Author: jplucas

MADISON, Wis. — In light of the recent violence in the campus and downtown areas, student safety has become a hot-button issue, and a new campus group said it has a solution: concealed carry.

The group is called Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. It’s a national organization with 25,000 members. The University of Wisconsin-Madison chapter formed in the last few weeks.

The group says putting guns in the hands of responsible, licensed citizens will make the UW-Madison campus, as a whole, a safer place.

The parents of Brittany Zimmermann conducted their first television interview Tuesday.

Her family is taking their tragedy and turning it into motivation to help others.

“She so wanted to finish out in Madison. We thought if we can raise enough money we can help other kids who want a great education at the UW-Madison, fulfill their dreams as our daughter was doing” said Jean Zimmermann, her mother.

They’re forming a scholarship in Brittany’s name – a fitting tribute to a young woman who loved to learn.

The death of a 21-year-old University of Wisconsin student last Wednesday was the third killing in the Madison area in less than nine months and calls attention to the unsolved homicide of UW-Whitewater student Kelly Nolan.

Brittany Zimmerman, of Marshfield, Wis., was found dead in her Doty Street home at 1 p.m. last Wednesday. No suspects have been named and the cause of death, as with Nolan’s, has not been disclosed.

Brittany Zimmermann’s family is establishing a scholarship fund in her name to remember the University of Wisconsin-Madison student who was killed April 2 in her apartment.

“In the days since Brittany’s tragic death, we have searched our hearts for answers that we may never receive. We are grieving her death and we are grieving the future events that we will never celebrate with Brittany. One event we will never celebrate with Brittany is her graduation from UW-Madison next fall,” Zimmermann’s family said in a press release submitted by her aunt, Kim Heeg, about the Dollars for Brittany Scholarship Fund Drive.

MANITOWOC â?? DNA, macromolecules, “speed” chemistry, and presidential race stump speech performances highlight today’s “Campus Preview Day” at the University of Wisconsin-Manitowoc.

“For those 18-year-olds who want their baccalaureate degree from, say, UW-Madison, the best way is through UW-Manitowoc,” Chancellor David Wilson said Tuesday on a visit to the campus on Viebahn Street. “And your sheepskin at your graduation ceremony will say, ‘The University of Wisconsin- Madison.'”

MADISON, Wis. — Wednesday marks one week since Brittany Zimmermann’s fiancée found her slain in their West Doty Street apartment near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

The downtown Madison neighborhood is still on edge, and Madison investigators said they have no new details in the case to release.

Despite the increased police presence in the area, many living downtown said they are still scared.

“With all the students and people around, you just always felt safe. And now it’s just a whole other story and you have to be cautious,” said Amanda Seeberger, who lives in the neighborhood.

Six days after UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann’s murder, the crime scene tape is down and her West Doty Street apartment is no longer cordoned off.

But the police work continues.

Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain said one of the focuses of this investigation is the downtown’s transient population.

“She was just an amazing girl. Just an amazing girl.”

Brittany Zimmermann always dreamed of attending U-W Madison.. and she worked hard to get there.

“We always told her, if you’re going to Madison, you have to earn this yourself. She put all that time in.”

The investigation into the death of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann last week, focused on the central city area, has resulted in the arrest of “many” people on unrelated charges, police reported Monday.

No numbers were available, but Madison Police Department spokesman Joel DeSpain said Monday that of the people arrested on outstanding warrants and unrelated charges, none was being called a suspect in Zimmermann’s death.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. â?? The Wisconsin man who collapsed and died last month after finishing the Little Rock Marathon had a heart condition that would have been undetected in a routine physical exam and was not by itself fatal.

Dr. Stephen J. Erickson, a pathologist with the state crime laboratory, said Monday that Adam Nickel had narrow heart arteries that tended to restrict the flow of blood that caused his death when combined when combined with the electrolyte abnormalities that can result from running long distances.

Nickel, 27, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, collapsed after finishing the 26.2-mile race in 3:02:26 on March 2. He was an experienced long-distance runner and had no known medical problems.

MADISON, Wis. — Madison landlords are required by law to provide security-locked entrances for buildings with more than two units.

Deadbolts are also required on each apartment door, but tenants must remember to use the locks.

MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Madison student who was found dead last week in her campus area apartment was buried on Monday as the search for her killer or killers is continuing.

The funeral was held on Monday morning for Brittany Zimmermann, 21, at St. Andrew’s Church in Stratford. During the service, the church was filled with family and friends. Zimmermann was a UW junior and her family said they would welcome any students who wanted to attend the services. The university provided a free bus for those that wanted to make the trip, WISC-TV reported.

A man whose arrest was first reported last week by 27 News has been identified by neighborhood witnesses as a home intruder on the day of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann’s murder.

Court records also show David Kahl, 42, stole money from an elderly man in 1993 and then raped an acquaintance, who objected and was told by Kahl, “he would break her neck if he wanted to.”

Madison Police spokesman Joel DeSpain confirmed Monday a man who had intruded into a downtown home and asked for money, and also solicited others for money around the time of the Zimmerman murder, was in custody on a probation hold.

UW-Madison students voted to support a symbolic referendum to bring five Iraqi students to study on campus at a cost of $1 per student per semester.

Madison police plan to expand their horseback patrols Downtown this year and launch a fundraising drive to support the costs of housing, feeding and equipping their mounts.

This year, beginning in May, two officers riding horses will patrol in the State Street and University Avenue areas from about 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. on most Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, said Capt. Jill Klubertanz, who supervises the mounted patrol.

Next week, the 2008 “Jeopardy!” College Championship will be recorded at the Kohl Center, making UW-Madison the ninth college campus to host the competition.

The contest, April 11 and 12, will feature 15 student hopefuls from universities nationwide with their eyes on the $100,000 grand prize. Students hail from universities such as Harvard, Cal Tech and Georgetown.

As police search for the person who murdered a UW-Madison student in her Downtown apartment on Wednesday, other students are asking, “Could this happen to me?”
Bob McGrath, director of counseling and consultation services at UW-Madison, said there is “certainly a lot of anxiety” among students and recent graduates following the death of Brittany Sue Zimmermann, 21, whose body was found about 1 p.m. Wednesday in her first-floor apartment at 517 W. Doty St.

More than 200 Downtown neighbors of slain UW-Madison student Brittany Sue Zimmermann remembered her with a moment of silence on Saturday before meeting with local leaders to discuss their fears and share ideas for improving safety.

City and university officials, their voices cracking with emotion, said they take Zimmermann ‘s murder personally because they either live near her apartment at 517 W. Doty St., where her body was found about 1 p.m. Wednesday, or they lived in the area during their days as UW-Madison students.

Quiet hands protected flickering flames as students, faculty and community members joined with the family of Brittany Zimmermann on Sunday night around the fountain at Library Mall to remember the life that ended violently last week and to try to come to grips with the loss of one of their own.

A mysterious topic began popping up in conversations among Alex Reifâ??s friends four years ago.

Reif, now a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, would hear his friends at other colleges such as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee chat excitedly at parties about a new Web site called Facebook.

â??They would always talk about it, and I would be sitting there in the dark,â? Reif said.

Which is where he stayed until December 2004, when Parkside became a member of the social utility Web site that was launched by a 19-year-old Harvard University student in February of that year. Reif signed on right away.

Kelly Ryan used to scoop up her psychology books when the Electric Earth Coffee shop closed at 11 p.m. and walk back to the house she shares with six other women attending the University of Wisconsin.

Not anymore.