Parents of Wisconsin college students have been receiving official-looking letters urging them to pay $49 to apply for financial aid, but the mailings are actually from a private business that charges money for information available online for free.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The University of Wisconsin System gave more than $1.7 million in need-based financial aid to students last semester thanks to a scholarship donation.
The University of Wisconsin Hospital board voted 11-3 Wednesday to support a proposed clinic that would perform second-trimester abortions at the Madison Surgery Center.
The action, at a public meeting, followed nearly three hours of emotional testimony from supporters and opponents.
The final decision on the clinic is up to the surgery center’s board, which is expected to act in a private meeting this week.
Dear Editor:
Madison takes pride in being tolerant and accepting, a city that embraces diversity and encourages its citizens to be open-minded and respectful of others and their belief. Are we all those things? I think not!
Dear Editor:
The Madison Surgery Center seeks to provide essential health care to women in our community. I am appalled at the tactics of anti-choice extremists who are now clamoring to end women’s access to these reproductive health services.
Dear Editor:
I am so thankful that the Madison Surgery Center is stepping up to fill the gap in women’s health care. They are ensuring that women in our community have access to comprehensive care.
As a community, we should be appreciative of the leadership and integrity of health care officials from UW-Madison, Meriter and UWMF. They are demonstrating their commitment to public health and safety by providing the full continuum of affordable, and legal, reproductive health services in a safe setting with qualified providers.
Gov. Jim Doyle will push back the release of his next two-year spending plan by a week — until Feb 17 — in the hope the federal stimulus package provides some relief.
One conversation last spring convinced University of Wisconsin defensive coordinator Dave Doeren the Badgers had a realistic chance to sign then-junior Kraig Appleton, one of the top wide receivers in the Midwest.
Appleton, from East St. Louis, Ill., proved to Doeren he was familiar with UW’s penchant for running the ball and how he could flourish in that offense.
The University of Wisconsin women’s basketball team, which Sunday suffered its worst loss of the season and has lost its last four games, suffered another hit Wednesday.
UW coach Lisa Stone announced that junior forward Mariah Dunham, who has started 13 of 20 games this season and is one of the more versatile players on the roster, has been dismissed for violating team rules.
Naveen Duraisamy’s future seemed enviable: Despite a down economy, the engineering student had a job offer from a Fortune 500 company, where he’d start after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Then, days before his Dec. 21 commencement, the international student got an e-mail from his future employer: Caterpillar Inc. had rescinded the job offer, citing uncertain economic times.
With his student visa about to expire, Duraisamy quickly enrolled in classes so he could stay in the country. He began the job search from scratch.
Mariah Dunham’s career at the University of Wisconsin is over.
Badgers women’s basketball coach Lisa Stone has dismissed the junior forward from the team, she announced Wednesday afternoon in a statement.
Gov. Jim Doyle has delayed the introduction of his budget, originally scheduled for Tuesday, until Feb. 17.
Wisconsin had more of its high school graduates taking Advanced Placement (AP) exams last year than any other state in the Midwest, according to data released Wednesday by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
The state also had more grads percentage-wise getting passing grades on the exams than any other Midwestern state.
Its name is dull but its mission important, and over the past couple of years the Group Health Insurance Program with Wisconsin’s Department of Employee Trust Funds has gotten a lot of national attention for something close to a miracle: containing the costs of health insurance coverage.
That is partly because ETF administers a program with a lot of buying clout. It purchases health plans for nearly 230,000 state employees, including UW staff, and local government workers. That is the biggest pool of employees in Wisconsin.
OK, I get the part about fixing up the bridges and roads.
But can somebody explain again how the $900 billion economic stimulus package is going to replace the millions of jobs being shed as the air continues to rush out of the greed bubble?
Quoted: Carolyn Heinrich, director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs, and Phil O’Leary, professor in the Department of Engineering Professional Development
Dear Editor:
Five University of Wisconsin-Madison student groups — Sex Out Loud, College Democrats of Madison, UW Students for Choice, Medical Students for Choice, and Wisconsin Law Students for Reproductive Justice — commend the UW Hospital and Clinics and the Madison Surgery Center for demonstrating their commitment to women’s health care. We would like to take this opportunity to further urge the UW Hospital and Clinics and the Madison Surgery Center to fully incorporate second-trimester abortion procedures into their health care services.
Just when local anti-abortion groups were wondering how they’d stay relevant with Democrats now in control of the Statehouse and White House, along comes Madison Surgery Center’s proposal to offer second-trimester abortions.
The issue has, pardon the expression, breathed new life into the movement.
To address Madison’s ongoing problem with chronic street alcoholics, a new list could soon be making its way to liquor stores across the city that would prevent those on it from buying alcohol.
While city staffers and members of the Alcohol License Review Committee (ALRC) still are working out the details, finding one’s way onto the “alcohol ban list,” as it is currently referred to, would be no easy task. In order to be placed on the list, an individual must be deemed a “habitual drunkard,” a term currently found in an old state statute, but not defined anywhere. Once the term is defined, the list can be created.
A Wisconsin paper company researcher has been chosen to head the Wisconsin Bioenergy Initiative (WBI), a public-private partnership formed to make the state a leader in developing clean, renewable energy.
Troy Runge, research director at Kimberly-Clark Corp., was announced as the director of WBI on Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Energy selected UW-Madison in 2008 as the site of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, so the WBI is expected to be a catalyst in getting public and private ideas to move forward on clean energy.
By the slimmest of margins, Madison’s City Council voted Tuesday night against a downtown project that partnered a fraternity house with a local developer.
The development paired historic renovation developer the Alexander Co. with the Acacia House, 222 W. Langdon St., in order to bring much-needed improvements to the historic building. The plan involved turning the house into a combined fraternity and apartment building and adding an 18-unit apartment building behind the historic building on a gravel parking lot.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Jim Doyle says he might delay releasing his proposal for a state budget if a federal stimulus package isn’t ready.
A University of Wisconsin-Madison research team has unlocked clues on how to possibly prevent Parkinson’s disease — by boosting a gene that prevents a toxic chemical from destroying neurons in a region of the brain that regulates movement.
UW-Madison pharmacy professor Jeffrey Johnson and colleagues Pei-Chun Chen, Marcelo Vargas and Delinda Johnson studied what effect boosting the Nrf-2 protein would have in blocking MPTP, a chemical that kills neurons in the substantia nigra region of the brain.
A Madison firm has developed a bacteria-fighting skin substitute that should help prevent infection from burns and other severe skin injuries.
Stratatech Corp. announced the innovation Tuesday in an article published online by the journal Molecular Therapy.
The bacteria-fighting skin substitute was developed without using a virus, which is believed to be the first time such an approach has been successful.
LAND O’ LAKES, Wis. (AP) — The Conserve School in Land O’ Lakes has notified the state of a mass layoff of 32 employees starting March 31. Most of the layoffs will occur June 30 and be permanent.
The layoffs announced Monday by the state Department of Workforce Development followed the private college prep boarding school’s announcement Friday that it plans a major cutback over the next two years.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are hoping for a slice of federal stimulus money to upgrade the dairy barn.
The building that houses the university’s research cows was built in the 1950s. The stalls were designed for smaller cows. Improved genetics have made research cows beefier, so it’s a tight fit.
Young scientists at the Glenn Stephens Elementary School are all geared up for the school’s seventh annual Science Night, which will be held Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. in the school gym, 120 S. Rosa Road.
“There are six-and-half billion people on this planet, and there are 6,500 astrophysicists, so that makes each of us (astrophysicists) one in a million,” Tyson said Monday night at the Wisconsin Union Theater as part of the UW’s Distinguished Lecture Series.
….Tyson is the 21st century face of space, a mantle previously held by the late, great Carl Sagan. Tyson is director of the Hayden Planetarium and the host of PBS’ “NOVA ScienceNOW” program, aimed at educating a new generation of Americans in science.
And that is no small task.
When queried about a proposed clinic which would offer second-trimester abortions, University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Carolyn “Biddy” Martin said Monday she has received “a lot of phone calls from people on both sides of the issue.”
Physicians have proposed performing abortions for patients between 13 and 22 weeks pregnant at the Madison Surgery Center, a facility at 1 S. Park St. that is a private, joint venture of the UW Medical Foundation, UW Hospital and Clinics and Meriter Hospital.
The UW Hospital and Clinics Authority Board, of which Martin is a member, is slated to meet Wednesday afternoon to talk about the proposed abortion clinic and to give direction to hospital employees who sit on the board of the surgery center.
Nancy Zimpher, the former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who left in 2003 for the University of Cincinnati, is expected to be named the new chancellor at the State University of New York.
Julie Underwood, dean of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, called it “absolutely vital” that the state halt trends that are weakening education. She said the School Finance Network plan offers “a sustainable financial infrastructure for our public schools.”
Quoted: Christopher Green, a pediatric pulmonologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Could cold, hard cash help cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases?
The Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison hopes so.
Modeled on the X Prize awards for technology innovations, SAGE today announced $50,000 in prize money in the UW Climate Leadership Challenge.
The cold, long winter has at least one good thing going for it: It might mean the return of the Statue of Liberty to Lake Mendota.
The Hoofers, the UW-Madison’s outdoor recreation club, is hoping to bring back the iconic faux statue as part of its Winter Carnival Feb. 16-21.
Winter in Madison gives artists a new set of materials: snow, ice and freezing temperatures. In a creation that is beautiful (and, it appears, functional), first year MFA artist Hongtao Zhou has created furniture and domestic items, “rising” out of Lake Mendota. It’s located in front of the Memorial Union.
MANITOWOC, Wis. (AP) — The University of Wisconsin-Manitowoc will hold a teach-in Thursday to educate the public about global warming.
UW-Manitowoc is one of more than 500 schools and organizations nationwide that plan to participate in the National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions.
Guess what world-renowned university on the shores of Lake Mendota celebrates the big 1-6-0 on Thursday?
The University of Wisconsin-Madison, of course.
The state’s flagship institution of higher learning is 160 years old on Feb. 5, the first day of class held on that day in 1849.
Kathleen Horning, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center, has won a prestigious honor from the American Library Association.
The association, at its midwinter meeting last week in Denver, chose Horning to deliver the 2010 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture. The award is given to an individual who has distinguished themselves nationally in the field of children’s literature.
Say the word “physics” and the names Albert Einstein or Sir Isaac Newton might immediately pop into your mind. You might connect it to “rocket science” or just simply, “impossible.” Physics (or science in general) can be intimidating to both children and adults.
But UW-Madison professor Clint Sprott has been working over the last two decades to connect the word “physics” to “fun.”
Dear Editor:
The community should applaud the decision of UW Hospital and Clinics, Meriter Hospital, and the UW Medical Foundation to offer safe second trimester abortion services at their Madison Surgery Center. Second trimester abortion, provided in Madison through the end of last year by a now retired physician, is critical to the health and safety of women in Madison and throughout south-central Wisconsin.
As the final vote by the UW Hospital and Clinic’s Authority Board approaches, anti-choice groups have come to Madison to protest the decision and to disseminate myths about the clinic’s proposal. Our community deserves the facts as we move forward with this critical decision.
The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball coach didn’t try to sugarcoat the dire situation or the mediocre record: 11-9 overall and 3-5 in the Big Ten. Asked about his team’s position in regard to a potential NCAA tournament berth, he conceded, “It’s not an enviable one. It’s not one I wanted to be in at this point.”
Activists from either side of the abortion divide met face-to-face in a noisy, sometimes heated, confrontation Saturday outside the Madison clinic that may soon provide second-trimester abortions.
As many as 800 anti-abortion activists from around Wisconsin marched to the Madison Surgery Center, at 1 S. Park St., from University of Wisconsin-Madison Library Mall. State and national leaders of the anti-abortion movement speaking at Library Mall urged the marchers to hold UW Hospital officials accountable for their decision on whether to permit the procedures.
Sorry, Badgers fans, this isn’t some bizarre nightmare. Your team is in ninth place in the Big Ten.
Wisconsin’s freefall through the conference continued Saturday night with a 66-63 loss to Northwestern in which the Badgers’ defense was once again exposed.
Professor Diane Reddy has replaced the traditional lecture format with an online version of Psych 101. Students learn at their own pace but also have to obtain mastery, demonstrated by passing a quiz on each unit, before they can move on to the next.
Along the way, students get help from teaching assistants who monitor their online activity, identifying weak spots and providing advice – even if the students don’t seek it.
Initial evidence says it works: In a study of 5,000 students over two years, U-Pace students performed 12% better on the same cumulative test than students who took traditional Psych 101 with the same textbook and course content, even though U-Pace students had lower average grades than those in the conventional course.
Of the thousands of bacteria swimming inside you, relatively few are bent on destruction. Most busy themselves in a communal effort to keep you fit and free from disease – unless something changes.
Scientists have long wondered what causes harmful bacteria to cross the species barrier from animals to humans and what causes a good bacterium inside us to turn bad.
Now, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered that a single gene can cause bacteria to change hosts. Light-emitting bacteria called Vibrio fischeri colonized pinecone fish, then jumped to the bobtail squid – all because of a regulatory gene, the scientists reported Sunday in the journal Nature.
Quoted: Tracy Honn, senior artist at Silver Buckle Press, a working museum of letterpress printing in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Memorial Libraries.
Quoted: Andrew Taylor, director of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: Charles O. Jones, a Brookings Institution fellow and retired University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist.
Qupted: Joel A. Pedersen, a specialist in toxic chemicals and pathogens in the soil at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The trend of small and midsize dairy farms closing will probably accelerate after having slowed in 2007 and 2008, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison dairy specialists.
Judith Strasser, a local award-winning writer and nationally known public radio interviewer, died Thursday after a years-long battle with cancer. She was 64.
….Her writing career began in earnest in 1999 after a long career in public radio, including working as a producer and on-air interviewer for “To the Best of Our Knowledge,” a nationally syndicated weekly public radio program.
Dear Editor:
I am writing to applaud the Madison Surgery Center’s decision to fill a gap in health care for women by providing second-trimester abortions in Madison.
As a woman in my 22nd week of a very planned pregnancy, I am grateful beyond words that my baby is doing fine. I don’t know what I would do if faced with the knowledge that something had gone wrong with my pregnancy, and I had nowhere to turn.
Dear Editor:
….If the University of Wisconsin and Meriter hospitals proceed with their plans for an abortion clinic, my wife and I will be looking for another health care provider. I expect that thousands of others who still have a conscience will do likewise.
It’s bad enough for Joe Krabbenhoft that he has had to endure his team’s first five-game losing streak in over a decade. Now he’s fending off accusations that he’s a dirty player.
The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team’s senior forward has been accused of trying to intentionally harm Purdue’s Lewis Jackson when he set a screen that flattened the freshman guard during the Boilermakers’ 64-63 win over the Badgers Tuesday night at the Kohl Center.
By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s budget problem got worse Thursday.
The shortfall for the current fiscal year has increased by more than 70 percent from $346 million to $593 million, the Legislative Fiscal Office reported Thursday.
Lawmakers must come up with a way to plug that gap between now and June 30.
Over the next two years they face a shortfall that now is $5.7 billion and could grow larger still.
MADISON, Wis. — The state’s budget deficit is now projected to be larger than the $5.4 billion reported by the state departments of administration and revenue last November, according to state officials.
According to a report released on Thursday by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, tax collections are projected to be $342 Million less than the DOA report issued on Nov. 20. This puts the state’s projected deficit at more than $5.7 billion.
Call them crazy for buying a bankrupt retail store amid the toughest economy in a generation. But the owners of Campus Sport Sportswear think the concept of selling sweats, T-shirts and hats to college kids remains a sound business model.
Local businessman Mark Dunbar and two partners have purchased the leases of former Steve & Barry’s stores, one in Madison and one in East Lansing, Mich. They now operate as Campus Street Sportswear.
It’s a common scenario: Students pick a major they’re excited about (or, at least, do reasonably well) in music or dance or drama. They go to school for four or five years, then graduate with a degree in cello performance/acting/painting/dance.
Great. Then what?
Enter the Arts Enterprise Symposium, running this weekend (Jan. 30-Feb. 1) at the Pyle Center on the UW-Madison campus.
To hold the line on ticket costs in the draft of next year’s budget, the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department plans to reduce expenses. That action isn’t uncommon today, with economic hardships rolling into just about every industry.
UW’s athletics budget for the 2009-10 school year will be down from the nearly $90 million set forth for this year, said John Jentz, associate athletic director for finance, at an Athletic Board committee meeting last Tuesday. The extent of that reduction hasn’t been finalized.
But concerns have been raised about whether UW has presented an accurate revenue forecast, especially with ticket prices holding steady — not to mention a downturn in fortunes for football and, so far, men’s basketball.
Anyone looking to party hard after the 28th annual Crazylegs Classic run April 25 may have to find an outdoor venue other than the Stadium Bar.
The city of Madison is taking steps to crack down on alleged violations at the huge beer garden across from Camp Randall Stadium, which can legally hold up to 2,500 patrons.
Among the changes: limiting the operation of the Stadium Bar beer garden to just UW home football games.
