The University of Wisconsin-Madison has lost a federal trademark fight against a Texas economist who filed for ownership of the words “buckynomics” and “buckymarkets.”
Texas economist wins trademark fight with UW-Madison
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Author: knutson4
Holiday budgets by city (2024)
WalletHub
“For many consumers, overspending happens when they feel time crunched or make snap decisions in response to discounts or limited offers,” said Amber M. Epp, an associate professor of marketing at the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Consumers can save money in the traditional ways by making budgets and lists this time of year, but also by comparison shopping and seeking out discounts for items already on their lists rather than impulse buying when presented with sales.”
Best credit cards for November 2024
WalletHub
“The market’s best credit cards are often indicative of the health of the economy, because their use can give insights into consumer perceptions and acceptability of interest rates, consumer spending habits as well as consumer debt,” said Cynthia Jasper, a professor of Civil Society and Community Studies, School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In France, a family reckons with World War II Allies’ legacy of rape and murder
NPR
Mary Louise Roberts, professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, was one of the first scholars to consult French as well as U.S. archives for her 2013 book, What Soldiers Do.
“Towards the end of the summer of 1944 there really was a problem with rape,” she says. “And the United States Army, at the highest levels of SHAEF, was concerned about it.” SHAEF was the acronym for the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, commanded by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
What happens under water in winter?
Popular Science
When it comes to determining the role that lakes play in global carbon cycling, those estimates are often drawn from summer data. Just using that small subset of data creates errors in estimates of atmospheric interactions and other downstream effects, said Hilary Dugan, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin Department of Limnology.
How Wisconsin lost control of the strange disease killing its deer
The Nation
I drove south out of Madison, Wisconsin, along solitary rural roads until I arrived at a secluded home set amid scattered forest and open prairie. Waiting inside for me were two men: Michael Samuel, a retired professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and Bryan Richards, the emerging-disease coordinator at the US Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center.
Coca-Cola causes controversy with AI-made ad
NBC News
Neeraj Arora, the chair of marketing research and education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the reason why the company faced backlash for this specific advertisement, and not for “Masterpiece” last year, could be because many consumers recognize Christmas as an integral part of the company’s brand, and AI technology acts as a disruption.
“Your holidays are a time of connection, time of community, time to connect with family, and that’s sort of a big part of what the holidays are about,” Arora said. “But then you throw AI into the mix that is not a fit, that is not a fit with holiday timing, but also, to some degree, also Coke, what the brand means to people.”
Germany: Bavarian pterosaur fossil gives evolutionary clues
DW
Co-author Adam Fitch of the University of Wisconsin at Madison said the “Skiphosoura represents an important new way to study the evolutionary relationships between pterosaurs and how this lineage evolved and changed.”
For decades, installing E.V. chargers didn’t pay off for retailers. Now it does.
The New York Times
Now, new studies say retailers’ charging efforts may well be paying off: One peer-reviewed study by researchers at Boston University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison published this year looked at the impact of nearly 1,600 Tesla Supercharger stations in more than 800 U.S. counties and found a 4 percent increase in monthly visits for retailers within 200 meters of chargers after they were installed. The effects were most pronounced for retailers within 150 meters. The researchers also found a 5 percent increase in spending.
Is raw milk safe? Science has a clear answer
Popular Science
Boiling is an even more aggressive form of heating than pasteurization, which was developed to kill pathogens while minimizing changes to milk’s flavor and composition, says John Lucey, a food science professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and director of the university’s Center for Dairy Research. “Boiling is a very substantial heat treatment whereas pasteurization is much gentler,” he notes.
Repeatedly doing the same activity can lead to muscle imbalance — and pain
Wisconsin Public Radio
Muscle imbalance occurs when physical activity isn’t varied. Our PT experts Lori Thein Brody and Jill Thein-Nissenbaum are here to talk about the symptoms and treatments for muscle imbalance.
Learn more about ‘American Indians and the American Dream’ with this ‘University Place’ Q&A and episode
PBS Wisconsin
In this episode of University Place Presents, host Norman Gilliland and his guest Kasey Keeler, assistant professor of American Indian and Indigenous Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, discuss the topic, American Indians and the American Dream, which she explores in her book of the same title.
Milwaukee, Madison first responders using whole blood in trauma response
Wisconsin Public Radio
Providers on air ambulances are usually able to give blood components like red blood cells and plasma. But Dr. Ryan Newberry, assistant professor of emergency medicine at UW Health, said research shows that someone who is bleeding to death needs all of the components in blood.
“(Whole blood) can help temporize or slow bleeding, especially if we can give it in that first hour after your injury,” said Newberry, who is also assistant medical director of UW Health’s Med Flight. “That allows us to have a little more time to get you from wherever that injury occurred, the side of the road, a back field, a community emergency department, and get you to a trauma center.”
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson to back Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for US health secretary
Wisconsin Public Radio
Patrick Remington, the former dean of public health at the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said it’s hard to tell in advance how Kennedy would lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Time will tell how his personal views over the past several years will translate into actions as secretary,” he said. “I think it’s important to understand sometimes people’s views change when their roles and responsibilities change.”
Marquette non-tenure-track faculty want union bargaining rights
Wisconsin Public Radio
For five years, Grant Gosizk has taught Marquette University undergrads to think about how literature and pop culture shape attitudes toward addiction.
Non-tenure-track, or NTT, faculty like Gosizk teach many of Marquette’s core curriculum classes. Every year, individual instructors sign new 10-month contracts with the university, earning $43,000 a year. Gosizk calls the arrangement “precarious.”
Microsoft to use diesel-fired generators as backup power for data centers
Wisconsin Public Radio
Production of renewable diesel from plant oils has increased in recent years amid wide use in transportation fuel, according to Mary Blanchard, associate director of the Wisconsin Energy Institute at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
“It generally meets a 50 percent greenhouse gas reduction compared to petroleum-based diesel fuel,” Blanchard said, noting some companies claim even higher emissions reductions.
Wisconsin Supreme Court to hear arguments in lawsuit over Meagan Wolfe ‘holdover’ appointment
Wisconsin Public Radio
Bryna Godar is a staff attorney with the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School. She said one of the complicating factors in the Wolfe case is that none of the parties are asking the court to overrule the 2022 decision on holdover appointments.
She said it’s rare “for a court to voluntarily overrule” a prior decision without parties asking justices. Still, Godar said the battle over Wolfe’s appointment wouldn’t be happening if not for the Prehn decision two years ago.
“And so, we’re kind of taking that as a given rule in Wisconsin, and going from there,” Godar said. “And saying, OK then, what does that mean in this situation?”
Kathryn McGarr on Trumpism and lessons from American history
PBS Wisconsin
UW-Madison journalism professor Kathryn McGarr considers questions about historical parallels between the second Trump administration and the mid-20th century’s America First movement and McCarthyism.
Christopher Saldaña on funding for Wisconsin schools in 2025
PBS Wisconsin
UW-Madison education professor Christopher Saldaña considers the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s 2025 budget request and record-setting new funding approved in school referendums in 2024.
Her neighbor’s trees were killed by the emerald ash borer. Now they’re falling onto her home.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
There are several preventative emerald ash borer treatments homeowners can have administered to their trees annually in the spring.
Some of the most affordable treatments are sprayed onto trees and cost approximately $30 to $50 per each. Pricier, longer-lasting options can be directly injected into tree bark, said PJ Liesch, director of the Insect Diagnostic Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Wisconsin is facing an uptick in food recalls. Here’s why
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Consumers should observe good food safety practices in order to protect themselves against food-borne illness. Health experts recommend getting a refrigerator thermometer and making sure the temperature is 40 degrees or lower. “The colder the temperature, the longer the food will last safely,” wrote Kathleen Glass, associate director of the Food Research Institute at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Outdoor writers talk deer hunting, ecologist explains phenology
Wisconsin Public Radio
Phenology is the study of the seasonal events in nature. And thanks to the famed naturalist Aldo Leopold, Wisconsin has a calendar that keeps track of bird migrations, mammal predation and the blooming of flowers. Ecologist Stan Temple joins us.
Opinion: Wisconsin legislators lay out priorities. Here’s what to know from leaders of both parties.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Written by Susan Webb Yackee, a professor of public affairs and director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison.
Wisconsin legislators lay out priorities. Here’s what to know from leaders of both parties.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Habush Sinkyin said one takeaway from talking to voters on the campaign trail was that the state Legislature needs to do more to fund public schools and the University of Wisconsin System, local governments, health care and tax relief.
Hovde tells talk radio host he lost, but stops short of conceding to Baldwin
Wisconsin Examiner
Barry Burden, who directs the UW-Madison’s Election Research Center, said Hovde’s decision to not yet concede represents a new but troublesome trend. “It’s been happening in the United States over the last few years, of candidates not conceding immediately or graciously as often as they did in the past,” Burden told the Wisconsin Examiner. Donald Trump’s refusal to concede his reelection loss in 2020 “provided a model for some candidates.”
An explicit concession “is one of the things that shows us that democracy is working,” according to University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Mike Wagner. “Democracy is for the losing side because they get a chance to try again in the next election, and admitting when you lose is a critical factor required for the maintenance of democracies.”
Wisconsin scientists study driving and THC impairment
Wisconsin Public Radio
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison are gearing up to administer set levels of delta-8 and delta-9 THC to people in a pilot study, and place them in a driving simulator.
Mass deportation, ending DACA: How would Trump’s policies affect Wisconsin immigrants?
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Erin Barbato, director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic at the University of Wisconsin Law School, believes the second Trump administration is more prepared this time and will follow through on its policy promises. That means organizations like the legal clinic are readying themselves and their clients for what’s ahead.
“It is very terrifying, I think, for everybody involved in immigration and especially for some of the most vulnerable people in our country,” Barbato said. “It seems monumental right now, what we are preparing for.”
Study committee considers draft legislation to hunt sandhill cranes, aid corn growers
Wisconsin Public Radio
In Wisconsin, only 17 percent of 2,769 people surveyed last December support a hunting season on sandhill cranes. That’s according to a study led by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and funded by the International Crane Foundation. The organization has said crop damage by cranes should be solved by other means, saying a hunt wouldn’t have any significant benefit for farmers.
Framing the climate crisis around health: Wisconsin professor wants a narrative shift
Wisconsin Public Radio
After years of studying the deleterious effects of climate change on human health, a Wisconsin professor has come to view his work as less about devastation and more about hope.
“The health benefits of a low-carbon economy are so enormous.” Dr. Jonathan Patz recently told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”
Trump made big gains on Wisconsin’s college campuses in 2024 election
Wisconsin Public Radio
President-elect Donald Trump flipped Wisconsin by narrowly increasing his margins across the state compared to 2020. But around some Wisconsin college campuses, his numbers grew by leaps and bounds.
Wisconsin Badgers analyst Jack Del Rio, former NFL coach, resigns after OWI arrest
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Former National Football League head coach Jack Del Rio, who had been part of the Wisconsin Badgers football staff as a senior analyst, will resign following his arrest in Madison early Friday for allegedly operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
UW football coaching legend Barry Alvarez lands radio gig with Good Karma broadcasting
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Former University of Wisconsin football coach and athletics director Barry Alvarez will become a regular voice on radio for ESPN Madison, a move announced by station owner Good Karma Brands.
Social Security at 90: The financial status of the US’s largest federal program
Wisconsin Public Radio
UW-Madison Professor Emerita Karen Holden visited ‘The Larry Meiller Show’ to discuss the current and future solvency of the Social Security program.
Election results show how Wisconsin’s urban-rural divide continues to deepen
Wisconsin Public Radio
Katherine Cramer’s influential book “The Politics of Resentment” was published in March 2016 — just eight months before Donald Trump won the presidential election for the first time and ushered in a new era of American politics.
The book got national attention for the way it homed in on the urban-rural divide. Cramer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, based the book on years of having conversations with people across the state in cafes, pool halls and other community spaces.
Wisconsin could lose out under Trump term targeting climate, clean energy policies
Wisconsin Public Radio
Efforts to combat climate change and shift to renewable energy have accelerated under policies and regulations put in place by President Joe Biden’s administration. Even so, it hasn’t been enough to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, according to Greg Nemet, energy expert and public affairs professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We’re on track, but we need to really start pushing harder to get the adoption of electric vehicles, solar panels, wind power, heat pumps and all those things at a faster rate,” Nemet said. “I think what we’re looking at now is probably almost definitely slowing down.”
Morgan Edwards, assistant professor of public affairs at UW-Madison, said the slowing of emissions reductions may not be immediately evident in Wisconsin as much as they will in the long run. “We’re locking in long-term climate impacts that we’re going to see for decades to come,” Edwards said. “That’s things like more extreme weather events, warmer winters, more irregular farming seasons, which is a big deal across the country, but (also) in this state where we have a lot of agriculture.”
Report: One-third of Wisconsin hospitals operated in the red last year
Wisconsin Public Radio
Stuart Craig, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Business who studies health care spending, said hospital’s operating margins are also “a function of their choices.” He points out that most hospitals are nonprofit entities, so they should be motivated to keep patient costs as low as possible and invest any profit back into their facilities.
“Hospitals will often defend high commercial (insurance) reimbursement rates by saying, ‘Well, we lose money on all these Medicare patients,’” Craig said. “But those are choices that they’re making to set their cost structure. Like, if you looked at hospitals that operate in markets that are mostly Medicare patients, they just set a lower cost structure and stay open.”
Wisconsin Supreme Court hears arguments Monday in abortion lawsuit
Wisconsin Public Radio
Kaul’s office also argues the pre-Civil War-era law should not be in effect because it contradicts subsequent state laws that were passed to regulate abortion in the wake of Roe v. Wade.
That argument relies on the legal principle of “implied repeal,” said Bryna Godar, a staff attorney with the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School. “This is something that the Wisconsin Supreme Court has explained in prior cases,” Godar said. “An older law becomes unenforceable if there are newer laws that directly conflict with it.”
Racist texts sent to UW-Madison students, campus police say
Wisconsin Examiner
University of Wisconsin-Madison campus police made a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Friday regarding racist text messages being sent to students. “UWPD is aware of reports that Black UW-Madison students have received racist text messages as part of a nationwide wave of messages that began on Thursday,” the department posted.
Racist texts target Black UW-Madison students after presidential election
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Racist text messages were sent to some Black students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, part of a nationwide wave of threatening texts in the wake of Election Day that has caught the FBI’s attention.
Election results can feel like the end of the world if your candidate loses. You’re not alone.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“Anxiety is a natural response to uncertainty,” said Richard Davidson, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds. “The most important thing for people to recognize is that whatever anxiety they’re feeling, there’s probably, at least, 150 million other people who are feeling anxiety in a very similar way.”
Social Security advocates call for stronger support to live up to FDR’s vision
Wisconsin Examiner
Another myth is that Social Security won’t be there for younger workers. J. Michael Collins, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison La Follette School of Public Affairs and the leader of the UW Retirement and Disability Research Consortium, said he hears that often from his students at UW.
In the worst case scenario, however, the shortfall would cut benefits to 72 cents on the dollar, he said.
Immigrants provide important economic contributions in Wisconsin, report says
Wisconsin Public Radio
“There’s an undercount in the Latinx population, and, in particular, the undocumented population,” said Armando Ibarra, a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School for Workers. “This population of folks is hesitant to interact with folks that represent the federal government or the state government, because of their precarious immigration status.”
UW-Madison spin-off idea headed to Wisconsin Legislature
Wisconsin Public Radio
The committee studying the future of the Universities of Wisconsin wants the state Legislature to explore spinning off the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The 2020 election upended politics. Here’s what’s changed in Wisconsin, and what hasn’t.
Wisconsin Public Radio
Attorney Bryna Godar of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Democracy Research Initiative told WPR the lawsuits are an example of how litigation is focusing more on “those granular issues of election administration.” She said the timing of the suits raises questions about whether attorneys are hoping to preserve legal claims that can be used to challenge Wisconsin’s results depending on who wins.
After string of foodborne illnesses, Wisconsin experts encourage at-home food safety
Wisconsin Public Radio
While the different outbreaks have come in rapid succession, the number of illnesses being reported isn’t out of the ordinary, according to Kathleen Glass, associate director of the Food Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“It just happens to be the luck of the draw that we’re seeing it in Wisconsin,” Glass said. “They are also very high profile because they have affected a number of people.”
Jordan L. Siegler named Wisconsin Public Media Interim Executive Director
PBS Wisconsin
Jordan L. Siegler has been named Interim Executive Director of Wisconsin Public Media (WPM), the division at the University of Wisconsin–Madison that oversees PBS Wisconsin and Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR). Siegler currently serves as Associate Director of WPM. The announcement follows the recent death of Executive Director Heather L. Reese.
As political rhetoric heats up, these UW-Madison students are paying close attention
Wisconsin Public Radio
Many people are disenchanted with how bitter and divisive American politics has become since 2016 when Donald Trump was elected president. But for most college students today, that’s all they’ve ever known, said Allison Prasch, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who teaches political rhetoric.
These 4 Wisconsin universities are among the best in the U.S., according to WalletHub
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Four Wisconsin universities have been ranked among the top 300 universities in the U.S., according to a recent study by personal finance website WalletHub.
Wisconsin drop boxes; the history, drama behind controversial method
FOX6
President Donald Trump cast doubt on the integrity of votes cast and returned through drop boxes. It’s a stance that lacks proof, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Emeritus Howard Schweber.
“There is no evidence that anyone has ever tried to stuff drop boxes with fake ballots or multiple ballots or noncitizens’ ballots, and there’s no evidence that improper ballots that get into drop boxes end up being counted as votes,” Schweber said.
Carroll University opens new wellness program to treat students’ anxiety, behavioral health
Wisconsin Public Radio
A new behavioral health program at Carroll University in Waukesha is successfully helping students treat anxiety and homesickness, according to the program’s founders.
Puerto Ricans in Wisconsin, Wellness for college students, The creator of TikTok’s ‘Spirit Walker’
Wisconsin Public Radio
Over the weekend, a comedian at a Trump rally in Madison Square Garden made racist remarks about Puerto Ricans. Aurora Santiago Ortiz, a UW-Madison professor, discusses Puerto Ricans’ significance in Wisconsin and the U.S. to offer critical context for this political moment.
What to expect when you’re expecting election results in Wisconsin
Wisconsin Public Radio
That election had an unusually high number of absentee ballots because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Milwaukee’s results came out after midnight in 2018 and 2022, too, said Barry Burden, who directs the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“So it’s not just tied to COVID — it’s really the process that’s used in our state and in Milwaukee causes that to happen,” he said. “There’s nothing illegal about it. There’s nothing unexpected about it. Actually, we all know this is going to happen, but nonetheless, there are people who are skeptical about it, and in some cases, will intentionally spread disinformation about it, but it’s just part of the process.”
Early in-person voting in Wisconsin surpasses last two presidential elections
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Barry Burden, professor of American politics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said it is difficult to compare the numbers to the past two presidential elections because of the pandemic and the longer period allowed for early in-person voting in 2016. However, he said the interest in early in-person voting appears widespread and that there is “clearly a new desire among Wisconsin voters to cast their ballots in person early this year.”
“It is happening at higher rates in communities of different sizes and with different partisan tendencies,” he said in an email.
With new legislative maps in place, Democrats set their sights on the Assembly
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of the university’s Elections Research Center, called the spending “astounding.”
“I think the competitiveness of the state legislature this year is the main driver. This is the first time in 14 years that the Assembly has truly been up for grabs between the two parties,” he said. “And there’s no shortage of people who want to give money to try to flip it in their direction.”
Idea to split UW-Madison from UW System advances
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A committee studying the future of the state’s public university system recommended the Legislature explore spinning off the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the state’s public university system.
Bats may be a scary Halloween symbol, but they benefit humans, and save farmers money
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
In 2018, a study out of UW-Madison that analyzed bat poop found that little brown bats in Wisconsin were eating 17 different types of mosquitoes, including nine that carry West Nile virus. The same study found the DNA of 24 different agricultural pests in the poop — lending validity to the estimate that bats save Wisconsin farmers hundreds of millions of dollars per year on pesticides.
Pursuit Unlimited: Odyssey Beyond Wars program helps veterans make the leap into higher education
Spectrum News
For many veterans, higher education can seem out of reach. However, a special program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is helping change that narrative.
Opinion: Economy would grow under Harris. Under Trump, expect higher prices and debt.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Written by Menzie Chinn, a professor of public affairs and economics in UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs and Department of Economics, and Mark Copelovitch, a professor in UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs and Department of Political Science.
The demand for child care, How young adults view the presidential race, How mindfulness techniques can help caregivers
Wisconsin Public Radio
Research suggests women farmers may improve local economies
Wisconsin Public Radio
New research has found that communities with more women-owned or -operated farms have higher rates of business creation, lower poverty rates and a longer average life expectancy.
University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Steven Deller is a co-author of the research first published in January. Deller and colleagues argue that the reduction in rural poverty is particularly important.