Author: jnweaver

The best idea Wisconsin ever had is the Wisconsin Idea ? the notion that the University of Wisconsin ought to connect to the life of the community. It?s worked: Madison and the UW are virtually the same thing in many people?s minds. And the UW has a role to play in rebuilding the connections between Wisconsinites and their capital city….

Wisconsin would be a poorer state if not for the big land grant university on the shores of Lake Mendota. It?s time we told that story better. [A column by Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.]

Ken Golden, a state official who served on the Madison City Council for 18 years, said he will challenge Mayor Dave Cieslewicz in the spring elections….He has a bachelor’s degree and masters degrees in social work and behavioral disabilities from UW-Madison.

The Badger Herald headline from 1988 proclaimed: ??Noel? Sweeps Elections.? The Noel Radomski Fan Club, one of several student political parties with playful names, had won the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s student government co-presidency and all open seats on a prominent committee.

It was, at that point, the biggest political victory for Noel Radomski, then a 22-year-old political science major who had worked his way up the ranks of student government for two years before running away with the co-presidency after many expected a close race.

In an email to The Sconz, former Ald. Noel Radomski said he is seriously considering challenging Mayor Dave Cieslewicz in the mayoral election next year. Radomski, who is currently the director of the Wisconsin Institute for the Advancement of Post-Secondary Education (WISCAPE), strongly criticized the incumbent?s approach to development and education in the city, and believes Madison needs to radically change its approach to a variety of economic issues.

DestinationKohler manager of golf course maintenance Michael Lee is, without doubt, an expert on grass. The 1987 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has a bachelor?s degree in agriculture, and he can tell you everything you want to know about how grass grows and why.

A sexual assault spree could have come to an end mid-morning Monday with the detention of a possible suspect, Madison police reported. Up to seven incidents of women being sexually groped at various locations on campus and downtown have been reported to Madison police and UW police, Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain said.

DeSpain said it?s too early to say if the same man is responsible for all of the reported assaults.

Most Madisonians know what streets to avoid this summer if they don?t want teeth-rattling bumps and frantic brake pumping.

….Park Street: The one-block construction zone from University Avenue to Johnson Street should be cleared by Aug. 30, before UW-Madison begins classes on Sept. 2.

The Madison Police Department is working with UW-Madison police on three sexual assaults — two on campus and one downtown — early Monday morning that may have been committed by the same man. Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain said it?s too early to say if the same man committed the reported downtown assault and the reported assaults near Camp Randall Stadium and the Memorial Union.

Social Security marks its 75th anniversary this week, but it almost didn?t happen, according to the Wisconsin citizen who played a key role in its development.

Passage was doubtful in the Senate Finance Committee ?in part because there was no popular demand for old age insurance, or very little, and still more because there were grave doubts about constitutionality,? Edwin Witte said in a 1955 interview.

Witte, then a University of Wisconsin economist, was tapped in 1934 to be the executive director for the Committee on Economic Security, created by President Franklin Roosevelt to develop a program of old-age assistance. He was widely known as the ?father of Social Security.?

Being a scientist no longer has to mean years of schooling and dozens of science classes. Citizen scientists, from elementary school children to retirees, are taking to the field and collecting data – and observing environmental changes that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Citizen scientists conduct or contribute to data collection for which university researchers and government officials do not have the funds or manpower. But organizers of research projects emphasize that the volunteers are not just a set of hands, as their work contributes to long-term conservation efforts and may even affect policy decisions.

“We?re trying to give people an idea of the diversity of things they don?t normally think about,” said Mara McDonald, assistant administrator at the Laboratory of Genetics and the J.F. Crow Institute for the Study of Evolution at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who coordinates a volunteer bird banding program in Madison.

MADISON, Wis. — A man is in serious condition at a local hospital after suffering stab wounds to his neck and chest in a fight. Madison Police responded to a call for a fight at the corner of Frances Street and W. Johnson Street at 2:18 Friday morning. They found the stabbing victim when they arrived at the scene.

A man is in serious condition at a local hospital after suffering stab wounds to his neck and chest in a fight near West Johnson and Frances streets.