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Author: jnweaver

Sunday Morning Quarterback: Are booing Badgers fans spoiled or rightfully demanding?

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Madison.com

For the second time in the last three games at Camp Randall Stadium, fans have rained boos on the University of Wisconsin football team as it heads to the locker room at halftime. Depending on your perspective, that could be interpreted two ways….The bottom line: For a team that has been a work in progress and probably will ride a rollercoaster the rest of the way, it’s obviously not an easy audience.

Reversing the slide: Iron County communities try to curb exodus of residents

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Wisconsin State Journal

Until recently, a diverse constellation of industries ? farming, manufacturing, mining and tourism ? sustained these communities. But in many of them today, the population is aging, fewer babies are born, and fewer workers are left to support those left behind.

“When we think about the needs of the community and the tax base that?s required to support a community and all of its services, this is where it really starts to matter, not only for the current well-being of the community but for the future well-being for the community,” said Katherine Curtis, a UW-Madison assistant professor of community and environmental sociology.

Curiosities: What are those tall, corn-like plants at Library Mall and in front of Bascom Hall?

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Wisconsin State Journal

A: They are broomcorn, a plant still used to make straw brooms, says Mohammad Fayyaz, head of the botany garden at UW-Madison. The plant was reportedly imported to the American colonies by Benjamin Franklin after 1700. Scientifically known as Sorghum vulgaris var technicum, broomcorn is closely related to sorghum, a grain crop grown in drier parts of the Midwest. Sorghum and corn are closely related.

Chris Rickert: Focus funds on manure, not milk

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Wisconsin State Journal

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was in Madison for the World Dairy Expo last week when he raised the specter of $6-a-gallon milk should Congress fail to renew the federal farm bill.

….After all, America hasn’t “got milk” in quite a while, as milk consumption has been dropping since at least 1975, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Brian Gould, an agriculture economist at UW-Madison, says a variety of factors are to blame for the change, including the advent of bottled water and other beverages, an aging population that drinks less milk, and changes in taste and preference. “It’s a structural problem,” he said. “It’s something that’s not short-term.”

Two-alarm fire at Memorial Union extinguished, no cause given

Posted on
Capital Times

Langdon Street was jammed with fire engines Monday morning, responding to a two-alarm fire at the UW-Madison Memorial Union, a fire that was under control in 17 minutes. The cause of the fire is unknown, but Madison Fire Department spokesman Eric Dahl told Madison.com it was mainly confined to the attic above the theater. The theater part of the union is being renovated, and all of the construction workers inside the building at the time were able to evacuate safely.

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Ask the Weather Guys: What are cooling degree days?

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Wisconsin State Journal

A: A degree day is a measure of heating or cooling. A degree day is defined as a departure of the mean daily temperature from a given standard: one degree day for each degree of departure above (or below) the base temperature during one day. The degree day is related to the outside temperature and is not related to time.

Madison-based InterVarsity Christian Fellowship reaches almost 600 college campuses

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Wisconsin State Journal

Three days a week, UW-Madison senior Billy Burnside attends anatomy class in an auditorium at Agriculture Hall. Thursday nights, he?s often back in the same room praying and singing alongside dozens of classmates as a student leader with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. The national evangelical organization, based in Madison, has a significant presence at UW-Madison and at 575 other campuses across the country.

Curiosities: What are those tall, corn-like plants at Library Mall and in front of Bascom Hall?

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A: They are broomcorn, a plant still used to make straw brooms, says Mohammad Fayyaz, head of the botany garden at UW-Madison. The plant was reportedly imported to the American colonies by Benjamin Franklin after 1700. Scientifically known as Sorghum vulgaris var technicum, broomcorn is closely related to sorghum, a grain crop grown in drier parts of the Midwest.

Majority of UW System sees enrollment decrease

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Daily Cardinal

The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents discussed Friday preliminary reports on system-wide enrollment numbers for 2012, which showed a trend of decreasing enrollment in Wisconsin universities. UW System Senior Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs Mark Nook presented the data to the board, which included a 0.6 percent decline in total UW System enrollment. However, UW-Madison?s enrollment increased by 440 this year compared to the past three years? average. Nook said the numbers could be a result of the current unfavorable higher education climate, such as increasing tuition costs and difficulties in finding financial aid resources.

Keep sifting and winnowing at UW

Posted on
Capital Times

There has been some griping from several killjoy professors at the welcome University of Wisconsin officials gave Thursday?s visit by the president to the campus. To ease the task of organizing the event ? which drew more than 30,000 students and community members to Bascom Hill and surrounding areas ? the UW allowed the signup for event tickets to run the ticketing process. The rally was a huge success.

If Mitt Romney comes to the campus, he should be accorded precisely the same treatment. The same goes for Libertarian Gary Johnson or Green Jill Stein….The cure for what ails democracy is always more democracy ? especially on a campus where a central premise is the ?sifting and winnowing? of ideas. As long as the UW treats all campaigns in the same manner, all will be well.

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Nebraska investigating counterfeit tickets for UW game

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Madison.com

The University of Nebraska has been investigating counterfeit tickets sold for last Saturday?s football game between Nebraska and Wisconsin. The Lincoln Journal Star reported that at least 16 fake tickets have been turned in to the Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office.

State Street marches now come at a cost

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Wisconsin State Journal

Madison police have begun charging groups to march down State Street, sparking discord with the Madison Area Peace Coalition and leaving organizers of the 42nd annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival fuming. Representatives of both groups say they will likely march without a permit this weekend rather than agree to pay costs for officers to block traffic at intersections and squad cars to drive at the front and end of the march ? measures the Police Department says are needed to ensure safety.

Badger men?s basketball team challenges Obama to scrimmage

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Daily Cardinal

In the midst of the excitement surrounding President Barack Obama?s visit to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Thursday, the Badger men?s basketball team was working hard to convince the president to meet them on the court. Redshirt junior forward Zach Bohannon led the effort to reach out to Obama and persuade him to play a pick-up game with the team.

Obama supporters arrived early, waited in long lines to cheer president

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Wisconsin State Journal

At 4 a.m. Thursday, six college chums huddled for warmth on a UW-Madison sidewalk just west of Bascom Hill, sharing three Badger blankets and arriving long before anyone else with the hope that later they?d see President Barack Obama close enough that, as Allison Berg of Chicago put it, “we could take a picture without having to zoom in.” Almost half a day later, at 3:40 p.m. Thursday, Obama took the stage not far from where they kept their predawn vigil.

Obama fires up Wisconsin Democrats in wake of bruising first debate

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Wisconsin State Journal

In the wake of promising poll numbers but a bruising first debate with Mitt Romney, a fiery President Barack Obama kicked off the final month of the campaign Thursday in Madison, where he faced a sea of supporters in this famously liberal city. UW-Madison police estimated the crowd inside the barriers at Bascom Hill at 30,000, the largest of the 2012 presidential campaign.

Two big apartment buildings proposed near Kohl Center, UW campus

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Wisconsin State Journal

A Madison developer is proposing two large apartment buildings near the Kohl Center and UW-Madison, continuing a surge of residential construction in the Downtown area. Scott Faust is proposing to demolish two smaller residential buildings to build a 12-story tower at 313-315 N. Francis St. and to demolish four more residential buildings for a five-story apartment building at 202-222 N. Bassett and 510-520 W. Dayton streets. Both projects are targeted mainly to students but also would welcome young professionals.

Building closures for Obama rally

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Daily Cardinal

UW-Madison?s iconic Bascom Hill will see throngs of spectators hoping to catch a glimpse of President Barack Obama Thursday afternoon, when he will deliver a speech to the liberal capitol of one of a few highly publicized swing states across the nation. Because POTUS will be stationed at one of UW-Madison?s top hot spots, many campus buildings will be affected, resulting in the cancellation and relocation of many classes.

UW-Madison chancellor search officially begins

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Daily Cardinal

University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly formally charged the Chancellor Search and Screen Committee with finding UW-Madison?s next chancellor in the committee?s first official meeting Wednesday. In the coming months, the 25-member committee will nominate and conduct interviews with national and international candidates to fill the top leadership position at Wisconsin?s flagship university.

College Democrats, College Republicans geared for Obama

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Daily Cardinal

When thousands of University of Wisconsin-Madison students pack the slopes of Bascom Hill to hear President Barack Obama speak Thursday, students from the College Democrats and College Republicans plan to capitalize on the large crowds, but for different reasons. College Republicans Chair Jeff Snow said his group plans to canvass campus all day Thursday, wearing Romney T-shirts and promoting Romney?s ?positive agenda for the country? to young voters.

Obama visit sparks outcry from faculty

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Daily Cardinal

President Barack Obama?s visit to Bascom Hill on the University of Wisconsin Madison campus Thursday has elicited support from those who hope the event brings good publicity to the university, excitement from Obama supporters and joy from throngs of students whose classes have been cancelled. But the day before the speech, some are questioning the role the University, a public institution, is playing in what is a clearly partisan campaign event.

Dawn Kubly: Health advances require research on humans

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Wisconsin State Journal

The gold standard of research is the ability to reproduce results. Interestingly, it was reported in August that recent National Institutes of Health experiments on caloric restriction and longevity in monkeys came to a different conclusion than a similar study at UW-Madison.

Hot, dry year means box elder bug boom

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Wisconsin State Journal

BARABOO ? The southern faces of buildings and other warm areas will have even larger hordes of box elder insects crawling across them this fall due to an early spring followed by a hot and dry summer, experts say. ?Swarms of the bugs always come out this time of year, but the dry weather has them even more active,? said Ron Mack, owner of Premier Pest Elimination in Sauk City. UW-Madison entomologist Phil Pellitteri said 2012 has been one of the worst years for box elder bugs since 1988 when Wisconsin endured drought-like conditions during the spring and summer months.

Enduring images: Exhibit features slides from South Pole trek

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Wisconsin State Journal

Roald Amundsen?s ?We?ve Been to the South Pole? tour is back, probably with the same glass lantern slides he showed lecture attendees here in 1913, when ?the eyes of the civilized world were in a sense turned on Madison.? Peggy Hager, senior lecturer in Norwegian at UW-Madison, said the university was offered the exhibit by the Norwegian embassy, which has placed the posters and accompanying large photos and text at Scandinavian cultural centers across the Midwest and Northwest. To accompany the exhibit, Hager arranged four lectures, ?Exploration from a Norwegian Perspective,? on explorer Fridtjof Nansen, the Vikings, the Sami, and Ice Cube, UW-Madison?s research station at the South Pole.

Three UW professors irked at some details of Obama’s rally

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Wisconsin State Journal

A trio of high-profile UW-Madison professors went public Wednesday with concerns about President Barack Obama?s planned Thursday campaign rally, saying students who want to attend are unfairly being required to supply a phone number and email address to the campaign, even having to click “I?m In” to get a free ticket at the campaign?s website.

Campus Connection: Obama visit will close Bascom Hill buildings all of Thursday

Posted on
Capital Times

UW-Madison officials on Tuesday morning released more details about President Barack Obama?s campus visit. And although the university reports that it is doing its best to minimize the disruption of a normal school and workday for faculty, staff and students, it?s now clear that Obama?s Thursday campaign rally is going to force significant disruptions for those who utilize academic and administrative buildings housed on Bascom Hill.

Madison company Echometrix gets OK to sell ultrasound technology

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Wisconsin State Journal

Echometrix, a Madison medical technology company, has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to sell its EchoSoft ultrasound technology.”We?re very pleased to have reached this critical milestone,” said chief executive Sam Adams. The application was submitted in spring 2011. Founded in 2007 based on UW-Madison research, Echometrix has three employees. Adams said he plans to hire at least one more by the end of the year.

Preparations begin for Obama visit

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Daily Cardinal

For just the third time since 1950, a sitting United States president will visit the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus Thursday. Regardless of political affiliation, the event will mark a significant day for the university. Around campus and across the city, anticipatory buzz is building. Facebook and Twitter have exploded since the news broke Saturday that President Barack Obama would reschedule his planned trip to Columbus, Ohio and instead visit Madison. And still two days away, on-the-ground preparation has begun in earnest.

Company at Dairy Expo helps farmers turn manure into cash cow

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Wisconsin State Journal

A Wisconsin company plying its wares in Madison this week at the World Dairy Expo is offering farmers a way to turn one of the dairy industry?s messiest problems ? manure ? into cash. With an assist from a team of UW-Madison scientists, Braun Electric Inc. of St. Nazianz makes equipment for the Trident “nutrient management system,” which processes manure that might otherwise pollute lakes and the air into animal bedding, dry fertilizer, mulch and biofuels that can be sold for profit.

….”Farmers will make more money off of manure than milk,” said Aicardo Roa, a chemist from Soil Net, a company which has operations in Madison, Belleville and China. He worked with a team from UW-Madison led by biochemistry professor John Markley to help Braun land a $7.5 million grant from the Department of Energy to make the system available to the public. “We are the first people to understand that manure is a resource. That water, protein, it’s all a resource,” Roa said.

Suspects plead not guilty in Montee Ball battery case

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Daily Cardinal

A Dane County judge ruled Tuesday three University of Wisconsin-Madison students accused of attacking Badger running back Montee Ball could stand trial on felony battery charges. UW-Madison seniors Wendell Venerable and Deonte Wilson and junior Robert Wilks allegedly attacked Ball at approximately 2 a.m. Aug. 1 as he was walking along University Avenue with friends, according to Madison Police Department spokesperson Joel DeSpain.

Upcoming forum to examine diversity issues on campus

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Daily Cardinal

Vice Provost for Diversity and Climate Programs Damon Williams held a press conference Tuesday outlining the schedule for the 2012 Diversity Forum, which will take place Friday, Oct. 12. Lani Guinier, a civil rights attorney and Harvard Law School professor, will be the keynote speaker at the forum. Guinier will discuss the process and consequences of the affirmative action case to face the U.S. Supreme Court beginning in October.

Letter: Domestic violence affects all students

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Daily Cardinal

When it comes to sexual violence, particularly domestic/dating violence, it is easy for students to dismiss the issues believing it an issue that does not affect them. Unfortunately, students are more at risk than many believe. According to domestic violence expert Dr. Sandra Stith, about 30 percent of college students have been in relationships involving physical aggression and even more have been in emotionally abusive relationships. Beginning today, Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment (PAVE), a student organization on campus, will be recognizing Domestic Violence Awareness Month throughout the month of October.

Classes, tests moved due to Obama speech

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Daily Cardinal

As University of Wisconsin-Madison employees begin work all over campus to prepare for President Barack Obama?s visit Thursday, professors and students are finding ways to continue academic business as usual. Due to the president?s visit, all buildings located on Bascom Hill will be closed Thursday, and several other surrounding buildings will have restricted access, disrupting many classes. Jon Pevehouse, professor of political science, decided to reschedule his exam planned for Thursday to the following week out of concern that the rally would disrupt the exam.

Excitement over president’s visit a mixed bag on campus

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Wisconsin State Journal

Mike Daniels got a presidential view of Bascom Hill as he walked between classes Tuesday, with a stand of trees with glowing yellow leaves at the base of the hill and the Capitol dome in the distance. Come Thursday President Barack Obama will see what Daniels saw, this time with tens of thousands of cheering supporters on the hill. But Daniels may not be in that crowd. The senior dietetics major from Milwaukee supports Obama and will vote for him a second time. He saw him on his last visit to UW-Madison in 2010 but doesn?t feel the same tug of history this time. “For the younger students it might be a bigger deal,” he said.

Why Madison? Obama likely counting on young, fired-up crowd

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Wisconsin State Journal

Why would President Barack Obama head to Madison for a rally the day after his first debate with Republican challenger Mitt Romney? A better question may be this: Why wouldn?t he? “You want a friendly crowd, you want an overwhelmingly enthusiastic crowd, and Madison nearly guarantees it,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

UPDATE: UW-Madison students to face trial in attack on Ball

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WKOW-TV 27

MADISON (WKOW) — A Dane County Court commissioner bound over three UW-Madison students for trial on felony charges in the attack on Badger football star Montee Ball. Commissioner Todd Meuer said Tuesday evidence from witnesses and surveillance video established probable cause that Wendell Venerable, Robert Wilks, and Deonte Wilson attacked Ball as he walked home in downtown Madison on August 1.

Campus Connection: Obama visit will close Bascom Hill buildings all of Thursday

Posted on
Capital Times

UW-Madison officials on Tuesday morning released more details about President Barack Obama?s campus visit. And although the university reports that it is doing its best to minimize the disruption of a normal school and workday for faculty, staff and students, it?s now clear that Obama?s Thursday campaign rally is going to force significant disruptions for those who utilize academic and administrative buildings housed on Bascom Hill.

Obituary: Henry A. Behrnd

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Madison.com

MADISON – Henry passed away Sept. 29, 2012, at the age of 96, after a long life filled with a love of learning and an interest and enthusiasm for many things, which he freely shared. He was a kind, gentle, and private man, in many ways a Renaissance man with eclectic tastes. He worked in construction and for the University of Wisconsin, finishing his career as a conservator-craftsman at the Elvehjem (now Chazen) Museum of Art, where he was very proud to work. While at the Elvehjem, he studied with expert art conservators and taught himself by practicing on paintings he bought at garage sales.

Campus Connection: National board warns of threat to public research schools

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Capital Times

The cover story of this week?s Chronicle of Higher Education print edition highlights the significant budget cuts most states have delivered to major public research universities between 2002-10. The article is based on a report by the National Science Board, which found that only seven states increased their per-student financial support to these institutions during that period. Perhaps surprisingly, Wisconsin was not among those 10 states making the deepest cuts. According to an online, sortable table put together by the Chronicle using the board?s figures, Wisconsin?s cut in state support to UW-Madison ?- the state?s only major public research university -? was 9 percent between 2002-10.

Judge dismisses Ralph Armstrong’s civil rights lawsuit

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Wisconsin State Journal

A federal judge has dismissed a civil rights lawsuit filed by a man whose 1981 conviction for killing a UW-Madison student was overturned in 2009 because the lawsuit does not identify the people or agencies he alleged violated his rights. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb wrote in a decision last week that Ralph Armstrong, who was convicted of murder for the 1980 rape and strangulation of Charise Kamps, must follow federal rules of procedure when deciding who can be sued for the alleged rights violations.

USDA chief says Congress must pass new farm bill

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Wisconsin State Journal

After touring the Catholic Multicultural Center on the city?s South Side and seeing fresh, local produce processed for school lunches, Vilsack announced $101 million in grants ? including 19 for Wisconsin ? to support specialty crop producers. But Vilsack said all that grant money is on hold until a new farm bill is passed. Two grants totaling about $6 million were awarded to UW-Madison. One focuses on encouraging more farm-to-school programs like the Research, Education, Action and Policy Food Group?s farm-to-school program, which supplies area schools with fresh, locally produced fruits and vegetables that it prepares and processes at the Catholic Multicultural Center. The food produced by REAP is sustainably grown and comes from just one acre of land.

University committee discusses plans to revamp ethnic studies requirement

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Daily Cardinal

The Associated Students of Madison Diversity Committee met Monday to discuss its plans to challenge University of Wisconsin-Madison?s ethnic studies requirement, which was last reviewed in 2002 with few changes put into effect since. According to ASM Diversity Chair Mia Akers, the committee has a consensus UW-Madison?s three-credit ethnic studies courses do not reflect what is currently happening in the United States, and that most students do not take the requirement seriously.

Obituary: David Edwin Schrieber

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Madison.com

MADISON – Emeritus Professor David E. Schrieber of the School of Business, UW-Madison, died after a full life on Sept. 29, 2012, at St. Mary?s Care Center. In 1964, he joined the UW-Madison School of Business Extension (Management Institute/Executive Education) and rose to full professor and was director of the Human Resource Programs in the Management Institute until his retirement in 1994. At his retirement, he was cited as the 1991 recipient of the Extension Career Award given to honor an individual who sustained outstanding and significant programmatic contributions to the UW System extension function.

Grass Roots: Students call on UW-Madison to stop selling Palermo’s pizza at Camp Randall and the Kohl Center

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Capital Times

UW-Madison students visited the office of Chancellor David Ward Monday to ask the university to stop the sale of Palermo?s pizza ? the target of a national boycott by labor unions — at Camp Randall and the Kohl Center. The pizzas are sold with a Bucky logo and billed as ?the official pizza of the Badgers,? students say in a letter delivered to Ward by members of the Student Labor Action Coalition.

Big crowds, closed roads expected for Obama’s Thursday rally

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Wisconsin State Journal

Expect big crowds, protests, closed roads, rerouted buses and crawling traffic near campus on Thursday: The president is coming to town. Officials gave few specifics on Monday, as many details remain to be worked out, but acknowledged that as when Barack Obama visited UW-Madison two years ago, life will get a bit chaotic when he returns. “People can expect significant delays in the isthmus area on Thursday,” said police spokesman Joel DeSpain.

Campus Connection: National board warns of threat to public research schools

Posted on
Capital Times

The cover story of this week?s Chronicle of Higher Education print edition highlights the significant budget cuts most states have delivered to major public research universities between 2002-10. The article is based on a report by the National Science Board, which found that only seven states increased their per-student financial support to these institutions during that period.

University of Wisconsin-Madison considers expanding summer school

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Wisconsin State Journal

For some college students, the idea of year-round classes has appeal.”That would be awesome,” said UW-Madison junior Michael Van Voorhis of taking engineering courses during the normally slow months between spring and fall. The chemical engineering major from Minneapolis took an organic chemistry class over the summer two years ago and wishes the university had offered a lot more required engineering classes during the summer. And he?s sure his friends would prefer to spend summer taking classes to get ahead in their degree program “instead of going home and doing nothing,” he said.

“Part of this is starting to think what it may mean to have a 12-month calendar because a lot of our thinking now is around a nine-month calendar,” said Jeff Russell, vice provost for lifelong learning and dean of continuing studies. Katherine Duren, an associate dean in the university’s continuing studies department, will oversee the proposed expansion in regular meetings with associate deans from the university’s colleges and schools.

Brief: President appoints Bahr to nuclear waste board

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Daily Cardinal

University of Wisconsin-Madison hydrogeologist and professor of geology Jean Bahr was recently appointed to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board by President Obama. Bahr was sworn in Sept. 27 along with seven other new members of the board. She will serve a four-year term with the possibility of a single-term renewal. Bahr was nominated by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences and was approved by the president.

Community rallies for annual ?Brittany Run?

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Daily Cardinal

Four years ago, the Zimmermann family experienced a tragedy when they lost their daughter, Brittany, a University of Wisconsin-Madison student, in a horrific and still unsolved murder. According to event treasurer Beverly Otis, approximately 280 runners participated Saturday in the annual 5K ?Brittany Run,? which was hosted by the Zimmermann family. Although the goal of the race is to increase crime awareness, the money raised from the participation fee supports a private volunteer organization called Madison Area Crime Stoppers, which uses funds to pay for tips that aid police investigations.