UW-Madison researchers are disputing the Public Citizen Health Research Group’s claims that Wisconsin may be endangering patients by failing to adequately discipline doctors.
A study by University of Wisconsin Medical School professors and other researchers found that Public Citizen’s state rankings of disciplinary actions did not correlate with published rankings of Medicare quality and adverse reports in the National Practitioners Data Bank.
Technical advancements in placing extended portions of the transmission lines underground has prompted the city of Madison to formally request the American Transmission Co. to consider burying portions of a power line proposed along the Beltline if the project’s need is demonstrated.
….”There’s nothing special about the Beltline that would warrant it … Undergrounding doesn’t work well as well from a technical viewpoint, it costs too much and it creates a precedent for it if we do it along the Beltline,” (ATC vice president Mark) Williamson said.
….”The Beltline is a huge, ugly highway … I drive it every day. It’s not a view worth saving,” he said.
For many scholars and activists in Madison, President Bush’s expected call to deploy 20,000 more troops only reinforces doubts over the Iraq war.
Others, though, see it as fulfilling a moral obligation to see the war through.
Quoted: Samer Alatout, assistant professor of rural sociology, and Jon Pevehouse, associate professor of political science.
The MadFest Juggling Extravaganza this weekend gives jugglers and non-jugglers alike a chance to both see top-notch performers in action. The centerpiece “Extravaganza” show takes place at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Wisconsin Union Theater, 800 Langdon St.
The much-ballyhooed “New Day” of bipartisan cooperation in the state Senate expired in less than an hour of partisan wrangling on Tuesday.
,,,,the partisan claws came out as the Senate acted on 32 of Gov. Jim Doyle’s appointments to policymaking and oversight bodies ranging from the UW Board of Regents to the Dentistry Examining Board.
I’d like to respond to The Capital Times editorial, “Stifling discourse,” which ran on Dec. 18 and criticized the way I, as chairman of the Legislative Council Special Committee on Affirmative Action, handle the committee.
….To varying degrees, I felt each of the speakers defended the current system. The Capital Times described this as a “one-sided review.” If anything, it’s been one-sided toward the status quo.
….With prejudice in our society declining to the point of irrelevance and the nation headed for a day when we are over 40 percent minority, can we afford these programs anymore? I personally despise calling anyone in America a minority at this time.
So what will the University of Wisconsin’s initial football poll position be for the 2007 season?
UW fans can forget about the top five since the Badgers fell one spot in the final Associated Press top 25 poll after the Bowl Championship Series title game Monday night.
There is a certain risk to making such calls, kind of like the peril that came with declaring Ohio State and Michigan the best football teams in the land well before the fact.
But with marginally less chance for damage control three months hence, we will proceed to the edge of this sturdy limb and pronounce Wisconsin as a Final Four team right here and now.
Whew!
Was there anything else to say after the final buzzer sounded in the University of Wisconsin’s 72-69 victory over fifth-ranked Ohio State on Tuesday night at the Kohl Center?
MADISON – Professor emeritus Robert W. Bray, age 88, passed away peacefully on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2007. He joined the faculty in the Department of Meat and Animal Science in 1941, followed by a three-year stint with the Navy in World War II. He returned to spend the rest of his career at the university, retiring in 1984. He is credited with initiating the Meat Science teaching, research and extension programs.
LA CROSSE, Wis. — Public intoxication has become a high-profile problem in the city of La Crosse because of the string of young men who’ve drowned in the Mississippi and other waterways. Yet, the city doesn’t have a local ordinance that prohibits the behavior — at least not yet.
Mayor Mark Johnsrud wants the City Council to adopt such an ordinance, hoping it will help dissuade the culture of binge drinking, often associated with the university.
Three incidents this past weekend again brought the issue to light.
The late television news anchor Mike McKinney, retired jewelers and philanthropists Irwin and Robert Goodman and retired East High School principal Milt McPike lead the list of recipients of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. awards from Madison and Dane County.
Eight recipients will be honored Monday in ceremonies at the 22nd annual city-county observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the Overture Center’s Capitol Theater, beginning at 6 p.m.
(Also among the recipients is UW-Madison student Jason Gonzales.)
University of Wisconsin men’s basketball coach Bo Ryan claims it’s just another game.
Everyone else, from bar owners to UW Chancellor John Wiley to ESPN analyst Dick Vitale, knows otherwise.
Ryan’s Badgers – ranked No. 3 in the latest Associated Press poll, the highest ranking in program history – will square off against No. 5 Ohio State today at 8 p.m. at the Kohl Center.
Dear Editor: After reading the Jan. 1 New York Times article on Madison, I think it can be safely said that whatever tradition of “progressive liberalism” upon which Madison built its reputation has been trumped by a culture of public alcoholism that is out of control.
Now that this culture, and its gross and violent consequences, has been revealed for all to see in the nation’s paper of record, it can no longer be hidden behind Madison’s myopic and nostalgic civic ego.
Dear Editor: In a recent column Doug Moe seemed to be making some points that seem odd to me. The first is that because something has been a problem for a long time, such as the overconsumption of alcohol downtown, it should therefore not be addressed.
….Addressing the problem of the overconcentration of bars downtown with their statistically related violence and police calls does not preclude addressing the problem of money-making house parties serving to underage patrons.
The agents started showing up last spring when they hoped Alando Tucker would go pro after his junior year with the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team. Now that he’s a senior and a candidate for national player of the year honors, agents are hovering around Tucker’s family like mosquitoes on a humid June evening.
Few, however, are getting through to the Badgers’ 6-foot-6 star forward.
As big Wisconsin rivalries go, this one may lack the intensity of the Packers vs. the Bears or Miller Lite vs. Bud Light.
Nevertheless, the state’s two biggest schools – the University of Wisconsin campuses in Madison and Milwaukee – have years of mutual distrust and animosity behind them. In the constant jockeying for state funding, backers of each often act resentful that a dollar that goes to one means one dollar less to the other.
Superman. Batman. The Transformers. Alando Tucker loves them all.
Though he is 22 years old, the University of Wisconsin senior has never given up his love of superheroes or the cartoons in which they star. He’s still down with crimefighters, right down to T-shirts you’ll sometimes find him wearing under his Badgers sweatshirt.
Stem cell researchers reacted with enthusiasm and reservations to a report that scientists have found stem cells in amniotic fluid, a discovery that would allow them to sidestep the controversy over destroying embryos for research.
Researchers at Wake Forest University and Harvard University reported Sunday that the stem cells they drew from amniotic fluid donated by pregnant women hold much the same promise as embryonic stem cells.
….Andrew Cohn, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, said the discovery is an exciting step forward, but that it represents a continuum of all types of research, including studies of adult and embryonic stem cells, all of which must continue.
Dear Editor: The recent Joel McNally column blasting Ward Connerly contains some very misleading statements. Since Proposition 209 took effect in 1998, the number of “underrepresented minorities” in the eight campuses of the California university system has increased to its highest level. And more to the point, their graduation rates have increased.
….Real affirmative action in education would focus on improving the elementary and secondary education of underrepresented minorities.
Wisconsin Court of Appeals Judge Paul B. Higginbotham, the first black to serve as a judge on the appeals court and the first black to serve on the Dane County Circuit Court bench, will receive a 2007 Excellence in Leadership program award for outstanding achievement from a nationally-known power company.
Dominion’s Strong Men and Women program tabbed Higginbotham to receive the award along with eight others, including Billy K. Cannaday Jr., the first African-American state superintendent of public instruction in Virginia; Marc H. Morial, president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League and actor and producer Blair Underwood.
If you think senior centers are places where elderly folks go to eat lunch and play bingo, you’re pretty old-fashioned.
Increasingly, these centers offer a broad range of classes, speakers and electronic activities aimed at keeping people’s minds and bodies healthy.
Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez has spent lots of time with his Fox announcing crew in recent weeks as they prepare to call the Fiesta Bowl and the BCS championship game Monday.
Quoted: Joe Lauer, an agronomist at UW-Madison.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Pennsylvania State University have come up with a clever way of potentially decreasing the contamination of invasive species and other aquatic critters that latch onto boats in the Great Lakes and beyond.
RALEIGH, N.C. – A former Duke University lacrosse player sued the university Thursday, alleging that one of his professors unfairly gave him a failing grade because he was a member of the team.
Kyle Dowd, 22, graduated in 2006, after the rape allegations set off a tumultuous few weeks in Durham, with almost daily protests by people who criticized lacrosse team members for a pattern of rowdy behavior.
(Article also appeared in 1/5/07 Capital Times)
Each year nearly 300 students transfer from Milwaukee Area Technical College to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. But many transfers find that some of their credits do not. Students are forced to retake classes.
MATC and UWM want to change that. On Thursday, they announced three blueprints designed to ensure transfer students a smooth and successful transition.
Gov. Jim Doyle spent much of his first term lowering expectations, and this newspaper frequently criticized the Democratic executive for the narrowness of his vision.
As Doyle begins his second term, however, he is raising expectations. And we celebrate him for that.
….He spoke of making Wisconsin a global leader in the search for cures and treatments for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, juvenile diabetes and other devastating diseases and conditions, promising that “we’ll invest in stem cell research that could one day bring cures – and save millions of lives around the world.”
DENVER – University of Wisconsin captain Andrew Joudrey is one of 13 nominees for the Hockey Humanitarian Award, the annual honor given to college hockey’s finest citizen.
Joudrey, a senior, was singled out for his visits to UW Children’s Hospital and working with youth hockey teams.
He also was part of the August charity golf outing that raised over $41,000 for the John Dowell Fund, a collection for UW senior Jake Dowell’s father, who is battling Huntington’s Disease.
Barry Alvarez could broadcast a few hundred more football games and never come close to matching the drama, excitement and entertainment provided by his very first game as a college football analyst.
Otto Karl Breitenbach, age 82 of Madison, died on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2007, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison. He was born on June 27, 1924, the son of Otto Carl and Blanche (Clapp) Breitenbach. He graduated from Edgewood High School in 1941 and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1948….He became the associate athletic director for the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1973. During this time he was also the commissioner for the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
Barry Alvarez always did want the focus on the field.
True, Alvarez isn’t one to shy away from attention himself, as the retired University of Wisconsin football coach and current athletic director now has a high-profile gig as one of Fox’s lead college football analysts.
University of Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi was being stretched in multiple directions. His No. 1 project, the construction of an on-campus football stadium, got some additional funding, while Maturi also received assurances from school President Robert Bruininks that the program would have the necessary resources to attract a “first-rate” head coach in the wake of the firing of Glen Mason…..
All of the above came into focus and perspective Wednesday when Maturi paid homage to one of his earliest mentors, Otto Breitenbach, who suffered a heart attack Monday and died Tuesday. Breitenbach (a former UW Athletic Department administrator) was 82.
Madison firefighters kept busy early this morning and at mid-morning, fighting two separate fires in two near-downtown buildings that forced the evacuation of residents but resulted in minor damage and only one injury.
The first fire was at the Palace Latin Club, 1401 University Ave., and is being investigated as possible arson after occupants of the building heard a small explosion at 2:11 a.m. today.
Could this be the winter when lakes Mendota and Monona don’t totally freeze?
“It could be a Ripley’s Believe It or Not year for the lakes,” said John Magnuson, an emeritus professor of limnology, or the study of inland waters, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “There is a chance that Mendota and Monona may not freeze.”
Dear Editor: The Dec. 29 letter of Michael Bousquet describing traffic on Regent Street exemplifies the somewhat self-centered expectations of motorists that the city should turn all streets into highways, thereby destroying the character of street commerce so that people can rocket their vehicles to and from work.
….Unfortunately, the city and one of its main constituents, the University of Wisconsin, only seem to pay lip service to sustainable living.
Among the issues on the newspaper’s list: The UW System has proposed a “growth agenda” for Wisconsin that, it says, would enable it to enroll more state residents, graduate them and, importantly, use the state’s universities to grow “knowledge economy” jobs.
The Legislature must rigorously examine the complete proposal because UW is right on one central point. If Wisconsin is to become a leader in innovation, the universities can lead the way.
Giving Wisconsin strong scores for both home life and school life, the authors of a report released Wednesday said children raised in the Badger State have the eighth best chance in the United States of succeeding in life.
IF A front page New Year’s Day story in the New York Times is to be believed, it is not inherently bad for drunks to pee in an alley in downtown Madison.
It is only bad if a yuppie looking out his living room window can see them. He might be startled and spill his cappuccino.
The Times article, datelined Madison and written by Susan Saulny, was headlined: “This Remaking of Downtown Has Downside.”
Gov. Jim Doyle kicked off his second term today with a push to make Wisconsin a better place for children and to improve access to health care for all.
….He also reiterated his support for the Wisconsin Covenant, which would guarantee that every eighth-grader who performs well in high school will be able to attend the University of Wisconsin or state technical colleges.
As Gov. Jim Doyle and state lawmakers push health care reform to the top of this year’s legislative agenda, University of Wisconsin-Madison scholars are also getting into the act.
Under the auspices of a new partnership among the Wisconsin Joint Legislative Council, the UW School of Medicine and Public Health’s Population Health Institute and the La Follette School of Public Affairs, lawmakers will be able to formally tap into scholarly research and, it is hoped, make more informed policy decisions as a result.
As Gov. Jim Doyle sees it, Wisconsin stands on the verge of a golden age in which legions of well-educated, tech-savvy workers will find high-paying jobs in the emerging fields of health care, high-tech manufacturing, biotechnology and alternative energy.
Doyle says his mission – as he begins his second term as governor today – is to steer the state in that direction, preserving what he describes as a vibrant heritage of hard work and respect for longstanding values while keeping an eye toward future growth.
Big Ten conference, ready or not, here comes the University of Wisconsin. Conference play started Tuesday night with Ohio State’s victory over Indiana. Eight other teams in the league will play their league opener tonight or Thursday.
Quarterback John Stocco was just beginning to savor the historic victory, his 29th and last in a University of Wisconsin uniform, when his focus turned toward the future.
Stocco will be gone in 2007, perhaps on a National Football League roster.
Whatever his destination, he thinks the UW program is poised to rise even higher than it did this season, when the Badgers finished 12-1 to set a school record for victories in a season.
Once seen as a leader who could bring diversity to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, a former dean fired for financial mismanagement has filed a federal lawsuit claiming that he was ousted because he’s black.
A proposal to give free tuition to University of Wisconsin students who stay in Wisconsin for 10 years after graduation has run into resounding opposition from the chairman of the state Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities and has yet to receive an endorsement from top university administrators, who said they want to learn more before committing their support.
With Senate Democrats and Assembly Republicans holding slim majorities in their houses, this session of the Legislature stands to be in sharp contrast with the often-contentious debate of the past session.
MADISON, Wis. ââ?¬â? This college town received what it wanted when, during the 1980s and 90s, it sought to reverse the decline of its downtown and to create a more vibrant civic center that would draw people at night and on weekends.
Since then, thousands of young professionals, retirees and former suburbanites have moved to glistening condominium buildings in the shadow of the state Capitol�s dome and only a few blocks from the University of Wisconsin�s main campus. And there is hardly a bad night for business near State Street, where university students and tourists pack restaurants and bars to capacity even on freezing weeknights.
But as downtown�s population and revelry have grown, so have overcrowding on the streets, vandalism and, most significantly, the police say, alcohol-related crime.
DNA samples moved to the front of the line led to the Dec. 15 arrest of a 31-year-old man for two similar University of Wisconsin-Madison campus-area rapes that happened within a span of 10 days.
Mentions a study by the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which dealt with an initiative to put “literacy coaches” in almost all MPS schools.
1/1/07 – As we head back to work to start the new year we’re struck by the magnitude of the issues before us. We’re also struck by the opportunities.
….We expect big developments with transportation, health care, the UW, the Collaboration Council, and Schools of Hope to name a few. We’re optimistic, and think you are, too.
“We’re not really going to do this again, are we?”
Of course we are, you wienie,” cackled Wanda, the 97-year-old State Street mystic, sliding her cold, clammy hands over her crystal ball.
But I’ve been coming to you for a decade now, and you still haven’t gotten a single New Year’s prediction right. I mean, what do I tell my readers?
“Tell ’em to lock the doors and batten down the hatches. ‘Cause 2007 is gonna be a real doozy. Here, take a peek”:
(The UW Athletic Department is mentioned in this tongue-in-cheek column of predictions for 2007.)
THE LEGEND of how Bob Knight almost came to coach the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team has always been a bit murky.
ORLANDO, Fla. – Don’t get her wrong: Nancy Porter had a fantastic time last year at the Capital One Bowl. It’s just that, well, something was missing. All the red, that is.
….An estimated 25,000 Badgers fans turned out at Citrus Bowl Stadium on Monday to watch sixth-ranked Wisconsin hold off 12th-ranked Arkansas 17-14 for the Badgers’ ninth straight win, setting a school record for victories in a season by finishing 12-1 under first-year coach Bret Bielema.
That’s about double the number of fans who cheered on UW last year as Barry Alvarez capped his legendary 16-year career as coach with an upset victory over Auburn. In other words, bowling with the Badgers is back in vogue.
The swan song could be coming soon for the mute swan, an aggressive, non-native waterfowl that some bird experts say has wreaked havoc on wetlands across Wisconsin and is expanding its population at an alarming rate.
A federal appeals court recently removed mute swans from protected status, allowing the state Department of Natural Resources to act on a plan to begin shooting the birds later this month in southeast Wisconsin.
(Wildlife ecology professor emeritus Stan Temple is quoted.)
MADISON – William H. Dodge, loving father and grandfather, died on Monday, Dec. 25, 2006, at the Peter and Ellen Johnson Hospice Residence. He taught transportation and public utilities at the UW Business School, retiring in 1990 after 26 years as a full professor. A memorial service was held on Saturday, Dec. 30, 2006, at CRESS FUNERAL HOME, 3610 Speedway Road in Madison.
Inviting Ward Connerly to speak to a special Wisconsin legislative committee studying affirmative action is like inviting the grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan to address a hearing on race relations.
….The irony is the embarrassing Grothman and Connerly show is taking place at a time when the University of Wisconsin System has a serious problem with affirmative action. Namely, we don’t have nearly enough of it.
Some major corporations have stopped job recruitment on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus because executives say the lack of racial diversity on the campus does not properly prepare students to succeed in their companies after graduation.
ORLANDO, Fla. – The last time the University of Wisconsin football program peered at the rest of the college football world from these heights, following back-to-back Rose Bowl wins in the late 1990s, the prevailing thought was the Badgers were ready to make a leap into the elite.
….you can’t discount the fact that Bielema and his staff paid meticulous attention to detail, erred rightfully on the side of aggressiveness, entrusted their driven group of seniors with leadership roles, and maximized almost every ounce of potential from the available talent, mainly by putting the players in position to succeed and then demanding they do so.
ORLANDO, Fla. – Before University of Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema proceeded to the designated interview room after Monday’s 17-14 victory over Arkansas – in what played out to be an unartistic tug-of-war between a couple of strong-willed defenses – the 36-year-old Bielema agreed to put the 12-1 season into his own context, no small feat given the unexpected beauty of the overall body of work.
ORLANDO, Fla. – There’s nothing all that special about Citrus Bowl Stadium, but Joe Thomas was still having a hard time tearing himself away from the old place Monday.
The senior left tackle took his sweet time leaving the field following the University of Wisconsin football team’s 17-14 victory over Arkansas, then was among the final Badgers to exit the locker room.
“I didn’t want to leave,” Thomas said. “I wanted to savor every last minute that I had.”
