Category: State news

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow talked about challenges the campus will face, particularly concerning expected state funding cuts, during an all-university address on Wednesday.

Gow used a line from President Franklin D. Rooseveltâ??s second inaugural address â?? â??We refused to leave the problems of our common welfare to be solved by the winds of chance and the hurricanes of disasterâ? â?? to helps explain the road ahead.
â??It reminds us that we canâ??t just wait and hope that the problems will go away, we have to take action now to get ready,â? Gow said.

Gov. Jim Doyle’s program promoting college attendance may do little for those who need the most help without more tuition aid, according to a study released Wednesday.

The Wisconsin Covenant program should include state-funded scholarships for low-income students to improve their college attendance and completion, according to the study by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers. The study suggests Wisconsin model its plan after a successful program in Indiana.

With no clear solution to the nationâ??s economic crisis in sight, Gov. Jim Doyle has joined other state governors in calling for a $1 trillion stimulus package from the federal government to help states get through the tough times.

While the Legislature seems focused on dealing with the stateâ??s budget crisis at the expense of taking on a political battle over the stateâ??s school aid formula, school funding reform advocates are making a final push to influence the governorâ??s biennial budget.

The Reformers: Dr. Andrew Reschovsky is a professor of applied economics and public affairs at the La Follete of Public Affairs at the UW-Madison. Reschovsky has advised the School Finance Network and believes their proposal offers a realistic solution to the stateâ??s education funding woes. Reschovsky said that districts all over the state are facing budget deficits, because the state aid formula is failing.

A proposal at the Capitol would restore the civil rights of state and UW employees.

U.S. Supreme Court decisions over the last decade have resulted in nearly 60,000 state employees being denied key civil rights protections, according to state Representative Cory Mason (D-Racine). He says those decisions have impacted the rights of workers to sue the state under the Family Medical Leave Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, Age Discrimination Employment Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The drop in the value of endowments at Wisconsin’s three area state universities is expected to reduce the amount of scholarship support each can provide next year.

Between June 30 and Nov. 30, the value of endowments â?? money given for a specific purpose â?? dropped at each school by more than 20 percent, according to figures provided by University of Wisconsin officials.

“We’re affected by the economic downturn just like everybody else,” said Doug Mell, communications director at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, which experienced a 25 percent drop in its endowment in that five-month period, which translates to $8 million.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A new Center for Investigative Journalism is being launched to examine government integrity and other issues in Wisconsin.

WAUPUN, Wis. (AP) — A Minnesota man convicted of killing a Madison man apparently committed suicide in prison while serving a life sentence, authorities said Sunday.

Adam C. Peterson, 20, a native of Stillwater, Minn., who dropped out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison last year, pleaded guilty last month to killing Joel Marino, 31, at Marino’s home near campus last January, a crime that shocked the city.

Peterson apparently hanged himself in his cell in the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun on Saturday night, the Dodge County sheriff’s department said.

A legislative leader says protecting the UW in these difficult financial times is a “must” for state lawmakers.

State Senate President Fred Risser (D-Madison) has long been a champion of the university, and says he needs to continue fighting with the state facing $5.4 billion in red ink.

The Madison Democrat says the budget can’t be balanced with deep cuts to the UW because it’s so important to the long term economic strength of the state. Risser says it’s at the UW that ideas will likely germinate to foster an economic rebound.

The worst year for financial markets since the 1930s will bring up to a 3 percent reduction in monthly checks for retired public employees in Wisconsin, the first pension cuts ever in the 26-year history of the system.

The University of Wisconsin College System wants to expand a new program that offers students at two-year campuses a chance at bachelor degrees in engineering. The College’s Chancellor says it’s worth the money even as state leaders struggle with a massive budget deficit.

The College System currently offers bachelor degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering at four two-year campuses throughout the state. UW Colleges and Extension Chancellor David Wilson says almost all the students who’ve graduated so far have gone on to get engineering jobs close to home.

“And they are making a very decent salary, much more than they were making in those previous positions,â? he says. â??And they are returning to that region and to the state of Wisconsin, an incredible return on the investment that this state has made in producing them.” (Fourth item.)

A Milwaukee man has been released from prison after more than a decade after DNA evidence and a local organization helped free him from a slaying he didn’t commit.

Chaunte Ott was released Thursday after the Wisconsin Innocence Project based in Madison found evidence to set him free after he was wrongly convicted in a Milwaukee slaying dating back 13 years.

The U.S Nuclear Regulatory Commission has selected Kevin Barclay as the new resident inspector at the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant in Kewaunee. He joined the NRC as a reactor engineer in 2006.

(Barclay received a B.S. degree in chemistry from UW-La Crosse. He later served as a naval science instructor for the Navy ROTC program at UW-Madison.)

Democrats took control of state government Monday, as legislators were sworn in for a two-year legislative session that will require them to fix a record budget deficit.

The state Senate’s minority leader says the state needs to cut spending, but says that’s unlikely now that Democrats control both chambers of the legislature and the governor’s office.

The new head of the Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee, state Rep. Kim Hixson, D-Whitewater, is a professor on leave from UW-Whitewater who is expected to offer a sharp contrast in approach from the previous chair.

He replaces Rep. Steve Nass, a Republican assemblyman from the same area and an outspoken critic of the UW System’s spending and priorities.

Wisconsin’s State Legislature convenes Monday morning.

The first session of 2009 will see Democrats controlling both houses and the governor’s office for the first time in 23 years.

“I think these are historic times,” said incoming Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan. “We have a $5.4 billion dollar budget.”

MADISON – Betty Walker Smith, a lifelong advocate for the rights of women, families and minorities, died at home on Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008, at age 90. After two years at Nebraska Wesleyan University, she finished her undergraduate education at the University of Wisconsin. She graduated in 1941 with a B.S. in Journalism; years later, in 1974, she completed a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration. Long active in Republican Party politics at the county, state and national levels, she firmly believed that the way to improve the lives of women, families, and minorities, was through the negotiations and compromises involved in politics. A liberal Republican feminist, she was active in the women’s movement for over 40 years.

Everyone who has heard the recording of the 911 call from Brittany Zimmermann’s cell phone seems to agree that something went horribly wrong at the Dane County emergency dispatch center April 2. The UW-Madison student from Marshfield was murdered in her apartment and apparently called police during the attack, but officers were not immediately dispatched.

Among those declining to issue the permits are the Capitol Police, State Patrol, Department of Natural Resources’ Law Enforcement Bureau and University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department.

As the state faces a major budget deficit and big cuts, U-W Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin has the daunting task of running the state’s flagship university in lean times. She recently joined us to talk about the difficult road aheadâ?¦(Audio, seventh item.)

Mark Musolf, a calming, quiet and influential presence at the highest levels of state government for 30 years, was killed Tuesday afternoon in a car crash in Price County on Highway 13, near Park Falls.

His wife, Jocelyn Jacobs, 55, a passenger, was in critical condition at Marshfield Hospital.

MADISON — A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher remained on the job Tuesday even though he was caught in an online sex sting weeks ago.

Kevin Kreisel, 29, is charged with attempting to cause a child to view sexual activity and attempting to expose a child to harmful material. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which accuse him of exposing himself on a Web cam to a police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl.

As part of its efforts to make college more affordable nationwide, the Lumina Foundation for Education announced today that it would give grants to 11 states, including Wisconsin, to help them develop policies to make their higher-education systems operate more efficiently and to get more residents to earn college degrees.

Gov. Jim Doyle has presented members of President-elect Barack Obama’s economic team with a list of nearly 1,800 projects in Wisconsin that could benefit immediately from an infusion of federal money.

The projects include constructing passenger rail lines connecting Chicago and major cities in Wisconsin, converting state power plants from coal to other fuel sources and addressing deferred maintenance on state buildings.

Gov. Jim Doyle said he’s cautiously hopeful that Congress will approve a federal stimulus package for the states.

At a Milwaukee news conference Thursday, the Democratic governor said questions remain about how the money would be spent and monitored. But he said congressional leaders understand how much people are hurting.

Gov. Jim Doyle today presented members of President-elect Barack Obamaâ??s economic team with a list of almost 1,800 projects in Wisconsin that could benefit immediately from an infusion of federal money.

The projects include constructing passenger rail lines connecting major cities in the state and Chicago, converting state power plants from coal to other fuel sources and addressing deferred maintenance on state buildings.

Gov. Jim Doyle on Wednesday gave Washington officials a sweeping wish list of $3.7 billion in highway, education, environment and energy-saving projects that he said could be started by spring, if President-elect Barack Obama and Congress agree on a stimulus package for states.

State Rep. Kim Hixson, D-Whitewater, will chair the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities in the next legislative session.