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Author: jnweaver

Chris Rickert: Class discrimination moves to the fore

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Wisconsin State Journal

More than 20 years ago when I was in college at UW-Madison, the debate du jour was over so-called “speech codes.” Were race-, gender- or religion-based slurs protected free speech? Punishable offenses under a public university?s rules? Both? The fight raged. I remember a classmate locking herself to some fixed object in front of a Langdon Street fraternity to protest an event the frat held in which some members wore blackface. And I ? just another white boy from the suburbs ? felt positively righteous wearing a “Celebrate Diversity” button on my leather jacket.

Toxic algae, cows being studied as biofuel sources

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Two common sites in Wisconsin, toxic algae blooms on lake water and cows standing in a field, could become the next big things in the biofuel industry. UW-Madison researchers have been awarded federal grants to investigate using the bacteria in toxic algae and cow stomachs in the development of biofuels, according to a release from the UW-Madison news service. Jennifer Reed, an assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, and Garret Suen, an assistant professor of bacteriology, each received five-year, $750,000 early career awards from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Biological and Environmental Research.

Longtime UW Band assistant dies

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The University of Wisconsin-Madison and the McFarland School District are mourning the loss of a very talented musician, teacher and friend. Bill Garvey died of cancer early Thursday morning, according to district officials. Garvey recently retired as the director of instrumental music at McFarland High School. He also just finished his 35th season as a field assistant for the UW Band and was also a member of the UW band for four years. He was the tuba section leader.

Police identify suspect in University Avenue shootings

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Wisconsin State Journal

Madison police have identified a 20-year-old Fitchburg man as a suspect in the shootings that wounded at least three people early Saturday on University Avenue. Darrion D. Brown, who is being sought on a tentative charge of attempted homicide, should be considered armed and dangerous, said police spokesman Joel DeSpain. “Anyone seeing him should call 911,” DeSpain said. Brown could be driving a gold-colored 2001 Mercury Sable four-door car with Wisconsin license plate number 969-TLW, police said.

After shooting, Downtown leaders join in push to improve safety

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Wisconsin State Journal

Downtown leaders are joining Madison officials in a push to improve safety in response to violence ? especially brazen behavior with guns ? in the central city. Some of the things being considered include putting more police on the street late at night and on weekends, enacting tougher rules on loitering and panhandling, seeking more cooperation between police and bar owners, and a grassroots initiative asking residents and others to report crime and suspicious behavior.

UW rowing: James brothers extend Badgers’ streak of Olympic appearances to 12

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Madison.com

Grant and Ross James will represent the United States at the 2012 London Olympics, marking the 12th consecutive Summer Games to feature University of Wisconsin rowers. The brothers were part of the men?s eight boat that prevailed at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta on Tuesday in Lucerne, Switzerland, to earn the eighth and final berth in the field. The DeKalb, Ill., natives attended UW from 2005-09 and both walked-on to the men?s rowing team, eventually earning spots on the 2008 national champion varsity eight boat.

Madison Politiscope: New poll shows Wisconsin recall race close

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Capital Times

An internal poll done by the union-backed We Are Wisconsin group shows a tighter race between Gov. Scott Walker and Tom Barrett than was indicated in several polls that came out last week. The most recent poll, conducted by Greenberg Quislan Rosner Research, a Democratic polling firm, shows Walker leading Barrett, 50 percent to 47 percent, well within the margin of error. That displays a better outlook for Democrats than last week?s round of polls, all of which showed the governor leading Barrett in the June 5 recall election by five or six points.

If a campaign?s own polls show its candidate performing poorly, it usually simply won?t report them, says Charles Franklin, the pollster who conducts the Marquette University Law School poll.

UW expert: Wolf could go back on endangered species list

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Wisconsin State Journal

A hunting season for wolves proposed by the state Department of Natural Resources is likely to face a court challenge and could land the animal back on the endangered species list, according to a UW-Madison expert in predator-prey ecology who has spent 12 years studying wolf management in Wisconsin. The DNR?s wolf hunting plan “increases the risk that wolves will be returned to federally endangered status because it proposes untested methods in a very long season in too broad an area of the state,” warned Adrian Treves, an associate professor of environmental studies who has surveyed thousands of state residents on the issue.

Outdoors: The battle between two state heavyweights: walleye vs. bass

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Madison.com

John Lyons, a longtime DNR fisheries researcher and fish identification expert, had been hearing about the battle between the walleye and the bass for years. Depending upon who was doing the telling, the bass fishing was either very good and those anglers weren?t talking much. Or the fans of the walleye complained about their species looking anything like the top game fish champ. ?There were a number of initiatives going on,? Lyons said of the state?s researchers dedicated to fisheries. There was field work under way at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point?s College of Natural Resources, more at the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Center for Limnology and, of course, the DNR. ?We pulled everyone together into a team and each group has their own specialty.? Not so fast. First, there was the inevitable first hurdle — funding.

Obituary: Ruth Nell Robbins

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Madison.com

MADISON – Ruth Nell Robbins, age 88, passed away on Monday, May 21, 2012. From research work on paralytic shellfish poisoning, to laboratory work on vitamin A at WARF, to a 20-year stint at the UW Food Research Institute including research on toxic shock syndrome, she had a long and varied career.

Chris Rickert: Kindness at your gamer’s fingertips

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Wisconsin State Journal

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is giving two UW-Madison researchers a $1.39 million grant to develop two video games to help teach eighth-graders compassion, empathy, cooperation, mental focus, self-regulation, kindness and altruism. I can?t help but wonder, wouldn?t a puppy work just as well, and be a heck of a lot cheaper? Besides, if your kid is going to be a mass murderer, derivatives trader or some other empathy-less sociopath, isn?t that mold pretty much cast by the time he?s 13 or 14?

Campus Connection: UW-Madison class launches edUtopia Wisconsin site

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Capital Times

Ever wonder what students at UW-Madison are working on these days? Sue Robinson — an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication — emailed me a note last week highlighting the work of those in her Intermediate Reporting (Journalism 335) class. For the students? final project, they worked collaboratively to launch a website about education in the state called edUtopia Wisconsin.

On Campus: UW-Madison students are tops for time spent studying

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison may have a reputation as a party school, but its students are some of the most studious in the country, according to a story in the Washington Post. Freshman at UW-Madison study on average 20 hours a week, while seniors study 18 hours a week. That compares to a weekly average of 15 hours nationally, according to the story. The author, Daniel de Vise, notes that?s more than any other public university in the country that he found.

Dems, GOP seek coveted young voters in Wis. recall

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Madison.com

Democratic hopes for toppling Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in next month?s recall election may hinge on a strong turnout from young voters, who came out in heavy numbers for President Barack Obama in 2008 but were less active when Walker was elected two years later. Both sides of the June 5 recall pitting Walker against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett are focused on get-out-the-vote efforts because of a low number of undecided voters. But tapping into college-aged voters, traditionally a strong well of support for Democrats, is proving difficult because of a new law making it tougher for those students to cast ballots and the fact that many will have left college campuses for the summer by election time.

….Republicans also have an aggressive campaign to get necessary information to college voters, said Jeff Snow, chairman of the UW-Madison College Republicans. “I think students are pretty aware and I think that Gov. Walker will do very well among student voters,” said Snow, a 20-year-old entering his junior year. “This has been a pretty historic couple of years in the state of Wisconsin politically.”

Woman who was shot recalls scene outside nightclub

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Wisconsin State Journal

A woman who was among at least three people shot early Saturday outside Segredo on University Avenue said one of the shooters was a rap performer who recently invited and paid for her and others to go to the bar. Kristina McQueen, 26, a nursing student at Madison Area Technical College and mother of a 4-year-old son, said she was shot in the back while fleeing the gunfire police say came from shooters around 1 a.m. in the 600 block of University Avenue.

NBA: Stiemsma delivers on offensive end as Celtics take charge : Sports

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Madison.com

After being a non-factor through the first three games of the series, Greg Stiemsma made his mark Monday as the Boston Celtics pushed Philadelphia to the brink of elimination in their Eastern Conference semifinal series. What?s surprising is that the former University of Wisconsin shot-blocker made the most noise on the offensive end.

Three campus-area streets to close for summer

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Capital Times

Three short streets near the UW-Madison campus will be closed for most of the summer so they can be rebuilt. The Madison Traffic Engineering Division said in a news release on Monday that stretches of North Orchard Street, Spring Street and Capitol Court will be closed to through traffic beginning at 7 a.m. Thursday, May 24.

Increased police presence, safety measures vowed after shooting

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Wisconsin State Journal

Madison officials are vowing more police presence and other safety measures after shots were fired into a crowd outside bars on the 600 block of University Avenue early Saturday morning. Mayor Paul Soglin said Monday that the city is doubling funding to $100,000 for the Downtown Safety Initiative, which puts extra cops on duty on weekend nights. He also said he?s exploring changes to the city?s loitering, behavior and panhandling laws. Soglin said the city is also acting to help rid neighborhoods of those who choose to plague residents with crime, drugs and violence. The city is employing neighborhood resource teams and law enforcement, he said.

UW dean of students calls shooting ‘unsettling’

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison Dean of Students Lori Berquam described an early-morning shooting near campus on the eve of graduation last weekend as “unsettling.” She said she spoke to a number of students at graduation who were nearby at the time of the shooting on the 600 block of University Avenue.”They were pretty shaken,” she said. “The sentiment was like ?well, it?s not something you expect to happen in Madison.?”

On Campus: Researchers make compassion a game

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Wisconsin State Journal

How do you teach middle-schoolers about compassion? Create a video game about it, of course. That?s the thinking, anyway, behind a new study at UW-Madison. With a $1.39 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UW-Madison researchers will develop and test two educational games to help eighth-graders develop empathy, cooperation, mental focus and self-regulation.

Sterling Hall bomber Armstrong arrested after $800,000 cash found in vehicle

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Wisconsin State Journal

Convicted Sterling Hall bomber Karl Armstrong was arrested last week in Chicago after state troopers found more than $800,000 cash in heat-sealed bags stashed inside of a motor home that Armstrong was driving, according to a document filed Monday in court. That arrest Thursday led to a search on Saturday by the state Division of Criminal Investigation of a town of Madison trailer home where Armstrong lives for evidence of marijuana trafficking, according to a search warrant filed in Dane County Circuit Court.

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‘Bill’ Sachse, brainchild behind modern Bucky Badger mascot, dies at 85

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Wisconsin State Journal

If William “Bill” Sachse hadn?t returned from the Navy and enrolled at UW-Madison, a burrowing antisocial badger may still pass for a mascot at Camp Randall Stadium, avoiding fans and inspiring no one. Because of Sachse, the animal got replaced with Bucky Badger, a human version who since 1949 has roamed the sideline and become synonymous with Wisconsin sports, jumping around and pumping out touchdown pushups.”Who knows where we?d be today without his creativity and innovation and free spirit?” said Vince Sweeney, UW-Madison vice chancellor for university relations.

University Avenue shooting victim called ‘lucky’; police seek more than 1 suspect

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Wisconsin State Journal

An 18-year-old Memorial High School student was grazed on the side of his head by a bullet in a shooting early Saturday outside two University Avenue bars that also injured at least two other people. Arlene Kennedy said Monday that Jamar Morris, who is living with her husband, Jim, was “incredibly lucky.”

“He had a guardian angel watching over him,” she said. “He was a totally innocent bystander. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

More than one shooter involved in University Avenue gun violence, police say

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Wisconsin State Journal

More than one shooter is believed to have fired into a crowd of young bar goers early Saturday morning on University Avenue, Madison police say. Spokesman Joel DeSpain told Madison.com the shooting incident in which three people were injured wasn?t random. “It?s an ongoing dispute between many individuals,” DeSpain said. “There were multiple guns used and more than one shooter.”

Police are also looking to see if the incident is possibly connected to other incidents of gun violence in the city. Anyone with information about the shootings, or about the unidentified injured man who left the scene, should call Crime Stoppers, 266-6014.

In the Spirit: UW aims to treat religions fairly

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Wisconsin State Journal

At UW-Madison, the official document notifying professors and students of when classes start and end is called the academic calendar. It also lists special dates such as when commencement exercises are held, when breaks occur and when exam weeks begin. For years, this calendar has included some of the more well-known religious holidays ? Rosh Hashanah, Good Friday, Ramadan ? so that professors and administrators can avoid scheduling exams or staff meetings on those days. That tradition has now ended; all references to specific religious holidays will be deleted from the calendar.

Campus Connection: UW study links sleep apnea to higher mortality from cancer

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Capital Times

It appears one can add an increased risk of dying from cancer to the growing list of significant health problems associated with sleep apnea.A longitudinal study led by researchers at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health suggests that those with severe sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), or sleep apnea, are nearly five times more likely to die of cancer than those without the disorder.

Downtown shooting victims released from hospital; police say incident was not a drive-by

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Wisconsin State Journal

An early-morning shooting just off the UW-Madison campus has officials again searching for solutions to the city?s growing problem with gun violence….The incident was something of a black eye for a city hosting UW-Madison graduation ceremonies this weekend. Area business owners said Saturday the problem has been growing since last summer. In fact, the owners of Johnny O?s and Wando?s Bar, also located in the 600 block of University Avenue, met with Mayor Paul Soglin on Wednesday to discuss the violence outside of their clubs. Ald. Mike Verveer, 4th District, attended the meeting. He said the men felt helpless to stop ?thuggish? people loitering on the streets near the bars.

Three shot outside bar near UW-Madison campus

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Madison.com

Three victims were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after being struck by gunfire outside of two bars near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus early Saturday morning, police said. Ald. Mike Verveer, 4th District, said police told him that at least a half-dozen gunshots were fired outside Segredo and Johnny O?s, on the 600 block of University Avenue, shortly after 1 a.m.

Curiosities: Can flashing lights really cause seizures?

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Wisconsin State Journal

A: Yes, said Daniel Uhlrich, a UW?Madison neuroscience professor who studies visual processing in the brain. “If you flash a light at the right frequency, some people with epilepsy will have an epileptic seizure.” These “photo-triggered” seizures are not very common, affecting fewer than 10 percent of people with epilepsy. Some of those affected may experience seizures only in response to a specific trigger, while others also have spontaneous seizures.

Ask the Weather Guys: Will May’s weather continue to be pleasant?

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Wisconsin State Journal

A: As we head from early to late spring during the month of May, there are a number of ways to measure this progress. One way is to consider how often we experience a temperature 90 degrees during May. The last time Madison reached 90 degrees in May was just two years ago ? on May 24, 2010. This is a relatively rare occurrence, however, as Madison has reached 90 degrees in May only 10 times since 1971 (once each in 2006, 1991, and 1988; twice each in 1978 and 1977 and three times in 1975).

Rick Bogle: Probe of UW animal experiments is overdue

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Capital Times

Dear Editor: I have learned that for the first time since the early 1980s, the UW-Madison has approved maternal deprivation experiments on baby monkeys. Maternal deprivation experiments were conducted for two decades at the university by Harry Harlow and his many students. After Harlow?s death, even some of his own students admitted that they should not have been allowed to continue for so long. Some of them have lamented their own silence. This angst and regret was documented by Deborah Blum in her biography of Harlow, ?Love at Goon Park.?

Saving songs, spirit: Madison Maennerchor members take pride in performances but know how to kick back

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Wisconsin State Journal

Young and old voices combine for a commanding sound that fills the room during a recent Thursday night rehearsal. Singers stand for the last piece and sway ? mostly in unison ? during the chorus. After the last note is sung, chairs are pushed back and tables are soon crowded with beer bottles and plates of sausage and Limburger cheese. Meet the Madison Maennerchor, the city?s German men?s choir, which celebrates its 160th anniversary this year.

Give a lift to UW volunteers

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Wisconsin State Journal

Hey, can you give a well-intentioned college kid a ride? Or, more to the point, can you help pay for the ride that kid needs to do much-needed volunteer work in our community? It?s well documented that volunteerism is one of the important civic threads that bind our community together. What isn?t so well known is that an important piece of that volunteer corps resides on the UW-Madison campus. And many hundreds of those college student volunteers could use a lift. Literally.

Madison360: Walker?s fate aside, rich conservatives are defining the debate

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Capital Times

In December 2010, weeks before Scott Walker dropped his self-described ?bomb? eviscerating bargaining rights for public workers, the single divide that defines contemporary state politics today was already crystallizing in my mind. The truth is that, more than ever, we in Wisconsin are split into two tiers — wealthy conservatives who leverage their money and the influence it buys to control our policy debates — and the rest of us. Back then, my column was describing a series of interviews with regular people across the state by a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor.

UW-Madison political science professors Katherine Cramer Walsh, Barry Burden, and Çharles Franklin are included in this column.

Doug Moe: Never doubt the power of the mustard seed

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Wisconsin State Journal

This story stretches from a long ago Madison clothing store to this week?s finale of “Dancing with the Stars,” and if you think that?s a reach, you don?t have the proper faith in the mustard seed. Jennifer Connor, the star of our story, has all the faith she needs. So does Donald Driver, the Green Bay Packers receiver turned celebrity dancer, who plays a supporting role. Connor, 38, a state native and UW-Madison graduate, is proprietor of the Mustard Girl line of mustards, currently manufactured in Pleasant Prairie and available in some 750 grocery stores around the Midwest.

16-year-old graduates from UW-Madison

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Madison.com

A Monona teen may be the youngest to walk across the Kohl Center stage and receive her bachelor?s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Less than three weeks after her 16th birthday, Serra Crawford graduated Sunday. Serra says she just enjoys learning. The UW-Madison registrar?s office says Serra is the youngest graduate since 1978, the year records began to be searchable.

Around Town: Former CEO urges UW-Madison grads to take the long view

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Wisconsin State Journal

The former chief executive of Yahoo, a UW-Madison alum, advised new graduates Sunday to look past the headlines that warn about the lackluster economy and the bleak jobs picture. ?Don?t believe that the events of today are the only ones that are going to shape your future,? Carol Bartz, 63, said in one of the university?s four graduation ceremonies at the Kohl Center.

?Your work life is very long. In fact, you are the first generation that?s preparing for a 50-year career,? she said to nervous laughter from graduates and their family members.

Strategy in recall expected to focus on voter shifts in recent elections

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Wisconsin State Journal

The historic recall election targeting Gov. Scott Walker is such a close race, the divisions between voters so entrenched, that the outcome is likely to come down to voter turnout.Both sides agree on that point. But what are they going to do about it? “Look for them to be targeting the counties that have shown shifts, in turnout, or direction, or vote margin,” said Charles Franklin, poll director for Marquette University Law School. That could be areas that have swung between blue and red, or between largely backing Democrats and Republicans, in recent statewide elections such as the 2006 and 2010 governor’s races, as well as the 2011 state Supreme Court race.

Tom Oates: College football endgame should be 8-team playoff

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Madison.com

For years, the Big Ten was viewed as the most powerful entity in college football. Lately, however, the conference has been in full backpedal mode. Or maybe it?s just some good old-fashioned politicking. Whatever you want to call it, the national debate over changing the BCS format from a two-team championship game to a four-team playoff has put Jim Delany, the Big Ten?s always-visionary and sometimes-pushy commissioner, in a mood to compromise.

UW grad bikes from Madison to St. Louis in dad’s honor

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WKOW-TV 27

MADISON (WKOW) — As many seniors get ready to walk the stage this weekend, one graduating senior from UW-Madison is preparing for the longest bike ride of his life. To raise awareness for Parkinson?s disease, Donald Malchow is biking from St. Mary?s Hospital in Madison to St. Mary?s Health Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Urban Outdoors: Saving open-grown oaks

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Madison.com

Saving open-grown oaks, those that were once part of a savanna ecosystem, is one place where urban outdoors residents can be involved in saving a part of outdoors history. Some of these open-grown oaks still remain, even in urban settings, but crowding from our own planting and building are turning them into forest trees, or firewood. These remaining trees, like the huge swamp white oak along Linden Drive on UW-Madison?s west campus, is a beautiful example of an open-grown tree. Its lower limbs survive today, some nearly touching the ground.

Alleged tip jar thief chased, arrested

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Capital Times

A heroin user who needed money to buy more of the narcotic allegedly stole a tip jar from a food cart on the UW-Madison Library Mall before being chased by a cart employee and eventually arrested by Madison police. Dustin Skinner, 21, Waukesha, was tentatively charged with possession of heroin, possession of drug paraphernalia and theft, according to a police news release.

Campus Connection: Russia plans to send students to top universities abroad

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Capital Times

The Russian government is set to pay for up to 2,000 of its students per year to attend top universities elsewhere around the world in an effort to produce more scientists and bolster global research collaborations, Nature is reporting. Students who take advantage of the scholarships, however, will be required to return to Russia to work. Ken Cutts, the recruitment and media services manager for UW-Madison?s Office of Admissions, says he isn?t expecting a significant influx of these students and isn?t aware of any plans by the university to lure Russians to town. UW-Madison?s 2011-12 fall enrollment report indicates there were 37 students from Russia, including 13 undergraduates, attending the university.

Campus Connection: Finalists for dean of UW School of Human Ecology post named

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Capital Times

UW-Madison has named three finalists to become the next dean of the School of Human Ecology….Dates haven?t been finalized, but at some point these candidates will visit campus to meet with faculty, staff, students and others, and to give a public presentation. It was announced in July 2011 that Robin Douthitt — who has served as dean of the School of Human Ecology since 2001 — would be stepping down from her post in the summer of 2012.

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Plain Talk: Two books explain protests that led to recall

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Capital Times

Paul Buhle and Frank Emspak, emeritus professor with the UW?s School for Workers, add an informative chapter on the history of unions in Wisconsin and how the state sparked public worker unions, adding context to how the citizens of the state could spawn such an impressive pushback. The two do show their ignorance, however, while discussing the 1977 Madison newspaper strike.

Doug Moe: From pier group to powerful WWIG

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Hillary Clinton was a rock star. Ann Richards was hot. And Molly Ivins was, well, Molly Ivins, just as she always was, even at the Governor?s Mansion in Maple Bluff. Over the past quarter-century, those women were among the keynote speakers at the annual scholarship banquet hosted by Wisconsin Women in Government WWIG, a group founded over cocktails on the Edgewater Pier in 1987 that?s celebrating its 25th anniversary next week with a banquet Thursday night at Monona Terrace. The keynote speaker is Dana Perino, who was White House press secretary for President George W. Bush.

Today, the WWIG annual dinner helps provide college scholarships for women interested in public service, as well as funds participation of high school girls in Badger Girls State. In 1999, WWIG partnered with the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison to create a public policy graduate seminar. They also have an internship ? named for the late Legislative Council director Bonnie Reese ? that gives young women experience working in government offices.

Big Ten commish: Cities likely to bid for national college football title game

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Madison.com

CHICAGO ? How about a national championship game in Detroit? Or Minneapolis? What about Boston or New York? With college football headed toward a playoff, Big Ten administrators this week came out in favor of staging those games in bowls, a step that would keep the conference?s longstanding ties to the Rose Bowl. But league officials said they could see the title game being played in cities other than the usual suspects in California, Florida and Louisiana, though they did not offer any specific suggestions. Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez said part of the problem is transparency ? or a lack of ? with the current rankings system. He wants more clarity.

“I personally think there should be a committee, and it should be transparent so all the coaches and the public know the criteria, where the most weight is put and why decisions are made,” Alvarez said.

RNC goes all in to defend Walker, but where’s the DNC?

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Capital Times

Joel Rogers, a UW sociologist and political theorist, says that we often miss the reality of how money works in politics. The point at which to look at the role of money in politics is not the final tabulation that says one candidate or party had more money than the other. The point at which to compare is at the early and mid-stages of a campaign. Does one side have such an overwhelming advantage that it can effectively silence the other? Does one candidate have the ability to so dominate the discourse that their messages come to define the debate? That?s what Scott Walker and his supporters have tried to do.

….It won?t just be that the Democratic National Committee will be identified as a dysfunctional political operation when compared to the Republican National Committee. A failure to leap into an essential fight about the future of working families and their unions, as well as public education and public services, will raise questions about whether D.C. Democrats ?get? what America is debating about.

UW men’s hockey: Makeover likely for helmets

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Madison.com

While his peers overwhelmingly endorse a major change to the rules about protective head gear, University of Wisconsin men?s hockey coach Mike Eaves is slightly torn. At meetings next month in Indianapolis, the NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Committee is planning to formally recommend a switch from full face shields to three-quarter visors on helmets.

Madison Politiscope: 2010 revisited? Barrett trails Walker by 6 points in latest poll

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Capital Times

One week after celebrating a landslide victory over Kathleen Falk in the Democratic gubernatorial recall primary, Tom Barrett faces a painful reality: Polls show he trails Gov. Scott Walker by almost the same margin that separated him from Walker in the November 2010 governor?s race. The latest Marquette University Law School poll, conducted by visiting professor Charles Franklin and released Wednesday, shows Walker ahead of Barrett 50 percent to 44 percent, with only 3 percent undecided.

Tech and Biotech: Fitchburg startup, Intuitive Biosciences, buys Gentel Bio assets

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Wisconsin State Journal

Intuitive Biosciences opened its doors in Fitchburg in March, and, led by a former TomoTherapy executive, wants to come out of the gate with a series of proven products. Intuitive plans to buy many of the assets of Gentel Biosciences, also of Fitchburg. The deal, whose terms have not been disclosed, is expected to finalize by the end of June, said Shawn Guse, Intuitive?s president and chief executive officer. Guse also is CEO of a separate biotech company, Apartia Pharmaceuticals, a startup based on UW-Madison research, aimed at developing a new class of antibiotics.

Phil Haslanger: Campus minister?s death calls us to remember his values

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Capital Times

Madison lost one of its saints last month. Not that the Rev. Ed Beers would have described himself as a saint. Nor does Madison exactly have a civic category for sainthood. But for a lifetime, Beers moved between the worlds of sacred and secular, leaving both of them better off for his presence. As a campus minister based at Pres House on State Street in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he breathed in the tear gas of the anti-war clashes. He served as a bridge between students and university administrators. He helped students navigate their way through that turbulent period. In the process, he helped redefine the way religious groups went about serving students and faculty in campus settings.

UW athletics: Richter honored by Big Ten Club of Southern California : Sports

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Madison.com

Pat Richter, the star receiver for the University of Wisconsin football team who went on to rejuvenate the Badgers? fortunes as athletic director, has been named the Person of the Year by the Big Ten Club of Southern California. Richter was honored Tuesday at a banquet at the Wrigley Mansion in Pasadena, Calif., where in the 1963 Rose Bowl he set records by catching 11 passes for 163 yards in the Badgers? dramatic 42-37 loss to Southern California.

NCAA women’s rowing: Badgers earn fifth straight berth to nationals

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Madison.com

For the fifth straight season, the University of Wisconsin women?s rowing team will compete at the NCAA championships. The Badgers were selected Tuesday to the 16-team field for the May 25-27 event at Lake Mercer in West Windsor, N.J. Wisconsin is making its ninth trip to the national championships since 1997, when rowing became an NCAA sport. This marks the Badgers? seventh appearance in eight seasons under coach Bebe Bryans.

Head ’em up, move ’em out: Thousands of UW students moving out of dorms this week

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Capital Times

Spring is here! The birds are chirping, the grass is growing, car horns are blaring and tempers are rising all over the UW-Madison campus. Why? It?s move-out time. This annual rite of spring is like a campus tsunami, with 7,000 students juggling finals and moving boxes at the same time. Add in thousands of family members and friends heading to commencements Friday through Sunday at the Kohl Center, across Dayton Street from the southeast campus complex of dorms, and you can understand why this should be called May Madness.

Plain Talk: Tinkering with state retirement courts disaster

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Capital Times

All government workers in Wisconsin, except those in the city and county of Milwaukee, contribute to the state?s own pension plan, which administers and invests the funds. The state system is currently 99.5 percent funded. A special committee is currently looking at the state system and is due to issue a report in mid-June, but 401(k) options have already been touted in the Legislature, although so far they?ve fallen by the wayside….The Walker administration has signaled that it isn?t going to push changes, at least in the near future. But it would be best to keep a close lookout.

Campus Connection: UW prof named to panel tasked with examining achievement gap

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Capital Times

UW-Madison professor Gloria Ladson-Billings is one of seven education heavyweights from across the country named to a panel that?s designed to accelerate and advise on efforts to close achievement gaps at schools in the United States. The NEA Foundation on Tuesday announced the scholars and practitioners who would serve as the inaugural cohort of its Senior Fellows Advisory Group. Dawn Crim, the School of Education?s associate dean for external relations, says Ladson-Billings and others within UW-Madison continue to work with the Madison schools on a range of issues -? including closing the achievement gap.

Law firm charges UW $43,700 for two Chadima investigations

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

It cost UW-Madison about $43,700 to hire a retired Dane County Circuit judge to lead two inquiries into John Chadima, the senior associate athletic director who resigned earlier this year amid a sexual assault allegation. On Tuesday, the university released invoices submitted by Patrick Fiedler, now an attorney with the law firm Axley Brynelson.Three other investigators who worked with Fielder on the first inquiry were paid $11,900. Fielder worked with two detectives in the second investigation, but the university could not produce those billing records Tuesday.