Skip to main content

Author: knutson4

Does ICE have access to Flock data?

Posted on
Isthmus

The city of Madison does not operate any Flock cameras; under the city’s “surveillance devices” ordinance, any proposed contract would have to be approved by both the mayor and city council. Both the University of Wisconsin Police Department and Wisconsin State Capitol Police, which have primary jurisdiction on campus and near the Capitol, respectively, have contracts with Flock. The Capitol Police’s four cameras are located around the Capitol Square.

Marc Lovicott, spokesperson for UW police, declined to share the locations of the department’s eight cameras. He says the department automatically shares Flock data with other Wisconsin law enforcement agencies, but will only share data with other state and federal agencies upon request and on a “case-by-case basis.”

Three-year college degrees could be coming to some UW campuses

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Shorter and ultimately cheaper college degrees could be coming to some University of Wisconsin campuses.

The UW Board of Regents approved revising a policy that previously mandated bachelor’s degree programs be a minimum of 120 credits. The changes, unanimously endorsed without discussion during a March 5 meeting, now allow campuses to offer 90-credit degrees.

UW-Madison lukewarm on 3-year degrees despite UW system’s blessing

Posted on
The Cap Times

Wisconsin’s 13 public universities can now develop three-year bachelor’s degree programs — but it could be a while before any appear at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“I know there are some other UW institutions that are exploring that as a possibility. We have not had discussions here at Madison about that,” Allison La Tarte, UW-Madison’s vice provost and chief data and analytics officer, said at a recent campus meeting.

Tax credit meant to help struggling workers mostly helps employers, Wisconsin study finds

Posted on
Wisconsin Watch

In a 2025 working paper, researchers from UW-Madison and the University of Southern California studied two decades of records of Wisconsinites who received food aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the most common way an employee qualifies for the tax credit. Researchers compared SNAP recipients who were eligible for the credit with similar recipients who weren’t.

Eight student staff, 2,500 mouths to feed: The Open Seat Food Pantry’s campaign for help

Posted on
The Badger Herald

The Open Seat food pantry, located in the UW Student Activity Center, provides food and hygiene products to students experiencing food insecurity. Open to all UW–Madison students without income verification, the pantry aims to remove barriers to basic needs so students can focus on academics instead of worrying about their next meal.

Now, the eight part-time student employees who operate the pantry are calling on Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori Reesor to fund a full-time, permanent staff position dedicated solely to pantry operations. Student organizers say the current model — in which students manage every aspect of a large-scale food distribution program — is no longer sustainable.

UW-Madison students studying abroad in Middle East relocated

Posted on
WKOW - Channel 27

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is addressing the impact of the ongoing conflict in Iran and the broader Middle East. Students who are studying abroad in the region are being moved to new locations, where the university says they will continue their programs. Their plan aims to ensure the safety and well-being of students and staff.

“The situation is evolving rapidly, and we are closely following developments,” said Fran Vavrus, vice provost and dean of the International Division. Vavrus emphasized the university’s commitment to connecting with both international students in Madison and those studying abroad.

Student group repurposes gently used items during dorm move-out

Posted on
The Daily Cardinal

When University of Wisconsin-Madison juniors Amelia Wozniak and Kaleb Roessler worked for a moving company last spring, they were shocked by the amount of housing items that were thrown away in good condition. That observation led them to create Badger Reclaim, an organization dedicated to helping other UW-Madison students by recycling and distributing gently used items to those in need.

‘The government put me out of business’: Wisconsin hemp growers, sellers brace for new federal hemp law

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Wisconsin currently has 274 licensed hemp growers, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Last November, that number was 470.

The decline could be due to people waiting to see how the law plays out and if the loophole will close or not, said Shelby Ellison, an agricultural professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It might be clearer in another month how many people reapply for licenses through the USDA.

Legislators, UW professor talk future of Wisconsin data centers

Posted on
The Daily Cardinal

UW-Madison Data Science Institute associate professor Anna Haensch raised concerns with the potential electrical demands of data centers. In 2024, Wisconsin’s peak demand was 14.6 gigawatts, and the Wisconsin Policy Forum expects it to increase about 17 gigawatts by 2030.

Additionally, Haensch emphasized the need to separate hyperscale data centers from the broader cultural narrative surrounding artificial intelligence.

“Connecting data centers so explicitly to AI has made these projects almost untenable,” Haensch said, noting that AI is often framed in apocalyptic terms.

Wisconsin bets big on nuclear through university-state partnership

Posted on
The Daily Cardinal

“The siting study includes looking at nuclear energy systems, anything from similar to today’s reactors that are operating to a variety of advanced reactor concepts, including microreactors and other smaller reactors, as well as fusion energy systems in the future,” said nuclear engineering professor and department Chair Paul Wilson.

Are 1 in 200 men alive today really related to Genghis Khan? Probably not, according to new research

Posted on
Smithsonian Magazine

Researchers can’t definitively say whether any of the men buried in the Kazakhstan mausoleums were related to Khan because they “still do not have a reference genome from Khan’s true relatives,” says lead author Ayken Askapuli, an integrative biologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to the Badger Herald’s Allison Hayden.

Wisconsin dairy farmers face lower milk prices in 2026

Posted on
Spectrum News

“It’s going to hang in that $18 to $19 per hundredweight price for 2026. It doesn’t look like it’s going to rebound very strong this year,” said Aerica Bjurstrom, a regional dairy educator with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension. “Everybody has a different breakeven point; that’s not breakeven for a lot of dairy producers. It’s going to be a tough year.”

Why are Milwaukee-area students protesting ICE actions?

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Political science professor emeritus Howard Schweber of the University of Wisconsin-Madison said several factors play into why students are protesting.

One of those factors is that ICE raids have taken place near schools. In some school districts, teachers have been arrested and students have disappeared. In some areas of Minneapolis, schools have had to switch to remote learning because students feared ICE raids, Schweber said.

Wisconsin Athletics fights for championship future with NIL legislation

Posted on
WMTV - Channel 15

 Kelly Sheffield has a simple philosophy written on the walls of the Wisconsin volleyball locker room: When you’re at Wisconsin, championships are the expectation.

“We’re also trying to compete for championships. And we got that written downstairs in our locker room,” Sheffield said. “When you’re here at Wisconsin, that is the expectation, and that we’re all in it and it energizes all of us. We’re all in it together.”

Two-thirds of voters undecided in Wisconsin Supreme Court race

Posted on
WMTV - Channel 15

Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said this race is drawing less money and attention than recent cycles, in part because the ideological balance of the court is not at stake this time.

“It looks this year like at least some conservatives have kind of thrown in the towel and have said this is not a race that we’re likely to win. So they’re really putting their efforts into the fall election, especially in the governor’s race behind Tom Tiffany,” Burden said.

UW-Madison dance major — the first in the nation — turns 100

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

University of Wisconsin-Madison President Edward Birge did not want the university to be known as a dancing school.

But after physical education instructor Margaret H’Doubler began teaching dance classes in 1918, that’s the direction things were headed. Hundreds of students signed up each semester, and H’Doubler and her students were being invited to colleges and universities across the country to share their methods.

Birge took away H’Doubler’s travel privileges, to no avail.

“It was too late. Other institutions were inviting H’Doubler all the time, and if she couldn’t come to them, they would come to her,” said Andrea Harris, professor of dance history and Buff Brennan faculty fellow in dance at UW-Madison. “The interest outweighed any pushback that there was at that time.”

25th Bowlin’ for Colons raises money for cancer research

Posted on
WMTV - Channel 15

The 25th Bowlin’ for Colons event was held Sunday, with participants raising money for colon cancer research at the UW Carbone Cancer Center.

Bowlers laced up their shoes at one of nine south central Wisconsin bowling alleys for the fundraiser. Colon cancer is the third most diagnosed cancer.

The Politics of Forgetting: Jorell Melendez-Badillo on Puerto Rico and Bad Bunny

Posted on
The Badger Herald

On Feb. 25, UW Madison assistant professor of Latin American and Caribbean History Jorell Melendez-Badillo shared his research on Puerto Rico for UW’s premier history honor society, Phi Alpha Theta.

Puerto-Rican superstar Bad Bunny understands the importance of Puerto Rican history and is incorporating it into his music, which is currently the most streamed in the world. Melendez-Badillo’s study of Puerto Rico is so comprehensive that Bad Bunny himself reached out for assistance for his Grammy-winning album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” after reading his work.

Melendez-Badillo shared how he was asked to provide a historical lens for the album as a public historian. His main task was to create 17 historical narratives to accompany the songs’ YouTube visualizers, from “conquest to present.” These videos reached a massive audience, with the video for the “DtMF” alone reaching 115 million views.

Spring ice is thawing earlier in lakes. What does that mean for life below the surface?

Posted on
NPR

“It’s hard to control the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, right, at the local level. But you can think about the things you can control,” says Zach Feiner, a fisheries biologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Maybe that means you make different harvest decisions. You keep fewer walleye. Maybe you decide to go fish for something … more resilient to harvest like a largemouth bass or bluegill that are more of a warm-water fish.”

UW–Madison expert says Iran leadership future uncertain, regime change unlikely

Posted on
WMTV - Channel 15

James Davis, a UW–Madison professor emeritus who studies Iranian politics, said speculation about regime change overlooks key political realities inside Iran.

“Coming back to the present, at this time, there is no recognized opposition movement. There is no recognized leader,” Davis said. “So, if the current regime were to collapse, what would take its place? At this time, we have no idea. I don’t know. The U.S. government doesn’t know. The CIA doesn’t know. Nobody knows.”

Which Wisconsin college programs produce highest earnings?

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Milwaukee School of Engineering came out on top, which apparently did not sit well with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Two UW-Madison economists dove into earnings data by program. Their recent report, “Degrees of Deception,” found their university came out on top for the most majors of any Wisconsin school. But this point of pride was obscured in the overall rankings because the university offers some lower salary-producing programs that MSOE doesn’t offer, such as music and social work.

NSF plans to boost staffing, halve grant solicitations

Posted on
Inside Higher Ed

Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska, a board member and the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s vice chancellor for research, expressed concern that fewer solicitations will lessen junior faculty’s ability to receive awards that jump-start their careers. She also said the agency’s practice of frontloading the funding of previously multiyear grants further reduces how many researchers receive grants in a year.

 

‘This study provides a smoking gun’: UW experts provide evidence of digital voter suppression on social media

Posted on
The Badger Herald

A study led by a University of Wisconsin researcher shows the first empirical documentation of digital voter suppression on social media and foreign election interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The study was published Jan. 26 in the official journal of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

No need for more UW-Madison dorms, development groups say

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

A few years after a frenzied off-campus housing search saw UW-Madison students camping overnight to secure apartments, groups representing Madison-area developers and property management companies say there is enough housing for all undergraduates near campus and no need for the university to build another dorm.

This community festival embraces the joys of a frozen lake — while it still has one

Posted on
NPR

Historically, people valued the ice for other reasons. “There’s a long history of ice harvesting in this region,” says Hilary Dugan, a limnologist — someone who studies inland waters — at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “So [there was] just a lot of commercial activity on these lakes, cutting blocks of ice out of the lakes all winter.”

Wisconsin winters are getting wetter, shorter, warmer, report reaffirms

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The 2026 report is an update to the group’s more comprehensive 2021 assessment of climate change impacts on Wisconsin. Formed in 2007, the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts is a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Badger Challenge to host gala ball supporting cancer research at UW-Madison

Posted on
WKOW - Channel 27

The Badger Challenge is launching a new event to raise funds for cancer research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The 2026 Badger Challenge Ball will bring together survivors, supporters, researchers, and community partners for a formal dinner, reception, and auction at The Edgewater. Set against the lakefront backdrop, the evening aims to celebrate hope while directly supporting life-changing cancer research.

What to know about 4 days of legislation passed in the Assembly

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Name and likeness of college athletes

The bill, if signed into law, would formalize rules around name, image and likeness opportunities for college athletes in the state while providing taxpayer funding for athletic facility maintenance.

UW-Madison, the one power-conference athletic department in the University of Wisconsin System, would receive $14.6 million of taxpayer money annually for debt service for maintaining its athletic facilities. UW-Milwaukee would receive $200,000 for debt service and maintenance for the Klotsche Center, and UW-Green Bay would receive $200,000 for debt service for its athletic facilities.

’How is love the solution?’: Black History Month keynote speaker leads ‘Black love’ workshop

Posted on
The Daily Cardinal

Award-winning writer, healing justice practitioner and yogi Yolo Akili Robinson hosted Black Love as A Practice: A WorkShop to Help us Embody The Love We Desire Wednesday night, an event planned  by the Black History Month Planning Committee (BHMPC) and the Black Cultural Center (BCC) where students rethought Black love not just as a feeling, but as a practice and a behavior.

Throwback photos: Take a look back at the creation of UW-Madison’s Kohl Center

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Fans are used to seeing basketball and hockey games at the Kohl Center, but that was only made possible after a large donation and lengthy construction project. On Jan. 17, 1998, the Wisconsin Badgers hosted Northwestern in the inaugural men’s basketball home game following completion of the new facility (UW won 53-33). Former U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, who graduated from UW in 1956, donated $25 million toward the $76.4 million facility. Take a look back at archive photos tracing the construction process.

The ancient US discovery predating the pyramids

Posted on
BBC

Beyond Lake Mendota, Ho-Chunk ancestors left their mark on the landscape through a massive collection of effigy mounds used for gathering, ritual and burial, with at least 4,000 remaining throughout Wisconsin. Today tourists can visit the roughly 200 mounds in Madison, and take the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s First Nations Cultural Landscape Tour – a walking tour that explores upwards of 12,000 years of human history (running between 1 March and 30 November).

“I think the tours are so important for campus,” said Omar Poler, an Indigenous education coordinator in the Office of the Provost and a member of the Sokaogon Chippewa Community. “They’ve changed the way that UW-Madison sees and understands its own place,” Poler notes, adding that this is especially true of the tour guides.

Republicans are looking past the short-term pain of Trump’s tariffs

Posted on
Wisconsin Watch

“They don’t solve the long-run problem of higher input costs and low prices; they are a Band-Aid to get us through this short-term problem,” said Paul Mitchell, the director of the Renk Agribusiness Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Agriculture professor and economist Steven Deller, also of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, had a similar view.

“We’re hemorrhaging thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars, and they’re giving us pennies,” Deller said, adding that farmers want “fair markets” and a “level playing field.”

UW humanoid robotics club to build human-like robot from scratch

Posted on
The Daily Cardinal

The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin Humanoid Robotics club, founded in November, plans to design and build a humanoid robot from scratch.

Humanoid robots are human-like automatons powered by artificial intelligence, with arms, bipedal legs and the ability to execute a range of mechanical tasks in the same way a human would. An analysis by Morgan Stanley projected the humanoid industry to become a $5 trillion market in the next 25 years. Humanoids could have applications in hazardous industrial work environments, consumer households and even scientific operations beyond Earth.