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Category: State news

UW sports: Revisions made for Athletic Performance Center

Posted on
Madison.com

In the midst of revising plans to build new headquarters for 800-plus student-athletes, University of Wisconsin Athletic Department officials thought about using one of the last bits of green space in their campus footprint. A grassy area near Camp Randall Stadium was considered for a place to put a football practice facility with a complex of locker rooms, sports medicine and weight training beneath it. That idea for the Athletic Performance Center was ultimately rejected because of potential cost overruns and the disruption to the adjacent Breese Terrace neighborhood.

Madison convention focuses on strengthening democracy

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Quoted: Barry Burden, a UW-Madison political science professor, said interest in the event may be fueled by the massive protests at the Capitol this spring over Gov. Scott Walker?s efforts to limit public sector collective bargaining, concern about the economy and a sense that President Barack Obama is not progressive enough.

Investigators Use Playing Cards To Help Solve Cold Cases

Posted on
WISC-TV 3

Homicide investigators have launched a new project that aims to bring closure to Wisconsin cold cases through the use of playing cards. Some of the cases are more than 50 years old. One case included in the program is the Madison disappearance and slaying of University of Wisconsin-Whitewater student Kelly Nolan.

Among the unsolved murders of UW-Madison students are those of Brittany Zimmermann (2008), Donna Mraz (1982), and Christine Rothschild (1968).

Impact of union measure takes hold

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Members of the Teaching Assistants Association representing University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate students and its UW-Milwaukee counterpart voted by undisclosed margins not to seek a formal election to keep their official status with the state, top leaders for the two groups said.

Telecom industry, UW System battle over broadband

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Citing high costs, sluggish Internet speeds on public computers and limited bandwidth for researchers, University of Wisconsin System officials are building a $37 million high-speed Internet network across the state ? a web of fiber stretching from Wausau to Superior. But a legal challenge is raising questions about the need and appropriateness of that effort. The telecommunications industry is suing to stop the project, arguing it not only violates state law, but it?s duplicative and a waste of public resources.

UW-Madison teaching assistants union votes against state certification

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

The 3,000-member teaching assistants union at UW-Madison has voted narrowly against seeking official state certification under a controversial new law that prohibits most collective bargaining for most public sector employees. Under the law signed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker, teachers and other public workers would need to vote for their unions each year in order to bargain for cost-of-living raises. The law no longer allows negotiations on working conditions, benefits or anything else.

Negotiating No More

Posted on
Inside Higher Education

The Teaching Assistants? Association at the University of Wisconsin at Madison dates to 1966. In 1970, following a four-week strike, the graduate students at Madison became the first T.A. union to win a contract. Over the years, the union — affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers — has been a leader in the drive to promote collective bargaining for graduate student workers.

Wisconsin state employees brace for lower paychecks

Posted on
Isthmus

Some state employee unions are suggesting that members wear black to work on Aug. 25. The somber garb should match the mood of most state workers whose paychecks that day will, for the first time, reflect the steep increases in employee contributions for health benefits and retirement contained in Gov. Scott Walker?s budget.

Walker takes a new path ? the political middle

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

?The governor scored a lot of victories this year, but they have come with real political costs,? said Charles Franklin, UW-Madison political science professor and polling expert. ?He is a little less comfortable than he was before, and he needs to convince independent voters to come back to him.?

Crime and Courts: Madison fire marshal says law would kill local fire code

Posted on
Capital Times

Since 2007, when a campus-area fire in a home with disabled smoke detectors killed a 23-year-old man, the city has been on a mission to require tamper-resistant or hard-wired smoke detectors in apartment buildings and homes. That effort culminated in 2009 with a city ordinance that officials say has helped prevent any fire deaths since. But a proposed state law could wipe that ordinance off the books, according to Madison Fire Marshal Ed Ruckriegel.

Ted Voth Jr.: It?s unfortunate time to be looking for chancellor

Posted on
Capital Times

Dear Editor: ?Chancellor vacancies aplenty,? read the headline in the Wisconsin State Journal. This is a particularly unfortunate time for my alma mater, UW-Madison, to be looking for a chancellor. What academic of any integrity would want to come to the state of Wisconsin with its red-neck governor, know-nothing Legislature and rogue Supreme Court?

Campus Connection: In future, state students to pay more to attend college in Minnesota

Posted on
Capital Times

Wisconsin students who attend public universities and colleges in Minnesota will start paying more for their education in years to come under a new tuition reciprocity agreement between the states that was announced Monday. The good news is Wisconsin students currently going to school in Minnesota, and even those enrolling this fall, won?t be hit by the tuition hike.

Madison360: Mantra of wealthy Republicans ? we want the rest

Posted on
Capital Times

“The brakes are off and that?s our system of government now,” observes Andrew Kersten, a University of Wisconsin-Green Bay labor historian. Kersten?s new book is titled, “The Battle for Wisconsin: Scott Walker and the Attack on the Progressive Tradition.” Kersten has been asking why wealthy donors in and out of Wisconsin seem so relentless.

UW-Madison search: Chancellor vacancies aplenty at other schools

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison will face stiff competition for the best national candidates as it searches for a new chancellor, according to higher education experts. That?s because an ?extraordinary? number of similar universities also are looking for new leaders, said Jan Greenwood, a search consultant who specializes in university presidencies. Finding the right candidate is important because university presidents must be able to fill a range of roles: CEO and academic, politician and cheerleader, public speaker and master fundraiser.

Capitol security costs for protests expected to top $8 million

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

The months of protests over Gov. Scott Walker?s budget and collective bargaining measures around the state Capitol are expected to cost the state more than $8 million to reimburse nearly 200 law enforcement agencies and seven state agencies brought in to provide around-the-clock security.

Braveheart in Wisconsin State Fair parade

Posted on
WKOW-TV 27

Braveheart?s remarkable recovery will be on display on UW-Madison Day at the Wisconsin State Fair in West Allis on Wednesday, Aug. 10. In addition, Braveheart, along with UW?s Bucky Badger will lead the daily parade around the fairgrounds that day.

Task force will review if UW System should be restructured

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

A special committee is looking into restructuring parts of the UW System. Lawmakers added the task force to the state budget after they decided not to split UW-Madison from the rest of the system. The 17-member committee will be made up of legislators, former educators and private citizens.

Braveheart to be part of Wisconsin State Fair parade

Posted on
WKOW-TV 27

Braveheart?s remarkable recovery will be on display on UW-Madison Day at the Wisconsin State Fair in West Allis on Wednesday, Aug. 10. In addition, Braveheart, along with UW?s Bucky Badger will lead the daily parade around the fairgrounds that day.

Campus Connection: Should flagship public universities remain public?

Posted on
Capital Times

It had been a few weeks since I spent much time thinking about Gov. Scott Walker and Biddy Martin?s attempt to break the University of Wisconsin-Madison away from the UW System. But on Sunday, the Chronicle of Higher Education published a commentary headlined “Why flagship public universities should stay public.”

The opinion piece is penned by Kevin Carey, the policy director of Education Sector, a think tank in Washington. It examines the topic of public flagship institutions looking to garner more autonomy from state oversight, and focuses much of its attention on the debate that took place earlier this year in Wisconsin.

Crime and Courts: Ron Johnson puts the kibosh on Louis Butler and another judicial nominee

Posted on
Capital Times

While President Obama has been successful in getting women and minorities confirmed to federal judicial posts, as this NPR story shows, two nominees in Wisconsin, a woman and an African-American, are going nowhere. That?s because of a Senate procedure that allows a single senator to thwart judicial nominees that would serve in the senator?s home state.

In this case that senator is Ron Johnson, a Republican businessman who narrowly defeated veteran Democrat Russ Feingold last fall. Johnson has vowed to block the confirmations of former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler and UW law professor Victoria Nourse.

Campus Connection: Year of the Wisconsin Idea

Posted on
Capital Times

The University of Wisconsin-Madison announced it will be celebrating the Year of the Wisconsin Idea over the next 12 months. The Wisconsin Idea is the principle that the university should improve people?s lives beyond the boarders of the classroom. Kicking off the year-long event is UW-Madison Day at the Wisconsin State Fair on Wednesday.

Recall elections won’t affect union bargaining

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Control of the state Senate – now up for grabs in recall elections – could affect issues ranging from a possible voucher school expansion in Green Bay to proposed cuts in state health care programs serving more than 1 million Wisconsin residents.

But the recall elections won?t immediately affect the issue that gave rise to them – union bargaining by public workers, legislative leaders said.

That?s because Gov. Scott Walker and his fellow Republicans who control the Assembly would ensure that the controversial repeal of most collective bargaining remains in place through this year, even if Democrats do manage to take back the Senate.

Sober assessment busts budget myths

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance broke down the $64.3 billion state budget, which the Republican governor signed into law in late June. Among its findings, the nonprofit research group calculated a 3.8 percent cut in state support for the University of Wisconsin System.

Study: Wolf hunt gathers support

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

There is wide support for a regulated wolf hunt in Wisconsin, according to a new study published by UW-Madison researchers, although that approval was more tepid among non-hunters and those who live outside wolves? range. In a study published in the journal Society and Natural Resources, Adrian Treves and Kerry Martin surveyed hunters and non-hunters in Wisconsin, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming between 2001 and 2007 to gauge their attitudes toward wolves.

Out-of-state groups send in cash to deliver recall message

Posted on
Capital Times

Sandwiched between Klinke Cleaners and Check ?n Go in a strip mall in Sun Prairie is one of the biggest financial players in Wisconsin?s historic round of recall elections. But don?t be fooled by the 1223 W. Main St., #304 address. The conservative, pro-business Wisconsin Club for Growth boasts no posh suite, just a simple mailbox at a UPS store. While its office presence may be lacking, its political influence is not.

Quoted: Charles Franklin, UW-Madison professor of political science

Campus Connection: UW-Madison phasing out most free handicap parking spaces

Posted on
Capital Times

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is in the process of eliminating most free handicapped parking spaces across campus in a move that?s being criticized by some with mobility disabilities.

“It?s just a shame the university wants to put in another obstacle, in this case a financial one, limiting my ability to have independent access to the campus,” says Monica Kamal, the founder of Madison?s Spinal Cord Injury Group and a volunteer on the UW-Madison campus.

UW study finds large dairy farms produce higher quality milk more often than small operations

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

A UW-Madison study has found that milk produced on Wisconsin?s large farms, including the controversial industrial-size operations, is often of higher quality than milk from smaller farms. Steve Ingham, who led the study while working as a UW-Madison food science professor, speculated that the bigger farms may have more money to spend on equipment or may be better able to identify and remove cows with illnesses that affect milk production, such as mastitis. Ingham, who is now the food safety division administrator at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, added that all of the state?s farms, whether large or small, produce milk that easily meets federal food safety guidelines.

Interim chief Olver appointed Madison?s new economic development director

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Aaron Olver has been appointed Madison?s new director of economic development by Mayor Paul Soglin.Olver has held the post of interim director for the past five months. Previously he served as Wisconsin?s secretary of Commerce under Gov. Jim Doyle, as well as in other positions within the state Department of Commerce.

Law prof committed to freeing wrongly convicted inmates

Posted on
Capital Times

In 1998 law professors Keith Findley and John Pray founded the Wisconsin Innocence Project at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Since then, with the help of law students, the project has reviewed thousands of cases and helped free 16 people who were imprisoned for crimes they didn?t commit.

Findley, a former public defender, now serves as president of the Innocence Network, which includes 55 innocence projects in the U.S., and 10 others in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

Top official says Wisconsin could withstand no increase in debt ceiling

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Gov. Scott Walker?s top administrator said Monday that Wisconsin is well positioned to continue providing services to residents, even if federal lawmakers fail to increase the U.S. debt ceiling by the Aug. 2 deadline.

….Some have argued that if Congress fails to approve an increase to the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, the government will be forced to stop paying for services. Federal money makes up almost 30 percent of Wisconsin?s $66 billion budget, much of it earmarked for programs such as Medicaid, UW-Madison research grants and student financial aid.

Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, UW-Madison professor of public affairs and applied economics

Gilles Bousquet: Support offered to Norwegian friends

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Norway?s tragedy has struck a chord in Wisconsin, where we have historical, cultural, economic and institutional connections with a nation known for promoting peace and understanding. Our kinship with Norway is rooted in our communities and remains vital today through educational, governmental and other official relationships, as well as individual ties.

For UW-Madison, these ties are institutional and personal, with our students and scholars involved in research and exchange there, and Norwegian scholars and students coming here to study and live.

Lawsuit to stop UW broadband expansion

Posted on
Wisconsin Radio Network

A group of telephone companies has filed a lawsuit claiming the University of Wisconsin System is unfairly using tax dollars to compete with private companies in developing broadband access. Access Wisconsin claims the UW is piggybacking off existing networks rather than laying real groundwork.

UW Prof moonlights for Prosser

Posted on
WKOW-TV 27

State campaign finance records show UW-Madison political science professor Kenneth Mayer was paid $6,500 as a consultant to state supreme court justice David Prosser?s campaign committee.

Law prof committed to freeing wrongly convicted inmates

Posted on
Capital Times

In 1998 law professors Keith Findley and John Pray founded the Wisconsin Innocence Project at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Since then, with the help of law students, the project has reviewed thousands of cases and helped free 16 people who were imprisoned for crimes they didn?t commit.

Findley, a former public defender, now serves as president of the Innocence Network, which includes 55 innocence projects in the U.S., and 10 others in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

Beloit College officials explore history and perspective in book of Mindset Lists

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Mindset Lists began as a simple way to help professors at Beloit College better relate to their students. Now, on a larger scale, the lists have proven to be a mesmerizing way to retell American history. College officials Tom McBride and Ron Nief developed the first Mindset List in 1998. It offered scores of one-liners describing events that happened before the incoming freshmen were born, reminding professors that references to those events could draw blank stares.

Chris Rickert: An Idea whose time still is here

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

As a born-and-bred Illinoisan with roots in the Chicago area, I have to ask: What is this Wisconsin Idea you speak of? So far as I can tell it has something to do with Robert La Follette, or the University of Wisconsin, or clean government ? or maybe all three. Whatever it is, it has increasingly been an occasion for mourning among the more left-leaning types I?ve interviewed, especially since Gov. Scott Walker took office.

Quoted: Kathy Cramer Walsh, UW-Madison associate professor of political science.

Footnote: Why were fake candidates allowed to run in recall primaries?

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Q: On July 12, six Republicans ran as so-called “fake Democrats” against six real Democrats to force Democratic primaries in six recall races. Their participation was orchestrated by the state Republican Party to delay the general recall elections against six Senate Republicans. Why were people who acknowledged up front they were not Democrats allowed to run as Democrats?

A: Wisconsin requires only that a candidate in a state Senate primary collect 400 signatures to get on the ballot. The candidate must choose a party to represent but does not need to attest that he or she affiliates with or supports that party, said John Coleman, a UW-Madison political science professor.

Chris Rickert: Both parties guilty in map showdowns

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

The Republican-controlled Legislature has passed its redistricting maps and Republican Gov. Scott Walker is set to sign them into law. The response from Democrats can be appropriately summed up by that hackneyed, old threat delivered by Sen. Spencer Coggs, D-Milwaukee, to his GOP colleagues: “We?ll see you in court.”

Quoted: David Canon, UW-Madison professor of political science.

State trims back plans for Charter Street power plant

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

The state will cut back significantly on its plans for electrical generation at UW-Madison?s Charter Street power plant, the state Department of Administration announced Friday, saying there?s plenty of reserve energy already available. Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch made the call to forgo a steam turbine generator, which should save the state between $8 million and $10 million, said Christopher Schoenherr, Huebsch?s executive assistant.

Wis. judge rules against telecom company

Posted on
Madison.com

A Dane County judge has ruled against a telecommunications company that wanted to slow down a broadband project in rural communities. The University of Wisconsin System and others were awarded more than $37 million in grants for the project. Its goal is to deliver telecommunications capabilities to schools, hospitals and emergency services. But Wisconsin Independent Telecommunications Systems, which operates as Access Wisconsin, filed a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the project.