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Author: jnweaver

Judge’s Rigorous Collection Of Court-Ordered Debt Atypical In Wisconsin — Even In His Own County

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: In response to a second statute cited by Flaherty, related to failure to pay fines, fees, surcharges or court costs, Cecelia Klingele, a University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School professor, said “a judge can decide to impose a jail sentence until the money is paid.” She also noted that, “implicit in that power is some ability to monitor whether the money is paid or the work is done, though the statute does not spell out what such monitoring might look like.”

UW-Milwaukee to require masks indoors, regular testing for unvaccinated employees and students

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will require all students, employees and visitors to wear masks when gathering indoors beginning next week, in line with new masking guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from the Milwaukee Health Department.

The university will also require weekly COVID-19 testing for unvaccinated faculty, staff and students who are not 100% online.

Dozens of Wisconsin parent groups reject lockdowns and required masking in an open letter to Gov. Tony Evers

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: At University of Wisconsin System schools, institutions have not put in place a mask or vaccine mandate, but are encouraging students to get vaccinated. This fall, UW-Madison will allow students who are vaccinated to not follow weekly COVID-19 testing requirements.

Private institutions like Marquette University and Beloit College will require vaccines.

Burnout symptoms increasing among college students

Posted on
The Hechinger Report

Noted: At the University of Wisconsin, administrators are acknowledging the mental health difficulties of the pandemic year by urging first- and second-year students to establish healthy coping mechanisms and participate in a 30-day meditation challenge through the Healthy Minds Innovations app (which does not connect students with therapists).

Mosquitoes Out For Blood? Not So Much This Year Cooler, Longer Spring May Have Impacted Mosquito Numbers, UW Scientist Says

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

This might be the year for ticks. Or cicadas. But not so much for mosquitoes.

With a long and cold spring earlier this year, mosquitoes didn’t have as much of a chance to ramp up in numbers, said Lyric Bartholomay, a professor in the department of pathobiological sciences at the University of Wiscconsin-Madison.

“I don’t have complete evidence of that, but that’s what I suspect,” she said.

Mosquitoes are pesky, no doubt, but Bartholomay said they’re also integral to the health of local habitats, specifically to birds, bats, ducks and other species that feed on them.

In fact, Bartholomay said that in places where mosquito larvae are well controlled, birds get less protein, which then impairs their own reproduction.

“It’s very likely that (mosquitoes are) really important in a way we under-appreciate,” she said.

Fact check: Viral image misrepresents the electoral process

Posted on
USA Today

Quoted: Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center and professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told USA TODAY the image was misleading.

“Because elections are decided by the votes of actual people rather than the land represented by county borders, it is incorrect to conclude that a state is ‘red’ or ‘blue’ because most of the counties in that state are of the same color,” he wrote in an email. “Many counties in the U.S. have extremely small populations that do not contribute much to the statewide result.”

UW-Milwaukee to require masks indoors, regular testing for unvaccinated employees and students

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will require all students, employees and visitors to wear masks when gathering indoors beginning next week, in line with new masking guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from the Milwaukee Health Department.

The university will also require weekly COVID-19 testing for unvaccinated faculty, staff and students who are not 100% online.

While supporters cheer a judge’s ruling in the 2016 Mensah shooting, a charging decision is still months away

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: Keith Findley, a professor of law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said Yamahiro can essentially pick any licensed attorney in the state for the task.

That person will then review all the evidence in the case. They could ask the police for more reports or issue subpoenas as well.

“She or he will then evaluate all of the evidence and determine whether it’s appropriate to proceed with a prosecution,” Findley said.

‘Never in my wildest dreams’: Hmong Wisconsinites rejoice over gymnast Suni Lee’s Olympic gold-medal victory

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: When she heard the news, Caitlin Yang, a University of Wisconsin-Madison student, took a moment and let the wave of emotion wash over her, alone in her apartment.

Yang, a rising junior and member of the Hmong American Student Association, said Lee’s victory showed that Hmong women could break down gender barriers and defy norms in a culture where parents don’t normally place much importance on athletic achievement.

She hoped Lee’s victory would empower women to “find who they are and what they are capable of and know that they are capable of it,” she said.

As Fall Semester Approaches, Delta Variant Complicates School Districts’ Plans

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WORT FM

While Madison’s students are preparing for the fall semester, the Delta coronavirus variant is complicating plans for the upcoming school year. According to local public health officials, Delta is now the dominant coronavirus strain in Dane County.

For more on what the Delta surge means for local students, our Producer Jonah Chester spoke with Dr. Gregory DeMuri, a professor of pediatrics at UW-Madison.

Department Of Health Services: ‘We’re On The Path To A 4th Surge’

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: “Breakthrough infections started out at a very low rate. But now with the delta variant and the higher ease of transmissibility, those breakthrough infections are growing,” said Dr. Nasia Safdar, director of infection control at UW Hospital and Clinics and faculty at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. “So, the mask then will be this extra layer of protection in addition to the vaccine. Of course, it’s crucial for unvaccinated people (to mask up) because they don’t have that layer of protection from the vaccine.”

What You Need To Know About The End Of The Federal Eviction Moratorium

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Wisconsin Public Radio

“There’s no way to sugarcoat it, it’s going to be bad,” said Kurt Paulsen, University of Wisconsin-Madison urban planning professor. He explained that the eviction moratorium barred landlords from evicting tenants who were unable to pay their rent during the pandemic, but that renters are still ultimately on the hook for all the rent they missed when the moratorium expires.

“Thousands and thousands of renters have been unable to pay the rent because of unemployment or COVID-related financial hardships, and eventually the rent comes due,” Paulsen said.

State health officials encourage local leaders to follow CDC guidelines on masking

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: The CDC based their recommendation on new evidence about the delta variant. Ajay Sethi, associate professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, said he would classify the latest science as “a bit of a game-changer.”

“We didn’t know this was going to be the case until we discovered that people who are vaccinated and get a breakthrough infection can potentially spread that to other people and that wasn’t the case before delta,” Sethi said.

Ron Johnson criticizes new CDC guidance, questions effectiveness of masks despite research showing they reduce COVID spread

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: Public health officials do not know how long the immune system protects itself after an infection with COVID-19 and encourage all eligible people to get the vaccine.

“The duration of that protection is unknown,” said Ajay Sethi, associate professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. “The science is already showing that people who have had the vaccine have better responses to the (delta) variant than people who had past infection.”

The Unraveling of the Trump Era

Posted on
The Atlantic

Noted: Trump’s agencies wrote fewer rules than past administrations, including other Republican ones, says Susan Yackee, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin who focuses on rule-making. Although many controversial regulations wind up in court, agencies typically win those cases, she told me. Here, too, the Trump administration was an outlier: It lost a lot.

What’s The True Impact Of Enhanced Federal Unemployment Aid? A Labor Economist Weighs In

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WORT FM

While the debate over enhanced federal unemployment aid in Wisconsin has been settled for now, the broader, national discussion on the issue continues.

At least 26 states have cut their ties with the program. Business owners and interest groups argue that ending the additional aid is the best way to address difficulties in hiring new workers.

For more on the debate, WORT producer Jonah Chester spoke with Laura Dresser, a labor economist at UW-Madison.

Dairy market reports show optimism, but uncertainty, for higher prices, slowing production

Posted on
Wisconsin State Farmer

Industry experts Mark Stephenson and Bob Cropp say they see optimism in price and supply for the coming months, according to the latest episode of the Dairy Markets and Policy podcast.

Cropp, professor emeritus of UW-Madison’s Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, said cold storage reports bring both bad and good news to dairy farmers: American cheese stocks are slowly decreasing at 2% this month, but butter stocks have gone up 14% in the same timeframe. Stephenson, director of the Center for Dairy Profitability, said cheese stocks will continue to see rising price support.

Tanzania’s Dilemma: It’s Not So Easy To Go From Vaccine Denier To Vaccine Embracer

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: The authority of the minister and her deputies in advocating vaccination doesn’t guarantee a new national attitude, says Aikande Kwayu, honorary research fellow specializing in political governance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is based in Tanzania.

“Their actions and statements during the last administration influenced a lot of conspiracies, lies and also denial about the pandemic,” says Kwayu.

A wolf hunt blew past its kill quota in February. Another hunt is coming this fall.

Posted on
The Washington Post

Quoted: Lead author Adrian Treves, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, argues that without a more precise number the hunt quota should be set as low as is possible.

“A quota of one would comply with the statute [mandating a hunt] and acknowledge that we have no clue how successfully the wolves reproduced this year,” Treves said. “Because the hunt happened during the mating season, we would need good data on how many packs produced pups, and that is data we do not have.”

Forget Critical Race Theory in the Classroom. Kids Are Learning About Race on TikTok.

Posted on
EdSurge

Quoted: “If you look at the language of some of these bills, they’re really pretty broad,” says Diana Hess, dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s school of education. “There’s a lot of things that are in the language that would make it really hard to teach civic education.”

CDC: Mask Up In Some Situations Even If Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: “The virus multiplies exponentially so 10 today could be 100 tomorrow,” said Dr. Nasia Safdar, director of infection control at UW Hospital and Clinics and faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. Safdar urged people to take precautions like mask wearing and getting vaccinated.

“All around us, we are surrounded by high transmission, and it’s just a matter of time before we are right in there with the rest of the country,” she said.

‘There is a real cost’: As Covid shows, barring bedside visitors from ICU deprives patients of the best care

Posted on
STAT

Quoted: Doctors and researchers who share Ciappa’s hope are worried about how much progress the movement lost during the last year and a half. “It took time to get those family-centered policies into the fabric of hospitals,” said Traci Snedden, a career critical care nurse and assistant professor of nursing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Will Covid give clinicians permission to pull back again, or will it propel us forward like, ‘I can’t believe we went without family at the bedside’?”

OB-GYNs are disappearing from Wisconsin’s rural hospitals. A UW program trains new doctors in small communities, hoping they’ll stay.

Posted on
Appleton Post-Crescent

Noted: Hansfield hopes he can ward off a gap in services for the Waupun area by participating in a first-of-its-kind program out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison — one that places OB-GYN medical school residents at rural hospitals.

The program graduated its first resident in June. If it’s successful, it would send a slow but steady pipeline of doctors into Wisconsin’s rural hospitals, so women don’t have to go extra miles for care, and potentially risk their health or their baby’s health along the way.

Decision on former Wauwatosa cop Joseph Mensah’s 2016 shooting to come Wednesday. Here’s what we know about the proceeding.

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: The law Motley is seeking to use — Wisconsin Statute 968.02 — is similar to a John Doe proceeding, but is technically not the same thing, according to Keith Findley, a professor of law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Findley said the law is essentially used as a check on the court system. Findley also said Statute 968.02 means a judge has more discretion when it comes to filing charges. Under the statute, a judge “may” file charges if they find probable cause.

Gov. Tony Evers Calls Special Session On Increasing School Spending

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Noted: The governor said the session would be an opportunity to make investments in education he believes should have been included in the budget. GOP lawmakers approved an education spending plan that was roughly $750 million less than the governor originally requested for K-12 schools. For the University of Wisconsin System, the GOP-backed budget included an increase of just $8 million over two years, a fraction of the $191 million proposed by the governor.

More Universities Offer Vaccination Incentives. Will They Work?

Posted on
Forbes

Noted: On Sunday, University of Wisconsin (UW) System President Tommy Thompson announced a new program that provides an opportunity for UW students who are vaccinated against Covid-19 to win a $7,000 scholarship.

Under the “70 for 70” campaign, vaccinated students who attend UW campuses that achieve at least a 70% vaccination rate will be eligible to win one of 70 scholarships valued at $7,000 each. Students at all UW System universities except UW-Madison are eligible for the drawing. UW-Madison is reportedly developing its own vaccination incentive program.

What’s blood flow restriction training and why are Olympic athletes using it?

Posted on
Today

Quoted: “It’s almost like a personal tourniquet system. So you have a cuff that’s applied to your arm or leg that significantly reduces blood flow,” Marc Sherry, a physical therapist and manager of the UW Health Sports Rehabilitation Department in Madison, Wisconsin, told TODAY. “The basic premise is that it’s inflated to a pressure that prevents the blood from coming out of your arm but doesn’t prevent the blood from going into your arm.”

‘An abomination’: the story of the massacre that killed 216 wolves

Posted on
The Guardian

Quoted: Adrian Treves, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has studied wolf-hound conflicts, found that neighboring Michigan, which has stricter hounding regulations, has seen far fewer dogs injured or killed by wolves. Lighter regulation in Wisconsin means more dogs in the woods, Treves said, which leads to more conflict. “Houndsmen prefer to hunt in a place that lets them do what they want to do.”

Reports Of Students Cheating Increased Substantially At Some UW Universities During Pivot To Online Learning

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Reports of cheating and other forms of academic misconduct increased substantially at six of the University of Wisconsin System’s 13 universities when classes were moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Administrators say increased student stress was a major contributor, and they expect misconduct reports to decrease once more classes are taught in person.

A federal eviction moratorium ends July 31. Here’s what you need to know about rental assistance and more.

Posted on
Green Bay Press Gazette

Quoted: Landlords have a lot more options available to them than eviction, Madison-based rental housing lawyer and University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor Mitch said. Mitch said property owners can negotiate rather than file evictions that will go permanently on the tenant’s record.

“I know that eviction isn’t the only tool in your toolbox when renters don’t pay, and I wish that property owners would realize that they have other tools such as working out agreements on early move-outs, working on payment plans or working together to get government assistance,” Mitch said.

Intense heat raises the risk of violence in American prisons

Posted on
The Economist

Noted: Another, and probably underestimated, factor may be the weather. Mississippi summers usually see average temperatures rise above 80℉ (26.7℃), a threshold at which the likelihood of violence in prisons increases.

That is the finding of a working paper by Anita Mukherjee of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Nicholas Sanders of Cornell University. The authors matched county-level weather variations across Mississippi with violent incidents reported in the state’s 36 prisons and jails between 2004 and 2010. Using these data, they built a statistical model that controlled for the time of year that the violence took place, the type of institution and other factors. They calculated that on days with average temperatures of 80℉ or higher the chances of violence increased by 20%. The hot weather leads to an average of 44 additional incidents of severe violence—those that result in serious injury or death—each year,

Kathleen Gallagher: What’s standing in the way of growing Wisconsin’s wine industry?

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: “You used to have to use McKinsey or another specialized consultant, but with the Internet and data science you can do this at a fraction of the cost and make it very easy for the farmers themselves,” said Tom Erickson, Founding Director of the University of Wisconsin’s School of Computer, Data and Information Sciences.

Milwaukee considers updating building codes in the wake of Surfside collapse. Should other Wisconsin cities and the state do the same?

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: Annual inspections might offer peace of mind, but building professionals said the expenses would be astronomical. Besides, it’s when the building is being constructed that inspectors have the most critical safety checklist to ensure its longevity, said Steven Cramer, vice provost for instructional continuity & academic affairs and a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“We have a great set of building codes in Wisconsin, but the greatest scrutiny occurs at the time of construction or remodel when building permits are required and inspections occur,” Cramer wrote by email.

UW System Will Offer Scholarship Drawing For Students Who Get Vaccinated Against COVID-19

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

The University of Wisconsin System plans to offer about $500,000 in financial incentives aimed at encouraging students to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The campaign features a lottery in which a total of 70 students will each receive a $7,000 scholarship if 70 percent of a campus’ student body reports being vaccinated.

UW-Madison is not participating.

‘It’s five years since a white person applied’: the immigrant workforce milking America’s cows

Posted on
The Guardian

Noted: Green county has seen one of the state’s fastest growths in Latino population, increasing by an estimated 228% from 2000 to 2019, according to the Applied Population Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Monroe is the largest city in Green county and has seen a steady increase of Latino immigrants over 20 years. With a population of only about 10,800, new people stand out, which has made the adjustment, like the farm work, incredibly difficult for some dairy workers.

Frustrating College Access and Enrollment Barriers: Websites and Application Processes

Posted on
The Good Men Project

Noted: While some higher education institutions like the University of Wisconsin-Madison and The Johns Hopkins University feature sophisticated and user-friendly websites, and their leaders have instituted efficient, unencumbered application processes, college applicants may encounter inept websites and application processes when applying at many other institutions.

Carbon-capture pipelines offer climate aid; activists wary

Posted on
Associated Press

Quoted: “These early plants are relatively easy and that’s a good place to start,” said Greg Nemet, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who specializes in the development of climate-friendly energy technology. “As that gets shown and proven, you get some transportation networks, then it gets easier to do the harder stuff later.”

Small Farms Vanish Every Day in America’s Dairyland: “There Ain’t No Future In Dairy”

Posted on
Mother Jones

Quoted: Mark Stephenson, the director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the industry definitely has a lot of challenges but is nowhere near extinction.

“We’ve produced record amounts of milk in the last year or two. It’s being consumed. Most of it domestically, but increasingly with exports,” said Stephenson.

UW System announces a lottery with $490,000 in scholarships to encourage vaccination

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

As an incentive for students across the UW System to get vaccinated, interim President Tommy Thompson on Sunday announced a lottery giving out nearly a half-million dollars in scholarships.

Under the plan, vaccinated students at all University of Wisconsin campuses except UW-Madison will be entered into a lottery for one of 70 one-time, $7,000 scholarships.

Celebrate the summer Olympics with PBS Wisconsin

Posted on
PBS Wisconsin

Noted: George Poage moved to La Crosse as a young child in 1884. Locally, he was known as a scholar and remarkable athlete. He went on to become the first African American on the UW-Madison track team. But his greatest triumph came at the 1904 Olympics when he became the first African American to medal in the 200m and 400m hurdles. From Wisconsin Life, WPR’s Maureen McCollum talked with UW-La Crosse retired special collections librarian Ed Hill about George Poage’s life as a student athlete in La Crosse.

Wisconsin Lawmaker Proposes Lifetime Restraining Orders To Protect Sexual Assault Survivors

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: Ryan Poe-Gavlinski is clinical director of the Victims of Crimes Act Restraining Order Clinic at the University of Wisconsin Law School. She said creating a lifetime protective order would put survivors of assault “in the driver’s seat.”

“If someone has committed sexual assault and that’s been determined, either at the (civil) restraining order level or through a criminal court, there’s no reason that that perpetrator needs to have contact with that victim going forward,” Poe-Gavlinksi said.