Quoted: Byron Shafer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin’s lonely crusader fights on (Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Tribune
Author: jplucas
Kids need calcium, exercise for bone health (AP)
Quoted: Dr. Frank Greer, a member of the academy’s nutrition committee and pediatrics professor at the University of Wisconsin.
2-Year-Old Child Drinks Bleach In Fitchburg
WISC-TV 3
Quoted: Donna Lotzer, poison education coordinator at the University of Wisconsin Hospital Poison Prevention Education Center.
Rob Demovsky column: Bennett is one of all-time greats (Green Bay Press-Gazette)
Green Bay Press-Gazette
The scene off the basketball court was unforgettable, if only for how absurd it was.
On the court, there was Dick Bennett, coaching the University of Wisconsin in the 2000 Final Four at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. His unheralded team was hanging with Michigan State, perhaps the only team in the tournament it couldn’t beat. The halftime score was 19-17, Michigan State’s lead.
Hockey: Welcome back, Badgers? (Green Bay Press-Gazette)
Green Bay Press-Gazette
ASHWAUBENON ââ?¬â? It appears likely the University of Wisconsin hockey team will be back in the Green Bay area later this month.
After playing Ohio State at Lambeau Field on Feb. 11 in front of 40,890, the Badgers likely will be playing in the NCAA Division I Midwest Regional on March 25 and 26 at the Resch Center, which has a hockey capacity of 8,709.
UW minority students reap benefits of culture center (Daily Nebraskan)
MADISON, Wis. ââ?¬â? Just next to the University of Wisconsin-Madisonââ?¬â?¢s student union towers a castle-like red building ââ?¬â?? a foreboding presence in the center of campus.
But thereââ?¬â?¢s a place in this building that, for many UW-Madison students, makes the 933-acre, 43,000-student university feel smaller and more approachable ââ?¬â?? like a home away from home.
UW System finds it employed 40 felons (AP)
Duluth News
MADISON – The University of Wisconsin System was unaware it employed 40 felons this fall, including two who committed homicides in the 1970s and four child sex offenders, according to an audit released Tuesday.
UW System President Kevin Reilly promised a review of all 40 cases cited by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau to determine whether the crimes were related to their employment and the system should dismiss the employees.
Reilly Promises Review Of Felon Audit
WISC-TV 3
University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly is promising a review of all 40 felons on the universities’ payroll as of last November.
The Legislative Audit Bureau on Tuesday released a report that was requested by Republican lawmakers that detailed the felons who worked at the university and its campuses. Four of the felons were on the academic staff as of this fall.
UW Employed 40 Felons last Fall
WKOW-TV 27
Wisconsin lawmakers, including Senator Carol Roessler, wanted to know how many UW System employees were felons. Now they know… 40. The Legislative Audit Bureau released its report Tuesday.
Looking at September 2005 pay records, the audit bureau found 40 UW system employees felons. Four remained behind bars on felony convictions. Thirty-five were on probation or parole.
Federal and Global Guidelines on Stem Cell Research Offer a Level Playing Field (Wisopinion.com)
MADISON – Once again, some Wisconsin legislators are pushing state restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research – restrictions that would effectively move beyond President Bush’s 2001 order and put Wisconsin’s homegrown researchers at a competitive disadvantage.
Rather than adding a layer of unnecessary regulation, state lawmakers should await guidance from two panels — one federal and the other international — that have recently announced separate efforts to reinforce ethical guidelines for human embryonic stem cell research.
Report: Keep focus on reading skills
USA Today
An ACT report released Tuesday found that 51% of the nearly 1.2 million high school graduates last year who took the ACT college entrance exam demonstrated the reading skills needed to succeed either in college or in job training programs. That’s the lowest in a decade, down from a high of 55% in 1999.
What, me worry about college costs?
USA Today
Whew. College applications are in and hopefuls can refocus. If you’re like me, you submitted the FAFSA (Free Application For Federal Student Aid) form in January. It’s as easy as one, two ââ?¬â? 43.
Robert Myers teaches cultural anthropology at Alfred University in New York.
Domestic partner amendment leaves insurance status vague
Wisconsin State Journal
When Mary O’Donnell leaves for her job with the city of Madison, her partner Pam Mache can still stay home to care for one of their children who’s sick.
This little saving grace springs from two sources – Mache’s flexible schedule as a small business owner and O’Donnell’s city health insurance, which puts same-sex partners on a similar footing with married couples. The coverage that O’Donnell said she receives for Mache, her partner of 15 years, makes it easier for Mache to stay in practice as a veterinarian and help care for their three children.
Audit: 40 felons work in UW System, four on academic staff (AP)
Duluth News
MADISON, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin System, under fire for its employment practices, employed 40 felons as of this fall, four of them on the academic staff, according to an audit released Tuesday.
Chris Havel column: UW, UM slighted Borseth (Green Bay Press-Gazette)
Green Bay Press-Gazette
The University of Wisconsin and the University of Michigan have this rather dubious distinction in common: Their women’s basketball teams aren’t very good.
In fact, they’re awful.
The Badgers (11-17 overall, 5-11 in the Big Ten) and the Wolverines (6-22, 0-16) have another thing in common: When they were searching for a head coach three years ago, neither Wisconsin nor Michigan bothered to interview Kevin Borseth.
Study: Respiratory Symptoms Decrease At City’s Smoking Ban
WISC-TV 3
MADISON, Wis. — University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers released the results on Monday of a study that appears to reconfirm the public health effects touted by supporters of smoking bans.
22 people died daily of smoking-related ills (AP)
St. Paul Pioneer Press
MILWAUKEE ââ?¬â? Smoking-related diseases took more than 8,000 lives in Wisconsin during 2004, or more than 22 per day, according to a report released Monday.
Tobacco caused 81 percent of all lung cancer deaths and 15 percent of all heart disease deaths in the state, according to the report by the Wisconsin Division of Public Health, University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center and the American Cancer Societ
More Students Taking Trip to Detox
NBC-15
Imagine a night of partying ending with a wake up call in an unrecognizable cell block of a room. If it’s not jail, it’s detox.
This school year began with the number of UW Madison students admitted to Dane County’s Detox Center double the previous year.
But is that kind of experience enough of a wake up call to change a young person’s behavior?
Operation Immunization: Get Ready for Spring Break
WKOW-TV 27
Spring breakers heading out of the country are getting a harsh reminder – get your shots or possibly get really sick. Along with the fun and sun in places like Mexico and Central America… comes hepatitis… typhoid… and yellow fever.
A group of UW pharmacy students are hoping to get the word out. For some of these vaccines, it’s too late to get one in time for spring break. Some need four to six weeks to take effect and for students at UW, spring break is only 11 days away.
Finance Fight
WKOW-TV 27
Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation wants to take on the University of Wisconsin. The organization works to keep church and state separate and it says the university should stop giving student fee money to the UW Roman Catholic Foundation.
Give higher priority to UW student aid
Wisconsin State Journal
There is broad agreement throughout Wisconsin that the combination of rapidly rising tuition and slowly rising financial aid is shutting low-income students out of the UW System.
Yet, we’re still not doing enough to solve the problem.
Port Deal Threatens Bush’s Standing in GOP (Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles Times
QuotedL Charles O. Jones, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Site can help gauge value of house (Baltimore Sun)
Quoted: Timothy Riddiough, director of the University of Wisconsin’s real estate center.
War declared on trans fats (Green Bay Press-Gazette)
Green Bay Press-Gazette
Quoted: Sherry Tanumihardjo, associate professor of nutritional sciences at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Sleep treatments rise to the occasion
USA Today
Quoted: Psychiatrist Ruth Benca of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Business group aims to improve UW image (AP)
Duluth News
MADISON – Business leaders are forming a nonprofit group meant to change the public’s perception of the University of Wisconsin System, which is viewed as expensive and inefficient according to a new poll.
The group, Wisconsin Higher Education Business Roundtable, will consist of senior executives of Wisconsin businesses, according to planning documents obtained by the Associated Press.
UW notes: Violations not cause for pause
Wisconsin State Journal
At first glance, you might be concerned the University of Wisconsin committed 19 secondary violations of NCAA rules in the past seven months.
The list of self-reported violations come from nine sports, including four by football and two each by men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s hockey, men’s track and women’s track.
Two Badger players have suspensions overturned (AP)
Duluth News
MADISON, Wis. – Two Wisconsin football players – defensive back Jameson Davis and fullback P.J. Hill – have had their suspensions overturned and will be able to return to practice and competition, a university official announced Friday.
IU supports improved conditions at apparel-producing `sweatshops’ (AP)
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana University is joining a national effort to improve conditions at so-called “sweatshop” factories overseas that make college apparel.
IU President Adam Herbert said the school agrees “in principle” with the campaign by the Worker Rights Consortium, a group that monitors workplace conditions in developing nations.
UW Called Overrated, Overpriced
NBC-15
Hundreds of state residents are blasting the UW system. According to a new survey, many residents say the system has become unaffordable, is overstaffed and wastes money.
Underage Drinking
WKOW-TV 27
Madison’s Red Shed and State Street Bar and Grill were two of the taverns targeted by Madison police Thursday night in an effort to catch underage drinkers
From Rubble to Racetrack– UW Racing Team
WKOW-TV 27
Every year, a team of UW students builds a race car from the groupd up. The Badger Racing Team brings together a wide range of students…from engineering majors, to business and journalism majors.
The students are responsible for the entire process; the design, the building, the marketing, and the racing.
Why are MATC staff paid so much (Murphy’s Law, Milwaukee Magazine)
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is one of the best universities in the land, with top scholars in their fields. But professors there make less money than instructors at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
The average salary for a full-time MATC professor, according to a public records request I made to the college, is a jaw-dropping $91,000.
UW reacts to stiff dose of discontent in survey
Wisconsin State Journal
March Madness isn’t just for basketball fans anymore.
Turns out it might be good for damage control for colleges, too.
During next month’s NCAA tournament, a series of ads touting the benefits of higher education for individuals and society will be aired by a national alliance of colleges. It will be a first-of-its-kind campaign aimed at turning around negative feelings about the high cost of college and other problems identified in a recent national public survey.
Caught on camera: Surveillance devices make it tough for crooks
Wisconsin State Journal
Donald Downs, a UW- Madison political science professor who monitors U.S. Supreme Court decisions on privacy, said that cameras on private property generally have not been found to violate constitutional guarantees of a reasonable expectation of privacy because property owners are allowed, within reason, to enforce their own rights to protect their property.
Growing future college students
Wisconsin State Journal
These children don’t look like college students – yet.
They’re busy finishing homework, listening to a story, playing games and talking to tutors in their after-school program at the Packer Community Learning Center.
By the time these grade-schoolers finish high school, their tutors hope, they’ll be ready for college – academically and personally.
They represent the expansion of UW-Madison’s PEOPLE program to younger children as part of its effort to get more minority and poor children in the pipeline for college.
Do you trust your mechanic?
Wisconsin State Journal
Dick Koegel had a simple front-end alignment in mind when he brought his 1995 Ford Ranger into a Madison repair shop last June. But, he said, he was told his front brakes were “ready to go metal to metal,” that the rotors had to be replaced and the serpentine belt had pieces missing.
Koegel is a retired UW- Madison agricultural engineering faculty member who was getting ready for a trip to Minnesota when he stopped in at the repair shop.
“They claimed my brakes were in desperate shape, and I should get them repaired right away,” Koegel said in an interview this week. “I had them do the work, but I told them to keep the parts.”
State law firm joins U.S. trend with office in China
Wisconsin State Journal
Opening a foreign office, however, can be risky for regional law firms because of high overhead costs and increased competition, said John Ohnesorge, a UW-Madison Law School assistant professor and assistant director of the East Asian Legal Studies Center.
UW at risk (Channel 3000)
WISC-TV 3
After years of budget cuts and dysfunctional relationships with the state legislature, and after a terrible year of public relations ? some self-inflicted, some not ? and amid growing citizen worries about rising tuition and declining access, the UW System appears poised to fight back in 2006. It’s the second item on our editorial agenda for the year.
A vision for preserving the Lakeshore (Channel 3000)
WISC-TV 3
This week’s presentation of a detailed, comprehensive plan for preserving nearly two miles of Lake Mendota shoreline on the UW campus is a visionary model of management and stewardship needed for all of Dane County’s public waterways.
Follow these steps to a happy retirement (US News)
U.S. News and World Report
Quoted: Keith Bender, associate professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin
The Senate curse (Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles Times
Quoted: Charles O. Jones, a presidential expert at the University of Wisconsin
‘I’m sorry’ bill would aid doctors
Capital Times
Quoted: Dr. Norm Jensen, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Medical School
Dr. Bush’s flu flim-flam (Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles Times
Quoted: Judith Walzer Leavitt, professor of medical history at the University of Wisconsin.
Stalin’s hip factor: By the numbers (Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles Times
Is Josef Stalin making a comeback among Russia’s youth? Researchers Sarah Mendelson and Theodore Gerber, a professor of sociology at UW-Madison, recently wrote that many young Russians “do not view Stalin ââ?¬â? a man responsible for millions of deaths and enormous suffering ââ?¬â? with the revulsion he deserves.”
Legal culture breeds lawyer jokes, author says (AP)
He’s not exactly a seasoned comic, but professor Marc Galanter knows so many lawyer jokes, he even has a joke about lawyer jokes.
“A colleague asked me how many lawyer jokes there are. I told him just three ââ?¬â? the rest are documented case histories,” Galanter told an audience Tuesday at Vanderbilt Law School.
Drinking Contest At Downtown Bar Draws Criticism
WISC-TV 3
MADISON, Wis. — A drinking contest set for Wednesday night in a downtown Madison restaurant and bar located near the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus is set to go on despite criticism from anti-binge drinking forces.
Walker Ditches Luxury Suite
WKOW-TV 27
Officials with Republican Scott Walker’s campaign for Governor dropped plans to host political donors in a Kohl Center luxury suite during a Wisconsin men’s basketball game after 27 News asked who was sponsoring the fundraising event.
“We did not use the suite for the event,” campaign manager Bruce Pfaff told 27 News.
“It was an internal campaign decision,” Pfaff said.
What students can do to limit their debt loads
USA Today
With college costs continuing to rise, many students can’t avoid loans. But there are steps you can take to reduce the size of your debt.
Students suffocate under tens of thousands in loans. Higher interest rates hurt those forced to borrow as gap between aid, costs grows
USA Today
Tom Dillon, 19, a pre-pharmacy major at the University of Connecticut, is carrying $52,000 in student loans. And he’s just getting started. When he gets his pharmacy doctorate in four years, he expects his debt to exceed $150,000.
Next, why chickens crossed the road
Wisconsin State Journal
Rudyard Kipling may have told us how the leopard got its spots, but it has taken two UW- Madison researchers to tell us how the chicken lost its teeth.
UW athletics: Courting revenue
Wisconsin State Journal
University of Wisconsin men’s basketball fans will be able to get closer to the action next season – if they can afford it.
The UW Athletic Department is going ahead with plans for courtside seating at men’s basketball games, which is expected to raise an additional $300,000.
Reading and naughtiness ‘linked’ (BBC News)
BBC News Online
There is a connection between poor reading-readiness and naughtiness in pre-school boys, research suggests.
The link between illiteracy and delinquency in teenagers is well known, but it has not been clear which comes first and when the problem occurs.
Quoted: Research co-author Dr Terrie Moffitt.
Head cased (San Diego Union-Tribune)
San Diego Union-Tribune
Quoted: Tim Baker, a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin and the Journal editor.
UW defends plan to cut nonresident tuition (AP)
St. Paul Pioneer Press
University of Wisconsin System officials defended their plan to reduce tuition for students from other states on Tuesday in front of lawmakers worried over the impact to Wisconsin residents.
UW System Board of Regents President David Walsh told an Assembly committee the plan would bring in more nonresident students. The higher tuition they pay will help improve quality and enroll more in-state students, he said.
Dave Zweifel: Lawmakers blind to how good UW is
Capital Times
A few weeks back I asked here whether the Republicans in the state Legislature knew that the University of Wisconsin-Madison is getting high marks from national publications for helping new businesses get started.
There are some ideologues in the Legislature, after all, who assume that the UW-Madison is nothing more than a breeding ground for bed-wetting liberals, long-haired malcontents, anti-Christians or whatever else is in their craw at any given moment. So if they found the UW to actually be pro-business, that surely would touch their good, Republican hearts.
Riot-sparking Mohammed cartoon puts tough choice before Hub college papers (The Boston Globe)
Boston Globe
The more Patrick Boyle read about the explosive violence erupting in the Middle East and Europe, ignited by Danish cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammed, the angrier he became.
Harvard’s president Summers says he’ll resign
USA Today
Harvard University president Lawrence Summers, who has been embroiled in one controversy or another throughout his nearly five years in the office, announced Tuesday that he will step down in June. Summers’ resignation came a week before Harvard faculty were expected to vote on a motion of ââ?¬Å?no confidenceââ?¬Â in his leadership, the second such vote in less than a year.
Future holds full plate of knotty questions
USA Today
Some issues commanding the NCAA’s attention short term and long term:
Bolder NCAA faces up to new challenges:
USA Today
Say this for the 100-year-old National Collegiate Athletic Association: It’s not content to move quietly into a second century. The oft-controversial governing body breaks ground in the next two weeks when it subjects football, basketball and other teams to penalties related to players’ academic efforts.