A battle to replace PD City Council President Austin King with another PD-endorsed candidate, Lauren Woods, ended in a victory for Eli Judge in the student-dominated 8th District.
More than twice the usual number of absentee ballots for a spring Madison election were cast, most likely the result of UW-Madison, Edgewood College, Madison Area Technical College, the Madison School District and several other area school districts being on spring break this week.
UW-Madison suffered a setback Friday in its drawn-out and complicated battle to maintain three of its valuable stem-cell patents.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office indicated it is skeptical of the patents, which cover techniques for isolating embryonic stem cells.
But the case is hardly over.
UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin said the allegation that Ziegler presided over dozens of cases in which she had a conflict of interest became a central – and relevant.
Though spring break scattered University of Wisconsin students across the globe, Madisonâ??s student-dominated District 8 elected a new representative to the City Council Tuesday â?? UW sophomore Eli Judge.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has invalidated three broad patents for human embryonic stem cells that have been blamed for slowing research in the highly visible field of regenerative medicine.The office ruled the discovery of embryonic stem cells from primates â?? including humans â?? was not worthy of patent protection because scientists had used similar methods to isolate embryonic stem cells from mice and other mammals, and described the cells’ potential for producing medical therapies.
Our country sorely needs people trained in the sciences. The need is so great that weâ??re importing engineers from India and elsewhere to help fill the void.So, what is proposed by University of Wisconsin leaders? They plan to financially penalize students who want to study engineering. Absolutely brilliant!
Quoted: Kris Olds is a geography professor at the University of Wisconsin who has studied the impact of the Olympic Games on cities.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has made a preliminary decision to revoke three fundamental patents on human embryonic stem cells. If the decision stands, some scientists and consumer groups say it could loosen restrictions on research in a promising new field.
ATLANTA, Ga. — Wisconsin senior forward Alando Tucker was named the 2006-07 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Awards winner in a presentation over the weekend on CBS. The award, selected by a nationwide vote of coaches, media and fans, is presented annually to college basketball’s outstanding NCAA Division I senior student-athlete.
In a preliminary finding, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has determined that three broad patents issued to the University of Wisconsin at Madison on a technique for isolating and maintaining embryonic stem cells were issued in error because the technique wasn’t really new.
In rejecting the patents after re-examining them, the office found that the inventions described in them “would have been obvious to one skilled in the art” at the time the Wisconsin discoveries were made because of prior discoveries, which were known.
Quoted:Kenneth Mayer, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Do video games help kids learn?
If your immediate response to that question is, “Yeah, how to waste time and test your patience,” you’re probably the parent of a school-age child.
You might be surprised to learn that a panel discussion in Chicago recently saw educators and media specialists acknowledge that video games can not only teach, they just might be the springboard for a whole new approach to learning in the Information Age.
“We spend four, five, six years or more of a kid’s mathematical education teaching them what a 99-cent calculator can do,” said David Williamson Shaffer, an education professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of the new book How Computer Games Help Children Learn.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a preliminary rejection of three key stem-cell patents owned by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, setting up a legal battle with potentially big economic and psychological ramifications for the state’s biotech economy.
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the licensing arm of the university, vowed to appeal the ruling in every venue at its disposal, even if the dispute drags out in federal courts for years.
MADISON, Wis. — The Tenant Resource Center is taking a big hit to its budget.
The group has helped thousands of area renters resolve disputes with their landlords.
Now it is losing $55,000 in funding from UW Madison’s student government, which is about 15 percent of its total budget.
TRC officials said the cut means outreach projects on the UW campus will take a direct hit.
MADISON, Wis. — A Madison Area Technical (MATC) student who was hurt after being struck by a minivan as he crossed the intersection of Park and Regent streets last month has died.
Madison police said that Lucas Peerenboom, 20, died from his injuries on Saturday night, WISC-TV reported.
The federal government has preliminarily rejected three controversial stem-cell patents held by UW-Madison, saying discoveries by researcher James Thomson were “obvious to one of ordinary skill.”
The decision could greatly affect the university’s prominence in the burgeoning field and stop the millions of dollars the patents are bringing in.
Critics of the patents, who say they stifle research, said the decision will likely kill the patents. But UW-Madison officials said they will appeal, a process that could take months or years. During that time, the patents will remain active.
Madison, Wis. – Researchers and engineers across Wisconsin are learning new ways to produce energy from cow manure, wood chips, organic sugars, soybeans, solar collectors, corn stover, wind farms, grease, waste from paper mills, and much more.
State businesses, architects, and builders are national leaders in planning and constructing â??greenâ? buildings that save energy and money.
Former Governor Tommy Thompson’s bid for the White House is a “real long shot,” according to UW political scientist Charles Franklin. Thompson ended speculation on Sunday by announcing he’s entering the race.
Let’s cut right to the chase. Barry Alvarez will not coach college football again. He has completely closed that door. “I have,” he said.
Three years ago, April 1, 2004, Alvarez officially assumed the dual role of University of Wisconsin athletic director and football coach. Fifteen months ago, Jan. 2, 2006, Alvarez made his final appearance as Badgers coach during a 24-10 victory over Auburn in the Capital One Bowl.
Three Members of UW-Madison’s Students In Free Enterprise team will spend their spring break in the Appalachian region this year to help educate people in the area about personal finance and budgeting.
The team members were to leave the region this morning accompanied by six Madison-area high school students, two chaperones and Joyce Waters, a financial counselor from Debtscape, a Maryland-based non-profit that provides debt management and credit counseling services.
The UW-Madison School of Business is getting a little more respect, moving up two places to 29th in this year’s ranking of business schools by U.S. News and World Report.The ranking, which is eight places higher than two years ago, is the highest the business school has received from the magazine since 1990.
A bizarre attack early Wednesday on a woman sleeping in her home turned stranger Friday when prosecutors said elements of the plot may have been taken from a sexual fantasy story found by the alleged attacker on the Internet.
Dane County cultural maven Lynne Eich is more relaxed about retirement now that the county has selected UW Foundation Vice President of Development Karen Crossley as her successor.
Just over a month ago the Recording Industry Association of America released a list of universities allegedly beset by music piracy — 25 institutions that, over the last academic year, had received more notices identifying cases of copyright infringement than any of their counterparts (The Chronicle, February 21).
Madison – Now that Lisa Stone has completed her fourth season as the University of Wisconsin women’s basketball coach, the ball, figuratively speaking, is in her bosses’ court.
The UW administration faces two choices during the next six weeks: Renew Stone’s contract and restore the year it did not roll over last spring or fire her.
Quoted: Richard Weindruch, a University of Wisconsin professor of medicine who studies caloric restriction in laboratory animals.
State governments have taken the unusual step of funding biomedical research â?? usually done with federal grants â?? because of federal political decisions to restrict funding for embryonic stem-cell research.
Stem-cell scientists are naturally delighted by the new avenues of support, but there could be complications if scientists in different states want to collaborate.
Whether they deserve it or not, embryonic stem cells have come to represent potential salvation for many people suffering from incurable diseases.
Rick Daluge announced that he will retire this fall after 24 years as short course director and 35 years overseeing alumni efforts for the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Daluge is a familiar face at agricultural events throughout Wisconsin, especially to alumni of the College’s four-year and short-course programs.
Checking out high-quality breast cancer information online not only keeps patients informed about their disease, it may also boost their opinion about their doctor, new research shows.Previous studies have found that many breast cancer patients go online to learn more about their disease. This is the first study to look at how patients’ opinions about their doctors affect how they seek online information and support, and how the Web affects how patients regard their doctors, the study authors said.
Quoted: Jo Handelsman, a plant pathologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and co-chair of the NRC panel.
MADISON, Wis. â?? A man accused of breaking in a college studentâ??s apartment, pouring a chemical into the sleeping womanâ??s mouth and standing over her with a knife may have been following the plot of a sexual fantasy story he viewed on the Internet, prosecutors say.
While watching the film “The Last Kiss,” astute Wisconsinites will likely notice the University of Wisconsin-Madison banners in the background and the fact an exchange between two of the filmâ??s stars, Blythe Danner and Harold Ramis, takes place on Bascom Hill, a notable landmark on UW-Madison campus.
Nanoscale objects are much too small for us to see them. So, according to educators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, nanotechnology is a research field where blind students and sighted ones are equal.
Quoted: John J. Magnuson, professor of zoology and limnology at UW-Madison.
The invisibility and underutilization of campus sex offender registries is precisely the point of the new research. Even on campuses with the databases, many sex offenders â?? more than one in three, it turns out â?? have absolutely no idea that their unflattering mug shots are on display somewhere in the dark depths of the public safety departmentâ??s Web site.
As state support lags, tuition rises. Itâ??s a well established phenomenon. But whatâ??s less discussed is the effect that flat state support might be having on the traditional undergraduate tuition model itself. The one-student, one-rate model is somewhat silently slipping away at many public universities nationwide, as institutions increasingly turn toward differential (read: higher) tuition rates for students pursuing specific majors, often those with higher costs of operation.
MADISON, Wis. — Prosecutors said a man accused of breaking into a college student’s apartment, pouring a chemical into the sleeping woman’s mouth and standing over her with a knife might have been following the plot of a sexual fantasy story from the Internet.
John Mulvihill, 56, was charged on Friday with armed burglary, first-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree reckless endangerment and resisting police after police said he attacked a UW-Madison student in her home with a chemical believed to be chloroform or ether.
A Madison man accused of threatening and poisoning a woman with chemicals used to put animals to sleep may have committed more crimes like it.
Police say a UW student was attacked in her home on Mound Street earlier this week and her attacker may have stolen the chemicals to poison her with from UW’s Zoology Department. The suspect, John Mulvihill, appeared in court this afternoon and prosecutors say the crime he is accused of may not have been his first. The communities targeted could be anywhere from here to Minnesota.
The last thing the NCAA needs on the road to the Final Four is even a whiff of the point-shaving scandals that have periodically rocked college basketball: at Arizona State and Northwestern in 1997-1998; Tulane in 1985; Boston College in 1981; St. Joseph’s in 1961 and City College of New York in 1951.
That’s why, for the second year in a row, the NCAA asked FBI agents to warn players, coaches and trainers from all 32 teams in the regional round on the ways gamblers try to use them to try to beat the point spread, says Rachel Newman Baker, director of agents, gambling and amateurism activity.
Most of the people giddily filling out brackets for their NCAA “March Madness” office pool will never have a problem. But for a few unfortunate young people and their families, the Road to the Final Four, the nation’s fourth biggest gambling event, is paved with personal and financial ruin.
Some college students addicted to sports betting or online poker have taken it to extremes. They have committed crimes, including bank robbery and murder, over gambling debts. Others, unable to face the guilt or consequences of betting away tuition, have committed suicide.
Discussed: Meng-Ju “Mark” Wu, a 19-year-old freshman at UW-Madison who, in 2005, hung himself in jail while awaiting his murder trial committed over a $15,000 sports betting debt.
Since Princeton took the lead among Ivy League schools to formally adopt a grade-deflation policy three years ago â?? limiting A’s to an average 35% across departments â?? students say the pressure to score the scarcer A has intensified. Students say they now eye competitive classmates warily and shy away from classes perceived as difficult. “It used to be that you’d let someone copy your notes if they were sick,” says Mickel, 21, of Monroe, La. “Now, if someone misses classes, you’d probably still let them, but you’re also thinking: ‘Gee, you might get the A while I don’t.'”
A magazine investigation has raised new doubts about pioneering adult stem cell studies, leaving questions about the much-touted medical potential of these cells. A report in New Scientist magazine finds “apparently duplicated (images) being used to describe results from different experiments” in a 2006 patent obtained by University of Minnesota researchers.
Quoted: John W. Williams, an assistant professor of geography at UW-Madison
Millions of college students are suddenly facing sharply higher prices for birth control, prompting concerns among health officials that some will shift to less preferred contraceptives or stop using them altogether.
Quoted: Susan Fischer, director of student financial services at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Q: Why do we itch?
Ben MacDonald
Grade 8
Sennett Middle School
A: Like so many questions that seem simple at first, this one gets complicated the moment you start scratching below the surface.
After a year marred by muggings and assaults, UW- Madison’s Greek organizations will launch a new campaign Saturday designed to remind students to stay safe this spring.
“As it gets nicer out, people are going to feel more inclined to go out more and stay out later,” said Alex Sheridan, a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. “But just because it’s nice outside doesn’t mean the streets are any safer.”
The problem is money. Sanyer said UW-Madison requires international undergraduates to put up nearly $70,000 to be admitted. Now the hope is to have Shoaib enroll at Madison Area Technical College, which is requiring about $10,000 up front.
A congressional panel is investigating Purdue University’s handling of challenges to a university scientist’s controversial “tabletop” nuclear fusion research.
The House Committee on Science and Technology has raised questions about Purdue’s internal investigation of whether nuclear scientist Rusi Taleyarkhan thwarted efforts to test his findings. “Despite the university’s statement that no misconduct has occurred, many disturbing questions remain about the scope and adequacy of the investigation,” said Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., who heads the panel’s subcommittee on investigations and oversight.
It seems the real issue is one of jealousy
I’m so tired of reading about people having an issue with what has been labeled the evil sick day perk – in which unused sick leave can be converted into health insurance at retirement. What is the big deal here?
UC Berkeley became one of many college campuses to be affected by the recording industryâ??s renewed effort to crack down on illegal file-sharing after the campus received 19 pre-litigation settlement letters Wednesday.
The Recording Industry Association of America sent out 405 letters this week to 23 universities nationwide where it had detected illegal downloading activity among students or personnel.
Northeastern Wisconsin can and should capitalize on biomedical research â?? especially the stem-cell research currently being cultivated at the University of Wisconsin â?? former Gov. Tommy Thompson told a group of business and elected officials on Thursday afternoon.
Thompson, who suggested he will throw his hat into the 2008 presidential ring, said business leaders should be willing to attract companies into the Fox River
Quoted: Ben Kempinen, associate clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School and a member of a committee writing ethics rules for attorneys.
Quoted: Michael Knetter, dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business.
Quoted: Karen Delahaut, a phenology specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
While extended travel outside of typical tourist destinations may be intimidating to the average vacationer, for University of Wisconsinâ??Madison student Caroline Ackley it offered the perfect opportunity to broaden her perspectives and create change first-hand.
“I recently fulfilled a dream of mine and went to Africa to see the struggle I have been fighting,” Ackley said.
She left Madison in December of 2006 for a month-long stay in Bagamoyo, Tanzania, roughly two hours north of Dar es Salaam, the Tanzanian capital. The Zukri Foundation, a nonprofit service program committed to providing skills training, advice and financial contributions to the people of Bagamoyo, coordinated the trip.
Quoted: Professor John Valley, a geologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
MADISON, Wis. — University of Wisconsin officials said on Thursday that the school won’t deliver settlement letters to students it received from a recording industry group.
University officials received 16 letters from the Recording Industry Association of America, a music industry lobby group, on Thursday morning. The letters target 16 students suspect of downloading or sharing music illegally, WISC-TV reported.
A UW spokesman said that the school has decided it will not comply with the RIAA’s desire for the letters to be forwarded to the students.
LaMarr Billups, senior special assistant to the chancellor at UW-Madison, is leaving the university for a position at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Spring break fever may have UW-Madison students thinking more about sunny beaches and showing some skin than exercising their right to vote, but the “Vote Naked” campaign on campus is out to capitalize on that.
