UW-Madison agronomy and environmental studies professor Chris Kucharik details how limited rain and hot weather are contributing to drought conditions across southern Wisconsin.
Southern Wisconsin’s Deepening Drought
PBS Wisconsin
June 15, 2021
Research
State news
Ron Johnson called Joe Biden ‘a liberal, progressive, socialist, Marxist.’ Can someone be all those things?
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Richard Avramenko, a UW-Madison political scientist and director for the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy, said Johnson would have been more accurate to describe Biden as a “left liberal.”
“Liberals, socialists and Marxists are, by definition, progressives,” Avramenko said in an email. “But Biden is not a ‘classical liberal’ (i.e., libertarian) — he’s a ‘left liberal.’ “
Avramenko added, “If he said, ‘Don’t ask me to get inside the mind of a liberal, progressive, socialist, Marxist — whatever you want to label him — like President Biden’ it would have been less questionable.”
Homeownership Gap For People Of Color In Wisconsin Is Wide; Communities, Nonprofits Try To Close It
Wisconsin Public Radio
Quoted: Kurt Paulsen, a University of Wisconsin-Madison expert on housing affordability, said little headway has been made in increasing Black homeownership, which stands at 44 percent nationally compared to 74 percent for whites.
“Nationwide, the Black homeownership rate is still not where it needs to be, and in some ways, has not significantly improved since the 1968 Fair Housing Act,” Paulsen said.
Kacie Lucchini Butcher is a public history project director at UW-Madison who researches housing inequity. Butcher emphasized the alarming implications of low Black homeownership rates, including the ability of such families to build intergenerational wealth.
“If homeownership continues in the way that it does, and if access to housing continues in the way it does, we are just going to see a continued exacerbation of wealth inequality and of poverty. One of the best ways to fix this is to get everybody housing.”
UW-Madison professor Kris Olds, an expert on urban planning and gentrification, said housing affordability remains a huge problem across Wisconsin, especially in Madison.
“One of the problems in Madison is so much of it (housing) is allocated to single family zoning districts, and it’s quite expensive to access that,” he said.
Paige Glotzer, assistant professor of history at UW-Madison and author of a book on the history of housing discrimination, said bias still permeates the housing market in sometimes inconspicuous ways.
Crime and safety
Badgers hall of famer Tom Burke arrested on child sexual assault charges
NBC-15
The 44-year-old was arraigned on Monday in State District Court in Duluth after a warrant was issued for his arrest on June 8. Burke, who lives in Rice Lake, Wisconsin waived extradition to Minnesota after being arrested in Douglas County.
Report: Badgers Hall-of-Fame inductee charged with sexually assaulting child
WISC-TV 3
First reported by Duluth News Tribune, 44-year-old Tom Burke was arraigned Monday on one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Agriculture
‘Everybody pray for rain’: Southeastern Wisconsin crops and gardens could be damaged if drought and dryness continue
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Joe Lauer, an agronomist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, acknowledged that farmers are anxious about the dry weather, but said that he’s not concerned … yet.
“One of the characteristics of a record-breaking year (for corn) is a mini-drought during the months of May and June,” he said. Lauer explained that a dry spring allows farmers to plant without fighting wet fields.
If you are worried about your garden or lawn, horticulture educator Vijai Pandian from the UW-Madison Extension has some tips to mitigate drought stress on landscape and garden plants.
Health
UW doctor becomes first in country to complete OB-GYN residency focused on rural healthcare
WKOW-TV 27
A UW doctor will soon have a special place in American medical history. Dr. Laura McDowell will become the first person in the nation to complete a residency training program as an OB-GYN specifically focusing on caring for women in rural places.
Wis. doctor becomes 1st in nation to complete rural OB-GYN residency program
NBC-15
The residency program was started in September of 2016 to combat the nationwide shortage of obstetricians and gynecologists, according to UW Health and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
UW Experts in the News
Women appointed to top positions in Uganda, but feelings are mixed
The Conversation
President Yoweri Museveni, who has led Uganda since 1986, has appointed a woman, Jessica Alupo, as vice-president and another woman, Robinah Nabbanja, as prime minister. He has also increased the percentage of women in the cabinet from 27% to 43%. This is the second time Museveni has appointed a woman as vice-president. Specioza Wandira Kazibwe served as vice-president from 1994 to 2003.
-Aili Mari Tripp
It’s safe to leave your bunker: Blame that Chinese nuclear plant alarm on fuel rod faults
The Register
“For pressurized water reactors (PWRs), which are the most common reactor type in the US as well as the type of reactor at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant, the biggest causes of fuel leaks are debris and grid-to-rod fretting, which occurs when a nuclear fuel rod rubs against the metal spacer grids that hold the rods in place,” Katie Mummah, a nuclear engineering PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told The Register.
‘Crunched on both sides’: Older millennials balance student loans, retirement saving and kids’ college funds
CNBC
While it’s not unusual at this stage of life to weigh your family’s financial priorities, older millennials are being “crunched from both sides,” says Cliff Robb, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who studies financial decision-making.