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Author: jplucas

UW-Madison seeks stability with David Ward as interim chancellor

Wisconsin State Journal

UW System President Kevin Reilly lured former UW-Madison Chancellor David Ward out of retirement to serve as interim chancellor of the state?s flagship university, an effort to provide an experienced and familiar leader after a period of contentiousness. ?He?s someone who can bring people together on campus, who can reach out to the other UW System chancellors and can serve as a very strong advocate for our flagship, land-grant, global institution that is UW-Madison,? Reilly said at a news conference Wednesday at Bascom Hall.

Did Australian Aborigines Change the Weather? (ScienceNOW)

Noted: Previously, researchers have linked such burning to the extinctions of some species of Australian megafauna, including several species of kangaroos, wombats, and other marsupials, thousands of years ago. But whether these burns affected the region?s climate was unclear. The fact that previous climate simulations were limited to the core months of the rainy season may have limited their scope, says Michael Notaro, a climate scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Students Try Groundbreaking Science underwater (WSAW-TV, Wausau)

Quoted: “We?re attempting to target that cold water habitat that the Rainbow Smelt need,” said Jordan Read, a University of Wisconsin-Madison doctoral student and organizer of the project. “In order to do that we?re mixing the bottom lake waters, which are normally very cold, with the surface waters which are much warmer. The end result is a lake that is too warm for the invasive fish to survive but has normal temperatures for some of the warmer water fish.”

Democrats want non-partisan approach to redistricting (Wisconsin Public Radio)

Superior Telegram

Quoted: The plan has the support of University of Wisconsin Madison political science professor David Canon, who says that this year provides a good example of how redistricting is politicized. He says that with recall elections on the horizon, state Senate Republicans may pass a new map this summer before many local political boundaries are redrawn.

Justice Prosser’s temper being questioned (WTMJ-TV, Milwaukee)

Quoted: “I think it does exemplify the political messiness of this,” University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin said. “It does reflect the extreme partisan atmosphere. All sides are so committed to winning, whatever the issue is, that any sense that there could be an objective judgment appears to be lost in the rhetoric.”

State Supreme Court: Investigation of alleged State Supreme Court altercation continues (WITI-TV, Milwaukee)

Quoted: UW-Madison Political Science Professor Charles Franklin says even though the supreme court scuffle has a punch-line quality, it?s actually a very serious matter. “No matter what way the evidence ultimately ends up about who did what to whom the fact that we?ve reached the point of physical altercation between justices I think is powerful evidence that the courts normal judicial decorum has broken down.”

Experts repudiate Medtronic’s research

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Doctors who received millions of dollars from device maker Medtronic repeatedly failed to reveal serious complications linked to the company?s lucrative back surgery product in 13 papers they co-authored for medical journals over the course of nearly a decade, according to a scathing new review.

In The Spine Journal, Specialists Repudiate Medtronic Research

New York Times

Noted: Several researchers who were involved in the Medtronic-sponsored studies have defended their reports as scientifically sound and free of company influence, either directly or indirectly. For example, one of them, Dr. Thomas A. Zdeblick of the University of Wisconsin, said that he did not have a ?direct financial interest in the success of Infuse or Medtronic.? Over the years, Dr. Zdeblick has received over $20 million in royalty payments from Medtronic in connection with patents on devices, including one that is used with Infuse.

UW building evacuated temporarily after gas leak discovered

Wisconsin State Journal

The UW-Madison Social Sciences Building was evacuated Tuesday afternoon after construction crews damaged a gas line. The gas leak was discovered at about 2:30 p.m. near the intersection of North Charter Street and Observatory Drive.

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Collective bargaining law takes effect

Wisconsin Radio Network

After months of protest marches, court hearings, and marathon legislative sessions, Governor Scott Walker?s law that rolls back the ability to collectively bargain for many state workers officially takes effect today. It?s been a historic journey for the measure to get to this point, as it has worked its way through the Legislature and the courts in a battle like no other in recent memory. It has left many in the state divided and will likely impact the political landscape of Wisconsin for the next several years.

Tensions rising over cost disparities at U

Star Tribune

Departing University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks calls it one of his proudest achievements: The state?s flagship campus in the Twin Cities, which serves 50,000 students, has done a better job than most across the country at steering scholarships to its poorest undergraduates.

UW football: Badgers went to great lengths in unusual courtship of Wilson

Madison.com

University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema has never been through a recruiting process like the one that landed North Carolina State transfer quarterback Russell Wilson. It?s unlikely Bielema will go through anything like it again. Bielema kept using the word “unique” during a news conference Tuesday to describe the two-month courtship that landed the Badgers their likely starting quarterback for the upcoming season.

UW-Madison?s freshman admission rate the lowest in 20 years

Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison accepted about half of the students who applied to be a member of the freshman class, the lowest admission rate in at least 20 years for the state?s flagship university. It?s a function of the fact that a record number of students applied, while the size of the freshman class remained the same as in recent years, at about 5,900.Officials say more applicants for the same number of spots have led to an unintended consequence: Admission to UW-Madison is more selective.

John Bayer: Wiley trumps Martin on accomplishments

Wisconsin State Journal

I read with interest outgoing UW Chancellor Biddy Martin?s list of ?accomplishments,? which included increased tuition for most middle class students, starting a book club, giving President Barack Obama a jersey, appearing in a music video, posing for pictures with students during snowball fights, going to China twice and apparently tweeting a lot with students.She also failed to achieve the New Badger Partnership Plan. For this she was paid more than 1.2 million dollars over three years.

Parasitic Worms May Offer Hope of New Multiple Sclerosis Treatments

Wall Street Journal

For people suffering from debilitating autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, there is growing evidence that help may be at hand from an unusual source: parasitic worms.

John Fleming, a professor of neurology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, led a recent study suggesting a pig parasite is effective in treating MS symptoms.

Walker says he should have prepared public earlier for his sweeping changes

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Gov. Scott Walker said Monday he should have done more to prepare the public for his plan to eliminate most collective bargaining for public employees.

“We had not built enough of the case” for the sweeping plan, Walker said during a wide-ranging session with Journal Sentinel reporters and editors.

The collective bargaining law, which goes into effect Wednesday, will allow future bargaining only on wages with increases capped at the rate of inflation. It also will require annual certification votes on union representation and bar deduction of union dues from public workers? paychecks.

Wilson gives UW much-needed experience at quarterback

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Time will tell if Russell Wilson fills the quarterback void for Wisconsin, but the Badgers? latest recruit talks a good game. In a conference call Monday, the former North Carolina State signal caller came across as mature and levelheaded while displaying a balance of confidence and humility that should serve him well as he navigates a new locker room and pursues the starting job at the team?s highest-profile position.

Hate takes over in S.C. – The Civil War: 150 Years Later

The State (South Carolina)

Quoted: ?Tillman is present at the polls in Edgefield County, waving a gun, telling black Republicans, ?If you come any further, you?ll have to come through blood,?? said Stephen Kantrowitz, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin and author of ?Ben Tillman and the Reconstruction of White Supremacy.?

As nation of immigrants, Canada must now confront its emigrants

Globe and Mail (Canada)

Quoted: Jonathan Gray, a Canadian citizen who lived in five countries during his childhood, did graduate studies in Britain and now teaches at the University of Wisconsin. He last lived in Canada in 1999 and hasn?t voted in a Canadian election in several years. Prof. Gray, 35, is also a British citizen and will soon be eligible to become a U.S. citizen.

Are Wood-Pellet Grills Healthier?

Wall Street Journal

Quoted: Researchers say there is a possibility the smoke from pellets could contain PAHs. Hardwoods, which Traeger uses for its pellets, tend to burn cleanly. But “if nobody?s analyzed the smoke, it?s all guesswork,” says Michael Pariza, a scientist at the Food Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Access a struggle for Metro bus riders

Wausau Daily Herald

Quoted: Brian Ohm, chairman of the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Department of Urban and Regional Planning, said design of urban areas veered away from a focus on public transit for decades as American consumers turned to personal automobiles.

Hawks: CultureLab– The latest chapter in the story of our ancestors

New Scientist

I ADMIT it was with some trepidation that I began to read Chris Stringer?s new book, The Origin of Our Species, on a long train journey. I mention the train because I wondered if I was fit to survive hours spent captive with the Darwinian prose suggested by the title. I needn?t have worried. Stringer has a crisp style that helps lighten what might have been heavy material.

Blog U.: Retuning GlobalHigherEd

Inside Higher Education

After experiencing the busiest academic years of our respective lives, we?ve decided to adjust the pitch of GlobalHigherEd, somewhat, and include a broader mix of long (for a weblog) analytical entries with shorter updates regarding important new reports, interesting visualizations, video clips, links to key stories or event-related websites, and so on. This should enable us to keep the weblog moving on a more measured pace, and also complement our active Twitter feed (which now has 2,700+ followers).

Tom Oates: Five reasons why Badgers are poised for special season

Madison.com

By turning his back on professional baseball and rejecting national champion Auburn in order to play his final college football season at UW, quarterback Russell Wilson shifted the balance of power in the Big Ten, if not the nation. Reaction to Wilson?s announcement made national headlines, with many pundits calling UW the new favorite in the Big Ten and a legitimate national title contender.

Walker vows to continue pressing for UW-Madison autonomy

Wisconsin State Journal

Gov. Scott Walker vowed Monday to keep pushing for his plan to split off UW-Madison from the rest of the University of Wisconsin System, even after the state Legislature axed it from the two-year state budget. The state Legislature commissioned a special 17-member task force to study the structure of UW System. It must submit a report on that issue by Jan. 1. Walker will appoint two of the task force members. He said he will work with the state Legislature to develop reforms for the campuses by the next two-year budget.

Rob Nixon: Slow Violence

Chronicle of Higher Education

Environmentalists face a fundamental challenge: How can we devise arresting stories, images, and symbols that capture the pervasive but elusive effects of what I call “slow violence”? Climate change, the thawing cryosphere, toxic drift, deforestation, the radioactive aftermaths of wars, oil spills, acidifying oceans, and a host of other slowly unfolding environmental crises confront us with formidable representational obstacles that hinder efforts to mobilize for change.

Recent illness outbreak may hurt raw milk legislation

Wisconsin Public Radio

Noted: As written, the new bill lacks a lot of safeguards that were included in the last– like requiring all farmers to test their milk for pathogens. That irks Scott Rankin, chair of UW’s Food Science Department. He says this latest bill is so oversimplified, “It doesn’t even come up to the standard of any food, really.”

Walker signs budget bill, vetoes just 50 items

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Gov. Scott Walker signed a two-year $66 billion budget Sunday that will cut nearly $800 million from public schools, expand taxpayer support for private voucher schools, cut taxes for investors and businesses, clamp down on property taxes and put the state?s finances in better shape than they?ve been in for more than a decade.

Young and old praise Tosa Pool’s opening

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Although the temperature was only in the 50s, the cool weather didn?t deter John Morgridge from being the first person down the slide into the new Tosa Pool at Hoyt Park at a preview party May 27, the night before the facility?s grand opening. Following Morgridge into the pool was Milwaukee County Parks Director Sue Black, and the two high-fived it afterward.

Walker Makes 50 Vetoes In State Budget

WISC-TV 3

Noted: Walker also used his veto pen to eliminate Board of Regents review and approval of University of Wisconsin-Madison compensation, personnel system plans and tentative labor agreements because “these plans will already require approval from the Joint Committee on Employment Relations?? and “removing this level of approval will give the state?s flagship campus the level of autonomy it needs to successfully compete in the global higher education environment.”