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Wisconsin Senate approves bills restricting transgender athletes, giving Legislature control over federal funds

Wisconsin State Journal

The Senate also for the first time passed Assembly Joint Resolution 109, a constitutional amendment that’s Wisconsin Republicans’ latest step in their fight against government-run diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Republican lawmakers last year struck a deal requiring the Universities of Wisconsin to restructure its DEI programs, and GOP legislative leaders have said they plan to scrutinize similar programs in state agencies.

Wisconsin Republicans fire 8 more Evers appointees, including regents and judicial watchdogs

The Associated Press

Republicans who control the state Senate fired eight more of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ appointees Tuesday, including two Universities of Wisconsin regents who voted against a deal that limited campus diversity and four judicial watchdogs who wouldn’t commit to punishing liberal state Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz.

Senate rejects 8 of Gov. Tony Evers’ appointees, including 2 from the UW Board of Regents

Wisconsin State Journal

The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate on Tuesday fired eight of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ appointees, including two on the UW Board of Regents whose rejection came after they voted last year against a divisive deal that gives the UW system additional state funding in exchange for scaling back diversity efforts.

Health food packaging buzzwords are confusing. This guide can help.

National Geographic

Kathleen Glass, associate director of the Food Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, describes purchasing organic as “a lifestyle choice,” adding that there’s no evidence that organic is more microbiologically safe than conventionally grown foods.  Compared with 50 years ago, she says, the amount of pesticides and herbicides allowed on food are well below levels that could cause long-term health impacts.

UW researchers find economic disparities for families of children with developmental disabilities during COVID-19

Badger Herald

In a study published last month titled “Economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on families of children with autism” researchers analyzed how families of children with developmental disabilities, including autism, faced significant economic disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic, using data from the Study to Explore Early Development, a case control study designed for young children with developmental disorders.

UW professor studies ‘sin tax’ on unhealthy products

Badger Herald

University of Wisconsin assistant professor in economics Martin O’Connell is investigating the theoretical effects of a sin tax, which are placed on products that have external costs — such as sugars, nicotine and alcohol. The idea behind implementing these taxes is decrease consumer consumption of unhealthy products, like soda, according to O’Connell’s research.

3 Wisconsin volleyball players training with Olympic gold medalists

Wisconsin State Journal

National Player of the Year Sarah Franklin, middle blocker Carter Booth and opposite Devyn Robinson are among the 17 collegiate players training in Anaheim, California, through Friday with a scrimmage scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Saturday. They also will get to train with a pair of Olympic gold medalists in outside Jordan Larson, who played at Nebraska, and setter Jordyn Poulter, who played at Illinois.

Wisconsin Senate to vote on regulating AI, giving Legislature control over federal funds

Wisconsin State Journal

The Senate appears likely to fire John Miller and Dana Wachs, two of the six regents to vote late last year against a sprawling, controversial deal struck by UW system President Jay Rothman and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, that gives about $800 million in funding to the UW system in exchange for changes to the public university system’s diversity programming.

UW-Milwaukee at Waukesha is closing in 2025, the fifth branch campus to close in 18 months

Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Milwaukee announced the closure Monday, saying it would instead shift to a university center model at Waukesha County Technical College, where UW-Milwaukee will eventually have a physical space on the WCTC campus. UW-Milwaukee will also stop offering associate degrees and end its College of General Studies, the academic department that oversaw both the Waukesha and Washington County campuses.

Low-income Californians face steep water costs; rate help ahead?

Los Angeles Times

Other states average significantly less. Manny Teodoro, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has tracked the water rates of a sample of about 400 utilities across the country and found that the average monthly bill last year for a typical four-person, single-family household was $44.77. That represented a 25% increase from 2017.

Alabama court ruling worries Wisconsin IVF patients, providers

The Capital Times

A spokesperson for UW Health — which operates multiple hospitals in the Madison area — told the Cap Times that the health group has heard concern from patients who aren’t sure how the ruling in Alabama may affect access to fertility treatment elsewhere in the country.

“According to the medical director of UW Health Generations, patients have been inquiring about any risk to having their embryos stored and potentially losing their ability to choose what to do with them,” Sara Benzel, a spokesperson for UW Health, wrote in an email to the Cap Times.

Madison City Council adjusts late-night vending on State Street to address safety concerns

Wisconsin State Journal

Late-night vending will continue at the bottom of Madison’s State Street, the City Council decided Tuesday, but on slightly different days and for slightly fewer hours.

The number of food trucks allowed in the 700 and 800 blocks of State — which are closest UW-Madison and open to pedestrians only — also will increase from three to five.

All in a day: A mix of research victories — large and small

Wisconsin State Journal

The titles of the 150 or so posters on display in the Capitol’s Rotunda sounded just as impressive as what might be found at a symposium of doctoral students — such as “The cost of clean water: An efficiency analysis of Wisconsin’s water utilities” or “Investigating alternatives to antibiotics using phage.”

Only 2% of Madison lawyers are Black. One group wants to change that.

The Capital Times

At the University of Wisconsin School of Law in 2023, one of just two law schools in the state, Black students accounted for 34 of the 698 law students, or 4.9%, according to data compiled by the university. But of the 228 students who graduated with juris doctorate degrees in 2023, just seven (3.1%) were Black. It’s not clear how those numbers will change following the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that struck down affirmative action in college admissions.

Universities of Wisconsin lays out direct admissions structure

Channel 3000

The Universities of Wisconsin announced the Wisconsin Guarantee, which admits the state’s top performing students to state’s 13 public universities. Under the Guarantee, students who rank in the top five percent of their class at the end of 11th grade will be eligible to be accepted into UW-Madison. While students who rank in the top 10 percent are eligible to be accepted into the state’s other public universities.

Think your ‘beer buddy candidate’ will represent your interests? Think again. 

The Hill

After the minimum qualification benchmark is met, we can move down the list to consider similarities in everything from policy to favorite baseball teams. As far as shared emotion, the fact that a candidate’s level of anger appears to match one’s own reveals little about whether they are fit for office, possess sound judgment or will improve our lives or the state of the country. All it means is that two people are angry.

-Paula Niedenthal is a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she directs the Niedenthal Emotions Lab. She is the past president of the Society for Affective Science and is the author of the textbook “Psychology of Emotion” (2nd edition).

House passes immigration bill named for murdered Georgia student

The Washington Post

“Many politicians, law enforcement personnel and ordinary citizens are nonetheless incensed because this person should not have been in the country and thus capable of committing a crime,” Michael Light, a sociologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who has published several studies showing undocumented immigrants are not more crime-prone than native-born Americans, told The Washington Post last month. “This view that the person’s undocumented status is an aggravating factor is also likely a reason why these crimes generate such strong responses.”

The Era of the Much Older Sibling

The Atlantic

This new norm of spaced-out siblings seems to be a by-product of the changing American family. The reasons are difficult to parse, but “we know that partner switching explains some of it,” Christine Schwartz, a sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who co-authored that 2020 study on the phenomenon, told me.

Three questions for UVA’s Kemi Jona

Inside Higher Ed

I began my academic journey as an undergraduate at University of Wisconsin at Madison—another great public university—and I was excited to be able to contribute to advancing UVA’s role in serving citizens of the commonwealth and our country.