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December 2, 2022

Research

Extreme rains and the ‘monster’ below: Study finds lag time between extreme storms and algal blooms

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: In Madison, a four-inch rainfall in one day that used to occur once every five years now happens every other year, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That got University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Steve Carpenter wondering whether extreme storms would lead to an increase in toxic blooms.

“I had thought maybe get a rainstorm, get a bloom, but it’s not that simple,” Carpenter said, who is lead author of the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Carpenter, emeritus director of UW-Madison’s Center for Limnology, worked with other researchers to examine data collected from Lake Mendota. He said around three-quarters of all phosphorus pollution stems from extreme storms. While those storms play a large role, they don’t necessarily trigger a bloom right away.

Higher Education/System

UW-Platteville Richland campus cancellation of in-person classes ‘should not be read as a sign’ for other Wisconsin branch campuses

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

The cancellation of in-person classes at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s Richland campus next year” should not be read” as a cautionary tale for other branch campuses.

That’s according to UW System President Jay Rothman, who appeared on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “The Morning Show” Thursday. He said the decision was “based on facts” specific to that location.

‘Some come every single day’: Wisconsin college students’ use of campus food pantries soars this year

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A ribbon-cutting event for a former storage room marked a milestone for Milwaukee Area Technical College.

MATC converted the small space at its Walker’s Square campus into a food pantry that opened Tuesday. It’s the last of MATC’s five campuses to open a food pantry for students, all of which launched within the last year.

The pantries couldn’t have come at a better time.

Soaring food costs have college students feeling the pinch. The need is especially great at Walker’s Square, which is on the near south side in the heart of Milwaukee’s Latino community. Many students at the campus are enrolled in the GED or English as a Second Language programs while working minimum wage jobs that don’t provide enough to cover rent, gas, groceries and other expenses.

Campus life

Artist Quanda Johnson explores Black beingness in new exhibit

Posted on
The Capital Times

The dehumanization of these Black lives drew Quanda Johnson, a doctoral candidate in interdisciplinary theatre studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to think about the psychological lynching of being subjected to trauma for centuries as a result of American slavery and systemic racism.

Johnson’s artwork will be in the UW-Madison School of Education Art Gallery through February 2023. 

State news

Wisconsin’s next partisan battle will be over the balance of power on its Supreme Court

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: It is a highly consequential election because it’s going to determine the balance of the court until at least 2025,” said Robert Yablon, an associate professor at the University Wisconsin-Madison Law School.

Although Wisconsin’s Supreme Court elections are officially non-partisan, UW-Madison political science professor Howard Schweber notes highly partisan issues are at stake. That includes abortion rights, gerrymandering and the way elections are run.

“Even 15 years ago, Wisconsin judicial elections really were kind of genteel affairs,” Schweber said. “And then they got very, very viciously partisan, primarily because Republicans and conservative groups made a very concentrated effort to capture the court, through what in Wisconsin, at least, were really unprecedented styles of campaign ads, highly partisan appeals.”

Schweber said that strategy proved largely successful, although Democrats were able to narrow the court’s conservative majority in 2020 when Democrat-backed Jill Karofsky beat former Justice Kelly. Kelly, who’s running this again this year, was first appointed to the state highest court by Republican Gov. Scott Walker to fill a vacancy.

Health

UW Health expert says testing most kids for RSV may be unnecessary

Posted on
CBS-58

Dr. Gregory DeMuri, who specializes in Pediatric Infectious Disease at UW Health Kids compared it to having a bad cold, “I think the biggest thing is most kids have already had RSV and they haven’t been tested. We didn’t do this before COVID, for most children, and that’s because most kids get over it on their own and it’s mainly going to be just a bad cold.”

Athletics

Business/Technology

UW-Madison Related

Smith: DNR social science work finds majority support for wolves in Wisconsin

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: Even Aldo Leopold, famed author and former University of Wisconsin professor who is considered by many as the “father” of the field of wildlife management and advocated for increased deer harvests to help prevent deer starving in over-browsed Wisconsin forests, was unable to win that battle.

“The real problem is not how we handle the deer in their emergency,” Leopold told Gordon MacQuarrie, former outdoors editor for the Milwaukee Journal. “The real problem is one of human management.”