Quoted: Lawrence Bank, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
800 of Bay Area’s spans rated same as fallen bridge (San Francisco Chronicle)
San Francisco Chronicle
Author: jplucas
4 percent with chronic pain abuse meds (Reuters)
MSNBC.com
NEW YORK – Among chronic pain patients who have been prescribed opioid drugs such as OxyContin or Percocet by primary care physicians, nearly 4 percent abuse these drugs, according to the results of a large study conducted in Wisconsin.
The findings also suggest that these patients commonly exhibit â??aberrant drug behavior,â? such as requesting early refills or purposely oversedating themselves.
Dr. Michael F. Fleming, at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and his associates point out that a large number of patients have severe, incapacitating pain that cannot be controlled without daily opioid therapy. The researchers investigated substance abuse disorders in this patient population.
Kohl seeks improved food safety protection (Green Bay Press-Gazette)
Green Bay Press-Gazette
Quoted: Michael Pariza, director of the Food Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin.
UW sports: Two coaches leaving for California?
Wisconsin State Journal
It’s possible the University of Wisconsin could lose two of its elite coaches and, coincidentally, the two men could wind up having the same new address.
Eric Hansen, the UW men’s and women’s swimming coach since 1999, and Jerry Schumacher, the men’s cross country coach since 1998, have been approached for openings at California.
Hansen, 41, is a highly regarded coach who has turned the once-downtrodden UW men’s and women’s programs into perennial top-20 teams.
The storm season may still have bite (Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
Quoted: Amato Evan, a University of Wisconsin climate scientist who studies African dust.
Minnesota dairy farmers enjoying high prices (AP)
Bismarck Tribune
Quoted: Bob Cropp, a dairy analyst at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the market could soften.
More unmarried mothers living with their children’s dad (San Francisco Chronicle)
San Francisco Chronicle
Quoted: Sheela Kennedy, coauthor of an upcoming paper at the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Demography and Ecology.
Why do people walk on two legs? Just ask a chimp (Sacramento Bee)
Quoted: Karen Steudel, professor of zoology and anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, sees a disconnect between the data and the main conclusions.
Got local milk? Jersey cows get their own brand (AP)
Quoted: Rusty Bishop, director for the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research and professor of food science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Beyond the romance (The Racine Journal Times)
Racine Journal Times
Quoted: Emily Auerbach, a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of the book â??Searching for Jane Austen.â?
Rise to power (Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Tribune
A review of Jeremi Suri’s Henry Kissinger and the American Century
Mention the name Henry Kissinger and the responses, depending on the audience, will range from admiration to anger. As national security adviser to President Richard Nixon and secretary of state under Nixon and President Gerald Ford, Kissinger was intimately involved in setting — even revolutionizing, in some instances — American foreign policy. He was and remains a politically polarizing figure. Whatever one’s reaction, however, few would question his importance in decisively reshaping America’s relationship to much of the world.
Jeremi Suri, a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin, assesses Kissinger’s political life in his ambitious new study, “Henry Kissinger and the American Century.” Although attentive to Kissinger’s personal life, particularly his early years, the book is “not a traditional biography” or “standard history,” Suri insists. Rather, it is a “narrative of global change, a study of how social and political transformations across multiple societies created our contemporary world,” changes to which Kissinger “was directly connected.” The result is an often-engaging but uneven study that says more about the shaping of Kissinger’s worldview than it does about Kissinger’s reshaping the world.
How safe are our bridges? (Monroe Times)
Quoted: Michael Oliva, a University of Wisconsin-Madison associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, said poorly rated bridges were not likely in danger of having major problems, especially since many of them see low traffic volumes.
Study linking printers to office pollution raises more questions than answers (AP)
Quoted: Robert Hamers, the chairman of the chemistry department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tour of eco-friendly projects inspires former Udall fellows (Arizona Daily Star)
For many years, environmentalists have fought the stereotype that they are always saying “No”:
“No” to power plants and power lines, to new freeways, to urban sprawl, to bulldozing the desert, to toxic waste dumping, to gas-guzzling cars, to air pollution and to open-pit copper mines, to name a few.
But since mid-June, 13 environmental advocates in their 20s have had a chance to travel around the country and inspect a host of eco-friendly and American Indian-run projects whose leaders are saying “yes”:
Quoted: Julie Curti, 23, a graduate in environmental studies and geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Bridge terms may face change (Appleton Post-Crescent)
Appleton Post-Crescent
The collapse of Minnesotaâ??s busiest bridge will lead to revisions in the terminology inspectors use to label conditions of the structures, predicts an expert in bridge ratings.
The term â??structurally deficientâ? â?? used to describe the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis and more than 2,000 bridges in Wisconsin â?? can be misleading, said Lawrence Bank, a civil and environmental engineering professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
UW President Recommends Tuition Increase
WISC-TV 3
MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin System president said he wants to increase tuition at all four-year campuses by 5.5 percent.
The Board of Regents will consider Kevin Reilly’s recommendation next week.
Legislative negotiators are working on a state budget and haven’t taken any action yet on UW funding.
Possible tuition freeze for 2-year schools
Capital Times
Undergraduate students attending the four-year universities in the UW System will likely face a 5.5 percent tuition increase this fall.
That is the increase system President Kevin Reilly will recommend to the Board of Regents when the board meets Tuesday at 10 a.m. in Van Hise Hall on the UW-Madison campus.
Reilly also is recommending that tuition be frozen at the two-year colleges, which often function as “feeder” schools for the larger institutions.
State bridges rank fourth best in nation
Capital Times
Quoted: Michael Oliva, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering for UW-Madison.
Bradley House: Taking care of history
Wisconsin State Journal
Tucked away in Madison ‘s University Heights neighborhood is a $10 million home that is one of the few remaining houses created by Louis H. Sullivan — the man referred to as the “father of modern architecture ” and known as Frank Lloyd Wright ‘s mentor.
This house, named the Harold C. Bradley House in honor of its first owner, however, is not sitting collecting dust but is in fact home to 22 brothers — the members of the Sigma Phi fraternity.
Bitten by boost in tuition
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison junior Joe Xaypharath doesn’t want to think about how much debt he’s piling up as he works toward his pharmacy degree. He’s not even sure how much he owes right now, except that it’s a lot.
“I wanted to come to this school, so no matter how much it cost, I just took out the loans. Loans and more loans,” said Xaypharath, of Merrill.
Milfred: Blame state if Bucky goes black
Wisconsin State Journal
Bucky Badger is lending a paw to the push for greater competition in Wisconsin’s cable television market.
If the Big Ten Network can’t reach an agreement to run its programming on Charter Communications soon, a slew of fans in south-central Wisconsin won’t be able to tune in a bunch of Badger games.
That’s because many games will not appear on network TV for free. And some will not even appear on ESPN or ESPN2.
PEOPLE gives students a leg up
Capital Times
The UW-Madison PEOPLE program helped Nana Asante struggle against a feeling of non-acceptance at the mostly white Verona Area High School.
Asante, who will be a senior at the high school this fall, said that being able to interact with other academically achieving minorities from other schools through the program helped her confidence grow.
“I had experience with people like myself,” Asante said.
Is a 5.5 percent tuition hike too much? (Wisconsin Radio Network)
Wisconsin Radio Network
The UW Board of Regents is expected to consider a proposal next week that would hike undergraduate tuition at all four-year UW campuses by 5.5 percent. State Representative Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) says that’s too much of an increase.
Nass prefers a GOP plan to cap tuition at four percent over the next four years. He says it’s an opportunity to have the UW System live within its means.
UW experimenters seek to make Wisconsin table grape (AP)
WIBA Newsradio
Wisconsin agriculture officials hope to find a sweet success with a new grant aimed at the grape industry.
State agriculture officials are expected to announce a $22,500 grant on Monday to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to develop a seedless table grape fit for Wisconsin’s cool climate.
Wisconsin already supports 30 wineries and interest in grape production is climbing, according to the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
Defining deficient bridges in Wisconsin (Wisconsin Radio Network)
Wisconsin Radio Network
Hearing that twenty-one hundred bridges in Wisconsin are deficient doesn’t mean they’re ready to collapse.
There are degrees of deficiency according to UW-Madison Civil Engineering professor Mike Oliva. And, he says, that doesn’t mean a bridge declared deficient is necessarily ready to collapse. It could mean inspectors need to take a closer look to see what’s going on and keep close track of it.
Defining deficient bridges in Wisconsin
Wisconsin Radio Network
Hearing that twenty-one hundred bridges in Wisconsin are deficient doesn’t mean they’re ready to collapse.
There are degrees of deficiency according to UW-Madison Civil Engineering professor Mike Oliva. And, he says, that doesn’t mean a bridge declared deficient is necessarily ready to collapse. It could mean inspectors need to take a closer look to see what’s going on and keep close track of it.
UW football: Coaches rank Badgers seventh
Wisconsin State Journal
The University of Wisconsin football team will basically get a chance to pick up where it left off last season.
Wisconsin Bridge Safety
WKOW-TV 27
Wisconsin officials have dealt with bridge section failures in the past. They will be watching Minnesota’s bridge collapse investigation closely, and preparing to make safety changes here, if problems are discovered which apply to Wisconsin’s bridge structures.
UW-Madison bridge engineering professor Mike Oliva said the design of Minneapolis’ 35-W bridge reflects an older design without newer safety features. “The industry is definitely moving away from bridges where there are critical members that cause a collapse.”
800 of Bay Area’s spans rated same as fallen bridge / But â??structurally deficientâ?? label doesnâ??t necessarily mean road in danger of collapse
San Francisco Chronicle
Quoted: Lawrence Bank, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
800 of Bay Area’s spans rated same as fallen bridge
San Francisco Chronicle
“Structurally deficient” does not necessarily imply a bridge is dangerous, said Lawrence Bank, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. It means the bridge has undergone wear and tear.
“Structurally deficient means that some or all of the components of the bridge might not meet their original design capacities. They may have degraded in some way,” Bank said. “Not everything is expected to remain in a new and pristine state.”
Van Hollen off to great start
Wisconsin State Journal
Sometimes you can tell that a politician is doing his job because he’s not in the headlines very often.
Such is the case with Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, whose low-key, by-the-book approach so far is a welcome change from the turbulent tenure of his predecessor, Peg Lautenschlager.
Van Hollen also ignored GOP wailing over the University of Wisconsin System’s admission policy. He advised campuses last week that they can consider race as one of many factors in freshmen admissions. Yet Van Hollen cautioned System leaders that comprehensive, individualized evaluations of applications are still required.
Bridge repairs could cost state over $2 billion
Wisconsin State Journal
Michael Oliva, a structural engineer at UW-Madison, agreed the state’s bridges are in better shape than the national average. But the Minnesota collapse was sobering, he said, because large portions of the bridge failed.
“Even for an engineer like myself, this is scary because we never expect this to happen in design,” Oliva said, noting that most bridges are engineered so that at most only a limited section of the bridge can fail.
Reilly to favor 5.5% tuition boost
Wisconsin State Journal
UW System President Kevin Reilly said Thursday he will recommend a tuition increase of 5.5 percent for resident undergraduates at all four-year UW campuses for the upcoming academic year.
DOT: 16 percent of Wisconsin bridges are ‘structurally deficient’ (Appleton Post-Crescent)
Appleton Post-Crescent
Quoted: Michael Oliva, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin, said the bridge in Minneapolis had some unique characteristics.
Hurrah! The Saudis are coming! (Haaretz, Israel)
A few dozen listeners took their seats on Tuesday in the Politics and Prose Bookstore on Washington’s Connecticut Avenue. They had come to hear Prof. Jeremi Suri, of the University of Wisconsin, talk about the hero of his new book, Henry Kissinger. (Final item.)
Big Ten Network, cable battle anything but basic
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The Big Ten Network, set to debut on Aug. 30 with a full slate of programming, has a broad appeal well beyond sports and deserves to be carried on basic cable, proponents said Thursday.
Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and Mark Silverman, president of the network, told members of the Journal Sentinel editorial board and reporters that the network would not only offer hundreds of hours of Big Ten sports, but programming specific to each university that focuses on the values the Big Ten members universities stand by.
Some doctors refuse services for religious reasons
USA Today
Quoted: Alta Charo, a University of Wisconsin law professor who studies bioethics.
UW-Madison Formula SAE race team wins 2007 championship (Ethanol Producer Magazine)
The University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-M) Engineering Department Formula SAE Team, supported by signature sponsor United Wisconsin Grain Producers LLC (UWGP), won its first world championship in Romeo, Mich., in May. Running on E85, the UW-M team finished first in a field of 130 participating teams from around the world.
As the search continues and the mourning begins in Minnesota, we wonder: How safe are our bridges?
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Michael Oliva, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said poorly rated bridges were not likely in danger of having major problems, especially since many of them see low traffic volumes.
State bridges usually safe, but many fall short of standards (Portage Daily Register)
Quoted: Michael Oliva, a structural engineer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, agreed the state’s bridges are in better shape than the national average. But the Minnesota collapse was sobering, he said, because large portions of the bridge failed.
Plan would raise UW tuition
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Madison – University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly is recommending tuition be raised 5.5% at four-year universities this fall even though state lawmakers have yet to agree on UW funding.
Legislative leaders on the eight-member conference committee debating the state budget met for several hours Thursday, but took no action on the UW budget or other areas of funding. Republicans and Democrats on the committee remain far apart on key spending issues.
UW could hike tuition 5.5 percent (Wisconsin Radio Network)
Wisconsin Radio Network
Some University of Wisconsin students could see a 5.5 percent tuition hike this fall.
The UW Board of Regents will be asked next week to consider tuition increases at all four-year campuses. System spokesman Dave Giroux says that will amount to about a $251 annual increase for students at smaller campuses, while students at the UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee could see tuition climb by up to $330.
Can Anyone Police File Sharing? (Inside Higher Ed)
Inside Higher Education
Campus file sharing briefly hit prominence in Congress last week as colleges lobbied against a proposed amendment in the Senate to the Higher Education Act reauthorization that would have required universities to use â??technology-basedâ? systems to try to block illegal downloading activity. While the amendment was withdrawn, it may be revived in the House â?? and certainly the entertainment industry has no intention of letting the issue go away.
Bottled Water or Tap? It Matters
New York Times
An additional reason to encourage drinking tap water, particularly for children and adolescents, is that it contains fluoride.
A surgeon generalâ??s report in 2000 ranked oral health as a serious health problem in children in America. For low-income families in particular, substituting bottled water without fluoride for tap water in formula feeding or for general use increases the likelihood of dental caries and poor oral health.
High-risk children donâ??t need to buy â??status water,â? which will add one more problem to a long list of adverse health outcomes they face.
John J. Frey III, M.D.
Madison, Wis., Aug. 1, 2007
The writer is a professor of family medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
Colbert: Bucky a terrorist?
Wisconsin State Journal
On Monday night’s “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central, Stephen Colbert listed badgers as his No. 1 threat of the week in his “Threat Down,” citing an Australian report of human flesh-eating badgers terrorizing the Iraqi port city of Basra.
Citing the importance of fighting the badgers “over there” so “they don’t burrow here,” he changed his tune mid-sentence.
“Just to be safe, as a preemptive measure, I say we carpet bomb the University of Wisconsin,” added Colbert. “Bucky. Bucky — that sounds like an Arab name.”
Curiosities: No proof that lasers help people stop smoking
Wisconsin State Journal
Q. There’s a new stop-smoking treatment being advertised on TV somehow using lasers. What is this and how does it work?
A. The method uses low-power lasers to stimulate parts of the body much like acupuncture. The catch, according to Michael Fiore of the UW-Madison Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, is that acupuncture as a means to quit puffing has not been determined by the U.S. Public Health Service to be effective and is not supported by science.
Fetal tissue shows promise for ALS in study
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Sometimes the inspiration for scientific research comes from the most unexpected places.
Consider Jeff Kaufman’s bedroom.
For much of the past 18 years, he has resided there, gradually losing the ability to move, speak or breathe on his own, as nearly all of his nerve cells that control movement have died off as the result of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Fighting his way back to the sideline
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Chicago – The face of the recent visitor to the University of Wisconsin football offices was familiar. The smile, the laughter and the subtle needling. Business as usual.
UW Hospitals chief Sollenberger going to Baylor (The Business Journal of Milwaukee)
Donna Sollenberger is resigning as president and chief executive officer of the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority, the academic medical center and health system that includes the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison.
Sollenberger is leaving to join Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, where she will serve as CEO of the Baylor Clinics and Hospital and executive vice president of Baylor College of Medicine, UW Hospitals and Clinics board chair Patrick Boyle announced Wednesday. She will begin her new position in late October where she will lead efforts in building the first Baylor-owned hospital.
MU part of loan probe
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Marquette University, along with several dozen other universities across the country, is under investigation to determine if the school received illegal kickbacks from a student loan company.
The New York state attorney’s general office issued the subpoenas on Wednesday. Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo said he was investigating whether athletic departments at the schools agreed to promote loans to students in exchange for kickbacks.
Expert says adequacy equals doubled student performance (Fargo, N.D. Forum)
Quoted:Allan R. Odden of the University of Wisconsin-Madison said at Wednesdayâ??s meeting. And best of all, it doesnâ??t have to mean spending twice the money.
Tradition vs. love (AP)
Quoted: Moneera Alghadeer, a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, published an article this year in The Journal of Arabic Literature that analyzed Alsanea’s novel.
Networking sites get message out on missing people
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Life can change in an instant.
That message was brought home this summer with news of three Wisconsin women – Kelly Nolan, Mahalia Xiong and Francine Tate – who disappeared in separate and unrelated incidents within weeks of each other.
CIO Leadership Series: WARF’s Patty Prime offers tutorial on e-discovery
Wisconsin Technology Network
For some CIOs, it’s been a struggle to comply with new e-discovery provisions in federal law. Thus far, there is very little established case law to use for guidance, and the need to manage and organize e-mail documents may not be the top information technology priority for most business organizations.
N.Y. Attorney General to Investigate Student-Loan Arrangements in 40 Athletics Departments
Chronicle of Higher Education
Andrew M. Cuomo, New York State’s attorney general, announced on Wednesday that he planned to investigate more than three dozen college athletics departments, including some of the country’s most prominent programs, about whether they arranged loans for athletes in exchange for financial kickbacks.
Rep. Nass defends UW budget cuts (Wisconsin Radio Network)
Wisconsin Radio Network
A Republican legislator is defending the GOP budget against attacks by the Governor and UW leaders.
The budget adopted by majority Republicans in the Assembly does not “slash and burn” the UW system in the ways university officials, the Governor, and union leaders claim. That’s according to State Representative Steve Nass (R-Whitewater). He says the budget does reduce spending, but much of that was done in top heavy areas of the administration.
UW Hospital CEO will leave
Wisconsin State Journal
Donna Sollenberger, who has led UW Hospital for nearly eight years as president and chief executive officer, will leave Sept. 30 to head the Baylor Clinic and Hospital in Houston.
Big Ten in no mood for change (Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Tribune
“Outrageous” Jim Delany gave way to “reasoned” Jim Delany at Big Ten media day.
And that, college football fans, means Big Ten expansion is not on the horizon, so conferences such as the Big East do not have to stuff their teams in a room and lock the door.
It also means a plus-one playoff system is not coming to a television screen near you.
College sees dollar signs on its sign
USA Today
DES MOINES â?? A college diploma could soon come with a corporate name.
The University of Iowa is considering whether to rename its College of Public Health after Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s foundation in exchange for a $15 million gift from the company’s philanthropic arm.
Terry Burton, a naming-rights consultant based in Vancouver, British Columbia, says he believes Iowa would be the first public university to name a college after a corporation.
The offer has ignited a debate over where universities should draw the line when accepting corporate gifts.
Madison man sentenced for pouring wart remover in infantâ??s mouth (AP)
La Crosse Tribune
Quoted: Dr. Barbara Knox, who specializes in child abuse cases at the University of Wisconsin Childrenâ??s Hospital