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Category: UW Experts in the News

Burke gets six months in jail

Wisconsin State Journal

Quoted: UW-Madison political science professor Dennis Dresang said in addition to the reform initiative, Wisconsin should make it clear that politicians who break the rules will face severe and specific penalties.

Dresang also said those who raise money on state time should not be allowed to use the money if they are caught.

Books: New look at old history

Capital Times

Charles Mann looks at the history of the Americas quite differently from the version you probably learned in school.

In his controversial book “1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus,” Mann has compiled works of numerous scholars to argue that before Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492, the Western Hemisphere contained more than 100 million people.

…Mann – a correspondent for Science and the Atlantic Monthly – quotes two University of Wisconsin-Madison experts, among many others, in support of and opposition to his theories. For instance, he quotes UW-Madison history and geography Professor William Cronon on the way Indians managed their environment by using fire.

UW-Madison African studies bibliographer and historian David Henige is also among those quoted.

Today’s a paid holiday for many

Wisconsin State Journal

That would seem to hold true at the area’s largest employers, which are mostly open for business today. The UW Health system, the UW-Madison campus and state government offices are all open, and while employees there can take advantage of vacation or personal time, it’s not a paid holiday.

“Obviously, with schedules and contracts varying, we attempt to honor all the vacations requests as long as all the operations are accounted for,” said UW Health spokeswoman Diane Stojanovick Books.

With no classes and the UW- Madison campus largely deserted, most departments at the university can function on a skeleton staff, said Stephen Lund, the associate director of human resources. But then again, Lund himself plans on working today and enjoying the tranquility.

“The phones don’t ring so much, you can catch up,” Lund said. “You get one call instead of 15, five e-mails instead of 30.”

Rob Zaleski: Spam – the monster that just won’t die

Capital Times

If you’re among the tens of millions of people who dread turning on their computers every morning – knowing full well you’re about to be bombarded with crude sex messages and all sorts of other obnoxious spam – Gerald Thain has some depressing news for you.

Barring some dramatic technological breakthrough, the problem isn’t going away. Not for a long, long time anyway.

Thain is a consumer law professor at UW-Madison and somewhat of an expert on the subject.

Religion interferes with FDA ruling

Badger Herald

Broadcaster Pat Robertson recently issued a fatwa over the citizens of Dover, Penn., who voted out of office school board members who supported intelligent design in the school curriculum. ââ?¬Å?Iââ?¬â?¢d like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, donââ?¬â?¢t turn to God. You just rejected Him from your city,ââ?¬Â Robertson said. Hmm ââ?¬Â¦ is this about science or religion?

Colleges are reaching their limit on alcohol

USA Today

To curb abuses, some universities rein in tailgating, sales at games, commercial ties to beermakers. There’ll be no oversized trucks, buses or RVs allowed outside the historic Yale Bowl on Saturday. No drinking games. Pack up your coolers, grills and buffet tables by halftime of the 122nd Harvard-Yale game, please, and head into the stadium ââ?¬Â¦ or head home

Gundrum renames Avery bill

Badger Herald

Recent legislative action named for Steven Avery, who was wrongly convicted for and later exonerated of a crime he did not commit, will be renamed following Avery�s implication as the prime suspect in the murder of a young Hilbert, Wis., woman, a state representative said Monday.

UW man in trenches of the bird-flu battle

Wisconsin State Journal

Not everyone can claim a chicken as a career counselor.
But sick chickens in Pennsylvania steered Yoshihiro Kawaoka into bird flu research.

As attention to the human threat of a worldwide epidemic from bird flu has swelled in recent months, the UW-Madison virologist has emerged as one of the country’s leading experts on the subject.