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July 18, 2022

Research

Many Great Lakes residents are unaware they should limit some fish consumption to avoid harmful contaminants

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: According to the study, which was conducted by researchers with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the state Department of Health Services, 92% of the 4,452 adults surveyed said they had eaten fish within the last 12 months, with most of those surveyed reported eating fish they purchased. But because the fish were bought, instead of caught, those consuming the fish were likely to be less aware of the advisories.

Henry Anderson, one of the researchers involved in the study and a professor at the Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said to counter the lack of information, states in the Great Lakes region should focus on putting advisory information in areas they know people will be looking.

“You don’t go to the grocery store and go to the fish counter there and point to the salmon or sea bass or walleye and ask what the fish consumption advisory is,” Anderson said.

Higher Education/System

In Fight Against Ableism, Disabled Students Build Centers of Their Own

The Chronicle of Higher Education

When Katie Sullivan arrived as a first-year student at the University of Wisconsin at Madison last fall, she encountered one barrier after another to her college education: classrooms with limited accessibility for students in wheelchairs; an elevator that was broken for months, forcing some disabled students to take a freight elevator; buses with only two spots for students in wheelchairs; a professor who she said refused to accommodate her academic needs.

Medical residents struggle to receive training after Planned Parenthood halts abortion services in Wisconsin

Kenosha News

Noted: Once regulations are changed, UW must provide its students with a method to learn abortion procedures out of state to remain an accredited by NACGME.

“While the OB-GYN residents previously had access to clinical training in abortion, that access is now significantly limited,” UW Health said in a statement. “It remains too soon to predict what options we will pursue, but we are focused on training OB-GYN physicians to provide the most comprehensive care possible.”

Big Ten student debt, tuition, cost of living comparison

The Minnesota Daily

Noted: The University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) is not raising tuition for resident undergraduate students this upcoming school year, but it will raise tuition for nonresident undergraduate students 2%.

In-state tuition and fees at UW-Madison is $10,766, while out-of-state tuition and fees was $38,654 and will now be $39,354, according to the UW-Madison website.

UW-Madison’s average student debt for 2021-22 was $26,513, according to the University’s 2021-22 budget report. John Lucas, UW-Madison media spokesperson, said despite this number, almost 60% of students did not take out any loans.

“Only 40.3% of undergraduate students borrowed while attending UW-Madison, continuing a six-year trend where well over half of graduating seniors did not borrow loans while earning their degree at UW-Madison,” Lucas said.

Campus life

’30 by 30′ calls for 30% of police recruits to be women by the year 2030

NPR

Noted: This is the second year on the job for Patrol Officer Nicole Schmitgen. She patrols Madison’s Central District around the state capitol and part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. She says while people think policing is about guns and drugs and driving fast, it’s more about communication and helping people.

University of Wisconsin law professor Keith Findley is a member of Madison’s Police Civilian Oversight Board. He says there’s a plethora of research that shows women on the force have a positive impact on police departments and communities. He says they are often better at communicating and de-escalating tense situations.

“They are sued less frequently than their male counterparts,” Findley says. “They make fewer discretionary arrests, especially of non-white residents. They use force less frequently and excessive force less frequently than their male counterparts.”

Health

How Close to Death Does a Person Have to Be to Qualify for an Abortion Ban Exemption?

Mother Jones

Quoted: The ambiguity in Wisconsin’s state abortion ban, for instance, has left doctors like Abigail Cutler, an OBGYN in Wisconsin, in an impossible bind. Wisconsin’s law, written in 1849, allows abortions to “save the life of the mother.” “Where’s that line?” Cutler asks. “How close does a patient need to be? On the brink of death for me to step in and intervene? What if I wait too long and she dies in front of me? Or what if in the eyes of some prosecutor who’s not a doctor, not at the bedside, not staring at the patient bleeding or infected in front of them—to them, what if I intervene too soon, and I’m charged and risk going to prison?”

Wisconsin health providers navigate a new world without abortion rights

Wisconsin Examiner

Quoted: Prof. Tiffany Green, a health economist at the University of Wisconsin who studies health equity, particularly in the area of obstetric and reproductive care, calls expanding access to reproductive health services “crucial and important in helping people to exercise their right to reproductive autonomy.”

At the same time, “it is not a substitute for abortion care access,” she said, adding that she believes that Madison and Dane County officials understand that as well.

Green said it will be important as agencies expand their services that they do so in ways that reach out to the communities they serve and take time to understand and respect their needs and preferences. That will include being careful about scheduling times when they provide their services. It will also include being culturally responsive and respectful to people of color and to other marginalized groups, including transgender and gender-non-conforming people, she added.

It will also include heeding and respecting the contraceptive choices that their patients want to make, rather than “pushing a kind of contraception on them they do not want,” Green said. “There is a history of doing that with Black people.”

UW Health reminds people to maintain skin safety

CBS 58

It’s hard to resist the urge to spend as much time outside as possible in the summer.

But, experts at UW Health in Madison say it is important to maintain skin safety while enjoying all that sunshine.

“Over the years, we’ve started to bring awareness about skin cancer in general and interestingly enough we are still seeing an increase in incidents of melanoma across the United States,” said Medical Oncologist at UW Health Dr. Vincent Ma.

Athletics

Why Wisconsin’s NIL collective has been essentially silent since launch

Wisconsin State Journal

The group designed to pool money and facilitate name, image and likeness deals for University of Wisconsin athletes was announced June 4, but hasn’t done much of anything publicly since that day. The collective’s website invited fans to sign up for a newsletter and to fill in an online form signaling their interest in giving money to the group. But the State Journal has confirmed fans’ complaints that no communication has been received in the five weeks since launch.

UW Experts in the News

Biden and Democrats set to sharpen ‘ultra-MAGA’ attacks as third Trump bid looms

Washington Examiner

Quoted: For University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Elections Research Center director, Barry Burden, Democrats are in trouble if 2022 remains a referendum on Joe Biden.

“If Trump enters the race, then 2022 could transform into a contest between Joe Biden and Trump, which could help soften the blow for Democrats,” Burden said. “Trump is also likely to derail attention, campaign dollars, and the agenda from his fellow Republicans.”

“At the same time, Trump will energize some supporters who would otherwise sit out the midterm election, particularly those with lower levels of education tend to vote less in nonpresidential election years,” Burden countered.

Democrats, Republicans look to competitive suburbs for thin margins they need to win

Wisconsin State Journal

Quoted: “Abortion has a kind of special place in American politics,” said UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden. “It’s an issue that does not go away and the Supreme Court has essentially guaranteed that it will be a front-page matter this year — and I think that does play for suburban voters in a particular way.

UW-Madison Related