During my 14 years at the helm of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council I came to realize that the battle against government secrecy would never end.
As soon as you’d win one open records or meetings fight, another would pop up in a heartbeat.
Economists are hanging black crepe on the New Year’s baby even before the tyke pushes the old guy out the door. And no wonder: From the financial industry to real estate to auto manufacturing, there’s plenty of grim news seeping into almost every sector.
Technology-based businesses are not immune, but some emerging national and global trends suggest most of Wisconsin’s tech-driven companies and clusters can survive 2009 and even prosper in 2010 and beyond.
The first meeting of a new coalition to combat alcohol abuse in Dane County will be held Monday night after being postponed in early December because of bad weather.
Quoted: J. Michael Collins, a professor who specializes in consumer psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In the largest study of its kind, researchers have shown that the risk of autism increases for firstborn children and children of older parents.
The risk of a firstborn with an autism spectrum disorder triples after a mother turns 35 and a father reaches 40.
At the end point of a 10-year plan the University of Wisconsin System drafted to increase diversity at its 26 public colleges and universities, minority enrollment has crept upward.
But the numbers suggest the system remains far from equitable.
MADISON (WKOW) — from Madison PD: Madison police are investigating a home invasion and armed robbery just one block away from the Brittany Zimmermann murder scene.
John Wiley, to paraphrase the words of poet Dylan Thomas, did not go quietly into the night.
Just days before stepping down as University of Wisconsin-Madison chancellor on Sept. 1, Wiley inked a blistering rebuke of state officials and the state’s largest business lobby, accusing them of putting Wisconsin on the road to becoming a “permanent third-world state.”
Eleanor Maxine Bennett died at age 93 from complications of old age and a series of strokes on Dec. 23, 2008, in Madison. In 1953 she became a full time faculty member of the University Medical School as an associate professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Otolaryngology, and was the only woman on the faculty. She later became chairman and professor of Otolaryngology in the Department of Surgery at the University of Wisconsin Medical School.
One week after starting slowly and playing poorly in losing its Big Ten women’s basketball opener, the University of Wisconsin faced another early double-digit deficit.
This time, UW regrouped quickly enough to take a four-point halftime lead and then made several crucial plays in the final 2-plus minutes to pull away for a 62-52 victory over Minnesota in front of an announced crowd of 6,045 Monday night at the Kohl Center.
For people whose New Year’s resolutions include going back to college, the two-year University of Wisconsin-Washington County has a contest that might make it easier, particularly in difficult economic times.
The school’s “Extreme Educational Makeover” contest will provide one winner with a free semester of classes, including tuition, fees and money for books – about a $2,600 value.
….When it comes to clean energy, the Badger State has a unique combination of assets that can help us capitalize on such a plan and lead the way into the new energy future. We have vast renewable energy potential from wind and solar power, the research laboratories to develop new energy technologies, the manufacturing base to build them, and the farms to grow the next generation of fuels.
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have isolated the set of three genes that made the Spanish flu the most deadly influenza pandemic in history.
A team led by UW-Madison virologists Yoshihiro Kawaoka and Tokiko Watanabe identified the genes that give the virus the ability to reproduce in lung tissue — the trait which caused primary pneumonia among its victims and made the 1918 influenza pandemic so deadly. The findings were reported Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
MADISON – Betty Walker Smith, a lifelong advocate for the rights of women, families and minorities, died at home on Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008, at age 90. After two years at Nebraska Wesleyan University, she finished her undergraduate education at the University of Wisconsin. She graduated in 1941 with a B.S. in Journalism; years later, in 1974, she completed a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration. Long active in Republican Party politics at the county, state and national levels, she firmly believed that the way to improve the lives of women, families, and minorities, was through the negotiations and compromises involved in politics. A liberal Republican feminist, she was active in the women’s movement for over 40 years.
ORLANDO, Fla. — A disappointing season for the University of Wisconsin football team ended with a thud.
Here’s all you need to know about Florida State’s 42-13 victory over the Badgers Saturday in the Champs Sports Bowl: The Seminoles’ defense outscored UW’s offense two touchdowns to one.
Maybe we’ll never be 100 percent sure whether the entire puck crossed the goal line on the last shot Sunday night, but all that counted was that the referee staring at it said it didn’t.
MADISON — For the first time in a generation Democrats control the Legislature and the governor’s office, but their ability to set the state’s agenda will be hamstrung by the overwhelming $5.4 billion budget shortfall.
“I think it’s going to be really ugly,” said Mordecai Lee, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a former Democratic state lawmaker.
The Legislature begins its 2009 session on Jan. 5.
Think Wisconsin is having buyer’s remorse about the multi-million, multi-year rollover contract it gave Bret Bielema?
All the embarrassments of a regular season gone wrong, the kind of mistakes that should’ve been fixed and therefore redeemed with a month to prepare, were compounded and repeated to an astonishing degree Saturday on the final proving ground for 2008, the Champs Sports Bowl.
Just when there was a realistic expectation for a brighter future, the outlook dimmed like sunshine over Citrus Bowl Stadium as the 42-13 beating by a Florida State team that was Florida State in name only wore into the night.
So this is how the University of Wisconsin’s third season under Bret Bielema ended Saturday in the Champs Sports Bowl.
With a whimper.
Seven great ideas that germinated or came to full flower in the Badger State in 2008, including stem cell advances and the Wisconsin Genomics Initiative.
Mentions that Gov. Jim Doyle announced in October that Wisconsin’s four biggest academic research institutions had formed a collaborative effort aimed at giving the state an edge in the emerging field of personalized medicine, where treatments are tailored to individuals. Participants in the Wisconsin Genomics Initiative are Marshfield Clinic, Medical College of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW-Milwaukee.
The 911 dispatcher who handled an April 2 call from the cell phone of a University of Wisconsin-Madison student who was slain will serve a three-day unpaid suspension because of the incident, officials said Friday.
MADISON, Wis. — A 911 dispatcher accused of mishandling a 911 call apparently made by a slain University of Wisconsin-Madison student sometime before she was killed will be suspended without pay for three days in connection with the incident.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — It’s the “P” word that Willy Leparulo dreads. Pingpong.
“It’s like putting nails on a chalk board,” Leparulo said. “It’s defeating some of the stereotype with just the general sport. Hopefully, by calling it table tennis you get a little bit more respect.”
Dear Editor: In tough economic times, it would seem fair for University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema to do what Ted Williams, the Boston Red Sox slugger, once did after having a bad season. He asked that his salary be reduced for the next year.
It would say a lot for accountability at the UW and elsewhere.
John Murphy
Madison
Everyone who has heard the recording of the 911 call from Brittany Zimmermann’s cell phone seems to agree that something went horribly wrong at the Dane County emergency dispatch center April 2. The UW-Madison student from Marshfield was murdered in her apartment and apparently called police during the attack, but officers were not immediately dispatched.
It’s with great pleasure that we announce the All-Time Roster, featuring the best player at each jersey number in University of Wisconsin football history.
This six-week project, originated by Capital Times football beat writer Jim Polzin, tapped into the expertise of a voting panel that included three-time Rose Bowl champion coach Barry Alvarez and former UW athletic director Pat Richter, as well as a cross-section of local media members who have followed the team extensively.
The plane carrying the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team had arrived late to Miami International airport this past November and any opportunity of making the connecting flight to St. Thomas looked lost.
But there was hope in the form of Andy North, who was on the flight with the team. He quickly and quietly fixed the problem as soon as he got inside the terminal. Amazingly, the plane was waiting for the team when the Badgers arrived at the gate. Every piece of luggage miraculously made it, too.
UW-Madison’s winter commencement ceremonies have passed, but one student’s speech has generated continuing controversy for giving parents and families a little too much detail about what their graduates may have been doing over the past four or more years.
UW-Madison graduate Savannah Ziegelbauer spoke on behalf of graduates at the 10 a.m. ceremony Sunday. While her speech’s focus was on three campus landmarks that symbolized the growth and achievements of graduates, it also made eight references to drinking or partying — including four in the first 30 seconds — which caused offense for some faculty and audience members.
Wisconsin’s new law that requires hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims may be unenforceable due to an 11th-hour administrative rule released by the Bush administration that allows medical staff to refuse to provide services they find morally objectionable.
“It would in essence nullify our compassionate care law,” confirmed Rea Holmes, executive assistant of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
Robert Kraig, director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin, has long been a fan of politics, as his poster and button collection in his Milwaukee office demonstrates.
His job description last fall included appearing at presidential campaign rallies in Wisconsin with a person dressed in a cow costume. The stunt was part of the “Got Health Care” campaign by Citizen Action of Wisconsin, a grass-roots group that largely focuses on health care reform, labor unions and other organizations.
That the program director for Citizen Action would be attending rallies dressed as a cow isn’t surprising. Less expected is that Kraig also is the author of a book selected by The Wall Street Journal last month as the best study on presidential rhetoric.
The book, “Woodrow Wilson and the Lost World of the Oratorical Statesman,” was ranked first in a weekly feature that asks an expert to list the five best books on a topic.
The book was an outgrowth of Kraig’s dissertation for a doctorate in rhetoric from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the product of 10 years of work – the last four spent in libraries from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. doing original research. Kraig shares credit for the book with Stephen Lucas, his adviser at UW.
Among those declining to issue the permits are the Capitol Police, State Patrol, Department of Natural Resources’ Law Enforcement Bureau and University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department.
At first blush, southeastern Wisconsin is coming out strong this year for the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan contest.
Organizers of the annual contest say they already have 25 entries, nine of which came from businesses or individuals in the corridor running from Sheboygan to Kenosha. That’s on track to reach last year’s total of nearly 300 entries, said Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, which runs the contest. Mentions a participant from UW-Madison.
Sandy Wilcox is doing his best to remain upbeat.
Yet the longtime president of the University of Wisconsin Foundation — a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation that is the official fundraising arm for UW-Madison — realizes there is no good way to sugarcoat the current global financial and economic crisis and the impact it’s having on his organization.
A University of Wisconsin-Madison engineer has been honored with the country’s highest honor for scientists at the beginning of their research careers, the UW announced.
Electrical and Computer Engineering Associate Professor Zhenqiang Jack Ma was among 67 researchers honored with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers at a White House ceremony on Dec. 19.
Signs will be posted in UW Health clinics next month telling patients that drug companies may be paying their doctors for research or consulting work.
University of Wisconsin-Madison officials say they will post the signs as part of an ongoing effort to strengthen conflict-of-interest policies.
Although two reserves who have not played this season have been declared academically ineligible for the Champs Sports Bowl, University of Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema doesn’t anticipate any additional losses.
“No one in our two-deep is going to be a concern,” Bielema said Monday after UW’s first practice in Orlando in preparation for the game Saturday against Florida State.
A source close to the toy industry has once again leaked a copy of Santaâ??s perks list for Wisconsin politicians and newsmakers. Hereâ??s what the good boys and girls in Madison and Washington will reportedly find in their stockings this Christmas week. Chancellor Biddy Martin is on the list for a “long honeymoon.”
Quoted: Cynthia Jaspar, a consumer spending expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
A Madison company that is developing a better way to grow stem cells has received a $50,000 grant from the state, the governor’s office confirmed late Monday.
Shiloh Laboratories LLC was formed last year and began expanding its operations in the last few months following a scientific breakthrough, said Thomas Primiano, the company’s founder.
A judge refused Monday to order Dane County to release a 911 call made from a murdered college student’s cell phone around the time she was killed.
But the judge said the county must make public portions of a 911 call made by her fiancé when he discovered her body.
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have re-created the key traits of a devastating neurological disease in the lab using stem cells derived from an afflicted patient, a breakthrough that will allow scientists the opportunity to better study the ailment and develop new treatments for it.
The findings, to be reported this week in the journal Nature, came out of UW-Madison stem cell biologist Clive Svendsen’s lab and relate to spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA. The team at UW-Madison and a group at the University of Missouri-Columbia created these disease-specific stem cells by genetically reprogramming skin cells from a patient with spinal muscular atrophy.
Recordings of the 911 calls from a Madison homicide victim’s cell phone and her fiancee will not be released to the public, a Dane County judge decided Monday.
Judge Richard Niess said the tapes still had investigative value to the police and that value was more important than the public interest in disclosing them.
The Wisconsin State Journal asked on April 17 for recordings of all 911 calls related to the death of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann on April 2.
Using higher education to solve the economic and social problems of the present and future was a highlight of several speeches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s winter commencement ceremonies Sunday.
Nearly 3,000 students received graduate or undergraduate degrees as part of the winter commencement, although typically only about half attend the two ceremonies.
Players receive stipends to help with living expenses from USA Hockey and the United States Olympic Committee. Some have part-time jobs; others are continuing their studies.
Tom Osiecki, a longtime Minnesota high school and college coach, serves as the coach. The Olympic coach, however, will be chosen in late January, according to Michele Amidon, the director of womenâ??s hockey operations for USA Hockey. Three candidates are in the running: Harvard Coach Katey Stone, who coached the womenâ??s select team that won the Four Nations Cup; Ohio State Coach Jackie Barto, who directed the national team to a gold medal at the world championship; and Mark Johnson, who has coached Wisconsin to N.C.A.A. championships.
The pain in Aaron Henry’s right knee, pain that ultimately led to a second surgery and his decision to redshirt this season, was often brutal.
“Physically I just wasn’t ready to play,” the University of Wisconsin cornerback said recently.
The pain Henry experienced watching his teammates struggle during a 7-5 regular season was even more unbearable.
Using a simple skin biopsy from a young boy with a deadly genetic illness, scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have provided the first demonstration that reprogramming can offer researchers an unprecedented view of human disease.
The skin cells came from a boy with spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, an illness that is similar to Lou Gehrig’s disease, but afflicts children. The disease kills motor neurons until muscles stop working. Children become immobile, dependent on respirators and feeding tubes, and eventually die. The boy, whose biopsy the scientists used, ultimately died of SMA at age 3.
For eight years, a small Fitchburg company has been working to create inexpensive portable sensors that detect deadly gases, pesticide exposure, even rotting fish and meat.
The challenge now is to perfect a product that companies and consumers want to buy.
The idea for the sensors grew out of a breakthrough made by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers in 2001.
U.S. scientists have created the first human model for studying a devastating nerve disease, which allows them to watch how the disease develops and could help researchers find a way to treat it.
Using skin cells from a child with spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic disease that attacks motor neurons in the spinal cord, researchers grew batches of nerve cells with the same genetic defects. The finding allowed scientists to watch the nerve cells die off.
“Now we can start from the beginning of development and replay the disease process in the lab dish,” Clive Svendsen of the University of Wisconsin-Madison said in a telephone interview.
Quoted: Gary Gerhart, a professor of human resources at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
A police captain testified Friday that releasing an edited tape of a 911 call from a murdered college student’s cellular phone wouldn’t hamper the investigation into the killing. But other officials said that making public even part of the tape could jeopardize their hunt for the killer.
In other tech milestones, Microsoft and Google opened Madison facilities, plans took shape for the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, the Wisconsin Angel Network garnered national attention, and a national stem cell bank was established here. The city hosted the World Stem Cell Summit, and University Research Park–already planning a second west-side park–announced a future downtown urban site.
A detective investigating the slaying of a University of Wisconsin-Madison student urged a judge Friday not to release audio of the 911 call she made before her death.
The recording of the call from Brittany Zimmermann is a crucial piece of evidence â?? a digital witness to the crime â?? and releasing it will “hinder our police department from apprehending the perpetrator,” detective John Summers said.
Even my overactive imagination gets a little boggled at the possibilities awaiting the occupants of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery and the Morgridge Institute for Research. This is where things get a little science fiction-y as scientists talk of cures for disease and improvements in our bodies and brains. Pretty stimulating stuff.
MADISON, Wis. — A victim’s advocate said the release of audio of a 911 call from a slain University of Wisconsin-Madison student’s cell phone would traumatize her family.
Bret Bielema assumed that he was alone with his thoughts — and the soap lather — while showering after the Illinois game, a much-needed 27-17 win, snapping a troubling four-game Big Ten losing streak for the Wisconsin Badgers football team. Bielema was, thus, startled when he heard a voice from what he thought was an empty locker room in the McClain Facility. “Congratulations,” Barry Alvarez offered. “You just became a coach today.”
Tuition at the state’s flagship public university will continue to climb despite the flagging economy, University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin said in an e-mail today to faculty, staff and students.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/36422664.html
Mentions that at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, students faced the prospect of having their final exams postponed to Saturday and Sunday. After assessing conditions, officials said exams were scheduled as planned on Friday.
A decade after he became the first person to isolate and grow human embryonic stem cells, University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist James Thomson was one of three stem cell researchers awarded the 2008 Massry Prize, an honor that has proved a frequent precursor to the Nobel Prize.
Since 1996 when the prize was established, eight of its 21 winners have gone on to receive the Nobel.
VistaGen Therapeutics, a biotechnology company in suburban San Francisco, has signed a deal to use human embryonic stem cell patents from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
VistaGen, which is located in South San Francisco, Calif., will use the license to accelerate its commercial programs focused on using stem cells as next-generation tools for predictive toxicology and drug discovery screenings.
