Landing a UW-Madison contract has prompted an Illinois-based dry ice company to open a Madison distribution center. Continental Carbonic Products of Decatur is leasing the facility at 2843 Progress Road after it was the winning bidder for the UW contract, which started last month.
While Gov. Jim Doyle was touting Wisconsin’s amazing job growth turnaround, a Wall Street analyst was warning about the state living on borrowed money.
Richard Raphael, executive managing director of Fitch Ratings, said that Wisconsin faces “structural imbalances” in its government operations that cannot be solved through economic growth alone. The current state deficit stands at $1.6 billion.
THE FEB. 7 Sports Illustrated, in mailboxes around the country today, picks the 25 best sports bars in the United States, and coming in at No. 13 is State Street Brats in Madison.
“Simply the best sports bar in the nation’s best college sports town. This is where the Grateful Red and alums have been gathering since 1953 to do what Wisconsinites do so well: drink and root….
“State Street also boasts the best drink special in the land….”
“And today it’s far more extreme, far more ubiquitous and far more pornographic,” media critic Jean Kilbourne told a crowd of UW-Madison students Wednesday night during her Distinguished Lecture Series presentation at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
….The models portrayed in ads have a body type that only 5 percent of women have. They are genetically thin for the most part, but still often starve themselves, Kilbourne said.
“Attempting to achieve this ideal causes a lot of suffering,” she added.
It’s arguably the greatest high-tech success story in Wisconsin, with a new $150 million headquarters rising from the snow-covered rolling countryside of western Dane County. Some 2,000 employees could soon call it home, with hundreds more expected to join the payroll in coming years.
…Epic Systems has its roots in the UW-Madison computer science department, where a group of graduate students decided to form a company to put their expertise to use. Their philosophy: Do Good, Have Fun, Make Money.
Waukesha County Executive Dan Finley’s offer to sell the local college campus for a buck may tee up a needed debate about the structure and future of the whole University of Wisconsin System.
Dan County is experimenting with selling surplus equipment online.
Laura Moore, a UW-Madison political science student, said she brought the word about Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton’s Wisconsin Women Equal Prosperity initiative back home to Wisconsin Dells, where she told her hairdresser about it.
Moore was among the student and young professional women inspired Thursday by Lawton’s talk on the initiative, which seeks to improve women’s ability to contribute to the state’s economic development.
Madison, Wis. ââ?¬â? Carl Gulbrandsen, the managing director of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, will serve a three-year term on the national Patent Public Advisory Committee, officials have announced. He will help guide the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in its procedures.
Quoted: Barry Orton, a professor of telecommunications at UW-Madison.
As more states line up to promote human embryonic stem-cell research, policymakers and investors will ask, ââ?¬Å?Will it pay off for all?ââ?¬Â The most likely answer is no. But among those states poised to compete with Californiaââ?¬â?¢s $3 billion initiative, Wisconsin may be the best positioned for success.
High-risk jobs now have virtual training tools, thanks to a string of developments in video games. Groups like the Academic Advanced Distributed Learning Co-Lab have been at the front of this effort, developing simulations that give users an equal dose of realism and cooperation.
Signs of Wisconsin’s reinvigorated economy were evident in local employment numbers reported Wednesday.
When young blacks or Latinos think about careers, insurance or health care often don’t rise to the top the list.
(MADISON) A new study done in California points to the potentially harmful effects posed by contaminated stem cells. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin say the study shows the need for more federal money to develop new lines.
Wisconsin added jobs at a faster pace than all but eight other states in the last 12 months and added more factory positions than the next four states combined, according to preliminary data released Tuesday. Quotes Laura Dresser, a labor economist and research director at the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The UW Medical Foundation, a support group for the clinical practices of UW Medical School faculty physicians, has joined the corporate and public entities partnering program of the national Association of Minority & Women Owned Law Firms.
The Wisconsin State Employees Union, in an attempt to jump-start stalled contract negotiations, offered to call in a mediator. Gov. Jim Doyle turned down the offer.
The soaring price of natural gas has hit home for both consumers and businesses. Mentions that more gas-fired plants will open this year, including three in Wisconsin – the first of two We Energies plants in Port Washington, a Madison Gas & Electric Co. plant on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and a Calpine Corp. plant in Kaukauna.
Madison-based Virent Energy Systems this spring will build a hydrogen generator that will supply a small amount of electricity to the power grid. The move is another step forward for the renewable-energy firm that was hatched in a University of Wisconsin-Madison laboratory.
The University of Wisconsin recently signed a $200,000 software development contract with the National Institute of Information and Computer Technology (NiCT) in Japan. The contract is intended to promote the development of educational uses for Croquet, an open-source software system.
Well-heeled investors poured billions into young biotech companies last year, powering overall start-up investing to its first annual increase in four years. The venture-capital investments underscore the growing interest in the emerging biomedical industry, which is creating treatments for cancer and other diseases.
Madison, Wis. ââ?¬â? If the last video game you played was Pac-Man, you might have missed the advances that turned games into immersive training tools for skilled professionals and leaders.
Three University of Wisconsin-Madison professors, among the top researchers in learning through game-playing, explained the advantages of games over traditional teaching tools Thursday evening.
Not to be outdone by Hollywood and its dazzling array of award ceremonies, Madison has its own recognition programs. Among them is The Business Forum’s annual ATHENA Awards.
This year’s list of nominees includes Robin Douthitt, dean of UW-Madison’s School of Human Ecology.
Madison, Wis. ââ?¬â? Three of the top video-game researchers will show off developments in games that offer real-world experience on Thursday at the Fluno Center in Madison.
The Badger with the biggest snarl in the Kohl Center isn’t the one that taunts the visiting team’s fans. It’s the one under glass in a suite rented by Gorman & Co., the Madison developer. The burrowing carnivore is real, stuffed, and looks poised for attack. It’s a talker among sports fans, but not the only one.
There appears to be some truth to the adage that the more you work, the more satisfied you’re likely to be.
The goal “is to begin building a movement that will change Wisconsin’s political landscape, giving power back to people” instead of to the special spending interests who lobby our government for favors, at the expense of the taxpayers.
Quoted: Don Nichols, economic professor and directo of the university’s La Follette School of Public Affairs.
Despite having about 80,000 fewer manufacturing jobs than when the decade began, the state in 2004 surpassed its pre-recession employment level, and the troubled sector helped spur economic growth as businesses again began buying capital equipment.
The bidding has commenced. Now it’s time to ban local minimum wage laws before the city councils of our state succumb to the easy politics of giving people more money without having to raise taxes. It’s just too tempting when you’re giving away other people’s money.
The immediate causes of Wisconsin’s budget deficit are twofold. First, along with many other states, our tax receipts fell when the dot.com bubble burst, and we now struggle to fund our growing needs from a shrinking tax base. Second, some bad budgeting decisions postponed a confrontation with the deficit, which had swelled to more than $1 billion. These immediate issues have put us in a deep hole.
Nichols is director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs, and a professor of economics and public affairs at the UW-Madison.
DUBLIN, Jan. 17 – Nearly five years after it opened in an old Guinness brewery building, Media Lab Europe, a research institution set up during the height of the dot-com boom by the Irish government and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will close because of a chronic shortfall in financing.
The UW-Madison has opened a new center that aims to help businesses improve the economic well-being of their low-income workers.
Madison, Wis. ââ?¬â? The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation has hired a new director of investment, who has worked with the organization since December 1 and was officially announced Wednesday.
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which patents and manages the licensing of the discoveries of UW-Madison researchers, has hired a new chief investment officer.
Tom Weaver, 54, has spent the last five years as senior investment manager of the $2.1 billion Fairfax County Employees Retirement System in Fairfax, Va.
MADISON ââ?¬â?? Five years ago, it wasnââ?¬â?¢t necessary to use terms such as “entrepreneur,” “venture capital” or “knowledge worker” when talking about the state economy. That was before the recession of 2000, the war on terror and other global trends fundamentally changed the Wisconsin landscape.
Venture capital is agony and ecstasy, bust and boom, the stress of gambling and the thrill of a front-row view on the latest technologies. And when real money is involved, it’s also one of the hottest classes on business school campuses.
An investment expert with deep family ties to the University of Wisconsin System will manage the money that’s used to help support UW research.
Tom Weaver is the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation’s new director of investments. He guides decisions about how to invest the $1.4 billion in WARF’s hands.
The group responsible for patenting the discoveries of researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will announce today it has hired a new chief investment officer to replace the man who managed its now $1.4 billion investment portfolio for 26 years. Tom Weaver, who was senior investment manager of the $2.1 billion Fairfax County Employees Retirement System in Fairfax, Va., began overseeing the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation�s portfolio at the beginning of the year following the retirement of Mark Bear, said Andrew Cohn, a foundation spokesman.
Quoted: Bob Cropp, a dairy marketing specialist with UW- Madison.
Big names star in ads to help raise money for new vet school building.
Aetos Technologies Inc. pulled the wraps off a new high-tech microscope accessory last month at a scientific conference in Washington, D.C. But the unveiling of the company’s first product is probably far less significant than the existence of Aetos itself.
Quoted: Laura Dresser, research director at the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: Charles West, program director for sales and sales management programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business.
St. Louis-based biotech giant Sigma-Aldrich Corp., which has more than 6,000 employees and operations in 34 countries, confirmed that it will continue with a major expansion of a local biotech facility it acquired last year.
The company said the project will add 38,000 square feet to the 23,500-square-foot building at 645 Science Drive in University Research Park that houses what was Tetrionics. The former Tetrionics is now part of SAFC, a custom chemical manufacturer and a division of Sigma-Aldrich.
Most of us work harder at our jobs when we can see we are succeeding. So Wisconsin policy-makers and business executives should work harder on the job of economic development in the upcoming year than their counterparts in any surrounding state.
Greg Armstrong, the former director of the University of Wisconsin Arboretum, saw it coming.
He knew that when the Fitchburg City Council approved the upper-crust Harlan Hills subdivision in 1998 – shortly after Fitchburg residents had voted not to borrow $750,000 to help purchase the 73-acre site just east of Seminole Highway – it was yet another setback for the Arboretum’s prized but ecologically fragile Greene Prairie.
Extend benefits to all In response to the Monday editorial, “Allow the UW system domestic partner insurance benefits,” we need to go one step further and allow all state employees the same. It is already set for city and county government employees. Why not the UW and state?
The village of Potosi has tourism potential. But like many rural communities, it doesn’t have much capital to invest in developing it.
UW-Platteville has always made itself available to help surrounding communities, said Duane Ford, dean of the College of Business, Industry, Life Science and Agriculture. Five years ago, however, the business of helping became official with the formation of the Community University Partnership.
Quoted: Donald A. Nichols, professor of economics and public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
A determined effort is under way to unseat Ald. Steve Holtzman, the city alderman for District 19 since 1995.
Challenger Noel Radomski has already tapped the endorsement of City Council President Brenda Konkel and the high-profile services of Mark Bugher, director of University Research Park and chair of the Economic Development Commission. Bugher has signed on as campaign treasurer.
Wage too low, even for students Mac VerStanding claims raising the minimum wage would ruin State Street, which he describes as “lined with locally owned stores staffed largely by college students doing homework behind the counter.” He goes on to suggest that these college students are well taken care of with financial aid and pre-paid room and board: Even paid a mere $5.15 an hour, these students greatly appreciate the wage, which goes to textbooks or walking-around money.
In the North Few Street offices of a low-profile company called InterWorks, Paul Thompson prepared informally Tuesday for a disaster of tsunami proportions.
Thompson, 61, an architect, was one of the founders of the UW-Madison Disaster Management Center in 1982.
It’s enough to turn an Optimist into a pessimist.
And it raises the cosmic question: Just what is it worth to sell a bratwurst inside Camp Randall Stadium?
The response has been less than overwhelming to Gov. Jim Doyle’s proposal to invest nearly $750 million in public and private money in Wisconsin’s biotechnology future. Budget-conscious members of the Legislature have choked on the price tag, opponents on stem cell research have once again protested, and Milwaukee politicians have asked if they’re being shortchanged in favor of Madison.
“The response has been less than overwhelming to Governor Jim Doyle’s proposal to invest nearly $750 million in public and private money in the state’s biotechnology future…,” says Wisconsin Technology Council president Tom Still.
“Doyle should address all legitimate gripes about the specifics of his plan, but he shouldn’t back down a nanometer on the core idea behind it: Wisconsin has a chance to be a national leader in biotechnology, including stem cell research, and that opportunity won’t wait forever while we wring our hands.” (12/26/04 Opinion)
Assembly Speaker John Gard has proposed a new “sunshine” law that would require any individual or organization that attempts to win a procurement or construction contract with the state to register and report on their activities to the state Ethics Board, as lobbyists do.
College students in virtually every state will be required to shoulder more of the cost of their education under new federal rules that govern most of the nation’s financial aid.
Because of the changes, which take effect next fall and are expected to save the government $300 million in the 2005-6 academic year, at least 1.3 million students will receive smaller Pell Grants, the nation’s primary scholarship for those of low income, according to two analyses of the new rules.
Contractors seeking work from the state would have to report to the state Ethics Board how they try to influence the procurement process under a change proposed Wednesday by Assembly Speaker John Gard….Gard’s proposal would include building contractors, who do about $400 million a year in work through the state Building Commission.
Saying too little is known about how private firms win state contracts, Assembly Speaker John Gard (R-Peshtigo) said Wednesday he will propose changes that would require executives to disclose their meetings with state officials who control those contracts.
