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Category: State news

Wisconsin lawmakers weigh adopting controversial definition of antisemitism

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

While officially adopted by the IHRA in 2016, the definition has been in use for about 20 years, according to Chad Alan Goldberg, a sociologist and professor of Jewish studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He said it’s a response to rising antisemitism in recent decades, with an additional increase since the war between Israel and Hamas after Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.

“It’s coming in a context of heightened concerns about antisemitism,” he said. “Proponents … think it would be a good idea because they think it would make it easier to identify and combat anti-Jewish hate speech and hate crimes, anti-Jewish harassment, vandalism and assault.”

From ‘ideal’ to ‘terrible,’ apple harvest quality varies wildly for growers across Wisconsin

Posted on
Wisconsin State Farmer

Amaya Atucha, a professor and chair of the department of plant and agroecosystem sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says many apple growers in northeast Wisconsin are reporting less-than-ideal crops.

“After a cold winter caused potential damage to apple trees, cool spring temperatures led to delayed and slower pollination, resulting in smaller crops in some orchards in Northeast Wisconsin,” Atucha said in her scouting report.

UW to renovate Science Hall

Posted on
The Daily Cardinal

University of Wisconsin-Madison officials are planning to renovate one of the university’s oldest and most historic buildings in 2027. Science Hall — built in 1887 — will undergo a renovation to upgrade its interior and add a rear common space.

Surveys show we trust each other less. Does that make Wisconsin less ‘Midwest nice’?

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

University of Wisconsin-Madison psychologist Markus Brauer studies how social groups interact, and he told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that the state’s political divisiveness helps explain some of the trust issues.

“If there are people who belong to other political parties, then there is the possibility that they may not share the same common values, which then undermines trust,” Brauer said. “So generally, partisan strength and perceived political polarization actually undermine social trust in others.”

Workers need a $20 fair wage

Posted on
The Cap Times

Labor Day offers a critical juncture at which to access the condition of workers in Wisconsin. For two decades, the High Road Strategy Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has produced comprehensive “State of Working Wisconsin” reports, which have set the standard for assessing where we are at.

The 2025 assessment features some concerning news.

Report warns Trump administration policies are undercutting economy and Wisconsin workers

Posted on
Wisconsin Examiner

Laura Dresser, a co-author of the report and High Road Strategy Center associate director, said in a statement that the 2025 data shows “some real strengths for working Wisconsin owing to the strong recovery from pandemic shutdowns.”

“Long-standing inequalities are still with us, and federal policy puts substantial clouds on the horizon,” Dresser said. “I’m especially concerned about the administration’s attacks on the integrity of federal economic data.”

Madison says GPA determines who gets automatic admission to UW, regardless of number of students

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

More Madison School District students could be eligible for automatic admission to the Universities of Wisconsin under a district policy that avoids having to break ties among top-ranked students.

The district says its approach the new Wisconsin Guarantee program complies with the law that created it, while the primary author of the law said neither her bill nor the law addresses Madison’s approach and it would take a court challenge to determine whether it is legal.

Rabbits with hornlike growths spotted in northern Wisconsin

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Paul Lambert is an oncology professor and director of the McArdle Lab for Cancer Research at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Lambert, who studies human papillomavirus, said the Shope virus was the first tumor virus ever discovered. American physician and animal pathologist Richard E. Shope first identified the virus in the 1930s.

“This is not a bloodborne pathogen,” Lambert said. “This virus, papillomaviruses, is transmitted by exposure on the skin.”

Despite record-high jobs and median wage, federal policy changes could challenge Wisconsin families

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Wisconsin Public Radio

Wisconsin has a record-high number of jobs and median wage, but there are signs that the economy is softening and changes in federal policy could negatively affect workers in the coming years.

That’s according to a new report from the High Road Strategy Center, a labor-focused economic think tank at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. On Friday, the organization released its annual State of Working Wisconsin report, which aims to provide insight into how workers are faring in the economy.

Wisconsin Democrats move to change state law to ban concealed carry of guns on college campuses

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Democrats announced legislation to amend Wisconsin law to prohibit the concealed carry of firearms on college and university campuses in Wisconsin.

The legislation, which has been introduced in previous sessions and failed to advance, would make it a misdemeanor to possess a gun on campus, making the penalty up to nine months in jail and a fine of up to $10,000. The new stipulations would not apply to law enforcement or military personnel, nor anyone who possesses a gun on campus with permission.

Democratic lawmakers propose prohibiting concealed carry on college campuses in Wisconsin

Posted on
Wisconsin Examiner

Democratic lawmakers want to align gun laws for Wisconsin colleges and universities with those in place for K-12 schools by prohibiting concealed carry on campuses.

Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) and Rep. Brienne Brown (D-Whitewater) said during a press conference Wednesday that the bill would help protect students at a time when schools continue to be targets of gun violence.

2 Madison School Board members criticize administration on weighted grading

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

The district announced Friday evening that it would not use weighted grading as part of its response to the Wisconsin Guarantee program. Approved by the state Legislature, the program guarantees admission to UW-Madison for students who rank in the top 5% of their class and guarantees admission to the 12 other four-year Universities of Wisconsin campuses for students who rank in the top 10%.

What are the best colleges in Wisconsin? Niche ranked the state’s top schools for 2025

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has been named the best college in Wisconsin for 2025, according to a recent report from Niche.

The school rankings website analyzed more than 1,000 colleges and universities across the U.S. for its 2025 Best Colleges in America report and related state reports.

Evers bypasses GOP-led committee to implement pay raises for state workers

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Evers’ legal claim on raises was tied to Vos following through on a promise in 2023 to use the employee relations committee to block pay increases for around 34,000 employees of the University of Wisconsin until state campuses eliminated all of their diversity, equity and inclusion positions. Later that year, Vos and the UW Board of Regents struck a deal to release the funding for pay increases in exchange for new limits on DEI hiring through 2026.

UW system would fund project to recover MIA soldiers under GOP bill

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Wisconsin State Journal

Legislative Republicans nixed a plan to fund a UW-Madison program that recovers the remains of missing service members, but a new proposal would require the Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents to pay for it.

A team of students and experts in the Missing in Action Recovery and Identification Project at UW-Madison sifts through archives and conducts field excavations in an effort to return the remains of veterans who went missing in combat to their families.

A ray of hope for public broadcasting

Posted on
The Cap Times

While at NPR, Jack Mitchell co-created the long-running afternoon news program “All Things Considered” and was its first producer and newscaster.

Mitchell’s retired now as emeritus professor at the UW School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where he taught after stepping down as WPR’s director in 1997. In the meantime, he’s authored several books, including my favorite, “Wisconsin on the Air: 100 years of public broadcasting in the state that invented it.”

Jack a few days after the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced it was closing its doors after Congress took away its $1.1 billion annual funding (about $1.60 per person.)

Wisconsin dairy farm count keeps falling amid hard times. Here are some farmers who persevere

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Wisconsin lost thousands of dairy farms in the ‘90s. At one point, farmers received inflation-adjusted milk prices that were 20% lower than in 1960 and about half of the peak price in 1979, according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension.

Why a UW-Madison ‘treasure trove’ of health data could go away

Posted on
The Cap Times

Fifteen years ago, the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison launched the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps. The resource provides a “treasure trove” of public data and offers a snapshot on the health of nearly every county in the nation, said Sheri Johnson, the institute’s director.

While more than 700,000 people use the resource each year, Johnson said, County Health Rankings and Roadmaps will soon lose its primary funder. The New Jersey-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is set to end its support after 2026.

More Wisconsin high school students will be admitted into college without even applying

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

More Wisconsin high school students will be automatically admitted into college without even applying.

It’s a hallmark of Direct Admit Wisconsin, a new University of Wisconsin System program intended to reach students who haven’t considered college or never would apply on their own. High school students are automatically admitted into universities based on their grades at the end of their junior year.

‘I would never wish it on anyone:’ Measles resurgence spurs memories of past toll in Wisconsin

Posted on
Wisconsin Watch

“For example, if you’ve been immunized for polio, and then you get a measles infection, the immunity you had to polio could be wiped out or reduced,” said Malia Jones, a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor in the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology. “You wouldn’t even know that you’re susceptible to some of this stuff.”

New Wisconsin undergrads will pay in-state tuition at Iowa university

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Incoming Wisconsin students will pay in-state tuition at a public Iowa university starting this fall.

The University of Northern Iowa is offering in-state tuition to new first-year and transfer undergraduate students from its neighboring states, including Wisconsin, in the next academic year in an effort to attract students from throughout the Midwest.

Budget agreement includes funding for virtual mental health services on smaller UW campuses

Posted on
The Daily Cardinal

The 2025-27 Capitol Budget passed at the beginning of July includes $7 million for virtual mental health services to University of Wisconsin students at all campuses apart from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The inclusion of the funding follows a bill introduced by Sen. Jesse James, R-Thorp, and Senate Republicans on June 2 to address mental health issues among UW System students.

Gov. Tony Evers says EPA abandons science as it moves to end greenhouse gas regulations

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Greg Nemet, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, served as a lead author on a United Nations panel report on climate change. He called the move a political change that’s meant to prop up fossil fuels.

“The change seems to be to get rid of that ruling that greenhouse gases are a danger to humans, and there’s certainly no scientific basis for that,” Nemet said. “Over time, there’s just been more and more evidence about how damaging it will be to have a hotter climate.”

West Nile virus detected in Wisconsin mosquitos

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Wisconsin is coming out of a drought, which can mean more mosquitos, said PJ Liesch, an extension entomologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“We finally hit the point where no parts of Wisconsin are experiencing drought anymore. That’s a good thing for plants and crops, but … that can mean more mosquitoes out and about.” Liesch said. “So recent reports that I’ve had at the UW Insect Diagnostic Lab do suggest that there’s quite a bit of mosquito activity out there in Wisconsin, although it can vary from location to location.”

‘There’s signs of life’: Wisconsin housing expert analyzes new state data

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Wisconsin Public Radio

ales of previously owned homes in Wisconsin rose 8.1 percent in June compared to the same month last year.

That’s according to the Wisconsin Realtors Association’s latest housing report.  Kurt Paulsen, professor of urban planning in the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, called the sales jump a “mixed signal.”

Wisconsin science camps for kids with autism face uncertain future after federal funding cuts

Posted on
Channel 3000

Michael Notaro, director of UW–Madison’s Center for Climatic Research launched STEM camps in Beloit, Wisconsin Dells and at Madison’s Henry Vilas Zoo with a simple mission: make science accessible to all children with neurodivergences – but the camps are at risk.

“The main goals of the camps is to support the kind of interest and pursuit of science, degrees and careers, to foster and support neurodiversity and to celebrate it,” Notaro said.

UW-Madison Extension to wind down FoodWIse programming after federal funding cuts

Posted on
Channel 3000

UW-Madison Extension will wind down its FoodWIse programming following federal funding cuts, administrators announced Friday.

The move comes after the passage of President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, which eliminated funding for the National Education and Obesity Prevention Grant Program (SNAP-Ed). The funding cuts go into effect on Sept. 30.

Wisconsin Gubernatorial race draws national attention

Posted on
WKOW - Channel 27

Political experts say this will reshape Wisconsin’s political landscape significantly. Howard Schweber, a professor with UW-Madison’s Department of Political Science, believes this decision could encourage several Republicans who previously stayed out of the race to now consider running.

“This opens the field on both sides,” Schweber said. “I think there were several potential Republican candidates who are likely not throwing their hat in the ring because they assumed Evers would be very hard to beat.”

Henry Vilas Zoo host STEM camp for neurodivergent kids

Posted on
WKOW - Channel 27

The camp is organized in collaboration with Dr. Michael Notaro, director of the Center for Climatic Research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. With prior funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Notaro and his team have led similar camps in Beloit, Madison, and Wisconsin Dells.

However, future programming is uncertain. Federal support for the camps ended earlier this year when NSF grants were discontinued. While funding remains in place for this summer’s sessions, organizers are seeking alternative sources to continue beyond 2025.

Madison STEM camp for neurodivergent kids could see final year after funding loss

Posted on
WMTV - Channel 15

Dr. Michael Notaro, director of the Center for Climatic Research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, launched the program several years ago.

“I think that’s inspired by my son Hayden,” Notaro said. “He’s autistic and a wonderful boy. My wife is also autistic. And based on my desire to support and foster neurodiversity, we created three STEM camps.”

Fred Risser’s life is the story of Wisconsin politics

Posted on
The Cap Times

Among his losing battles was the 1970s fight over merging the University of Wisconsin in Madison with other state campuses to form the UW System. He was against it, as were his constituents on the Madison campus. He fought enacting a state lottery and opposed building the so-called SuperMax prison that Tommy Thompson later admitted was a big mistake.