Charlie Partridge, an assistant at Pittsburgh the past five seasons, has joined the University of Wisconsin football staff and will coach the defensive linemen and specialists.
Bielema hires Partridge for staff
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Author: jnweaver
Address the state’s alcohol problem
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Wisconsin has an alcohol problem. According to a 2007 report released by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, this state is No. 1 in every type of drinking behavior – teen drinking, heavy drinking, adult drinking and binge drinking. Furthermore, we’ve held that top spot for seven years.
Plan to help UW graduates tout work outside class
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Students who graduate from the University of Wisconsin System could soon have an extra transcript to trumpet their achievements outside the classroom, system President Kevin Reilly announced Thursday.
UW football: Partridge named as assistant
Capital Times
Charlie Partridge is the newest member of the University of Wisconsin football team’s coaching staff. Partridge, who has spent the last five seasons as an assistant at Pittsburgh, will coach the Badgers’ defensive line and specialists.
Randall McCray, who coached the defensive line the past two seasons, will now coach the outside linebackers in addition to taking over recruiting coordinator duties from Dave Doeren.
Loving Ludwig: UW’s Taylor masters all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas
Capital Times
Pianist Christopher Taylor learned his first sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven when he was 9, his latest one last year at age 37. In between came the other 30 sonatas, in just about as many years.
And from Feb. 13 through April 18, the prize-winning and critically acclaimed virtuoso, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will perform all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in a series of 10 concerts.
Frances Ellsworth: UW endangers lives by refusing to close
Capital Times
Dear Editor: The University of Wisconsin endangers the lives of students, faculty, staff and Madison residents when it refuses to close its doors during inclement weather. One didn’t have to be a meteorologist to predict Wednesday morning that the snow would not let up, but would continue to fall, sometimes heavily, throughout the day.
We are proving nothing more than our foolishness by attempting to conduct “business as usual” in such conditions. Risking life and limb to conduct such business should not be expected or encouraged.
Frances Ellsworth, Madison
(This is the entire letter to the editor)
Madison’s plate is heaped high with classical music
Capital Times
This is one of those weeks when you begin to wonder just how much classical music Madison can take — and still leave fans time to work, eat and sleep.
Any one of the following concerts is so outstanding, it could easily be the lead item of this column. But somehow chronological order seems the clearest, fairest and easiest way to keep track of it all.
UW football: The days of the East Coast recruiting pipeline are over
Capital Times
Just as interesting as the states represented in the University of Wisconsin football team’s 2008 recruiting class are the states not represented.
Did you ever think you would see a day when the Badgers would land a total of six players from SEC country (Florida, Tennessee and Arkansas) and another three from Texas — and zero players from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, four states in the Northeast that have been very good to UW over the years?
The 2008 class that was unveiled Wednesday wasn’t a fluke year, either. The Badgers also didn’t sign any players from the Northeast last year and signed just one — John Moffitt of Connecticut — in the 2006 class, Bret Bielema’s first after taking over for Barry Alvarez.
What once was a rich recruiting area for UW under Alvarez has turned into an afterthought under Bielema.
Capital Times unveils major shift to Internet
Capital Times
Late this spring The Capital Times will dramatically enhance its Internet site as well as alter its print frequency from six days to two days per week to address changing habits of afternoon newspaper readers, company executives announced Thursday.
Publisher Clayton Frink said the newspaper’s online site, captimes.com, will feature increased volume, depth and timeliness of news, opinion and other information. He said the printed edition of the newspaper will expand its distribution by about five times and switch from six-day publication to two weekly tabloid-size editions.
“The Capital Times has been a progressive media voice in Madison for 90 years, and this move allows us to preserve that legacy and, in fact, reach far more people than ever before,” Frink said.
UW accuses Intel in federal lawsuit
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Intel Corp.s popular Core 2 Duo processor, the brain of many of todays personal computers, includes technology created by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers, according to a federal lawsuit accusing Intel of patent infringement.
Defensive end, quarterback highlight Badgers’ freshman class
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Depending on which football recruiting service you follow, the headline-makers in the University of Wisconsin’s 2008 freshman class are:
A defensive end who has the size and athletic ability to one day become a dominant performer and a quarterback who is already being compared to Florida’s Tim Tebow, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner.
UW’s 2008 class is set to be announced today.
Iowa’s caucuses inspired TV ad blitz (Quad City Times)
Quad-Citians got a heaping helping of 12,371 political ads on television leading up to the Jan. 3 presidential caucuses, a new study shows.
Republicans, Democrats and a handful of private groups spent an estimated $13.8 million on ads that aired in the Quad-City market since last year, part of a $43 million spending splurge at stations statewide.
The spending amounted to far more than what has been spent on advertising thus far in the nearly two dozen states holding primary and caucus contests on Super Tuesday.
The study was done by the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project. It analyzed data from the TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group. The report was released Friday.
Super Tuesday hits 24 states (Marquette Tribune)
Quoted: Barry Burden, associate professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
McCain takes GOP lead (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Quoted: Barry Burden, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin.
Big Ten Network cost? Go figure
Capital Times
How expensive is the Big Ten Network?
Thanks to BTN’s quirky pricing structure, it’s a complex question that isn’t as clear as has been stated in media reports referenced in The Capital Times last week.
BTN has received $1.10 per subscriber (and placement on basic cable) in at least some deals with providers in the Big Ten Conference states, but asks 10 cents per subscriber (and is flexible regarding placement on a higher level of service) in the rest of the country, as has been reported several times by The Capital Times.
BTN officials have repeatedly said price is a negotiable item in its so far unsuccessful efforts to reach deals with major cable companies such as Charter Communications and Time Warner. Elizabeth Conlisk, BTN vice president of communications, says its proposals to Charter and Time Warner have been well under $1.
UW eyes big new site for research rodents
Capital Times
A large underground facility for thousands of rats and mice used for research is planned as part of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery in the heart of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
A $20 million plan that includes a receiving dock and an 8,500-square-foot “vivarium” — a holding facility for live animals for observation and research — was proposed to the UW System Board of Regents for action Thursday, but the vote is now set for March to allow more discussion.
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) is requesting permission to add the vivarium to the $150 million first phase of the biomedical research institutes in the 1300 block of University Avenue at Randall Avenue and Orchard Street.
UW men crack top 10
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team jumped five spots to No. 8 in the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today coaches polls.
UW-Madison boss’ base pay may jump 66%
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
University of Wisconsin System officials are mulling a potentially huge pay raise for the next UW-Madison chancellor in hopes of attracting the best candidates to the top job at the state’s flagship school.
UW files another ‘Motion W’ suit
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The Washburn University Ichabods and the University of Wisconsin Badgers have one thing in common.
Actually, two things. Both schools use the so-called “Motion W” for their athletic mark. And they are on opposite sides of a lawsuit in federal court in which UW is accusing the Division II school of trademark infringement.
UW women’s basketball: Anderson earns Player of the Week honors
Capital Times
Based upon her efforts in the past two games, league officials gave Anderson her second Big Ten Player of the Week honor of the season on Monday.
Need for geriatric nurses growing
Capital Times
As the population of the Upper Midwest ages, more nurses trained in geriatric care are needed for the elderly.
A cooperative program among 25 colleges in the area is being developed with a $1.5 million grant to the University of Minnesota from the John A. Hartford Foundation to develop a Hartford UM Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence.
Nine Wisconsin institutions participating include Edgewood College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
UW Memorial Union’s Rathskeller murals are 80 years old
Capital Times
They are possibly our most beloved and best-known icons. They’re also, perhaps, our least appreciated works of public art.
They are the murals inside Der Rathskeller of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Memorial Union. This year marks the 80th anniversary of their creation. It’s also the 30th anniversary of the murals in the adjacent Stiftskeller.
As Obama Plans 24-State Blitz, GOP Hopefuls Reign in Spending
Washington Post
Quoted: Ken Goldstein, a University of Wisconsin professor who studies political advertising
Screening their chances
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A report released Friday by the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project offers a snapshot of the early air wars on both sides. The numbers help illustrate what advertising can and can’t accomplish in a crowded field of candidates.
Little of candidates ad money shows in Feb. 5 states
Los Angeles Times
Presidential contenders from both major parties spent a record $107 million through last Sunday to air more than 151,000 television ads — but hardly any of the media dollars were used to buy air time in the more than 20 states holding nominating contests Tuesday.
Reflecting the extraordinary focus placed on early primary and caucus states this election cycle, three times as much money was spent at New Hampshire television station WMUR — about $10 million — than had been spent in all of California. As of Sunday, ad buys in California totaled about $3 million, though that increased this week as some of the major candidates launched new TV spots in the state.
At a similar point before the Iowa caucuses, $36 million had been spent there, said Kenneth Goldstein, director of the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project, which conducted the study. By the time the Jan. 3 caucuses were over, the candidates had spent $43 million on television ads in Iowa, or about $121 for every person who cast a ballot.
Insurance, wishes and facts
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Mark J. Browne, who teaches risk management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Romney spends more on TV ads than all other GOP candidates combined (TheHill.com)
Up until the eve of the Florida primary, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) had spent nearly eight million dollars more on television advertising than the rest of the Republican presidential field combined, according to a new study.
Romney spent $29 million on 34,821 ads, more than three and a half times as much as Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who spent $8 million on 10,830 ads, according to an analysis of data through Jan. 27 by the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project.
Candidates gushing TV cash in California (Dallas Morning News)
Dallas Morning News
Quoted: Ken Goldstein, a political science professor and director of the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project.
Fund seeks consistency by playing stocks up and down
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Mark Fedenia, a co-manager of the Nakoma Absolute Return Fund and a tenured professor who was director of the Applied Security Analysis Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison business school for 21 years.
UW football: Former Badger Rudolph ‘excited’ to return as tight ends coach
Capital Times
University of Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema added more than a tight ends coach to his staff Thursday.
Bielema’s latest hire is someone who also feels extremely comfortable in the role of ambassador for the program.
When Joe Rudolph walks into prospects’ living rooms during the recruiting process, he won’t have to search for the right words to say. Rudolph can just speak from the heart.
‘Ice quake’ makes UW staff, students quiver
Capital Times
UW-Madison employees and students near Lake Mendota experienced an “ice quake” Thursday.
Buildings shook and some noise was heard at about 12:50 p.m., said UW seismologist Cliff Thurber.
“I am sure there is a big fault on the ice that developed around lunch time,” Thurber said.”One person in the Sociology Department was at a meeting on the eighth floor and heard a boom that was relatively scary, and people in Bascom Hall felt the shaking.”
From the Housing Market to the Maternity Ward
New York Times
Quoted: Morris A. Davis, an assistant professor of real estate and urban land economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business.
Rudolph back with Badgers
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
As a mobile and smart offensive guard, Joe Rudolph helped the University of Wisconsin finish in the top 10 nationally in rushing in 1993 and ’94. Now he’s been named to the UW coaching staff.
Sharp temperature drop makes Lake Mendota go pop
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Folks near Madisons Lake Mendota were shaken by a loud boom over the noon hour Thursday.
Jeannon Kralj: Barrett is the “best thing” for UW
Capital Times
Dear Editor: Don’t judge law professors by their truly nutty beliefs but do judge law professors by their writings and the tone of those writings and by what they have done and by what they have failed to do.
Kevin Barrett is the best thing that has ever happened to the University of Wisconsin.
Richard C. Lowe: “Nutty” belief? Let’s put that to debate
Capital Times
Dear Editor: Ann Althouse wrote recently on her blog: “I don’t know why the University of Wisconsin has not rehired 9/11 conspiracy believer Kevin Barrett to teach a course on the history of Islam. But if we know a person believes something truly nutty, are we not entitled to use that as evidence of his intelligence, judgment and trustworthiness?”
Really!?
Lon Ponschock: Althouse should be willing to debate
Capital Times
Dear Editor: On the subject of the truths and half-truths of the 9/11 issue, it is time to once again address the subject in terms of academic freedom for Kevin Barrett based on the documented evidence.
The presumptive attack on Barrett by UW law Professor Ann Althouse in her recent blog while at the same time refusing to engage in debate on the issue is my paramount concern.
James Buels: Has academia become the new Inquisition?
Capital Times
Dear Editor: Have American universities become the new Inquisition? Is the academic establishment so afraid some of their number might deviate from the “accepted” norms of discussion and investigation that they must attack their suspect colleagues at every opportunity to keep them in line?
Professor Ann Althouse’s remarks about Kevin Barrett are not only cruel and uncalled for, they are unethical! Isn’t it the responsibility of an academic to challenge conventional wisdom when they feel it is warranted, as a growing number of academics are doing worldwide in the case of the 9/11 attacks?
UW men’s hockey: Johnson wears dad’s No. 10, but is making a name for himself on the ice
Capital Times
Mark Johnson wasn’t sure what to think when he first learned that his youngest son, Patrick, would be wearing the same number for the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team 29 years after he played.
And if you think that’s some sort of ego trip, you don’t know the Johnson family.
The hesitation was more about wanting his son to create his own identity with the Badgers.
(Patrick Johnson has been named the WCHA’s rookie of the week for Jan. 29 – Feb. 4.)
Lucas: Moore making a push to honor Badgers’ best at Kohl Center
Capital Times
University of Wisconsin men’s basketball assistant Howard Moore couldn’t help but notice the banners hanging from the rafters in Mackey Arena when the Badgers played in West Lafayette, Ind. last Saturday.
They added new meaning to the term “Boiler-Up” since they not only recognized Purdue’s team accomplishments — such as NCAA and Big Ten titles and Final Four appearances — but acknowledged individual success.
….So it goes. Except at the Kohl Center. And Moore wonders why — why aren’t there banners honoring the UW’s more celebrated athletes in men’s and women’s basketball and hockey? This question has come up before. And a determined Moore plans on bringing it up again with the hope that it will lead to some meaningful dialogue.
Karps opens UW School of Music’s spring season
Capital Times
On Friday at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, UW cellist Parry Karp, with his pianist dad and pianist mom, Howard and Frances Karp, will open the UW School of Music’s spring season after its winter break.
….On Saturday at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, various UW faculty members will continue this year’s three-concert “European Capitals” mini-series with music and readings with the theme “Vienna, City of Contradictions.”
No clear winner yet in TV sports battle
Capital Times
To listen to sports talk radio or read Internet message boards and newspapers, you would think a deluge of customers has abandoned Charter Communications for satellite to get the Big Ten Network and NFL Network.
Yet the available figures show little, if any, impact on Charter, and the company emphatically says its hard-line stance was the right decision.
“There would be much more negative impact to our customer numbers if we forced the high cost of both Big Ten Network and NFL Network on every customer, as they want us to, than (there has been) from taking the stand we have taken,” said Charter regional spokesman John Miller.
Badgers, Bison unable to meet
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Although officials from the University of Wisconsin and North Dakota State have been trying to schedule a non-conference football game for next season, it appears those efforts will prove fruitless.
UW sports: First ticket price freeze in 16 years credited to Big Ten Network payout
Capital Times
The last time the University of Wisconsin athletic department did not include a ticket price increase in its annual budget, its football team couldn’t fill Camp Randall, its basketball and hockey teams were playing in homey but outdated venues, and its entire spending authority amounted to $16.5 million.
How times have changed.
At a meeting of the UW Athletic Board’s finance committee on Tuesday, associate athletic director for finance John Jentz presented a preliminary 2008-09 budget that tops out at $89.9 million — but includes no ticket price hikes for the first time since 1992, a review of documents by The Capital Times indicates.
Jentz said UW was able to keep ticket prices static thanks to an infusion of $4.1 million from the Big Ten Network — the athletic department’s share of the $6.2 million annual payout from the fledgling network, with the remainder going to campus for scholarships and library use.
Big Ten Network helps UW hold line on ticket prices
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The news that the University of Wisconsin athletic department has no plans to increase ticket prices for any sport for the 2008-’09 academic year pleased Ab Nicholas.
“I hope we can maintain that attitude,” said Nicholas, who played basketball at UW, received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the school in 1952 and remains a prominent supporter of the university. “Those are the people who support the programs.”
Sale of dairy co-op proposed
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Bruce Jones, a University of Wisconsin-Madison agricultural economics professor.
Marquette gets $25 million gift
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
An anonymous $25 million gift from the family of a Marquette University alumnus takes the school’s vision of a transformed College of Engineering facility beyond the financial halfway mark, university President Father Robert Wild said Tuesday.
Climate is teach-in topic at MATC, UW
Capital Times
Madison Area Technical College and UW-Madison are among about 1,600 institutions nationwide participating in Focus the Nation, a teach-in on global warming solutions. The Thursday event will aim to prepare students to lead responses to the challenges of a changing climate.
Both local programs will feature UW Professor Jon Foley, director of the Nelson Institute’s Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment.
New superintendent Nerad earns praise
Capital Times
When new school superintendent Dan Nerad moves from Green Bay to Madison, his Badgers and Packers sweatshirts will fit right in, along with his jeans.
He won’t have to learn the vocabulary of revenue caps and qualified economic offers as he deals with balancing the $330 million-plus budget here. He can navigate the University of Wisconsin campus without a map.
And when he heads to the Legislature, his son Ben, a recent UW graduate and legislative aide, can show him the shortcuts through the Capitol.
Educators in UW program tackle shortfall
Capital Times
Elementary school teacher Mary Thundercloud of the Ho-Chunk Nation wanted to teach on a reservation but found a need for her teaching in the Milwaukee Public Schools.
“I believe urban children need a great teacher and that I can make a difference for children of color,” said Thundercloud, who hopes to someday open a school for Ho-Chunk children.
Her desire to help those out of the mainstream has led her to teach in Milwaukee for 20 years and to participate in a new Ph.D. program at UW-Madison that aims to prepare school leaders who can close a persistent achievement gap for low-income students and racial minorities.
Green Bay schools superintendent takes Madison job
Capital Times
Green Bay schools Superintendent Daniel Nerad has been chosen to succeed Art Rainwater as head of the Madison Metropolitan School District.
School Board President Arlene Silveira said Monday night that Nerad, 56, was the board’s unanimous top choice. She said they offered him the job on Saturday, following board interviews with finalists last week and deliberations on Saturday morning.
Medical College urged to stop using live pigs in labs
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Not satisfied with the decision by the Medical College of Wisconsin to stop using dogs as live teaching tools, an animal rights group is now calling on the school to stop using pigs.
A little hovering is fine, students say
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
One insisted on sitting in on his college student’s job interview. Another demanded that her graduate student be given a different housing assignment.
They’re called “helicopter parents.” University administrators often bemoan the crippling effect they can have when they intervene on students’ behalf. But a recent national survey suggests that while college officials may see many parents’ behavior as overzealous, students are largely satisfied with a little helicopter-like hovering, at least in their first year.
Family faces uphill battle
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
James Kamoku’s fifth and final year at the University of Wisconsin has been a documentary about pain, disappointment and frustration.
And the Achilles’ tendon injury Kamoku suffered in preseason football camp, an injury that prevented him from playing in every game but the Outback Bowl, turned out to be the least of his worries.
As he was preparing for exams last month and working to get back onto the field, Kamoku received a call from his brother back home in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
His brother’s message: The family, unable to keep up with the monthly house payments, would soon be homeless.
Students organize for state primary
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Despite single-digit temperatures and a long line for pizza, more than 200 students turned out Thursday night at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a meeting to kick off the semester for Students for Obama.
UW athletic board: Closed session gets ‘a little tense’
Capital Times
The scene was much calmer at the University of Wisconsin Athletic Board meeting Friday, compared to the contentious session a month and a half ago when some members questioned the decisions and decision-making process of the leadership of the university and athletic department.
Calmer until the board went into closed session, that is.
There, the board reviewed some personnel evaluations — the stated reason for the closed session — but spent the better part of two hours engaged in discussion, described as “a little tense,” regarding some members’ concerns about an athletic department that they perceive to be operating outside of the mission of the university.
Kevin Barrett: Media are ignoring 9/11 whistle-blowers
Capital Times
Dear Editor: I am out of a job because The Capital Times and other mainstream media outlets refuse to report the news.
As a scholar, my job is to seek and report the truth, no matter where it leads. That is also the job of the media.
Primary here timely after all
Capital Times
The big top hasn’t been set up yet, but there are growing signs that the traveling circus of presidential politics will make a stop in Wisconsin after all.
The state’s Feb. 19 presidential primary, which had threatened to be inconsequential in a year when many of the primaries have been pushed up, may still prove critical to both Republican and Democratic candidates.
Football: Ikegwuonu’s injury costly
Capital Times
Jack Ikegwuonu’s path to the NFL took a major detour Tuesday when the former University of Wisconsin cornerback sustained a serious knee injury while training in Davie, Fla.
Ikegwuonu sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament while pulling a sled in an exercise designed to improve his speed, according to published reports.
New report sees big state deficit ahead
Capital Times
A new report on a projected state budget deficit indicates officials may have to cut spending by as much as $600 million over the next two years.
A day after Gov. Jim Doyle warned of a “very difficult fiscal situation” in his State of the State address, the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau said that the budget is likely to be $300 million to $400 million in the red.
The bureau said Thursday the figures reflect “considerable weakness” in individual and corporate income tax and sales tax collections, which account for nearly all of the state’s $12 billion annual general fund budget. The bureau also cited economic forecasts that projected slower growth this year, reflecting the recent downturn in both U.S. and foreign markets.