“What has been most surprising is that Dan Kelly has basically raised no money as a candidate … So all of his backing has been from outside groups,” said Barry Burden, the director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “It’s hard to understand. Legally, they’re not allowed to coordinate. So he’s essentially handed over messaging to groups that he cannot control.”
Two new reports from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention detail infant and maternal mortality rates in the U.S. We talk with Tiffany Green, a reproductive health expert and assistant professor in the Departments of Population Health Sciences and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, about what needs to be done to save the lives of mothers and their babies.
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.”
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.”
David Drake, professor and extension wildlife specialist in the department of forest and wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, explores human and coyote coexistence in urban areas. Learn more about the Academic Minute here.
Creating these AI detective programs works the same way as any other machine learning task, says Yong Jae Lee, a computer scientist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. “You collect a data set of real images, and you also collect a data set of AI-generated images,” Lee says. “Then you can train a machine-learning model to distinguish the two.”
The new findings support Bernstein’s conclusion, said David Mott, a professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy and the principal investigator on the new survey, which gathered almost 5,000 responses.
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.”
“The finding that exposure to dogs and cats is related to less food allergy seems pretty solid and agrees with several prior studies,” said James Gern, professor and chief of the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
“Sustained lecturing, or a chalk-and-talk approach, continues to be the dominant mode of instruction across all subject areas—which, as the survey data strongly indicate, leaves more than half of learners behind,” says Thomas J. Tobin, a teaching and learning consultant and founding member of the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s Center for Teaching, Learning & Mentoring. “The survey data about the perceived fit of instructor methods underlines a challenge that we’ve known about for a long time: our teaching methods have long been out of step with the learning needs of our students.”
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.
Written by Manuel P. Teodoro, an associate professor at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Teodoro studies water sector management, regulation, and finance.
University of Wisconsin–Madison researcher and assistant professor Nick Buttrick studies the psychological relationship that millions of Americans have with their guns. Buttrick’s research builds on the historical record to show that in the U.S.—the only country with more civilian firearms than people—white Southerners started cultivating the tradition of the home arsenal immediately after the Civil War because of insecurities and racial fears. During the rest of the 19th century, those anxieties metamorphosized into a fetishization of the firearm to the point that, in the present day, gun owners view their weapons as adding meaning and a sense of purpose to their lives.
Scientific American spoke with Buttrick about the psychological roots of the gun culture that has contributed to the more than 100 mass shootings that have occurred in the U.S. so far this year.
Robert Yablon and Ryan Owens, a University of Wisconsin-Madison law professors, and UW-Madison professor and Elections Research Center director Barry Burden are quoted.
Quoted: If the U.S. is unwilling to help unemployed parents, then it should make a far greater effort to ensure that parenting and work are compatible. Expanding funding for the child-care-subsidy program to meet the needs of eligible families would be a great place to start, said Alejandra Ros Pilarz, who studies working families with low incomes at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We have to look for solutions both on the child-care side and on the employment side,” Pilarz said.
The Federal Trade Commission has proposed banning employers from requiring workers to sign non-compete agreements. The FTC argues they suppress wages by $300 billion annually and prevent 30 million Americans from pursuing career opportunities. Martin Ganco, a professor in the Department of Management and Human Resources at the Wisconsin School of Business and an expert on non-competes, joins us.
Noted: The planned closure of the plant has left dozens of Virginia chicken growers scrambling to find new buyers in a region with few other options. It could also expose Tyson to fines under the century-old Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA), the U.S. antitrust law requiring the minimum advance warning, according to Peter Carstensen, a professor of law emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School who previously served in the antitrust division at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Quoted: Mikhail Troitskiy, professor of practice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Newsweek that Poland “does feel seriously threatened” by Russia’s potential victory in Ukraine, compounded by Russian ground forces moving closer to Polish territory.
“That said, I have not seen Poland advocating a forward-leaning or risk-taking offensive posture vis-à-vis Russia or Russian forces operating in Ukraine,” Troitskiy said.
Quoted: Nick Hillman, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Education, said he thinks Biden’s forgiveness program would be a net positive.
“Our student loan repayment system has been shut off for three years and it’s already a pretty rusty machine in the first place,” Hillman said.
Once we resume those payments, it’ll leave many people worse off, he explained.
“So cancellation would help in that transition period,” he added.
Quoted: Ajay Sethi, professor of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the free at-home tests are not only convenient but have been critical in making sure there’s equitable access to testing.
“Not everybody can afford tests if there was a charge for them,” he told Wisconsin Public Radio in February. “So they should continue to play a role. And it’s our job as a society to continue to promote COVID testing, because knowledge of your status of being infected with COVID goes a long way in taking the right steps to prevent spreading that virus to other people.”
We talk with Giri Venkataramanan, the Keith and Jane Morgan Nosbusch professor of electrical and computer engineering at UW-Madison and director of the Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortium, about the state of the U.S. power grid, the influence of climate change on its future and a solution being explored at UW-Madison.
The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention warns they’ve seen an increase in the potentially dangerous, drug-resistant fungus Candida aurus. We speak with Dr. David Andes, a UW Health infectious disease physician and Division chief for infectious disease at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, about maintaining sterile facilities and staying safe.
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.
Noted: Before cross-country runner Sarah Shulze, 21, died by suicide at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in April 2022, the athletics department was expanding its professional mental health support from two staffers to six to help the school’s approximately 800 student-athletes, said David Lacocque, the department’s director of mental health and sport psychology. The department, known until eight months ago as “clinical & sport psychology,” changed its name in part because student-athletes were asking for mental health support.
In addition to scheduled appointments, the sports liaisons attend practices, team meetings, training sessions, and competitions to help normalize mental health concerns.
“Gone are the days when we sit in our office and wait for people to knock on the door and talk to us,” Lacocque 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.
The spring equinox symbolizes the start of spring. That’s an occasion celebrated around the world, at festivals like Holi in India and Chunfen in China. We learn more about the equinox and more with the Weather Guys, Steve Ackerman and Jon Martin, both professors of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UW-Madison.
We talk with Giri Venkataramanan, an engineering professor and researcher at UW-Madison, about the state of the U.S. power grid, the influence of climate change on its future and a solution being explored at UW-Madison.
NBC 26 Today sat down with Dr. Amy Peterson, a cardiologist with UW Health Kids in Madison to talk about the rise in kids with high cholesterol.
Dr. Peterson explained why we are seeing a rise in kids with high cholesterol, as new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that one in five children have an abnormal cholesterol count.
New data out this month from national health leaders show infant and maternal mortality rates have been on the rise the last few years. Additionally, people of color remain disproportionately affected.
“In some ways, this is not unexpected, per se,” Dr. Tiffany Green of UW-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health said. “You know, it’s hard sometimes because people were like, ‘Oh, this is a big deal.’ And we’re like, ‘Well, we’ve been talking about this for a very, very long time.’”
It would also help eliminate the incentive for large depositors in banks we all share to take their money out at signs of unease, said J. Michael Collins, a professor at the University of Wisconsin who focuses on consumer finance.
“When we know that those big depositors won’t make a run and take all the money out, then we’re guaranteed we can get our much smaller amounts back,” Collins said.
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.
A new strategy to combat the deadly white-nose syndrome decimating bat populations in Wisconsin and other states is being studied by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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.”
Mikhail Troitskiy, professor of practice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Newsweek that the arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the Commissioner for Children’s Rights for the Russian Federation, may be just the beginning of the ICC’s efforts.
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.”
“It’s very challenging and very expensive to bring these technologies to market,” said George Huber, whose biofuels research at the University of Wisconsin at Madison was funded by Exxon for years. “It’s not gonna happen overnight. It’s great they make these commitments, but you know they need to start putting in more capital into these projects.”
“I think that that kind of mixed messaging created enormous space for doubt enormous space for skepticism among the public,” Dr. Richard Keller, a professor in the department of medical history and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, told ABC News. “It created levels of uncertainty that were really unnecessary and deep and eventually became harmful.”
“That is, bank failures are the results of mistakes that accumulate over time,” said Roberto Robatto, a finance professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
SULLIVAN: That’s Dr. Ellen Hartenbach, who chairs the obstetrics and gynecology department at the University of Wisconsin and practices at UW Health.
HARTENBACH: It would be either a spontaneous abortion, which would be a miscarriage, or it would be an induced abortion.
“Compared to some other native bees, honey bees are less efficient or unable to pollinate some of our food crops,” Susan Carpenter, native plant garden curator at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, tells Nexstar. Honey bees are, instead, “domestic animals, maintained and cared for by beekeepers” that can be “detrimental to the wide diversity of native bees” around you.
“Having just one child or no children has become the social norm in China,” says Yi Fuxian, a senior scientist in obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a prominent critic of the one-child policy.
Suzanne Eckes, an education professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said it will be tough to prove that laws like Florida’s Stop Woke Act infringe on K-12 teachers’ academic freedom — largely because such freedom does not exist, at least according to the courts.
“An agreement to update the disputed law could very well undercut the current legal challenge,” UW-Madison Law School associate professor Robert Yablon told the Wisconsin State Journal last November. “If an amendment were to build on the 1849 law, that could well be interpreted as an acknowledgement that the 1849 law (as amended) continues to apply.”
Biden distanced himself from more liberal Democrats and their “defund the police” movement during his State of the Union address last year, instead asking Congress for increased money for police training, among other ideas, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison Elections Research Center Director Barry Burden.
Roberto Robatto is associate professor of finance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He said the Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse is the result of two failures of the regulatory framework and serves as a warning sign for industry.
“This interest rate risk is something that banks are supposed to be careful about, and they manage that, but the type of interest rate risk that Silicon Valley Bank took was very high,” he said.
“We may see prices rise on certain things like gas or milk, but it’s not necessarily inflation unless you see prices rising sort of across the board, across many different products and services,” says Jordan van Rijn, who teaches agricultural and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Financial Security.
Mikhail Troitskiy, professor of practice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Newsweek that Russia may be hedging its bets and trying to entrench its forces in comfortable defensive positions in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
“We’ve been thinking a lot lately about this strain because of its potential to be a zoonotic disease” spread from animals to people, Adel Talaat, a microbiology researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told The Daily Beast. Talaat has been working on vaccine development for avian influenza that one day could be given to poultry.
“Lots of people want to live here. Job growth has been good, income growth has been good and housing demand has been really strong,” said Kurt Paulsen, a professor of urban planning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We’ve underbuilt housing relative to demand. That’s the squeeze — more people chasing fewer units.”
