Casey Brown and his father spoke at the May Parks Commission meeting. Aaron Bird Bear, a former UW-Madison director of tribal relations who created the university’s Indigenous land landscape tour, also appeared and spoke about mounds in Madison more broadly.
Brown, who graduated from UW-Madison and is familiar with local politics, said he has never seen a meeting turn around the way this one did.
Wisconsin’s business climate continues to position the state as a competitive location for companies seeking manufacturing strength, cost stability, and long-term operational reliability. Anchored by a deep industrial heritage and a highly productive workforce, Wisconsin offers businesses a favorable environment defined by competitive operating costs, strong infrastructure access, and close connections between industry, higher education, and technical training systems.
During a panel discussion at the U.S. News Healthcare of Tomorrow conference today in Washington, D.C., Antman; Dr. Sanjay Desai, vice dean for education at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Maryland; Dr. Robert N. Golden, professor and dean emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Dr. Alison J. Whelan, chief academic officer at the Association of American Medical Colleges, discussed ways to reduce the financial burden for aspiring doctors.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison will host a free pop-up field day on Thursday, July 9, 2026, at the Arlington Agricultural Research Station’s Plant Pathology Office in Arlington, Wisconsin.
The hands-on educational event will focus on corn and soybean diseases as well as herbicide injury, providing valuable information for farmers, crop advisers, and agricultural professionals.
A Madison man was arrested Wednesday morning after police say he attempted to sexually assault a hospital employee at UW Health University Hospital while armed with a knife.
When Kris Marconnet was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Nicholas Recreation Center didn’t exist. Instead, she remembers taking an aerobics class in the Natatorium, a “hideously hot” building near the Lakeshore dormitories with no air conditioning.
She didn’t imagine that years later, she would play a hand in designing the new athletic center as part of her work with Thysse (pronounced TIE-See), a facility branding company located in Oregon, Wisconsin — just 10 miles away from the university.
While rising prices can put a strain on both farmers and consumers, interest in organic products continues to remain high. In 2025, U.S. organic food sales grew three times as fast as the overall food market. This interest extends to organic beef, eggs and dairy, a trend that bolsters demand for organic feed grain.
Wisconsin’s protracted political redistricting fight took two turns in May: a federal court affirmed Wisconsin’s congressional district map and the U.S. Supreme Court further curtailed safeguards that have governed redistricting nationally.
A three-judge panel dismissed a lawsuit in the federal court case that challenged the congressional maps for Wisconsin. The case argued that the state’s congressional maps are “anti-competitive” and favor a Republican majority. The court ultimately ruled for the district maps to retain the district lines that resulted in a congressional delegation of six Republicans and two Democrats.
Wisconsin is among 20 states that secured a federal court ruling against a Trump administration policy imposing a $100,000 fee on certain H-1B petitions.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice says the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated the policy Monday, finding it unlawful. Wisconsin joined the multistate coalition challenging the policy late last year.
Attorney General Josh Kaul says, “This ruling stops an unlawful policy that shouldn’t have been adopted.” Kaul says the federal government should be addressing workforce shortages in health care and education, not worsening them.
As three alleged planners of Wisconsin’s fake elector scheme pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 11 forgery-related criminal charges in Dane County court, the criminal charges against them are moving forward in a national legal and political landscape that looks dramatically different from the one in which they were filed.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison designated 2026 as the “Year of AI Readiness and Competency” on May 21, formalizing the university’s effort to better prepare students and faculty for thoughtful use of AI.
The campus-wide announcement builds off of previous university investments to further AI use and understanding this year, including a hiring blitz of 50 faculty for the new College of Computing and AI (CAI), which will open July 1, 2026 — bringing the total new faculty hired through the university’s RISE-AI initiative to over 100.
Rural areas of Wisconsin typically rely on volunteers to staff their EMS and fire departments. While the courage of those individuals is necessary, it can translate to longer wait times for patients in critical condition.
The towns of Manitowish Waters, Boulder Junction, Presque Isle and Winchester in Vilas County used to rely on volunteers, and have collaborated in a first-of-its-kind way to solve that problem.
“You’re hoping on people that are working full time jobs and they have families, and are they available?” said Jason Joling, Chief of the Northwoods EMS District.
Chris Solinsky isn’t afraid of the competition his University of Wisconsin cross country and track and field teams are going to face, and he doesn’t want his athletes to be, either.
Take this interaction between the new Badgers director of cross country and track and field and his former boss at the NCAA Championships last week in Eugene, Oregon, as an example.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department (UWPD) announced a renewed call for information about a 58-year-old unsolved murder case of a University of Wisconsin-Madison freshman on May 28.
On the morning of May 26, 1968, UW-Madison freshman Christine “Chris” Rothschild was found strangled and stabbed to death next to Sterling Hall. UWPD attempted to solve the case but it was overshadowed due to anti-war protests on campus and no suspects were arrested. This year marks the 58th anniversary of Rothschild’s murder.
Wisconsin has one of the leading nuclear physics programs in the United States at UW-Madison’s College of Engineering. One of a handful of academic reactors in the United States sits on the UW-Madison campus and its graduates are largely coveted by companies hoping to build a talented workforce.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison offers a course that teaches students to analyze topics such as prisons, welfare, racial justice, and terrorism through the lens of ‘queer of color critique.’
The public university offers a Bachelor of Arts in Gender and Women’s Studies, a program that provides ‘a platform for students to study how equity and social justice are connected to gender, sexuality, and identity.’
We found no authoritative estimate that the number of Ku Klux Klan members in Wisconsin in the 1920s was 40,000.
That’s the current population of Wausau in central Wisconsin.
“No one knows for sure how many Americans joined during the 1920s but the best estimates are around 2 million members, some 15,000 of whom were in Wisconsin,” according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.
At the end of a 20-minute conversation, focused until then on Chris Borland deservedly going into the UW Athletic Hall of Fame, the questioning took an abrupt turn.
“The University of Wisconsin-Madison has done a great job of research and finding a path to help and hopefully someday cure Alzheimer’s,” Lenz said. “So we’re here supporting that initiative to raise funds for everyone so that the research can continue and so that we can find an end to Alzheimer’s.”
A Smithsonian museum specialist will visit Madison later this month for a free lecture focused on the military service of Native Americans.
Rachelle B. Pablo, who is Diné and serves as a Museum Specialist with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, will present “The National Native American Veterans Memorial: Honoring the Military Service of Native Americans” on Tuesday, June 23rd, at 7 p.m. at the Fluno Center on the UW-Madison campus.
Broadway legend and University of Wisconsin-Madison alum André de Shields says he’s dropping a “joy bomb” on the world with his work in a reimagined revival of a classic musical.
Last weekend, de Shields performed at the 2026 Tony Awards, where he was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical. The nomination was for his portrayal of the wise and respected Old Deuteronomy in “CATS: the Jellicle Ball” a new version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s play.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison used optogenetics, a technique that controls genetically modified brain cells with pulses of light, to recreate the brain rhythm of deep sleep in mice that were fully awake and moving.
It was the second and final day of the Democratic State Convention and all seven democratic candidates running for governor were given five minutes to tell their party why they should be the democratic nominee for governor.
Democratic activists today approved a slate of resolutions that call for the abolishment of ICE, the support of gender-affirming care for young people, and an end to the state’s choice and voucher programs.
The resolutions were largely approved by voice vote without debate. But the party broke out two resolutions for discussion, including one that called for raising the minimum wage to a living wage of roughly $21 an hour.
I walk into a lecture hall that seats nearly a thousand students and do something I never used to do: I look for shadows in the corners. It’s the first day of class, and there are 971 students enrolled. The room rises in tiers, balconies fading into darkness. I scan the space, trying to see faces, and checking for my blind spots. Concealed carry is legal in Wisconsin, but getting shot at isn’t my greatest fear.
If you’re finalizing a late-summer itinerary for Paris or planning a fall foliage tour through Japan, you may be thinking about how you can best learn a little French or Japanese before you go — and with good reason. Learning a language for travel not only helps with logistics like getting directions but also fosters deeper connections with a country’s people and culture.
For a long time, Megan Kokalj refused to jump into the water at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Soderholm Family Aquatic Center from any point higher than the 5-meter platform.
Here’s what guests on the June 12, 2026 episode said about a PFAS settlement, housing help for renters, the State Health Assessment and UW tuition hikes.
The Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) is seeking state approval to change how it ranks high school students for the Wisconsin Guarantee program, potentially affecting how many students are automatically admitted into University of Wisconsin-system schools.
Students who place in the top 10% of their class at the end of the 11th grade are automatically admitted to all UW universities, save for UW-Madison, under a state program known as the Wisconsin Guarantee, provided they apply by the regular deadlines. Students who apply by the early deadline and rank in the top 5% of their class are automatically admitted to UW-Madison.
On August 15, 2025, five former University of Wisconsin women’s basketball players filed a federal lawsuit claiming they experienced psychological abuse and discrimination by former head coach Marisa Moseley. The suit also alleges the university failed to respond appropriately and includes claims of retaliation, emotional harm, and disability discrimination.
The Wisconsin Dive Club held its final practice at the Soderholm Family Aquatic Center, ending a three-and-a-half-year run at the downtown Madison facility.
The club, which serves nearly 90 families, will no longer have access to the pool this fall after the University of Wisconsin-Madison denied its specific request for pool time.
Katie Knill said her son joined the club almost a year ago.
So much of rowing is working together as one, often when nobody is watching. As such, it’s a sport where it’s possible for stars to get overlooked.
All of those things serve as the backdrop to an idea that has been brewing inside the Wisconsin Rowing Stewards of 1874 for about a year: The creation of the Wisconsin Rowing Hall of Fame.
Participating in physical activity, particularly while surrounded by “elements of nature,” can improve classroom focus and concentration for young students, said Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, a UW professor of pediatrics and human development and family studies. Yet environmental and economic disparities can prove significant barriers to many, he said.
Infleqtion, a leading quantum tech firm with offices in Madison, is accelerating with $550 million in new funding after going public earlier this year.
Chief Scientist and UW-Madison physics Prof. Mark Saffman addressed attendees of yesterday’s launch event for the Wisconsin Quantum Alliance in Madison, organized by the Wisconsin Technology Council. The initiative aims to accelerate tech development and commercialization of quantum in Wisconsin, as well as preparing for future workforce needs.
From bus routes to a new train service, University of Wisconsin-Madison students are fueling alternative transportation options in Madison.
A 2023 UW Transportation Services survey showed 70% of students walk or ride the bus on good weather days and 80% on bad weather days.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (UCIS) announced a new policy memo May 22 stating that individuals seeking a green card must return to their home countries to complete the process. Students who arrive on visas and stay for longer than its validity will be among those most affected.
The USCIS memo describes obtaining a green card, or an “adjustment of status,” as an “extraordinary act of administrative grace,” and a privilege granted by the government rather than a right.
Teams of researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison spent months submitting proposals to the Department of Energy’s vast new Genesis Mission — an initiative centered around artificial intelligence (AI) but naming research goals in fields as varied as nuclear fusion and molecular biology. Many of UW-Madison’s proposals center around one burgeoning cross-college priority: quantum.
The winningest NCAA women’s hockey coach no longer is the highest paid in the sport.
Temporarily, at least.
‘Had to pinch myself’: Badgers great discusses dream year at AmFam Championship
The University of Wisconsin’s Mark Johnson in March became the first to 700 women’s hockey wins and the first in college hockey to win nine NCAA championships.
In Philadelphia, New York and Boston, American colonists were preparing to pledge their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to declare their independence from an oppressive monarch.
But in the faraway frontier territory that would later become Wisconsin, Native and European peoples were on a wholly different journey in 1776.
Madison’s City Council approved plans Tuesday to redesign Regent Street near Camp Randall Stadium, following months of debate over a new layout for one of Madison’s main cultural hubs and one of the west side’s major east-west connector streets.
UW-Madison Wisconsin Center for Education Research scientist Bradley Carl explains the basis for school districts holding referendums and the choices faced by voters being asked to raise local taxes.
Q: I eat frozen yogurt regularly, assuming it’s better for me than ice cream. Is it?
Since frozen yogurt took off in the 1970s, it has been pitched as a healthier alternative to ice cream. In TCBY advertisements from the 1990s, their low-calorie, nonfat version was said to have “all of the pleasure, none of the guilt.” Today, some Greek yogurt shops tout gut-friendly probiotic benefits.
The Universities of Wisconsin’s search for UW-Madison’s next chancellor is kicking off with public input sessions starting next week.
The 23-member committee leading the search to identify former Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin’s successor will gather feedback from the faculty, staff, students and the public on Monday and June 22 at two listening sessions, the university announced Tuesday.
A new federal rule aimed at increasing access to nutritious foods for SNAP recipients is raising questions for some small grocery stores in rural communities.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced in May that retailers participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will be required to carry a wider variety of staple foods beginning in November.
Here is what Milwaukee community members said as a statewide listening tour kicked off at UWM.
Newly disclosed records have put a new focus on the beagles used in research facilities. At UW-Madison, dogs were involved in 2023 experiments that included injections of blue dye before the animals were euthanized and dissected.
Those records, secured by the animal advocacy organization Rise for Animals and first reported by FOX6 News, intensify the continuing attention on Ridglan Farms and broader animal-welfare concerns.
Last month, when the Trump administration reached an agreement with Bayer to curb what officials lambasted as anticompetitive practices, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins hailed it as a win for farmers. But she cautioned the concentrated nature of the seed industry required continued antitrust vigilance.
A plant in one of UW-Madison’s greenhouses is making a dramatic exit.
The Botany Garden and Greenhouse’s Agave victoriae-reginae plant, which is about 30 years old, has erected a towering 15-foot “death bloom,” which looks like a spikey, oversized stalk of asparagus, as a finale to its multigenerational lifespan.
Aid for childcare providers is expiring, the Universities of Wisconsin raises tuition, and the state reaches a $10 million PFAS settlement — Inside Wisconsin Politics reviews a busy start to summer.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison offers a handy tool that uses data from a NOAA satellite and other resources to track the Saharan air layer as it ebbs and flows across the globe.
By inducing specific patterns of activity in small portions of the brain in awake mice, researchers have triggered a recalibration of neural connections that normally only occurs during sleep. This new approach offset the effects of sleep deprivation on memory tasks and revealed features of sleep that are key to its restorative effect.
A new report from the University of Wisconsin says tuition in the state is actually too low.
UW regents last week voted for a 2% tuition increase across the UW System, but the report from the university’s Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy said that tuition increase is modest at best.
The University of Wisconsin board has approved a tuition increase of 2% for the 2026-2027 academic year. That decision has some lawmakers in disagreement.
A researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has published a paper that demonstrates hybrid combinations of lignocellulosic feedstock pretreatment methods can achieve high glucose yields with reduced energy consumption.
In his article in The Atlantic, grimly titled, “America is sliding toward illiteracy,” Idrees Kahloon uses data largely from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, to reflect on the recent degradation of American education. Kahloon uses this data to test theories as to why K-12 test scores have plummeted since 2007 after a brief but substantive window of improvement.
Before documents detailing its use of Ridglan Farms beagles in a 2023 study could become public, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine released a statement June 5 alongside a letter to clients of UW Veterinary Care, an animal hospital run by the university.
What we know:
In January 2023, the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine bought six, 11-month-old beagles from Ridglan Farms.
More than 1,600 beagles once caged at Ridglan Farms are getting a second chance at life. But for every Bailey, Milo, Lucy, or Ginger, there are countless others whose fate looks different.
While Republicans are decrying the recently approved 2% UW tuition hike that Regents call “balanced and modest,” a new report from a UW-Madison think tank argues the university’s in-state tuition isn’t high enough.
PBS Wisconsin’s University Place will record “An Overview of the Geology of Wisconsin,” a presentation by Sue Swanson, Ph.D., Director of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey (WGNHS) and State Geologist.
A game-changing administrative catalyst in the University of Wisconsin athletic department and football turnaround of the ‘90s has some thoughts on today’s challenges.
The ongoing chaos in the present college model holds some personal intrigue and piqued the curiosity of Al Fish, one of 12 inductees to the 2026 UW Athletics Hall of Fame.
