphia Public League sports puts student-athletes at risk
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Noted: A recent study by the University of Wisconsin found the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a “significant toll on the mental health and well-being” of student-athletes.
New poll shows Biden leading Trump in Wisconsin
Wisconsin Radio Network
A new poll shows voters in Wisconsin favor Joe Biden over President Trump. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Elections Research Center poll finds Biden leads Trump by six points. According to the poll, Biden’s drawing support from Democrats who went for other candidates than Hillary Clinton in 2016, or didn’t vote at all.
Science doesn’t support claims about grizzly hunting
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Co-authored by Dr. Adrian Treves, a Professor of Environmental Studies and Director of the Carnivore Coexistence Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Aniline synthesis turns to photochemistry to access challenging targets
Chemistry World
Quoted: Shannon Stahl of the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the US, who developed a previous strategy to make aromatic rings from cyclohexanones, says that the new approach is ‘impressive in scope and compatibility with mild reaction conditions.’ He explains that earlier methods leveraged the use of oxygen as an oxidant and employed transition-metal catalysts to promote the dehydrogenation of the ring. ‘The present report promotes the dehydrogenation process by using light and a photoredox catalyst to generate a reactive radical, in combination with a cobalt catalyst that evolves hydrogen gas as the byproduct.’
Biden holds leads over President Trump in Wisconsin, key swing states
NBC-15
On Monday, the University of Wisconsin released the results of three statewide polls, covering the Badger State, neighboring Michigan, and Pennsylvania, showing Biden leading by no less than four points in each of them. President Trump swept all three states in 2016, surprising many pundits at the time.
State news
Wisconsin’s primaries are setup for the real battle in November
Vox
Noted: As a result, Kind has drawn challengers from both the left and right. In the Democratic primary, he’s facing Mark Neumann, a former missionary and pediatrician. Neumann has criticized Kind’s lack of support for Medicare-for-All, but his primary challenge hasn’t drawn much national attention. Kind is the clear favorite, according to Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Enjoy your battleground status, Wisconsin, because political history suggests it won’t last forever
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: “Historically speaking, the back and forth of recent years is kind of unprecedented,” said Booth Fowler, a retired political scientist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of “Wisconsin Votes: An Electoral History.”
“Most of the time it has been a one-party state,” said Fowler, referring to the dominance of the GOP during the state’s first hundred years.
Arts & Humanities
What’s safe for young music students in 2020? Meet ‘Dr. G’ and the animation band
Knoxville News
Noted: At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where Greene earned his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees, he was deeply influenced by jazz piano teacher Joan Wildman, who died this year. “It hit me pretty hard,” says Greene. “She was fiercely creative and always encouraged me to do my own thing.”
Health
How to Properly Dispose of Paper Face Masks
Martha Stewart Magazine
Noted: While it may seem wise to separate your disposable face mask from your other garbage, Nasia Safdar, M.D., Ph.D., and professor of infectious disease at the University of Wisconsin, notes that it actually isn’t required. “The virus does not survive for prolonged periods outside the body,” she says. “Persons handling garbage must wear gloves when handling any trash, and that will protect against this [virus], as well.”
11 Supposedly Fun Things We’ll Never Do the Same Way Again
New York Times
Quoted: But as the outbreak drags on, and we’ve become more conscious of germs and hygiene, “some of the changes we made are likely to be really durable,” said Malia Jones, who researches social environments and infectious disease exposure at the Applied Population Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
UW: High school athletes suffering without sports during the pandemic
NBC-15
This spring when the pandemic began, UW began looking into the correlation between canceling sports and mental health in student-athletes. Researchers surveyed 3,000 student-athletes from around Wisconsin and found that , 65% recorded symptoms of anxiety, with 40% being mild and about 13% severe, while around 12% were moderate.
Athletics
WCHA women’s hockey league awaiting others’ decisions as it contemplates delayed start for 2020-21 season
Wisconsin State Journal
With even shorter timelines, college conferences are considering the fate of fall seasons with the COVID-19 pandemic as a backdrop. Entities like the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, which runs what’s considered to be a winter sport, are heavily invested in the decisions and casting a wary glance at the calendar.
Pothof: UW athletes can’t be isolated like they’d need to be
WISC-TV 3
News 3 Now’s Amanda Quintana tells us how experts at UW Health are reacting to the news that the Big Ten has reportedly canceled its 2020 football season.
UW student-athletes propose second demand to Athletic Department, administration
Badger Herald
Demand calls for creation of $2 million scholarship fund for students of color.
UW Experts in the News
Stereotypes in language may shape bias against women in STEM
Futurity
Quoted: “What’s not obvious is that a lot of information that is contained in language, including information about cultural stereotypes, [occurs not as] direct statements but in large-scale statistical relationships between words,” says senior author Gary Lupyan, an associate professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Even without encountering direct statements, it is possible to learn that there is stereotype embedded in the language of women being better at some things and men at others.”
Fact check: Third-party candidates have hampered both Republicans and Democrats
USA Today
Quoted: Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, agreed.
“Every minor party or independent candidate who has run in modern history has taken some votes from (both parties),” said Burden, who has authored numerous studies on the impact of third-party candidates. “It’s also incorrect to say the votes come even disproportionately from a Democratic candidate.”
As school restarts, UW experts say supporting academics, social-emotional health is key
Wisconsin State Journal
“The academic side is not separate from the social-emotional side,” said Gloria Ladson-Billings, a UW-Madison education researcher and emeritus professor. “There is a different kind of temperature taking, if you will, that kids will have to really be able to process this experience. What has it meant to be away from school, to be away from friends, to miss loved ones, to process the fact that some loved ones have passed on?”
Working through a pandemic
NBC-15
Quoted: When asked directly about whether it’s irresponsible for businesses to put a timetable into place right now, Dr. Jeffrey Pothof, Chief Quality Officer at UW Health, said, “I don’t think it’s irresponsible. One of the helpful things with deadlines or setting dates is that it helps frame up the work that you have ahead of you.”
Obituaries
Hicks, Lynda Margaret
Wisconsin State Journal
Lynda was a longtime employee of the UW Law School, and in her retirement she found enjoyment in painting, volunteering, and advocacy work.
Rathke, Roger
Wisconsin State Journal
He seemed to find his true vocation when he became a Senior Lecturer of Marketing back at his Alma Mater, UW-Madison.
UW-Madison Related
Botulism suspected in sturgeon deaths at Sleeping Bear Dunes
Michigan Live
Noted: University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have captured video of invasive round gobies eating invertebrates amid mats of gooey green nuisance algae called cladophora, which grows in abundance offshore of Sleeping Bear. When the algae dies, it creates oxygen-depleted areas that are a perfect breeding ground for type-E botulism spores.