Wisconsin’s workers saw record-matching wage growth last year and sustained low unemployment through 2024, according to an annual labor report from a think tank at UW-Madison, though many inequalities within the labor market remain.
September 3, 2024
Research
Badger Challenge funds local cancer research
The Badger Challenge is coming up in September. The event raises money for cancer research at the UW Carbone Cancer Center.
Higher Education/System
Head of UW-Milwaukee’s faculty senate: Layoffs of tenured faculty were financially necessary
The leader of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s faculty senate told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that the chancellor’s plan to lay off 32 tenured faculty members was financially necessary.
As counties grapple with shuttered UW campuses, Fond du Lac makes plans for future
Caution tape surrounded a portion of concrete sidewalk leading into the main entrance of what used to be the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh’s two-year campus in Fond du Lac, which closed at the end of June.
Liberal education is the best vocational training in Wisconsin — Donna Silver
Letter to the editor: Roughly 20 years ago I was very active in a Universities of Wisconsin System committee that advocated for liberal education at all System campuses. The initiative was wildly successful, but its success was short-lived.
UW-Whitewater gymnast killed Friday remembered as ‘the light in everyone’s dark days’
Astandout gymnast going into her senior year at UW-Whitewater who was shot to death Friday is remembered by friends, mentors and fellow gymnasts as a sunny, bubbly presence who took her athletic passion to heart.
Campus life
Wisconsin football’s beloved tradition still a hit with Badgers fans
Paul Soltwedel and Shawn Theesfeld remember well the beginning of the University of Wisconsin’s “Jump Around” tradition.
Both were members of Wisconsin Marching Band when the tradition began during the Badgers’ 1998 football game against Purdue.
UW updates expressive activity policies
UW will also continue to hold Badger Dialogues, an educational series of discussions that gives students of different backgrounds the opportunity to connect, according to UW News. Further, UW has created a Free Expression Canvas Module — required for incoming freshmen and transfer students — that provides materials to help students further understand their First Amendment rights, according to UW News.
State news
Laura Dresser on the state of working in Wisconsin in 2024
UW-Madison labor economist and High Road Strategy Center associate director Laura Dresser discusses the group’s State of Working Wisconsin 2024 report on job numbers, wage growth and gender pay gaps.
Crime and safety
A look inside the first night of beer sales for Wisconsin football at Camp Randall
The line at a drinks-only concession stand outside Section I at Camp Randall Stadium in the second quarter Friday night stretched nearly to the other side of the concourse.
27 ejected, 10 arrested during Badgers season opener Friday night, UW police say
UW-Madison police reported that 27 people were ejected from Camp Randall Stadium and 10 people were arrested during Friday night’s season-opening football game between the Badgers and Western Michigan.
UWPD arrests and citations following the Badger’s football home opener
Two of the citations issued at the Friday night game were because of students attempting to use fake IDs to purchase alcohol, UWPD said.
More than two dozen ejected from first UW home football game of season
According to statistics released by the UW-Madison Police Department Saturday, 27 people were ejected from the stadium during Friday’s game against Western Michigan. The total includes 11 who were identified as UW students.
UWPD investigating reported sexual assault at Camp Randall
UWPD is searching for any suspects and asks anyone with information to call 608-264-2677.
Sexual assualt reported at UW football game
Crime warning emailed to students, UWPD investigating incident.
Sexual assault reported at UW-Madison football game
The victim reported being groped by five or six different people during the football game at Camp Randall, according to a university crime alert sent Friday.
Extension
Best & Worst Places to Retire (2024)
“Location during retirement is often based on an individual’s situation and desires. Many of the factors that should be considered will be specific to the person, couple, or family,” says Jonathon Ferguson a financial capability specialist with the Financial Education Division of Extension at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Yet, all retirees or soon to be retirees can benefit from understanding the taxation implications of their retirement locations. State rules regarding taxation of pension benefits, social security benefits, long term capital gains, etc. can vary a lot.”
Community
Madison considers allowing taller buildings to expand student housing
At its Aug. 26 meeting, the commission also reviewed a new study on student housing in Madison, which surveyed 46,000 undergraduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and found many students struggle to afford rents.
New Madison housing group takes up study recommendations addressing high student rents
UW-Madison has among the highest rents of any Big Ten university, according to a study released on Aug. 26. The study’s release is welcomed by a group of developers, alders and university officials recently formed to tackle Madison’s student housing problem.
Rents near UW-Madison are among the steepest in Big 10 conference, study finds
Among the 18 schools in the Big 10 conference, only Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois ($1,482) and New Jersey’s Rutgers University ($1,353) had higher average per-bedroom rents for off-campus housing, according to the study.
Athletics
This Wisconsin grad is showing his Badgers pride at the racetrack and representing his sport at the game
Oconomowoc native and proud University of Wisconsin grad Yuven Sundaramoorthy is representing his alma mater this weekend at the racetrack and his profession at the stadium.
Sundaramoorthy, who graduated from UW in December 2023 with a degree in computer science, is a rookie driver in the IndyNXT steppingstone series running along with the NTT IndyCar Series at the Milwaukee Mile.
Packers WR Christian Watson is injury-free and ‘right where he wants to be’ entering Year 3
So, this offseason Watson went to the University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine and Public Health to find them. After eight hours of testing, it was learned that Watson was experiencing asymmetry in the level of strength in each of his legs. In other words, right hamstring was weaker than his left.
UW Experts in the News
America Must Free Itself from the Tyranny of the Penny
Sarah Halpern-Meekin, a sociologist at the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told me that “the majority” of people with low incomes make cashless transactions — on apps like Cash App, for instance.
Notes App Lists You Should Keep In Your Phone To Be Happier
“We have little insights and micro-epiphanies all the time, but we usually forget about them a few moments later,” Dahl, who is also a research scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Healthy Minds, told HuffPost. “Taking a few moments to step back and make note of the ways we are learning and growing is a great way to build some muscle memory around self-discovery.”
Obituaries
Dr. Gary Philip Williams
He moved to Madison, Wisconsin and did a two-year pediatric residency at the University of Wisconsin. Gary then began working at the General Pediatric and Adolescent Clinic of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and was Associate Professor of Pediatrics with expertise in pediatric dermatology.