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Author: jplucas

Union workers rally for contract

Posted on
Wisconsin Radio Network

The future of state employee union contracts remains uncertain, but workers from around the state gathered at the Capitol Tuesday morning to call for lawmakers to vote on the agreements.

Union head fires back

Posted on
Wisconsin Radio Network

Governor-elect Scott Walker has offered some tough talk for state employee unions, recently saying he plans to push for major concessions in benefits and is open to decertification if unions are not willing to make deals.

Editorial: Focus on flexibility

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

University of Wisconsin officials think that a 2% raise in each of the next two years for faculty and academic staff is justified. University staff already is underpaid, they argue. Two percent is needed just to stay even. They?re probably right, especially since those covered by the pay plan didn?t get an increase in the current budget and had to take furlough days.

Study suggests correlation between good grades and health

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

According to a UW-Madison study, good grades by high school graduates some 50 years ago may be a factor in good health near retirement age. A study looking at academic performance of 7,000 Wisconsin high school students from 1957 shows the better the students did in school, the better health they had later on in life.

Badgers prepared for life after defensive coach

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema assures he started preparing long ago to remake his coaching staff if necessary. The first move became necessary late Sunday when defensive coordinator Dave Doeren, a member of Bielema?s first staff in 2006, agreed to become head coach at Northern Illinois.

Police look at link to burglary in Zimmermann homicide

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Madison police believe there may be a connection between the unsolved homicide of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann and an early morning break-in at a University Avenue tavern months later involving three Madison teenagers with gang ties, the State Journal has learned. Assistant City Attorney Roger Allen confirmed there is a “possible connection” between Zimmermann?s April 2, 2008, strangulation and stabbing death in her Downtown apartment and the July 9, 2008, break-in at the Blue Moon Bar and Grill, 2535 University Ave.

Second University Research Park will dwarf the original

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

At University Research Park 2, a ribbon of concrete curb curls toward the grove of hardy trees, and graders have smoothed out paths that will become the business park?s main roads.Infrastructure work has begun at the Far Southwest Side site of what officials hope will become another engine of opportunity for the Madison area. Even though building construction probably won?t start until 2012, the 270-acre site bordered by Mineral Point and Pleasant View roads and Highway M could eventually have as many as 10,000 employees, plus houses, shops and restaurants, and a total value that could top $400 million, said research park director Mark Bugher.

Snow storm that trapped drivers in Ind. moves east

Posted on
Madison.com

Katie Muratore, a 20-year-old biology major at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, wore a calf-length overcoat with a fur-lined hood and hid her face behind a thick scarf as she hurried along a walkway between the campus and state Capitol. She usually takes the bus to class, but everyone else had the same idea Monday and she couldn?t find any room.”It?s like sardines on the bus today,” Muratore said.

Regents petition for high court to take Badger Catholic case

Posted on
Badger Herald

In the newest installment of the ongoing saga between the University of Wisconsin and a Catholic student group, the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents filed a request with the United States Supreme Court to appeal funds allocated to the UW student organization for religious activities.

Surprise: Alumni Love Their Colleges

Posted on
Inside Higher Education

College officials praised the results of a survey released Monday saying that college graduates? apparent satisfaction reaffirms the value and resilience of American higher education. But the survey methods — along with a lack of information regarding majors and institution types — has others struggling to find meaning in the data.

Biddy Martin discusses what UW has at stake amidst state government transition

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

The University of Wisconsin is widely considered one of the state?s most valuable assets. But when adjusted for inflation, funding for the UW system has been in decline for the last decade. But Republican lawmakers who will lead the next session of the legislature are promising to push for funding cuts to the UW as well as caps on tuition and fee increases. (Audio.)

Getting to Know You

Posted on
New York Times

Quoted: ?A lot of research shows that by far the most important thing for long-term residents, for quality of life and quality of care, is their relationships with their caregivers,? said Barbara Bowers, a nursing professor and researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ?Most people would actually take inferior technical care done by somebody they care about, who cares about them,? over skilled care by a string of strangers, she said.

Home Market’s Misery May Be ‘Buy’ Sign (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)

Posted on
BusinessWeek

Quoted: But does that mean it?s a bad idea to buy a home? I don?t believe so, based on some dispassionate analysis. For the long-term homeowner (or patient investor), a home appears to be one of the better investments around, with minimal downside risk. “Housing is priced to earn its historic real rate of return of 0.5 percent to 1 percent and interest rates are low,” says Morris Davis, professor of real estate and urban land economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Now may be a once-in-a-lifetime time to buy.”

Police look at link to burglary in Zimmermann homicide

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Madison police believe there may be a connection between the unsolved homicide of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann and an early morning break-in at a University Avenue tavern months later involving three Madison teenagers with gang ties, the State Journal has learned. Assistant City Attorney Roger Allen confirmed there is a “possible connection” between Zimmermann?s April 2, 2008, strangulation and stabbing death in her Downtown apartment and the July 9, 2008, break-in at the Blue Moon Bar and Grill, 2535 University Ave.

Robert B. Smith: Could UW-Madison buy Overture Center?

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Last week my wife and I attended the Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery open house. We were impressed with its design, the choice of materials and construction and the spaces for dedicated use. It reminded us of the Overture Center, with the latest and most beautiful use of glass, marble, ceramic, stainless steel and natural wood, built to the best of current standards. The institute is owned by several parties, including the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. Wouldn?t it be a good idea for UW-Madison and the community – and a huge problem solved – if the university purchased the Overture Center for $1 and used it as a teaching facility and performance center, possibly using the current management and maintenance?

Wisconsin needs bold push for jobs

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Incoming Gov. Scott Walker has praised a Wisconsin Economic Summit report titled “Be Bold – The Wisconsin Prosperity Strategy.” Among its many smart recommendations, “Be Bold” calls for helping University of Wisconsin System schools speed research and patents into start-up companies.

In a class by himself: Five decades later, Pat Richter still is No. 1

Posted on
Madison.com

Governor Jim Doyle was a junior high student on Madison?s West Side in the 1950s when he began to hear tall tales about the athletic exploits of a tall, slightly older kid from the other side of town. “The rumor was he hit a home run over the left-field wall at Breese Stevens Field and that?s about 750 feet or something like that,” Doyle said. “We believed it. That?s how big Pat Richter was.” The legend of Pat Richter would only grow in the years after that. After starring in football, basketball and baseball at East High School, Richter won nine letters in three sports at the University of Wisconsin and spent eight seasons as an end and punter for the NFL?s Washington Redskins. Years later, after a successful career as an executive at Oscar Mayer, Richter returned to UW as athletic director and orchestrated an athletic revival at his alma mater.

UW-Madison eyes new quarantine facility for research monkeys

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison wants to lease a Blue Mounds facility as a holding zone for monkeys, allowing the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center to increase the size of its animal colony. The 20,000 square-foot building is owned by Harlan Laboratories, an animal research lab, which closed its operations there in March. The space would be used to quarantine macaque monkeys new to UW-Madison.

AP EXCLUSIVE: Pilot duped AMA with fake M.D. claim

Posted on
Madison.com

As a cardiologist and United Airlines captain, William Hamman taught doctors and pilots ways to keep hearts and planes from crashing. He shared millions in grants, had university and hospital posts, and bragged of work for prestigious medical groups. But it turns out Hamman isn?t a cardiologist or even a doctor. The AP found he had no medical residency, fellowship, doctoral degree or the 15 years of clinical experience he claimed. David Nacht, an employment lawyer in Ann Arbor, Mich., acknowledged that his client did not have the medical and doctoral degrees he had claimed from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the 1980s.

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Rose Bowl officials welcome the Badgers

Posted on
WKOW-TV 27

Rose Bowl officials brought a bit of Pasadena to the Badgers on Sunday. Officials from southern California came to Madison for a special dinner and gave Rose Bowl gifts to Badger football players.

UW Regents recommend pay hike

Posted on
Wisconsin Radio Network

Faculty and staff in the University of Wisconsin System would receive a two-percent pay hike during each of the next two years, under a proposal unanimously approved Friday by the Board of Regents at a meeting in Madison.

Biggest stories from the UW-Madison fall 2010 semester

Posted on
Isthmus

In barely more than a week, the bustling UW-Madison campus will be reduced to a ghost town as the first half of the school year ends and students head home for winter break. As usual, the university has seen its fair share of controversy and excitement, but there are some events that stand out from the rest.