A committee studying the future of the state’s public university system recommended the Legislature explore spinning off the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the state’s public university system.
A 2023 UW-Madison survey of Wisconsin dairy farmers found that nearly 40% of farms have at least one foreign employee; other studies have estimated that immigrants account for up to 90% of the labor force in the dairy industry.
A new behavioral health program at Carroll University in Waukesha is successfully helping students treat anxiety and homesickness, according to the program’s founders.
President Donald Trump cast doubt on the integrity of votes cast and returned through drop boxes. It’s a stance that lacks proof, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Emeritus Howard Schweber.
“There is no evidence that anyone has ever tried to stuff drop boxes with fake ballots or multiple ballots or noncitizens’ ballots, and there’s no evidence that improper ballots that get into drop boxes end up being counted as votes,” Schweber said.
That election had an unusually high number of absentee ballots because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Milwaukee’s results came out after midnight in 2018 and 2022, too, said Barry Burden, who directs the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“So it’s not just tied to COVID — it’s really the process that’s used in our state and in Milwaukee causes that to happen,” he said. “There’s nothing illegal about it. There’s nothing unexpected about it. Actually, we all know this is going to happen, but nonetheless, there are people who are skeptical about it, and in some cases, will intentionally spread disinformation about it, but it’s just part of the process.”
Barry Burden, professor of American politics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said it is difficult to compare the numbers to the past two presidential elections because of the pandemic and the longer period allowed for early in-person voting in 2016. However, he said the interest in early in-person voting appears widespread and that there is “clearly a new desire among Wisconsin voters to cast their ballots in person early this year.”
“It is happening at higher rates in communities of different sizes and with different partisan tendencies,” he said in an email.
Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of the university’s Elections Research Center, called the spending “astounding.”
“I think the competitiveness of the state legislature this year is the main driver. This is the first time in 14 years that the Assembly has truly been up for grabs between the two parties,” he said. “And there’s no shortage of people who want to give money to try to flip it in their direction.”
Prior to attending a private screening last Friday of “A Road At Night’’ — a heartrending documentary on the Howard Moore family tragedy — Greg Gard took a precautionary step.
“I watched it on Thursday night just to prepare myself,’’ he said.
Over the weekend, a comedian at a Trump rally in Madison Square Garden made racist remarks about Puerto Ricans. Aurora Santiago Ortiz, a UW-Madison professor, discusses Puerto Ricans’ significance in Wisconsin and the U.S. to offer critical context for this political moment.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison encampment organizers created a “People’s Kitchen” open to everyone, supplied by donations from local restaurants, community members, organizations and supportive UW faculty.
