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Author: jplucas

Ted Tibbitts: Solution coming for texting at the wheel

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Wisconsin State Journal

The concern over texting while driving, emphasized in recent Opinion page articles, is being addressed by Scott Tibbitts, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. Scott is president of Katasi, a company formed from a team of entrepreneurs to solve the texting problem. This company has developed a small device that can be installed in a car that notifies the cell phone carriers that a particular cell phone is being used by a driver of the vehicle.

UW women’s hockey: Some record-setting perspective

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Madison.com

The NCAA-record crowd of 10,668 that came to see the top-ranked University of Wisconsin women?s hockey team topple Minnesota 3-1 last Saturday at the Kohl Center begs for some perspective. Here you go:It was more than any of the 10 NCAA women?s Frozen Four championship games to date. In fact, it was more than the last three combined gates 1,473 in 2010, 2,437 in ?09 and 4,031 in ?08.

Worldwide perspective key for Findley (Wisconsin Law Journal)

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If attorney Keith A. Findley had the chance, he wouldn?t mind a happy-go-lucky lifestyle, at least for 24 hours.After all, for the vast majority of his career, the University of Wisconsin Law School Clinical Professor has worked to defend those accused or convicted of serious crimes.

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UW press embracing e-books

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Capital Times

?Level 7,? a science fiction book by Mordecai Roshwald about a post-apocalyptic dystopia published by the University of Wisconsin Press in 1959, has gotten a new life in the present thanks to the Amazon Kindle.

‘Feelin’ So Fly Like a Cheesehead’ brings headgear to a new generation

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Just in time for the Super Bowl, the cheesehead is “fly” – as in cool, awesome, attractive, amazing – and not just because the Packers are in the game. Some talented University of Wisconsin-Madison students and alums are helping to redefine the image of the foam headgear, which made its debut before most of them were born.

Steve Nass, ideological warrior

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Isthmus

Steve Nass has never made a secret of his dislike for the UW-Madison Havens Center and School for Workers. Back in 2007, the Republican state rep proposed completely eliminating state funding for both. Now, as chair of the Assembly?s Colleges and Universities Committee in an era of total GOP control, he?s in a position to make that happen.

UW-Madison School of Music?s Piano Pioneers program

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Madison Times

There are plenty of students who have musical ability but who just can?t afford to pay for a piano teacher and lessons to help them hone their talents. That?s where Piano Pioneers, a program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music that helps to provide piano lessons to under-served students in the community, comes to the rescue.

After Egypt

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Inside Higher Education

Study abroad staff evacuating their students Monday and Tuesday all noticed a trend: many students did not want to leave. Were it up to them, they would still be watching the events from dorm rooftops, talking to local activists about chasing down police, and scrambling to collect souvenirs. Of course, security experts, parents, and university staff observing a volatile, precarious political situation had another view of things, and insisted the students come home. By the time pro-Mubarak forces clashed with protesters Wednesday, many of those who had wanted to stay were already out of the country.

Committed to Research, but Cuts Raise Issues

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New York Times

Two miles from the site of Super Bowl XLV, inside the University of Texas at Arlington?s new 234,000-square-foot multi-disciplinary research building, Mario I. Romero-Ortega, an associate professor of bioengineering, investigates how robotic arms could be more reliable and lifelike for amputees returning from war.

UW professor watching Egypt

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Wisconsin Radio Network

A professor at UW Madison is among those closely watching events in Egypt. Jennifer Lowenstein is a faculty associate in Middle Eastern Studies at UW. She thinks it?s unlikely President Hosni Mubarak can remain in office until September when ? he?s said ? he won?t seek reelection.

First principles

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Gov. Scott Walker promised that his upcoming two-year budget and a budget repair bill would be responsible, based on reality and free of trickery. As he noted, this is where “rhetoric meets reality.”And, we hope, where justice and moderation meet frugality, temperance and virtue.

Bielema welcomes new class; Chryst happy to be at UW

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Despite studying several job opportunities after helping Wisconsin win a share of the 2010 Big Ten Conference football title, offensive coordinator Paul Chryst is committed to UW and preparing for the 2011 season. Chryst, who is preparing for his eighth season on the UW staff, spoke to reporters Wednesday for the first time since being courted by Texas to take over as the Longhorns? offensive coordinator.

RTLM ghost looms over Kenya (Radio Netherlands Worldwide)

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Quoted: For many, the assertions against Sang conjure up memories of Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines and its role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Political scientist Scott Straus of the US? University of Wisconsin worries that the media is singled out in violence cases due to the RTLM precedent. ?My experience with these media cases is that prosecutors choose them because it?s something that audiences around the world can easily understand because of RTLM.?

Franco’s Faded Vistas

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Wall Street Journal

Quoted: Stanley Payne, now professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, uses a lot of historiography and a bit of autobiography to consider Spain?s fate, which has long been held hostage to evocative, distorting myths. Spain may be unique, suggests Mr. Payne, but not for the reasons we think.

Embracing e-books

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?Level 7,? a science fiction book by Mordecai Roshwald about a post-apocalyptic dystopia published by the University of Wisconsin Press in 1959, has gotten a new life in the present thanks to the Amazon Kindle. Krista Coulson, electronic publishing manager for the UW Press, says ?Level 7? was one of the first backlist titles the press published in e-book format, thanks to requests from Kindle users looking for the story.

Sconnie Nation turning into Packer country

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Wisconsin State Journal

The success of the Green Bay Packers has been a green and gold mine for local retailer Sconnie Nation, which has made fans of the very players they feature. The Madison-based outfitter has sold 3,000 Packers shirts since the team beat the Bears in the NFC Championship game on Jan. 23.

?We?re getting a much bigger boost from the Super Bowl than we did for the Rose Bowl,? company co-founder Troy Vosseller said. Sconnie Nation was founded in 2004 by Vosseller and Ben Feitchner while they were students at UW-Madison. The apparel and products all have Wisconsin themes.

UW-Madison students turn Bascom Hill into scene of major snowball fight

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Wisconsin State Journal

With the snow light and fluffy ? not ideal for making snowballs ? Zach Sheridan resorted to what he called “the shovel technique.” “It?s like a free-for-all,” said the UW-Madison freshman as he loaded a cafeteria tray with snow, then charged into the fray with a primal yell of “Lakeshore!” In what is becoming an annual tradition at UW-Madison, students used a rare day of canceled classes to congregate on Bascom Hill for a massive snowball fight. Chancellor Biddy Martin stood at the top of Bascom Hill and looked on, as a steady stream of students thanked her for the snow day and asked to take her photo.

Huge drifts make blizzard cleanup a major chore

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Wisconsin State Journal

The brutal mix of snow and high winds was no storm for amateurs. Madison received 12.7 inches of snow between noon Tuesday and noon Wednesday, for a three-day total of 18.7 inches, according to the National Weather Service. But it was the snow drifts, whipped together by 60 mph wind gusts and placed inconveniently, that made cleanup such a chore. By noon, most streets were passable and city life had largely returned to normal, although government agencies remained closed to the public, and UW-Madison and school districts throughout the area had canceled classes. Classes were scheduled to resume classes Thursday.

No snow day for state workers

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Wisconsin Radio Network

Governor Scott Walker closed state offices to the public Wednesday in Wisconsin counties affected by the blizzard ? but state workers were expected to take a vacation day if they didn?t show up.

Bollinger lands coaching gig

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Madison.com

It didn’t take Brooks Bollinger long to find a new gig.

The former University of Wisconsin quarterback, who went on to an eight-year professional career before announcing his retirement last month, has landed a high school coaching job in the Twin Cities. Bollinger, who lives in suburban Eagan, will take over the program at Hill-Murray, a private school in St. Paul, Minn., according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

UW students capture personal immigrant stories through dance

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Dance corps often look perfectly symmetrical ? each dancer about the same height, legs perfectly aligned, every movement precise.

Chris Walker?s dancers for ?The People Who Came,? a new piece based on students? immigration stories, couldn?t be more different.

They?re tall and short, with a variety of skin tones and levels of experience. Some performers are break dancers. Some are classically trained dance majors. Still others are members of First Wave, a pioneering hip-hop/spoken word program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

UW begins to dig out

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NBC-15

The campus begins to clear snow from the storm that forced cancellation of classes and events at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Wednesday.

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Walker urges fiscal restraint

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In 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.

Mammoth snowstorm forces closings

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Capital Times

In the Madison area, just about everything is closed Wednesday, including UW-Madison, public schools, government offices, (except for emergency services), buses and some highways.

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Snow forces closing of UW classes, events

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Badger Herald

After days of students hoping for a ?snowpocalypse? to hit the University of Wisconsin campus with full force, Chancellor Biddy Martin announced all classes and campus events would be cancelled Wednesday for the second time in as many years.

Blizzard takes aim at southern Wisconsin

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Madison.com

Drivers are urged to stay off the roads as a blizzard barrels toward southern Wisconsin. Gov. Scott Walker has declared a state of emergency across southern Wisconsin ahead of the storm. The executive order activates the Wisconsin National Guard to help local authorities. Walker also ordered state offices and University of Wisconsin System campuses across southern Wisconsin to close to the public.

Walker can tout progress, but big challenges ahead

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

As Gov. Scott Walker makes his first “state of the state” speech Tuesday, he will look out at a friendly Legislature that has already helped him pass half of his opening agenda in a frenetic first month. With five jobs bills already sent to him and several more speeding through the Capitol, the new Republican governor will be able to tout tax cuts and broad new protections for businesses from lawsuits as early accomplishments and campaign promises filled.

On Campus: New baseball diamond to honor 6-year-old killed by an alleged drunk driver

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Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Whitewater is helping to raise 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. Treyton?s story was featured in Curb magazine, produced by UW-Madison journalism students.

Property Trax: Local group increases foreclosure help for Dane County residents

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Wisconsin State Journal

Homeowners who have been served with a foreclosure suit might consider a free offering. Known as Foreclosure Answer Clinics, the walk-in legal clinics are held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Room 354 of Madison?s City-County Building, 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Staffed by volunteer lawyers and UW-Madison law students, the clinics provide homeowners in foreclosure with basic legal information.

Walker signs tax cut bill for businesses into law

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Madison.com

Companies that relocate to Wisconsin won?t have to pay income taxes for two years under a bill signed into law Monday by Gov. Scott Walker. Walker, a Republican, has seen his legislative agenda speed through the Republican-controlled Legislature even though he has yet to explain how he?ll pay for everything in light of the state?s projected $3 billion budget shortfall….Aid to public schools, the University of Wisconsin system, local governments and Medicaid programs were all expected to be big targets for cuts in the budget Walker will release on Feb. 22.

Blaska’s Blog isolates the UW-Madison’s socialist toxin

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Isthmus

Another toxic substance, responsible for as many deaths (and here, by country), is being kept alive on the UW-Madison campus: socialism. The Havens Center has a big-box pharmacy full of the stuff. The difference is that Havens is not studying a dead culture but actively promoting its spread to the larger populace.