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Author: knutson4

Feds warn UW of “potential enforcement actions” over alleged antisemitism at campus protest

Madison 365

The federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights is investigating the University of Wisconsin-Madison for antisemitism, according to a press release issued Monday.

UW is one of 60 institutions that received letters “warning them of potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities,” according to the release.

Gov. Evers seeks $4 billion for state building projects, including UW science facilities and new juvenile prison

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers wants to spend about $4 billion on state building upgrades across Wisconsin under a plan released Monday.

If approved, about $1.6 billion would go to the University of Wisconsin System for brick-and-mortar building projects. Other big-ticket items include $634 million for the Department of Corrections, $137 million for upgrades to veteran homes and $40 million to restore the state Capitol building.

Tariffs are ‘lose-lose’ for U.S. jobs and industry, economist says: ‘There are no winners here’

CNBC

While tariffs’ protection may “relieve” struggling U.S. industries, it comes with a cost, Lydia Cox, an assistant economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and international trade expert, wrote in a 2022 paper.

Tariffs create higher input costs for other industries, making them “vulnerable” to foreign competition, Cox wrote.

COVID-19’s fifth anniversary: 5 areas where life changed in U.S.

Deseret News

As the Journal Sentinel reported, quoting Sedona Chinn, an assistant professor and researcher in the Department of Life Sciences Communication at University of Wisconsin-Madison, folks who were frustrated started doing their own research, but it also “led to more misinformation and more anti-expert bias, making it all the much harder for solid science to break through.”

Fennimore farmers work to reduce dairy intolerance through products

WMTV - Channel 15

Researchers explain that some people have a reduced ability to chop up and absorb lactose. UW Madison’s Center for Dairy Research is hoping to continue to learn more about the future of dairy digestion.

“There is weak evidence at the moment that this change in the moving from what is typically A1 to A2, that there’s a difference in potential difference in how the body digestive,” Dr. John Lucey, the center’s director said.

Badgers Women’s Basketball Coach resigns

WMTV - Channel 15

Badgers Women’s Head Basketball Coach Marisa Moseley has resigned from her position with the university, 15 Sports has confirmed.

Moseley completed her fourth season with the Wisconsin women’s basketball program. The team lost in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament to Iowa on Wednesday night. Moseley compiled a 47-75 record with the Badgers and 21-51 in Big Ten play.

Wisconsin farmers protect potatoes with weather forecasting tool, help from UW researchers

The Badger Herald

Farmers may prevent blight by spraying their fields with fungicides, but if overdone, this practice has its drawbacks, University of Wisconsin professor of plant pathology Andrew Bent said. To prevent blight and overspraying, professor and Department of Plant Pathology Chair Amanda Gevens uses a tool called Blitecast to communicate to farmers the appropriate time to spray fungicides.

Don’t overdo it, but light exercise can help with minor illness

CNN

“If you have a mild to moderate illness, you can continue to exercise, but you should do less than you normally do,” said family physician Dr. Bruce Barrett, a professor and vice chair for research in the department of family medicine and community health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “If you normally run 10 miles per week, maybe run 5 if you have a mild cold. Just tamp it down.”

How to fix an overactive bladder

Consumer Reports

Many fruits and vegetables, for example, are a key part of a healthy diet. They’re also high in fiber, which helps prevent constipation, says Chris Manakas, MD, a urologist at UW Health and an assistant professor of urology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

How to protect your pets from bird flu

Popular Science

As of March 6, more than 100 domestic cats have been infected since 2022. Wild cats like lynx and captive tigers have also fallen ill. Considering the tens of millions of pet and stray cats in the U.S., confirmed cases remain exceedingly rare. “Just like in humans, the risk of pets contracting H5N1 is relatively low” outside of farm settings, says Peter Halfmann, a virologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Veterinary Medicine.

Changing US law keeps victims’ families – and people on death row – waiting decades for closure

The Guardian

The lead attorney, Greg Wiercioch, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, told her that during his 16 years on the case, he’d come to believe Wood hadn’t killed her daughter or anyone else. He pointed out that DNA testing of a bloodstain on one of the other victim’s clothes had matched a different, unknown male, who could have also killed Fulton’s daughter.

Is ‘Severance’ making your dog freak out?

The Washington Post

Freya Mowat, a veterinary ophthalmologist and professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s school of veterinary medicine, has done research on visual perception for dogs. She said a show displayed on older televisions would appear like “old movie screens” to dogs with individual flickers and a low refresh rate. Modern televisions, though, offer more flow and smooth projection.

UW-Madison young scientists’ careers in upheaval as Trump slows research funding

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Randy Kimple, a professor of human oncology at UW-Madison, has two Ph.D. students in his lab supported by grants, called “supplements,” meant to promote diversity among researchers. The supplements fund not only students of color, but also first-generation college students and those from rural areas or low-income neighborhoods.

Kimple expects to lose that funding — roughly $150,000 — in the summer, given the Trump administration’s campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

New fossil discovery reveals surprising insights into prehistoric human behavior

Discover Magazine

In a press release, Professor Pickering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison estimates that “this individual, probably a female, was only about a meter tall and 27 kg (60 lbs) when it died, making it even smaller than adults from other diminutive early human species, including those represented by the famous ‘Lucy.’” 

Democratic lawmakers introduce new bill to address gaps from federal funding freeze

The Daily Cardinal

Wisconsin receives roughly $654 million per year in National Institutes of Health grants, which supports more than 7,700 jobs and $1.4 billion in economic activity, according to United for Medical Research.

Without additional funds from elsewhere, UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said the capping of indirect costs would have a “ripple effect” on the state’s economy.

How attack ads in elections for judges can affect sentencing

PBS Wisconsin

“There is a lot of evidence that when judges are approaching an election, they sentence people more harshly than they do in other points in their term, said Zoe Engberg, an assistant clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

“And there’s also a lot of evidence that shows that negative campaign ads, in particular, have a large impact on how judges make decisions in cases,” she added.

Madison teachers wary as district notifies principals of staff cuts

The Cap Times

University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have projected overall enrollment declines at Madison schools next year, according to the district’s long-range facilities plan. However, in advocating for the referendum last year, district leaders and school advocates said those predictions were imperfect. They said the district defied projections this year and anticipated future enrollment increases, citing expected growth in the city of Madison and new housing developments.

Trigger warnings in the classroom: Helping or hindering students? UW professor weighs in

The Badger Herald

Halverson-Bascom and Douglas Kelly professor of French Jan Miernowski said he began placing trigger warnings in his course syllabi for two reasons.

For one, Miernowski observed his students placing content warnings in their assigned essays when there is explicit content present. The second reason is that his students reached out saying they were extremely affected by the content of his course books.

‘It’s gut-wrenching’: life-saving neurological research on line with NIH funding cuts, UW leaders say

Channel 3000

Life-saving work in biomedical research is on the line, University of Wisconsin System and UW-Madison administrators said, if the National Institutes of Health makes cuts to its funding to the system.

“Taking a meat cleaver to this funding is simply wrong,” Universities of Wisconsin System President Jay Rothman said Thursday.

UW leaders, Wisconsin medical researchers defend NIH funds amid uncertainty

Wisconsin Public Radio

Researchers at the Universities of Wisconsin defended their work in medical research on Thursday as they face uncertainty amidst federal funding cuts.

UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin warned of the danger of “indiscriminate reductions in research funding,” and medical and scientific researchers argued that funding from the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, is critical to their work.

He studies Alzheimer’s. Federal cuts could cripple his search for treatments

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Sterling Johnson leads one of the world’s largest and longest-running studies of people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease. His team aims to diagnose the disease years before people even develop symptoms and identify ways to slow its progression. He finds his work meaningful and rewarding.

But over the past seven weeks, as President Donald Trump’s administration proposes deep cuts to biomedical research, Johnson has encountered a new feeling. Something he’s never felt since he started studying studying Alzheimer’s in 1997.

It ‘feels disruptive’: UW-Madison teacher training program loses funding from the federal government

Channel 3000

In February, a UW-Madison teacher training program lost its funding from the federal government, citing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

“It’s unfortunate that the approach toward sort of rooting out programs seems to have overlooked what the program is really doing and its value to the high need communities that are being served by those programs,” said program director, Kimber Wilkerson.

Conservative professor would be just a diversity hire

Wisconsin State Journal

My confusion arises because the Legislature also required UW-Madison to create an endowed chair for a “conservative” professor. To me, that sounds exactly like DEI. Were Vos and colleagues requiring the university to potentially choose a less-qualified person as a professor because that person was “conservative”?

Wisconsin football’s 2025 season opener gets moved up

Wisconsin State Journal

The University of Wisconsin football season will start with some history this year.

A shift in the schedule moved the Badgers’ season opener against Miami (Ohio) up to Thursday, Aug. 28 at Camp Randall Stadium, providing the program with its first Thursday regular-season kickoff since 2011. 

Wisconsin Film Festival announces 170 films in 8 days this April

The Cap Times

The Wisconsin Film Festival is presented by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Communication Arts and is now entering its 26th year. Ben Reiser, director of operations, said Madison has supported the festival’s growth.

“The film-going community in Madison has embraced it as a chance to see all these films that you do hear about from other film festivals,” Reiser said, and particularly, “as a chance to see them in movie theaters.”

‘I was rejected from 16 colleges because I’m Asian and smart’

The Telegraph

His high school grade point average (GPA) was an exceptional 4.42, much higher than the American average of 3.0, and he was one of only around 2,000 students to score 1590 or higher on the SAT, out of more than two million students who take the test every year.

Yet after sending off his applications, he was rejected by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell University, Georgia Tech, MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, the University of Illinois, the University of Michigan, the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin.

From the field to the classroom: UW athletes read with Madison second graders

The Daily Cardinal

Student athletes at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have visited second grade classrooms in the Madison school district every Monday since September 2024 as part of the Role Model Reading Program, a partnership between the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) and the 2nd & 7 foundation created by Badgers head football coach Luke Fickell.