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Author: jnweaver

Vedder endorses UW student to succeed him

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Capital Times

Dane County Board Supervisor Echnaton Vedder will not run for a fifth two-year term in 2006 and he is backing a UW-Madison junior as his replacement.

Ashok Kumar, a representative on the UW Associated Students of Madison, has thrown his hat in the ring for Vedder’s seat, with Vedder serving as Kumar’s campaign treasurer.

“We need someone who’s really well-connected to the constituency,” Vedder said, referring to the bulk of the voters in District 5 being UW students, since the district encompasses most of the UW campus hugging the south shore of Lake Mendota.

Prostate cancer cut by fruit

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Capital Times

University of Wisconsin researchers have found that a common compound in some fruits shows promise in fighting prostate cancer.

A UW School of Medicine and Public Health research team investigated whether Lupeol – a chemical compound found in fruits including strawberries, mangoes, figs, grapes and olives – would kill existing cancer and help prevent a tumor or malignancy from starting or progressing.

Capital gain for UW

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Joe Thomas figures he has the forecast for Jan. 2 in Orlando, Fla., nailed: Plenty of sunshine. Balmy temperatures that don’t include a wind chill index and don’t call for long sleeves or long johns. And, most important, an easy victory for Auburn over Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl.

“I love being the underdog,” UW’s junior offensive tackle said Sunday at the Kohl Center after learning the Badgers’ bowl match-up, set for noon Milwaukee time on ABC-TV. “That’s kind of the way our whole season has gone.”

UW-Whitewater dean is demoted

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater removed a dean from his administrative post Friday and took the first step to strip him of his tenure, saying he had misused university funds.

UW orphan study finds hormone differences

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Early childhood neglect has been associated with a host of behavioral maladies: Emotional and social abnormalities that researchers have investigated and observed since Harry Harlow first conducted his primate isolation experiments at the University of Wisconsin.

UW engineering building floods

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The Engineering Centers Building on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus was the site of an early morning flood today, the university reported.

…an estimated 30,000 gallons of water cascaded down the building from the top floor at about 5 a.m.

(12/2/05 Capital Times print edition)

Whitewater dean faulted in audit (AP)

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Capital Times

University of Wisconsin-Whitewater hired a dean months after he resigned from Florida State University where auditors contended he spent thousands of dollars of school money for personal benefit, the Associated Press has learned.

UW-Whitewater officials said Thursday they were unaware of the audit when they hired Lee Jones to be a high-ranking dean in May 2004. They said they were surprised to learn about it Thursday from the AP, which obtained a report detailing auditors’ concerns with Jones’ use of university funds while he was associate dean of Florida State’s College of Education.

UW puts clamps on sick leave

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Capital Times

Starting today, University of Wisconsin-Madison employees will have to vouch for the accuracy of their leaves of absence and could face discipline for misrepresentation.

Chancellor John Wiley informed employees and academic staff in a memo Wednesday that monthly leave statements will now include the following message above the employee’s signature:

“I certify that the leave time I have reported is accurate. I understand that misrepresentation can lead to disciplinary action.”

Incubator space to grow at UW Research Park

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Capital Times

Twenty suites for early-stage companies will be added at University Research Park in a $1 million renovation of space being vacated by Epic Health Systems with its move to its new Verona headquarters.

The “incubator” space will feature suites ranging from 700 square feet to nearly twice that size on the east side of the MGE Innovation Center, 510 Charmany Drive. Construction is set to begin Monday.

The Innovation Center currently houses 34 companies, mostly start-ups, and Research Park director Mark Bugher said the demand for incubator space continues to grow as tech firms spin out of the UW-Madison or young companies with UW ties look for ways to relocate in Madison.

Malpractice cap is headed for veto

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Capital Times

Assembly leaders on Wednesday sent Gov. Jim Doyle a bill that would restore pain and suffering damage limits in malpractice lawsuits. But they might have saved themselves the trouble. Administration Secretary Steve Bablitch, speaking for Doyle, said later in the day that the bill would be vetoed.

“The cap that was struck down by the Wisconsin Supreme Court as unconstitutional was a cap of $445,000. This one is $450,000 – $5,000 more,” Bablitch said.

“It resolves nothing. The court said it was arbitrary and did not meet the rational basis test and was too low. This does nothing to bring finality to the issue.”

Merger group to miss deadline

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The leader of a task force studying a possible Milwaukee-Waukesha college campus merger says the group likely will work past its January deadline for making recommendations.

Donald Mash, executive senior vice president of the University of Wisconsin System, said his task force has gathered valuable input from both proponents and opponents of combining the UW-Waukesha campus with UW-Milwaukee.

Editorial: Honoring Ada Deer

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Capital Times

In his brilliant book about his participation in the American political experiment, “Time Present, Time Past,” former New Jersey senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley offered this telling observation about the need for heroes in a democracy:

“…it is in our local communities that the real heroes live. They are individuals like Dorothy Bradley, Deborah Floyd, Ada Deer and Reverend Watley, whose humanity calls out to us….”

Wisconsinites will note the name of Ada Deer on that list of heroes whom Bradley identified during his travels around the country. Deer is the first woman chair of the Menominee Nation who went on to serve as assistant secretary for Indian affairs at the U.S. Interior Department and as director of American Indian studies at UW-Madison.

Madison music sharer in new round of lawsuits

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Capital Times

The Recording Industry Association of America today filed a new round of lawsuits against 754 people, including at least one person in Madison, for illegal music sharing using the Internet.

….Despite a suit being filed in Madison, in its list of 12 colleges where network users are targeted, it did not include students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

UW-Eau Claire suspends Bible study ban (AP)

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Associated Press

The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire suspended a practice Wednesday banning resident assistants from leading Bible studies in their dorm rooms after it was slammed by politicians and conservative groups as infringing on religious freedom.

UW-Eau Claire lifts Bible policy for system review

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A policy banning University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire resident assistants from holding Bible study sessions in their dorms has been lifted until campus and UW System reviews of the policy are completed, Interim Chancellor Vicki Lord Larson said Wednesday.

Dave Zweifel: NCAA takes eye off the ball again

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Capital Times

The New York Times last Sunday printed an expose on a “high school” that turns athletes with poor grades into players with academic records good enough to qualify for a college scholarship.

The school is University High School in Miami, which has no educational accreditation and no classes, but athletes who are struggling at their regular schools are able to take correspondence courses from it which, in turn, are recognized by major colleges for scholarships.

….The NCAA, not surprisingly, is oblivious.

“We’re not the educational accreditation police,” the NCAA’s managing director for membership services told the newspaper.

Students back fee for selves (AP)

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Capital Times

The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire student government has voted in favor of charging students a fee to fund raises for professors and instructors, which are normally paid for with tax money and tuition.

Aaron Olson, the president of campus Student Senate, said the $20 annual fee is needed to draw attention to what he views as the Legislature’s underfunding of the UW System.

“Either we do the job of the Legislature or watch the quality of our education go down,” he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

TAs try to keep labor status quo

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Capital Times

Teaching assistants from the University of Wisconsin System came to the State Capitol on Tuesday to tell legislators why they should reject a bill that would take away their collective bargaining rights.

Sen. Tom Reynolds, R-West Allis, said he proposed the bill because of an illegal strike by the UW-Madison Teaching Assistants Association last year.

….Reynolds said after the hearing that he is not sure when the committee might vote on the bill, but that even if the panel votes against it, he would try to bring it before the Senate by other means.

Eau Claire student fee would fund pay raises

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In an unprecedented move in Wisconsin higher education, the student government at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire has voted to charge students a fee that would fund pay raises for professors and instructors.

Blastoff time for state?

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Capital Times

Spaceport, spacecraft and other aerospace facilities in Wisconsin?

Yes, say legislators sponsoring a bill that would create a Wisconsin Aerospace Authority and authorize it to develop those facilities and related services. The bill also would give the authority the power of condemnation and authorize municipalities to develop and operate spaceports.

The authority would promote and provide public-private coordination for the aerospace industry in Wisconsin, according to the state Legislative Reference Bureau. Supporters envision a future for Wisconsin in space commerce and tourism.

The proposed authority would be a public body created by state law that is not a state agency, similar to the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics and the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority. It would be able to receive federal funds.

UW football: White won’t be back

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Capital Times

Brian White confirmed Monday that he will not be a member of incoming coach Bret Bielema’s football staff at the University of Wisconsin, and that he will interview Wednesday for the vacant head coaching job at Temple.

Lyall: UW governance will change

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Capital Times

The days are numbered for a Board of Regents that is almost entirely made up of the governor’s appointees, says former University of Wisconsin System President Katharine Lyall.

Speaking to the Dane County Democratic Party at a lunchtime event on Monday, Lyall told the group of about 30 that with state support for higher education declining, those who are picking up the slack may reasonably expect a greater voice.

“What sense does it make for the governor to appoint 100 percent of the governing board when the state is paying less than 20 percent of the bill?” said Lyall, who retired last year. “The governance process here is going to change for public higher education to come more into alignment with the funding structure.”

State high court upholds regents’ firing of prof

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Capital Times

The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents correctly followed state law when it dismissed a tenured UW-Superior faculty member, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled today. In a decision written by Justice Pat Roggensack, the court upheld a decision of a Court of Appeals, which said the board generally acted properly.

….At the urging of UW-Superior Chancellor Julius Erlenbach, the Board of Regents fired (John) Marder, a tenured associate professor of journalism, in 2001 after colleagues and students said he acted improperly.

The statement of charges against Marder included “alleged sexual misconduct with students, alleged inappropriate conduct as an instructor and troubled relationships with fellow faculty members,” the court wrote.

JS Online: Coaches get word on future

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

After meeting with Wisconsin’s assistants Monday to inform them whether they will be retained after this season, Bret Bielema remains optimistic UW’s staff will remain intact through the Badgers’ bowl game.

Start-up makes pitch to scientists

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

NimbleGen Systems Inc., a 6-year-old company spun out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, developed a gene chip that is used to identify how genes work. Management and the company’s investors say these gene chips have the potential to revolutionize genetic research.

Books: New look at old history

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Capital Times

Charles Mann looks at the history of the Americas quite differently from the version you probably learned in school.

In his controversial book “1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus,” Mann has compiled works of numerous scholars to argue that before Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492, the Western Hemisphere contained more than 100 million people.

…Mann – a correspondent for Science and the Atlantic Monthly – quotes two University of Wisconsin-Madison experts, among many others, in support of and opposition to his theories. For instance, he quotes UW-Madison history and geography Professor William Cronon on the way Indians managed their environment by using fire.

UW-Madison African studies bibliographer and historian David Henige is also among those quoted.

Jeff Baldovin: Dorm Bible study rule unconstitutional

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Capital Times

Dear Editor: The resident assistant religious policy issue has exploded at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. The taxpayers, as well the students of this state, have made it abundantly clear that the current verbal policy restricting RAs from holding, leading or organizing religious activities in their dormitory is wrong. This policy does not represent the values of Wisconsin. Furthermore, it is in violation of the First Amendment.

….The negative publicity that the UW System is receiving is unhealthy, and the UW System needs to make sure that the support of public funding from the taxpayers is not deterred with this issue.

Jeff Baldovin, Eau Claire

Business world meets arts world in UW program

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Capital Times

….The Bolz Center (for Arts Administration), founded in 1969, helps prepare students for negotiating the rocky terrain of managing arts programs in the post-boom period. Even as Madison upgrades its arts facilities, these are difficult times for arts organizations, said Andrew Taylor, the director of the program.

“It’s a very different economy than we’re used to,” said Taylor, who noted that many community arts programs were born in the 1970s and grew in the next two decades. “The wealth isn’t there anymore.”

Business School Dean Michael Knetter changed the program from a master of arts to a master of business administration two years ago. It was in keeping with the school’s overall decision to offer specialized MBA programs, which Knetter believes make students more marketable once they graduate.

Ready to move up

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Introducing what should be the new No. 1 men’s hockey team in the country come Monday: your Wisconsin Badgers.

Playing the waiting game

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The eyes of Wisconsin are upon the Texas Longhorns.

Barry Alvarez’s football team needed to beat Hawaii and see Ohio State receive one of the two Bowl Championship Series at-large berths so the Badgers could secure an invitation to play in the Capital One Bowl on Jan. 2 in Orlando, Fla.

UW scientist finds a way to bring milk to the tropics

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist has figured out what appears to be an economical way to solve the scarcity of milk in developing tropical countries. But it is more complicated than shipping a truckload of dairy cows south.

Jake Stockinger: Nail’s Tales a real turkey

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Capital Times

What better time than Thanksgiving, with its Turkey Day football games, to consider football art, oxymoron that it is.

….The Lipski piece came about because of the state’s Percent for Art program, which requires a certain percentage of a state construction budget, a minuscule one-tenth of 1 percent, go to art for the site. Now, that is an admirable idea, and I would like to see it even more fully funded. And it has worked in various places, including at the UW Biochemistry Building and the UW Engineering School.

But this is, well … not what an athletic stadium really needs.

BellBrook fed grant for breast cancer work

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Capital Times

The National Institutes of Health has awarded BellBrook Labs a $250,000 Phase I SBIR grant that will aid development of a microscale mammary tissue model to accelerate the understanding and treatment of breast cancer.

The work originates in the laboratory of Dr. David Beebe of the UW-Madison Department of Biomedical Engineering.

American Family stung by verdict

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Capital Times

American Family Mutual Insurance Co. has been hit with a nearly $3 million verdict in a case involving a former University of Colorado professor and UW-Madison graduate who was seriously injured in a car crash.

A jury in Boulder, Colo., granted the award to Dominic Peressini. It’s believed to be the largest bad-faith verdict ever against an auto insurer over lost wages in Colorado.

Rob Zaleski: Spam – the monster that just won’t die

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Capital Times

If you’re among the tens of millions of people who dread turning on their computers every morning – knowing full well you’re about to be bombarded with crude sex messages and all sorts of other obnoxious spam – Gerald Thain has some depressing news for you.

Barring some dramatic technological breakthrough, the problem isn’t going away. Not for a long, long time anyway.

Thain is a consumer law professor at UW-Madison and somewhat of an expert on the subject.

Badgers give thanks in paradise

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Capital Times

HONOLULU – A little news and a few observations while spending Thanksgiving in this little slice of paradise …

ââ?¬Â¢ Ask 10 people to name a highlight from vacationing here on the island of Oahu, and you could easily get 10 different answers….

� The UW football team is getting plenty of play here in the local newspapers.

UW-Whitewater says dean’s suit lacks merit

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

There is no merit to a lawsuit filed by an African-American dean who wants to block release of an audit of his spending on the grounds that it would harm the public’s interest in diversity on campus, a top administrator at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater said Wednesday.

Brain stents used to fend off strokes

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Wisconsin State Journal

A new procedure at UW Hospital, one of just four hospitals in the country to offer it so far, is expected to greatly reduce the risk of stroke by clearing clogged blood vessels in the brain.

The procedure involves a new application of an old device – a stent, or mesh wire scaffold, which props open arteries narrowed by the buildup of plaque, allowing blood to freely pass through again.

Don’t wish for a bowl-game patsy

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Wisconsin State Journal

Short of No. 1 USC or No. 2 Texas getting upset in the final two weekends of college football or Oregon and the Pacific-10 Conference twisting the arms of Fiesta Bowl officials right off, the Big Ten Conference will get two teams – Penn State and Ohio State – into the Bowl Championship Series.

That, of course, would free the Capital One Bowl to snap up the University of Wisconsin and its caravan of fans, something the people who wear Capital One blazers have always wanted.

Families invite foreign students to celebrate holiday

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Wisconsin State Journal

In true Thanksgiving fashion, cultures combined throughout Madison on Thursday as families opened their homes and shared their turkey dinners with international UW-Madison students.

About 75 students went to 45 homes to share in a Thanksgiving Day meal, said Kathy Granquist. “The response from the community has been very good.”

Today’s a paid holiday for many

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Wisconsin State Journal

Is Thanksgiving a four-day weekend?

Depends whom you ask, although it sure is for the 7 out of 10 American companies that give workers a paid holiday today.

Posted in Uncategorized

Stay or go? That’s the question facing Calhoun, Thomas

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Wisconsin State Journal

Bret Bielema’s top two recruiting priorities going into his first season as coach of the University of Wisconsin football team next year are two juniors currently on the team, tailback Brian Calhoun and left tackle Joe Thomas.

They would probably rank on anybody’s list as the two best players on the team and both will explore their NFL options after the season before deciding if they will return.

Fights between legislators, UW hurt students, state

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La Crosse Tribune

Overall, legislators cut the UW budget by $250 million during the 2003-05 biennium. During the past several years, tuition has gone up sharply. Among the victims of the budget cuts are students of modest means � who now face the prospect of reduction of student aid at the federal level.

At some point, the extreme level of budget cuts needs to stop, along with the sniping between legislators and the university.

Wisconsin needs a healthy university system � and Wisconsin students need a quality university system they can afford to attend.

You can lead a kid to college, but…

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Star Tribune

Yes, on my first day of college, a guy down the hall encouraged me to take a peek at his roommate having sex. Yes, I once heard the thud of a drunken student hitting concrete after he fell from a 12-foot perch in the middle of the night. And yes, during a football game, a tumbler of ice struck my head with such force that the plastic shattered.

So, like most University of Wisconsin-Madison alumni, I was not shocked that hundreds of revelers were arrested in Madison again this Halloween, or that UW has again topped the annual list of party schools. Perhaps more surprising to the average Badger is that, in my four years there, I didn’t have a single drink.

UW’s stars shine bright

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Junior tailback Brian Calhoun, junior offensive tackle Joe Thomas and sophomore punter Ken DeBauche were UW’s only first-team picks, given that honor by both the coaches and media on Tuesday.

16 UW doctors to leave over Aurora transfer

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health is losing almost one-third of the doctors at its Milwaukee campus after its controversial move to transfer the faculty to Aurora Health Care.

Sixteen of the 49 doctors and two of the nine nurse midwives who were offered contracts with Aurora instead have opted to leave the medical school’s faculty.

Badgers earn a victory dance

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Badgers overcame a 10-point deficit in the first half and an eight-point deficit in the second half to beat Old Dominion, 84-81, in the championship game of the Paradise Jam Tournament in front of a tournament record crowd of 3,147 at University of the Virgin Islands Sport and Fitness Center on Monday night.

Pacific 10 referees will join UW in Hawaii

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Last winter, while Wisconsin football fans were lamenting the Badgers’ late-season swoon and wondering when the Big Ten Conference title drought would end, UW officials were discreetly preparing for the team’s 2005 regular-season finale at Hawaii.

UW officials requested that Hawaii, a member of the Western Athletic Conference, take steps to ensure that a WAC officiating crew not work the non-conference game.