Ticket revenue generated from Freakfest 2007 climbed from last year and police costs remained steady. City officials hope in the coming years a greater interest will not translate into a higher city cost.
An agreement was signed Monday between UW-Madison and the College of the Menominee Nation that will make full student transfers possible between the two schools, the first formal arrangement with a tribal school in the state.
The University of Wisconsin signed a transfer agreement with the College of Menominee Nation at a ceremony Monday.
As the dust begins to settle over Madisonâ??s Halloween celebrations, the city continues to tally arrests from the weekendâ??s parties.
Freakfest became Ticketfest and Arrestfest for fewer partiers this year than the past two years, according to statistics released today by the Madison Police Department.
Friday and Saturday arrest and citation numbers show 181 people were arrested on a variety of charges, including three felonies and nine criminal misdemeanors. Police also handed out tickets for a total of 247 municipal ordinance violations. Some revelers were arrested for multiple violations.
Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain on Monday released a final accounting of arrests and detox trips during the city ‘s annual Halloween bash on State Street last weekend.
The final tally for both was slightly higher than earlier reports but remained far lower than in previous years.
MADISON, Wis. — The public cost of Freakfest is the focus of a new debate after a relatively calm weekend on State Street in downtown Madison.
Once a black eye in the community, the city’s annual Halloween celebration has transformed into a ticket-requiring event called Freakfest. City officials said that Freakfest is quickly becoming something Madison can be proud of.
MADISON, Wis. — Some of the students attending Freakfest on Saturday night were actually doing homework.
The Journalism 335 or Intermediate Reporting class on the UW campus deployed crews to cover all aspects of the party, reported WISC-TV.
Students took down the sights and sounds of the street and then returned to their labs in the early morning hours to write and post their stories.
It’s all experience students said was invaluable.
You call that Halloween? You call that neutered, watered-down, city-sponsored, band-infested, well-policed, benign event Halloween? Celebrants from years ago would barely recognize what the city has wrought upon a fabled student tradition â?? the unbridled carnage and tomfoolery of Halloween on State Street.
With the long-awaited Wisconsin state budget finally signed by Gov. Jim Doyle Friday, UW System officials expressed their approval of the budget â?? with the exception of Regent Jesus Salas, who announced his resignation that same day.
The University of Wisconsinâ??s School of Business announced an $85 million gift to the school Saturday, the largest single donation in the universityâ??s history.
Gov. Jim Doyle signed the 2007-09 state budget Friday morning at Memorial Union as the classic state mantra â??On Wisconsinâ? played in the background.
Christie Penn, campus relations chair for Associated Students of Madison, is among those who says that Freakfest went great. She was leaving the annual Halloween party on State Street just before bar time, stopping at Ian’s Pizza before heading home.
ASM collaborated with the city of Madison’s Central Business Improvement District (BID) board and Frank Productions to manage the Isthmus stage at Peace Park, which hosted a costume contest and the winner of an ASM-sponsored battle of the bands contest.
As two students from the West Coast got on a plane bound for Madison Friday afternoon to join in the Freakfest celebration, they had no idea who they would be sitting next to on the flight.
The verdict is in: Madison officials have declared Freakfest 2007 a success.
Gov. Jim Doyle signed the 2007-2009 budget Friday at the UW Madison Memorial Union, ending the 118 days late legislative process, despite some legal disputes remaining due to the makeup of the finalized version.
The moods at Saturdayâ??s State Street Freakfest split between those optimistic to see multiple concerts for a few dollars and those disheartened at the commercialization of the once unique Madison tradition.
Madison police set up barricades — with barrels, fencing, their presence and horses — closing off each block of State Street and making revelers leave the street block by block through side streets early Sunday to bring the city’s annual Halloween party to a peaceful conclusion.
A transfer contract agreement to be signed Monday between UW-Madison and College of Menominee Nation is a win-win situation for both schools, said Verna Fowler, president and founder of the small school with just more than 350 full-time students on the southern edge of the Menominee Indian Reservation.
MADISON, Wis. — Madison police called the annual Halloween party on State Street Saturday night a success after Freakfest ended without the police confrontations and property damage that have marred the event in the past.
Madison’s Mayor says Freakfest 2007 marks another successful year for State Street’s annual Halloween celebration. Thirty-four thousand people purchased tickets for the event.
As of two o’clock Sunday morning, police had made 120 arrests — most for alcohol violations. That compares to last year’s 148 arrests, or the 334 in 2005.
Madison Police also report no serious property damage or injuries from the celebration
MADISON, Wis. — Madison police are calling the arrests during Freakfest a new record low, down 25 percent in one year.
After years of hauling hundreds in to be processed, officers have a system, reported WISC-TV.
The department’s arrest processing center is in located in the basement of the city-county building downtown.
The series of meetings held in response to the mold outbreak in Ingraham Hall ended Thursday as university health officials declared the mold problem resolved.
An old saying exists in lifeâ??â??if it ainâ??t broke, donâ??t fix itâ?â??and that is exactly what city officials plan to do for â??Freakfest 2007 brought to you by Mountain Dew.â?
Even the ardent University of Wisconsin football fan probably doesn’t remember the name Chris Kennedy.
And that’s understandable, because his favorite catch at Camp Randall Stadium came after he graduated, on a pass from Burt Reynolds while playing a role in an instructional film — an exchange that foreshadowed a career in the entertainment industry for the former walk-on from Waunakee.
But Kennedy remembers a lot about UW football. And, sparked by his attendance at the 10-year reunion of the school’s first Rose Bowl championship team, he sought to record those memories in a manner that would be cathartic for himself, instructive for fans and serve as a road map of sorts for anyone weighing a future in Division I football — particularly those kids who might not be scholarship material.
There is nothing wrong with the decision of Associated Students of Madison, the University of Wisconsin’s student government, to fund only groups that are student-led. But that does not mean that the UW should lose sight of the value to the university community of groups such as the Tenant Resource Center and the Rape Crisis Center.
The University of Wisconsin has improved its ability to use natural resources efficiently, increasing its rating on the Sustainability Report Card score this year. UW now holds a B-plus on the ranking system from the Sustainable Endowments Institute.
With the much-anticipated Freakfest Saturday night, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz met with Frank Productions and Police Chief Noble Wray Thursday to clarify final plans at a news conference.
Thirty years ago, the first Halloween gathering on State Street began with an inspired spark: a bonfire that drew hundreds of people.
In the years since, the party grew large and wild, shriveled to next to nothing, survived cold and rainy weather, then swelled in size again â?? eventually spinning out of control â?? until authorities tamed it last year, gating off the street and charging admission to enter.
MADISON, Wis. — After riots and out-of-control partying at past Halloween celebrations in downtown Madison, the city made it a priority to create a fun and safe event on State Street for Halloween.
For the second year, State Street on Saturday night will become a huge, organized party. The changes allow for more crowd control, but some students said it comes at the expense of tradition.
MADISON, Wis. — City of Madison leaders and police are preparing Thursday night for Saturday’s annual Halloween party on State Street.
After the party’s success last year, officials said they are looking forward to the weekend and added that safety is their top priority.
In past years, some businesses along State Street have seen the worst of the Halloween celebration.
But, they are no longer worried.
Halloween is big event for UW Madison, especially for the businesses.
“It really works out well for us,” said Matt Geotsch from State Street Brats. “Not only do people want to spend money, but it puts us on the map as far as out of town people coming in. I helps our national recognition or at least mid wester recognition.”
Gov. Jim Doyle will sign the 2007-â??09 state Budget into law Friday morning at Memorial Union, according to a statement released Wednesday.
UW System spokesperson David Giroux said he was happy the governor was coming to campus and hoped other legislative leaders would be able to participate in the event.
The University of Wisconsin ranked 11 among research universities nationwide with 24 students earning the 2007-2008 Fulbright award this week, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
As plans for Freakfest 2007 continue to be finalized, the city of Madison will hold a news conference this afternoon to outline the changes made to this yearâ??s Halloween celebration.
Thousands of University of Wisconsin students waiting for financial aid received notice yesterday that the funds have been included in the new state budget, and they will soon receive the money.
After pleading guilty in court Tuesday to two misdemeanor charges, University of Wisconsin running back Lance Smith said he hopes the program the court referred him to will help make him a better man.
In some ways, the Dane County Detox Center is a world of euphemisms. Being a â??clientâ? means youâ??re too drunk to care for yourself. Sometimes it means youâ??re too drunk for jail, which wonâ??t accept anyone with more than a .3 blood alcohol content.
The Tenant Resource Center is not closing its doors. Ald. Brenda Konkel, who is the nonprofit’s executive director, calls a TV news report that raised this as a possibility “exaggerated.”
But Konkel says that, after losing nearly one-third of its $350,000 annual budget, her group’s finances are “not good.” The center has temporarily closed its toll-free statewide hotline, and reduced its office hours.
Madison Area Technical College — MATC to most of us — is going great guns, now serving more than 43,000 students at its seven campuses and turning out graduates in many of today’s high-tech skills. Ninety percent of them take jobs right here at home.
But the school’s president, Bettsey Barhorst, is still perplexed that more area high school grads who can’t get into the University of Wisconsin-Madison as freshmen aren’t taking advantage of a new program that allows them to get a two-year liberal arts associate degree at MATC and then guarantees them admission to the UW-Madison for their junior and senior years.
Michael Eric Dyson, perhaps the world’s leading authority on hip-hop music, says that hip-hop culture is under assault in America.
“It is said to be the cause of all manner of evil in society and is blamed for rising rates of homicide in certain cities,” Dyson told an audience of about 700 Wednesday night during his Distinguished Lecture Series talk at the Union Theater.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) â?? Thousands of University of Wisconsin students on a waiting list for the stateâ??s premier financial aid program should get money soon now that the long-overdue state budget has been passed, officials said Wednesday.
UW campuses notified the low-income students on Wednesday they will receive grants in the coming days.
â??This is extremely good news!â? UW-Parkside financial aid director Randall McCready said in an e-mail to hundreds of students on its campus in Kenosha.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) â?? J.B. Van Hollen says heâ??s a true-blue Republican. But his bridges with the GOP faithful could be smoldering.
Just nine months into his term as the stateâ??s attorney general, Van Hollen has taken a number of stances that run counter to traditional Republican philosophy.
Madison Area Technical College — MATC to most of us — is going great guns, now serving more than 43,000 students at its seven campuses and turning out graduates in many of today’s high-tech skills. Ninety percent of them take jobs right here at home.
More than 40,000 women will die from breast cancer this year. But, a woman’s chances of surviving the disease greatly increase with early detection.
Of course, you can’t learn about the warning signs if you don’t understand the language they’re written in.
One UW student is making the language of breast cancer understandable for Dane County Spanish-speakers.
IT’S LIKELY that any number of master’s candidates on the UW-Madison campus have come out of the oral defense of their thesis feeling like punching somebody.
Unlike most, however, Paul Georgieff knows he’s going to punch somebody. He’ll kick them, too. Maybe he’ll even throw them to the ground and jump on them.
And he’ll do it on national television.
Thousands of UW-Madison students and visitors will crowd State Street this Saturday to take part in â??Freakfest 2007 brought to you by Mountain Dew.â? City officials predict increased profit this year with the help of more ticket sales. According to Ald. Eli Judge, District 8,
UW-Madison Dean of Students Lori Berquam offered tips for UW-Madison students to have a fun and safe Halloween celebration this weekend on a newly launched â??Halloween 2007â? website.
WisconsinEye, a public broadcasting network that provides live coverage of legislative processes and state Supreme Court proceedings, was added to the statewide BadgerNet system last week.
Although the long-awaited Halloween weekend is just around the corner, many University of Wisconsin students say State Street will not be on their agendas this year.
Last year’s Halloween festivities on State Street were the first in several years that revelers weren’t dispersed by a plume of pepper spray. Credit for this went to the city, which fenced off State Street and charged an admission to offset the event’s roughly $1 million price tag, mostly for police.
Last year’s event, dubbed Freakfest, lacked the organic feel of Halloweens past, drawing a mere 35,000 people as opposed to the more typical 70,000. This year’s Freakfest aspires to be a more robust event, with three stages for entertainment and a costume contest.
Since 2002, more than 1,000 students from the University of Wisconsin Marathon County have used the UW Colleges Guaranteed Transfer Program, which ensures students with junior standing will be admitted to a four-year UW campus.
The program is ideal for students who eventually want to attend schools such as UW-Madison, said Whiz Beck, UWMC associate dean and director of student services.
Because students frequently start their research on Google instead of campus libraries, university librarians are taking the unique step of putting copies of their library books online, courtesy of the Google Book Search Library Project.
For instance, Google this spring began scanning 500,000 of the University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s 7.9 million library holdings, including collections on American and Wisconsin history, medicine, engineering and genealogical materials. Once the materials are scanned, people can read the universityâ??s public domain books online for free. For copyrighted books, Google will show a few lines of text and provide links to find the material in libraries or for purchase in online stores.
MADISON, Wis. — The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) continues its war on illegal music downloads on college campuses, including those in Wisconsin.
Since March, the RIAA has sent 128 pre-litigation settlement letters to University of Wisconsin students accusing them of copyright infringement.
Pricey campaign contributions by college students raise red flags about potentially illegal giving, says the head of a state watchdog group.
A Wisconsin Democracy Campaign analysis released Monday shows that 177 contributors identified as “student” in campaign finance reports gave $86,243 to candidates for statewide office and the Legislature from 2002 through June 2007. Of those, 31 contributed $1,000 or more.
“The typical money struggles people associate with college students certainly did not appear to be a problem for many of these 177 student contributors,” the group said in a news release, and Executive Director Mike McCabe said in a telephone interview that “I think the kids and their parents have some explaining to do. The circumstances around these donations is clearly curious.”
UW-Madisonâ??s in-state tuition and fees for the 2007-08 academic year increased by 7 percent, a rate on average with state and public universities of its kind, the College Board announced Monday.
Controversial conservative author David Horowitz addressed a mixed crowd of protesters and supporters at the Memorial Union Theater Monday, launching a week-long campaign discussing the dangers of fascist Islamic governments.
By Britney Tripp The Daily Cardinal A nonpartisan watchdog group recently showed students have contributed almost $100,000 to political campaigns from 2002 to June 2007 in the state, with some of the larger donations raising ethical concerns.
Friday afternoon I received an e-mail from the Campus Antiwar Network. Opening the e-mail I read across the headline: â??TheCampus Antiwar Network and theOffices of the Dean of Studentsbrings youâ?¦.â? Later I read that military deserter, Camilo Mejia, was the â??guest of honorâ? for the event the e-mail was publicizing. This did not sit right in my stomach.
A group of University of Wisconsin students and faculty are concerned over a lack of inclusiveness of the disabled community in decision-making at the Natatorium.
