Noted: Considered by many to be the father of wildlife ecology and the United States’ wilderness system, the Iowa-born Aldo Leopold was a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison whose non-fiction book, A Sand County Almanac (1949), helped inspire and inform the environmental movement.
Quoted: Both referendums to change the state’s bail policies passed with nearly 70% in favor. Howard Schweber, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the changes take effect right away.
“There will need to be a drafting of a formal version of the rules we put in the legislative record, but there’s no reason not to take much time at all,” Schweber said.
Quoted: What if there were a dispute over the Legislature’s handling of an impeachment? Then the Wisconsin Supreme Court would decide, as it has in other states, said Miriam Seifter, a University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School professor.
“An impeachment that immediately follows a free and fair election is not a sign of a healthy democracy,” Seifter said. “Absent allegations of corruption or crime, impeaching a judge who just won a resounding electoral victory would show a troubling disregard for the will of the voters.”
Quoted: While nearly unheard of, Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the old norms of how Wisconsin government operates have fallen away since former Gov. Scott Walker’s Act 10 legislation, followed by the recall election in 2011.
“The series of steps both parties — but especially Republicans — have taken shows the Legislature plays hardball,” Burden said. “Republicans, in their majority for the last 12 years, have not been shy about exploring what tools are available to them and trying to push them as far as possible.”
Quoted: “Housing right now is unlike 2008, when we overstimulated housing demand, and that drove up housing prices. Now, housing is expensive because there’s an inadequate supply,” said Kurt Paulsen, professor of urban planning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: “There are two parts to the discussion about bail in Wisconsin,” University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor Adam Stevenson said. “One is what, if any, cash is required for release and the other is what conditions or rules do folks have to follow when they are out in the community on bail.”
Quoted: Lawmakers can use the results to gauge public opinion on an issue and inform policy decisions, according to state documents. However, referendums have been increasingly used by both political parties, particularly with non-partisan spring elections, which don’t usually generate great voter turnout, said Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“These elections just don’t generate the same level of media coverage or public discussion so these gimmicks are one way to get the attention of the voter,” Burden said. “The effect on overall turnout probably won’t be great, but in Wisconsin, most people assume elections are going to be close, so even a change in the balance of things by a percentage point or two could tip the race and tip the balance of the Supreme Court itself.”
Quoted: While nearly unheard of, Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison said the old norms of how Wisconsin government operates have fallen away since Former Gov. Scott Walker’s Act 10 legislation followed by the recall election in 2011.
“The series of steps both parties — but especially Republicans have taken — shows the Legislature plays hardball,” Burden said. “Republicans, in their majority for the last 12 years, have not been shy about exploring what tools are available to them and trying to push them as far as possible.”
The UW-Madison Center for Communication and Civic Renewal released a new survey measuring political divides and common ground in Wisconsin. We talk to the Mike Wagner, a professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the group’s faculty director, about the results and the path forward.
Madison’s political landscape is shifting and its common council is looking much younger.
More and more young Wisconsinites find themselves not only running for, but sitting in Madison Common Council seats. Some said their interests piqued while enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Under the law, you’re not supposed to use cash to keep people detained. Cash bond is always supposed to be just a way of making sure people are complying with the rules to decide if they actually are guilty or not,” said Cecelia Klingele, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School. “The idea is if you have money, you get to be out pending release, and if you don’t have money, you’re stuck, and so we should set high bonds that people can’t meet. In fact, under existing law — U.S. and state law — you have to set reasonable bonds in amounts that people are expected to be able to pay. People are supposed to be out pending release. And we use conditions to keep everyone safe, not money, which has disparate effects on different people.”
The growing research into PFAs contamination finds sources in everyday consumer goods like toilet paper and traces PFAs into Green Bay and the Great Lakes. We talk to Christy Remucal, is an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and the director of the Water Science and Engineering Laboratory at UW-Madison, about where we’re finding PFAs in Wisconsin’s waters.
Health outcomes are not even across Wisconsin’s 72 counties, and even the healthiest counties have sharp disparities, with Black residents far more likely to die prematurely, according to new data from the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Population Health Institute.
Noted: Although the badger has long been associated with Wisconsin and shows up in things like the coat of arms, state seal and as the University of Wisconsin’s mascot, students in four Jefferson County elementary schools were shocked to find the badger wasn’t the official state animal; in 1957, they lobbied to get a bill introduced to declare the badger to be the state animal.
“Ads are rarely pulled in races even when they’re really controversial,” said Michael Wagner, a University of Wisconsin-Madison journalism professor who directs the school’s Center for Communication and Civic Renewal.
“It’s not common for a candidate to ask for an ad to get pulled. But it’s uncommon for it to happen in a race,” Wagner said.
Barry Burden, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Elections Research Center, attributed Protasiewicz’s fundraising haul, in part, to a national network of donors Democrats have had better success than Republicans in creating in recent years.
“Democrats have generally built up more national infrastructure to promote fundraising for candidates across the country,” Burden said.
Kelly, a formerly appointed Wisconsin Supreme Court justice vying for a full term on the court after a loss in 2020, shared his vision for the court, his opinions on his opponent and insight on whether he supports potential changes to gun laws.
In-state undergraduate students in the University of Wisconsin System will see the first tuition hike since Republican state lawmakers instituted a tuition freeze a decade ago.
The UW System Board of Regents on Thursday approved the tuition hike with 16 members voting in favor and one voting against. Regents Héctor Colón and Jennifer Staton were not present. The average increase of 5 percent comes as a GOP bill aims to limit the board’s tuition setting authority once again.
Noted: A report from University of Wisconsin-Extension found that while the number of veterans in Wisconsin is declining, spending on veteran services by the U.S. Department of Veterans Administration, or VA, is increasing.
Steven Deller, a professor of applied and agricultural economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of the report, said those funds return federal tax dollars to the state and inject money into local economies.
“We tend to lose money to Washington,” Deller said. “Making sure that the veterans that are in the state are taking full advantage of all the benefits that are offered to them is one way of getting some of that money back into the state.”
The board overseeing Wisconsin’s public university system voted Thursday to increase tuition for in-state undergraduates.
It’s the first rate increase since 2012, a move craved by University of Wisconsin System campuses that have operated under financial strain for years and opposed by students who already take out tens of thousands of dollars to earn their degrees.
Quoted: On the other side of the debate is Mark Seidenberg, a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, one of the leading scientists cited by advocates for the science of reading. Seidenberg said there is a large volume of research that sheds light on how children learn to read and that supports the science of reading approach.
Can using such approaches raise the overall success of kids in becoming readers? “I think it’s huge,” Seidenberg said in an interview.
“There’s two parts to the discussion about bail in Wisconsin,” University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor Adam Stevenson said. “One is what, if any, cash is required for release and the other is what conditions or rules do folks have to follow when they are out in the community on bail.”
Referendums are increasingly being used by both political parties, particularly with nonpartisan spring elections, which don’t usually generate great voter turnout, said Barry Burden, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor.
“These elections just don’t generate the same level of media coverage or public discussion so these gimmicks are one way to get the attention of the voter,” Burden said. “The effect on overall turnout probably won’t be great, but in Wisconsin, most people assume elections are going to be close, so even a change in the balance of things by a percentage point or two could tip the race and tip the balance of the Supreme Court itself.”
The Board of Regents voted to approve the tuition increase Thursday in a meeting at UW-Stout. Resident undergraduate tuition and fees will be an extra $323 to $468 — a 5% average of $414 among the 13 universities — according to the UW System. Housing and meal plan rates will also go up by an average of $294, or 3.5%.
University of Wisconsin System students will have to pay hundreds of dollars more to attend classes next year under a plan system officials overwhelmingly approved Thursday.
The UW Board of Regents on Thursday approved a 4.5% in-state tuition base increase. Proposed by System President Jay Rothman to lawmakers earlier this month, tuition for in-state undergraduates will increase by $372 at UW-Madison, $364 at UW-Milwaukee, $283 at other System four-year schools and about $214 at most branch campuses.
Quoted: Howard Schweber, a professor of political science and law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said Kelly’s connections send a message to conservative voters and groups.
“He has all of that background that, without him having to say anything, tells those interests that he is their guy,” Schweber said. “And in a way that frees him to be able to afford to run as a traditional conservative or even traditional judge … trusting that those more ideological voters will understand that this is just advertising.”
Noted: Donohue, who is seventy-three years old and has curly chestnut hair, grew up in Sheboygan. She has been a community-minded activist since high school, when she won the Young American Medal for Service, which L.B.J. put around her neck in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. After college, she and a friend took a ten-month trip across the country in a 1960 Volkswagen bus that they called the “flying tomato,” and then she applied to an auto-mechanics program at a technical college and to the University of Wisconsin Law School. She was rejected by the technical college but got accepted to law school. She eventually returned to Sheboygan to work on cases involving domestic-violence victims, tenant disputes, and disability benefits, among other things.
Republicans on the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities announced on Tuesday they’d be holding a series of hearings about free speech and “intellectual diversity” on Wisconsin’s public university campuses.
Quoted: “There seems to be an intense interest on the ideological left, especially among various pro-choice groups, to focus on this race,” said Michael Wagner, who studies elections and media at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Ozaukee County ranks the healthiest in Wisconsin and Menominee is the least healthy county in the state, according to new data from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute released on Wednesday, March 29.
A Republican legislator who has accused colleges of “indoctrinating students” will hold hearings next month on whether a lack of what he calls “intellectual diversity” at UW System campuses is hurting the quality of education. The push follows a campus free speech survey that found some conservative students reported self-censoring views in class.
Republican lawmakers said Tuesday they plan to hold a pair of hearings related to a recent free speech survey on University of Wisconsin System campuses as well as protests of a conservative speaker at UW-Madison last year.
Quoted: Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the district is not yet a toss-up, but it’s now within the grasp of Democrats, a possibility that “would not have been the case five or 10 years ago.”
“It’s been zooming towards the Democrats very quickly in the last decade,” Burden said.
Abortion rights took center stage at the Wisconsin Supreme Court debate this week. And it could be a bellwether for how voters in swing states are reacting to the end of Roe. Tiffany Green is an associate professor at The University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Population Health Sciences and Obstetrics and Gynecology. She joined American Voices to discuss.
Early voting started this weekend in Wisconsin for its April 4th Supreme Court race. The outcome of the election will determine whether the court has a liberal or conservative majority, with the justices expected to rule on several key issues such as abortion and voting rights. University of California Law professor Michele Goodwin and the Director of Elections Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Barry Burden, joined American Voices to discuss.
Republicans on Wisconsin’s State Building Commission have rejected every recommendation in Gov. Tony Ever’s $3.8 billion capital budget request, which includes nearly $2 billion for University of Wisconsin System projects.
Noted: Nearly half of the money in Evers’ plan would be spent on University of Wisconsin System campuses. The $1.8 billion would help fund a new engineering building at UW-Madison, expansion and renovation of two dorms at UW-Oshkosh and completion of a science center at UW-La Crosse.
Republican lawmakers on the State Building Commission have rejected Gov. Tony Evers’ capital budget proposal for 2023-25 — including a new engineering building at UW-Madison — again ceding power over approving state construction projects to the Legislature’s budget committee.
Sea lampreys, zebra mussels and white perch are a few of the aquatic invasive species in Wisconsin. We catch up with the efforts to control them with Tim Campbell, an aquatic invasive species outreach specialist with the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant program.
State law doesn’t appear to require a special election, however, says Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Statute 17.19 states that the governor gets to appoint replacements whenever there is a vacancy [in an elected office] and the replacements serve until an election is held,” Burden says. “That could be the regular election at the end of the term or until a special election is held.”
Anna Pidgeon, a professor of forest and wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, joins Live at Four to share what to look for as migratory birds return to southern Wisconsin.
It signed an $100 million agreement with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and several local agreements to build “innovation centers” in Racine, Green Bay and Eau Claire. However outside of signing the agreements, not much else has been done.
The $100 million agreement with UW-Madison is to create the Foxconn Institute for Research in Science and Technology and a new interdisciplinary program in the College of Engineering.
Richard Monette is a professor of law and director of the Great Lakes Indian Law Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he’s been since 1992.
Dr. Annie Jones, an enrolled member of the Menominee Nation, is a professor, organization development and Tribal Nations specialist with UW-Madison’s Division of Extension.
Aloan forgiveness program for UW-Madison graduates who teach in Wisconsin classrooms for at least three years has been extended by another year as districts across the state continue to grapple with staffing shortages.
Efforts to develop sustainable fuels as an alternative to gasoline, diesel and other petroleum-derived products are receiving renewed federal support at a University of Wisconsin-based research center.
Quoted: Despite unemployment remaining low, Laura Dresser, associate director of the COWS economic think tank at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said increased layoffs are tied to the Federal Reserve’s efforts to curb inflation by raising interest rates.
“There’s federal policy focused on trying to cool economic growth,” she said. “I think it’s also the case that the economy remains — in spite of that — quite robust in terms of demand for workers. The unemployment rates are staying low and new workers are coming into the labor market.”
Steven Deller, professor of agriculture and applied economics at UW-Madison, said it remains to be seen whether the economy will experience the “soft landing” the Fed is hoping for.
“The debate is not whether or not the economy is going to slow down, it’s whether or not we’re going to go into a recession or not,” Deller said. “And the general consensus is that we probably are going to go into a recession. The debate really is, how severe will it be?”
As Wisconsin school districts struggle with an ongoing teacher shortage, a privately funded effort at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to recruit more instructors and keep them in Wisconsin is being extended.
Quoted: Whether the court takes that step almost surely depends on who wins next month’s election. A victory by former Justice Dan Kelly would preserve the 4-3 conservative majority. A win by Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz would give liberals control of the court for the first time since 2008.
If the latter happens, it would open the door to a redistricting case, said Rob Yablon, a University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor and redistricting expert.
“The court likely would have that opportunity,” Yablon said. “I think there are litigants who would almost certainly try to bring a case.”
An acceptable photo ID is needed, such as a Wisconsin driver’s license or identification card, a U.S. military ID card, a U.S. passport, an identification card issued by a federally recognized Indian tribe in the state, or a photo identification card issued by a Wisconsin accredited university or college that includes the date of issuance, signature of student and expiration date no later than two years after the date of issuance. Those with an expired university or college ID must also provide a separate document proving current enrollment.
With a $5 million gift from bestselling author James Patterson and his wife Susan Patterson, a children’s book author and UW-Madison alum, the program will now go on through the 2027-28 academic year. Launched in 2020, the over $26 million initiative funded by donors was initially planned to last five years but was extended last March through the 2025-26 academic year.
A new program for UW-Madison pharmacy students looks to help address a rural shortage while giving students a hands-on experience.
In May 2021, UW’s School of Pharmacy began the Advanced Pharmacy Experience rotation. The program rotates students in their fourth year into rural pharmacies to practice under the supervision of a pharmacist preceptor.
University of Wisconsin Law School professor John Gross, director of the Public Defender Project, explains efforts by lawmakers to increase penalties for drug overdoses resulting in homicide charges.
Quoted: Referendums are increasingly being used by both political parties, particularly with non-partisan spring elections, which don’t usually generate great voter turnout, said Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“These elections just don’t generate the same level of media coverage or public discussion so these gimmicks are one way to get the attention of the voter,” Burden said. “The effect on overall turnout probably won’t be great, but in Wisconsin, most people assume elections are going to be close, so even a change in the balance of things by a percentage point or two could tip the race and tip the balance of the Supreme Court itself.”
Carla Vigue was appointed in January as director of tribal relations at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. A member of the Oneida Nation, she most recently served as director of communications, events and community engagement for the National Council of Urban Indian Health in Washington, D.C.
The UW System is funding the first year of the Wisconsin Tuition Promise program, which launches next fall and provides full tuition coverage for new, in-state freshmen and transfer students whose families earn $62,000 or less. The program is open to students attending any UW campus except UW-Madison, which already offers its own tuition promise program that isn’t funded with taxpayer money.
Evers wants to provide the University of Wisconsin System with a funding increase of $305 million. Republicans are unlikely to go along with an increase as large as what Evers is seeking.
The Gordon Dining Center voting ward on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus usually draws about 50 voters in spring primary elections.
But this February, 515 voters cast their ballots there, according to turnout data from the city of Madison clerk’s office. Other campus-area voting wards reported similarly high voting rates. A dorm along Lake Mendota reported 39% turnout.
“It is the very essence of the Wisconsin Idea, which holds that the university — and its people — are committed to helping the state find solutions to its most pressing challenges, whether they’re big or small,” said UW System President Jay Rothman in remarks at Research in the Rotunda.
Researchers with the University of Wisconsin-Madison say a stalagmite from Cave of the Mounds in southern Wisconsin holds clues about the impact of abrupt, global climate changes during the last ice age. A team of UW-Madison scientists led by Cameron Batchelor removed a stalagmite about the length of a pinky finger and used chemical and physical analysis to detect telltale signs of sudden warming in the atmosphere. A paper on their research was published this month in the journal Nature Geoscience.
“This work really puts Wisconsin on the map in terms of showing that this region of the world is not immune to these abrupt climate change events,” Batchelor told Wisconsin Public Radio.
