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Budget causes friction as Senate passes bills without funding attached

Wisconsin Examiner

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said his caucus supports cutting $87 million from  the UW system, but wouldn’t say if that’s the final proposal the budget committee will take up. The system has said it needs additional funding and Evers had requested $855 million in his proposal for it. Vos says Republicans want “reform” of the UW for the “broken process that we currently have.”

1 psychedelic psilocybin dose eases depression for years, study reveals

Live Science

Very few long-term studies of psilocybin for depression have been conducted to date, said Dr. Charles Raison, a professor of human ecology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who was not involved in the research.

“They are very difficult to do because people drop out,” Raison told Live Science in an email. “But also because they go on all sorts of other treatments that obfuscate the degree to which any longer lasting benefits result from the psychedelic or because the participant got therapy or restarted an antidepressant.”

Can A.I. quicken the pace of math discovery?

The New York Times

“I think we’ll learn a lot about what the capabilities of various A.I. protocols are from how well we can get them to generate material that’s of interest,” said Jordan S. Ellenberg, a mathematician at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who is part of a team applying for an Exponentiating Mathematics grant. “We have no intuition yet about which problems are going to be hard and which problems are easy. We need to learn that.”

‘We know what to do’: Wisconsin fairs continue bird flu testing requirements for cows

Wisconsin Public Radio

Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, said the impact was disappointing last year, especially given the amount of work exhibitors put into getting an animal ready for show.

“I’m hoping that with one year of experience under their belt, they feel more comfortable to be able to submit that testing and make sure that we have robust cow classes in these shows,” said Poulsen, whose lab processes all of the avian flu samples taken in the state. “It’s part of our culture, and we missed that last year.”

Wisconsin legislators want tax cuts. How much would their plans save?

The Cap Times

“The income tax proposals cost the state a fair amount of money, but it’s not a huge share of the state budget,” said Ross Milton, an assistant professor of public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “The flip side of that is that the impacts to any given household in Wisconsin in terms of how much money they’ll save on income taxes are pretty modest.”

Madison has an ‘extraordinary asset’ to rebuild public trust in science

Madison Magazine

The Morgridge Institute for Research, or MIR, at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has always been a bit of a mystery to me, and not just because the scientific research that goes on there exceeds my limited grasp of biology, chemistry and physics. (Or the fact that the building it shares with the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, or WID, is at the nearly-impossible-to-navigate intersection of University Avenue, Campus Drive, North Randall Avenue and North Orchard Street.)

Riots, police dogs and campgrounds. What to know about a batch of bills passed in the state Senate

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Already, a group of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Realta Fusion, a Madison-based nuclear startup, have developed a fusion device in Stoughton that creates the same kind of reaction that fuels the sun and stars. The process is much different than fission, the nuclear reaction that powers current nuclear reactors and the atomic bomb.

Trump cuts to NOAA, NASA ‘blinding’ farmers to risks, scientists warn

The Hill

The effect on U.S. forecasting will be “like losing your eyesight: slow and torturous,” said Jonathan Martin, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Wisconsin.

Americans who have grown up amid the “unheralded revolution” of ever-more-precise weather forecasts will find themselves in a world growing blurrier — even as the weather grows ever more volatile, Martin added.

Cliff Behnke, former ‘old-school’ Wisconsin State Journal managing editor, dies

Wisconsin State Journal

After graduating, he enrolled at UW-Madison to study journalism where he wrote, beginning in 1962, for The Daily Cardinal student newspaper. He rose to become editor-in-chief, spending so much time there and at his first reporting job for the State Journal, that he flunked an art history class and delayed his college graduation.

After college, he was drafted into the Army, where he helped produce a military newspaper at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C., from 1967 to 1969. He then returned to the State Journal and covered City Hall, the Capitol, UW-Madison, the bombing of Sterling Hall in 1970 and waves of anti-Vietnam War protests. He was 29 when, in 1973, he was named city editor. He was promoted to managing editor in 1989 and senior managing editor in 2003.

Report: Republicans weighing $87 million cut to UW system

Wisconsin State Journal

Republicans on the Legislature’s budget committee may deal the Universities of Wisconsin the system’s biggest cut in nearly a decade, to the tune of $87 million.

The cut was first reported by Civic Media on Monday night. By contrast, the UW system had requested an increase in state aid of $856 million. The committee had been slated to take up the UW system’s budget on Tuesday but punted it for unspecified reasons.

Milwaukee police might trade 2.5M mugshots for facial recognition technology

Wisconsin Public Radio

Alan Rubel, who studies the ethics of data and surveillance and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, highlighted the fact that MPD wants a trade, rather than purchasing the tech.

“That’s going to be very useful for that company,” he said.

“We’ve collected this data as part of a public investment, in mugshots and the criminal justice system, but now all that effort is going to go to training an AI system,” he added.

Wisconsin Republicans vote to add new prosecutors, but won’t replace expiring federal funds

Wisconsin Public Radio

GOP lawmakers also delayed a vote on the Universities of Wisconsin budget which had been scheduled for Tuesday. Evers’ budget called for about a $700 million increase in state funding for the UW system.

Democratic lawmakers told reporters Tuesday they’d heard Republicans were considering cutting funds to the UW system. The GOP cochairs of the budget committee did not comment when asked about that prospect.

How AI helps us fact-check misinformation on the air

Wisconsin Watch

arlier this year, I worked with Gigafact using Parser to process 24 hours from the same hosts the week after this year’s Super Bowl. We came up with a list of claims in two hours.

Wisconsin Watch and Gigafact presented that case study in using AI at a recent Journalism Educators Institute conference hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. We’ll present it again this week at the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in New Orleans.

Capitol City Band will celebrate Juneteenth as it opens 57th season on Thursday

Madison 365

Since 1981, Jim Latimer, a University of Wisconsin-Madison emeritus music professor, has been leading the Capitol City Band and conducting hundreds and hundreds of concerts. Ronald Reagan had just become president when Latimer first started conducting the band. “Is that right?” Latimer laughs. “I hadn’t thought of it in that context. But it has been a labor of love over these many years and I am so happy and proud to be involved with it.”

Harvard alum’s book focuses on ‘The Onion’

The Harvard Gazette

The Onion has been making fun of human folly since its founding by two undergrads at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1988. The mock news site has created satiric pieces so smart some believed them real, others that were just plain silly, and one headline (“‘No Way to Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens”) that has achieved a dark fame after being reposted after each U.S. mass shooting since 2014 Isla Vista, Calif., attack.

Wisconsin tribal colleges at risk under Trump plan to cut funding by nearly 90%

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Wisconsin’s two tribal colleges could face existential cuts under a Trump administration proposal to reduce funding by nearly 90%.

The colleges are located in rural areas of northern Wisconsin and together enroll about 600 students, many of whom would not attend a traditional institution in the colleges’ absence for financial, logistical and cultural reasons. The College of Menominee Nation is about 45 miles northwest of Green Bay. Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University is 100 miles north of Eau Claire.

When crime fiction great Elmore Leonard came to Madison

Madison Magazine

Leonard first came in 1990, as keynote speaker for the first University of Wisconsin–Madison Writers’ Institute. Leonard was famous by then, having landed on the cover of Newsweek around the 1985 publication of his novel “Glitz.” 

The institute was produced by the UW–Madison Division of Continuing Studies. They had no budget for speakers. But “Get Shorty” had just been published, and Leonard was headed from his Detroit-area home to the west coast to promote it. 

“I’ll put you on my book tour,” Leonard told UW writing instructor Christine DeSmet. They need only pay expenses. “He was so kind,” DeSmet told me, years later. 

5 things to watch as Wisconsin athletics handles the House settlement

Wisconsin State Journal

The latest shift for McIntosh and his department came June 6 when federal judge Claudia Wilken signed off on the settlement of the House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuits, a decision that opened the door for schools sharing revenue with their athletes, sets roster limits, and enacts additional oversight over athletes’ commercial NIL agreements. McIntosh — who testified in front of a Congressional subcommittee on March 11 on the House settlement and the state of college sports — said the settlement laid out the path to what college sports leaders want.

Wisconsin volleyball loses assistant to professional ranks

Wisconsin State Journal

Annemarie Hickey’s long run with the University of Wisconsin volleyball program ended, but she won’t have to travel far for her new job.

Hickey, who played for the Badgers before becoming an assistant coach, recently accepted an assistant coaching job with LOVB Madison.

Want to get divorced in China? Good luck getting an appointment

South China Morning Post

China’s divorce rate for 2024 has yet to be announced by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics, but Yi Fuxian, a Chinese demographer and senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in the United States, expects it to hit 2.6 per 1,000 people, against a low of 2.0 during the Covid-19 pandemic. This compares with the most recent rates of 1.5 in Japan and 1.8 in South Korea.

Why is everybody ‘crashing out’?

The New York Times

Kelly Elizabeth Wright, an assistant professor of language sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the lead editor of Among the New Words, said that it can be difficult to pinpoint when a phrase is created, and whether or not the language comes from African American Language or if it is just used within Black communities.

“I don’t think that it’s inaccurate to say that Black Twitter and other online spaces were using these terms maybe first or more visibly than when it was floating around in high school classrooms all across the country this year,” Dr. Wright said. “I also don’t think it’s inaccurate to say that young people online are using this term. I think both things can be true at the same time.”

Proposed TRIO cut jeopardizes at-risk students’ future

Diverse: Issues in Higher Education

The Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program through TRIO helped me earn my Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and led to my becoming dean of the Dougherty Family College (DFC) at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. DFC is a mentoring student-focused two-year college, and I have incorporated my research and experiences in TRIO programs into the college’s design.

Fossil corals reveal that sea-level rise occurs in rapid bursts

Earth.com

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of Florida led the project, working with colleagues at the University of Sydney, the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Victoria University of Wellington, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

“This is not good news for us as we head into the future,” said Andrea Dutton, a professor of geoscience at Wisconsin.

Minnesota shootings, Wisconsin hit list prompt increased security in state Capitol

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Reached on June 16, Kapenga told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he looked at a few security systems after the 2023 incident and put together a proposal to implement a weapons detection system used by the University of Wisconsin.

“There was not enough support in my caucus to get that put in place, unfortunately, but I hope this opens their eyes to the real, unfortunate threat that’s out there,” Kapenga said. “We live in a different world.”

Are plastic cutting boards useful kitchen tools or a breeding ground for microplastics? Here’s what to know

NBC News

It’s important to note, however, that the study’s findings are limited — researchers conducted testing on mice and only tracked health effects for about three days after exposure. Plus, microplastics are difficult to quantify — if another team of researchers did the same study, their findings may vary, says Hoaran Wei, an assistant professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A history of Wisconsin punishments for NCAA major infractions cases

Wisconsin State Journal

The University of Wisconsin athletic department was involved in seven NCAA major infractions cases in a 20-year stretch from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.

The NCAA punished the Badgers for illegal recruiting tactics, car rides and payments as well as the actions of boosters. The violations led to administrative changes within the athletic department to ensure compliance with regulations.

UW-Madison to add Korean major amid popularity of K-pop and K-dramas

The Cap Times

When Ava You applied to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she looked to see if she could major in Korean.

“Honestly, I was a little disappointed considering they had a Chinese and a Japanese major already, but not Korean,” said You, an incoming sophomore at the flagship campus.

That will soon change when UW-Madison introduces a bachelor’s degree in Korean Language and Culture this fall. The Board of Regents, which oversees UW-Madison and the state’s 12 public universities, granted final approval this month. UW-Madison will be the first school in the Universities of Wisconsin to offer an undergraduate program in Korean.

Museums house clues to our polluted past, biologist says. Can we probe the artifacts?

Dallas Morning News

Now an assistant professor of biology at the University of Texas at Arlington, DuBay is advocating for scientists to consider using museum specimens as tools for public health and environmental research. He and fellow scientists at the University of Michigan, University of Chicago, Yale University and the University of Wisconsin published a perspective last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences detailing the need to view museum specimens in a new light.

Wisconsin man’s case raised the competency standard for execution. He died at 67 on death row.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Panetti died from acute hypoxic respiratory failure on Texas’ death row the morning of May 26, the macabre space he called home for more than 30 years. There, he was known as The Preacher, according to his longtime lawyer, Greg Wiercioch, now a clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Panetti was 67 years old. He had four children.

Wisconsin military historian says situation in Los Angeles could ‘absolutely’ happen here

Wisconsin Public Radio

“[The president] has made clear that his definition of what constitutes unlawful combinations, in terms of protests, is relatively low,” said John Hall, a military historian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a retired U.S. Army Reserve colonel. “So where protests emerge, he has threatened he will take similar measures to respond to those protests.”

“Moreover, he seems to be suggesting that states and municipalities that, in his judgment, are interfering with ICE’s mass deportation efforts right now are themselves obstructing the laws of the United States,” Hall continued.

This is the Wisconsin basketball coach emulated by Jeff and Greg Gard

The Cap Times

University of Wisconsin-Platteville coach Jeff Gard got the sad news while in Greece with his basketball team during a nine-day exhibition tour to Thessaloniki and Athens.

His older brother, Greg Gard, the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball coach, called and informed him that Jerry Petitgoue had passed away last Saturday. Petitgoue was 84.

Wisconsin Republicans back $1.3 billion tax cut plan that lowers bills for 1.6 million residents

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Evers said in a statement that he had agreed to support Republicans’ half of the deal including their top tax priorities, while Republicans could not reach consensus within their caucuses to back the governor’s proposals, including funding increases for K-12 education, child care and the University of Wisconsin System.

An Evers spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the June 12 vote.

Bud Selig, Shel Lubar, Steve Marcus receive Herb Kohl Service Award–highlighting their friendship

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Allan “Bud” Selig, Sheldon Lubar and Stephen Marcus each received the Herb Kohl Service Award from the Milwaukee Jewish Federation on June 11. Roughly 550 people from the Jewish community, and the greater Milwaukee community, attended the Pfister Hotel event.

Each award winner knew Kohl personally from their childhood, or from attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

I found power, confidence and calm at a poker table full of men

HuffPost

Poker puts into focus the same gender dynamics that can create anxiety for women in a patriarchal society, says Jessica Calarco, a sociologist, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of ”Holding It Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net.” “You’re expected to read the room, stay composed, and manage risk — much like women do every day in a world that asks them to carry everything without appearing to struggle,” she tells me.

How viruses can help the fight against antibiotic resistance

“One approach is to create more antibiotics but this only postpones the problem. New antibiotics also can lead to new forms of resistance, creating a never-ending cycle. An alternative and promising solution is phage therapy, which uses viruses called bacteriophages (or simply phages) to kill specific bacteria,” said Dr. Anantharaman, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

UW-Madison lake researchers face uncertainty over potential cuts to the National Science Foundation

Channel 3000

UW-Madison researchers, who study Wisconsin’s lakes, are grappling with uncertainty as cuts to the National Science Foundation (NSF) could threaten decades of freshwater research.

Professors Emily Stanley and Hilary Dugan from the UW-Madison Lab for Limnology have dedicated their careers to studying freshwater systems, with Lake Mendota serving as a key research site.