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January 20, 2026

Top Stories

How Trump made life difficult for international students and Wisconsin

Posted on
The New York Times

One of the first signs of trouble came last spring, when the Trump administration abruptly moved to deport scores of international students, including a handful at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

University officials were alarmed, well aware that around 8,000 students, 15 percent of its enrollment, were from abroad. And they worried that the looming deportations might spook prospective international students, said Frances Vavrus, the dean of the international division at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Research

What do police do at MPS? What records show about new program

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Research by Ben Fisher, a University of Wisconsin-Madison associate professor who reviewed 32 evaluations of school-based police programs, found some students say they feel safer with police in their buildings while others say a police presence makes students more attuned to a sense of danger and some see police as a source of violence.

Higher Education/System

A new Humanities building and other developments UW-Madison has in the works this year

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

The doors of a new academic building will open, three-year-old scaffolding is expected to come down, and designs are being drawn up to revamp a historic site on UW-Madison’s campus in 2026.

Upcoming plans for development projects at UW-Madison signal another busy year of changes happening on campus. In 2025, UW-Madison notably opened a new building that houses its new College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence: Morgridge Hall, a privately funded $267 million, 343,000-square-foot facility.

Crime and safety

Dane County police agencies collect thousands from property seizures

Posted on
The Cap Times

Dane County’s drug task force seized a sedan as part of a narcotics investigation, while Madison police seized $7,700 in cash in another case.

The task force is a collaboration of the Madison Police Department, the Dane County Sheriff’s Office and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department with a focus on dismantling and disrupting drug trafficking.

Community

Agrace to launch ‘dementia village’ aimed at providing ‘kinder’ approach to memory care

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

The village will be named for Madison philanthropists Ellen and Peter Johnson, who helped Agrace expand two decades ago and created an endowed professorship at UW-Madison dedicated to improving palliative care. They’re the lead donors with a $7 million donation, as they view the dementia village as a “kinder approach” to memory care.

Health

Once broken, how can trust be restored in a relationship?

Posted on
Psychology Today

“Oh, no,” lamented Sarah, “Is it going to happen again?” She was responding to the possibility that her partner, Joshua, would lose his temper once again, which was a frequent occurrence. She did not trust him, and the result was anxiety, leading to sleeplessness, worry, and irritability. Research reviewed by Tomlinson and Mayer (2009) supports the view that mistrust can be accompanied by anger and fear. Joshua’s temper and Sarah’s response of anxiety were affecting their relationship.

Written by Robert Enright, Ph.D., a professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

How China’s birth rate compares with rest of world as it hits 76-year low

Posted on
Newsweek

Yi Fuxian, an obstetrician at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an expert on Chinese demographics, said during an interview with the Financial Times: “The decline in China’s fertility is inevitable, like a giant rock rolling down a hill. China’s one-child policy accelerated the process. It will be very difficult to move it back up hill.”