Category: State news

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin is rolling out the nationâ??s most expansive guarantee of higher education to students in hopes of raising aspirations for low-income families and improving college preparedness.

The stateâ??s 75,000 eighth-graders – of all incomes, in public schools and private – will be able to sign the Wisconsin Covenant agreement starting May 10. Theyâ??ll promise to earn a B average in high school, take courses to prepare for college, stay out of trouble and perform community service work.

Includes a letter detailing how the foundation has helped UW-Madison students, from Gail Geiger, professor and chair of the Department of Art History.

Almost 3,500 of you have voted to designate 22 Wonders of Wisconsin.

This first-time people’s choice poll, coordinated by a half-dozen Wisconsin travel experts, has resulted in a fine mix of classic, lesser known and well-deserved attractions. Drum roll, or polka intro, please.

A Wisconsin history professor charged with possession of child pornography told investigators he likes “kids between the ages of 11 and 17,” according to a criminal complaint.

Michael Foret, 53, said “he has an interest in both boys and girls of that preferred age range” but indicated he never acted on his desires, which were fulfilled by looking at sites containing child pornography, the complaint says.

Despite the recent removal of domestic partner benefits from the state budget, University of Wisconsin officials are hopeful the policy will be reintroduced and even approved.

Rules planned to assist University of Wisconsin System campuses in firing professors for criminal behavior would not go into effect in time to be used against a history professor accused of possessing child pornography, a UW System official said Monday.

Only the 10th Hmong attorney in Wisconsin history, Amoun Sayaoyong wants to help bridge the gulf between Hmong immigrants and the justice system meant to help them.

MADISON, Wis. – Rules meant to help University of Wisconsin campuses more quickly fire professors convicted of crimes will not be in place for the case of a popular history professor facing a child pornography charge, officials said Monday.

The UW System Board of Regents drafted the rules in response to public outcry over a process that allowed three UW-Madison professors convicted of felonies ranging from stalking to sexual assault to remain on the payroll for several months in 2005.

Attempts to provide domestic partner benefits for all state workers and collective bargaining rights for University of Wisconsin System faculty and staff were removed from the state budget Friday.

Eliminating a cap on teacher raises, creating domestic partner benefits for state workers and allowing University of Wisconsin faculty to collectively bargain were all taken out of Gov. Jim Doyle’s budget proposal under an agreement announced Friday.The 48 policy items removed can be passed as separate bills, but that makes their path to becoming law much more difficult.

The agreement on which items to take out of the two-year spending plan announced by co-chairs of the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee clears the path for that panel to begin taking votes on the proposal starting next week.

Panelists at the 4th Street Forum debated whether factors other than academics should be used in part to help determine admission to the University of Wisconsin-System.

It is not a race-based policy, UW Board of Regents member Danae Davis said. We are not admitting unqualified individuals.

She said the policy keeps academic achievements as the No. 1 factor in admissions, while standardized test scores are the second factor. The third, she said, are other experiences which include race, ethnicity, gender, age and geographic location.

MILWAUKEE â?? A student loan company paid the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh nearly $10,000 this year in exchange for being placed on the universityâ??s list of preferred lenders, a newspaper review found.

Madison, Wis. – Problematic state information technology projects largely are the result of inadequate planning, a lack of oversight, and inadequate collaboration between the Department of Administration and executive branch agencies, according to a long-awaited report from the state Legislative Audit Bureau.

University of Wisconsin System officials will make their case for $775 million in proposed building projects before the state Legislatureâ??s budget committee this Wednesday.

Now that statewide public hearings have wrapped up, members of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee are ready to tackle the state budget. JFC co-chair, State Senator Russ Decker (D-Weston), says the six hearings held around the state over the past month brought up many budget issues lawmakers expected to hear. Funding of public education, health care cost containment, and road improvements were among the most common issues brought up.

Decker says he’s ready to use the information gained through meeting with the public to start negotiating the state budget. He’s hopeful the JFC can get to work soon on the Governor’s budget proposals.

Still, the Weston Democrat is expecting difficulties with a divided legislature and committee. The JFC has eight Democrats and eight Republicans, prompting many concerns over a long delay in the budget process. Despite that, Decker hopeful that budget talks can begin sometime this week.

Environmental experts and activists met at Chamberlain Hall Thursday to discuss how Wisconsin can combat local global warming concerns.

With the parents of potentially thousands of Wisconsin eighth-graders poised to sign up for a guarantee of higher education, state officials concede they still don’t have details on what they are promising or what it will cost taxpayers.

At issue are critics’ concerns that the “Wisconsin Covenant” will cost so much it won’t pass the Legislature, or that it will be a hollow promise that doesn’t deliver enough financial aid to ensure students can reach their college dreams.

Gov. Jim Doyle proposed more tha

While watching the film “The Last Kiss,” astute Wisconsinites will likely notice the University of Wisconsin-Madison banners in the background and the fact an exchange between two of the filmâ??s stars, Blythe Danner and Harold Ramis, takes place on Bascom Hill, a notable landmark on UW-Madison campus.

The official lobbying organization of University of Wisconsin System academic staff is contesting the language of its labor contract proposed in Democratic Gov. Jim Doyleâ??s state budget.

The speaker of the Assembly is stepping into the state computer mess.
Speaker Mike Huebsch, R- West Salem, said Wednesday he would appoint a task force to look into a series of troubled computer projects that have already cost taxpayers more than $170 million in state and federal money, according to a Wisconsin State Journal review.