While Gov. Jim Doyle was touting Wisconsin’s amazing job growth turnaround, a Wall Street analyst was warning about the state living on borrowed money.
Richard Raphael, executive managing director of Fitch Ratings, said that Wisconsin faces “structural imbalances” in its government operations that cannot be solved through economic growth alone. The current state deficit stands at $1.6 billion.
After a 36 percent tuition increase in the last legislative session, Rep. Rob Kreibich is proposing a bill to cap tuition in the University System over the next two years.
Kreibich says the bill will limit tuition and fee increases in the next budget to three percent. He says the cap is needed in order; to make higher education in Wisconsin affordable and accessible to all, and a $1.6 million budget shortfall likely means the $15 million in general purpose revenue requested for financial aid will not be provided.
A state assembly member is pushing a bill to cap tuition and fee increases at the University of Wisconsin System for two years.
A new report from the University of Wisconsin System highlights numerous existing ways the universities save millions through operating efficiencies, but also acknowledges there’s room for millions more in savings.
A combination of members from several University of Wisconsin organizations, including the Associated Students of Madison (ASM), Student Labor Action Coalition (SLAC) and the Teaching Assistant Association (TAA), will be delivering over 5,000 signatures to Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle and the Joint Finance Committee today.
The state would sell some buildings, streamline agencies’ human resources and computer departments and buy more supplies in bulk to save $96 million under Gov. Jim Doyle’s budget proposal, administration officials say.
The moves would help fill Wisconsin’s $1.6 billion deficit and free up more money for programs, Administration Secretary Mark Marotta said Wednesday.
One of the University of Wisconsin System’s chief critics said Wednesday he is encouraged by System President Kevin Reilly’s latest plans to cut costs and make changes.
A state assembly member is pushing a bill to cap tuition and fee increases at the University of Wisconsin System for two years.
Wisconsin’s minimum wage, unchanged in more than seven years, would have to rise by nearly a dollar to keep pace with today’s cost of living, according to an Associated Press review of state documents.
Every time a new budget crunch falls upon the UW System, a familiar shriek echoes from the state’s flagship campus.
It seems that nobody in state government, even public higher education leaders, gets it. The state must not foist its budget problems onto the backs of local property taxpayers.
On the heels of a major breakthrough involving stem-cell research and the nervous system, UW-Madison brought out the heavy hitters at the Waisman Center Tuesday-Gov. Jim Doyle, Chancellor John Wiley and, most notably, actor Michael J. Fox-in its ongoing crusade to highlight the importance and potential of the scientific discoveries occurring every day on this campus.
In recent years, budget cuts and tuition raises have discouraged many students from applying at schools in the University of Wisconsin System. But the student government for the UW System is standing up to protect university access for current students and future UW applicants.
“Capital Times Editor Dave Zweifel says I’m playing loose with the facts about the taxpayer bill of rights. Before he makes that accusation, he may want to get his own facts straight.”
University of Wisconsin student advocates will collect signatures on doors in an effort to send a message to the state to “keep the doors of higher education open to all.”
Leaders of the group United Council of UW Students will travel to campuses across the state during February to encourage students to sign the unhinged slabs of wood.
State Rep. Frank Lasee, R-Bellevue, believes when it comes to taxing and spending it�s about trust. The proponent of the so-called Taxpayers� Bill of Rights told a Manitowoc Public Library gathering Monday night he doesn�t trust his fellow legislators to curtail spending beyond taxpayers� means.
Proposed legislation known as the taxpayer bill of rights, while not perfect, could force state and local governments into a much-needed revamping of how they deliver services, Waukesha County Executive Dan Finley said Friday.
The “fearless sifting and winnowing” that is part of the historic motto of the University of Wisconsin-Madison will take on a whole new meaning this year as the state’s flagship campus prepares to embark on a far-reaching – some will say ruthless – editing and revision of its buildings and grounds.
The result may well be a major weeding out of problem buildings over the next 10 to 20 years.
Quoted: Former UW-Madison political scientist Don Kettl, academic coordinator of the Government Performance Project.
While a rise in Advanced Placement exam test-takers in 2004 among high school students is a welcome improvement to the U.S. Department of Education, other results point to what many call the under-representation of minority groups.
Bill: AB 27
Subject: Tuition gift certificates to attend the University of Wisconsin.
During the last month an article appeared titled “Only UW won’t offer same-sex benefits,” stating that if UW-Madison is the only Big Ten university with no health insurance for the partners of its gay and lesbian staff, it will hurt the univeristy’s ability to recruit employees.
Short list of policy points.
Listing of the 20 highest cell phone users, by cost, at UW-Madison.
The UW Athletic Department rang up a cell phone bill of $180,000 in the 2003-04 school year, a tab sure to be heavily reviewed by government officials as part of an ongoing audit of state-owned cell phone usage.
Records show cell phones were issued to 158 people associated with the athletic department and that 54 employees — coaches, administrators, medical personnel and event managers — had bills of more than $1,000 last year.
Laura Moore, a UW-Madison political science student, said she brought the word about Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton’s Wisconsin Women Equal Prosperity initiative back home to Wisconsin Dells, where she told her hairdresser about it.
Moore was among the student and young professional women inspired Thursday by Lawton’s talk on the initiative, which seeks to improve women’s ability to contribute to the state’s economic development.
Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton visited the Pyle Center Thursday night to speak about her statewide initiative for women�s economic equality in front of an audience of University of Wisconsin students, faculty and other interested parties.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a UW-Madison political scientist.
A handful of UW-Madison students met in the Red Gym Wednesday night to discuss their concerns with continual tuition increases. Members from the MultiCultural Student Coalition and the Student Labor Action Coalition are trying to organize students to demand that the state do something about tuition costs, which are rising every two years.
An attitude problem? With teenagers? Where could they get that from?
Their answers informally confirmed the results of a Madison pediatrician’s survey: “Overall, negative attitudes, more than lack of knowledge, may weaken compliance with Wisconsin’s Graduated Driver Licensing law, and in turn, limit the reduction of teen crashes.”
That’s what Dr. Gwen McIntosh, a pediatrician and assistant professor at UW-Madison, found.
Signs of Wisconsin’s reinvigorated economy were evident in local employment numbers reported Wednesday.
…while the Wisconsin Historical Society contains one of the largest American history archives anywhere, fewer people have visited in recent years – 40 percent fewer than in 1987 – as more of them, including students at the nearby University of Wisconsin-Madison, turn to the Internet as their basic research tool.
So the Historical Society and many other institutions with large collections are doing something they see as a means of survival: They’re going digital…
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Assembly Speaker John Gard said Wednesday he will not seek the Republican nomination for governor in 2006, ending speculation he would join the race to take on Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.
Gov. Jim Doyle will head into his next two-year state budget with a little less cash on hand, new figures show. The state will end its current two-year budget cycle, which expires June 30, with a general fund balance of $127.7 million, according to figures released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
The new figures are about $88.6 million less than the $216.3 million ending balance that Doyle’s administration had projected just two months ago.
Two Madison legislators have asked for an audit of state contracts with private firms.
Citing recent controversies surrounding state contracts, Democratic Reps. Spencer Black and Terese Berceau requested that the Joint Legislative Audit Committee order an audit that would determine whether information technology, engineering and other professional services procured through contract could have been performed at less cost by state employees.
More Wisconsin high school students – including a significant increase in minority students – are taking Advanced Placement courses, increasing their opportunities for success in college and in the work force.
When young blacks or Latinos think about careers, insurance or health care often don’t rise to the top the list.
It’s a stately old building with looming columns, worn marble stairways and arched doorways – dedicated in 1900 “to the conservation, advancement and dissemination of American Heritage.”
(MADISON) A new study done in California points to the potentially harmful effects posed by contaminated stem cells. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin say the study shows the need for more federal money to develop new lines.
For sale: An 80-acre college campus, good condition, room for 2,000 students. Price: $1. That is the message Waukesha County Executive Dan Finley is sending state officials who want the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha to offer more four-year degrees. If the state changes the mission of Waukesha’s two-year campus, Finley said, state officials should take it over, along with the expense and headache of maintaining it.
Wisconsin added jobs at a faster pace than all but eight other states in the last 12 months and added more factory positions than the next four states combined, according to preliminary data released Tuesday. Quotes Laura Dresser, a labor economist and research director at the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In every state and the District of Columbia, more students are passing at least one Advanced Placement test, a sign of progress in a nation eager to improve college preparation, the College Board reported today. (1/25/05 Capital Times print edition)
The University of Wisconsin System’s program to provide scholarships for minority students is drawing criticism from a national group opposed to racial preferences in higher education, but System officials are defending the program as legal and still necessary.
Diversity In The Workplace: Part 1 Of A 3-part Series
Grace Banamwana and her husband, Agustin, are living the American dream.
Fleeing the violence in their native Rwanda in 1997, they first landed in Platteville.
Discrimination may be a factor, at least in some parts of the state, according to at least one study. In Milwaukee, a UW-Madison research project two years ago found that it’s easier for a white man with a prison record to get a job than a black man without one.
“We all think that we live in a pretty benign state,” said Erik O. Wright, a UW-Madison sociology professor. “Racial inequities in Wisconsin are among the worst in the U.S. and in some particular areas may be the worst.”
OpGen, an early-stage Madison biotechnology company, has received $5 million in venture capital. Investors in the second-round funding include the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
State Rep. Rob Kreibich has gotten lots of attention with his proposal to cut out the costs of two-year colleges now placed on our state�s university system. His proposal deserves a lot of attention and consideration.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison System’s program to provide scholarships for minority students is drawing criticism from a national group opposed to racial preferences in higher education, but System officials are defending the program as legal and still necessary.
The Wisconsin State Employees Union, in an attempt to jump-start stalled contract negotiations, offered to call in a mediator. Gov. Jim Doyle turned down the offer.
Despite a lack of agreement among Republicans on the wording of a proposed state constitutional amendment to limit government spending, three legislative leaders said Friday that they have no doubt the Legislature will approve the measure this year.
The soaring price of natural gas has hit home for both consumers and businesses. Mentions that more gas-fired plants will open this year, including three in Wisconsin – the first of two We Energies plants in Port Washington, a Madison Gas & Electric Co. plant on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and a Calpine Corp. plant in Kaukauna.
Madison-based Virent Energy Systems this spring will build a hydrogen generator that will supply a small amount of electricity to the power grid. The move is another step forward for the renewable-energy firm that was hatched in a University of Wisconsin-Madison laboratory.
…There are other ways to address the problem of escalating property taxes and the never-ending need for education dollars, our investment in the future. Two state commissions have made some suggestions, but legislators have simply put them on the shelf, opting instead for a simplistic solution they call a Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
What it really should be called is the Taxpayer Bill of Frights.
Two proposals could restructure the University of Wisconsin System in order to alleviate budget pressures.
The University of Wisconsin System president wants to merge the UW-Extension and the 13 two-year colleges under a plan he says would save taxpayers up to $1.5 million a year.
UW System President Kevin Reilly said Wednesday he will recommend his plan to the Board of Regents in February.
A proposal introduced by state Rep. Rob Kreibich, R-Eau Claire, would merge the UW System’s 13 two-year colleges with the 13 four-year universities, according to a press release.
However, the lack of an actual proposal raises concerns among state government and UW System officials.
While Rep. Rob Kreibich, R-Eau Claire, announced his plan to merge the UW System�s 13 two-year colleges and 13 four-year universities, UW System President Kevin Reilly recommended an unrelated plan suggesting a single chancellor for UW Colleges and UW-Extension.
Rep. Rob Kreibich, R-Eau Claire, chair of the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities, has proposed a new solution to save the state money.
State funding, capital improvements and the continuing need to improve diversity were among the many topics University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Chancellor Doug Hastad discussed in his spring semester all-campus address Wednesday morning.
He expects a better budget for the upcoming biennium because the state’s economic outlook is improving, he said.
Kristin VandenLangenberg sometimes has trouble sleeping and often worries about how she will pay back her student loans.
VandenLangenberg was fortunate to find a full-time job after graduating from Carthage College, a private school in Kenosha. Although her income is comparable to that of any typical recent college graduate, it is barely enough to cover her monthly expenses.
