Dear Editor: I am a UW-Madison student concerned about the opening of a new iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin. The current regulations in place are strict, which is beneficial for the well-being of the environment and communities. Therefore it would be detrimental to weaken the legislation regarding this issue.
When heading to the polls in Madison in 2012, hope for short lines and plenty of poll workers, or you could be queueing up for awhile. Statistics put together by the Madison city clerk’s office following the mock election on Tuesday showed if there are 30 people waiting to vote, you should plan on being in line for at least 32 minutes.
….The clerk?s office will have another mock election later this fall with voter registration included, the registering voters being UW-Madison students.
A longstanding practice that allows public workers to simultaneously collect their pension and a state paycheck has caught the attention of state lawmakers and top UW-Madison officials. This so-called practice of double-dipping by retired state workers who are hired back either to their exact position or another state post has come to attention recently, with news breaking this week that officials at UW-Green Bay had a contract ready to rehire Tom Maki, a high-ranking administrator, before he officially announced his resignation.
State law allows employees to be rehired as long as they have been out of their former job for at least 30 days and did not agree to a rehire contract before they left the position. The fact that Maki?s new contract apparently was drawn up even before he announced his departure is a violation of state law.
MADISON, Wis. ? University of Wisconsin-Green Bay officials had a contract ready to re-hire a vice chancellor days before he officially announced his resignation, documents obtained by The Associated Press show.
Although a new state law disallows students from using their student ID as identification to vote, Dean of Students Lori Berquam said UW-Madison will provide students access to identification cards that will allow them to vote.
Issuing new student ID cards to out-of-state students could run a cost of up to $700,000 for the University of Wisconsin System as officials continue to weigh how to meet the requirements of the Voter ID law.
In his first State of the University address in more than a decade, David Ward sounded the alarm about the funding crisis in public higher education. It?s a safe bet no one in Bascom Hall listening to UW-Madison?s interim chancellor speak to the Faculty Senate on Oct. 3 was surprised to hear the university is facing some significant budgetary challenges. Most are keenly aware the university is being asked to absorb $94 million in state cuts over the next two years. What might have caught some off guard was Ward?s message that the university can no longer afford to simply hunker down and attempt to weather the economic storm until better days return.
Barry Burden, a UW-Madison political science professor, says that campaign is likely to be professional, targeted and nasty, and that advertising is likely to be “intense” and “negative.”
Of 156 local teachers unions in school districts that did not extend a collective bargaining agreement for this year, only 12 did not file with the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission to hold votes later this fall.
“That’s a very high number, higher than I would have anticipated,” said John Witte, a UW-Madison political science professor who studies education issues in Wisconsin. “It very clearly shows that the teachers are not giving up on their unions at this point.”
….The districts without contracts are more likely to have higher property wealth per student and lower student poverty and be located in the more politically conservative Milwaukee suburbs, according to an analysis by UW-Madison economist Andrew Reschovsky.
As the effort to recall the governor begins to take shape, two Democratic state legislators are attempting to reverse the recently imposed limits on collective bargaining powers.
A day after the state?s Democratic Party announced it would move forward to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker from office, Democratic lawmakers submitted legislation that would undo one of Walker?s more divisive actions during his short time on the job by restoring the collective bargaining rights of state workers.
Wisconsin?s voter ID law will present new hurdles to some students and cost UW-Madison as much as $700,000 if the university provides all students new identification cards to comply with the law. It?s not clear how many students would use university IDs to vote, and school officials are waiting further clarification from the state Government Accountability Board about what kind of university ID would be acceptable at the polls.
Under a new policy passed Monday UW-Madison employees are prohibited from carrying concealed weapons while working on campus.
A Wisconsin Assembly committee announced it would hold an informational hearing regarding the University of Wisconsin?s holistic admissions process.
* State leaders have named all but one of a 17-member committee charged with reviewing the University of Wisconsin System’s governance structure. Gov. Scott Walker on Monday announced his two appointments: Dave Olien, senior vice president emeritus of the UW System, and Darrell Bazzell, vice chancellor for administration at UW-Madison.
* UW-Madison is rising through the ranks of higher education social media influence, according to Klout.com.The website recently ranked UW-Madison as the second most influential behind Texas A&M. That?s up from fourth in January. Marquette University ranks 10th, making Wisconsin the only state with two universities in the top 10.
The roster for the state-appointed “Special Task Force on UW Restructuring and Operational Flexibilities” is finally set. Gov. Scott Walker announced his two appointments on Monday, completing the 17-member panel. One of Walker?s selections was Darrell Bazzell, UW-Madison?s vice chancellor for administration. Bazzell is the only person currently working on the UW-Madison campus on the panel. Walker?s other appointment went to Dave Olien, senior vice president emeritus of the UW System.
Six months after Gov. Scott Walker and Republican legislators required state workers to pay more for health care and pensions, what are those changes costing those workers?Depending on their pay, between $2,828 and $8,428 more a year, according to a recent Legislative Fiscal Bureau report requested by three Madison-area legislators who each represent thousands of state workers.
The state gas tax would have to rise 50 cents – a 152% increase, to nearly 83 cents a gallon – to cover road costs that are now being paid through property taxes or other general tax revenue, a new study by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers say.
The Assembly?s Committee on Colleges and Universities is holding an informational hearing next week to examine the process for admissions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The impetus behind this event is two studies released last month by the Center For Equal Opportunity. The conservative think tank said it found “severe” racial discrimination at UW-Madison and its reports purport to show whites and Asians aren?t getting a fair crack at being admitted to Wisconsin?s flagship institution of higher education.
The Wisconsin Technology Council says it has signed an informal agreement with a Washington, D.C. investment firm, Monument Capital Group, giving the firm a “virtual presence” in Wisconsin. What that really means is: “They just want to stay in touch with what?s happening in the R&D (research and development) world here, primarily in defense and homeland security,” Tech Council president Tom Still said. He said Monument wants to look at possible involvement with companies as varied as startup level to those ready for merger or acquisition. Still also plans to funnel information to the firm about pertinent research at the UW-Madison.
UW-Madison benefited from a promising development last week: David Ward?s appointment as interim chancellor was extended to the summer of 2013.
GREEN BAY ? The University of Wisconsin System is looking to boost graduation rates by making it easier for students to transfer to its campuses, and regents heard Thursday about an online tool that could help students plan for the move.
The attacks on Ohio?s and Wisconsin?s public-sector unions mounted by fiscally conservative lawmakers this year are forcing unions that represent public-college faculty in those states to rethink their strategies and basic missions.
On Thursday, state election officials retracted changes which could have circulated recall petitions for the possible upcoming recall efforts more efficiently, including the effort to recall Gov. Scott Walker.
It?s taking a lot longer than most expected, but a 17-member special task force to study the University of Wisconsin System and its relationship to the state is nearly finalized.
Much of what the early speakers at a University of Wisconsin Marathon County conference on the economy chose to emphasize already is well known here.
Leaders need to focus on advanced manufacturing, health care and other service industries while playing to the fact that Wausau could develop into a transportation hub for the state, said Michael Knetter, president and CEO of the UW Foundation in Madison and former dean of UW-Madison?s business school.
The state must reinvest in its universities to meet ambitious goals of boosting its number of college graduates, University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly said Thursday.
Just last year, the UW System set its sights on increasing the number of college-degree holders in the state by 30% over the next 15 years – a cumulative increase of 80,000 degree holders by 2025 – in an effort to lure companies and boost Wisconsin?s economy. But then state funding for the UW System was cut $250 million for the 2011-?13 fiscal years.
In case there remained any doubt about which team reigns over Wisconsin in October, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel?s Bob Wolfley erased it on his SportsDay blog Monday.
Just last month, the Government Accountability Board made several recommendations to state lawmakers regarding new recall petitions and voter identification provisions.
Democratic legislators began circulating a bill Wednesday to increase the funding for technical colleges in Wisconsin through an income tax raise on millionaire Wisconsinites.
….As independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont remarked recently, ?Social Security is the most successful government program in our nation?s history. Let?s be clear. For more than 75 years, Social Security has, in good times and bad, paid out every nickel owed to every eligible American.?
Wall Street certainly cannot say that. The Social Security program, which was inspired by UW-Madison economists and the state?s vibrant progressive movement, has succeeded in keeping millions of senior citizens, widows and orphans and the disabled out of extreme poverty.
“Nobody wants to talk about falling wages because it?s not a very pleasant tale to tell,” says Tim Smeeding, director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at UW-Madison. “The labor market has changed dramatically and Wisconsin is feeling it more than a lot of other places.”
….Getting more money into the venture capital pipeline could help turn more of the research at the UW-Madison into functioning companies that could produce a product, generate sales and hire employees.
The UW-Madison remains among the top five universities in the nation in terms of landing research dollars but those dollars have been slow to translate into start-ups. A 2010 report from the Chronicle of Higher Education showed the UW-Madison with just one new company formed ? despite $1.1 billion of research spending here.
Quoted: Tim Smeeding, director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at UW-Madison
Investing in higher education brings dividends beyond higher salaries for graduates. More income means more tax dollars and a broader tax base, sharing the cost of public services more equitably among all. Spin-off companies and others assisted by UW research benefit the state?s economy.
UW officials remind us: Prosperous citizens use fewer public services, are generally healthier, are able to contribute to philanthropy and community nonprofits, and are more engaged in democracy and civic affairs.Investing in higher education reaps big rewards for everyone. It is an outlay we must be committed to make. Our future depends upon our investment.
Quoted: UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin, who said the secrecy surrounding the probe makes it hard for Walker to defend himself against suspicions that he may have done something wrong.
The state?s new concealed carry law goes into effect in a month, and officials on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus are taking steps to prepare.
“I?m spending quite a lot of time on this because the university community in general doesn?t like the idea that people will soon be allowed to carry concealed weapons on the campus,” says UW-Madison Police Chief Sue Riseling.
Dear Editor: I am a student at UW-Madison, where students learn every day about the dangers of fossil fuels. Hearing about Convergence Energy?s solar farm was such a bright spot for me. It is one of the largest solar projects in the state, uses local businesses, and allows individuals to buy a stake in the project. Right now, our government is backing off on environmental protection for no good reason.
While UW-Madison students plan to attend Saturday?s football game against Nebraska with other die-hard Badger fans, UW-Madison Chancellor David Ward plans to attend the game with Gov. Scott Walker.
Quoted: “It is vicarious success,” said Jane Piliavin, UW-Madison professor emerita, sociology. “You feel like you won because the teams won.”
The president of the Wisconsin Technical College System sent a letter Wednesday to the Government Accountability Board formally requesting that the body which oversees elections in the state reconsider its Sept. 12 decision to not allow technical college student ID cards to be used for voting purposes. Dan Clancy writes that the “plain language of the statute clearly includes technical college student IDs as an acceptable form of identification for voting purposes.”
Dear Editor: You think you know about the McDonald?s coffee court case and why tort ?reform? has been so popular with politicians like Texas Gov. Rick Perry? I?ll bet you don?t.The ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) agenda that has been promoted in the Wisconsin Legislature and the attack on the U.S. civil justice system will be examined in the HBO documentary ?Hot Coffee? at a free screening in Madison this Friday evening. The Center for Media & Democracy and the Wisconsin Association for Justice want to help you connect the dots about the corporate campaign to restrict your rights.
CRANMOOR — Gong Ruina, a graduate student at Beijing Sport University and world-champion badminton player, said harvesting cranberries is more difficult than it looks.
“It?s fun to do once, but it?s hard to imagine people doing it all the time,” said Gong, who spoke with a Daily Tribune reporter with the help of an interpreter. Gong was one of about a dozen participants of the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Chinese Champions Program who visited Elm Lake Cranberry Co., 5865 Elm Lake Lane, on Tuesday to learn about the cranberry industry and its growing importance in a global market.
Public health programs that promote healthier lifestyles will receive funding from a $23.5 million grant awarded to a University of Wisconsin-Madison department, the university said Tuesday. The Wisconsin Clearinghouse for Prevention Resources, a unit of University Health Services, plans to use the money to address obesity and tobacco use in Wisconsin and increase early screening for chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has been awarded a $10.5 million grant to develop technology-based assessments for students learning English. The four-year grant from the federal Department of Education will be used to develop an online assessment system to measure student progress in attaining the English language skills they need to be successful in school and, ultimately, post-secondary studies and work.
The DPI is the lead agency in a 28-state consortium working with World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at UW-Madison.
The Wisconsin Clearinghouse for Prevention Resources will receive $23.5 million in federal funding over the next five years to implement and promote proven prevention strategies that decrease obesity and tobacco use across the state. The clearinghouse is a unit of University Health Services at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: UW-Madison professor of political science Katherine Cramer Walsh.
University of Wisconsin student government members heard presentations Monday night on a number of controversial changes occurring in Madison, including the new state Voter ID bill, the Mifflin Street Block Party and a state Senate bill removing municipal limits on landlord conduct.
For the Warden Wire, the DNR will cull and answer the most-asked questions that come to its popular telephone hotline. Wardens also will contribute when they hear the same questions being asked time and again, and the hotline questions are already popular.
Quoted: Kathleen Bartzen Culver, a UW-Madison School of Journalism expert in multimedia, law and ethics, who applauded the DNR’s plans to use “the government’s ability to put information out to the community” but noted that it “comes tremendous ethical responsibilities.”
….The state has undergone a rare display of huge public protests this year, and the possibility exists that more demonstrations could erupt in the future. We expect those who disagree with the governor or state legislators to maintain civility if they choose to hold a public protest, and we expect law enforcement to do its usual thorough job of maintaining the peace. We also expect the state to pay its bills.
Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, a UW-Madison professor of public affairs and applied economics, said that when trying to attribute job growth to one or more government policies when who knows how many other economic forces peculiar to a state are also at work, he said the question becomes: “How do you know it would not have added employment in the absence of any particular policy?”
Recently introduced legislation ? Assembly Bill 214 and Senate Bill 172 ? would make it illegal to buy or sell fetal body parts for use in scientific research. It also would prohibit researchers from using any part of fetuses that were aborted. Supporters say it would establish “reasonable standards for human tissue research,” as sponsor Rep. Andre Jacque, R-Bellevue, wrote in a State Journal op-ed. He pointed to evidence that UW-Madison researchers used body parts from aborted fetuses in the 1990s and said the bill would prevent that practice from happening again. UW-Madison officials and some in the high-tech business community oppose the bill, arguing it would set back medical researchers in the state and possibly cost hundreds or thousands of potential high-tech research jobs.
Quoted: Anne Enke, a UW-Madison associate professor of history who studies social activism, said “media have typically focused on one or two figures” in social movements, but “in every major social movement of the 20th century, it is large — truly untold — numbers of diverse people working ?behind the scenes? who have provided the engines, staying power and real impetus for change.”
Quoted: Early attacks on Thompson are what UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin calls “preemptive advertising.”
University of Wisconsin law professor Ben Kempinen said it?s unclear how close the aides may have been to any alleged crimes under investigation in the John Doe.
Gov. Scott Walker considered cutting the pay of all public workers at the same time he was crafting his budget proposal that forced them to contribute more for their pension and health care benefits, an email obtained by The Associated Press under the state?s open records law shows. The email, sent Dec. 8 by policy director Ryan Murray, also asks the budget director how much could be saved through the maximum allowable eligibility and benefit cuts to Medicaid.U ltimately, Walker didn?t call for a pay cut as part of his budget that required public workers to pay 12.4 percent of their health care benefits and 5.8 percent of their pensions. In fact, when rolling out his plan, Walker attempted to sell it by noting that he wasn?t cutting salaries, imposing any furlough days or calling for layoffs.
Although the state Legislature axed a plan to split UW-Madison from the University of Wisconsin System from the state budget, it called for the creation of a “Special Task Force” to study the UW System. Only one public appointment has been made to the 17-member task force. A bill has been introduced to delay the due date of the task force?s findings from Jan. 1, 2012, to Jan. 7, 2013.
Quoted: “When Wisconsin unemployment rates were at 3%, everyone was doing great, we were building SUVs and everyone was buying them,” said Timothy Smeeding, who directs the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We were manufacturing our pants off. But times are changing.”
By the end of Thursday, the major state employee unions covering tens of thousands of workers will have effectively lost their official status. Top leaders for those unions say they won?t seek to meet the high hurdle for keeping that current status as laid out in Gov. Scott Walker?s union bargaining law. With a deadline set for the close of business Thursday, so far only four smaller state unions have said they are seeking to keep their status by winning a difficult recertification vote.
MADISON, Wis. — Leaders of major unions representing Wisconsin state workers said they won?t seek recertification before Thursday?s deadline. That means those unions representing tens of thousands of state government workers will effectively lose their official status.
Dear Editor: The recent Capital Times editorial ?UW doesn?t need diversity advice from cradle of the Confederacy,? is a wonderful piece of ?Na-na-na-na-boo-boo? finger-wagging, but it does little to address the real weaknesses of the Center for Equal Opportunity?s reports of racism in UW-Madison?s admissions policy. The most obvious flaw in the CEO?s report is that the percentage of the pool of black students who apply to UW-Madison who are then accepted is significantly higher than the percentage from the pool of white students. Presumably, a great many more white students apply to UW-Madison than black students, making the CEO?s statistic not particularly helpful.
