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June 6, 2022

Research

Wisconsin ranks third worst in country for air pollution exposure disparities

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: A study released last month by UW-Madison researchers found the elimination of air pollution emissions across the country from energy-related activities could prevent more than 50,000 premature deaths a year.

In a press release about the analysis, Claire Gervais, a clinical associate professor with University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, called the results “shocking.”

“Doctors can only do so much,” Gervais said. “We must have better public policy to reduce industrial and transportation sources of fossil fuel burning.”

How to Start Over: Parents Are Not All Good and All Bad

Posted on
The Atlantic

In my survey 1,600 estranged parents that I did through the University of Wisconsin Survey Center, one of the things that we found was about 70 percent of the estranged parents my survey had a divorce in their past from the [other] biological parent.

Higher Education/System

Campus life

State news

Wisconsin faces a ‘tangled series’ of abortion laws dating back to 1849 as it heads into a possible post-Roe future

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Noted: University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Collaborative for Reproductive Equity (CORE) says Wisconsin already restricts many aspects of abortion, including banning government-funded insurance coverage, limiting availability through family planning programs, requiring mandatory counseling, ultrasounds and waiting periods for medication and surgical abortions and gestational limits, among other restrictions.

“None of these restrictions are evidence-based,” says CORE director Jenny Higgins.”There’s no medical reason for any of these restrictions. So just on that alone, these restrictions should be seen as onerous.”

Quoted: According to UW associate law professor Miriam Seifter, the judges found a right to privacy based on precedents dating back to the late 19th century. The opinion concludes that the “mother’s interests are superior to that of an unquickened embryo,” regardless of whether that embryo is “mere protoplasm,” in the view of the physician, or “a human being,” in the view of the Wisconsin statute.

Health

Athletics

Wisconsin donors launch ‘The Varsity Collective’ to pool NIL funds for athletes

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

The Varsity Collective, LLC launched Saturday with a website touting itself as the “premier destination for Wisconsin student-athletes to identify business opportunities” and “establishing the right outlet for Wisconsin Badger student-athletes to participate in NIL deals.” The collective will allow individuals and businesses to pool money to facilitate NIL deals for UW athletes.

Opinion

Opinion | GOP obstruction knows no bounds

Posted on
The Capital Times

Vos’ aim, along with that of UW-bashing state Sen. Steve Nass, was to set the stage for the Republican state Senate to fail to confirm those Evers-appointed Regents so that if Republicans can unseat Evers this fall, they can again gain control of the UW’s governing body by immediately replacing them. Mnookin’s appointment as chancellor was the choice of liberals, they imply, even though the five Scott Walker appointments on the board voted for her, too. In their view, “liberals” have no business picking qualified candidates.

UW Experts in the News

Kiel School Board closes Title IX investigation over wrong pronouns that prompted threats of violence

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: “When even a little bit of support is provided, or attention is provided, that there is such a backlash is a reminder to us of what trans and gender-diverse kids are facing every day in this country,” said LB Klein, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who specializes in Title IX and LGBTQ+ health. “Folks are acting out in violence about basic names, pronouns and terms, and that’s politicized — trans and gender-diverse kids are not being political, they’re being politicized.”

Wisconsin faces a ‘tangled series’ of abortion laws heading into a possible post-Roe future

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

According to UW associate law professor Miriam Seifter, the judges found a right to privacy based on precedents dating back to the late 19th century. But the impact of that decision is complicated, Seifter said. As a federal district court decision, it’s “not formally binding.” Instead, it serves as “persuasive authority” — and may seem less persuasive depending on the Supreme Court’s eventual ruling in Dobbs.

Key Roundup Ingredient Harms Wild Bee Colonies, New Study Shows

Posted on
Mother Jones

“Bumblebees are a vitally important group of pollinators [and] the new findings are especially important given the widespread global use of glyphosate,” said Prof James Crall, at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, who was not part of the study team. “[Current] environmental safety testing is insufficient for identifying often unpredictable effects on behavior, physiology, or reproduction that occur at sublethal exposures.”

Obituaries

Lloyd M. “Mike” Croissant

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Mike moved to Madison in the mid 1960s where he went on to work in the Animal Science Building at UW Madison. Mike had a great love for animals, especially birds, and penguins were his favorite.

UW-Madison Related

‘The School That Escaped the Nazis’ Review: Field Trip to Freedom

Posted on
Wall Street Journal

Born in Ulm, Germany, Essinger was the oldest of nine children. At the age of 20, she accepted an aunt’s invitation to join her in America and eventually enrolled at the University of Wisconsin, where she received her master’s degree in education. During her stay in America, she became so drawn to the humanitarian values of the Quakers that at the conclusion of World War I she joined a Quaker relief mission and returned to Germany as a liaison officer in charge of organizing hundreds of school kitchens to feed hungry children.