The University of Wisconsin?s Athletic Board approved an increased budget in their meeting Friday, in addition to announcing major changes to football scheduling for upcoming seasons.
Board approves budget increase
Badger Herald
Category: Business/Technology
Far East Side UW hospital project to get under way in April
Wisconsin State Journal
Construction of Madison?s first new general hospital in about 35 years is set to begin in April on the Far East Side, with preparations already under way.
Ward responds to additional allegations about Palermo?s
Daily Cardinal
University of Wisconsin-Madison Interim Chancellor David Ward released a statement Thursday updating campus groups about the university?s involvement with Palermo?s in light of a new report that claims the pizza company violated UW-Madison?s codes of conduct.
Ward says UW will maintain Palermo?s Pizza contract
Badger Herald
The vigil outside the chancellor?s house Wednesday to protest the University of Wisconsin?s alleged exploitation of former Palermo?s Pizza employees appears not to have changed the status quo.
Palermo?s, UW clash
Badger Herald
Frustrated Palermo?s Pizza employees and members of two workers? rights groups held a candle vigil outside the University of Wisconsin chancellor?s mansion Wednesday to protest alleged university code of conduct violations.
Is it Worth it? The Cost of a College Diploma
NBC-15
A new study released by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity CCAP reveals 48% of recent college graduates are working in jobs that dont require a college diploma. While 38% of people surveyed are working in jobs that dont require a high school diploma.
Community members voice housing concerns
Badger Herald
Community members voiced their concerns and support at a neighborhood meeting Wednesday as yet another high-rise apartment building looks to make its way into downtown Madison.
Should UW pick a business leader for chancellor to jump-start job growth?
Madison.com
With Wisconsin closing out 2012 as one of the worst states for job creation, critics are once again rapping the UW-Madison for failing to turn its research dollars into new companies that could offer jobs.
UW Merchandise Sales Hit Record
NBC-15
As you pull on your jersey or take a sip from your favorite UW mug in preparation for the 2013 Rose Bowl, remember every Bucky Badger and Motion W has a grand purpose: real need-based financial aid for UW-Madison students.
Teams drive UW merchandise sales to record | News
WISC-TV 3
The success of University of Wisconsin athletics is driving record sales of UW merchandise, according to Cindy Van Matre, UW trademark and licensing director.
Sinking with old economy: Wisconsin lags in developing 21st-century companies
Capital Times
Wisconsin, we?ve still got a problem. Despite private businesses receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in grants, tax credits and other incentives since the 2007 recession, the state?s economy continues to sputter…The Center on Wisconsin Strategy in its latest “Wisconsin Job Watch” says the state remains down 161,000 jobs since the 2007 recession as well as lacking another 86,500 jobs needed to keep up with population growth since then….”It’s not just that we’re giving out so much money to business, it’s that our job creation remains so much worse than the rest of the nation,” says Laura Dresser, associate director of COWS, a liberal UW-Madison economic think tank.
Nass seeks Camp Randall renovation process review
Wisconsin State Journal
A key legislator is asking state and UW-Madison officials to review the process through which a subcontractor was selected to build a new scoreboard and sound system at Camp Randall Stadium, to see if the jobs should be rebid. Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, chairman of the state Assembly?s Committee on Colleges and Universities, ?is very concerned with the appearance of how this bidding process worked out,? said Mike Mikalsen, Nass? spokesman.
Cellular Dynamics reaches deal to license stem cell patents
Wisconsin State Journal
Cellular Dynamics International (CDI), Madison, has agreed to license stem cell patents from GE Healthcare Life Sciences. Terms of the arrangement were not disclosed. GE Healthcare has had a long-term agreement, recently expanded, to license the stem cell technology developed by Geron Corp., a biopharmaceutical company in Menlo Park, Calif.
New manager of Farm Technology Days named
Wisconsin State Journal
A UW-Extension manager with a wealth of experience working with county government was named Monday as the next general manager of Wisconsin Farm Technology Days Inc. Matt Glewen, 56, who has worked for the UW-Extension for the past 32 years, said he is excited to lead an organization that must decide soon whether to continue to hold its show at a different county each year or create a permanent location.
On Campus: UW-Madison engineering student wins national inventors prize
Wisconsin State Journal
An idea for a printable prosthetic hand, first dreamed up when Eric Ronning was bored during an entry-level freshman engineering course, has now been recognized with a national inventors prize for the UW-Madison junior, who?s also parlayed it into a start-up company. “I feel like you could change the world with this idea,” said Ronning, a mechanical engineering major from the Chicago suburbs, in a university release. “And that?s what keeps me going.”
Contractor for Camp Randall renovation called ‘unethical’ over scoreboard bid process
Wisconsin State Journal
A contractor hired by the state to manage a $76.8 million renovation of Camp Randall Stadium agreed to accept a higher bid for a new scoreboard over a competing offer that an outside consultant advised was of better quality. The contractor, J.P. Cullen & Sons of Janesville, is a listed subcontractor on the winning bid, for which it stands to receive more than a half-million dollars.
Downtown church seeks to turn school building into student housing
Wisconsin State Journal
A large Downtown Madison Catholic church wants to convert a historic school building on its property into rental housing for college students, three years after a different housing proposal by the church hit snags and was abandoned. The latest proposal by leaders of Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, 120 W. Johnson St., would turn the former Holy Redeemer School into apartments at an estimated cost of $4.2 million, according to Monsignor Kevin Holmes, Holy Redeemer?s priest….The student housing would be open to anyone but targeted especially for students of St. Paul’s University Catholic Center on the UW-Madison campus, Holmes said. St. Paul’s recently had to eliminate a student housing component to its proposed new building due to concerns over the building’s mass and height.
Barry on? Licensing issues keep him off Sconnie Nation T-shirts
Capital Times
If you want to sell a T-shirt with Barry?s name on it, either shell out for a royalty fee or wait until after the Rose Bowl. That?s what Sconnie Nation found out. On the heels of Barry Alvarez?s announcement that he would coach the Badgers at the Rose Bowl, the printing shop, located on State Street, put shirts reading ?Barry Knows,? and ?Keep Calm and Barry On? up for sale, as well as a third shirt that referenced the Rose Bowl, but didn?t use Alvarez?s name. That was on Thursday. By Friday, the shirts were pulled.
Quoted: Trademark Licensing Director Cindy Van Matre and Financial Aid Director Susan Fischer
Around Town: Home full of history is torn down
Wisconsin State Journal
Jan Marshall Fox calls the home of her great-grandparents a ?touchstone.? ?Every time I?m in the neighborhood and drive past it, I think about how it used to be.? That corner house at 201 S. Mills St. was torn down by J.H. Findorff & Son on Wednesday to make way for a day care center for the children of nearby Meriter Hospital employees. Fox, who turned 78 on Sunday, said the house belonged to her great-grandparents, Henry and Ella Pickford, who sold their Monticello farm and moved to Madison around 1887 so their two daughters could attend UW-Madison. The emphasis on education has continued through the generations, and Fox notes her daughter, Erica Fox Gehrig, was the fourth generation of women in her family to graduate from UW.
Plan for 8-story building near Camp Randall draws opposition from neighbors, police
Wisconsin State Journal
….Most vocal was UW-Madison Police Chief Sue Riseling, who called her objections “a size issue, a noise issue, and a huge parking issue,” and said she couldn?t envision anything higher than four stories in the location next to the UW police station. “Forty spaces? That?s crazy. I don?t even want to think about game day,” she said, referencing UW football Saturdays, which bring 80,000 people into the neighborhood. “There is nothing about that block that says eight stories makes any sense? I just think it?s completely out of proportion for that block.”
Students, residents voice concerns about future of Stadium Bar
Badger Herald
A neighborhood meeting Thursday night allowed students and city residents to voice their opinions about the unknown future of the Stadium Bar.
Architect speaks on vision for new campus development framework
Badger Herald
A university architect detailed the process of planning future construction projects on the University of Wisconsin campus at a Thursday-evening talk.
UW Police Chief Criticizes Stadium Bar Replacement Plan
NBC-15
At a public meeting Thursday night UW-Madisons Police Chief Susan Riseling and others criticized plans to replace Madisons Stadium Bar with an eight-story building with apartments and commercial space.
New dining guide rates Madison restaurants on how they treat workers
Wisconsin State Journal
Two Madison labor groups released a new kind of dining guide Tuesday that rates 139 central Madison restaurants on how they treat workers. The guide awards up to seven stars based on factors such as starting wages, health insurance coverage and sick pay. Food quality doesn?t play a role. The big winners: Ian?s Pizza, Ancora Coffee, the Dayton Street Grille, the Plaza Tavern, all of the Food Fight restaurants and the numerous public dining establishments operated by UW-Madison.
Dane County business survey finds local economic climate is improving
Wisconsin State Journal
Madison craft brewer Ale Asylum has more than doubled its staff this year and online apparel retailer Shopbop has added 50 employees, mostly in Madison. But they are the exception to the rule. More Dane County businesses say they expect to show a profit for 2012 and their sales are higher than last year?s. But most have not added workers. Those results are part of the 2012 First Business Economic Survey being released Wednesday. “I?d call this a positive report,” said Scott Converse, director, project management for the UW-Madison School of Business.
Student group protests UW Foundation?s investments in fossil fuel industry
Daily Cardinal
The University of Wisconsin-Madison chapter of the Climate Action 350 and Madison residents joined in a protest Monday presenting the UW Foundation with more than 1,200 petition signatures requesting the foundation end its investment in fossil fuels to help decrease the threat of climate change. Climate Action 350-UW is a student group that works to reduce climate change resulting from the unsafe amount of carbon dioxide currently in the atmosphere, according to UW-Madison junior Emmy Burns.
Palermo?s Pizza admits to labor violations
Daily Cardinal
Palermo?s Pizza reached a settlement agreement Friday with the National Labor Relations Board acknowledging it committed labor law violations, following allegations of labor practice violations from employees. The agreement came after workers from Palermo?s factories went on strike, accusing the pizza company of unlawfully firing workers for their attempts to unionize, as well as over immigrant audit threats.
Less fan excitement in third straight trip to Rose Bowl?
Wisconsin State Journal
Going to the Rose Bowl: once-in-a-lifetime or not again? It?s a question facing many Wisconsin Badger fans, who so far have appeared a bit tepid in booking tickets to Pasadena, Calif., for this year?s edition of the New Year?s Day game. “I don?t want to say the frost is off the pumpkin but this is the third year they?ve gone,” said Michael Lee, owner of Concorde Travel. His company, which again is selling all-inclusive trips for about $2,300 a person, had received about 40 calls about booking trips by Monday afternoon, he said.
Madison committee to look at student housing
WISC-TV 3
MADISON, Wis.- Madison city alder Scott Resnick, representing District 8, said there is a committee looking into the need for high-rise student housing around the city and the impact of those residences on surrounding neighborhoods. As discussions continue about potential redevelopment of the Stadium Bar property on Monroe Street, Resnick said the city continues to look at housing markets and how many student apartments may be too many around town. Resnick adds that students are often looking to be close to campus no matter the cost.
Rental housing boom keeps going with proposed apartment project
Wisconsin State Journal
Downtown Madison?s rental housing boom is continuing with a $40 million-plus, 12-story project being proposed for a third of a city block near State Street. Developer David Schutz is seeking to demolish three existing apartment buildings to construct a project with 320 to 340 apartments and 215 underground parking spaces catering to students and young professionals on the 400 blocks of West Dayton and West Johnson streets and the 200 block of North Broom Street.
Public advises on chancellor selection
Daily Cardinal
The Search and Screen Committee for the next University of Wisconsin-Madison chancellor met with Madison community members earlier this week to further its outreach efforts to university constituencies, according to the committee?s chair David McDonald. McDonald said the committee met Wednesday with the greater Madison city and business community because the university relies heavily on its support and partnership.
Milwaukee city officials ask UW to drop adidas
Daily Cardinal
The Milwaukee Common Council voted Wednesday to support University of Wisconsin-Madison activist groups in urging Chancellor David Ward to terminate the university?s contract with adidas.
Construction destroys Madison history
Daily Cardinal
Madison is home to tons of history and sentimental hotspots. We have the big ones such as the Capitol, Memorial Union, Bascom Hill and many others. However, it?s the smaller, more unnoticed areas that are under attack. Real estate developers have made plans to destroy the Stadium Bar on Monroe Street and put a six-story apartment complex in its place. The Minneapolis-based OPUS Group plans to create a complex with retail space on the first floor and five floors of apartments. This brings the entire building to a total of 100 units and 150 bedrooms with 40 underground parking spaces.While it is extremely important that every student finds a place to live while attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison, this continual construction of more and more apartment complexes is getting out of control.
Two additional universities cut ties with adidas
Daily Cardinal
The University of Washington and Rutgers University announced plans Tuesday to cut ties with adidas following allegations of labor violations from a factory contracted by the apparel company, a move some members of the University of Wisconsin-Madison have encouraged Interim Chancellor David Ward to pursue. The issue began January 2011 when a factory contracted by adidas suddenly shut down without compensating over 2,700 workers. Since then, other colleges and universities, including Cornell and Oberlin, have cut ties with the company for violating contracts with the schools to ensure all workers are paid.
More visas for entrepreneurs
Wisconsin State Journal
America needs more workers with expertise in science and math. America needs more entrepreneurs with innovative ideas to start businesses and create jobs here. And that?s why America needs Congress to pass the bipartisan Startup Act 2.0 bill ? with or without a larger package of immigration reforms. The proposal would provide more visas to foreign students who graduate from American universities with advanced degrees in science, math, technology and engineering.
Stadium Bar near Camp Randall may make way for student apartments
Capital Times
One of Madison?s most storied Camp Randall-area watering holes is facing the wrecking ball. Plans are in the works to demolish the Stadium Bar at 1419 Monroe St. and replace it with a six-story mixed-used student apartment complex. The tavern operated for decades as Jingles Stadium Bar before being sold by owner Bill ?Jingles? O?Brien in 1999 for $200,000. O?Brien died in 2010 at age 86. A public meeting on the proposed project is scheduled for Thursday at 6 p.m. at Union South.
Chris Rickert: Shopping, the latest fun family activity
Wisconsin State Journal
I am not a Black Friday kind of person. Nor do I see myself partaking of any of the increasingly popular shopping opportunities on Thanksgiving Day ? which I am christening Bloated Thursday, as much as for the swelling of the lines at the mall as for the gas and indigestion I imagine one experiences during a sale-crazed shopping spree immediately following a meal big enough to feed a small African village.
“For families with healthy emotional connections and constructive, mature communication, any opportunity to engage in a joint activity such as shopping will generally be experienced as pleasurable, even when stressful,” said Darald Hanusa, a senior lecturer in social work at UW-Madison. But he emphasized it’s not the shopping that makes for happy families; it’s the happy families that make for pleasant shopping.
Executive Q&A: Chamber president Zach Brandon focuses on innovation
Wisconsin State Journal
Q: How will the Chamber become policy proactive?
A: After one year on the City Council, in 2004, Mark Bugher (then chairman of the city’s economic development commission) and I initiated a report on how to make Madison more business-friendly. I think we’re at that point again….Madison is an under-performing city, based on its potential. It’s about the right leaders, the right vision. There’s a significant overhaul in our leadership system now, with a new school superintendent, UW-Madison chancellor, U.S. senator and U.S. representative coming in and a new leader of Thrive (the eight-county regional economic development organization). People are not entrenched; they will be willing to think differently.
State investment board pays $204 million for Los Angeles student apartment complex
Capital Times
….The Wall Street Journal this past week called the SWIB purchase the most expensive college campus housing purchase on record. It also referenced the American Campus Communities Inc.?s $165 million purchase of an Austin, Texas, student housing property known as ?The Block.? The presence of UW-Madison has led to similar ? though not as large ? high-end complexes for millennial college students here, like Grand Central and Lucky Apartments. Vicki Hearing, spokeswoman for the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, says the pension fund purchased the dormitory in large part because of its value as a rental property.
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to speak on campus
MLB.com
Major League Baseball Commissioner Allan H. ?Bud? Selig will give the keynote address for Ethics Week to Wisconsin School of Business students and faculty Tuesday, focusing on ethics and professionalism in the business world. The 1956 UW-Madison alumnus has served as the MLB Commissioner since 1988 and will discuss his efforts to build ethical principles within the Milwaukee Brewers organization and MLB?s headquarters.
Board ruling on Palermo?s case unlikely to change labor activists? approach to issue
Daily Cardinal
A regional labor relations board?s decision that Palermo?s did not violate workers? rights in firing a group of employees will likely not change student labor activists? approach to the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s ties with the pizza company, one activist said Sunday.
Epic’s growth has been a boon for Madison as well as Verona
Wisconsin State Journal
Madison officials mourned the loss of booming Epic Systems to Verona in the mid-2000s, but the medical software colossus is having a huge, unexpected impact on its original hometown. Smart, young Epic employees with cash in their pockets and an affinity for Madison?s culture, restaurants and nightlife are fueling demand for rental apartments in the Downtown area. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of visitors to the Epic campus are booking Madison-area hotel rooms, boosting city room tax revenues in a tough economy.
Shoppers find unique gifts, support local artists at Arboretum fair
Wisconsin State Journal
The anti-Black Friday shoppers didn?t have to line up in the cold outside of Best Buy or Toys R Us with their sprinting shoes on. They weren?t looking for the best deals on electronics or toys made in China. Dedicated to buying homemade gifts made locally, these shoppers simply moseyed through the UW Arboretum?s Visitor Center on Sunday looking over the mostly handmade arts, crafts and edibles sold by 41 vendors during the ?Close to Home: Arboretum Local Products Fair.?
Leazer inducted into investor hall of fame
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Dick Leazer, one of the state?s first angel investors, has been named as the first inductee to the newly created Wisconsin Investor Hall of Fame.
Before starting the angel group, Leazer was managing director of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the technology transfer arm of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Under Leazer, WARF for the first time took stock in a company instead of an upfront fee. The company, Third Wave Technologies Inc., later went public and became an example for other Wisconsin high-tech start-ups.
Provost asks for endowment ideas
Badger Herald
Pre-proposals are now being solicited for a university endowment competition that aims to share knowledge that benefits the community and the state of Wisconsin.
UW-Madison needs to cut ties with the fossil fuel industry
Daily Cardinal
UW is now invested in climate change. Our professors? well-deserved pensions are paid partially from the revenues of the fossil fuel industry. Accordingly, any positive activism we do surrounding climate change, sustainability or environmentalism must be accompanied by a crucial push for divestment or else we?re simply betting against ourselves. We just opened an Office of Sustainability. We have a wide variety of departments, classes and programs which highlight the dangers and moral hazards of climate change. As an institution, we must put our money where our mouth is.
Bill McKibben: Fight against fossil fuels coming to Madison
Capital Times
….Of course, we?ll continue to fight the most egregious projects, from the Keystone XL pipeline to drilling in the Arctic, and we?ll continue to hope that the administration will take more than half-hearted moves to keep carbon in the ground. But we?re not counting on our politicians anymore. After 20 years of general inaction on climate change, while the world?s emissions and the planet?s temperature have continued to soar, it?s time to engage the real power: a reckless fossil fuel industry that has known for years the damage they?re doing. Until they cease exploring for new hydrocarbons and begin the rapid conversion to energy companies installing renewable energy on a vast scale, they don?t deserve the social license our silence grants them.
Tech and Biotech: Madison start-ups top Elevator Pitch contest
Wisconsin State Journal
One of the liveliest events at the Early Stage Symposium in Madison is traditionally the Elevator Pitch Olympics. It?s a chance for entrepreneurs to talk up their young companies to a panel of seasoned investors, squeezing the high points into a 90-second presentation, the time of a theoretical elevator ride. Novo was founded in August by brothers Scott and Matt Johanek, of Shawano. Scott lives in Madison and teaches prototype design at the UW-Madison; Matt lives in the San Francisco area. Novo features customized luggage and other bags.
A long time coming: Ceremony kicks off Edgewater renovation
Wisconsin State Journal
After a years-long fight to renovate the historic Edgewater hotel that saw countless revisions, legal challenges that reached the state?s highest court and city meetings that stretched well past midnight, there was a prevailing attitude at the project?s ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday morning: This was a long time coming. “We shouldn’t waste any time getting this project started,” project developer Robert Dunn said to open a program inside one of the hotel’s ballrooms. “Someone might change their mind.”
Ward addresses labor conflict
Badger Herald
University of Wisconsin Interim Chancellor David Ward issued a statement regarding the ongoing labor disagreement over the university?s ties with Palermo?s Pizza, saying UW does not currently have any plans to take action.
Ward says university is not taking action on Palermo?s
Daily Cardinal
Interim Chancellor David Ward released a statement Wednesday stating the University of Wisconsin-Madison will review its contracts with Palermo?s Pizza following a request by a university committee to cut ties with the pizza company….In the statement, Ward said he will review the committee?s request to cut ties, but the university currently has no plans to take action. Ward said while certain parties within the university, including the athletic department and the Wisconsin Union, have sponsorship agreements with Palermo?s, UW-Madison as an institution is not ?a party to this dispute.?
Lowest corn yield in 16 years seen in drought fallout
Wisconsin State Journal
In each of the last two Novembers, area grain operations piled towering mountains of corn on their lots ? lasting images of the two best corn yields on record. Those lots are empty this fall, symbols of a drought-ravaged growing season that has led the National Agricultural Statistics Service to predict that Wisconsin?s corn yield will be the lowest in 16 years and 20 percent lower than last year.
Quoted: UW-Madison agricultural economics professor Bruce Jones
University committee takes aim at Camp Randall?s controversial pizza provider
Capital Times
The muscle of Bucky Badger could possibly get behind striking workers at Palermo?s Pizza. The University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Labor Licensing Policy Committee is recommending that the university move toward terminating contracts valued at more than $200,000 annually with the Milwaukee frozen pizza maker, whose products are sold at Camp Randall and the Kohl Center. The contracts also allow for the use of the Bucky Badger logo on Palermo?s pizzas sold in grocery stores.
Analysis shows 2011 economic slump
Badger Herald
Growth in the U.S. gross domestic product has slowed from 2010 to 2011, according to an industry analysis conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
UW attacks Palermo?s
Badger Herald
A University of Wisconsin committee is in the process of re-evaluating the university?s contract with Palermo Pizza as investigations of Milwaukee food company?s alleged labor violations continue.
Campus committee heads development projects
Badger Herald
The Joint Southeast Campus Area Committee met Monday night to consider future projects on campus and updates on existing projects.
Spectrum Brands buys majority interest in Boston company
Wisconsin State Journal
Spectrum Brands, Madison, said Monday it has paid $50 million cash to buy a majority 56 percent interest in Shaser Bioscience, a privately owned Boston company developing “energy-based, aesthetic dermatological technology for home use devices.”
Thomas O’Guinn, professor of marketing at the UW-Madison School of Business, questioned the diversity that will be added to Spectrum Brands’ already broad list of products. But he said the acquisition represents a growing market. “This is getting into a space that is almost medical device, but not exactly. That is not where I expected Spectrum to go,” O’Guinn said.
Longevity in Business: Kramer Printing going strong after 76 years
Wisconsin State Journal
In business for 76 years, Kramer Printing was opened by Mildred Gill Kramer, one of the first women to graduate from the UW-Madison Business School, on July 7, 1936, in the Gay Building on Capitol Square. Now owned by Todd and Liz Tiefenthaler, Kramer Printing has expanded over the years. The couple met at UW-Madison in 1970 and married just before their senior year.
University committee takes aim at Camp Randall?s controversial pizza provider
Capital Times
The muscle of Bucky Badger could possibly get behind striking workers at Palermo?s Pizza. The University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Labor Licensing Policy Committee is recommending that the university move toward terminating contracts valued at more than $200,000 annually with the Milwaukee frozen pizza maker, whose products are sold at Camp Randall and the Kohl Center. The contracts also allow for the use of the Bucky Badger logo on Palermo?s pizzas sold in grocery stores.
Boutique, inventory break mold at Good Style
Wisconsin State Journal
Putting things together in original ways is what Good Style Shop is about. The vintage clothing store is run by the same people who fill its racks with one-of-a-kind fashions from decades past ? so it?s easy to get advice about what shoes might work best, say, with that cocktail dress from the 1950s, or how to care for that leather jacket made circa 1974.