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March 10, 2023

Top Stories

Rebecca Blank, Who Changed How Poverty Is Measured, Dies at 67

The New York Times

At the Commerce Department, she attained the post of acting secretary briefly in 2011 and again from 2012-2013. She left to become chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she tangled with state Republicans who were trying to cut funding. One achievement was her creation of a scholarship program for Wisconsin students from poor families.

Research

Stalagmite from Cave of the Mounds shows evidence of sudden warming during last ice age

Wisconsin Public Radio

Researchers with the University of Wisconsin-Madison say a stalagmite from Cave of the Mounds in southern Wisconsin holds clues about the impact of abrupt, global climate changes during the last ice age. A team of UW-Madison scientists led by Cameron Batchelor removed a stalagmite about the length of a pinky finger and used chemical and physical analysis to detect telltale signs of sudden warming in the atmosphere.  A paper on their research was published this month in the journal Nature Geoscience.

“This work really puts Wisconsin on the map in terms of showing that this region of the world is not immune to these abrupt climate change events,” Batchelor told Wisconsin Public Radio.

Can new, sweeter beets defeat stigmas? Wisconsin breeders hope so

Wisconsin Public Radio

“It’s no longer your grandmother’s pickled beets,” said Adam D’Angelo, a UW-Madison graduate student and plant biologist. “You go to the grocery store, and you find beet juice, beet chips, beet this and beet that.” D’Angelo and UW-Madison horticulture professor Irwin Goldman recently appeared on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “The Larry Meiller Show” to discuss their work redesigning beets for modern tastes. Goldman said people often complain “about the fact that they taste like dirt.”

“You look at it, and you think of the huddled masses of our ancestors and their old-style foods,” Goldman said. “But there’s something about its earthiness, about its color and its beauty that I find has grown on me over the years I’ve worked on it.”

Campus life

State news

Varying temperatures mean different maple syrup seasons for northern, southern Wisconsin producers

Wisconsin Public Radio

Dane County resident Dominic Ledesma is one hobbyist who jumped on the early warm weather. Ledesma, who is chief diversity officer for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Extension, started tapping trees at his home and his family’s cabin in Jackson County last year after learning about the craft from his colleagues. He said sap was flowing in when he first tapped his trees in February, but collection slowed down in Jackson County as the weather turned cold again.

“The season really didn’t take off,” he said. “In talking with other colleagues in Extension, I certainly noticed some very significant differences between the southern part of the state and Jackson County.”

Ad war heats up as spending shatters records in Wisconsin Supreme Court race

Wisconsin Public Radio

“We’re not going to set the record, we’re gonna blow it out of the water,” said David Canon, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Canon said it was hard to say what WMC’s ad buy would mean for the race because there hasn’t been any public polling. “Although one thing that I think you can infer from that is that if they thought this was not a winnable race, they wouldn’t be putting more than $3 million into it,” Canon said.

Health

Dr. Sarah Nolan presents on approaches to mental health issues on campus

Badger Herald

Hosted by the Graduate School Office of Professional Development, Nolan presented “Collective Care: The Future of Well-Being for Our Campus Community.” With rising rates of mental health distress amid both graduate and undergraduate students, the presentation provided comprehensive care approaches to combat this issue.

Athletics

Business/Technology

Obituaries

UW-Madison Related

Fact or fiction: Al Capone’s Wisconsin stomping grounds

Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: “There are many local legends of Al Capone in Wisconsin, most of which I suspect were not true,” said Robert Ritholz, who has history degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and takes friends on informal tours of Chicago mafia sites, sometimes in his antique Rolls-Royce.

“There really is very little evidence that Capone spent a whole lot of time in Wisconsin, and when he was in the state, he seems to have behaved himself,” Ritholz said.