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December 30, 2025

Top Stories

For 1st time since 2014, UW-Madison research ranks in top five nationally

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has reclaimed its status among the top five institutions nationally for research spending – the highest ranking the state flagship has earned since 2014.

UW-Madison’s national research ranking has been a sore spot on campus for a decade after the university fell out of the top five for the first time in nearly 45 years. It dropped to No. 8 in 2018. UW-Madison officials at the time attributed the slide in rankings to state budget cuts and the loss of senior faculty members.

Research

Can fruit flies lead to new treatments for incurable childhood brain cancer?

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Using fruit flies, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are uncovering a new way to think about treating an aggressive and deadly form of childhood brain cancer.

By understanding how different proteins affect genetic mutations in the flies’ wings and eyes, the researchers say it could lead to new ways to silence genes behind the disease

Higher Education/System

After UW-Madison demotes DEI leader, Deloitte recommends changes

Posted on
The Cap Times

The consulting firm Deloitte is recommending changes at the University of Wisconsin-Madison following the demotion of the school’s diversity leader over financial concerns.

UW-Madison paid Deloitte $395,000 to evaluate its financial and budgetary controls between March and July 2025, according to Mark Pitsch, a spokesperson for the broader UW system, which signed the contract with the firm.

State news

Jerry Apps, chronicler of Wisconsin history and rural life, dies at 91

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

The “Old Timer” is gone.

Jerry Apps told the Wisconsin stories of barns, cheese, one-room school houses and circuses. He encouraged children to eat rutabagas, made regular appearances on Wisconsin Public Television and Radio and, when he was not writing from his home in Madison or teaching at UW-Madison, could be found on his farm property in Waushara County, where deer roamed and he grew potatoes in his garden.

Apps, an award-winning author and one of the most prolific storytellers in Wisconsin history, died Tuesday at Agrace Hospice in Fitchburg. He was 91.

Business/Technology

Nearly two dozen states will see minimum wage increases in 2026

Posted on
MarketPlace

“Low wage folks were saying ‘the minimum wage is going up, but my groceries are going up, my rents going up. Like I don’t necessarily have more left over, right?’ And so, raising the wage is a big political deal, but it’s only one tool we have to help people deal with the rising cost of living,” said Callie Freitag at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.