The 2010 gubernatorial election is not until November 2, but itâ??s already shaping up to be quite the showdown.Lone Democratic candidate Tom Barrett has some heavy-hitters on his side with endorsements from both President Barack Obama and current governor, Jim Doyle.But the link between Doyle and Barrett could hurt the Milwaukee mayor, according to Charles Franklin, political science professor at UW-Madison.
UW-Madisonâ??s faculty has less freedom to criticize administrators than they realize, according to one professor who will propose amending UWâ??s academic freedom policy at Mondayâ??s University Committee meeting.
Quoted: Off-the-books work â??is probably neutral to good,â? says Alfonso Morales, a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He argues that formal and informal economies are linked and cannot be neatly separated.
Quoted: “We know the brain has been evolving in human populations quite recently,” said paleoanthropologist John Hawks at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
….Pinning down the informal economy is as tough as catching a fake Louis Vuitton vendor running from the police. But itâ??s huge in the United States â?? larger than the official output of all but the upper crust of nations across the globe. And, due to the recent recession, itâ??s growing.
Whether thatâ??s good or not depends entirely on oneâ??s point of view. The rise of the informal economy is either the flourishing of entrepreneurship among Americaâ??s poorest or a drag on legitimate businesses that play by the rules.
Quoted: Alfonso Morales, UW-Madison professor of urban and regional planning
Sesame Street,” which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, is not just a good show; itâ??s good for you, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison media experts.
“When it comes to educational benefits, the results have been overwhelmingly positive,” says Karyn Riddle, an assistant professor of journalism and mass communication. Riddle notes the PBS program is “the most heavily researched show in the history of television.”
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Mentions that state legislators will find it hard to return to the days when they committed themselves to funding two-thirds of public education costs, according to research by Andrew Reschovsky, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who participated in the Pew study of the fiscal condition of the states.
Quoted: Larry Rittenberg, an expert on auditing and governance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: “The level of corruption is unbelievable. Itâ??s epidemic,” says Robert Wolensky, a Luzerne County native who teaches sociology at the University of Wisconsin but returns regularly as an adjunct professor at Kingâ??s College in Wilkes-Barre. “It wasnâ??t until I moved to Wisconsin that I realized that corruption wasnâ??t a normal part of government.”
Quoted: “Weâ??re plowing new ground here,” says University of Wisconsin law professor Frank Tuerkheimer, a former U.S. prosecutor.
A Dane County judge on Friday overturned the conviction of a man who served more than six years in prison for a sexual assault that new DNA evidence indicates he did not commit. Judge Patrick Fiedler ordered the release of 45-year-old Forest S. Shomberg, citing new DNA evidence and fresh research on faulty eyewitness identification. The Wisconsin Innocence Project took up Shomberg’s case, armed with powerful new evidence not available in 2002: DNA found on the victim’s pantyhose did not match Shomberg.
Quoted: Getting ex-smokers through six smoke-free months would greatly reduce their relapse risk, says psychologist Douglas Jorenby of the University of Wisconsinâ??s Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention in Madison, which is testing NicVax.
Quoted: â??â??The reality is that this is a very, very specialized area,â??â?? said Pauli, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of the Midwest Regional Bone Dysplasia Clinics.
Quoted: Historian Paul Boyer, who has written books about Doomsday rumors over the years.”There is a period of crisis for those who are convinced the end is coming,” he said. “Prophecy belief is very very ancient in human history.”Boyer, a professor emeritus at UW-Madison, told us that for some, doomsday has replaced traditional religion.
Quoted: The solution includes a system more elaborate than using just test scores, said Allan Odden, UW-Madison professor of educational administration.”All states and districts need a database that links students and their achievement scores to teachers (who taught them the subject) and to schools, both as an overall management tool and for many, many other purposes,” Odden said in an e-mail response to a question from the Gazette.
Today Sesame Street celebrates 40 years on air. An expert in children and TV viewing applauds their efforts over four decades. UW communication professor Marie-Louise Mares says the program was launched with the intent of getting children ready for kindergarten, especially those from lower income families although soon all children became involved.
Quoted: UW political scientist David Canon expects Barrett to announce he is going to run for governor. â??My gut feeling is that heâ??s going to jump in,â? said Canon.
In his approach to National Security Agency surveillance, as well as CIA renditions, drone assassinations, and military detention, President Obama has to a surprising extent embraced the expanded executive powers championed by his conservative predecessor, George W. Bush. So says an online opinion column by Alfred McCoy, UW-Madison history professor and author of “A Question of Torture,” among other works.
Wisconsin is one of top 10 states facing â??fiscal perilâ? this year, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Center on the States.
Its no secret that California is in deep financial trouble. But a new report shows nine other states, including Wisconsin, are headed toward economic disaster, as well.
Quoted: Morris Davis, a real estate economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Wisconsin residents should brace for more tax increases and service cuts, based on an analysis that rated the stateâ??s budget predicament among the 10 worst in the country. Story notes that Andrew Reschovsky, a professor in the LaFollette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison participated in the Pew Center analysis.
After evaluating the effectiveness of Plan 2008, UW-Madisonâ??s 10-year plan to increase diversity on campus, officials are focusing on the creation of a more comprehensive plan to improve campus diversity.
Rob Meyer canâ??t help but get excited when he hears President Barack Obama talking about the need for states to start measuring whether their teachers, schools and districts are doing enough to help students succeed.
“What heâ??s talking about is what we are doing,” says Meyer, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s Value-Added Research Center.
If states hope to secure a piece of Obamaâ??s $4.35 billion “Race to the Top” stimulus money, theyâ??ll have to commit to using research data to evaluate student progress and the effectiveness of teachers, schools and districts.
Quoted: “I think overall what weâ??re seeing from companies in this recession is they figured out they need a strategy,” said University of Wisconsin professor Mason Carpenter. “They need to figure out how to be profitable, not just big, and thatâ??s what weâ??re seeing them work through in these holidays.”
Quoted: But Robert Drechsel, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and treasurer of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, said there is no such balancing test.
Quoted: Yet again, people often donâ??t fully understand what it takes to receive a transplanted kidney, said Rebecca Hays, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics. They might meet with a doctor one time and think thatâ??s all they need to do.
President Barack Obamaâ??s image-driven 2008 campaign and his use of social media outlets fostered in young voters an interest in public policy rarely seen in todayâ??s political climate.
Quoted: At that pace, given the historical relationship between payrolls and GDP, payrolls would fall through the second quarter of 2010, according to University of Wisconsin economist Menzie Chinn. And unemployment typically peaks after payrolls bottom.
Quoted: Charles Franklin professor of political science at UW-Madison. “Jim Doyleâ??s getting an awful lot of precious presidential time right now,” Franklin marveled. “We were all surprised when we saw him (Doyle) walk up the steps of Air Force One.”
President Barack Obamaâ??s appearance in Madison Wednesday also marked the one-year anniversary of his historic election victory.
Since that night, Obama has dealt with many significant and complicated issues. The debates regarding health insurance reform and the economic stimulus have raged through the halls of Congress, and their effects have been felt in Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court decided not to hear a case involving the constitutionality of domestic partnership benefits this week.
Quoted: “This really is not a practical issue at this point,” said Dr. Chris Olsen, a professor of public health and associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine. “Is that to say itâ??s not possible? No.”
Noted: Obama is on his way to James C. Wright Middle School to discuss how states can compete for $4.35 billion in grants through what he calls the Race to the Top Fund. Wright Middle is a public charter school that partners with the University of Wisconsin at Madison on a teacher preparation program.
Quoted: “Right now, the size of the deficit, the growth of government and the perception of government meddling in the private sector are all things that resonate pretty broadly and especially in conservative areas,” says Charles Franklin, co-founder of Pollster.com and a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
A study by the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention found the most effective way for smokers to quit smoking is to combine an over-the-counter nicotine replacement patch and a nicotinereplacement lozenge in daily treatment.
The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities began switching its e-mail servers over to Google this week â?? a change announced last spring that will allow increased savings and technological advantages for students.
Quoted: “Borrowers have the choice of defaulting, and thatâ??s what weâ??re going to see,” said Morris A. Davis, a former economist for the Federal Reserve Board who is now an urban land economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “
UW-Madisonâ??s Faculty Senate almost unanimously approved a resolution Monday opposing any action to restructure the graduate school until a thorough, shared governance process is completed.
Quoted: For a long time now, scientists have instead suggested that bipedalism â?? an upright posture on two legs â?? was the key adaptation that set us on the line to becoming human, “but I think that is actually much less clear now with Ardi,” said paleoanthropologist John Hawks at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Quoted: Still, what works in the laboratory often runs into trouble on the farm and never makes it to the grocery store, said Jeri Barak, an assistant professor of plant pathology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Quoted: Allan Odden, a University of Wisconsin educational leadership expert, said IMPACT was â??sophisticated, well thought through and, if executed well, will represent one of the most rigorous systems in the country.â?
Quoted: “Itâ??s the opposite of discrimination,” said Dr. Norman Fost, a pediatrician and medical ethicist at the University of Wisconsin. “They want a special exception for people who use unproved treatments, and they also want to get paid for it. They want people who use prayer to have it just automatically accepted as a legitimate therapy.”
Quoted: “The rule of thumb that replacement rates should be above 70 percent to maintain living standards in retirement is conceptually flawed,” wrote John Karl Scholz and Ananth Seshadri, two University of Wisconsin-Madison professors, in their paper “What Replace Rates Should Households Use?”
Quoted: â??The Justice Department has clearly begun a major investigation and is moving ahead, which is more than happened in the last eight years,â? said Peter Carstensen, a former Justice Department lawyer who teaches antitrust law at the University of Wisconsin Law School and studies mergers in the agriculture industry.
Quoted: James Paul Gee, an education professor at the University of Wisconsin who was an early adviser to the software company Tabula Digita, said that in the last two years the companyâ??s 3-D multiplayer games for math and science have evolved into exercises for improving childrenâ??s test scores as the company sought wider adoption.
Noted: That would be people like Jimmy Wu, a newly graduated doctor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Raised in a family originally from Taiwan, Wu said traditional healing practices are “very much ingrained” in how he thinks about sickness and health.
Noted: Through the University of Wisconsin Law School Restorative Justice Project, Jackie can visit Craig once a year in Stanley Prison, east of Eau Claire. They talk about the weather. They talk about a recent math test Craig took. They talk about that day 14 years ago.
Quoted: Menzie David Chinn, an economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: Sachin Tuli, co-director of International Programs and a lecturer in the UW-Madison School of Business.
Quoted: But it’s not age alone that makes our heart work harder. The study found a bad diet and lack of exercise also contribute. Dr. James Stein, directs the Preventive Cardiology Program at UW-Madison’s School of Medicine. He says he’s seeing more patients with poor cardio fitness. Stein says people are overweight and canâ??t do activities or daily living, such as chores around the home. He says if it gets to be severe, people lose their independence. (Seventh item)
Damon Williams, UW-Madison vice provost for diversity and climate, encouraged students and faculty to consider the creation of a hip-hop studies program during his discussion Monday.
Quoted: UW-Madison political scientist Charles Franklin.
Quoted: In addition, individual farmers are sending cows to slaughter at a pace of about 55,000 per week, said Robert Cropp, a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin. At that rate, about 3 million cows could be killed in a year.
Quoted: “The immune system is made up of scouts — or white blood cells — that look for invaders or anyone who might harm the host,” said family physician David Rakel, director of integrative medicine at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. “If the scouts find something, they blow the whistle and recruit a number of other cells … to immobilize and destroy the invading organism.”
University of Wisconsin history Professor Jeremi Suri is working on his next book: a history of nation building that will be published around the time of the 10th anniversary of that sad day we call 9/11.
Suri has become one of the countryâ??s leading historians, even before heâ??s reached the age of 40. His most recent major book, “Henry Kissinger and the American Century,” is still getting rave reviews for its insight into what drove the former secretary of state and longtime U.S. diplomat.
For early naturalists such as Charles Darwin, cataloging new species wasn’t just extraordinary because of its effects on science, but also because of the amazing stories of danger and discovery their travels produced.
Many of those accounts have been overshadowed by the impressive science that lives on. Darwin’s theory of evolution that he famously laid out in his 1859 Origin of Species still is a source of controversy.
But how these groundbreaking naturalists gathered their research is as historic as their contributions to modern biology, said Sean B. Carroll, professor of molecular biology and genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Noted: Straight butternut is working for anyone who consumes it, too: The deep orange flesh is packed with beta carotene, vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, manganese, calcium and fiber. Dr. Molly Jahn, the dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the founder of the plant breeding department at Cornell University, helped to develop a better butternut that is resistant to pesky powdery mildew; the plant holds its foliage longer and generates sugar right up to the first killing frost. â??Most of us like our squash sweet, and disease resistance allows it to really sweeten up,â? said Dr. Jahn, who has taste-tested more than her share of squash. â??We also selected for maximum color intensity, for the genetic potential to produce more beta carotene.â? Which means the more orange, the better.
Q. Every time there’s an Olympics or big global sports competition, world records fall. Is there a limit to how fast humans can be?
A. “In my opinion there are no limits,” says Tim Gattenby, a faculty associate in kinesiology at UW-Madison. “People said that no one could break the four-minute mile, and then someone did. People said no one could get more gold medals than Mark Spitz (who won seven in the 1972 Olympics), but records are a carrot that stimulates people to go out and break them.”
