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Author: jnweaver

Wisconsin’s system for paying for local government is broken. The state Legislature needs to find ways to fix that.

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

What is the fairest and most efficient way for citizens to pay for police and fire protection, safe streets, libraries, parks and other public services cities provide?

This is the real question University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Manuel Teodoro indirectly raised in his recent commentary urging elimination of the long-standing practice of municipal water utilities making payments in lieu of taxes — what are known as PILOTs — to municipalities. But Teodoro is mistaken in calling for an end to PILOTs in the absence of making any other changes to how municipalities are funded.

Bail for Waukesha parade suspect Darrell Brooks was lower than average, analysis shows

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: Michele LaVigne, a former director of the Public Defender Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the preventive detention statute “is oddly not used in this state” but said Brooks’ earlier cases would not have met the threshold for using it.

“None of this guy’s cases would have qualified for preventive detention so bail had to be set,” she said.

Wisconsin health officials waiting for more data on omicron coronavirus variant

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: Dr. Nasia Safdar, the director of infection control at UW Hospitals and Clinics, said she and other health care experts are wondering whether the omicron variant will be more contagious, how serious infections will be and how effective current vaccines will be in combating it. Safdar said it’s important to remember that even if existing vaccines are less effective on this new strain, they are still likely to offer some protection.

“Every decision that we make in this pandemic is going to be a trade-off between the risk and the benefit, and it’s what can one do to mitigate that risk,” said Safdar. “And of course, we don’t know how this is going to unfold fully yet. But it is a reminder that let’s do everything that we can on our end to mitigate things.”

 

Once a Warrior, Then a Nonprofit Leader, Now an Entrepreneur

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New York Times

Jake Wood was a few months out of the Marine Corps in 2010 when a catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti. On the spur of the moment, he and a few other veterans headed to Port-au-Prince and started looking for ways to help. With no organization and no supply chain, it was a haphazard response. “The only thing we got right is that none of us died,” he said.

Noted: Jake Wood is a Wisconsin School of Business alumnus and played football for the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Madison West students tackle climate change with simulator activity

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Capital Times

In just over a half-hour, a class of West High School students made a big dent in the warming climate.

“We all today found a menu of options that when we add them together we can reach our climate goals,” Wisconsin Energy Institute outreach and events coordinator Allison Bender told them.

Bender, through a partnership with the UW-Madison La Follette School of Public Affairs, had presented the students with the En-Roads Climate Change Solutions Simulator. About 100 Advanced Placement Environmental Science students at the high school saw the presentation and got to consider their own climate solutions throughout the day Tuesday in an event funded through the Robert F. and Jean E. Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies.

Despite drought in southern Wisconsin, crop researchers say average yields are expected this year

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: Joe Lauer, agronomy professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, reviewed historical weather data at the UW Research Station in Arlington to see how dry 2021 was. The statistics date back to 1963.

He found this summer was similar to some of the driest years the station had on record, including 1988 when the station saw some of its worst corn yields.

“In the southern two tiers of counties in Wisconsin, we had some pretty dramatic drought conditions that farmers were experiencing. And it really didn’t let up until probably the end of September,” Lauer said. “We were dry most of that time. But having said that, we seemed to get a little bit of rain … that allowed the crop to keep going.”

The COVID Cancer Effect

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Nature

To assess how missed screenings might affect cancer mortality rates, the National Cancer Institute turned to Oguzhan Alagoz, a professor of industrial and systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison whose research involves modeling both cancer epidemiology and infectious diseases.

“The question is really interesting because it’s a combination of the two areas I work in,” Alagoz says. His first estimates, unveiled in a widely read editorial published in Science in June by NCI director Normal E. Sharpless, showed that missed screenings might result in 5,000 additional deaths in breast cancer alone over the next decade. A separate group, looking at missed colon cancer screenings, predicted another 5,000 deaths.

When Alagoz produced his breast cancer estimates early in the pandemic, he thought the numbers might not be truly representative. So he worked to refine them, using better data with three powerful cancer models that incorporated numerous factors related to breast cancer—such as delayed screening, treatment effectiveness and long-term survival rates—and the nuanced ways they intersect to affect mortality over time. “Everyone can tell you what will happen immediately, but it’s hard to say what’s going to happen in five or 10 years,” Alagoz says. “If there’s a huge increase in smoking, you’re not going to see more lung cancer right away. You’re going to see that 10 or 15 years down the road.”

 

In his taxpayer-paid election review, Michael Gableman calls meetings with conspiracy theorists and a convicted fraudster

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: Barry Burden, the director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the people Gableman is meeting with “are all election skeptics who have bought into the big lie.”

Gableman, who last year without evidence claimed the election was stolen, has insisted he has no preconceived ideas about his review and hopes to find that the election was run properly.

“It’s hard to see how he could ever reach such a conclusion given this set of oddballs who he’s working with,” Burden said.

As Turkeys Take Over Campus, Some Colleges Are More Thankful Than Others

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New York Times

Noted: “College campuses are just ideal habitat,” said David Drake, a professor and extension wildlife specialist at the University of Wisconsin, where a sizable flock likes to hang out near apartments for graduate students. “You’ve got that intermixing of forested patches with open grassy areas and things like that. Nobody’s hunting.”

Coexisting with collegiate poultry is not always easy. At California Polytechnic State University, the campus Police Department is occasionally called about turkeys chasing people. At the University of Michigan, a state wildlife officer killed a well-known turkey two years ago that was said to be harassing bikers and joggers. And at Wisconsin, Dr. Drake said at least a couple of aggressive toms were culled after repeatedly frightening students.

Even for fans of the turkeys, getting chased can be fearsome.

“There’s an element of humor, because, oh, it’s a turkey,” said Audrey Evans, a doctoral student at Wisconsin who runs @turkeys_of_uw_madison on Instagram. “But your fight-or-flight instinct kicks in.”

Xela Garcia helps young Milwaukee Latinos see themselves in art, education

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: Garcia earned her bachelor’s degree in English Literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She recalls taking American English classes and only learning about white male authors.

She remembers thinking: “America is more than these old dead white dudes.” She decided to minor in Chicano/Latina studies and American Indian studies, where she saw herself reflected in the stories she learned about.

“It brought me back to that feeling of empowerment, of feeling seen,” she said. “This was something that was me.”

UW-Platteville’s student vaccination rate is the lowest in the UW System. Why?

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

This month, most University of Wisconsin campuses celebrated hitting a threshold of having 70% of students fully-vaccinated against COVID-19 with full pomp and circumstance.

They doled out nearly $500,000 in scholarships through a UW System lottery, with 70 lucky students taking home $7,000 each. Other students won t-shirts, iPads, campus swag and scholarships through campus-sponsored programs aimed at encouraging vaccinations.

But one campus in southwestern Wisconsin — UW-Platteville — fell far short of the 70% goal, illustrating the challenges officials face trying to encourage vaccination in some rural areas.

How to help children process and talk through the Waukesha Christmas Parade tragedy

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: If the child may not be aware of the incident, adults can start with a general question, like, “Were kids at school talking about anything in the news today?” suggested Travis Wright, an associate professor of counseling psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

If the answer is no, Wright said an adult may end the conversation with an open invitation, like: “Great. Lots of times there are things we hear about in the news that can be scary. If you ever hear anything that makes you feel upset, please know you can always talk to me.”

In some cases, especially if it’s expected that a child will find out about the incident, adults may want to introduce the subject. Wright suggested sharing something like: “There was a parade and someone injured some people at the parade. If you hear about it, I want you to know you can talk to me about it.”

Commemorative plaque on Richard Davis Lane helps to preserve jazz legend’s legacy for generations of Madisonians to come

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Madison 365

In 2018, a new street in the Darbo-Worthington Neighborhood on Madison’s east side was created in honor of the legacy of Richard Davis, a Madison jazz legend and Professor Emeritus of Bass at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he taught for nearly four decades. Now, after a fundraising effort throughout the pandemic, Davis’ former student and mentee, Wilder Deitz, has honored the man who inspired him and so many others with a commemorative plaque to accompany the street sign on Richard Davis Lane.

Inside the Bitter Debate Over How to Manage Wolves in Wisconsin

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Milwaukee Magazine

Quoted: “Wolves are moving south, and they have been for a while,” says Tim Van Deelen, a professor of wildlife ecology at UW-Madison with a focus on large mammals in the Great Lakes region. “We’ve seen wolves go through Chicago. We know one wolf was killed in a cornfield in Indiana. And if you think about the most direct route, they would walk right through Milwaukee. That is part of how wolves disperse. Is it common? No. But is it out of the realm of possibility? No.”

From books to museums, here’s where you can learn about Native peoples in Wisconsin during Native American Heritage Month

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: What do you know about the Native peoples who have called Wisconsin lands their home for thousands of years?

November is Native American Heritage Month and is a good opportunity to learn about the history, culture and sovereignty of the 11 federally recognized tribes in Wisconsin and the Brothertown Indian Nation, which hopes to regain its federal status.

Most people know little to nothing about Native Americans, said Aaron Bird Bear, director of tribal relations at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“Keeping ourselves ignorant about Indigenous nations, about our shared history and our treaty-based relationships with Indigenous nations is a form of collective amnesia,” Bird Bear said.

“One thing we would hope is that people really think deeply during Native American Heritage Month of how they can interrupt or arrest settler colonialism itself, which is a process by which the vast majority of U.S. society knows little to nothing about the people who’ve lived here for 20,000 years and counting.”

In-Depth: Legal experts reveal what takes place in jury room during deliberations

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TMJ4

Quoted: “The idea is is that they will discuss the evidence, share their opinions with one another, spend time discussing whether they think the prosecution has met their burden of proof, but they don’t really get a blueprint for how to go about doing that other than to just discuss the evidence and listen to one another and keep an open mind,” said John Gross.

Gross is a UW-Madison Law School professor who has more than twenty years of experience serving as a criminal defense attorney. Gross expects jurors will spend a great deal of time sifting through video evidence.

“The jury is going to be able to look at that video as much as they would like in their jury room and figure out what they think you can see and hear and then conclude from all of that video evidence,” he said.

A jury is weighing the Kyle Rittenhouse case, but a mistrial motion is still pending. What happens now?

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: Keith Findley, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, called the lack of decision “odd.”

“The only reason I can think of for waiting is perhaps he wants to give the jury a chance to acquit so he doesn’t have to, but that’s speculation on my part,” Findley, co-founder of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, said in an interview.

Conflict vs. community: How early coronavirus coverage differed in the U.S. and China

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Nieman Lab

How did major Chinese and U.S. outlets differ in their initial coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic? That’s the central question behind a new study published last week in the Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly journal.

The overall finding: Chinese outlets’ focus on Covid-19 was much more domestic, perhaps because they were focused on trying to contain the outbreak, while the U.S. view was much more focused on politics and the conflict between various levels of government when it came to combatting the crisis.

“Some are more party-focused in China and some more investigative and we tried our best to cover a variety of mainstream outlets,” said Kaiping Chen, an assistant professor of life sciences communication at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and the senior author of the new paper.

‘The stakes are really high’: Inside the growing movement to teach financial literacy to every Milwaukee kid

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: “Much of that is because they themselves don’t necessarily feel like they are experts in money management,” said Melody Harvey, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies how public policies affect financial capability.

“I imagine that most parents wouldn’t want to intentionally mislead their children or give wrong information,” she said.

A decade ago, Urban and J. Michael Collins, a professor and financial security researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, were part of the team that examined outcomes in Texas and Georgia after those states implemented a financial education requirement.

They looked at students’ credit reports through age 22 and found students were less likely to have a negative item on their credit report. They also borrowed more — showing they could better fill out applications for things like credit cards or a car loan — and had a lower delinquency rate on those loans than their peers in states without the graduation requirement.

“We saw that those kids who had the financial education had basically fewer mistakes in their early 20s,” Collins said.

Drowning in debt

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WBEZ Chicago

Quoted: “Raising general tax revenue through a water and sewer bill is one of the most regressive ways a government can raise revenue,” said Manuel Teodoro, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Municipalities across the country issue taxes on water to fund other services, Teodoro said.

“If you look at the full range of ways that the city can raise revenue, a water and sewer tax is extremely regressive because everybody has to use water,” he said.

Why is Wisconsin the Badger State — and do actual badgers live here?

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: University of Wisconsin Chancellor John Lathrop created a state seal that was so hated that no record of it exists. It was then that Gov. Nelson Dewey and Chief Justice E.G. Ryan redesigned it to feature badgers — of both the four-legged and miner variety. This design stuck.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison began using the badger as its mascot in 1889 when intercollegiate football began, after the state’s nickname. The university used to keep a live animal before it was deemed too dangerous.

Wisconsin will get at least $100 million for broadband expansion under the massive federal infrastructure bill

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: “I think we are in a very good position because of the number of dollars that are flowing in this direction. The federal government is now turning on the hose,” said one of Tuesday’s panelists, Barry Orton, professor emeritus, telecommunications, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“I would say that for municipalities and other public entities that are looking to provide broadband to their citizens, this is going to be their window of opportunity,” Orton said.

A new scholarship will honor the legacy of Wisconsin’s great armed forces correspondent

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: Next week, Meg will be installed into the Wisconsin News Association Hall of Fame.  An exhibit this month at the War Memorial Center, “I Am Not Invisible,” features two dozen biographies of area female veterans written by Meg. This week, current and former Journal Sentinel staffers are launching a scholarship fund for UW-Madison students in her honor.

Ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner in Wisconsin will likely be more expensive this year

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: “Prices have clearly gone up, and we’re seeing that trend continue,” said Peter Lukszys, University of Wisconsin School of Business expert on logistics and supply chain management. “Consumption during last year was down because fewer Thanksgivings were being celebrated. This year there is more demand, and when there is more demand, it is more likely to have shortages.”

UW-Madison professors report Native American discrimination still present today

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TMJ4

Two UW-Madison professors are spotlighting what they call ‘Indigenous Activism.’ The professors spoke about issues the Native American community have been addressing, both past and present.

The fight for the rights of Indigenous Nations and their people was spotlighted at the 2021 UW-Madison Diversity Forum.

Professor Sasha Suarez described shocking stereotypes heard by Native Americans who applied for jobs in recent past — right here in the Midwest. She uncovered those reports during research for her doctorate degree, “Multiple bosses didn’t want to hire and fire [Native Americans] because they were ‘flighty’ and ‘drunk.’”

We asked her how she felt when she discovered that. She replied, “It wasn’t unexpected, but it was hard to read.”

Her colleague Kasey Keeler highlighted the struggle for affordable housing, even after World War II, “For the native veterans where applying for the G.I. Bill — a lot of them were shot down because of racism.”

UW-Madison testing COVID-19 vaccine in children 6 months to 4 years old

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Wisconsin Public Radio

As children ages 5 to 11 begin to get vaccinated against COVID-19, even younger kids are participating in clinical trials that will determine if they will be able to get similar protection against the disease in the near future.

This week, the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health announced a phase 3 clinical trial of the Moderna vaccine in kids ages 6 months to 4 years old had filled up. The trial has been underway for two weeks.

Kathleen Gallagher: Will Rebecca Blank’s successor as UW-Madison Chancellor help the university become a global innovation hub?

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By all accounts, University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank brought much-needed administrative skills to an organization that had taken its share of hits.

But now that she’s headed to the top job at Northwestern University the future of the state’s flagship university — and in some sense, of the state itself — hangs on one key question:

Will the Board of Regents bring in another administrative guru or will it seek out a leader who can finally unlock the potential we all know is there? Someone who can oversee the translation of UW-Madison’s world-class technology into world-class applications for the global marketplace.

Lilacs in bloom: Abnormal weather is impacting Wisconsin plants, animals

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: Madison’s freezing temperatures are arriving about a month behind normal, said David Stevens, curator of the Longenecker Horticultural Gardens at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum.

Wisconsin’s unseasonably warm fall has had an impact on animal and plant life, including the arboretum’s lilacs, which usually bloom in the spring.

“While it’s not uncommon to see a few flowers pop on these common lilacs in late summer, early fall, this year was pretty extreme,” Stevens said. “We’re seeing quite a few flowers throughout our collection that we normally would not see.”

‘The water always wins’: Calls to protect shorelines as volatile Lake Michigan inflicts heavy toll

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: Dramatic shifts in water levels on Lakes Michigan and Huron, as a result, will likely become increasingly common — even if average levels stay roughly the same, said Michael Notaro, associate director of University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research.

Beyond speeding up coastal erosion, more frequent, intense storms bring heavier rains that increase the runoff of fertilizer into lakes, feeding algal blooms on nutrient-rich lakes that harm fish and other wildlife.

“It’s not really (a question of) when it’s going to happen. It’s already happening,” said Notaro.

“The Stories We Tell” a community discussion of the shared history of Black student activism at UW

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Madison 365

The Wisconsin Black Student Union (WBSU), the Division of Diversity, Equity, & Educational Achievement (DDEEA), and the Black Cultural Center (BCC) will host “The Stories We Tell: Sharing Black Activism Experiences at UW-Madison” this afternoon, a panel discussion with UW-Madison alumni and current students about their activism during their time as students at the UW.

‘As dumb as a bag of hammers’: Kevin Nicholson goes after fellow Republican Rebecca Kleefisch on ‘ballot harvesting’ strategy

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said while Trump and other Republicans complained about the practice there isn’t a single definition of what “ballot harvesting” refers to.

“To most observers, harvesting is done by a private, partisan group or individual when they gather ballots from individuals and then deliver them to an election office,” Burden said in an email. “Kleefisch claims that Democrats do this sort of thing ‘non-stop,’ but I am not aware of widespread ballot collection by Democratic volunteers or operatives in Wisconsin.”

Deryk G fuses rap, funk, R&B in “Lotus Junky”

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Madison 365

Deryk Gonzalez and your friendly neighborhood Deryk G. are one in the same. By day, you might experience Deryk, the soft spoken, well intentioned University of Wisconsin engineering student, who wishes to make his family proud and enjoys his time with friends. But after a quick costume change, the vivacious funk-lionheart known as Deryk G. comes to. It’s a persona that never requires a mask, with an aptitude for animated, romantic story-telling that allows him to live his truth.

Deactivated voters then vs. now: Why 205,000 voters were removed from the roles without any fanfare

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TMJ4

Quoted: “When the list was first brought up in 2019 going into the 2020 election, there was a lot of concern,” Barry Burden, Director of Elections Research at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, said. “You heard outcry and eventually lawsuits to try to move things along. But that’s completely different from the regular list maintenance that the state has done for a number of years.”

April Kigeya announces candidacy for new Dane County Supervisor seat on Madison’s west side

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Madison 365

Noted: Kigeya is an outreach specialist for the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, and a special projects manager with The Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness. She has served as an intern for United States Sen. Russ Feingold and is currently the co-chair of the Middleton Police Commission. She has also served as commissioner for the Dane County Equal Opportunities Commission, according to a press release, and has been with the City of Madison Affirmative Action Commission.

Colin Kaepernick Netflix series: A call from ‘Coach Alvarez’ and 4 other Wisconsin moments of Ava DuVernay’s ‘Colin in Black and White’

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: During his senior year, he waits for offers from prospective college football programs, including one from the University of Wisconsin. (His father playfully warns him that, if he goes to Wisconsin, he’ll be “surrounded by line dancing and cowboy boots.”)

Then, he gets a call from “Coach Alvarez” — presumably Barry Alvarez, Wisconsin’s football coach and athletic director at the time. As the actor playing Colin gets on the phone, Kaepernick himself interjects: “This moment right here? This is one of the happiest moments of my life.” Then he finds out that Wisconsin isn’t going to make him a signing offer, either.

Alvarez retired as coach after the Capitol One Bowl on Jan. 2, 2006. Current Badgers coach Paul Chryst handled quarterback recruiting for Wisconsin that year. In February 2006, Kaepernick signed an offer with Nevada, the only school to make him one for football.

‘Sis­terhood of traveling scarves:’ Breast cancer survivor shares her special pay-it-forward effort

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Spectrum News

A breast cancer survivor found a special way to help other women cope with the debilitating illness through a special scarf sharing project.

UW Madison professor Emerita Gloria Ladson-Billings said she discovered scarves after chemotherapy left her with hair loss.

“And in some ways, I didn’t think anything about it, except I’m going to do for me; I’m going to wear a scarf,” Ladson-Billings said.

The Amish in Wisconsin

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Noted: Shereen Siewert welcomes University of Wisconsin Professor Mark Louden, director of the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies. Louden is an interpreter and cultural mediator for Amish and Old Order Mennonite groups in the legal and health care systems. They discuss the history and cultural heritage of Amish Country in Wisconsin, debunk common myths and learn about the Amish community.