UW-Madison classes have come to a close for the year and finals week is quickly approaching. While some students diligently plan their study schedules, others already realize it will be a week filled with caffeine, late-night snacks and no sleep for nights at a time.
Four years ago, Mary Nolan of Davenport was young and somewhat winging it.
Weeks ahead of her graduation from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, the journalism major knew she would leave the Midwest in June.
She had a dream to chase on the East Coast. She also had a job at a magazine. But that was it. Everything else was up in the air.
MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Ultimate Frisbee club team, the Hodags, are returning to the Ultimate Players Association College Championships this weekend in a bid for a second-straight national title.
Dane County residents should not doubt the community’s 911 services despite a controversial error involving homicide victim Brittany Zimmermann, the 911 center director said Thursday.
“We haven’t stopped operating just because of this call,” county 911 director Joe Norwick told County Board members at a late afternoon meeting Thursday.
UW-Madison authorities are looking into a possible reverse hazing incident at a fraternity in which human excrement and vomit in a bucket were dumped on fraternity members.
No one was hurt in the incident, said Kevin Helmkamp, associate dean of students, and no one complained about it. The university began investigating when officials learned about it.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: There is breaking news, actually shocking news, about that botched 911 call made from the phone of a murdered college coed, Brittany Zimmermann. People in Madison, Wisconsin, are reeling. Did that bungled 911 call cost Zimmermann her life?
When Dane County 911 Center director Joe Norwick said last week that Madison police forced him to keep mum on the emergency call made from UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermanâ??s cell phone shortly before she was murdered, Madison Police Chief Noble Wray countered hours later with a press conference of his own, disavowing this representation.
Wray said he asked county officials to not reveal the contents of the call, not the call itself. But the blame game continues. On Tuesday, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk defended Norwickâ??s reason for initially denying that a 911 call had been placed from Zimmermannâ??s cell phone. Though her finger pointed back to police, Falk also said, â??There is no blame to lay.â?
MADISON, Wis. — A pair of Dane County Board of Supervisors committees held a special meeting Thursday evening to address lingering questions about the area’s 911 call service.
Officials were looking for answers Thursday on the controversy over how the Dane County 911 Center handled a call from the cell phone of a University of Wisconsin-Madison student on the day that she was found dead. Some officials have said the dispatcher mishandled the 911 call.
Questions continue to mount about policies and technological capabilities at Dane County’s 911 Center.
Union steward Laurie Lane told 27 News she listened to a recording of the 911 call from murder victim Brittany Zimmermann’s cell phone. Lane’s comments to 27 News on what she heard were the first public comments on the content of the call. Lane said the call lasted approximately ninety seconds, and although Lane said she heard faint sounds of “movements,” Lane believed what she heard would not have been enough to prompt the dispatcher to treat the call as an emergency, and dispatch police officers. Madison Police Chief Noble Wray has disagreed, saying the dispatcher should have recognized what occurred during the call as a potential emergency. Authorities have made no comments on the call’s specifics, citing the need to protect the integrity of the ongoing Zimmermann homicide investigation.
After a week of playing the blame game, the director of Dane County’s 911 Center had no one to point fingers at Thursday night.
Director Joe Norwick was in the hot seat as Dane County Supervisors demanded answers about the handling of Brittany Zimmermann’s call to 911.
During the hour and a half hearing, supervisors asked Norwick about operations, policy and staffing.
A heavily redacted copy of a 40-page report into the alleged mishandling of a 911 call for help from murder victim Brittany Zimmermann sheds little, if any, new light on a number of important questions.
The report was released on Thursday night, minutes after the end of a joint committee of the Dane County Board in which embattled 911 Center director Joe Norwick answered questions from county supervisors about 911 center policies.
Scott McDonell began the meeting by stating that the matters under review could lead to litigation and anything said â??can be used in court.â? It was the public-hearing equivalent of a Miranda warning.
That was not the only admonition: McDonell, the Dane County Board chair, also explained that all questions would have to be screened and some could not be answered. This was followed by a stern lecture from Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard, stating that any leaks of information about the details of the 911 call from slain UW student Brittany Zimmermannâ??s cell phone, if released, would seriously jeopardize the task of bringing her killer or killers to justice: “Our odds decrease with every new week.”
Dogs do ease tensions, University of Wisconsin students who walked around the Library Mall on campus Wednesday afternoon agreed.
Some 10 pooches were with their owners on the mall for the annual Pet Therapy event. The idea is that passing students can spend a few minutes with an animal to relieve their end of the semester stress, and maybe even talk with the dog owners, all of whom are members of the UW Health Services Counseling and Consultation Services.
UW-Madison’s SAFEwalk program is back to full strength after seeing 11 students quit last week amid complaints from them that the program has been understaffed.
Imagine a grocery store in Wisconsin that doesn’t get its produce from warmer states hundreds of miles away.
Instead, fruits and vegetables are grown right on the supermarket’s rooftop, making the produce as fresh as possible for consumers.
The 911 dispatcher accused of mishandling a call from the cell phone of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann the day of her slaying on Wednesday denied hanging up on the call, union officials said.
Shannon Maier, president of AFSCME Local 720, which represents Dane County courthouse and 911 center employees, said the dispatcher, who hasn’t been named, contradicts center director Joe Norwick, who last week said the dispatcher ended the call from the slain student’s cell phone.
“Oh I’m obviously disgusted,” says Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity member, Justin Banach. “This portrays the Greek community in a poor manor.”
The news has sent a shock wave through fraternity and sorority houses on campus at the UW Madison. One of the universities own fraternities, Sigma Phi Epsilon, or Sig Ep, is under investigation for hazing allegations.
Dane County board members will hear from 911 Center Director Joe Norwick Thursday evening about what went wrong with Brittany Zimmermann’s 911 call shortly before her murder on April 2.
Members of Sigma Phi Epsilon’s Madison chapter are being investigated in connection with a fraternity stunt last week in front of their house on Langdon Street.
University of Wisconsin-Madison leaders said the investigating surrounds what some are calling a hazing.
But the fraternity argued that what happened was purely a stunt and not hazing.
As summer approaches and students prepare for a three-month break from classes, police remain hard at work in the homicide investigation of UW-Madison junior Brittany Zimmermann.
UW-Madisonâ??s SAFE program coordinators said they are fully staffed and ready to provide students safe late-night transportation amid employee resignations and reports of employee dissatisfaction.
University of Wisconsin-Madison official said that all school programs that provide late-night transportation for students and staff will be fully staffed for finals week.
The Offices of the Dean of Students is conducting an official investigation into the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, university officials announced Tuesday.
After a four-year and nearly $700,000 battle through the court system, the Wisconsin Supreme Court decided Tuesday that Madison-area tavern owners did not violate anti-trust laws on their voluntary ban of weekend drink specials.
Two University of Wisconsin alumni have been chosen to give graduating UW students advice to carry into the future at spring commencement the weekend of May 17 and 18.
Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk said Tuesday a better response to a call made from slain University of Wisconsin junior Brittany Zimmermannâ??s cell phone the day she was murdered could not have saved her life.
The University of Wisconsinâ??s dean of students office and the Interfraternity Council are investigating allegations of hazing by members of a campus fraternity.
Madison police spent two weeks pursuing a bogus lead in the investigation into Brittany Zimmermann’s slaying because of bad information from the Dane County 911 center, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk said Tuesday.
Falk also said the 911 center can’t determine whether a dispatcher hung up on a call from Zimmermann’s cell phone on April 2, the day she was killed, or the caller disconnected it. Center director Joe Norwick last week said the dispatcher hung up the phone after hearing nothing on the line, though Madison police say there were sounds that should have led the operator to dispatch police.
While 123 colleges felt the first bite of the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate system, the University of Wisconsin passed with flying colors.
All 23 sports sanctioned by the school exceeded the benchmark score of 925 — equivalent to a 60 percent graduation rate — in statistics compiled during the 2006-07 school year, and the men’s cross country team posted a perfect 1,000 score.
A former dispatcher who answered a 911 call from Brittany Zimmermann’s cell phone before she was allegedly stabbed to death in her West Doty Street apartment committed two different procedural errors in handling the call, according to Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk.
The dispatcher — who has 20-years of experience and is described by Falk as “a seasoned veteran with a good work record” — did not alert law enforcement of Zimmermann’s call nor did she call back to Zimmerman’s phone after being disconnected. Both inactions violate 911 Center policy.
However, even if protocol had been followed, Falk said she doesn’t believe police could have responded in time to save the 21-year-old UW-Madison student.
Dane County residents should continue to have confidence in the 911 communications system, but should also understand the limitations of using cell phones when making an emergency call, said Scott McDonell, chairman of the Dane County Board, in statements Tuesday regarding the botched 911 call in the Brittany Zimmermann murder case.
“Our citizens rely on the fact that when they call 911 for help, the call will result in emergency assistance being dispatched within minutes,” McDonell said. “They should continue to have confidence in the public safety communication system.”
A 911 call from a murdered college student’s cell phone featured sounds that should have been significant to a 911 operator, but they were not heard by the dispatcher during the call, Dane County’s top official said Tuesday.
With final exams coming up, Renee figures she could fetch about $20 per capsule for Adderall, a prescription amphetamine widely known across campus as a “study drug.” But she sells her surplus only to close friends, generally charging $5 per pill, which helps her cover her monthly refill costs of $25.
The UW-Madison senior first tried Adderall, which is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), during finals week of her freshman spring semester three years ago.
MADISON â?? Madison bars that agreed to eliminate drink specials on weekends cannot be sued for an illegal price-fixing conspiracy, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled today.
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The court refused to reinstate a lawsuit brought by drinkers claiming they were overcharged as a result of the barsâ?? 2002 pact to stop serving drink specials after 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
MADISON, Wis. — Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk admitted that mistakes were made with regards to the Zimmerman 911 call in April.
UW Student Brittany Zimmerman was found slain in her campus apartment in early April. Recent records show Zimmerman made a call from her cell phone on the day she was killed.
“She (911 dispatcher) didn’t do everything right,” said Falk. “There are two errors of procedure.”
MADISON, Wis. — Dane County’s top official said that a better response to a 911 call from a college student before she was slain still couldn’t have saved her life.
County Executive Kathleen Falk apologized Tuesday at a news conference for errors employees made responding to the April 2 call from Brittany Zimmermann’s cell phone.
Falk said one of the errors wasn’t discovered until as late as two weeks after the slaying.
Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk said a veteran dispatcher missed significant sounds on a 911 call from murdered college student Brittany Zimmermann, and a second error caused investigators to spend days searching for two innocent men.
27 News has also uncovered the 911 dispatcher, who mishandled an emergency call from Zimmermann’s cell phone, had requested a transfer out of emergency communication work nearly a month before the Zimmermann call.
Last week, county officials confirmed the 911 operator, 54, had requested, and received a transfer from the communications center, but did not specify the date of the transfer request.
Students at the University of Wisconsin at Madison wonâ??t be raising a glass to a decision today by the stateâ??s Supreme Court.
The court dismissed a lawsuit â?? filed in 2004 on behalf of students and other pub crawlers â?? that challenged local barsâ?? agreement to limit drink specials on weekends. The students had called the agreement an illegal price-fixing conspiracy and sought â??tens of millions of dollarsâ? in damages, the Associated Press reported.
A UW-Madison student is facing felony charges of criminal damage to property after police allege he intentionally set off the sprinkler system in the University House Towers April 4.
When you invite your 100 best friends to a party on Facebook, you may be inviting the Madison Police as well.
The University of Wisconsinâ??s senior class president-elect has been charged with a misdemeanor for stealing six bus tickets from the Memorial Union over spring break.
A criminal complaint was filed in April against a University of Wisconsin student accused of setting off a sprinkler system, causing thousands of dollars of property damage.
Temperatures are warming up, and the last of the snow has finally melted, leaving behind the University of Wisconsinâ??s all-too-inviting grassy expanses. Grateful students are hitting Bascom Hill and other campus green spaces in droves.
The Madison Police Department reported 438 arrests at last Saturdayâ??s Mifflin Street Block Party and still has arrests and citations to issue to Mifflin residents hosting parties in violation of the law, police officials said Monday.
Six Dane County supervisors are requesting an external audit of Dane Countyâ??s 911 Center after hearing the center failed to return a phone call from slain University of Wisconsin junior Brittany Zimmermannâ??s cell phone the day she was killed.
27 News has uncovered the veteran 911 operator who mishandled an emergency call from murder victim Brittany Zimmermann’s cell phone had requested a transfer out of emergency communication work nearly a month before the Zimmermann call.
Last week, county officials confirmed the 911 operator, 54, had requested, and received a transfer from the communications center, but did not specify the date of the transfer request.
911 Center Director Joe Norwick has yet to respond to a request from 27 News for more information on the timing and motivation of the operator’s transfer request.
Downtown tavern owners weren’t popping champagne bottles but were “very, very happy” about the Wisconsin Supreme Court finding their voluntarily ban on weekend drink specials didn’t violate anti-trust law.
“We were very concerned (about losing) because you never know what will happen,” said Bruce Meier, whose family has owned the Kollege Klub for 55 years.
Twenty-four bars have spent in excess of $500,000 in legal fees to defend a class-action suit filed in Dane County Circuit Court in 2004 on behalf of University of Wisconsin students, said Scott Stenger, spokesman for the Wisconsin Tavern League.
A UW-Madison student faces a felony charge of criminal damage to property for allegedly setting off a fire sprinkler system in the University House Towers student housing on Frances Street on April 4.
Max J. Korman, 18, of Northbrook, Ill., allegedly set off the building’s sprinklers on the eighth floor where he resides, and was caught on the building’s security video system. The system activation caused thousands of dollars in damages to the building and to the retail store on the ground floor and led to the evacuation of residents.
Along with a felony count of criminal damage, Korman is also charged with a misdemeanor count of interference with fire fighting equipment.
Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk has written letters of apology to be sent to the family of murder victim Brittany Zimmermann and her fiance, in response to a disclosure last week that a call to the 911 center was made from her phone around the time she was killed, but was not returned as is normal protocol.
Falk aide Joshua Wescott said Monday that the family and Zimmermann’s fiance, Jordan Gonnering, should receive the letters of apology shortly.
The recently elected UW-Madison senior class president has been arrested and charged with misdemeanor theft for stealing bus tickets from the Memorial Union information desk.
Oliver Delgado won election as president of the class of 2008-09 by garnering 430 votes in the spring election, beating Jeff Wright (388 votes) and Tim Fung (101), according to election tabulations by the Associated Students of Madison.
But a couple of weeks before the early April vote, Delgado was caught stealing bus tickets so he and his roommate could get out of Madison for spring break, according to a complaint filed in Dane County Circuit Court.
A highly touted program to walk University of Wisconsin-Madison students home safely has been understaffed while services are in high demand after a student’s murder, employees say.
Dane County officials failed to follow a consultant’s staffing recommendation made in a 2004 report that warned of a potential “catastrophic event” if staffing levels were not immediately increased.
The “strategic plan,” prepared by Seattle-based MTG Management Consultants, recommended hiring five additional dispatchers, one manager and two technology professionals. “Additional staff increases will likely be required in the near future as 911 activity continues to increase,” the report said.
MADISON, Wis. — Local officials said on Monday that they plan to release new information regarding the killing of a University of Wisconsin-Madison student but gave no details on when.
This follows last week’s revelation that the Dane County 911 Center received a call from 21-year-old Brittany Zimmermann’s cell phone on the day she was killed. However, a 911 dispatcher hung up on the call and then failed to call back, which violates protocol. Police officers were never sent to investigate.
MADISON, Wis. – A highly touted program to walk University of Wisconsin-Madison students home safely has been understaffed while services are in high demand after a student’s murder, employees complain.
The SAFEWalk program has turned away several students seeking escorts after the April 2 murder, in part because the university refused to schedule more workers, employees say. Many of the callers accepted free cab rides instead but others walked home on their own.
MADISON, Wis. — Dane County officials planned to offer apologies to the family of a slain University of Wisconsin-Madison student after revelations last week that a 911 call from the victim’s phone was apparently mishandled.
On Monday, Dane County Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott McDonell said he believes a mistake was made at the 911 Center and apologized. Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk has also drafted some letters of apology to Brittany Zimmermann’s family and fiancé, according to a spokesman.
The apologies follow last week’s news that the Dane County 911 Center received a call from 21-year-old Zimmermann’s cell phone on the day she was killed in early April. However, a 911 dispatcher hung up on the call after apparently hearing nothing and then failed to call back, which violates 911 protocols. Police officers were never sent to investigate.
Dane County Supervisor Dave Wiganowsky is demanding an independent probe into how the 911 call from murder victim Brittany Zimmermann was handled by the county’s dispatch center. Wiganowksy says he’s not necessarily “pointing fingers” but he’s hoping an external audit can determine what role if any the lack of response from the 911 dispatcher played in the death of the UW-Madison student.
The operator who authorities said mishandled the 911 call from Brittany Zimmermann’s cell phone on the day of the student’s murder declined a request for a interview from 27 News.
A member of her household told 27 News reporter Tony Galli the county worker is remaining private about what happened. He also expressed skepticism the media would treat her fairly.
he Student Labor Action Coalition sent Chancellor John Wiley an open letter of protest and a mock final exam Sunday, encouraging him to take further action for apparel workers in El Salvador.
MADISON, Wis. — Dane County officials said on Monday that they plan to release new information regarding the killing of a University of Wisconsin-Madison student but gave no details on when.
This follows last week’s revelation that the Dane County 911 Center received a call from 21-year-old Brittany Zimmermann’s cell phone on the day she was killed. However, a 911 dispatcher hung up on the call and then failed to call back, which violates protocol. Police officers were never sent to investigate.
The news touched off a public round of fingerpointing between Madison police and various local and county officials about whether there was enough information from the call to prompt police to respond. The dispatcher who answered the call has since been transferred to another county job, WISC-TV reported.
After the Dane County 911 Center revealed the mishandling of a call from homicide victim Brittany Zimmermannâ??s cell phone the day of her death, many UW-Madison students are questioning the centerâ??s ability to provide proper emergency response.
