Noted: The moon reaches its closest point to Earth every 27 days, Jennifer Stafford, an astronomy graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison said in an interview last month. A full moon occurs every 29½ days.
The Buck Moon name is rooted in Indigenous history.
Native Americans, Stafford explained, attribute wisdom and reverence to the moon and use it as a way of tracking the seasons.
Wisconsinites have the weight of the nation’s problems on their minds heading into the 2022 midterm elections, a nod to a state whose voters might be pivotal to the balance of power in the U.S. Senate this fall.
That was a key finding of the La Follette Policy Poll, a written survey sent to 5,000 state residents last fall, which asked about the issues that matter to them most and the problems they most want solved. Nearly 1,600 responded.
“The main goal was taking a pulse on what are the policy topics Wisconsinites care about most with the hopes of steering our elected officials and candidates toward those topics,” said Susan Webb Yackee, a professor of public affairs and director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison.
With funding from organizations such as WARF (Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation), CUNA Mutual Group, Dane Arts, and the Morgridge Center for Public Service, Karanja and her team were able to bring important conversations to the forefront regarding women of color in STEM fields. These are conversations that Karanja and the Represented Collective look to continue at an event tonight at the Goodman Community Center on Madison’s near east side titled “Legendary: An Evening of Celebration.” It will be a night of cocktails and conversation and commemoration of women in the STEM fields.
With a focus on women of color, the event will feature a group of panelists including Ana Hooker (Senior Vice President & Chief Laboratory Officer at Exact Sciences), Angela Jenkins (Technology Project Manager at American Family Insurance), Ponmozhi Manickavalli Sathappan (IT Manager at CUNA Mutual Group), and Dr. Jasmine Zapata (Chief Medical Officer for Community Health at Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Division of Public Health, and Physician and Assistant Professor at University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health) who will lead a community discussion regarding issues of representation, professionalism, visibility, microaggressions, macroaggressions, and many other topics that affect the experiences of women across the STEM fields.
Along with being able to hear from the panelists, event-goers will also be able to partake in celebrating the accomplishments of Erika Bullock and Maxine McKinney de Royston who are both assistant professors in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education.
New variants of COVID-19 are reminding us that the pandemic is not over. UW Health’s Chief Quality Officer Dr. Jeff Pothof, said two new variants are much more transmissible – even among those fully vaccinated or with prior infection.
“It’s really easy to catch COVID-19 with, you know, BA-5 or BA-4,” Pothof said. “With these variants that are so contagious, it really probably comes down to a matter of, you know, minutes, or maybe even seconds of being in close proximity to someone who’s shutting this virus for you to get infected.”
Dr. Bill Hartman from UW Health says the main symptoms of this variant are sore throat and nasal congestion.
Quoted: Dr. Dan Shirley, medical director of infection prevention at UW-Health, says the Naegleria fowleri amoeba thrives in warm water, you aren’t likely to contract it in Lake Michigan. “Usually late in the summer, in smaller bodies of water like ponds and small lakes where the water temperature can get warmer than usual,” he said.
Interview with Robert Yablon, an associate professor in the University of Wisconsin-Law School.
Quoted: Peter Carstensen of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, who specializes in antitrust law and energy law, predicts the situation will improve but change will be slow.
“My expectation is prices are going to stabilize in a downward trend,” he said. “It’s not going to be a huge drop, but it’s going to continue to go down.”
Carstensen said that’s because domestic production is increasing and drivers will likely decrease their miles, slowing demand. Despite that, he said other problems will keep costs high.
“The capacity to do things inexpensively is just not there,” he said. According to Carstensen, supply chain issues, the need for new wells, limited refinery capacity and the crisis in Ukraine will be roadblocks to easing the burden on drivers.
Friday morning, President Biden signed an executive order that provides some protection for emergency medical care access to women who seek abortions in states that ban it, like here in Wisconsin. But it does not undo the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
“I mean this is a lot of smoke, but not a whole lot of heat,” said Ryan Owens, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
He says the president does not have the power to legalize abortion nationwide.
“The reality is in order to get any effective change on this you’d have to look at changing legislation,” said Owens.
Quoted: Ion Meyn, an assistant law professor at the University of Wisconsin, called the cases against Wells and others in Fond du Lac County “a real abuse of (prosecutorial) discretion.”
Toney did not respond to multiple requests for an interview or answer emailed questions. But in a statement to Wisconsin Watch, he said attorney ethics rules prevent him from commenting on a pending case.
“Elections are cornerstone (sic) of our democracy which must be defended at every turn, not just when you agree with the law or the politics,” he wrote. “I want people (to) exercise their right to vote and ensure they do so lawfully. Wisconsin law requires someone to register to vote where they live, not where they receive mail. That is made clear on voter registration forms.”
Noted: “You’ll know you’re in the tension zone when you’re heading north and … oaks that are dominant in southern Wisconsin, such as bur, black and white, meet up abruptly with red and white pine as well as paper birch and tamarack swamps that are more characteristic of the north,” writes David Mladenoff in the Fall 2012 issue of Grow magazine, a publication of the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Quoted: “I think there needs to be that follow up, and that follow up needs to be much quicker,” said Ryan Poe-Gavlinski, director of the Restraining Order and Survivor Advocacy Clinic at the University of Wisconsin Law School. “In restraining order cases, they do that firearms surrender hearing two weeks out, but why are we not doing them within 48 hours?”
“They’re not just going to be pretty pictures necessarily,” said Dr. Michael Maseda, an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “There’s going to be scientific information that is probably fundamentally new.”
“I’m not anti-CBD,” said Barry Gidal, a professor of pharmacy and neurology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who co-wrote the study and worked as a consultant for the Epidiolex manufacturer. “There needs to be oversight so that patients know what they are getting.”
If a person suffers a burn, Lori Mickelson from UW Health’s Burn and Wound Center has some tips.
Jordan Ellenberg, a professor at the University of Wisconsin who has written books about math and reasoning, described it this way: “In some counterfactual universe, what is the probability that this thing, which has already happened in our universe, happens?”
Fish is a popular food in Wisconsin whether it’s part of a Friday night fish fry or a staple for Wisconsin tribes. However, a new study finds around only half of people surveyed in the Great Lakes region know about fish advisories that set limits on how much is safe to eat.
The study was published in June in the journal Science of the Total Environment. Researchers from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and University of Wisconsin-Madison found around 5 million people ate more fish than recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The agency recommends no more than two meals or 12 ounces of fish per week.
A Supreme Court ruling will limit the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon emissions. We learn more about the legal and environmental impacts.
Interview with Steph Tai, law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Only about half the people living in the Great Lakes region are aware of fish consumption advisories that warn people to limit their meals of fish, according to a study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The study, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, also found that an estimated 5 million people across the region exceeded the general recommended fish intake of two meals, or 12 ounces per week, as suggested by the Environmental Protection Agency for all fish, including those purchased in stores.
Written by Susan Webb Yackee, a professor of public affairs and director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison.
Meanwhile, Leslie Bow, a professor of Asian American studies at the University of Wisconsin, described blackfishing as “a racial masquerade that operates as a form of racial fetishism” to CNN that same month.
Quoted: Melissa Kono is a community development educator in Clark and Trempealeau counties for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Extension.
She said farmers use plastic sheeting to protect hay and silage from the elements in order to feed their livestock all winter. Some forms of these plastics include top covers for silage bunkers — think white tarp covering mounds of silage with tires holding the tarp down — long bags that hold long, skinny rows of silage and wrap for individual hay bales.
“Their other option for silage would be a silo and those are very costly to construct,” Kono said. “Having a silage pile makes it easier to access, especially if farmers don’t have a lot of space, or makes it more accessible to feeding animals, which helps cut down on time and cost. I just think because farmers are stretched so very thin these days, having plastics to use has probably made it more economical.”
Noted: Over the next four months, our “Wisconsin Main Street Agenda” project will report on what we’re learning from residents and explain what we know about the mood of the electorate based on that massive survey of Wisconsin residents by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center.
The project is a partnership of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Ideas Lab, the LaFollette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wisconsin Public Radio.
Plants already pull significant weight in removing carbon dioxide from the air, but a new study out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows there’s potential for plants to capture more.
The study, which was published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, also shows the potential to increase the amount of aromatic compounds — or the building blocks for certain biofuels and medicines — produced by plants.
Quoted: To Sanjay Limaye, a senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the landing itself was “astounding.”
With a newly-minted astronomy doctorate at the time, Creighton recalled a general feeling of relief. “We’re going to be able to move forward; the road has been set,” she said.
Quoted: “I view it as an incompetent circus from someone who doesn’t know what he’s doing. But I think it’s had real effects,” said Barry Burden, director of University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Elections Research Center.
“Liberals or even most moderates never listen to it, they don’t pay attention to it, they don’t see it, they don’t hear it,” said Lewis A. Friedland, a professor who studies radio at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “So you don’t know it exists, you don’t know how widespread and how powerful it really is.” In Wisconsin, he said, local radio stations play “extreme right-wing propaganda” five or six hours a day.
Those upstream emissions largely negate any climate benefit, said Morgan Edwards, an assistant professor of public affairs at UW-Madison who studies the impacts of energy use.
“We need to dramatically reduce our use of fossil fuels across the board to address the scale of the climate crisis,” Edwards said.
“In 1801-1802 the Federalists are on their way out,” Joshua Braver, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, told Newsweek. “They lose in the revolution of 1800 and the election to Jefferson, and they’re really afraid of Jefferson.”
While plants can die at any stage of life, they’re most vulnerable as seedlings (about two to three weeks after germination). At that stage, one of the most common killers is damping-off disease. According to the University of Wisconsin Madison Department of Horticulture, damping-off is caused by several soil-borne fungi that are moved around in the soil and on soil-contaminated items like garden tools and plant pots. The infection can cause root rot and is fatal. If your seedlings are infected, they’ll emerge from the soil looking healthy, but soon collapse and die.
Barry Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, argued that it’s important to take action against attorneys fanning the flames of election conspiracies before they can rely on officeholders to support the false claims.
Quoted: “The investigation has become a morass of competing lawsuits back and forth between different parties in the state and outside the state,” said Barry Burden, a political science professor and director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “And those legal debates have sort of overtaken the substance of the investigation itself.”
Quoted: “Most people on the street would say when a term … expires, there’s an opening. The Supreme Court has said that commonsense understanding is not right,” University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Barry Burden said. The ruling “raises the question of why is there a term at all? Maybe we just say a person serves for life the way a U.S. Supreme Court justice does.”
“These are really hardball tactics,” said Barry C. Burden, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies elections and democracy issues. “It’s not unlike the United States Senate refusing to confirm Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court to hold open a seat for Republicans.
Each of the original 13 states was tasked with ratifying the proposed constitution. By virtue of its prominent place among those original states, Virginia was critical to the process, said John Kaminski, director of the Center for the Study of the American Constitution at the University of Wisconsin.
Bernadette Atuahene, a property law scholar with the University of Wisconsin who leads the coalition, said studies of Detroit’s assessment practices improved after the city completed a state-ordered reappraisal of all of its homes in 2017. However, Atuahene argued, the lowest-value homes are still being assessed in excess of legal limits.
“In the general population, for commercial use, I would question the need for (IV therapies),” said Adam Kuchnia, an assistant professor of nutritional sciences at UW-Madison. “If you’re getting mega-doses, potentially on a regular basis, there could be harmful toxicity effects.”
“Firework fuses tend to be pretty short and they burn pretty quickly but this doesn’t seem to stop some people from lighting one while still holding onto it and unfortunately just about any firework that detonates in the hand is going to pack enough energy to cause some damage” said UW Health Pediatric Emergency Medicine Specialist Dr. Greg Rebella.
Interview with Sara McKinnon, assistant professor of Communication Arts at UW-Madison.
UW Health’s chief quality officer Dr. Jeff Pothof joins Live at Four to talk about the latest COVID-19 headlines.
Howard Schweber, a professor at UW-Madison and a constitutional law expert, joins Live at Four to talk about what could come next for the U.S. Supreme Court following significant rulings on gun rights and abortion.
“Firework fuses tend to be pretty short and they burn pretty quickly but this doesn’t seem to stop some people from lighting one while still holding onto it and unfortunately just about any firework that detonates in the hand is going to pack enough energy to cause some damage” said UW Health Pediatric Emergency Medicine Specialist Dr. Greg Rebella.
“In the general population, for commercial use, I would question the need for (IV therapies),” said Adam Kuchnia, an assistant professor of nutritional sciences at UW-Madison. “If you’re getting mega-doses, potentially on a regular basis, there could be harmful toxicity effects.”
Molly Wecker, a second-year medical student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, had long planned to be an obstetrics-gynecology doctor in her home state. But with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling last week, the Rock County native is rethinking her plan.
Newsweek asked two experts —retired judge Nancy Gertner and assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School Joshua Braver—to explain whether adding more justices to the Supreme Court is possible at all, how likely such a move is to succeed and why some Democrats are asking for it to happen, while others oppose it.
It’s an issue about which UW-Madison Assistant Professor of Population Health Sciences and Obstetrics and Gynecology Tiffany Green is passionate. “We know that it’s going to disproportionately affect the people already affected,” Green said. “Black pregnant people, and likely indigenous pregnant people.”
Quoted: That is a concern shared among some health professionals, according to UW-Madison expert Jenny Higgins.
“We will see increases in maternal morbidity and mortality due to people being forced to carry to full term. We also know that compared to people who receive desired abortions, people who are denied abortions are more likely to stay in abusive relationships,” Higgins said.
It’s been more than a week since COVID-19 vaccinations were approved for kids ages 6 months to 5 years old, but some hospitals are still waiting to schedule appointments. Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services is urging parents to be patient as vaccinators get up to speed on new guidelines.
“I hadn’t heard much about the ban until quite recently,” said Jenny Higgins, a professor of gender and women’s studies and obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. “Folks didn’t really believe that overturning Roe was possible, or palatable, until recently.”
Quoted: “I hadn’t heard much about the ban until quite recently,” said Jenny Higgins, a professor of gender and women’s studies and obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. “Folks didn’t really believe that overturning Roe was possible, or palatable, until recently.”
Quoted: “Life as we know it is as much an expression of the conditions on our planet as it is of life itself. We resurrected ancient DNA sequences of one molecule, and it allowed us to link to the biology and environment of the past,” said University of Wisconsin-Madison astrobiologist and study lead Betul Kacar.
In reality, China stopped growing years ago. Yi Fuxian of the University of Wisconsin-Madison believes the population has been shrinking since 2018. The last time China’s population fell was during the famine caused by Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward, six decades ago. Tens of millions perished then.
The Jewish family can be considered the core of Jewish identity. At a four-day event, attendees can develop a rich understanding about the history and function of family in a Jewish context, according to organizers.
“In many ways, the Jewish story is a family story,” said Cara Rock-Singer, co-chair of the Greenfield Institute Committee. “There are so many different formations and meanings of family related to issues about how families function and work to produce and reproduce Jewish life.”
The 22nd annual Greenfield Summer Institute, which is part of the George L. Mosse and Laurence A. Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will be held July 11-14, 2022, featuring the theme of “The Jewish Family across Time and Place.”
Quoted: Jenny Higgins, a professor and director of the Collaborative for Reproductive Equity at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said their research has also shown an increase in birth rates in Wisconsin in recent years due to abortion clinic closures. Higgins said Wisconsin’s abortion ban will have devastating impacts on people’s health and wellbeing in Wisconsin.
“Either people will travel out of state to get abortion care in Illinois and Minnesota, for example, which will take significant time, money and logistical resources,” said Higgins. “Some people will self-manage their abortions here in Wisconsin … and then, of course, some people will not be able to access abortion care at all.”
Noted: When the La Follette School of Public Affairs surveyed Wisconsin residents last fall, researchers found people in the state have far more complicated — and frankly, far more important — issues on their minds, things like climate change, health care, race relations and water quality, precisely the issues that don’t often get covered extensively in political campaigns or can easily be reduced to bumper sticker slogans.
Over the next four months, our “Wisconsin Main Street Agenda” project will report on what we’re learning from residents and explain what we know about the mood of the electorate based on that massive survey of Wisconsin residents by the University of Wisconsin Survey Center.
The project is a partnership of the Ideas Lab, the LaFollette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wisconsin Public Radio.
“It would be surprising for guidance to be issued before the court hands down the Dobbs opinion,” said Miriam Seifter, a professor of administrative law, constitutional, and state and local government law at the University of Wisconsin.
“Corn ethanol is not a climate-friendly fuel,” said Tyler Lark, an assistant scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment and lead author of the study.
Pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. James Conway comments on the new COVID-19 vaccines for children ages six months to five years.
Tiffany Green, a professor of health sciences, obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, joins Live at Four to talk about what the Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade case means for Wisconsin.
