The aggressive protest tactics and arrests of late remind Charles Franklin, political science professor at UW-Madison, of other recent moments of intense political heat: tea party protests.
Category: State news
Packers: Trophy-toting McCarthy visits Children?s Hospital
Madison.com
New Orleans coach Sean Payton slept with the Lombardi Trophy after his team won Super Bowl XLIV. Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy just seems to be taking it everywhere he goes.
?I?m noticed a little bit more because of this thing,? McCarthy said Sunday afternoon during a news conference at the American Family Children?s Hospital on the University of Wisconsin campus.
UW may still give illegal immigrants lower tuition
Wisconsin State Journal
There are ways for universities to reduce tuition for illegal immigrants, even if state lawmakers vote to stop offering them in-state tuition, according to a lawyer for the University of Wisconsin System. Chancellors have wide discretion in offering students lower tuition rates, UW System General Counsel Tomas Stafford said Thursday. For example, schools have access to a pool of institutional aid that could be used to reduce tuition for illegal immigrants. But Kevin Reilly, president of the UW System, told the Regents Friday that ?it is our intent to comply fully with the letter and the spirit of this law, if it is passed.?
Campus Connection: UW researchers may soon be exempt from animal cruelty statutes
Capital Times
Should scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison be exempt from state statutes pertaining to crimes against animals as long as the investigators are “engaged in bona fide scientific research?”
Scientists at colleges and universities across the state were granted these protections June 3 by the Joint Finance Committee in a measure tucked into an omnibus motion see item No. 27 in this document which mostly deals with UW System budget issues — including the new freedoms and flexibilities state campuses were awarded from state oversight.
State Democrats announce plan to keep recalls on Aug. 9
Wisconsin State Journal
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Assessing the impact of Walkerville
Wisconsin State Journal
On a grassy hill spilling from the state Capitol down toward Carroll Street, two dozen protesters ? a mother and her eighth-grade daughter among them ? sat around a lantern for a nightly “town council” meeting led by a large, bearded man in a “Vets for Peace” T-shirt. A younger man with a spiked mohawk walked by on the sidewalk holding a “Free Solidarity Hugs” sign. Across the street, a UW-Madison graduate student sat beside a four-person tent brushing his teeth while reading Hunter S. Thompson by headlamp. Welcome to bedtime in Walkerville.
WiscNet measure sparks debate
Green Bay Press-Gazette
Local educators say a provision suddenly added to the proposed state budget could crimp their ability to afford Internet service, while technology companies that support the measure say it would allow private providers to compete fairly to offer the service.
UW may still give illegal immigrants lower tuition (AP)
There are ways for universities to reduce tuition for illegal immigrants, even if state lawmakers vote to stop offering them in-state tuition, according to a lawyer for the University of Wisconsin System.
Our view: Broadband service key for growth (LaCrosse Tribune)
It?s a new week in Wisconsin ? time to fight another new threat to education funding.
Busy week ahead at the Capitol
Wisconsin Radio Network
Large groups of protesters are expected to be back around the Capitol building this week, as the Legislature gets set to debate and pass the state?s next two year budget.
Concealed carry compromise advances
Wisconsin Radio Network
Those wishing to carry a concealed weapon in Wisconsin would have to obtain a permit and meet training requirements, under a compromise bill advanced Thursday by the Legislature?s Joint Finance Committee.
Legislature to take up Gov. Walker’s budget proposal
WKOW-TV 27
The Wisconsin Legislature will take up Gov. Walker?s first budget starting Tuesday.
Budget Provision Could End Internet Access For Some
WISC-TV 3
The proposed state budget could end up denying Internet access to many Wisconsin residents, because if it is passed as currently written, four rural communities around the state could see their Internet disconnected.
Walker’s budget ends in-state tuition for Illegal immigrants
WKOW-TV 27
lawyer for the University of Wisconsin System says there are ways for its colleges to offer tuition breaks to illegal immigrants even if state lawmakers approve a provision to end the practice.
UW may still give illegal immigrants lower tuition
Madison.com
There are ways for universities to reduce tuition for illegal immigrants, even if state lawmakers vote to stop offering them in-state tuition, according to a lawyer for the University of Wisconsin System. Chancellors have wide discretion in offering students lower tuition rates, UW System General Counsel Tomas Stafford said Thursday. For example, schools have access to a pool of institutional aid that could be used to reduce tuition for illegal immigrants.
Lawyer: In-State Tuition Possible For Illegal Immigrants
WISC-TV 3
A lawyer for the University of Wisconsin System said there are ways for its colleges to offer tuition breaks to illegal immigrants even if state lawmakers approve a provision to end the practice.
Chancellors can lower illegal immigrant tuition, Regents told – JSOnline
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
University of Wisconsin System officials said Thursday they can offer significant tuition breaks to illegal immigrants even if lawmakers approve provisions in the state budget designed to curtail that practice.
Telecom measure could cost UW
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The University of Wisconsin would have to return nearly $40 million in federal funds – money intended to pay for community networks and improve broadband service for public entities – if a state budget provision aimed at protecting rural telecommunications providers becomes law. UW officials say the proposal also would prevent research universities in the state from participating in a high-speed system that connects them with research universities nationwide. “The consequences would be catastrophic,” said Paul DeLuca, provost at UW-Madison.
WisBusiness.com: WisBusiness: Expert sees room to improve Wisconsin’s long-term economic prospects
www.wisbusiness.com
Wisconsin?s economy is faring pretty well in the short term, but the long-term outlook looks shakier. At the Wisconsin Real Estate and Economic Outlook Conference at the Fluno Center in Madison Thursday, University of Wisconsin Foundation president and CEO Michael Knetter said Wisconsin has been swimming too slowly as global tides shift to technology-based economies. ?Our economic growth outlook as a state is not great in terms of the long-term fundamentals,? Knetter, former dean of the Wisconsin School of Business, told WisBusiness.com after his speech. Controversy has raged over the past few months over Walker?s efforts to curb collective bargaining for public employees, give the UW-Madison control over its own spending and policies and cut government services.
Demonstrators likely to return to state capitol next week (AP)
The Walker administration says it?s getting ready for large crowds of protestors next week, when the full Legislature takes up the proposed new state budget. About 60 people protested against the new state budget outside a building at UW-Madison where Governor Scott Walker was speaking yesterday.
As protesters pound on walls, Walker tells housing conferees, ?That?s opportunity knocking?
Wisconsin State Journal
“That?s opportunity knocking for all of us now.”
Gov. Scott Walker got his biggest applause line for that off-hand remark, made midway through his keynote address Thursday at an annual housing conference at UW-Madison. It came right after four hard, booming knocks ? clearly audible over Walker?s words in the packed Fluno Center auditorium ? as protesters opposed to the governor?s budget-cutting policies pounded their disdain on the outside walls of the building.
On Campus: Regents oppose ‘attack’ on UW System’s broadband efforts
Wisconsin State Journal
The UW Board of Regents vowed Thursday to fight legislation that would force the University of Wisconsin System to return millions in federal grant money and cut off support for a statewide Internet provider.
“This is the largest threat I?ve seen to our enterprise since I?ve been here,” UW-Madison Provost Paul DeLuca told the Regents.
Rhonda Puntney: Crippling WiscNet would hurt libraries and schools
Capital Times
On June 3, the state Legislature?s Joint Committee on Finance slipped several policy items into the state biennial budget that would change the way the Internet service provider WiscNet operates and require the University of Wisconsin to return more than $32 million in federal grant money awarded in August 2010 for a broadband expansion project.
The proposed changes to WiscNet could result in schools, libraries and institutions of higher education paying two to three times more for Internet access from for-profit providers. Actually, it?s more accurate to say that taxpayers would foot the increased bill, or library patrons and students would no longer have the access they need and want. The policy changes would also disrupt the ability of the UW to pursue its research and education mission.
Silent ?zombie? protesters arrested at Capitol
Wisconsin State Journal
A dozen silent demonstrators wearing zombie makeup and protest T-shirts were arrested early Wednesday afternoon after lying down on the floor of a legislator?s Capitol offices and refusing to leave.
Plan Would Force U. of Wisconsin to Return $39-Million in U.S. Broadband Grants
Chronicle of Higher Education
A budget approved by a legislative committee last week would force the University of Wisconsin to return $39-million in federal grants awarded to expand high-speed Internet access across the state, state education officials said.
Joint Finance opposes federal money for broadband expansion
Wisconsin Public Radio
A battle is brewing over internet connectivity after the legislature?s budget committee approved legislation late last week that would return a big federal grant for broadband and end the UW System?s support of a public service internet provider.
UW faces return of $37M for broadband expansion in 11th hour bill (WTN News)
Wisconsin Technology Network
UW System support for a statewide high-speed network that supplies schools, hospitals and municipal governments across Wisconsin with necessary bandwidth would be severely curtailed under a proposal approved by the Republican controlled Joint Finance Committee.
Property Trax: Obama adviser Elizabeth Warren out, too busy to keynote UW-Madison real estate conference Thursday
Wisconsin State Journal
Elizabeth Warren, the leader of President Barack Obama?s controversial new mortgage industry watchdog, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will not speak at a UW-Madison conference on real estate and the economy this week. But she is sending an official from her agency, Patricia McCoy, to give a short presentation about the CFPB?s new mortgage disclosure program. Other speakers include Gov. Scott Walker, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan and Michael Knetter, former dean of UW-Madison?s School of Business and now president of the UW Foundation.
Steve Kantrowitz: Privatized broadband access next with GOP
Wisconsin State Journal
The news that Republican legislators plan to send back $37 million in funding for broadband access should come as no surprise, since Republicans have made it clear they want to replace everything from Medicare to public education with privatized voucher systems, while forbidding local governments to provide services available in the for-profit market.
Renter protections would be ‘wiped out’ by fast-tracked Republican measure, advocates warn
Capital Times
Madison city officials and housing advocates are reeling from a one-two punch delivered by new GOP legislation that threatens to erase several decades worth of renter protections enacted here and Mayor Paul Soglin has come out swinging in response.
Rob Harper: Don?t kill broadband effort in rural areas
Wisconsin State Journal
The Joint Finance Committee slipped into the budget bill an attack on rural Internet access which will kill a federally funded UW-Extension program to expand broadband service in underserved areas and cripple WiscNet, a public-private partnership that helps school districts and libraries get online…The amendment saves no taxpayer dollars and prevents Wisconsin from using a major federal grant.The UW System was built on the notion that public universities should use their resources to benefit the public. I urge the Legislature to remove this provision.
State superintendent criticizes budget committee for threatening WiscNet
Wisconsin State Journal
Wisconsin state Superintendent Tony Evers is blasting a decision by the Legislature?s budget-writing committee to reject about $39 million in federal money to extend broadband Internet access across the state. The Joint Finance Committee voted Friday to force the University of Wisconsin System to return the money and no longer support WiscNet, a non-profit cooperative that brings high-speed Internet services to about 75 percent of public schools in Wisconsin and nearly all public libraries. Evers said Tuesday that the move would likely mean WiscNet could no longer provide Internet services and if that happens schools and libraries will have to pay double or three times what they do now. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says the issue may be revisited before the budget is voted on next week.
Students to stage die-in, zombie march at Capitol
Capital Times
The term “you?re killing me” will take on a whole new life in Madison on Wednesday, as college students from across Wisconsin protest what they call anti-student legislation. The students will be “dying” and then dragging their returned-to-life zombie bodies around Capitol Square at noon Wednesday in a protest planned by the United Council of University of Wisconsin Students.
Editorial: A First Step For Martin & UW
WISC-TV 3
It is accurate to say UW Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin did not get everything she wanted with her New Badger Partnership proposal. And that?s too bad because, in fact, she is right
Budget woes for WI universities (WXOW-TV, La Crosse)
UW-Madison will remain a part of the University of Wisconsin System. However, UW schools are expecting massive cuts in the state budget.
Wis. Senate leader says budget changes being eyed (AP)
Wausau Daily Herald
Wisconsin state Superintendent Tony Evers is blasting a decision by the Legislature?s budget-writing committee to reject about $39 million in federal money to extend broadband Internet access across the state.
UW, Schools Voice Concerns About Budget Measure Affecting Internet
WISC-TV 3
A provision put into the state budget bill late last week could have wide-ranging affects for the University of Wisconsin and public schools around the state.
Editorial: New UW split plan seems like a good alternative
Green Bay Press-Gazette
The state budget package approved last week at the committee level contains no plan to split the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the UW System, a wise move at this juncture.
UW System broadband expansion plan in danger
Wisconsin State Journal
The University of Wisconsin System would be forced to return about $37 million in federal funds intended to extend broadband Internet across Wisconsin, under a provision passed by the Legislature?s budget committee Friday. The legislation would also prohibit UW System campuses from supporting WiscNet, a cooperative that brings high-speed Internet to most schools and libraries across the state. Campus leaders say they fear the change could cripple the network.
Justices dissect collective bargaining bill
WKOW-TV 27
The state supreme court had a long day, nearly 7 hours of questions, answers and arguments about the collective bargaining bill.
Supreme Court Hears Arguments In Union Case
WISC-TV 3
The state Supreme Court heard arguments Monday on whether to take up a lawsuit over the state?s polarizing collective bargaining law.
Supreme Court To Hear Collective Bargaining Arguments Monday
WISC-TV 3
The state Supreme Court will hear arguments on Monday morning on whether to take up a lawsuit over the collective bargaining law.
Budget deal keeps Madison campus in UW System
Madison.com
The University of Wisconsin?s flagship Madison campus would receive more flexibility in how it operates but it would also remain part of the university system under changes to Gov. Scott Walker?s budget approved by a legislative committee Friday. Funding to all campuses would be cut 11 percent, the same level Walker proposed. The Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee voted along party lines 12-4 to reject Walker?s proposal to break Madison off from the 13-campus system before completing work on the budget shortly after midnight early Saturday morning. While Madison would remain in the system, it and all the campuses would have more flexibility in how they spend state money and make decisions related to personnel and other areas.
Joint Finance Committee finishes work on budget
Wisconsin State Journal
The Legislature?s powerful budget committee has finished its work on Gov. Scott Walker?s two-year spending plan. The budget now heads to the full Legislature, where debates in the state Assembly and Senate are expected to begin in about a week. The GOP-controlled Joint Finance Committee finished soon after midnight Saturday morning. The budget balances a projected $3 billion budget hole. It does not raise taxes overall, but makes sharp cuts to public schools and the University of Wisconsin.
UW-Madison independence idea officially dead, legislators float alternative
Wisconsin State Journal
Legislators officially killed plans Friday to turn UW-Madison into an independent authority, opting instead to give more flexibility to every campus in the University of Wisconsin System. The new plan would give all of the state universities and two-year colleges greater freedom over personnel and property decisions and provide university leaders a block grant that would allow the individual schools to keep money saved through cost-saving measures. The proposal unveiled Friday would also create a panel of experts to study ways to add even more flexibility to the university system.
Budget Committee Votes To Bar UW Abortions
WISC-TV 3
MADISON, Wis. — Republicans have voted to ban using state money to pay for abortions at a Madison medical facility where they aren?t being performed. The GOP-controlled budget committee of the Legislature voted on Friday to ban using state money for abortions at the Madison Surgery Center, which is operated by the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority.
UW-Madison to stay in system, budget panel says
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Wrapping up its work Friday amid more protests, the Legislature?s budget committee voted to cut taxes for manufacturers, keep the state?s flagship university as part of the University of Wisconsin System and open up a possible Milwaukee-style school voucher program in Green Bay.
State’s certified capital proposal put on hold
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Mentions a 2010 report written by Donald A. Nichols, a retired University of Wisconsin-Madison economics professor.
Susan Michetti: Stress from job insecurity adds to health care costs
Capital Times
Dear Editor: Gov. Scott Walker decreased state employees? take-home pay and their ability to meet their personal budgets and keep their homes. This clearly caused chronic heightened stress.
….Media reports regarding medical excuses written by physicians missed this key information, which more accurately answers the ?why? question for those stories in terms of the Hippocratic Oath.
Wisconsin Protesters Erect ‘Walkerville’ Tent City To Protest Scott Walker’s Budget Cuts
Huffington Post
Quoted: Peter Rickman, a University of Wisconsin-Madison law student and Teaching Assistants? Association member.
What?s Next for Wisconsin?
Inside Higher Education
The state has also been home to a highly charged fight — now reaching its climax — over whether to grant autonomy and administrative flexibility to the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The debate has been closely watched in other states where college officials and lawmakers are questioning assumptions about the relationship between state governments and their public institutions of higher education, particularly flagships, as public funding continues to dry up.
Committee ends work on the two-year budget
Wisconsin Radio Network
The University of Wisconsin-Madison campus remains part of the entire UW System, under the budget passed through the Joint Finance Committee early this morning. Amid several disruptions by protesters, the Republican-controlled panel continued its work, opting against consideration of Governor Scott Walker?s proposal to split the system and give the flagship campus individual authority.
Budget deal keeps Madison campus in UW System (AP)
BusinessWeek
The University of Wisconsin?s flagship Madison campus would receive more flexibility in how it operates but it would also remain part of the university system under changes to Gov. Scott Walker?s budget approved by a legislative committee Friday. Funding to all campuses would be cut 11 percent, the same level Walker proposed.
UW discussion needs to be thoughtful, deliberative
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
As the Wisconsin Idea has long been a model for public higher education in this country, it is a propitious time to at once reaffirm and replenish our public commitment. Just over a half-century ago, Helen C. White reaffirmed Wisconsin?s motto of public higher education, calling again for a “continual and fearless sifting and winnowing in the pursuit of truth.”
Now is the time to reaffirm that creed, seize the moment and re-imagine public higher education both in Wisconsin and across our nation. [A column by Geoffrey Mamerow, a doctoral student in higher education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Clifton Conrad is professor of higher education at UW-Madison.]
Campus Connection: Some freedoms from state oversight to be granted to all UW campuses
Capital Times
University of Wisconsin System campuses will be granted some freedoms from state oversight on budgeting, personnel, construction and purchasing when the Legislature?s Republican-led budget-writing committee meets later Friday.
UW-Madison will get some of what it wants (AP)
WEAU TV (Eau Claire)
The Madison campus will remain a part of the University of Wisconsin System under changes to be approved by the Legislature?s budget committee, but it and other campuses will be given new flexibilities.
UW-Madison to stay in system, with flexibilities for all campuses
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The state’s flagship university will remain part of the University of Wisconsin System, with all public universities receiving deep cuts but also new flexibilities from state rules, under a proposal coming before lawmakers Friday.
State budget panel targets police, fire benefits
Wisconsin State Journal
The Legislature?s budget committee re-opened the fight over collective bargaining rights shortly after midnight on Friday, proposing that newly hired police and firefighters be forced to pay more for their health insurance and pension benefits. The change, approved by the Republican-controlled committee on an 11-4 party line vote, would force police and firefighters to make the same level of contributions as other public workers as required under a bill pushed by Gov. Scott Walker and passed by the Legislature in March.
Capitol protest, version 2, may start Saturday
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Peter Rickman, a leader in the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s Teaching Assistants Association.
Freedom for all
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Now that an ill-conceived plan to cleave the Madison campus from the rest of the University of Wisconsin System is dead, state lawmakers need to take a deep breath and carefully consider the best options for UW. Unfortunately, there still seems to be a rush to make changes as part of the state budget.
A better idea: Consider these matters as a separate bill.