Category: State news

The University of Wisconsin-Madison will be closed Friday, one of four designated campus-wide furlough days scheduled this year in accordance with the mandate approved in the 2009-11 state budget.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison will be closed Friday, one of four designated campus-wide furlough days scheduled this year in accordance with the mandate approved in the 2009-11 state budget.

Campus workers also have to take four furlough days of their own this year, part of the 16 unpaid furlough days in the two-year budget cycle for all state workers including those on University of Wisconsin campuses.

MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Historical Museum in Madison is celebrating next monthâ??s 40th anniversary of Earth Day with an exhibit on its founder.

The University of Minnesota faculty senate voted Thursday to allow a 1.15 percent reduction in salaries for faculty in the academic year 2010-11. Mentions employee furloughs at UW-Madison.

For now, the diploma privilege remains exclusive to graduates of Wisconsinâ??s law schools and no others. The privilege, unique in the nation, allows graduates of the stateâ??s two law schools to join the state bar without taking the exam required of new graduates from all other law schools.

Points out that the University of Wisconsin has not done comparison tests of raw and pasteurized milk because the testing would cost several hundred thousand dollars, would take several years to complete, and no one has asked for it. Story also quotes Rusty Bishop, director of the Center for Dairy Research at the university.

The idea behind the Milwaukee and Racine initiatives is the work of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy founder Joel Rogers, a MacArthur Fellow whoâ??s also a leader of Emerald Cities Collaborative, a national initiative.

The UW System said they are unable to comply with a 2005 law requiring all state agencies to post their contract agreements online because of technology problems.

Lake lovers will hear how they can preserve Wisconsinâ??s waters at the annual Wisconsin Lakes Convention later this month in Green Bay. The Wisconsin Lakes Partnership, a collaboration between the Wisconsin Lakes Association, the state Department of Natural Resources and the University of Wisconsin-Extension, is sponsoring the gathering.

The man appointed to the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents says he hopes to be a role model for Native American students. Eau Claire attorney Edmund Manydeeds is an enrolled member of South Dakotaâ??s Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Heâ??s also a 1973 graduate of UW-Superior and the UW-Madison law school. Wisconsin Public Radio reports that one of Manydeedâ??s top priorities is accessibility to higher education.

A state lawmaker wants to require public buildings be constructed to green standards despite fears by project owners that the law would bust their project budgets.

A civil trial attorney from Eau Claire will be the newest member of the UW Board of Regents. Gov. Jim Doyle announced the appointment of Edmund Manydeeds today and reappointed current Regent Mark Bradley. Both appointments will expire May 1, 2017.

A civil trial attorney from Eau Claire will be the newest member of the UW Board of Regents.

Gov. Jim Doyle announced the appointment of Edmund Manydeeds today and reappointed current Regent Mark Bradley. Both appointments will expire May 1, 2017.

….Manydeeds has served on the governorâ??s Judicial Selection Committee and with the Office of Lawyer Regulation. He has a bachelorâ??s of arts from UW-Superior and a law degree from UW-Madisonâ??s law school. He will replace Eileen Connolly-Keesler, whose term expires this year.

For the second year in a row, the Wisconsin Retirement System will reduce monthly payments to retirees invested in the systemâ??s Core Fund annuity beginning May 1.

Mentions that among members of the stakeholders panel, seven including representatives of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Wisconsin Deer Hunters Association, Wisconsin County Forest Association and Wisconsin Woodland Owners Association voted to hold the line at the board-adopted goal of 745,636 deer.

Faculty at University of Wisconsin campuses in Eau Claire and Superior could be the first to form unions under a new law giving academic workers that right, organizers said Wednesday.

University of Wisconsin research assistants could be the first state employees in Wisconsin to form unions without an election. The Democratic-controlled Legislature last year granted research assistants collective bargaining rights for the first time. But unlike other state employees, lawmakers gave them the ability to unionize immediately if a simple majority of them signs a card in support.

University of Wisconsin System research assistants could be the first state employees in Wisconsin to unionize without holding an election under a little-noticed law passed last year.

The average 2009-10 salary of a University of Wisconsin professor has decreased from previous years due in part to state mandated furlough days.

State lawmakers on Monday proposed tighter restrictions on high-capacity wells, including reviews of well plans that would affect smaller springs and allowing anyone to challenge applications. The billâ??s authors, Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, and Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison, announced the legislation during a news conference at a spring in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum woods.

Legislation that would place stronger checks on the University of Wisconsin Systemâ??s use of eminent domain has apparently stalled in committee.

A bill that would require the UW Board of Regents to get approval from the state Legislature before condemning private property has likely stalled in committee.

Could pension funding for government workers turn into an issue in the governorâ??s race? It hasnâ??t come up yet that Iâ??ve seen, but a report issued last week by the conservative Wisconsin Public Research Institute showing the difference in retirement benefits for public and private sector workers is continuing to draw fire in government circles.

Wednesday, the secretary of the Department of Employee Trust Funds issued a statement attacking the instituteâ??s report, which estimated that state and local taxpayers could save $600 million per year by forcing workers to contribute to their pension plans. Currently, employees pay nothing.

It sure seems like Gov. Jim Doyle promised 50,000 Wisconsin schoolchildren more than he could deliver, but his spokesman insists the promise is being fulfilled. Itâ??s too soon to tell.

A bill that would increase legislative oversight of the University of Wisconsin Systemâ??s use of eminent domain lacks enough votes to make it to the Assembly floor.State Rep. Fred Kessler, D-Milwaukee, said the Assembly Committee on State Affairs and Homeland Security will not vote on the bill before the legislative session ends next month.

Special license plates honoring Marquette University would be created under a bill that has passed the Wisconsin Legislature. It now heads to Gov. Jim Doyle for his consideration. Other special plates recognize the Green Bay Packers, endangered resources, Freemasons, the military and the University of Wisconsin.

Students who have fulfilled the requirements of the Wisconsin Covenant Scholars program would receive at least $250 annually off their first two years of college in the state and could qualify for up to $2,500 a year under a proposed rule Gov. Jim Doyle announced Monday.