Alliant Energy and the University of Wisconsin-Madison also partnered on an argivoltaics research site near Stoughton, which will feature a small-scale solar site that will produce enough clean energy to power over 450 homes.
Madison’s two major art museums — the Chazen Museum of Art on the UW-Madison campus and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art on State Street — have joined forces with 14 other institutions statewide in hopes you’ll hit the road this fall and visit their galleries along the way.
The Main Street Agenda is here to help you navigate these times. It is an election-year project designed to provide information and civil conversations about the issues Wisconsin voters care most about. The topics come from a UW Survey Center survey, WisconSays, that asked residents about the top issues they face.
At its Aug. 26 meeting, the commission also reviewed a new study on student housing in Madison, which surveyed 46,000 undergraduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and found many students struggle to afford rents.
UW-Madison has among the highest rents of any Big Ten university, according to a study released on Aug. 26. The study’s release is welcomed by a group of developers, alders and university officials recently formed to tackle Madison’s student housing problem.
Among the 18 schools in the Big 10 conference, only Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois ($1,482) and New Jersey’s Rutgers University ($1,353) had higher average per-bedroom rents for off-campus housing, according to the study.
The study confirmed what is largely already known through reams of anecdotal evidence: Nearly 70% of rentals are too expensive, costing individual students $1,000 or more in rent each month per student, often hundreds of dollars above what the students consider affordable; the cheapest apartments are often furthest from campus and more run down; and UW-Madison is one of the most expensive off-campus housing markets in the Big 10 conference.
Parking lots near residence halls are used as unloading zones, but other streets will be blocked off to allow students and their families to safely haul their stuff in.
The crash is the third in which a bicyclist has been injured at the crossing in the 600 block of West Washington Avenue in the last month, according to data compiled by the UW-Madison’s Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory. The others occurred on July 29 and Aug. 11.
Citizen scientists are hobbyists and passionate amateurs, and data they generate is as valuable as anything produced by professional scientists. UW-Madison Arboretum Citizen Science Coordinator, Annie Isenbarger, described citizen science as a way of “deepening the average person’s connection with the natural world.”
The second phase, which began in March, involved cleaning, painting and applying decorative gold leaf, and repairing and replacing glass beads and tiles that add to the elegance of the pavilion. The project is being funded by UW-Madison, which was gifted the pavilion more than 20 years ago.
This spring, UW-Madison diverted over 162,000 pounds of material from the landfill as students moved out of residence halls, including 7,515 pounds of futons and nearly 4,000 pounds of food.
To do this, the university recruits hundreds of student and staff volunteers and collaborates with various departments and community organizations, according to Malorie Garbe, sustainability coordinator for University Housing. Nonperishable food was donated to The River Food Pantry, Goodman Community Center and the on-campus Open Seat food pantry. Sergenian’s Floor Coverings and Reynolds Urethane Recycling took carpet and mattress toppers, Garbe said.
In 2021, the Tribal Elder Food Box program began in response to a shortage of food for Native elders, said Carolee Dodge Francis, who chairs the department of civil society community studies in the school of human ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
This year’s camp, known as the Leadership Training Institute, took place at the end of July at a residence hall at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A Journal Sentinel reporter visited midway through the camp to experience the safe space firsthand.
Talks are underway with the Ho-Chunk Nation to schedule the official flag-raising.
“I’m sure the Indigenous student groups from UW-Madison will be a big part of the ceremony as they were a big part of helping me shape these inclusive measures,” Rose said.
Bryan Johnson, the city’s recycling coordinator, said crews will be out every morning starting at 6:30 a.m until Aug. 23. He emphasized that if students are able to donate or resale items to do so.
After nearly forty years of serving southern Wisconsin, UW Health’s MedFlight has expanded its services by creating a third satellite base in Janesville.
In addition to the cost of a monthly internet subscription, other barriers exist for households that have the internet infrastructure but don’t connect. Task force member Gail Huycke said barriers include a lack of digital literacy, not knowing how to use the technology, poor reliability and fear.
Huycke is a professor of practice and broadband specialist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Division of Extension. As part of the Connected Aging Communities initiative, she worked with seniors on using the internet and found people over age 65 are the most likely to be disconnected.
A new housing complex near UW-Madison is ready for students to move in later this month.
Madison is one of the most populous areas of the country where the local transit agency is run entirely by a city, according to Chris McCahill, managing director of the State Smart Transportation Initiative housed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Madison Metro is not necessarily in a sustainable position, especially as we face population growth,” McCahill said. “But that is true of all major transit agencies across the country.”
Most leases expire around Aug. 15, and the move-in-move-out period affects communities beyond the downtown area. The city estimates nearly 35,000 UW students live in the neighborhoods on campus. Every year, the moving period generates over 1 million pounds of garbage that crews work to collect, large items requiring the most effort.
A new sculpture on the Wisconsin State Capitol grounds was unveiled Saturday afternoon, honoring Vel Phillips, a trailblazer for civil rights in Wisconsin, and the state’s first Black Secretary of State.
There is a limited number of weather reporting stations in Wisconsin, leaving some areas like New Berlin in data gaps.
A new weather station network run by University of Wisconsin-Madison is hoping to change that. It is called WiscoNet and New Berlin just got one of the newest weather stations.
After years of effort, Saturday will mark history for Wisconsin as the first statue commemorating a Black leader will be unveiled on the Capitol grounds in Madison.
Phillips holds significance in Wisconsin as a trailblazing Black woman who had a lasting impact on the state’s legal and political history.
Barbara Bowers, a long-term care researcher and professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing, said she is “astounded” by the medical complexity of the people in assisted living today.
“They look a lot like, 10 years ago, the people in nursing homes,” she said.
A partnership led by the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition and the University of Wisconsin-Madison received $10 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agricultural Systems program earlier this summer.
The project involves community partners, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison and several multicultural groups. According to Gabriel Siaz, the city of Madison sustainability programs coordinator, the sensors will be part of one of the nation’s most significant metropolitan air quality data collection projects.
After developer LZ Ventures of Madison completes the new Porchlight building, it plans to demolish Porchlight’s existing facility at 306 N. Brooks St., near UW-Madison, and replace it with a 15-story, 189-unit student housing project.
The UW-Madison and Memorial Union are listed.
Members of the Wisconsin football team made a stop at the Salvation Army of Dane County’s day camp.
Team members played games with the kids. Cornerback Amare Snowden says the goal is to give back to the greater Madison community.
The Badgers will open their 2024 season on Friday, August 30 when they take on Western Michigan at Camp Randall.
“If anything, we’re gaining from undocumented immigrants,” said Karen Holden, a UW-Madison professor emerita of public affairs and consumer science who focuses on Social Security.
“It opens up a whole new world of possibilities,” said Kate Walsh, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and part of a team assessing the effectiveness of the statewide pilot project.
The UW-Madison team is gathering survey data from 68 housing recipients across the program’s nine pilot sites. More than half of the participants across the nine sites reported a reduction in exposure to domestic violence and higher satisfaction with their living situations, according to preliminary findings.
Tickets are on sale now for the Celebrity Softball Slam, pitting long-time rivals Marquette University and University of Wisconsin-Madison against each other.
Celebrity players include Brian Butch, Travis Diener, Chucky Hepburn, Steve Novak, new Badgers football player Darrion Dupree, Marquette soccer player Molly Keiper, and Oconomowoc native, UW Softball player Molly Schlosser.
Whether a church is involved in the broader community is a predictor of its success, said Steven Deller, a professor of applied economics and an expert in rural economic development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Congregations that are internally focused and closed off to new ideas and newcomers are “going to struggle,” Deller said.
“Is this the kind of community that the common response is, ‘Well, you’re not from here, so you don’t understand?'” Deller said. “That kind of attitude can be the kiss of death.”
Terrace Art Zone: Easy, free craft sessions for all ages are held on the UW Memorial Union Terrace, 800 Langdon St., from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays through Aug. 17.
Born Velvalea Hortense Rodgers in Milwaukee in 1923, the influential public figure was ahead of her time.
She received a scholarship to attend Howard University, in Washington D.C., where she obtained her bachelor’s degree. Phillips continued her studies at the University of Wisconsin Law School and was the first African-American woman to graduate there. She and her husband then opened a Milwaukee law firm.
Decades earlier, Whitehorse began mentoring Gene Delcourt, then a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on his wood sculpting craft. He encouraged Delcourt, who is Abenaki and Filipino, to attend symposiums in Europe dedicated to the art form. Each time Delcourt returned from a symposium, he thought, “I’d really love to put one of these on.”
A good schedule is on the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion website.
New federal funding will help place more OBGYNs in training in Wisconsin’s rural communities.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health will receive a $750,000 grant over the next three years to expand their rural OBGYN residency track.
A new collaboration between the UW-Madison School of Education and three Wisconsin school districts — Madison, Lake Mills and Middleton-Cross Plains — proposes a solution: Through the District Leadership Preparation Pipeline, a group of Wisconsin teachers will earn their master’s degree from UW-Madison for no cost. In return, they commit to working in their home school districts as a principal or assistant principal for at least two years.
The second phase, which began in March, involves cleaning, painting and applying decorative gold leaf, and repairing and replacing glass beads and tiles that add to the elegance of the pavilion. The project is being funded by UW-Madison, which was gifted the pavilion more than 20 years ago. The restoration will allow the pavilion to continue to shine on the east side of the botanical gardens.
After the war, Harry Whitehorse returned to Wisconsin to pursue a career as an artist. He went to the Arthur Colt School of Fine Arts in Madison to study oil painting and studied human and animal anatomy at University of Wisconsin. He also got his degree in welding and metal fabrication at Madison Area Technical College to become an auto mechanic.
The clinic opened in January and specializes in opioid use disorder. It offers walk-in appointments and free services to people with or without insurance. Patients can get prescription medication for opioid use disorder and medical treatment like basic wound care, family planning or hepatitis C treatment.
Dr. Christy Clark-Pujara, UW-Madison professor of history and department chair of African American Studies, developed the courses in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a new series called “Why History Matters,” a critical look at racism in American institutions.
The community commitment in Hillside gave rise to Vel R. Phillips, a Hillside resident who has been described by many as a trailblazer, a culture shifter and a woman who made history again and again. Phillips was the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin law school, the first woman — and first African-American — elected to the Milwaukee Common Council, the first woman judge in Milwaukee County and the first Black person elected to statewide office, as secretary of state.
Looking to experience a queer Madison? The city is home to many LGBTQ+ campus organizations, charities, neighborhoods and nightlife spots.
Forecasted rainfall is expected to be “on the high side” in the next few weeks, according to Ken Potter, a UW professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering who focuses on water management and flood risk mitigation.
Since 2017, at least 35 pedestrians and cyclists have suffered minor and serious injuries from being struck by vehicles on Park Street, according to UW-Madison’s Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory.
The 45-minute, mile-long walking tours are set to be led by UW faculty, starting at 12:30 p.m., and every hour after that up to 4:15 p.m.
Liesch also plans to join Dan Young, a UW-Madison entomologist, in a presentation at 3:30 p.m. at Library Park near the library which will cover cicada basics and feature an up-close look at periodical cicadas.
A project on French Island near La Crosse aims to define the movement of PFAS in groundwater and to determine whether a deep aquifer could serve as a source of safe drinking water for residents with contaminated wells.
On Monday, a team of partners will drill to create three wells at depths ranging from 85 to 400 feet within the town of Campbell on French Island. Researchers with the University of Wisconsin-Madison will collect samples of sediment and rock beneath the surface.
In April, the Peace Corps announced that UW-Madison was its No. 1 volunteer-producing university for 2023. Since President John F. Kennedy created the Peace Corps in 1961, more than 2,700 volunteers have come from UW-Madison.
Three of those volunteers joined WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” from across the world to talk about their experiences and lessons from the organization.
The project also brought in a range of local voices to shape its content — from not only the museum’s own education department but also from representatives from UW-Madison, Vilas Zoo, members of different cultural groups and others.
Still, this is a unique phenomenon that people in the Badger State won’t experience again until 2041. Known on social media as the “Wisconsin Bug Guy” P.J. Liesch is particularly excited about the swarms of cicadas that have already started to pop up and make noise here.
“I turn 40 years old next year, and I have not seen these yet with my own eyes,” said Liesch, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab.
Mann Scholar Alum Remarks were given by Dr. Alisa King-Klemperer, the first ever Mann Scholar to get her doctorate degree. She is now the communications manager at the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center (WIPAC), a scientific center for astroparticle research located at the University of Wisconsin—Madison.
Wells started taking classes at Madison College last year. But the chain of events that led to earning her degree stretches back to 2007, when Mary Wells participated in the UW Odyssey Project.
UW Health said four clinics would be closed until noon Wednesday due to power outages: Yahara Clinic, Science Drive Medical Center, Digestive Health Center, and Cross Plains Clinic.
The application window is open now for another round of By Youth for Youth funding thanks to the city of Madison, UW Extension and United Way of Dane County securing a climate specific grant. Any youth climate-focused projects can apply for a grant of up to $5,000.
Aiden Assad, a college sophomore at UW-Madison, also received the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. scholarship award through its Madison Alumni Chapter.
“What I have learned is that they offer connections, networking, lifelong relationships, and things you can capitalize off of in the long run,” said Assad. “it’s a beautiful brotherhood.”
Ultimately, a team of specialists came together to help Kendi, from the zoo’s animal care staff to veterinary professionals from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, the Kettle Moraine Equine Hospital and Regional Equine Dental Center and the Henry Vilas Zoo. Also, the zoo’s grounds, forestry and maintenance departments modified the giraffe barn with extra padding to set it up for the procedure.
“We’re here to give away scholarships to acknowledge their success on, you know, graduating high school and going to college,” UW-Madison Divine 9 Chairperson Alexander Ricketts said. “It is the first time we ever came together and done something like this in Madison.”
