A 28-year-old Seattle man was arrested after he allegedly beat up a 31-year-old Madison man inside a campus area bar. William Eller was tentatively charged with substantial battery following his arrest after the incident Saturday night at Brothers, 704 University Ave., the Madison Police Department reported.
University of Wisconsin swimming and diving coach Eric Hansen will lead the United States women?s team at the World University Games in China this August. Hansen has a long history as a coach at international competitions, most recently as the men?s coach at the World Short Course Champions and assistant men?s coach for the Pan Pacific Championships in 2006.
UW-Madison is hosting an in-depth discussion Thursday (Feb. 10) about the leak of classified documents by the non-profit media website WikiLeaks. The event is open to the public and begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.
President Obama has appealed to the goodwill of the business community, asking the Chamber of Commerce to do its patriotic duty and hire more workers. Gov. Walker has proclaimed Wisconsin “Open for Business” and is offering up tax breaks for companies that add more employees. He has also vowed to reduce regulation.
But ask local businesses what matters most and they will tell you: it?s the revenue, stupid.
UW-Madison?s annual Wonders of Physics program — a fast-paced educational presentation designed to generate interest in physics among learners of all ages and backgrounds — returns to campus this weekend.
A 31-year-old Madison man was injured and two men were arrested early Wednesday morning in a bar fight on University Avenue, Madison police reported. The fight was reported at 12:15 a.m. at Vintage Bar, 529 University Ave., police said.
Several UW-Madison facilities projects are on the agenda for approval at the UW Board of Regents meeting on Thursday and Friday.
….UW Arboretum donation: Loyal and Bernice Durand, UW-Madison professors emeriti, want to donate six acres of undeveloped woodland in the town of Cross Plains to the UW Arboretum. The land is adjacent to a nature conservancy already owned by the university. The gift is valued at about $350,000.
Russell F. Lewis Jr. died at Ministry St. Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011. He received his bachelor of science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1939, and in 1941, he received his medical degree from the same institution. He remained a loyal Badgers fan and supported the University, the UW Medical School, and the UW Alumni Association for his entire life. In 1993, the Marshfield Clinic dedicated a building, named in his honor, on the Marshfield campus.
As the University of Wisconsin invokes the Wisconsin Idea to justify its growing scientific collaboration with corporate America, and the once famously publicly oriented government of Wisconsin declares itself ?open for business,? it may help to revisit the true spirit of Wisconsin?s progressive idea.
In 1912 Charles McCarthy, head of the state?s Legislative Reference Bureau, wrote a short book explaining ?The Wisconsin Idea,? the state?s innovative effort to counteract a growing corporate tyranny.
If UW-Madison is looking for ways to save money by becoming more effective and efficient, should it be relying on a consulting firm that has a history of accounting errors?
Campus Connection reported Tuesday that UW-Madison is moving forward with plans to hire the Huron Consulting Group to study if the university is truly a lean and mean educating machine — or whether in can find savings by streamlining certain aspects of its operation. But a few readers pointed out Huron?s past is littered with questionable decisions and legal woes.
Three forums on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus will highlight the ethics of animal research. Eric Sandgren, an associate professor of pathobiological sciences, announced the forums on Tuesday.
“We want these talks to be discussions with the community on the costs, benefits and ethics of animal research,” said Sandgren, who directs the Research Animal Resource Center. “More transparency, more communication and better information help everyone involved in this emotional debate.”
After watching a slow moving car strike a parked car near Memorial Union on Monday night, a witness persuaded the driver ? who was later arrested for drunken driving ? to take the keys out of the ignition so no one else would be put in danger, Madison police reported.
Some UW students are worried a developer?s plan to build a new apartment building in the Mifflin Street neighborhood will drive up the cost of rent in the campus-area neighborhood.
The plans call for turning Mifflin?s vacant Planned Parenthood building into a 4-story, 45-unit apartment complex. While developers are hoping to offer something new, a group of student residents said that offer may compromise the character of the neighborhood.
The latest issue of Red Line Report takes its first stab at ranking the top prospects for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft and two University of Wisconsin men?s hockey recruits are included.
It will be tempting for some to take issue with the pay raises forthcoming for University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema and offensive coordinator Paul Chryst. The UW Board of Regents is expected to approve their new deals at its meeting later this week.
The 1100 block of Spring Street ? between North Mills and North Charter streets ? on the near west side will be closed to through traffic through Feb. 18 so crews can work on underground utilities.
UW-Madison is moving forward with plans to hire an outside consulting firm to determine if the university is operating as efficiently and effectively as possible, Chancellor Biddy Martin said at Monday night?s faculty senate meeting at Bascom Hall.
“I think we need to be able to assure the public that we?re doing what we can to be organized in the most effective way,” says Martin, who stresses the study will focus on “administrative functions” and not academic programs.
John Hackett, age 87, passed away on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011, while at St. Clare Meadows Care Center in Baraboo. John worked as the head of the housekeeping department for the University of Wisconsin Hospital prior to his retirement in 1982.
Raymond Cross officially took over as chancellor of UW-Extension and UW Colleges on Monday. Cross comes to Wisconsin after serving as president of Morrisville State College, which is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Cross was confirmed by the UW System Board of Regents in December and succeeds David Wilson.
Those proclaiming there is no need to continue research using human embryonic stem cells because reprogrammed adult cells are identical were dealt a setback this week.
Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, which are adult cells that are converted to an embryonic-like state, retain a distinct ?memory? of their past, researchers reported Thursday in the journal Nature.
Quoted: Tim Kamp, director of UW-Madison?s Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center
…there?s no longer a question about the motives behind the bill. The sponsors of this throwback to the days of the Southern poll tax can try to spin their motives all they want. It?s all very simple. The GOP wants to make it tougher for college students, in particular, and anyone else who tends to vote for Democrats, to exercise their right to vote.
Playing with a play gun inside a car caused a real commotion in the UW-Madison campus area Saturday night, with officers ordering the car?s occupants out of the car at gunpoint, Madison police reported. The gun turned out to be a BB pistol.
Bret Bielema is happy with the 28 recruits he officially added to the fold Wednesday, but the University of Wisconsin football coach is holding out hope that his demeanor can be upgraded by the end of the week.
UW received signed national letters of intent from 20 prospects and announced that eight preferred walk-ons from around the state had committed to the program for 2011-12. The class ? currently ranked 38th by Rivals and 39th by Scout ? doesn?t include a scholarship quarterback.
Things were getting back to normal Thursday morning after the Blizzard of 2011, with most schools, offices, government buildings and buses up and running. UW-Madison is open, Metro Transit has buses on the road, schools are open in Madison and close suburbs (although they are closed or delayed in many area communities), and workers who had no chance of getting to their jobs on Wednesday face relatively clear driving.
Thomas John Baitinger, formerly of Middleton, died on Monday, Jan. 24, 2011, at the age of 48. He was employed as a sergeant with the St. Petersburg, Fla., Police Department where he was killed in the line of duty. Tom earned his bachelor?s degree in behavioral science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1986. He proudly played trumpet in the University of Wisconsin Marching Band in Rank One. The UW Marching Band was Tom?s passion and he returned frequently to march with the Alumni Band.
Michele Mary “Shelly” Heinrichs joined God, her heavenly Father and her beloved Father, Donovan, on Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011. She taught classes for MATC for x-ray technicians. She worked at both UW Hospital and Meriter Hospital. She loved both the work and the people at these places.
Patricia Rekstad Stuessy, age 77, of Platteville, died on Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011, at Southwest Health Center Nursing Home, Cuba City. She worked as an RN in Vermont, Massachusetts and Minnesota, as well as UW Student Health Services in Madison and Platteville, where she was known as an excellent nurse wherever she was working.
Perhaps he?s hung around too long with those high-rolling supporters of his who have a habit of living only for the next quarter?s financial results while demonstrating little concern for the long term. Because, if Scott Walker hasn?t already demonstrated he?s shortsighted, he hasn?t done anything at all.
….During his first month in office, Walker has proposed strict rules that could hamper the wind power industry, nixed the Charter Street Biomass Project on the UW-Madison campus and returned more than $800 million in federal money for upgrading Wisconsin?s passenger and freight rail infrastructure. There?s also talk about limiting embryonic stem cell research, an issue that?s more symbolic than substantive.
Put together, it?s not exactly what economic development advocates were hoping to see from a governor who?s vowed to create 250,000 new private sector jobs.
Due to the blizzard that created massive snow drifts and hazardous conditions across Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker declared a state of emergency Wednesday in 29 counties and ordered all state offices in those counties closed to the public. Emergency officials also urged all people to stay home and off the road if possible. Walker, nevertheless, told all state workers ? even those in non-emergency posts ? to report to work or take the day as vacation.
That did not sit well for a lot of folks who used a weather story on madison.com to voice their displeasure.
But Cullen Werwie, Walker’s press secretary, says the governor’s executive order directed state workers to report to work only if was safe to do so. Those who couldn’t make it would be required to take vacation or other leave, though they couldn’t use sick leave.
UW-Madison was among the national leaders in private funds raised during the 2010 fiscal year according to the annual Voluntary Support of Education Survey, which was released by the Council for Aid to Education on Wednesday.
The survey reports Wisconsin?s flagship institution brought in $311.8 million in gifts, ranking 12th nationally.
But that?s a decrease from a year ago, when UW-Madison raised $341.8 million and ranked 10th nationally in 2009. UW-Madison wasn’t alone in this regard.
n his inaugural “state of the state” address Tuesday night, Gov. Scott Walker urged fiscal austerity to meet Wisconsin’s budget crisis even as he announced he would move up by two years the start of the massive Zoo Interchange highway project.
Update 12:40 p.m.: UW-Milwaukee is canceling classes after 4 p.m. today and all classes Wednesday. Some University of Wisconsin System campuses are canceling classes tonight due to the impending snowstorm. UW-Whitewater, UW-Waukesha, and UW-Washington County will not hold classes after 5 p.m. UW-Rock County announced it is canceling classes after 4:45 p.m.
UW-Waukesha also canceled classes on Wednesday. It is the only campus to make that decision so far.
(This article first appeared in Sunday’s Wisconsin State Journal)
Andrew Leckel already was waking up with nightmares about his father?s second yearlong deployment in Iraq. One day he came home crying because his first-grade classmates had inadvertently fueled his fears by talking about soldiers being killed in the war. His mother, Heidi Leckel, says her son?s experiences underscore the need for parents, teachers, neighbors ? everyone ? to be more aware of how hard the long-running wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are hitting children of soldiers.
Mentioned: Laura Pettersen, a UW Extension employee who is project director for the state chapter of the Defense Department?s Operation Military Kids, which provided camps and support for 2,861 youth in 2010.
America, with its emphasis on sports, is becoming a nation of physical giants and intellectual pygmies.
….Over half of the instructors teaching in the graduate programs in engineering in the U.S. are foreign born. The proclamation that the U.S. is the most innovative, creative society in the world, with the most skilled work force and greatest universities, needs candid introspection.
STEVENS POINT — Proponents of the Wisconsin voter ID bill deserve credit for piquing college students? interest in current events. Of course, this is accomplished by proposing to make students jump through hoops to exercise their right to vote. Granted, students stayed away from the last election in droves, but deny them something and they?re likely to suddenly desire it more.
….Up this way, the UW-Stevens Point Student Government Association, representing the voting rights of about 9,500 students, issued a statement calling ?ongoing attempts of legislators in Madison to disenfranchise student voters unacceptable.? Going further, the student group specifically objects to the repeal of same-day voter registration, calling it ?a direct assault against the voting rights of citizens statewide.? They got that one right.
Helme Irene Steinke, age 91, passed peacefully away on Friday, Jan. 28, 2011, at a local healthcare center. During her life she had varied interests and employment as a cake decorator, a nanny, a nursing assistant, an aircraft riveter during World War II, and her favorite position, which was in the Bursar’s office at the University of Wisconsin, from which she retired.
It?s not a snow day, but it?s close on the UW-Madison campus. Classes have not been cancelled at UW-Madison this snowy Tuesday, but officials have declared “snow action days” for both Tuesday and Wednesday, putting snow removal crews in winter storm mode to keep critical areas as clear of snow as possible.
….During snow action days, crews will first work on clearing out building entrances and pathways in high-priority areas, so some walking routes, including the south walk along Lot 46, the west walk on Lake Mendota Drive and others have low priority and will be cleared last.
Parking restrictions are in effect, so there’s no parking on Observatory Drive or Linden Drive between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. and there are designated parking areas in Lots 16, 51, 32, 34 and 40.
The new governor and Legislature have fast-tracked a bill requiring a photo ID to vote in Wisconsin. Opponents say the law would do little to prevent alleged fraud at the polls, while supporters say it is necessary to protect the integrity of the system. Some version of this bill is almost certainly going to be signed into law. If photo ID is going to be implemented, it needs to be done right.
(By UW-Madison professor of political science David Canon and associate professor of public affairs Donald Moynihan. Also mentioned are political science professors Barry Burden and Ken Mayer.)
Six UW-Madison students are at an Egypt airport awaiting evacuation back to the U.S.
The university is suspending its study abroad programs in Egypt in light of political unrest. The students had arrived in Alexandria in January to study Arabic language programs. Two other students who were scheduled to go to Cairo on Wednesday will not go as planned, according to UW-Madison officials.
Forcing concessions from state employees is a popular talking point for Gov. Scott Walker and one that likely will find a central place in his first State of the State speech Tuesday.
Publicly at least, union officials say they want to keep talking with Walker. Privately, they worry he will circumvent the bargaining table and go for an all-out evisceration of their right to negotiate over health care and pension costs.
EVANSTON, Ill. ? With the game on the line, Lisa Stone turned to her one-two punch to knock out Northwestern.Seniors Lin Zastrow and Alyssa Karel scored the first 14 points of a 20-5 game-ending run as the University of Wisconsin women?s basketball team pulled away to a 62-50 victory over Northwestern to maintain its share of first place in the Big Ten Conference.
Kathryn Marie “Kathy” Kludy, age 66, was called to heaven after a 10-month battle with cancer on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011. She taught upholstery at MATC-Truax and worked at the Memorial Union doing upholstery. She was a lifelong member of the Hoofer Sailing Club.
Bernard Harris passed away peacefully on Friday, Jan. 28, 2011, at Tulane University Medical Center in New Orleans, La., following complications from heart surgery. Harris was a professor in the Mathematics Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1964 to 1985, and a professor in the Statistics Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1966 to 2002.
UW-Whitewater is raising money for a new baseball field in memory of 6-year-old Treyton Kilar, who was killed by an accused drunk driver.
The “Treyton Kilar Field of Dreams” is in the running for a $250,000 Pepsi Refresh grant, a voting-based award that ends today. You can vote here. Kilar?s mother, Mary, is a UW-Whitewater graduate who was inducted into the university?s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009. Treyton?s story was featured in Curb magazine, produced by UW-Madison journalism students.
Dr. Vincent Tranchida expects some changes in his death investigation assignments. In New York City, where he worked for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, ?you never know what would be coming through the door.?
….?I hope very much to continue teaching (in Madison),? he said. ?Teaching is a good way of keeping abreast of what is going on in the field and also sharing that knowledge with others. My hope is to make the Dane County Medical Examiner?s Office a teaching resource for the university, for the residents.?
Bernard Harris passed away peacefully on Friday, Jan. 28, 2011, at Tulane University Medical Center in New Orleans, La., following complications from heart surgery. He was a professor in the Mathematics Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1964 to 1985, and as a professor in the Statistics Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1966 to 2002.
The emotional health of freshmen entering college in the fall of 2010 tumbled to a record low, according to an annual survey of incoming students attending four-year institutions across the country. The report, titled “The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2010,” indicates that just over half 51.9 percent of the students surveyed this past fall self-reported their emotional health was in the “highest 10 percent” or “above average.” In 1985, the first year the question was asked in this survey, 63.6 percent placed themselves in those categories.
Quoted: Danielle Oakley, director of counseling and consultation services for University Health Services, and Amanda Ngola of UHS.
Ken Rice, once one of the youngest news anchors ever on TV in Madison, is now a veteran of two decades on television in Pittsburgh. This week seemed like a good chance to catch up with Rice, and to ask, among other things, who is crazier, Packers fans or Steelers fans?
….Rice’s college experience included internships at WISC-TV (Ch. 3) and WMTV-TV (Ch. 15). It was also on the Madison campus that he formed a lasting friendship with a fraternity brother, Steve Levitan, who is now one of the hottest producers in Hollywood after creating “Modern Family” for ABC.
It wasn?t pneumonia that killed 200 cows in Portage County earlier this month.It was toxic sweet potatoes. The steers who died Jan. 14 at a feedlot were initiallly thought to have died from pneumonia, but the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Lab in Madison did more testing and discovered the cows had eaten moldy sweet potato waste that contained a toxin.
MADISON, Wis. — A state lab says the 200 steers that died this month in Portage County were done in by tainted potatoes.
Peter Vanderloo, an associate director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, which is run on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. said the cows tested positive for a toxin that?s found in moldy sweet potatoes.
MADISON — The 200 cows recently found dead in a Portage County farm field were killed by a toxin found in moldy food, according to the UW Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory that examined the dead animals. The sweet potatoes apparently were mixed in with potato waste fed to the animals. Tests on feed samples revealed the presence of the toxin, ipomeanol.
Harry John Steindorf, Captain USMC, age 64, of Cottage Grove, passed away on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011, in Arizona due to complications from diabetes. Harry graduated from UW-Whitewater and attended law school at UW-Madison. He served as an administrator for the Ho-Chunk Nation and retired from UW-Madison after 23 years.
The University of Wisconsin women?s basketball team had the night off Thursday, but the Badgers were still big winners. The Badgers moved into a four-way tie for first place in the Big Ten Conference, thanks to No. 18 Iowa?s 66-64 victory over Michigan State in Iowa City, Iowa.
Mike Kelley is usually a low-key guy but last Sunday afternoon he found himself yelling at his television because he wanted University of Wisconsin men?s basketball coach Bo Ryan to put Josh Gasser back into the game.
Kelley, who started at guard on the Badgers? 2000 Final Four team, was cheering on Gasser in his quest for the first triple double ? double figures in three different statistical categories ? in the 113-year history of the program.
Mary Magdalene Kreul, age 91, died on Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011, at St. Mary?s Care Center. Mary was employed with the FBI in Washington, D.C. (1941-48), University of Minnesota (1949-53), Marquette University (1953-59), University of Montana (1959-61), and University of Wisconsin (1961-81) where she was a professor and dean in the School of Business.
The Waisman Center on the UW-Madison campus is hosting its seventh annual “Autism: A Day with the Experts” program on Saturday.Three UW-Madison scientists will speak about the latest advances in autism research. The event also features a resource fair.
Stevens Construction Corp. won a competitive bidding process to serve as general contractor for a private residence hall to be built on the edge of the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor. Company president Geoffrey Vine told Property Trax the construction contract for the 14-story building was around $42 million.
….Building in and around university campuses isn’t new for Stevens Construction, which has a staff of more than 140 who can do carpentry as well as concrete work on sites. Last year, the company finished two multimillion-dollar, mixed-use projects in Downtown Madison that cater mainly or partly to students.
The University of Wisconsin Foundation?s endowment grew by 13 percent between June of 2009 and June of 2010, according to this chart in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
As of June 30, 2010, the UW Foundation — the private, nonprofit fundraising arm of UW-Madison — had an endowment valued at $1.55 billion according to figures compiled by the National Association of College and University Business Officers, in partnership with the Commonfund Institute. A year earlier, the UW Foundation?s endowment was valued at $1.37 billion.
Jon Leuer, a senior forward for the University of Wisconsin men?s basketball team, has been selected as one of 10 men?s basketball finalists for the Lowe?s Senior CLASS Award. The award is given to the student-athlete who best excels both on and off the court and is measured in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition.
