Wisconsin Real Estate Magazine has a good read this month from UW-Madison real estate expert Stephen Malpezzi on the state?s 2011 economic outlook, with a focus on housing markets.
The economic recovery is gracing businesses in northeastern Wisconsin more quickly than those in other parts of the state, including the Madison area, according to a survey sponsored by First Business Bank.
With two unionized colleges in the UW System and four more looking to do the same, there are concerns about what the presence of unions means for shared governance at UW campuses.
A good showing for the stock market in 2010 has helped boost the state?s retirement accounts for public employees. But it?s too soon to tell if the increase will be enough to avert another reduction in the pensions of some retirees, officials said Tuesday.
….The defense of public employees ? so essential to a functional society, and yet so frequently abused by the powerful players who would diminish the role of government in order to enhance their own wealth and authority ? is as vital a struggle today as it was in 1968.
As Gov. Scott Walker and his legislative allies target public employees for abuse, it is as necessary for the right-minded and right-hearted people of Wisconsin to defend those workers as it was for the right-minded and right-hearted people of Memphis.
Quoted: UW-Madison economist Andy Reschovsky.
Dear Editor: When you talk to people about politics there is one refrain that comes up over and over again: ?Those on the left and the right are the problem, we should get rid of those extremists.? This simple-minded reductionism leaves the impression that both groups are a negative force and are essentially the same. People who make these remarks view themselves as pragmatic and able to compromise.
(Author quotes UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden.)
A successful strategy must build on strengths. We need economic and regulatory policies tailored to our diverse regions. A successful strategy must address our deficit in technology-intensive industries and college-educated workers. We will only catch up economically if we can employ more of those college graduates we already produce. Because the competition is stiff, we must focus on developing that sector where it has the best chance of success – in close proximity to major research institutions and population centers.
That’s according to a column by Michael Knetter, president and CEO of the UW Foundation and former dean of the Wisconsin School of Business.
Quoted: UW-Madison political science professor Kenneth Mayer.
Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, a professor of applied economics at UW-Madison.
A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial examining Gov. Scott Walker’s first steps toward job creation mentions that lawmakers also should ensure that the University of Wisconsin System remains adequately funded and is given the operational flexibility it needs.
Some experts believe there might be more organizations in the state that could use their investment muscle in a similar way.
“The SWIB announcement may start a new Wisconsin trend toward increased venture investing among public endowments, such as the UW Foundation and WARF the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation,” said Tom Hefty, former top executive of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Wisconsin and a longtime advocate of strategies for luring more venture capital to the state.
….”What happens to folks who have worked 25 or 30 years, dedicated their life to the Department of Commerce?” said Marty Beil, executive director of AFSCME. “What do you say to them? Adios, thanks for the job? No.” Unions that represent workers in the Commerce Department said they may challenge the move. Both AFSCME and AFT-Wisconsin have members who work in Commerce.
“I think we?ve got both contractual and some legal standing in this issue, and we may very well fight this legally,” said Beil. “We?re going to do what has to happen to protect our workers.” Beil cited the University of Wisconsin Hospital and the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority as places the unions worked with government to create public-private partnerships where employees are still with the state.
Dear Editor: I believe, since the wages paid to the employees of the State of Wisconsin Employees Pension Plan are funded by the taxpayer, anyone who is employed in Wisconsin and has money being placed into a pension fund, or if a person desires to self-fund an account, should be allowed to invest in the state pension plan. It would be safer from mismanagement, business failure, embezzlement, etc.
With all the talk about slashing government spending, you?d think the Department of Corrections would be part of the conversation. But Gov. Scott Walker has had little to say about the department, which at $2.5 billion was the third largest expenditure in the 2009-11 budget.
Quoted: Walter Dickey, UW-Madison law professor and former secretary of the Department of Corrections
The University of Wisconsin System?s Board of Regents and the Office of State Employment Relations filed a motion in Dane County Circuit Court last month asking that the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission be ordered to stop moving forward with plans to hold unit clarification hearings for academic staff working on six UW System campuses.
….”The vast majority of academic staff at UW-Madison support and are pleased to see this court filing by UW System and OSER,” says Heather Daniels, a program specialist in UW-Madison’s Graduate School who is chair of the Academic Staff Executive Committee.
Indeed, virtually all academic staff on the UW-Madison campus have long been against being absorbed into unions without getting a vote on the matter.
President Barack Obama has again nominated former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler for a federal judgeship. Butler now teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, an economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Former Sen. Russ Feingold will join the Marquette University Law School faculty as visiting professor of law beginning the spring semester 2011, according to a Marquette press release sent out Wednesday. According to the release, Feingold will teach an elective course, Current Legal Issues: The U.S. Senate.
Two days into the regime change that has ushered in the most right-wing state government of our lifetimes, a question begs to be answered: How should minority Democrats try to mitigate the potential damage to ideals that progressives and moderates hold dear?
….(Senator Fred) Risser says many constituents who work for the state or the University of Wisconsin-Madison are deeply discouraged.
?There is a lot of apprehension and a reduction in morale,? he says. ?State employees have been made a whipping boy by the incoming governor. They are not to blame for this recession.?
Quoted: UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden
The leader of Wisconsin?s state employees says labor is not ?rolling over? for Governor Scott Walker. AFSCME Council 24 Executive Director Marty Beil says labor in Wisconsin will be watching Governor Scott Walker closely, particularly when it comes to his goal of producing 250,000 new jobs
The first day of the 100th session of the Wisconsin State Legislature was more about ceremony than anything else; the most significant measure that passed in the Senate was the legislative calendar.
Wisconsin Republicans promised the next two years would be all about jobs, jobs and more jobs. But they kicked off their first day in complete control of state government Monday by circulating bills on voter registration, all-terrain vehicles, stem cells and self-defense.
Vowing to tackle the state?s economic woes, Republican Scott Walker was sworn in as Wisconsin?s 45th governor at an inauguration ceremony in the state Capitol Rotunda on Monday.
Gov. Scott Walker has released more details about what he wants Wisconsin lawmakers to do in a special session he?s calling that will officially begin on Tuesday.
Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature are ready for a special session on jobs and the economy ? and beyond. Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald says ?the silent majority? spoke at the polls November Second, and now it?s time for the legislature to deliver.
Aggressive. Powerful. Goal-oriented. Cut from Tommy Thompson?s mold. That?s how people are describing the governing style of Republican Scott Walker, who hasn?t exactly sat around waiting to be sworn in as the state?s 45th governor.
On the contrary, he instructed the current Democratic administration to halt negotiations on state union contracts and traveled to Washington to tell the Obama administration he wasn?t interested in federal stimulus money for high-speed rail previously secured by Gov. Jim Doyle. While the move cost the state thousands of potential jobs, it was an early political win with his base.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, UW-Madison professor of political science
Dear Editor: Gov.-elect Scott Walker?s proposal to change the way state agency rules are approved has an appealing ring, as expressed in a recent opinion piece by Journal Sentinel writer Patrick McIlheran.
In essence Walker is calling for a procedure that abandons the current ?passive approval? by the Legislature to the individual approval by the governor of each new or modified agency rule. Such a move would place enormous power in the hands of the governor while stifling the ability of agencies to develop processes by which they operate and ultimately serve the Wisconsin public.
Quoted: Richelle Winkler at the University of Wisconsin?s Applied Population Laboratory.
Governor-elect Scott Walker took time during halftime of the Rose Bowl to thank troops serving overseas.
Three state public defender offices and four University of Wisconsin System campuses will shut down Thursday for a furlough day.
Economists and commodity specialists from UW-Madison and UW-River Falls will review the financial condition of the state?s farm sector at the fourth annual Agricultural Economic Outlook Forum on Jan. 19 at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St.
The state?s bleak budget outlook brightened a bit Monday, as state officials projected that Wisconsin will take in $57 million more in taxes this year than previously expected and $235?million more over the following two years.
First you couldn?t believe it when Gov.-elect Scott Walker turned away $810 million in federal money, even though that was one of his major campaign issues. Now you believe that Biddy Martin wants more flexibility in state purchasing and hiring rules to “deal with cuts.”
UW-Madison will be closed on Thursday for the second of four mandated furlough days this school year, and all state offices will be closed on Friday for the New Year?s holiday since New Year?s Day is Saturday.
The UW-Madison news service said Dec. 30 was chosen for a furlough day to avoid interfering with any instruction and to minimize disruption for the university community.
According to a recent campus update from Chancellor Biddy Martin, Wisconsin state tax dollars make up about 18 percent of UW-Madison?s operating budget.
Wisconsin Gov.-elect Scott Walker and the new Republican Legislature have declared war on working people. They want to abolish public employee unions and turn Wisconsin into a so-called right-to-work state, meaning no more union shops and no more dues from anyone who objects. This also means no more pressure from anywhere to keep wages at a livable level for anyone, union or not.
It?s all under the guise of cutting the state?s $3 billion budget deficit and creating 250,000 jobs.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin: What do you give a Big Ten Conference chancellor whose football team is playing in the Rose Bowl? How about a new research building to rival anything on the east or west coasts? Nope, she?s already got that: It?s called the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery. What Martin really needs is management flexibility for a campus unlikely to see a state budget increase. A gift certificate for yoga lessons will help her limber up.
We know what the UW Madison wants for the New Year – if not for Christmas – the freedom and flexibility to operate more efficiently and effectively with fewer state resources. Chancellor Biddy Martin calls in the Badger Partnership and it?s a new business model that would give the UW greater freedom to generate and manage resources on its own.
MADISON, Wis. — Will Wisconsin?s public employees be retiring in droves in the new year? Numbers show more state workers than usual are considering it. In the past two weeks, hundreds of workers have been looking into retirement, and some said it?s because they feel they need to get out now.
Noted: In Wisconsin, all public university employees are being required to take eight unpaid furlough days this year, one of them on 30 December. The other mandatory furloughs are scheduled during holiday periods, too. “These days were chosen to avoid interfering with any instruction and to minimise disruption to the university community,” said Dennis Chaptman, a spokesman for the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
With the state facing a projected budget deficit of as much as $3.3 billion and considering past rifts between Republican lawmakers and the university, UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin could be forgiven for sounding pessimistic about the future of her campus.
The Center on Wisconsin Strategy always offers a different spin on the numbers and its latest “Wisconsin Jobs Outlook” suggests just how bad the recession has been on Milwaukee.
Or more specifically, we’re talking about the Milwaukee Metropolitan Statistical Area or MSA, which includes Milwaukee, West Allis and Waukesha.
“Hi, I?m Kathy. I?m from UW-Madison. Do you mind if I join you?”
Those words, or some variation, provided an introduction at gas stations, coffee shops, cafes and churches across small-town Wisconsin.
While those of us ensconced in Madison scratch our heads about why so many in Wisconsin appear to dislike or distrust us, associate professor Katherine Cramer Walsh ventured out to hear it first-hand. So how did people respond?
A report is released by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute on administrative flexibilities for UW and accountability measures.
Quoted: UW-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin.
Thanks to a $10 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and matching funds from the state, UW-Madison hopes to enhance its commitment to the humanities. The grant is intended to support core areas of study, hire new faculty, and support postdoctoral and graduate students, the university announced in a press release Monday.
Quoted: Poverty report?s author, Katherine Curtis, demographic specialist at UW Extension and an assistant professor at UW-Madison.
UW-Madison will get $20 million for research and education in the humanities – $10 million from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and $10 million from the state of Wisconsin. The Mellon grant required a match of state funds, which Gov. Jim Doyle agreed to commit.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist David Canon, an expert on redistricting.
The nomination of former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler to a federal judgeship in Madison would be scuttled under a reported deal that would permit a Senate confirmation vote on 19 noncontroversial judicial nominations by President Barack Obama before Congress adjourns. Story also quotes UW-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin.
MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Madison has received a $10 million grant to enhance education and research in the humanities.The grant announced Monday comes from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The state will match the award.Gov. Jim Doyle said in a statement that the money will allow the humanities program at UW-Madison to grow and prosper.
Outgoing state Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, who is closing up shop at the Capitol next month after 26 years in the Assembly, has another job lined up at UW-Madison, where he?ll teach a graduate-level environmental policy course.
State money is tight. But so are state mandates. That?s why incoming Gov. Scott Walker should accept UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin?s smart bid for greater flexibility. Martin understands the state is facing a more than $3 billion budget shortfall. She gets it that Walker doesn?t want to raise taxes. So she?s diligently preparing for flat or falling aid to University of Wisconsin System schools, including the flagship campus in Madison. Instead of whining about looming cuts like other local officials, Martin is highlighting ways the state can “help us help ourselves.”
Sara Stichert and thousands of other state employees woke up Thursday morning to the news that they would still be working without a contract after the state Senate failed to approve new contracts in a special legislative session.
The Legislature this week failed to pass state employee contracts that run up through July of next year, leaving the task to the new Republican majority. Those contracts are already 18 months overdue, and the outcome of the extraordinary session could lead to even longer delays.
Dear Editor: It is immensely disappointing to see that UW Health and Meriter Hospital have given up so easily on the women of our state. They made a commitment in January 2009 to provide second-trimester abortions when necessary, and now they have revoked it, leaving a huge void in the health care system for women all across our state.
Wisconsin lawmakers are outraged at one of their own following a failed fight to pass new contracts for thousands of state workers.
State Assembly Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, said he believes the 2 percent salary increase recommended for University of Wisconsin System staff and faculty has a slim chance of survival in the governor?s proposed budget.
