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Author: jnweaver

Law prof committed to freeing wrongly convicted inmates

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Capital Times

In 1998 law professors Keith Findley and John Pray founded the Wisconsin Innocence Project at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Since then, with the help of law students, the project has reviewed thousands of cases and helped free 16 people who were imprisoned for crimes they didn?t commit.

Findley, a former public defender, now serves as president of the Innocence Network, which includes 55 innocence projects in the U.S., and 10 others in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

Tech and Biotech: Venture spending up in U.S. but Wisconsin still lags

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Wisconsin State Journal

Venture capitalists across the U.S. pumped more money into promising companies in the second quarter of 2011 than they have in three years. Investments totaled $7.5 billion, more than in any three-month period since the second quarter of 2008, with software, biotech and industrial/energy companies attracting more than 85 percent of the funds, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree report.

In Wisconsin, investors reported $39.3 million of venture capital allocations and five of the six deals went to Madison companies. But most of the money went to one place: stem cell company Cellular Dynamics International, which raised $30 million.

Beloit College officials explore history and perspective in book of Mindset Lists

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Wisconsin State Journal

Mindset Lists began as a simple way to help professors at Beloit College better relate to their students. Now, on a larger scale, the lists have proven to be a mesmerizing way to retell American history. College officials Tom McBride and Ron Nief developed the first Mindset List in 1998. It offered scores of one-liners describing events that happened before the incoming freshmen were born, reminding professors that references to those events could draw blank stares.

Doug Moe: Can we all agree that ‘Nail’s Tales’ needs to go?

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Wisconsin State Journal

For more than five years now, Good Doug, who always looks on the bright side, had been trying to embrace the sculpture outside Camp Randall Stadium known as “Nail?s Tales.”

“I kept thinking it would grow on me,” Good Doug said. Bad Doug, who believes it is always darkest just before it turns pitch black, hated the sculpture when it was unveiled in November 2005, and he hates it even more now.

“It grows on you,” Bad Doug said. “Like a goiter.”

Chris Rickert: An Idea whose time still is here

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Wisconsin State Journal

As a born-and-bred Illinoisan with roots in the Chicago area, I have to ask: What is this Wisconsin Idea you speak of? So far as I can tell it has something to do with Robert La Follette, or the University of Wisconsin, or clean government ? or maybe all three. Whatever it is, it has increasingly been an occasion for mourning among the more left-leaning types I?ve interviewed, especially since Gov. Scott Walker took office.

Quoted: Kathy Cramer Walsh, UW-Madison associate professor of political science.

Footnote: Why were fake candidates allowed to run in recall primaries?

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Wisconsin State Journal

Q: On July 12, six Republicans ran as so-called “fake Democrats” against six real Democrats to force Democratic primaries in six recall races. Their participation was orchestrated by the state Republican Party to delay the general recall elections against six Senate Republicans. Why were people who acknowledged up front they were not Democrats allowed to run as Democrats?

A: Wisconsin requires only that a candidate in a state Senate primary collect 400 signatures to get on the ballot. The candidate must choose a party to represent but does not need to attest that he or she affiliates with or supports that party, said John Coleman, a UW-Madison political science professor.

Nolan: Anglers put UW-Platteville on the college fishing map

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Madison.com

Jered Lex and several of his schoolmates started a fishing club at UW-Platteville in the spring.

“The club grew to about 10 people and we got some different companies to sponsor (us) by sending us free fishing gear and stuff at discounted prices,” Lex said in an email last week. Now he?s hoping to reel in a few more members and a little publicity in the fall.

Chris Rickert: Both parties guilty in map showdowns

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Wisconsin State Journal

The Republican-controlled Legislature has passed its redistricting maps and Republican Gov. Scott Walker is set to sign them into law. The response from Democrats can be appropriately summed up by that hackneyed, old threat delivered by Sen. Spencer Coggs, D-Milwaukee, to his GOP colleagues: “We?ll see you in court.”

Quoted: David Canon, UW-Madison professor of political science.

Analysis: Similar offenses lead to similar sentences

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Wisconsin State Journal

Blacks come through the courthouse doors in Dane County in numbers far greater than their representation in the general population. But after they?ve been convicted of a crime, blacks appear to receive similar sentences to whites for certain types of crimes, a new analysis has found.

The analysis – done for the Wisconsin State Journal and funded by the Center for Media, Crime and Justice – examined sentences for people convicted of Class F felony cases, a common class of crimes, in Dane County Circuit Court from 2008 through 2010.

Mentioned: Pamela Oliver, UW-Madison sociology professor and an expert on racial disparities in criminal justice systems.

Many complicated reasons for disparity

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Wisconsin State Journal

When she speaks to groups about the legal gulf separating whites from blacks in Dane County, Celia Jackson likes to pull a bleach-stained T-shirt over her tailored business suit.

“We have a stain in this community,” she says. “We need to own it. “It?s a simple but effective prop, illustrating the incongruity of a county that likes to consider itself enlightened on matters of social justice locking up young black men at a rate beyond almost any other place in the country.

….Former Dane County Circuit Judge James Martin said he retired in 2009 in part because of his frustration over the problem. He cited a 2006 hazing incident among members of the UW-Madison marching band that included young women being forced to kiss other women, and male upperclassmen forcing freshman women to drink alcohol. The scandal was handled as a school disciplinary matter rather than a crime.

“If that had happened on Allied Drive,” Martin said, naming one of Madison’s poorest neighborhoods, “you’d have criminal charges.”

As simple as black and white?

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Wisconsin State Journal

At age 12, (Teivon) McNair was arrested after a friend used his BB gun to shoot at people in their Sun Prairie neighborhood. He spent time in a series of group and foster homes, a juvenile boot camp and eventually a juvenile correctional center. By the time he was 18, he was charged with participating in the armed robbery of a Sun Prairie gas station.McNair was headed for a common and tragic destiny for many young black men in Dane County: At any given time, nearly half of the county?s black men between 25 and 29 are in prison, jail or under some form of state supervision, according to one study.

Quoted: Pamela Oliver, UW-Madison professor of sociology and an expert in racial disparities in criminal justice systems.

Catching Up: UW students will pay $9,000 in fines for dispensing beer to minors at house party

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Wisconsin State Journal

Three UW-Madison students have agreed to pay nearly $9,000 in fines as part of a plea bargain stemming from citations issued by Madison police alleging 130 local ordinance infractions for dispensing beer to minors during a house party in September. Each of the three men faces another $12,651 in penalties if he is cited with any similar offense through May, said assistant city attorney Marci Paulson, who prosecuted the case.

State trims back plans for Charter Street power plant

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Wisconsin State Journal

The state will cut back significantly on its plans for electrical generation at UW-Madison?s Charter Street power plant, the state Department of Administration announced Friday, saying there?s plenty of reserve energy already available. Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch made the call to forgo a steam turbine generator, which should save the state between $8 million and $10 million, said Christopher Schoenherr, Huebsch?s executive assistant.

Skilled masons make repairs to 150-year-old North, South halls

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Wisconsin State Journal

Two of UW-Madison?s oldest buildings are being painstakingly restored this summer with masonry work that has drawn crowds. The university is spending $2 million to make repairs to North Hall, built in 1851, and South Hall, built in 1855.

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No explosives found after UW campus area cleared Thursday

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Capital Times

UW-Madison police cordoned off an area behind the historic Red Gym on campus Thursday afternoon when a suspicious bag was discovered unattended, but the bag proved to be harmless. A bomb-sniffing dog was brought to the scene after a UW-Madison police officer found the bag at about 1:41 p.m. Thursday.

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UW Hospital offers new treatment for deadly brain aneurysms

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Wisconsin State Journal

When doctors scanned Susan Baker Kiconas? brain to see how a rare disease was destroying her vision, they found another problem: a large aneurysm, or blood vessel bulge. The balloon-like weakening of her artery could have burst at any time, which is often deadly. But unlike most smaller aneurysms, it couldn?t easily be treated.

Air Conditioning Fixes Cool UW Campus Buildings

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WISC-TV 3

MADISON, Wis. — Things are finally cooling off in several buildings on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus after air conditioning problems caused the temperature to rise indoors in the midst of a heat wave outside. Campus officials said on Thursday that the air conditioning has returned to near normal conditions in most of the buildings.

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Obituary: William F. “Jack” Fry

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Professor Emeritus William F. “Jack” Fry, passed away at his home in Madison, Wis., on July 18, 2011, at 8:45 p.m. Dr. Fry was a professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin from 1952 to 1998. He was an experimental high energy physicist at the university and pioneered the astrophysics program.

Maureen Busalacchi: Curbing dangerous house parties would be good start

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Capital Times

Dear Editor: The Dane County Coalition to Reduce Alcohol Abuse is excited that Mayor Paul Soglin and other city leaders are working to address Madison?s alcohol problem on a wide scale. The proposed ordinance, which would curb dangerous house parties and reduce risky drinking, is the beginning of what we hope will be a collaborative effort among the entire community.

Charcoal grill blamed for Jefferson Street fire

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Capital Times

A hot charcoal grill is being blamed for a fire that caused $500,000 in damage to a campus area house early Monday morning. The Madison Fire Department said the fire at 1521 Jefferson St. was caused by a small charcoal grill being placed on top of the wooden cover for a hot tub, causing the cover, hot tub and deck at the back of the house to catch fire.

Scott Rubin: Soglin?s keg rules go too far

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Capital Times

The additional regulations regarding ?house parties? in Madison proposed by Mayor Paul Soglin are not only an extreme infringement on personal privacy rights, but will also have a horribly adverse effect on young adults living in close proximity to campus.

Charcoal Grill Caused Campus-Area House Fire

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WISC-TV 3

A fire that damaged a house near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus early Monday morning was caused by a small charcoal grill, the Madison Fire Department said. Madison Fire Department spokeswoman Bernadette Galvez said an unstable grill was placed on top of a wooden hot tub cover, catching the empty hot tub and back deck on fire. The fire quickly spread into the home, causing a total estimated $500,000 in damage to the home, the detached garage and surrounding homes.

Construction Workers Battle Heat

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WISC-TV 3

The local emergency rooms have been especially busy in the late afternoon during the heat wave the past few days. Construction workers are some of the people that cannot escape the heat, and some of them have been at the University of Wisconsin Hospital ER suffering from heat exhaustion. However, the most prominent patients at the ER right now are those with chronic conditions that make heat intolerable.

Man arrested after allegedly trying to sell stolen computers on web

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Capital Times

A man who sublet an apartment downtown was arrested after he allegedly stole two computers from the apartment renter and then tried to sell those computers on Craigslist. Kenneth Reneau, 22, of Madison, was tentatively charged with theft of moveable property following his arrest Monday night, Madison police said.

According to the incident report, the two computers valued at $2,200 were reported stolen on July 9 by the 21-year-old Madison man who had recently returned to Madison and his North Lake Street apartment.

Power grab: Is UW?s involvement in providing Internet access an invaluable public good?

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Capital Times

No matter how vocal the opposition, the state?s new Republican leadership rarely blinks when pushing through measures it deems important. Return federal high-speed rail money? Check. Slash public sector unions? rights? Done. Implement a voter ID bill? No problem.

So, when members of the Republican-led Joint Finance Committee inserted language into their version of the state budget that would have been a boon to state telecommunications providers and a blow to decades-old investments made by University of Wisconsin institutions to help deliver and expand Internet access to entities such as schools and libraries, people across Wisconsin reached for the panic button.

Cool air slowly coming back to UW campus; rec facilities shut down

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Capital Times

Temperatures are starting to come down in facilities on the UW-Madison campus, but the continued hot weather is taxing the system so uncomfortable conditions will still be prevalent in some buildings.

University officials said on Tuesday that occupants of about 40 of the university?s 330 buildings will be sweating, as air conditioning capacity slowly comes back. The hot weather has also prompted the Division of Recreational Sports to close the UW-Madison recreational facilities until further notice.

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UW Officials Say 40 Campus Buildings Struggle With AC Issues

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WISC-TV 3

About 40 buildings across the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus continue to be affected by air conditioning problems on Tuesday after failures at several power plants. While a heat wave continues to cook southern Wisconsin, UW officials warned in a news release Tuesday that the warm conditions in the buildings are likely to continue for several days “as air-conditioning demand continues to outpace supply.”

UW repair crews have been working to restore services after the campus was forced to go without three of its chilling facilities on Monday after one failed overnight.

Posted in Uncategorized

UW men’s hockey: Recruiting class ranked sixth with an *

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Madison.com

The latest issue of Red Line Report, an independent international scouting service, ranks the top college recruiting class for 2011-12. The University of Wisconsin men?s team sits sixth, but an overview is needed to appreciate it. RLR makes its assessment based on talent its scouts view as NHL caliber. To that end, the publication referenced three UW recruits who were chosen in the NHL Entry Draft last month….

Campus Connection: UW-Madison’s Ward names Bugher special assistant

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Capital Times

Interim UW-Madison Chancellor David Ward named Mark Bugher, the director of University Research Park, as his special assistant, the university announced in a news release Monday. Bugher won?t be paid for assisting Ward and will continue to lead University Research Park, the university said.

Bugher is expected to advise the chancellor on everything from strategic priorities and political issues to the challenges of implementing newly awarded administrative flexibilities, which were granted to the university in the 2011-13 state budget.

Campus Connection: Florida State ?maintained integrity’ while using Koch donation

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Capital Times

Florida State University?s review of a controversial deal with Charles G. Koch found the school “maintained its integrity” in its hiring of two faculty members funded by the conservative billionaire. FSU faced a wave of negative publicity in May after the St. Petersburg Times reported that the university made some significant concessions to secure a $1.5 million gift in 2008 from a foundation backed by Koch.

UW women’s basketball: Madison East’s Makailah Dyer re-commits to Badgers

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Madison.com

Makailah Dyer?s dream has come true – again. Dyer, a 5-foot-9 guard from Madison East, was a member of former University of Wisconsin women?s basketball coach Lisa Stone?s final recruiting class. Now she?s also the first member of new coach Bobbie Kelsey?s first UW recruiting class. She will sign a National Letter of Intent in November. Dyer, whose mother, the former Janet Huff, is the 12th leading scorer in UW history, found out that she’d get the chance to follow in her footsteps with a phone call from Kelsey on Saturday night.

Tech and biotech: Madison firm puts tool for finding cancer to the test

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Wisconsin State Journal

Exact Sciences has begun a huge test of its non-invasive screening test for colorectal cancer. The Madison company started lining up patients on June 30 to take its DNA-based stool test. Over the next 12 to 15 months, Exact Sciences wants to test more than 10,000 patients between the ages of 50 and 84 at 60 sites around the U.S., including UW Hospital in Madison.

Loftus says proposal to break up UW System was politically unfeasible

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Capital Times

Tom Loftus? six-year run as a member of the University of Wisconsin System?s Board of Regents came to an end on Friday. Loftus, 66, was regarded as one of the most politically savvy regents and earlier this year emerged as an outspoken critic of the plan contained in Gov. Scott Walker?s 2011-13 budget proposal that would have granted UW-Madison public authority status and split it away from the rest of the UW System.

“A proposal to remove UW-Madison from the UW System in the budget bill is a guarantee that we will return to the tribalism of the past, when each campus and their legislators fought for their turf and decried any perceived advantage one campus might get that they did not,” Loftus said after news of the plan broke in February.

Madison 360: Biddy Martin leaves Madison as an enigma

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Capital Times

Gauging by decibel level, the best moment in a 21-point Badger basketball victory last Dec. 8 was a free-throw contest between Biddy Martin and her fellow chancellor from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Badgers? foe that night. Madison?s chancellor hardly missed, drilling 12 free throws with a rapid-fire, line-drive delivery to win easily. As with most things during her three years in Madison, Martin came prepared. Just before the shootout, she had sneaked off to warm up on the Nicholas-Johnson Pavilion practice courts next to the Kohl Center.

When a UW official first shared that anecdote last winter, it fit my evolving impression of Martin as a person who left nothing to chance. That, plus being smart, broadly experienced and charismatic, won her the chancellor?s job. Yet she also seemed oddly cautious and sensitive to what others said about her.

Now she?s history. Her last day here was Friday, and the one-word summary that comes to mind is ?enigmatic.?

UW men’s hockey: Big Ten schedule link to new league unlikely

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Madison.com

The newly formed National Collegiate Hockey Conference was introduced Wednesday during a press conference in Colorado Springs, Colo. Five members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association men?s league — Colorado College, Denver, Minnesota-Duluth, Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota — will hook up with Miami Ohio of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association to begin play in 2013-14.

Walker Appoints Two Students To UW Board Of Regents

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WISC-TV 3

MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker announced on Wednesday the appointments of two student representatives to the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents.The students — Troy Sherven, of Oregon, and Katie Pointer, of De Pere, — will join with other members of the body, which is responsible for “establishing policies and rules for governing” the UW System, according to a news release issued by the governor?s office.

The scoop on Babcock ice cream? It?s gone organic at retro Rennie?s

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Wisconsin State Journal

It?s hard to mess with ice cream perfection. But the experts at Babcock are dabbling with a new challenge: organic ice cream. The new line can be found exclusively at Rennie?s Dairy Bar, the only organic ice cream shop on campus. Located on the first floor of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery on North Orchard Street, Rennie?s takes its name from old-time Rennebohm drugstores.

UW naming academic building after a woman for the first time

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The newly renovated School of Human Ecology building on the UW-Madison campus will be the first exclusively-academic facility on campus to be named in honor of a woman. Nancy Nicholas Hall is scheduled to open in 2012, named after Nancy Johnson Nicholas, who graduated from the school in 1955 and was the major contributor along with husband Albert “Ab” Nicholas to the building of the new facility.

Tech and Biotech: UW grads spin success

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Wisconsin State Journal

Three recent UW-Madison graduates found out just how quickly the world of social media commerce can work. Corey Capasso, Andrew Ferenci and Dan Reich created a company, Spinback, whose technology includes EasyShare, a system that lets consumers share products and purchases through social media and then lets companies find out how those communications translate into sales.

State Supreme Court Won’t Reconsider UW-Whitewater Case

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WISC-TV 3

MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Supreme Court has refused to reconsider its decision to deny a new trial to an Illinois man accused of participating in the gang rape a college coed in 1998. A University of Wisconsin-Whitewater freshman accused Dimitri Henley and two others of sexually assaulting her. A jury convicted Henley in 2000. A Jefferson County judge granted Henley a new trial in 2008 after a federal appeals court granted a new trial for a co-defendant.

On Campus: Biddy Martin wants to use tuition hike for financial aid

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Wisconsin State Journal

In one of her final acts as UW-Madison chancellor, Biddy Martin asked the UW Board of Regents if she can set aside money so that low-and-middle income students won?t have to pay a proposed 5.5 percent tuition increase. Martin sent a letter to the Regents and UW System President Kevin Reilly on Friday seeking approval to use $2.3 million from the 2011-12 tuition hike so that families with annual household incomes of less than $80,000 won?t have to pay the increase.

5 arrested after allegedly accosting men downtown

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Capital Times

Five people were arrested for disorderly conduct early Tuesday morning after they allegedly approached and frightened two men in separate incidents downtown. Chi Williams, 17 and Eddie Armstrong, 19, both of Madison, Harold Wilson II, 21, and Kenneth Edwards, 22, both of Sun Prairie, and a 15-year-old male from Janesville were arrested following the incidents near Gorham and State Streets, Madison police said.

UW football: Comparing salaries for assistants

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Madison.com

University of Wisconsin assistant football coaches drew an average base salary of $182,300 during 2010-11, which pales greatly in comparison to their counterparts in the Southeastern Conference, according to a recent story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Biz Beat: Camp Randall hotel to open this summer

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Capital Times

It?s looking like the long-vacant 48-room hotel at the corner of Monroe and Regent streets will open in time for the first UW home football game on Sept. 1. The operators of HotelRED, which sits directly across from Camp Randall Stadium at 1501 Monroe St., announced Monday that the hiring for two key positions is complete in anticipation of opening later this summer.

New school reform for Wisconsin a model for nation?

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Wisconsin State Journal

A new initiative to reform how Wisconsin schools are held accountable could lead to the development of a national model, similar to welfare reform in the 1990s, according to a leading UW-Madison education researcher. But the effort, announced over the weekend by Gov. Scott Walker and State Superintendent Tony Evers, could be hampered by an intensely partisan political climate in which school funding has been slashed by hundreds of millions of dollars, education advocates said Monday.

Quoted: Adam Gamoran, professor of sociology and director of the Wisconsin Education Research Center at UW-Madison

St. Francis House plan rejected

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Wisconsin State Journal

The city?s Plan Commission voted Monday night to kill a proposal by St. Francis House Episcopal Student Center that would have added a 12-story student apartment building to its site. Ald. Chris Schmidt, a member of the commission, said the first vote to recommend approval of the project to the City Council failed on a 5-3 vote. The UW-Madison student center could wait at least several weeks to resubmit the proposal to the commission or they could come back with a different proposal, Schmidt said.

Campus Connection: Tuition for UW students likely to increase 5.5 percent

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Capital Times

Students attending a University of Wisconsin System campus will likely see tuition increases of 5.5 percent for the 2011-12 academic year.

The UW System?s Board of Regents is slated to review an operating budget and consider new tuition rates for the upcoming school year when it gets together for its monthly meeting Thursday and Friday on the UW-Madison campus. And for the fifth consecutive year, UW System President Kevin Reilly has proposed the 5.5 percent tuition increase for resident undergraduates at the four-year campuses.

Campus Connection: UW-Madison makes in-house hire to fill dean of business school post

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Capital Times

The University of Wisconsin-Madison turned to a familiar face to fill its dean of the business school opening. François Ortalo-Magné, who chairs the university?s real estate and urban land economics department, has been named the dean of the Wisconsin School of Business, university officials announced Friday. Ortalo-Magné, who is an expert on the economics of the housing market, is credited with growing alumni involvement across degree programs and expanding his department?s international reach.

Plain Talk: State must make it easier for voters to get IDs

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Capital Times

Doug Erickson?s story about Wisconsin?s new voter ID law, which ran in the State Journal over the Fourth of July weekend, ought to open a few eyes around the state. Truth is, of course, that election fraud in Wisconsin is virtually nonexistent, but it was a convenient excuse to get what the Republicans wanted ? to discourage classes of state citizens, mainly the 18- to 21-year-old college kids, the poor and senior citizens from voting because they tend to favor Democrats.

Stage Presence: Theater director loves sharing tricks of the trade with others

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Wisconsin State Journal

People know me as: David Furumoto, associate professor in the UW-Madison theater department and currently its director of theater production. I?m also an actor, director, playwright and in Japanese traditional dance circles have the professional name of Onoe Kikunobuhide. I play the Highland bagpipes and have accompanied Celtic fusion dancers at programs here in Madison. I also love collecting ghost stories and folk tales.

Dave Zweifel’s Madison: Dr. James Allen, a life worth remembering

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Capital Times

I didn?t know Dr. James C. Allen personally, but had heard a little about him over the years. He was seldom in the papers, yet was one of the most revered faculty members at the UW-Madison Medical School?s Department of Ophthalmology and as an extraordinary eye surgeon at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans? Hospital during a career that spanned 40 years.

According to colleagues and others who knew him personally, Dr. Allen was one of those rare individuals who never tired of helping others, but never sought recognition.

Footnote: Does a photo ID need to have the current address on it to be valid for voting?

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Wisconsin State Journal

Q. A new state law will require people to show photo IDs to vote beginning with the 2012 primary elections in February. Does the photo ID need to have the individual?s current address on it to be valid for voting purposes?

A. No, a voter?s photo ID does not need a current address for the voter to receive a ballot, said Reid Magney, spokesman for the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.