Watch out for scams on your Rose Bowl ticket or travel package, warns the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. (And no, it?s still not official that the Badgers will go, but many fans are already buying travel packages).
AUSTIN, Texas ? University of Wisconsin senior swimmer Maggie Meyer broke her own school record in the 100-yard backstroke at the Texas Invitational on Thursday, earning an automatic berth to the NCAA championships in March.
Ready to work until you are 69 before retiring? Aw, come on—don?t you want to do your share to cut our nation?s trillion-dollar-plus deficit? That proposal is part of a package of recommended spending cuts and tax increases that will be voted on Friday by a national commission President Obama created to come up with ways to reverse the country?s deficit.
Interviewed: Patrick Remington, M.D., professor of population and health sciences and associate dean at the School of Medicine and Public Health
MADISON (WKOW) — A scholarship fund has been set up in Dylan Ellefson?s name at UW-Madison, where he was a student. Twenty-one-year-old Ellefson was hit by a car in October. Police say he had pulled over in the 1400 block of East Johnson Street in Madison because of car trouble when he was hit and killed.
Twelve teams of researchers tackling some of today?s most complex health challenges will work in the new 300,000 square-foot Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery building, 330 N. Orchard St., where a series of grand opening events will be Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 11.
Minutes after Wisconsin had ended its Big Ten football title drought at 10 years on Saturday, UW coach Bret Bielema delivered a message to the players who will be back next season: They don?t need to wait 10 more years to win another title.
Asked this week whether there was enough young talent on the roster to build on the success enjoyed in 2010, Bielema noted there was.
A Madison company?s stem-cell derived heart cells have been named by The Scientist magazine as one of the top 10 life sciences innovations of 2010.Calling them a symbol of just how fast a basic-science breakthrough can lead to new products, the magazine ranked Cellular Dynamics International?s heart cells fifth on its list.
Cells distributed by the company, known as CDI, are likely the first of many commercially available cell lines from differentiated human stem cells. CDI was founded in 2004 by University of Wisconsin – Madison stem cell pioneer James Thomson and others.
A University of Wisconsin-Madison student accused of killing his mother was ordered held Wednesday on $2 million bail.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
MERRILL, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Madison student accused of faking the cause of his mother?s death is being held on $2 million bond. Chase Boruch, 24, made an appearance in Lincoln County Circuit Court today. He?s charged with killing his mother, Sally Pergolski, last June.
To say that Kirk DeCremer was intense as a football player would be an understatement.
In basketball, as in life, the rich just seem to get richer. That certainly is the case in college women?s basketball, in which the top teams continually scarf up the best high school players each year. The recently completed early signing period for the 2011 recruiting class follows that tradition, as the top 10 teams in recruiting success bear a striking resemblance to the top 10 teams in the rankings.
MADISON, Wis. — University of Wisconsin Badgers fans planning to travel with the Wisconsin Alumni Association to the Rose Bowl won?t have to choose a one-size-fits-all package this year.
In the wake of a number of racist incidents on the University of Wisconsin-Platteville campus, more than 300 university faculty, staff and students attended an anti-hate rally on campus Tuesday afternoon. Faculty members organized the rally to show their support for students and to take a stand against recent hate crimes on and off campus.
The bare branches, not the cold November wind, are driving Michael Higgins out of the hidden urban encampment he?s called home since May. When the leaves fell, he realized that his four-tent compound was in danger of being spotted, so he?s been trying to scrape together enough money for a locker to stow his gear while he spends the winter in an emergency shelter until trees fill out again in spring.
Concealment is the key for Higgins and a few dozen others who live under tents or tarps strung up furtively in obscure corners of Madison?s busy landscape.
A local union plans to picket at the grand opening of the $205 million Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery (WID), because restaurants in the private part of the facility will not be using union workers. Local 171 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) will rally at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at the new research facility in the 1300 block of University Avenue, according to a release from the local.
Los Angeles is a more religious city than Madison. No, really, it?s true; you can look it up.
As December arrives and the holiday season approaches, the subject of religion has somehow made its way into the latest edition of Men?s Health, a national magazine typically focused on women, sex, fitness, grooming, and well, more sex. In its latest list, “Holy Hometowns,” ranks the 100 most-to-least religious cities. Madison ranks 81st, one spot behind L.A. How could this be?
Ross A. Evans, age 73, died Sunday, Nov. 28, 2010. For all of his adult life, Ross worked as a teacher and researcher at several universities, but mainly at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Southern University in Baton Rouge, La. After retirement, he moved to Ames, Iowa.
There have been a lot of ?no new taxes? bumper stickers on cars parked around Camp Randall on football Saturdays this year. Many of the high rollers who shell out the big bucks for Badger season tickets, seat license fees and good parking spots are apparently big supporters of Scott Walker and the Republican takeover of the Legislature. If there?s anything they?re hoping for, it?s to pay fewer taxes to the government.
That hang-onto-your-cash passion, however, probably won?t carry over to the big increases that the University of Wisconsin athletic department will be asking of its season ticket holders next year to watch Bret Bielema?s football team.
The UW-Madison junior told authorities his mother?s early June death in a Lincoln County lake was an accident. But then police found a will and life insurance policies with him as sole beneficiary, according to a criminal complaint. And they found maps of area lakes, with the deepest areas highlighted.
The discoveries led to a Nov. 29 Lincoln County search warrant, served Monday night by Madison police and state Department of Criminal Investigation officers at the Downtown apartment of 24-year-old Chase Boruch.
It won?t be official until Sunday, but University of Wisconsin football fans have high hopes for the Rose Bowl on New Year?s Day.It?s been 10 years since UW last went to Pasadena, but one thing hasn?t changed: If you?re planning to go, be mindful there are scam artists waiting to take your money.
Congratulations to the team and to coach Bret Bielema. Next stop: Pasadena.
While he waits to learn his team?s bowl destination and opponent, Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema plans to address the potential makeup of the 2011 roster.That includes exploring the National Football League options for defensive end J.J. Watt, tailback John Clay and wide receiver Nick Toon, all fourth-year juniors.
On Tuesday, the 24-year-old University of Wisconsin-Madison student and former UW-Marathon County student leader Chas Boruch was charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of his mother, Sally Pergolski, 63.
Left tackle Gabe Carimi and tight end Lance Kendricks have been named first-team All-Americans by the American Football Coaches Association, which announced the honors Monday morning on its website.The fifth-year seniors were two of six Big Ten Conference players honored by the AFCA, which announces just one All-America team.
?Tis the season to offer a little Rose Bowl prose, contributed by Lisa Abbrederis ? the aunt of University of Wisconsin receiver Jared Abbrederis of Wautoma. It?s a nice voyage through the Badgers? memorable season, which will likely wrap up Jan. 1 in Pasadena.
What a difference five years makes. It seems like only yesterday that Madison?s Halloween celebration drew 100,000 revelers from the four corners of the nation to get drunk, pepper sprayed and arrested….The 35,000 who attended this year made the attendance consistent with past Freakfests. But the arrest tally is down: a paltry 44 compared to 61 last year and 181 in 2007. Not only were there fewer people than ever arrested, but they also were significantly less drunk.
….In a university town notorious for its alcohol overconsumption, no one’s saying that the drunken Halloween monster has been slayed. But (Madison Police Central District Capt. Mary) Schauf notes that “I am very pleased with the overall direction of this event.”
(This article first appeared in the Sunday Wisconsin State Journal.)
She opened at a scream.
“Pull a gun on me and it?s the last (expletive) thing you?ll do!”
Defense lawyer Jessa Nicholson stood inches from jurors as she quoted the man her client killed, trying to convey the fear and chaos that led to the shooting, which also injured the man?s brother.
Quoted: UW law professor Michele Lavigne
The new monthly report from the Center on Wisconsin Strategy shows little improvement on the jobs front. The state gained 5,400 private sector jobs and 2,300 government jobs from September to October 2010, according to figures compiled by the liberal UW-Madison think tank. But those 7,700 jobs weren?t enough to push the state unemployment rate down from 7.8 percent.
There?s plenty of anti-Madison sentiment these days, with politicians of all stripes vowing to cut government and reduce spending. Republican Gov.-elect Scott Walker has already stuck his thumb in Madison?s eye by nixing the proposed high-speed rail line that would connect the capital city to Milwaukee.
Another looming question is funding for new technology ventures, which are largely coming out of research at UW-Madison.
Gov.-elect Scott Walker said Tuesday his campaign manager, Keith Gilkes, will be his chief of staff when he takes office in January. Gilkes is from Prairie du Chien and graduated from UW-Madison.
A 24-year-old UW-Madison student has been arrested for allegedly murdering his mother, Madison police reported. Chase Boruch was taken into custody Monday night at his apartment in the 300 block of West Washington Avenue, after Lincoln County officers asked Madison Police to make the arrest.
Gov. Jim Doyle broke ground last week on the Wisconsin Energy Institute, which will help the University of Wisconsin-Madison develop new technologies to meet the need of creating renewable energy in the state.
Story examines the unique work of Dean Johanningmeier, farrier at the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine.
Members of the University of Wisconsin-Madison cycling team will be back on their trainers spinning in the cold on Thursday to raise money for the Safe Kids Coalition. The charity group provides car seats and bike helmets to people with limited means in the Madison area.
MADISON, Wis. — Legislative leaders are now getting a personal appeal from Gov.-elect Scott Walker not to go forward with a deal on state worker contracts. Walker has sent a letter to all four legislative leaders, asking them to not go into special session to approve state contracts. In the letter, Walker said any deals reached now will limit the flexibility of state leaders to narrow budget deficits next year.
Over the past generation, a curious thing happened to Wisconsin?s public universities: They became a lot less public. Yes, the University of Wisconsin System still educates the vast majority of college students in the state; 179,000 were enrolled last year. But little by little, the share of the UW System budget that comes from tax dollars has declined. It?s the best argument we?ve seen for the creation of a new agreement between the state and its university system.
After seven years, a team led by UW-Madison is expected to complete work on the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica next month – the largest such detector in the world. But the frigid, remote work won?t stop then.
CUB is concerned that the electricity the Rothschild plant sells into the Midwest wholesale power market will be costly and saddle customers with higher costs.
That is an issue now before state regulators with the proposed Charter St. biomass project in Madison.Madison Gas & Electric Co. is forecasting it will need to run its natural gas-fired power plant in Madison more frequently, increasing costs by $3 million for utility customers.
CUB is seeking to have the University of Wisconsin-Madison or utility shareholders shoulder those higher costs instead of ratepayers.The Charter St. plant is being converted to burn natural gas and biomass at a cost of $250?million. The proposal is designed to settle air-pollution lawsuits filed by environmental groups that challenged the emissions from the Madison coal plant.
But Governor-elect Scott Walker recently announced his opposition to the proposal. He has requested that the Doyle administration halt work on the biomass portion of the Charter St. project.
The elite athletes and coaches are the first of what is expected to be several such groups in the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Chinese Champions Program, a unique initiative that brought nine people from Beijing Sports University to spend the fall semester in Madison. Among the students: Luo Xuejuan, who won a gold medal in the women?s 100-meter breaststroke at the 2004 Olympics; Wang Bingyu, who won a bronze medal in women?s curling in Vancouver in February; and Sui Jianshuang, a silver medalist in rhythmic gymnastics at the 2008 Olympics.
Quoted: UW-Madison political scientist Ken Goldstein.
In her new book, “America by Heart,” Sarah Palin says most members of the mainstream media and those who teach at universities don?t believe in God.
A blog post by The Chronicle of Higher Education?s Tom Bartlett notes that on page 215 of her new book, Palin writes: “Most of those who write for the mainstream media and teach at universities and law schools don?t share the religious faith of their fellow Americans. They seem to regard people who believe in God and regularly attend their church or synagogue as alien beings, people who are ?largely poor, uneducated and easy to command,? as the Washington Post once famously put it.
“Not true, writes The Chronicle?s Bartlett — at least when in comes to those who work in higher education.
It will be a year-round middle school. And an urban farm. And a cafe with indoor and outdoor seating. And a neighborhood center. And an office space. And a home for small business.
Planners of the Resilience Research Center development have firmed up their vision and timeline for the nearly 4-acre parcel planned to start taking shape in January on the South Side, near the intersection of East Badger and Rimrock roads.
….The school would emphasize “culturally relevant” teaching, designed to bridge the achievement gap between white and minority students by helping teachers better understand their students’ home culture. The concept is promoted by UW-Madison education professor Gloria Ladson-Billings, who along with other university faculty is working on developing the charter school.
Kathleen Horning is having a few close friends over for the holidays, some of the same characters who might show up in anyone?s home over the next four weeks. They include Truman Capote, an angel or three, a donkey, a carpenter, a couple of guys on skis and some freezing soldiers, even a snow lady.
Horning directs the Cooperative Children?s Book Center located on the fourth floor of the Helen C. White building on the UW-Madison campus. It is a treasury of lore, content and advice effusively doled out to the state?s and the nation?s librarians, teachers, parents and anyone else interested in all that touches children literature.
Well, the awful 2010 election is behind us. Given the results, I recall Gen. George Custer?s last words: “We?ve got ?em where we want ?em. We can shoot in any direction!” Put another way, the Republicans are in total control and they will not play beanbag. But we will hold them accountable for the people of Wisconsin.
….Take a look at the agenda that Walker and his think tank cohort — MacIver Institute, talk show host Charlie Sykes, Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, Bradley Foundation — are drawing up. They will try to rid us of the La Follette legacy — they want to abolish the Public Service Commission, kill public radio and TV, dump civil service, bust the public employee unions, and privatize the UW-Madison.
Quoted: Alphonso Morales, professor of urban and regional planning at UW-Madison.
Steve Nass, who has developed a famous reputation as the UW System?s biggest critic, will reclaim his position as chairman of the Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee for the upcoming legislative session. Speaker-elect Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) announced the 26 committee chairs for the 2011-12 session on Tuesday.
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, which lies buried in the Antarctic ice sheet, records the collision of elusive sub-atomic particles called neutrinos.
The National Science Foundation has signed a five-year, $34.5 million agreement with the University of Wisconsin-Madison to run the observatory located beneath the ice at the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Although managed by UW, the observatory?s construction included contributions from Germany, Belgium and Sweden.
Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald has studied Wisconsin?s running game with junior tailback John Clay in the lineup and with Clay standing on the sideline, cheering on his younger replacements.
Neither the game plan nor the productivity has changed with sophomore Montee Ball and freshman James White sharing the workload.
Leaders of the University of Wisconsin campuses and the system president released an open letter Tuesday calling for civility after several violent incidents on campuses this fall, including a student?s death.
With his football team one victory away from clinching at least a share of the Big Ten Conference football title, Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema is among eight finalists for the 2010 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.
Already reeling from a projected deficit in its next budget starting in July, the state faces an even more immediate challenge – rising costs in several programs that could set up a shortfall for the current year ending in June, budget documents show.That possible shortfall was not included in budget estimates released Friday but could easily top $100 million without action from either outgoing Gov. Jim Doyle or Governor-elect Scott Walker after he takes office January.
Wisconsin tailback James White continues to make his case to be named the Big Ten Conference freshman of the year.White on Monday was named the league?s freshman of the week for his performance in UW?s 48-28 victory at Michigan.
Nothing is guaranteed in the world of the Bowl Championship Series standings until the final numbers are released, which this season is set for Dec. 5.
However, with Wisconsin holding at No.?7 Sunday night and maintaining a comfortable lead over No. 8 Ohio State, it appears the Badgers are in the best position of the three Big Ten Conference contenders.
Ken Goldstein, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, conducted the poll on behalf of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.
In a remarkable demonstration of the ability of calorie restriction to blunt the effects of aging, scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have succeeded in delaying age-related hearing loss in mice. Reporting Thursday in the journal Cell, the researchers described experiments with mice showing that a 25% reduction in calories activated a single enzyme, Sirt3, that helped preserve hearing.
A narrow majority of Wisconsin residents oppose a planned high-speed train route, but hardly anyone on either side of the issue thinks it should be the state?s top priority, a new poll says.
The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute survey also found only slightly less opposition to electronically collected tolls on interstate highways.
And residents said transportation spending should be the No. 1 target for elected officials seeking to cut the state budget.Ken Goldstein, professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, conducted the telephone poll of 615 adult state residents Monday through Wednesday for the Hartland-based conservative think tank. Results have a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
MADISON, Wis. — A new audit said that losses in the state of Wisconsin?s investments in 2008 will affect retired government workers for years.
The Legislative Audit Bureau report released on Friday shows that $23.6 billion in investments were lost in 2008 but $13.5 billion was gained in 2009. The total value of the state?s pension funds was $72.8 billion at the end of 2009, down from $87.8 billion in 2007.
