A construction worker is taking off the bolts that secure “Nails’ Tales” to its pedestal. The surgical unmounting of the 48-foot obelisk has begun. The crane in the parking lot behind it roars to life; it’s cold metal jib moves into position. Today, Aug. 21, is the last morning the work by renowned sculptor Donald Lipski will cast its controversial shadow outside Camp Randall Stadium along Regent Street.
Author: jplucas
What Happened to All the Walleye up Here?
Matt Chotlos is an undergraduate student at UW-Madison. For the last two summers, he’s been waking up at UW-Madison’s Trout Lake Station in Boulder Junction five days a week with a group of other researchers and driving to McDermott Lake in Iron County, where he traps bass and other sunfish–up to 2,000 a day–with the goal of removing every last one. By the end of this July, he had helped remove a total of 150,000 fish.
Corn disease solutions sought at UW’s Arlington research station
ARLINGTON — Farmers and corn seed salespeople received an inside look Wednesday at research into corn diseases taking place at the University of Wisconsin’s Arlington Research Station.
Does Edgewood have a case against the city? Political science expert weighs in on lawsuit over field
Noted: Howard Schweber, a political science professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, said ultimately, he believes the case has little chance of being thrown out.
The M List 2019: Evolutionaries
The Loka Project: Finding solutions to environmental crises around the world seems insurmountable, but local scientists and educators are exploring how faith leaders could ignite a global movement to address climate change.
What to do with your retirement?
Most economist agree that a recession is coming. UW-Madison professor Moses Altsec is here to remind us not to panic.
Wisconsin man killed in New York City elevator accident – WXOW
A UW-Madison graduate and Wisconsin native is dead following an elevator accident in New York City.
Can you cool a house without air conditioning?
Noted: A study by Monica Turner, an ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, showed that even broader tree cover can reduce urban temperatures by up to 5C.
Adolph Rosenblatt’s “Oriental Pharmacy Lunch Counter” is on display at the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison
The Chazen Museum of Art on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus is home to a huge collection that includes post-revolution works from the former Soviet Union, paintings by Wisconsin artists that have a magical realism twist and a pair of large and provocative — some might say X-rated — ceramic goats that were once hidden behind screens.
Crystal Mason Was One Of Thousands Who Cast A Provisional Ballot. She Was The Only One Prosecuted For A Crime.
Noted: A 2002 federal law requires election officials to offer provisional ballots as a safeguard for people who show up at the polls but find they aren’t on the rolls or can’t verify their eligibility. Election officials review the ballots after the polls close and count them if it turns out the voter is eligible and throws them out if they’re not. It’s a requirement born from the chaos in Florida during the 2000 presidential election, when voters turned up at the polls and suddenly found they weren’t on the rolls, said Barry Burden, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of its Elections Research Center.
The Origins of White Supremacists’ Fear of Replacement
Noted: Nandini Pandey, an associate professor of classics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and an expert on Augustus, notes that the Dio remark documenting that Augustus harangued the populace to “replenish the fatherland” is taken quite out of context.
What’s Republicans’ Problem With College?
Noted: “Americans may love on some level the notion of having some of the greatest universities in the world, but basically we like practical things, as opposed to the life of the mind, which is seen as slightly European, elitist, [and] not quite connected to the larger culture,” says William Reese, a professor of educational-policy studies and history at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Crashes spike in I-94 work zone, traffic stops ‘unsafe for everyone involved’
Noted: One advocate for automated enforcement is David Noyce, chair of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and director of the Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory at UW-Madison, a research group partnered with the DOT dedicated to improving traffic safety.
Graphic: Factory Woes Grip Swing States That Flipped for Trump in 2016
Quoted: “Tariffs are part of the story,” said Tessa Conroy, an economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Wisconsin WR Quintez Cephus returns to practice
Wisconsin receiver Quintez Cephus returned to practice Wednesday, though he is not eligible to play in games yet at least in part because he lacks credits after he was expelled this spring amid sexual assault allegations.
Pulling ‘Nails” – UW landmark being removed
A widely reviled landmark on the University of Wisconsin campus is going away. “Nails’ Tales,” a pile of footballs in roughly the shape of an Egyptian obelisk, has graced the south plaza near Camp Randall Stadium and the UW Fieldhouse for 14 years.
Former Badger reflects on past year with auto-immune disorder
Former Wisconsin Badger offensive lineman Travis Frederick is thanking family, friends, coaches, teammates, and fans for their support, one year after being diagnosed with an auto-immune disorder.
Artist reacts to removal of Nails’ Tales sculpture outside Camp Randall Stadium
MADISON, Wis. – The area outside of Camp Randall Stadium will look a little different when fans show up for the Badgers’ first home game.
Exercise May Boost Mood for Women With Depression. Having a Coach May Help.
Noted: To learn more, Dr. Meyer turned to stored blood samples and other records from a relevant earlier experiment. That research, which he had conducted as a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin, had involved women with major depression completing a number of workouts on stationary bicycles.
Majority of Republicans have negative view of higher ed, Pew finds
President Trump has questioned the value of community colleges and suggested universities “restrict free thought.” Survey results in 2017 suggested typical conservatives have begun to share his dim view of higher ed. In a Pew survey, only 36 percent of Republican and GOP-leaning respondents said higher education had a positive effect on the direction of the country — a steep drop-off from responses only two years before.
Editorial Board: Free speech and power in a protest-driven era
Freedom of speech has been an integral principle in American jurisprudence since our country’s conception. Generally, it is an idea celebrated and protected, regardless of political affiliation. Heralded as one of our democracy’s central tenets, it would make sense for it to be continuously upheld.
A cause for celebration for some, concern for others: Community reacts to Cephus’ return as Badger
MADISON, Wis. – Wide receiver Quintez Cephus will officially rejoin the Badger football team after UW-Madison announced he’s been readmitted to the university. It’s news that’s being met with both celebration and concern.
Editorial: Quintez Cephus, UW-Madison and receiving justice for all
UW Madison and Chancellor Becky Blank did the right thing by reinstating Quintez Cephus as a student after he was found not guilty of sexual assault changes.
Wisconsin Corn Farmers Facing More Market Uncertainty After USDA Planting Report
Noted: Paul Mitchell, director of the Renk Agribusiness Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the numbers make up a significant amount of the state’s typical corn and soybean production.
Black Leadership Council Urges UW to Readmit Cephus
Some of Madison’s most prominent Black leaders urged University of Wisconsin Chancellor Rebecca Blank to readmit Quintez Cephus to the university after the former football player was acquitted of sexual assault charges.
Top 25 Public Colleges 2019: The Best Education For $30,000 Less
Although public colleges do not dominate the Forbes America’s Top Colleges List — only a quarter of schools in the top 100 are public and less than half of the overall list is made of public institutions — public schools provide some of the most accessible and high-quality education in the country.
Hidden in plain sight
Creating thought-provoking movies that are well before their time, Ohio-based documentarian Julie Reichert has been called the Godmother of American independent film. Her progressive documentaries have earned her three Academy Award nominations and in 2018 she was given the International Documentary Association’s Career Achievement Award. Known for challenging the status quo, it’s fitting that Cinematheque on UW-Madison’s campus will feature four weeks of her films in November.
In the War Against Gerrymandering, an Army of Voters Meets a Dug-in Foe
Noted: The reason is obvious, said Kenneth Mayer, a University of Wisconsin political scientist and an expert on gerrymandered maps: Nonbinding referendums and resolutions — even those with overwhelming public support — are the equivalent of Nerf guns in a political battle that demands heavy artillery.
Foxconn Leaders, Wisconsin Officials Meet; Details Unclear
UW-Madison spokesman John Lucas said Liu participated in an “introductory meeting” with university officials about “future partnership opportunities” Wednesday. Lucas declined to elaborate.
Monarch Symbol of Species in Crisis as US Protections Shrink
Some animals — like a shy mountain caribou species that went extinct from the wild in the lower 48 states last winter, despite protection under the Endangered Species Act — struggle and disappear out of sight. Monarchs can serve as reminders of the others, says Karen Oberhauser, director of the University of Wisconsin Arboretum, and a conservation biologist who has studied monarchs since 1984. That was before a boom in soybeans, corn and herbicide wiped out milkweed in pastures converted to row crops.
American Capitalism Is Brutal. You Can Trace That to the Plantation.
Noted: “Low-road capitalism,” the University of Wisconsin-Madison sociologist Joel Rogers has called it.
NIH requirements offer new hurdles for fetal tissue researchers
Researchers using fetal tissue faced another setback during the Trump administration as a notice from the National Institutes of Health spelled out new requirements for requesting grants for research involving the use of the tissue.
Air quality can be managed without compromising economic growth
Noted: In an exclusive interview with The Daily Star, Dr James J Schauer, a senior civil and environmental engineer heading the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, yesterday said it is imperative to engage all stakeholders to find a way forward to curb air pollution in Bangladesh.
Report: Job Growth Among High-Skilled, Higher-Paying Jobs
Noted: University of Wisconsin-Madison economist Timothy Smeeding travels to different parts of the state, where he gives talks on upward mobility and stresses how important education is. School counselors and students are receptive to the message. But sometimes parents are’t, he said.
UW Extension, putting expertise to practical use, extends benefits beyond UW students
The flow of educational resources throughout Wisconsin does not stop at the halls of its university campuses. For over 100 years, Wisconsin’s universities have done outreach that connects farmers, families, youth and businesses to university research. The branch that facilitates this is known as the Division of Extension.
How SSM Health, U of Wisconsin are tackling the rural healthcare shortage
A partnership between the Monroe (Wis.) Clinic-SSM Health and University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing has been helping to address the state’s rural healthcare shortage.
Foxconn at 2 years: Wisconsin factory going up, innovation sites empty
Noted: In some cases, Foxconn has not met timelines it laid down in its own announcements — announcements that may have been tied as much to political considerations as to actual business needs. And a University of Wisconsin-Madison spokesman said that because of changes at Foxconn there has been “no significant progress” in discussions related to Foxconn’s announcement last August that it would invest $100 million in the university.
Southeastern Wisconsin Counties Come Out On Top For 2019 Tariff Aid Payments
Noted: Paul Mitchell, director of the Renk Agribusiness Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the rates are based on the average yield of crops in each county and how much prices have been impacted by increased tariffs from China and other trading partners.
Oldest carving in East Asia found. But its maker is a mystery.
Noted: “My take on this is: It wasn’t purely modern humans,” University of Wisconsin-Madison paleoanthropologist John Hawks says of the capacity for crafting such material culture. “In fact, the idea that anything was ‘pure’ has gone by the wayside.”
Wisconsin may try a market-based approach to reduce farm pollution
Noted: Morgan Robertson, a University of Wisconsin-Madison geography professor who studies market-based environmental policy, is less certain. In the past, lawmakers and industry groups across the country have been too optimistic about farmer participation in water quality trading programs, he said.
Keller: Europe’s killer heat waves are a new norm. The death rates shouldn’t be.
On the southern outskirts of Paris, a cemetery holds the bodies of the city’s unclaimed dead. Until recently, there lay a hundred whom some consider to be the first victims of global climate change. They were mostly elderly and poor, the forgotten people of the worst weather disaster in contemporary European history: the heat wave of August 2003, which killed nearly 15,000 in France alone and thousands more across the continent.
If the UW tuition freeze ends, what would happen? New Republican bill answers that question
Republican lawmakers are introducing a proposal that would put a cap on how much the University of Wisconsin System can raise tuition for students if the tuition freeze were lifted.
Rules of the road
A year ago, Milwaukee resident Jessie Calhoun noticed the buzz online that electric “dockless” scooters were coming to her city. Although the UW-Milwaukee student was excited to try one out, the scooters were in such high demand that it took weeks before she was able to find one to ride.
A museum of our own
Quoted: Noted UW historian William Cronon compares Madison to Washington, D.C. “Although it is a capital city with dozens of museums — surely more than any other city in the U.S. — not one of them is devoted solely to the history of the city itself,” Cronon says.
Secrets of successful storytelling
Noted: The podcast’s audio vaults include recordings from the Moth, Madison Story Slam, Listen to Your Mother — a national series of live readings founded by Madison’s Ann Imig that ran in 33 cities from 2012-2017 — and the UW Odyssey Project, a program that offers UW-Madison humanities classes to adult students facing economic barriers to college.
Deep Bench: Exploring a rich, German history in central Wisconsin
From sauerkraut to schottisches, there’s no doubt hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites take pride in their German heritage. That influence will be explored in a new traveling exhibit called “Neighbors Past and Present: The Wisconsin German Experience” that you can check out right now at the Marathon County Historical Society in Wausau.
UW Tuition Fund Balances Down By More Than Half Since Tuition Freeze
Tuition fund balances at University of Wisconsin System campuses have been reduced by an average of 53 percent since 2013, when some lawmakers condemned the accounts as “slush funds.” For UW-Stevens Point the tuition balance has decreased enough to trigger a financial recovery plan recently approved by UW System President Ray Cross.
Wisconsin gearing up for flood of presidential campaign visits in 2020
Noted: Barry Burden, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor, said a city like Wausau may be a strong attraction for the president’s reelection campaign, given his strong base of support in the area — and officials say they’re open for visits.
One Hundred Years Ago, a Four-Day Race Riot Engulfed Washington D.C.
Noted: “There were two major problems for soldiers returning after World War I,” says John M. Cooper Jr., professor emeritus in the history department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of Woodrow Wilson: A Biography.
Rising stardom
The native of Gadsden, Alabama, completed her master’s degree in piano performance at UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music in May 2018. She has been accepted to the school’s doctoral program in musical composition, which she will begin this fall.
How Montgomery County gets young people excited about voting
“Young people haven’t established a voting habit yet,” noted University of Wisconsin at Madison political scientist Barry Burden in the July 12 front-page article.
Andrew S. Petersen: UW System promotes student success, drives Wisconsin economy
As the newly elected president of the Board of Regents, here’s my pledge: I will continue to be a tenacious advocate for the University of Wisconsin System.
IceCube Neutrino: Observatory That Hunts Most Elusive Particle in the Universe Set for $37 Million Upgrade
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a unique detector buried deep within ice at the South Pole that’s designed to observe some of the strangest particles in the universe. Now, the facility is set to receive a $37 million upgrade in order to enhance its capabilities, with the intention of providing fascinating new insights into the nature of the cosmos.
Wisconsin’s Minimum Wage Workers Locked Out Of Affordable Housing
Noted: Kurt Paulson, associate professor of planning and landscape architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said it’s not just about housing costs because an employee can cut down on expenses by living farther away or sharing rent with several people.
Northern Wisconsin ‘CHEESEHEAD’ Study Covers A Lot Of Ground And Air
Anyone looking skyward near Park Falls in far northern Wisconsin recently may have noticed a mix of drones, other aircraft and towers popping up — not to mention the 10-ton laser.
UW-Eau Claire Program Focuses On Supporting Students Who Were Homeless, In Foster Care
Leaving home for the freshman year of college in a dorm can be daunting.
Oldest known Velociraptor relative in North America discovered
Noted: Lomax didn’t forget about Lori, and in 2015 he brought together the team of researchers who would publish the description, using crowdfunding to get them and the specimen to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a week of intense study in 2016.
Discovery of Raptor-Like Dinosaur Adds a New Wrinkle to the Origin of Birds
Noted: Those bones, representing a partial skeleton, were used to name the new dinosaur Hesperornithoides miessleri today in the journal PeerJ. Described by University of Wisconsin-Madison paleontologist and artist Scott Hartman and colleagues, this dinosaur is categorized as an early member of a group of svelte, small, sickle-clawed dinosaurs known to experts as troodontids. These were raptor-like dinosaurs related to the group that contains more famous carnivores like Velociraptor, as well as the forerunners of birds.
Researchers Develop Plant-Based, Eco-Friendly Method to Produce Tylenol
Acetaminophen—the active ingredient in many Americans’ go-to pain reliever, Tylenol—typically stems from a surprising source: coal tar, a viscous liquid produced when oxygen-deprived coal is subjected to high heat.
UW-Madison Ordered To Release Records Tied To Public Health Grants
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has been ordered to turn over records used in determining how millions of dollars in public health grants were awarded. UW-Madison must also pay legal fees accrued during a two-year battle by the university to keep the records private.