A federal civil rights lawsuit filed against Dane County and a former 911 dispatcher by the parents of homicide victim Brittany Zimmermann should be dismissed because the county has no constitutional obligation to protect individuals from the acts of others, a response to the lawsuit states.
Rising temperatures and increased dehydration linked to global warming will boost kidney stone rates in the United States and around the world, new research suggests.
Kristina Penniston, a registered dietician and associate scientist in the department of urology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, called the new research “illuminating and provocative.”
Some people â??smellâ? better to female mosquitoes than others.
If youâ??ve hiked the Rocky Mountains with a group in early July â?? and particularly in July 2008 â?? youâ??ve probably noticed this phenomenon. The mosquitoes seem to be singling out one or two people in your group.
Susan Paskewitz, a professor of entomology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says itâ??s no rural myth.
Until recently, the impact of Title IX, the law forbidding sexual discrimination in education, has been limited mostly to sports. But now, under pressure from Congress, some federal agencies have quietly picked a new target: science.
The National Science Foundation, NASA and the Department of Energy have set up programs to look for sexual discrimination at universities receiving federal grants. Investigators have been taking inventories of lab space and interviewing faculty members and students in physics and engineering departments at schools like Columbia, the University of Wisconsin, M.I.T. and the University of Maryland.
Quoted: Jerry Kaufman, professor emeritus of urban and regional planning at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Doctors prescribe Ritalin to hyperactive kids to calm them down and increase their attention span. And college kids have taken to using Ritalin to concentrate when they hit the books. But it hasnâ??t been clear how the drug boosts focus. Now a paper in the journal Biological Psychiatry suggests how it might work. (Audio.)
Youâ??d think that a drug prescribed to 10 million Americans would be well understood. But until now, scientists havenâ??t firmly grasped why Ritalin helps the scatterbrained. In a University of Wisconsin-Madison study published recently in Biological Psychiatry, researchers found that the stimulant works by optimizing brain signals in the prefrontal cortex.
Area hospitals have been included among the nation’s top 50 hospitals by U.S. News & World Report’s annual “America’s Best Hospitals” list, which will be released Monday.
University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics in Madison ranked 28th for kidney disease, 30th for cancer treatment, and 33rd for ears, nose and throat care, and urology.
Genetic research teams in Salt Lake City and Madison, Wis., announced last week that they have found more evidence why some people who start smoking can’t seem to quit, no matter what.
Two years ago, the same teams from the University of Utah and the University of Wisconsin found out that some people just have a taste for smoking: Those who like bitter or are more tolerant to bitterness tend to like the flavor of burning tobacco.
The Dalai Lama, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for advocating nonviolence, has often found time to speak at UW-Madison, which gave him an honorary degree in 1998. He has taken an interest in some of its programs, including research into the effects of meditation on health.
Joe Elder, a UW-Madison professor who is an expert on Asia, said Sopa’s hiring made the university a pioneer in the field of Buddhist studies and facilitated its unique relationship with the Dalai Lama.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist.
Quoted: Promotional prices can vary widely, but in two or three years they’ll even out, said Barry Orton, professor of telecommunications at the University of WIsconsin-Madison.
A fiscal watchdog says Wisconsin “budgets right to the brink,” and today’s Wisconsin Supreme Court decision serves to point out the precariousness of state finances. “The state leaves itself unnecessarily vulnerable,” says Todd Berry with the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. “This would not be an issue, nor would most of the economic downturn, if Wisconsin had budgeted reserves of the kind that the typical state did.”
It was just after he moved to Madison in 2005 that Jordan Ellenberg signed on as a script consultant with the television show “Numb3rs,” which airs Fridays on CBS.
Ellenberg, 36, who is an energetic and engaging associate professor of mathematics at UW-Madison, likes “Numb3rs” because the hero is an energetic and engaging math professor who helps his cop brother solve crimes.
Tickets for the University of Wisconsin’s non-conference home football game Nov. 22 against Cal Poly will go on sale Monday at 8:30 a.m.
Those $39 tickets are the only ones available for 2008 Badger home games. Tickets to away games against Fresno State ($60), Michigan State ($46) and Indiana ($49) will also go on sale Monday.
Recent news coverage and editorial opinions have suggested that the University of Wisconsin system must increase the salaries of its chancellors statewide. Writers imply that the departure of six campus chancellors the past year was due to their sub-national-average salaries.
For example, Bruce Shepard, who earned about $210,000 at UW-Green Bay, has taken a position at Western Washington University for more than $300,000. Similar salary increases were in store for the other campus chancellors who left the UW system this past year. Proponents of higher salaries suggest that greater pay will somehow improve retention of our chancellors.
But consider another distinct possibility. Perhaps after 6-8 years leading a specific campus, a chancellor will look for a new challenge no matter what his or her salary.
Cn yu rd ths?
If you can, thatâ??s the first step to learning Arabic or Persian, where vowels often are not found in the languageâ??s written form.
Add that to a totally new alphabet, new sounds and â?? by the way â?? learn to write from right to left.
Now, you might have a glimpse into the lives of 33 students from University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s Arabic and Persian program being held this summer at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus.
It’s no secret that a lot of kids would rather play the latest videogames than do homework. But many academics don’t think that’s such a bad thing. Indeed, the fourth annual Games Learning Society Conference will host hundreds of professors, graduate students, game designers and teachers interested in engaging kids who can’t get enough of Civilization, Rock Band and, yes, even Grand Theft Auto. The conference is July 10 and 11 at Monona Terrace.
“The whole concept of the field is we’re trying to get kids to learn something, anything at all levels,” says Sean Michael Dargan, who coordinates the conference for the UW-Madison School of Education and the Academic ADL Co-lab.
The latest and perhaps the most important reason teenagers should steer clear of using tobacco has been discovered by genetic researchers at the University of Utah.
Common genetic variations affecting nicotine receptors of the human nervous system can seriously increase the chance that those who begin using tobacco daily before age 17 will be severely nicotine-dependent their whole lives, according to findings published today in the journal PloS Genetics.
The variations don’t predispose teens to smoke or use tobacco, but those who have the variance and pick up a tobacco habit are much more likely to smoke more and only 5 percent will likely be able to quit as adults, according to findings in the joint study conduct by the U. and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
SANTA BARBARA — The title of Olivier Messiaen’s “Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus” does not translate easily into English. A common version is “Twenty Gazes Upon the Child Jesus.” But “regards” also implies “aspects” or “contemplations.” One translator, apparently feeling that any suggestion of corporeality would be misleading, simply supplied ellipses for “regards.” After all, Messiaen’s mystical music invites out-of-body experiences.
That was certainly the effect of Christopher Taylor’s spellbinding performance of the work Wednesday night in a new, intimate space at the Music Academy of the West.
MILWAUKEE, July 10 (UPI) — A U.S. medical team has found a way of spotting genes that help spread the bird flu, the subject of global concern as a potential pandemic threat.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison team, led by virology Professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka, says it hopes its work will help researchers quickly develop effective new drugs to combat the fast-evolving flu and other viruses that threaten to cause widespread sickness and economic devastation.
Quoted: Michael Scott, a University of Wisconsin law professor who co-authored a 1992 book on police shootings, said the “vast majority” of officers never fire their weapon in their career.
A $694,000 project grant managed by former University of Louisville education dean Robert Felner is part of a criminal investigation into whether federal funds were mishandled.
Documents obtained from U of L in an open-records request show that the grant’s purpose was to create a center that would be a “unique collaborative effort” with the Kentucky Education Department and Jefferson County Public Schools, among others, and would help schools meet testing goals of the federal No Child Left Behind law.
MADISON â?? The University of Wisconsin-Madison will pay $250,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a former power plant employee who claimed she faced rampant discrimination and sexual harassment.
Amy Gabel and her lawyer Peter Fox will receive the payment as damages and attorney’s fees under the deal obtained Thursday by The Associated Press. In exchange, Gabel agreed to drop her lawsuit and not to seek future employment with the university.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has asked several dozen colleges to report in detail on their measures to protect toxic chemicals on their campuses from being stolen or released by terrorists. The reports could lead the agency to ask for additional precautions but not necessarily for colleges to turn their laboratory buildings into fortresses.
A push is underway at the UW-Madison to make sure teaching assistants receive better pay.
Coalition for Affordable Public Education co-chairman Joe Salmons says more than a third of the university’s graduate students are working for wages that are below the poverty line. He says they’re making far less than teaching assistants at competing institutions, which often make two to three times more than what the UW offers.
(MADISON) The UW-Madison and several downtown businesses say they have a new tool which will help crack down on underage drinking. Priced at $1,000 apiece, the Tokenworks scanners are calibrated to recognize several forms of ID, that people need to present in order to buy alcohol or cigarettes.
MacTaggarts Market is one of seven Madison area liquor stores and grocery stores that are getting the scanners for free. At the checkout counter, general manager Richard Schrober tests different ID cards in his new Tokenworks scanner. He says it helps clerks speed along the process as they screen for underage customers. (Sixth item.)
Q: Someone told me you should be sure to eat enough salt when you’re visiting a hot climate. Is this true?
A: “True enough, but most people consume more than enough salt (sodium chloride) in a normal diet, and hence do not need supplementation,” said Dr. Richard Reich, a clinical associate professor and infectious disease specialist at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
As textbook prices skyrocket, college students and faculty seeking more affordable options increasingly are turning to “open textbooks” as an alternative. Open textbooks are free textbooks available online that are licensed to allow users to download, customize and print any part of the text. Professors can change content to fit their teaching styles. Some authors offer a print-on-demand service that produces professionally bound copies for $10 to $20.
The average gasoline price in Madison set a daily high this week, topping $4.02 a gallon on Tuesday.
On the same day a federal forecast warned that gas prices nationwide are likely to remain above $4 a gallon for the rest of the year and into 2009.
The higher cost of gas is a costly problem that underscores the importance of proceeding full speed ahead with efforts to develop biofuels as an alternative to gasoline.
UW-Madison has outfitted seven liquor stores and a grocery store in Downtown Madison with free electronic scanners designed to boost the alcohol retailers ‘ ability to weed out fake IDs.
The hand-held scanner units sell for $1,000 apiece and are similar to those used since 2007 to discourage underage drinking on campus at Memorial Union and Union South, officials said.
The latest buzz about the flu comes from a fly.
By infecting fruit fly cells with influenza, UW-Madison scientists have identified more than 100 genes the virus needs to flourish inside its host. The finding reveals a treasure trove of targets for anti-flu drugs.
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Provost and Vice Chancellor Lane Earns will likely be UW-Parksideâ??s interim chancellor while the school conducts a second search for a leader.
UW System President Kevin Reilly says Earns will start leading the school in Kenosha in late August if approved by the Board of Regents.
A new analysis suggests that biofuels grown in the tropics are not a much greener source of energy than drilling for oil–at least in the short term. The research paints an even gloomier picture of biofuels than previous studies, which have begun to cast doubts on the greenhouse gas benefits that these alternatives to petroleum might provide.
Proponents see plant-based biofuels as a carbon-friendly alternative to fossil fuels. That’s because plants that produce, say, palm oil or corn ethanol recycle carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow. In contrast, petroleum production introduces new carbon into the air that was previously sequestered deep within Earth.
Becoming a fashion designer is the life long dream for swimmer Siow Yi Ting.
The 23-year-old UW student hopes to, in the near future, design her own clothes and display her collection in fashion capitals like Milan, Paris and London.
But for now, she is focusing on the Olympics, her third, where she hopes to shine.
Sun Prairie â?? Key state agencies and University of Wisconsin schools will buy electricity generated from wind turbines, solar panels and landfill gas systems under a major purchase of green power announced Wednesday.
Quoted: James Stein, a CIMT expert at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
MADISON (WKOW) — Like other inmates in the Dane County jail on suicide watch, Joel Marino’s alleged killer, Adam Peterson, spends 23 hours a day alone in a cell.
Peterson’s attorney is concerned about the former UW-Madison student’s jail situation.
In addition to the isolation, Peterson’s attorney, assistant state public defender Dennis Burke says Peterson is denied almost all visitors.
MADISON, Wis. — Seven downtown liquor stores and one grocery store are working with the University of Wisconsin in a pilot project to fight underage drinking.
Electronic identification scanners have been donated by the UW to help clerks check to make sure customers are of legal age to buy alcohol or tobacco, WISC-TV reported.
By swiping a driver’s license or state ID, the clerk can get immediate feedback on whether it’s authentic.
Victoria’s Secret is showing a little school spirit along with all that skin.
The lingerie company’s new Collegiate Collection, which hit stores July 1, features licensed college logos on tank tops, sweats, and some fairly tame undies. The concept isn’t new, but it matches the company’s plan to appeal more to college-age women. So far 32 institutions have lined up, including Berkeley, Penn State, and Harvard.
MADISON, Wis. — The former University of Wisconsin-Madison student charged in connection with the fatal stabbing of a Madison man last winter will have a preliminary hearing next Friday.
Adam Peterson’s attorneys and the Dane County district attorney met behind closed doors on Wednesday to quickly schedule the hearing.
Hardly anyone starts out in life with the goal of becoming a college president. Biddy Martin certainly didnâ??t.
At the time she graduated from Brookville High School in 1969, she was a good all-around student who loved to read and held the all-time scoring record for the Beesâ?? girls basketball team.
â??I had no idea what I wanted to do next,â? she said.
Now, she does. She wants to be the chancellor at the University of Wisconsin, the school from which she received a graduate degree in German literature more than 20 years ago. And obviously, the feeling is mutual.
A team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison is one step ahead of a quickly evolving influenza virus thatâ??s been threatening the planet with pandemic disease for the past five years.
The team, led by Yoshihiro Kawaoka, is leading the charge to find new drugs and weapons to fight a virus that has evolved to resist the only drugs known to beat it.
A new, much-improved GI Bill, signed into law last week, will go a long way toward helping combat veterans pay for college. With billions in new federal dollars available â?? an estimated $62 billion over 10 years â?? college leaders are thinking about how to attract veterans, in part by matching more money with, well, more money.
If winning the respect of intelligent people is one mark of success, the Phillips family has achieved it.
Molly Jahn, dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, attended the Phillips family reunion celebration in Chetek on the Fourth of July. She hoped to learn more about Northern Wisconsin and the family she’s come to admire.
UW-Madison alum John Phillips, who grew up in Chetek and now lives in Riverside, Conn., began a friendship with Jahn after he sent a complimentary letter to “Grow,” CALS’ magazine. Jahn called Phillips and visited him during a trip to New York last January; then Phillips invited Jahn to celebrate Independence Day with his family in Chetek this year.
When John Wiley took over as University of Wisconsin chancellor in 2001, one of his first public tasks was to deal with the fallout from the infamous scandal involving The Shoebox.
“It was a tough time,” he said, recalling how one of his first out-of-town assignments was to Jackson Hole, Wyo., to be grilled by NCAA investigators. “It was embarrassing.”
Violations listed.
A UW-Madison scientist discovered an edible antifreeze that preserves ice cream’s smooth, silky texture.
Despite its dubious name, the discovery is good news for ice cream enthusiasts.
Column by Robert Booth Fowler, emeritus political science professor.
MADISON, Wis. — The former University of Wisconsin student charged with the killing of Joel Marino will not waive his right to a preliminary hearing, according to his attorney.
Lawyers on Wednesday will set a date to determine whether there’s probable cause to put Adam Peterson on trial on a murder charge.
Peterson’s attorney, Dennis Burke, said that hearing will likely be set for the week after next, WISC-TV reported.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin said the crush of Democratic candidates reflect anti-Republican sentiment and the number of open seats.
MILWAUKEE – Wearing a pink skirt and sequined T-shirt, 12-year-old Stephanie Peralta adjusted the wheel base on her Lego car to make it roll faster and farther.
Zaira Guerrero, 16, tucked dyed-red locks behind her ear and hung a bucket from a bridge she’d built out of pasta, testing to see if it withstood the weight.
“Now, challenge your brothers to this,” instructor Jack Samuelson told them. “Women can do anything that men can do, and, my wife would say, some things they do better.”
The students at “Engineering for Young Women,” a five-day summer academy last week at Marquette University, aren’t the stereotypical geeks, plagued by pocket protectors and weak social skills.
The University of Wisconsin regularly plays host to numerous distinguished speakers, writers and performers. For a city so historically associated with activism and progressive politics, few are as good a fit as the Amiri Baraka, who spoke on Monday at the Wisconsin Union Theatre. His talk kicked off the Third Annual Spoken Word & Hip Hop Educatorâ??s Institute at the university organized by the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI) and Youth Speaks Wisconsin in association with Urban Word NYC.
MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin changed the way it distributed football tickets to students this year from a first-come, first-serve basis to a general lottery system.
Last year, under the first-come, first-serve system, tickets old out in three days, but the new system has left some students upset and without tickets in hand.
The new lottery system takes all student control out of the system, leaving the decision of who gets tickets up to a lottery.
Students applied months ago for the lottery and got the results on Monday.
When the Iowa River topped its banks and inundated the University of Iowa’s campus last month, the disaster caused damages worth at least $232-million, the university estimated Tuesday in a report to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
(STATEWIDE) At least two U-W System schools are expecting record enrollment for this fall, and are trying to figure out where those extra students will sleep.
Last year about 1300 freshmen enrolled at U-W River Falls, creating a 200-bed shortage in its residence halls. Alan Tuchtenhagen, Associate Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Services, says his staff will soon discuss just where to put this yearâ??s batch of freshmen. He adds that while first and second-year students are required to live on-campus, even upperclassmen are staying in dorms, which he attributes to the economy. (Fourth item.)
(UNDATED) Much of the health insurance debate is about Americans who have inadequate coverage or none at all. On college campuses across the U.S, the focus is increasingly on who pays the bill: students, through segregated fees……or mom and dad, through private insurance.
Currently, when U-W students need medical care, they can go to their campus health center. There’s usually no “bill” per se â?? the expense is folded into the segregated fees paid along with tuition. And there’s also comprehensive, campus-sponsored health insurance available.
However, at a small but growing number of schools, the private market has come into play. The University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, for instance, contracts with four area insurance providers. It’s a trend that Dr. Sarah Van Orman of University Health Services in Madison predicts will expand across the nation as colleges tighten their belts. (Third item.)
Some states are making it harder for illegal immigrants to attend college by denying in-state tuition benefits or banning undocumented students.
In the past two years, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia and Oklahoma have refused in-state tuition benefits to students who entered the USA illegally with their parents but grew up and went to school in the state. That represents a reversal from earlier this decade, when 10 states passed laws allowing in-state rates for such students.
Young dancers who dream of making a career in the field got a taste of the experience at Dance Millennium, a week-long summer program at UW-Madison.
“We ‘re treating them as professionals, ” said Karen McShane-Hellenbrand, Dance Millennium director. “It also sort of doubles as a pre-college experience. “
An Associated Press analysis of federal records found that 157 college-age people, 18 to 23, drank themselves to death from 1999 through 2005, the most recent year for which figures are available. The number of alcohol-poisoning deaths per year nearly doubled over that span, from 18 in 1999 to a peak of 35 in 2005, though the total went up and down from year to year and dipped as low as 14 in 2001.
