Dear Editor: Attention Donna Sollenberger, president and CEO, University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics.
Please get your priorities in order. You are in the health care industry, not the valet parking business.
Investment managers Phill Gross and Paul Leff have been named winners of the Distinguished Business Alumnus Awards given by the UW-Madison School of Business.
The award is given to graduates of the School of Business who achieve outstanding success in their career, and give back to the community. In the school’s more than 100-year history, fewer than 75 individuals have been honored with this award.
Nurse Julie Thao worked a double shift on July 4, stayed overnight at the hospital and then started work early in the morning on the day she allegedly made a medication error that caused the death of a 16-year-old giving birth at St. Mary’s Hospital, according to sources close to Thao.
….St. Mary’s officials said in an interview earlier this year that overtime is used only on a voluntary basis….New union contracts at Meriter Hospital and University Hospital bar mandatory overtime except during emergency situations such as natural disasters or epidemics.
A herd of cows found new homes Friday night, and it turns out many of them will be staying in the same towns in which they grazed for the past several months, including the Bucky Cow, who found a home in Madison.
About half of the 101 cows featured in this year’s CowParade Wisconsin, in Madison, Fitchburg and Sun Prairie were auctioned off at a benefit for the new American Family Children’s hospital during a gala event at the Alliant Energy Center Exhibition Hall.
Strong safety Joe Stellmacher stood at the University of Wisconsin 47-yard line Saturday, extended his arms away from his sides and let out a primal scream.
The UW senior had just separated Iowa tight end Tony Moeaki from the football with a crushing third-down hit with 12 minutes 25 seconds left and the Badgers protecting a 10-point lead.
Iowa was forced to punt and although the Hawkeyes eventually turned a UW fumble into a touchdown to pull to within three points, Stellmacher’s hit typified the effort UW gave in the 24-21 victory to snap a four-game losing streak to the Hawkeyes.
Despite the ending of its partnership with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Madison-based Deltanoid Pharmaceuticals remains confident about prospects for its lead drug.
“It’s a very safe compound and it looks like it might work,” said UW-Madison Professor Hector DeLuca, who led the team that developed 2MD, a potentially revolutionary osteoporosis drug that is the first to show the ability to stimulate new bone formation, rather than just prevent bone loss.
Quoted: Charles O. Jones, a Brookings Institution fellow and retired University of Wisconsin-Madison professor.
Included in the “Short Takes” section is this brief: Is there really such a thing as “backward evolution”? Could that explain the mystery of five adult siblings in modern Turkey who seem incapable of walking upright?
Respectful but revealing, the “Nova” hour “The Family That Walks on All Fours” (7 p.m. Tuesday, Milwaukee’s Channel 10 and other PBS stations) explores the scientific controversy over these five individuals, whose condition causes them no end of grief in their rural village. Among the experts who contribute pieces to the puzzle is Sean Carroll, a University of Wisconsin-Madison geneticist.
“Your tax dollars are paying for the killing of American soldiers in Iraq. The CIA is paying for resistance in Iraq.”
So closed Kevin Barrett’s fourth and final lecture on the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, delivered as part of his course on Islam at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Women don’t have to be in the military to experience the subtle effects of its hierarchy, gender theorist Cynthia Enloe told her audience at a Thursday lecture.
Her talk – titled “Where are the Women in the U.S. War in Iraq? Why Does it Matter?” – drew about 50 UW-Madison students and faculty members. It focused on defining what Enloe called the “subtle, multifaceted process” of militarization and how it determines women’s roles.
Booker Stanley, the former University of Wisconsin running back facing a long prison term in connection with the assault of his ex-girlfriend, will be sentenced Monday afternoon in Dane County Circuit Court, a court official said Thursday.
To prove once more that the media wouldn’t know a good story if it smacked it upside the head like a Britney Spears text message to Kevin Federline’s chops, Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema says he has been asked about his Hawkeyes tattoo all of three times during Iowa week.
When the Badger Poll asked state residents last spring whether they favored reinstating the death penalty, 56% said “yes.” When an advisory referendum posed the same question on Tuesday, 56% of state voters replied “yes.”
The Badger Poll went on to ask an important second question: Is the death penalty or life imprisonment with no possibility of parole a better punishment for murder? About 50% chose life imprisonment and 45% chose the death penalty.
Notably, the referendum did not ask that follow-up question.
A committee of the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents approved more than $35,000 in pay raises for three chancellors and a provost Thursday in what was framed as a small number of desperately needed salary increases for university employees.
OK, so her visit lasted just three days. And much of it was spent on State Street.
Nonetheless, Jamie Gumbrecht says she now understands what the hype’s about ââ?¬â? why Madison continues to be regarded as one of the most desirable places to live in the country. And what an incredible recruiting tool that reputation is for the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
University of Wisconsin athletic department officials today denied a report they attempted to move the football team’s 2007 nonconference game against UNLV to Lambeau Field in Green Bay.
As a scientist who studies evolution, Sean Carroll has trouble understanding the mindset of those who reject evolution.
“Denial is an interesting psychological feature of humans,” said Carroll, a University of Wisconsin professor of molecular biology. “The United States paces the world in biomedicine, but we’re debating evolution 150 years after Darwin, on the mountain of DNA and other evidence? Are you kidding me?”
More than 100 nurses from three Madison hospitals rallied this morning in front of the Dane County Courthouse to show their opposition to the criminal charges filed against registered nurse Julie Thao for medication errors that led to the death of a patient.
Word had spread through the nursing grapevine that Thao faced her initial court appearance today, when bail was to be determined for the felony charge of neglect of a patient causing great bodily harm.
Doris Hanson, a former legislator who served in the Cabinets of four governors and was the only woman ever to head the state Department of Administration, died Wednesday. She was 81.
….Hanson also received recognition as an indefatigable advocate for women’s rights, serving as president of the WIS Club (Women’s Intercollegiate Sports), which fought for the rights of women athletes at UW-Madison.
A STORY in the Nov. 10 Chronicle of Higher Education, out this week, links the recent problems of the University of Wisconsin marching band with those of the marching band at Stanford University in California.
The Chronicle notes: “Stanford’s band was not the only one to land in hot water this semester. The University of Wisconsin punished its marching band last month for a head-shaving incident and ‘highly sexualized banter’ on a road trip.”
This strikes me as highly unfair to the Stanford band. Because while the UW band did indeed get its hand slapped by Chancellor John Wiley for unruly behavior, the Stanford band is truly in a class of its own.
Charles Darwin would have been impressed with Sean Carroll’s findings.
Carroll, a professor of molecular biology at the University of Wisconsin, has helped push the boundaries of what is known about evolution, taking the “what” from Darwin’s groundbreaking research 150 years ago and finding the “how.”
It’s in the genes.
Analysis of state elections results. Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political science professor at UW-Madison.
The election Tuesday, which gave control of the state Senate to Democrats, whittled down the Republican advantage in the Assembly and handed Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle a convincing victory, offers a chance at long last for collaboration in Madison.
Republicans lost at least 11 seats in the Legislature on Tuesday – a shift that gave Democrats control of the state Senate and left Assembly Republicans wondering how to lead with their smallest majority in seven years.
Madison – University of Wisconsin officials, bolstered by the success of the Frozen Tundra Hockey Classic in February, are trying to move UWs 2007 football game against Nevada-Las Vegas to Lambeau Field.
The Las Vegas Sun reported that UW officials had made two offers to move the game, set for Sept. 8 in Las Vegas, to Green Bay. The first offer was $1 million; the second $1.3 million.
MILWAUKEE -Ã? Gov. Jim Doyle held on to his traditional Democratic base in Tuesday’s election by appealing to women and the poor, while GOP challenger Mark Green drew strong support from religious voters and those who support the U.S. war in Iraq, according to an Associated Press exit poll.
….Jess Haines, 35, said he voted for Green because he blamed Doyle for tuition increases at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Doyle put the screws to UW. And seeing as how I’m an alumni, I had to vote against him,” he said.
Fresh from their successful fight to ban same-sex marriage in the state constitution, supporters are now ready to turn to what they see as the next biggest threat to the institution of marriage: Wisconsin’s no-fault divorce law.
“What was highlighted in this campaign is that marriage is indeed under attack and no-fault divorce is one of those attacks,” Julaine Appling, CEO of the Family Research Institute of Wisconsin and president of the “Vote Yes for Marriage” campaign, said Tuesday night.
….Many students said they were motivated to vote at least in part by the marriage amendment.
“I know a lot of people who are gay and it’s important that they have equal rights to the rest of us,” said Rachel Wroblewski, a sophomore at UW-Madison, who cast her ballot at the Union. Wroblewski, whose father has a rare form of leukemia, was also drawn to the polls because of controversy over stem cell research, which figured into the race for governor.
Dear Editor: The article “A little horse sense tames Halloween,” by Lee Sensenbrenner and Steven Elbow, was a dramatic testimony to the power of two things: a nonviolent approach to aggression and the healing power of animals.
I was moved by the description of the mounted officers moving among the confrontational crowd and the resulting ability to quell the threat of violence with a peaceful approach. The presence of the horses seems to have been instrumental in this endeavor.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
If John Stocco can’t play Saturday against Iowa, University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema and his staff may be second-guessed for sending him back on the field against Penn State with an injured right shoulder.
The senior quarterback’s status remains uncertain; his first attempt at practicing would come today. In addition to the shoulder injury, Stocco broke two ribs, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
People typically enter a church to feed their soul, but nearly 60 people walked into Madison’s Asbury United Methodist last Saturday to assess their vascular health. Each paid up to $109, by cash or credit card, for ultrasound services that could help save their life or simply flatten their wallet.
….While mobile screenings are a growing trend in health care, their value is debated among medical professionals, including vascular specialists at UW Health and Wisconsin Heart, which in Madison is based at Meriter Hospital.
By Robert Gutsche Jr., Special to the Washington Post
LA CROSSE – At night the Mississippi River here is black like pavement. Lights brighten the shoreline, where walkways end with a steep drop at the river’s edge. There is no railing. Even to a familiar eye, the river looks like an empty parking lot.
This is where eight young men have apparently drowned in the past nine years, just blocks from the busy downtown bar district where many victims had been reported seen last.
….Officials from the city and the three colleges and universities here – as well as a group of vocal college students – say the men became intoxicated and accidentally fell into the river. Yet as the number of fatalities grows, so does the idea that a serial killer could be loose.
Proud to be a Sconnie? Now you can advertise it.
A pair of University of Wisconsin-Madison students have trademarked the term “Sconnie” and created a lifestyle brand that evokes all things Wisconsin.
Drs. Perry and Virginia Henderson Friday were given the lifetime achievement award from the Madison Chapter of the National Association of Fundraising Professionals for their philanthropic and volunteer work for nonprofits in the Madison area.
(Also honored were Don Gray of the UW Foundation and Rachael Weiker, a May 2006 UW-Madison graduate.)
If the University of Wisconsin football team ends its four-game losing streak against rival Iowa, it likely will be forced to do so without fifth-year senior quaterback John Stocco.
With the finish line in sight, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle and Republican challenger Mark Green took a final lap of the state Monday – and jostled again over stem cell research.
Two East Coast money managers have been named winners of Distinguished Business Alumnus Awards by the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business. (In Business Briefs)
On a visit to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, former U.S. Senator Birch Bayh said the landmark patent law that bears his name is under attack from critics who don’t understand the context in which it was passed.
Bayh, a featured speaker at the annual Kastenmeier Lecture at the UW-Madison Law School, was in Madison to recount the 1980 passage of the Bayh-Dole Act, which gave universities the right to patent their intellectual property and license it to companies for commercial development.
People battling the effects of age have yet another incentive to get off the couch: Exercise may protect against the most severe form of age-related macular degeneration. Writing in the current British Journal of Ophthalmology, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison report that regular exercise seems to stave off the “wet” form of AMD, in which blood vessels in the eye leak fluid, eventually causing vision loss.
Three Berea College alumni ââ?¬â? a prominent researcher and executive in the semi-conductor industry and now dean of the University of Wisconsin College of Engineering; an Air Force major with a distinguished service record; and an inspiring youth advocate, educator and performer ââ?¬â? will be honored Friday through Sunday at Berea College Homecoming activities.
Paul S. Peercy, a 1961 graduate, will receive Berea�s 2006 Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Will John Stocco be healthy enough to play in his final Big Ten Conference game or will the shoulder injury he suffered against Penn State keep the University of Wisconsin senior on the bench for the first time since the 2003 season?
With three games left, Bret Bielema’s football team is one victory away from matching Barry Alvarez’s final-season victory total.
Quoted: Ken Goldstein, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an expert on political ads.
A Medical College of Wisconsin physiologist started wondering 15 years ago why blood vessels in the kidneys of people with high blood pressure are constricted.
Also quotes Andy Cohn, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The foundation, known as WARF, is the patenting and licensing arm for the University of Wisconsin-Madison and one of the oldest and largest tech transfer offices in the country.
The Wisconsin Hospital Association says state prosecutors will decrease the availability of health care statewide by charging a nurse with criminal conduct after a patient died due to a medication error.
….Hospital association spokeswoman Dana Richardson said that “it makes no sense to add to this tragedy by alleging that this mistake, as upsetting as it was, was more than a human error.” Further, she said, it will give people pause about entering health care fields at a time when many more workers are needed.
….”A number of schools of nursing have increased enrollment, so there is a sizable increase in graduates, and employing organizations have worked to make the work environment supportive,” said Marilyn Kaufmann, chair of the state Board of Nursing, which licenses and disciplines nurses and approves schools of nursing.
The state contains 33 nursing schools, involving five University of Wisconsin campuses, 16 technical colleges and numerous private colleges.
MIDDLETON – University of Wisconsin offensive line coach Bob Palcic walked through the door of the small airport, Morey Field, shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday. He was wearing a blue sweat suit and his game face.
…. Palcic has been flying, on and off, for 10 years, dating to an earlier coaching stint with the Atlanta Falcons in the National Football League. He has logged about 250 hours.
“It’s an escape,” he said. “I don’t play golf, I don’t really have any other hobbies. I’ve always had an interest in flying. This is what I like to do.”
When Dick Cheney stepped down as CEO of Halliburton in 2000 to join the Bush ticket, he turned the company’s reins over to a Badger.
Dave Lesar grew up in a bucolic setting outside of Mount Horeb, graduated with an MBA from UW-Madison in 1978 and now heads one of the most politically charged firms in the world.
THE FACTORY that makes plastic pink flamingos shut down this week, which among other things means Madison will live on in glorious pink perpetuity as having once been home to the largest flock of plastic flamingos ever assembled.
This is not me saying it, either. That world record – and somebody should get Guinness involved in this – was set on the morning of Sept. 4, 1979, and it is acknowledged by no less than the man who a half century ago designed the first plastic pink flamingo.
It was a brief, spontaneous gesture at the end of a long night.
But those who witnessed it say that when mounted police officer Joe Volz picked up a string of beads that had been tossed at him and playfully draped it over his neck in front of dozens of drunken revelers on State Street last Saturday night, he may have prevented an ugly repeat of Halloweens past.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=526619
When it comes to the University of Wisconsin System, Gov. Jim Doyle and U.S. Rep. Mark Green agree on one thing: They both want tuition to increase no more than 3% next year.
High school athletes who want to become college athletes have unique challenges in the college admission process. Many wonder whether they are good enough to continue playing in college, or whether their athletic talent will help them gain admission to a more selective college.
Admissions for college-bound athletes can be confusing and complicated; however, the benefits for students who love sports and want to continue playing can be great.
Instead of getting in his face, Carl Landry gave some space when his little brother, Marcus Landry, was ruled academically ineligible to play basketball last January.
“I gave him a little time and then I said, ‘Marcus, it’s not the end of the world. Take advantage of the situation and become a better person, become a better basketball player,’ ” Carl Landry said.
It’s not exactly whistle while you work. It’s more like study while you walk.
So the student you see walking on the Library Mall wearing earbuds could very well be listening to a podcast lesson from a UW course.
“It’s the idea of reaching students informally through something they are already doing (i.e. using iPods and listening to podcasts),” said Jan Cheetham, e-learning coordinator at the UW’s DoIT academic technology center.
WASHINGTON – Luxuries, such as the Kohl Center’s $10,000- to $12,500-a-year courtside seats and Camp Randall’s $51,000-a-year suites, are coming under scrutiny by lawmakers in Washington, who wonder whether such luxuries enhance a university’s educational mission.
In fact, members of Congress in charge with writing federal tax law may begin to treat big-time college sports like professional teams instead of part of an educational institution.
IT HELPS to have a good memory if you want to really appreciate the astonishing current popularity of University of Wisconsin-Madison men’s basketball.
As a former member of what was once called the “Faithful 5,000,” it is mind-bending to think that this past summer, the UW athletic department offered 48 courtside seats at the Kohl Center at $10,000 a year per seat – and sold them out prior to this Friday’s exhibition home opener against UW-Stout.
Those 48 seat holders are in what is now called the “Courtside Club,” and they have the added pleasure of knowing they have displaced newspaper writers, who were kicked upstairs under the new arrangement.
Virent Energy Systems Inc., which has already shown it can make electricity from sugar, wants to deploy the same chemical process to make a chemical commonly used to make detergents, paints and other products.
The Madison-based energy startup has won a $2 million federal grant to develop its technology in conjunction with FutureFuel Chemical Co., at a biodiesel plant in Batesville, Ark.
The grant, awarded by the federal agriculture and energy departments, comes several months after the company received $7.5 million in venture capital funding from investors including Cargill Inc. and Honda Motor Co. Virent is a spinoff from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, created to market a patented chemical conversion process developed by UW researchers.
Ask the typical college student in Wisconsin who is running for governor, and you may get a blank stare. Ask about the marriage amendment, and the response is sure to be animated.
Dear Editor: In the old Biochemistry Building is a group of famous murals by the American artist John Steuart Curry, painted from 1941-43….The University Planning Office and the state architects are planning renovation of the historic structure, not demolition, so the murals don’t have to be moved.
….I have proposed integrating students into the conservation of the murals. I let my students help in making murals, why not today in their preservation? Sounds like a good idea, except the state wants to give the contract to an out-of-state firm.
Police in La Crosse have asked the FBI to review a series of mysterious drownings dating back nearly a decade, FBI officials told The Associated Press Tuesday.
Eight college-aged men over the past nine years have been found dead in La Crosse area rivers after disappearing during a night of drinking….Fears of a serial killer prowling bars in La Crosse and around the Upper Midwest have persisted for years.
Dear Editor: The only baloney I was able to find in the statements of Bishop Morlino was his assertion that he espoused a universal truth. Bishop Morlino was quoted as asking his constituents “How would any of us like to be killed to help somebody else? You and I were embryos once.”
What Bishop Morlino fails to mention or refuses to acknowledge is that the embryos used in stem cell research are destined to be incinerated if not used in research. Not a single embryo is saved by banning stem cell research.
