As legislators continue to wrangle over a state biennial budget, UW System and UW-Madison officials reiterated Wednesday that they are not just crying wolf over what they say would be dire effects on the System if state funding is not increased enough.
MADISON — Behind a locked gate, a handful of politicians are meeting in secret.
Their decisions will affect everything from how much workers pay in taxes, whether families can get health insurance, how much it costs to drive a car and tuition at the University of Wisconsin.
UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley warned Tuesday that proposed budget cuts would devastate the Madison campus, as lawmakers and Gov. Jim Doyle’s aides continued to
negotiate a new state budget.
The state Legislatureâ??s current delay in passing a budget has wasted $17.2 million since the July 1 deadline, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
The state Senate and Assembly have been unable to reach an agreement on a new 2007-09 budget for the past several months.
Two health-related research grants won by UW-Madison show yet again the university’s immense value to people in Wisconsin and in the nation.
Republican lawmakers negotiating the state budget should keep that in mind. Shortchanging the UW System would shortchange the public.
ONEIDA COUNTY — Human-made surprises mingle and blend with the chirps, twitters, glistening ferns and creaking ashes here. Each has a way of alerting the senses to all that rustle and topple when no one is looking.
Where else can hikers encounter insects as large as their head, wooden chainsaws swaying from trees, or a turtle large enough to walk under? When wondering what’s next, it’s easier to be aware and appreciative of the ordinary squirrel that scrounges for food, the mosaic of sunshine and shade, the patter of raindrops, even rotting tree trunks.
This is Forest Art Wisconsin, a partnership between art and nature, a dance between foray and tribute, the forging of new bonds and a strengthening of international alliances.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Higher education leaders in Wisconsin say none of their employees broke state ethics laws in maintaining cozy relationships with private lenders.
University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly and Wisconsin Technical College System President Daniel Clancy say reviews of their financial aid practices uncovered no wrongdoing.
Two state legislators called on the cable companies Time Warner and Charter Communications to provide Wisconsin residents with the Big Ten Network on Monday.
With the Wisconsin state budget now nearly three months behind schedule, politicians from both sides of the aisle are speaking out in support of sufficient funding for the University of Wisconsin System.
Better late than even later.
It appeared Monday that top state leaders were finally getting serious about doing their most important job — passing a state budget.
Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, and Senate Majority Leader Judy Robson, D-Beloit, stood side by side Monday morning at the governor ‘s mansion in Maple Bluff, expressing optimism that a budget deal can be reached by the end of this week.
To catch a glimpse of Wisconsin ‘s binge drinking problem, walk around the neighborhoods surrounding Camp Randall in Madison on a football Saturday.
Mixed with the tens of thousands of fans enjoying the tradition and excitement of Badger football, you ‘ll see hundreds for whom Saturday is an opportunity to drink — and keep drinking.
Scientific consensus has settled the questions of whether global warming is occurring and whether humanity is playing a role. So, what to do about it, especially here in Wisconsin?
Failure to act is unacceptable. John Magnuson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who introduced the “silver buckshot” concept during the discussion, told the panel that his research has shown climate change is not some distant problem, either in space or time.
Two major sticking points in moving the stalled state budget forward have been addressed, Gov. Jim Doyle announced this afternoon, with the Senate Democrats agreeing to remove their universal health care plan from the budget and Assembly Democrats dropping their plan to cut $130 million from Doyle’s budget for public schools.
Doyle said at a news conference there are “real consequences for this state” in not yet having a finished budget, but added, “now we are making progress.”
A provision in the Senateâ??s version of the Wisconsin budget that would allow University of Wisconsin System professors to unionize is being hotly contested by state Republicans.
Thanks to years of bashing from political opportunists in the state Legislature, the University of Wisconsin has a public relations problem on its hand.
Legislative leaders, particularly on the Republican side, have succeeded in cutting hundreds of millions of dollars from the UW’s budget over the years. Unfortunately, not enough people are bringing pressure to bear on those politicians who find sport in bashing and cutting one of the state’s crown jewels.
The National Institutes of Health annoaunced Tuesday it has awarded UW-Madisonâ??s School of Medicine and Public Health a $41 million grant, one of the largest grants in the schoolâ??s history.
The grant will funnel into the universityâ??s new Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. â??This is a highly visible, highly covetous award given to only the most elite institutions in the country,â? said Robert Golden, dean of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.
Wisconsin ranks as the most prolific alcohol consumer in the nation, despite falling from The Princeton Reviewâ??s party school rankings earlier this year.
Here is the list of states that have a budget.
Wisconsin has the highest rates of both binge and heavy drinking in the nation, according to a report released by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Population Health Institute.
Wisconsin lawmakers are not much closer to finalizing a budget today than they were two and a half months ago, when the 2007-09 biennial budget was supposed to take effect. Senate Democrats continue to demand increased funding for the UW System, stewardship and health care while Assembly Republicans continue to demand a budget that works â??within the means of taxpayers.â?
I was reading the Wisconsin State Journal this weekend, and a column by Scott Milfred caught my attention. In the column, he argues that Republican legislators must be careful when criticizing the University of Wisconsin because Bucky will bite back.
The Big Ten Network vs. major cable TV providers.
The Citadel vs. Wisconsin.
What do these two matchups have in common?
Both are all about the money.
And both — um, how shall we put this — screw Joe Fan.
Not that the Big Ten Network, your cable provider or the UW truly care.
Madison psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Eimermann died while competing in a triathlon at Devil’s Lake State Park Saturday morning.
….Eimermann had a private practice at Psychiatric Services, 2727 Marshall Court, and also served on the volunteer clinical faculty as a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.
MILWAUKEE — When he gives lectures on how alcohol harms Wisconsin communities, Dr. Paul Moberg starts by showing an editorial cartoon he calls “sobering.”
The 1994 cartoon by Green Bay Press-Gazette cartoonist Joe Heller shows University of Wisconsin-Madison mascot Bucky Badger in front of a blackboard bearing a series of ignominious state rankings: Wisconsin leads the nation in binge drinking and in percentage of adult drinkers.
“Hello,” the caption says, “My name is Bucky and I have a drinking problem.”
The deadline for fall tuition has passed for many universities in the UW System, but with the state budget in deadlock, as many as 5,000 students are still unsure if they will be able to completely finance their first semester.
MILWAUKEE â?? When he gives lectures on how alcohol harms Wisconsin communities, Dr. Paul Moberg starts by showing an editorial cartoon he calls “sobering.”
Residents across the state cheered as Tyler Donovanâ??s fourth quarter heroics secured another Badger victory over the University of Nevada-Las Vegas last weekend.
That sense of pride for UW athletics can be felt throughout the state on any given autumn Saturday. Yet when it comes to showing pride in academic and research achievements of our top-notch public university system, many leaders in the Capitol are nowhere to be seen.
Gov. Jim Doyle’s administration is recruiting Waukesha high schoolers today to join thousands across Wisconsin in a program offering guaranteed college admission, although it is uncertain whether the governor will be able to deliver on the promise.
For some legislators, there is no sense of urgency with regard to the unfinished state budget.
Despite the fact that the budget is the blueprint for state government, state Sen. Neal Kedzie, R-Elkhorn, actually went so far as to release a press release hailing the benefits of not having enacted a budget. Kedzie claims that taxpayers should celebrate because “more delay means more money in their pocket.”
That’s a little like someone who fails to make necessary repairs on their home and then brags about all the money they are saving as the house crumbles into disrepair.
Wilson Miller is legally blind, but didn’t think that would stop him from getting a college education.
Think again.
He had trouble finding usable textbooks, a problem that, according to state officials, could affect as many as 10,000 students in the University of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Technical College systems who are blind, vision impaired or have other reading difficulties.
….One of the issues, it seems, is that no one is taking ownership of this problem. Gov. Jim Doyle should either step in himself or direct someone else in authority to deal with it.
This is, after all, a facility owned by the taxpayers of Wisconsin, not some private corporation.
There’s no excuse for a UW facility, especially one that harbors some of the top engineering and environmental minds in the country, to be a major polluter of our air and water.
With a state budget now two months overdue, a compromise is sought that might help UW students. After weeks of deadlock, state Rep. Joe Parisi says stalled budget negotiations are leaving some 4700 UW students hanging.
The Big Ten Network will broadcast at least 20 games involving the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team this season, including the first seven, the university announced today.
That could be bad news for area fans, because negotiations to add the new network to the lineup for Charter Communications — the largest cable provider in Madison — remain at an impasse.
Wisconsin is about to gain some much-needed pharmacists.
Officials at Concordia University Wisconsin in Mequon announced today that the university’s Board of Regents has approved funding to start a pharmacy school in the 2009-10 academic year.
The state currently has just one school of pharmacy, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. That school graduates about 130 pharmacists annually, but more than three applicants apply for every available seat in the school, said UW-Madison Pharmacy Dean Jeanette Roberts.
The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh is holding its breath as it waits to see if the Wisconsin State Legislature will approve its 2007-09 biennial budget request and Governor Jim Doyle’s Wisconsin Growth Agenda.
A bill involving emergency contraception actually received a public hearing on Thursday — a rare moment in a state Assembly controlled by social conservatives. But after the hearing, it is not yet clear if the measure will advance any further.
The proposal would require hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims who request it.
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents had some good ideas Thursday for the UW System’s proposal to develop a “Strategic Framework to Advantage Wisconsin,” but the task force plan was pretty much set when the board got a presentation about it.
Seven task forces are to submit proposals to system President Kevin Reilly and his leadership team of system administrators and university chancellors, who in turn will present to the regents in February a five-year plan for the future based on the input.
The task forces are to deal with topics aimed at planning how Wisconsin can thrive in a global economy with the help of the University of Wisconsin.
As the new academic year kicks off, University of Wisconsin students have high hopes for an enjoyable start to the semester. As penny-pinching college students, we are always looking for a bargain. Unfortunately, our tuition is still mounting, and relief is nowhere in sight.
University of Wisconsin System president Kevin Reilly said at a meeting Thursday the UW System is currently at a â??crossroads.â?
With the Wisconsin state budget nearly two months behind schedule, a state representative is accusing the University of Wisconsin System of trying to influence budget decisions.
Several state representatives urged members of the Wisconsin Assembly budget conference committee on Thursday to include grants for the 4,708 University of Wisconsin students still waiting for financial aid in the yet-to-be-determined state budget.
Two Democratic Representatives appeared on Library Mall Thursday to address the frozen financial aid of 4,708 UW System students, which has become a problem because of the state budget stalemate.
Attention, students of modern American politics: The University of Wisconsin Press has a new book that’s perfect for you.
It’s written by one of Wisconsin’s own, David Obey, who has represented the northwestern part of the state in Congress since 1969, and it’s nothing short of a winner.
“Raising Hell for Justice” is a must read for anyone who wants to get a better grasp of the ways of Washington and understand what makes the political process tick.
….This Legislature shouldn’t always be looking for new ways to close the doors on higher education. Let’s swing them open and make sure the sons and daughters of Wisconsin’s hard-working families have the opportunity to earn an affordable college degree.
If we’re serious about growing our economy and bringing new jobs to the Badger State, we better get serious about the University of Wisconsin.
….Investing in the University of Wisconsin and making college more affordable and accessible should be values everyone in the Legislature shares.
Limited literacy is a health hazard. That’s the message that a University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher and a local nurse brought Wednesday to an open house of the Literacy Network, a Madison agency that trains volunteers to help adults learn to read.
Mike Grasmick of the UW Department of Family Medicine worked with UW physician Paul Smith this spring to gain insights from six focus groups, two each in Madison, Racine and Oshkosh, on how well patients understood medical information.
MADISON, Wis. â?? An alumni group is sending mailings across the state and starting a Web site as part of a lobbying campaign to get lawmakers to give more money to the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Wisconsin Alumni Association recently sent the mailing warning â??Bucky needs your help!â? to all 130,000 UW-Madison alumni who live in the state, spokeswoman Kate Dixon said Wednesday.
Dear Editor: The Associated Press recently carried the following news item:
“UW-Madison is opening a kosher meat kitchen in a residence hall dining room starting this fall. Muslims who follow Islamic dietary laws, called halal, will also be accommodated.”
Is the University of Wisconsin-Madison violating the Constitution of Wisconsin because it has chosen to accommodate those people whose food consumption is dictated by religion?
If it weren’t for the fact that everywhere you turn, you — and your kids — can see and hear beer advertising, I could get excited about those Madison city buses wrapped in a Miller Genuine Draft ad.
Let’s not come unraveled, though, over a beer ad that is presumably helping to keep bus fares down because it might corrupt the children.
….We pack our kids off to college and tell them not to touch a drink until they’re of legal age, even when they’re walking past all those tailgate parties on the way to the football game or sitting behind the Memorial Union with a 21-year-old classmate or two.
MADISON â?? Mario Selph said he probably has to drop out of school this semester.
Erin Campbell might not be able to buy her books for weeks, and Rose Reisinger may have to take out more loans.
The three are among 4,300 low-income college students on a waiting list for the stateâ??s premier financial aid program, which has run out of money because of a budget stalemate at the Capitol.
Madison – The Legislature’s special budget committee, if it were a game show, would be called “Let’s Not Make a Deal.”
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor.
The stalled state budget is stalling financial aid for students starting class this week at UW-Madison. Legislators are more than two months late in passing a budget. Without one, the state’s financial aid program cannot cut checks to its neediest students.
Tanika Wilson-Kromah is returning to school after ten years. She is also a mom, so searching for financial aid is helping her hit the books again.
More than 130,000 Wisconsin residents are UW alumni. If you’re one of them, you may recieve a newsletter in the mail this week directing you to a website with information on how the state budget battle could affect UW.
SaveBucky.com was designed by the Wisconsin Alumni Association. Part of WAA’s mission is to advocate for higher education. WAA is asking state legislators to pass a budget that provides $70 million for core costs, including faculty salaries, advisors, custodians, supplies and campus police officers.
With just weeks to go until the start of the academic year, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents voted in August to raise tuition at all of its four-year schools.
The lawmakers increasingly coming under attack for not having reached a compromise on the state budget spent most of their time Thursday arguing about why they can’t agree.
It’s not too much of a stretch to say that public broadcasting was invented in Wisconsin. Since the early experiments of 1917, the stations of Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television have served the citizens of our state with distinctive and groundbreaking educational and informational programming.
On behalf of the members of the Wisconsin Public Radio Association and Friends of WHA-TV, we call on the Legislature to sustain state funding for our state’s public radio and public televisions stations. WPR and WPT are nationally renowned public broadcasting services.
Tuition for resident and nonresident undergraduates at UW System schools will increase by 5.5 percent in the 2007-08 school year, the UW Board of Regents decided Aug. 7.
UW System President Kevin Reilly said the decision, which marks the lowest percentage of tuition increase students have seen in seven years, was made â??in the 11th hour,â? and tuition bills were finally mailed out Aug. 24.
Excitement for Welcome Week is in the air on campus, but the reality for 75 UW-Madison students is quite different.
Together, the public schools of southeastern Wisconsin have a regional economic impact nearly as big as the University of Wisconsin-Madison, according to a report released Wednesday
The University of Wisconsin-La Crosseâ??s Growth and Access plan is a â??dangerousâ? idea but in a good sense, Chancellor Joe Gow said Wednesday.
â??I like the notion of being a little dangerous,â? Gow said of the $15 million plan, which would create 130 new faculty and staff jobs, expand enrollment by 1,000 and raise tuition at UW-L.
Local college students went back to school this week with many left in limbo as to their financial aid status.
As of June 27, the state stopped dispensing financial aid to low-income students because the state budget hasn’t been finalized, according to a Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers report.
