Downtown workers might want to leave work a little early Friday for one of two reasons, either to avoid the congestion caused by the UW-Madison homecoming parade or to find a good viewing spot for the parade that begins at 5 p.m.
The University of Wisconsin Foundation’s endowment for UW-Madison is down about 18 percent, or about $300 million, since the stock market began dropping precipitously this fall, said Sandy Wilcox, foundation president. That means the foundation, which is the official fundraising arm of UW-Madison, will be able to give less money to facilities, student financial aid, and faculty and research support, Wilcox said. Continue reading
A federal grand jury issued an indictment on Wednesday alleging that a former dean of education at the University of Louisville and an associate diverted more than $2-million into their personal bank accounts from a federal research grant and from contracts with municipal school districts.
If convicted on all 10 countsâ??which include charges of mail fraud, money laundering, and tax evasionâ??the former dean, Robert D. Felner, could face at least 20 years in prison.
John Fry is skipping over some of the biggest names in his Rolodex these days. With the economy in a downward spiral, the Franklin & Marshall College president says heâ??s not calling on donors who have fallen on hard times.
â??I think in this kind of environment you have to be very sensitive to peopleâ??s situations,â? Fry said Tuesday. â??Itâ??s been a very interesting two weeks, because on one hand Iâ??ve purposely avoided visiting or soliciting [certain] people.â?¦ On the other hand, I know a significant number of other people who are in better [economic] situations, and Iâ??ve been actively soliciting them.
When the University of Wisconsin athletic department started to set its 2008-09 budget about this time a year ago, officials knew they would have to adjust for the normal inflationary increases.
But they didn’t know the price of oil would skyrocket, sending travel costs upward with it.
That means UW teams are operating under budgets that didn’t take into account higher airline prices, including eye-opening cost increases for charter flights. But the message has been clear: Squeeze existing resources as best you can, because the budget is firm.
While the Nazis slaughtered 6 million Jews in Europe, they also tried to “re-educate” homosexuals and stop the spread of homosexuality among German men. That campaign is the subject of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945” traveling exhibit now at UW-Madison’s Memorial Library and an online exhibit viewed by 374,000 people since 2002.
Shaky economic conditions have had their effect even on the University of Wisconsinâ??s new Union South building, with construction scheduled to begin in the next year.
Good news for Metro bus riders downtown: Buses will be returning to Capitol Square on Sunday, Nov. 9.
Buses have been using the “loop route” a block off the square since early summer because of ongoing bus shelter construction on the four streets around the Capitol: Mifflin, Pinckney, Main and Carroll. The loop route uses Dayton, Webster, Doty and Fairchild streets.
UW-Madison homecoming events on Friday will force four Metro routes commonly using the loop route to take alternate streets away from State and Lake streets.
When Gov. Jim Doyle announced Wednesday that the state has a $3 billion deficit for the 2009-2011 budget, many are questioning what implications the stateâ??s recently projected deficit may have for the University of Wisconsin System and its students, faculty and staff.
The lawsuit cites a November 1991 incident in which D’Angelo was reprimanded for forcibly kissing and making unwanted sexual advances toward a 19-year-old UW-Madison student who had met him at the Civic Center to inquire about an internship. D’Angelo was warned that any further conduct of that type could result in his firing.
Nothing, including cutting state government jobs and spending on education, will be off the table as Wisconsin deals with the national economic downturn that could put the state $3 billion in the red, Gov. Jim Doyle warned Wednesday.
….Despite the current economic turmoil, Doyle said he was optimistic the state could make it through the rest of this year without emergency action.
However, Doyle said he ordered state agencies to cut 10 percent from their proposals for the budget that will take effect July 1. That’s after he already told them to cut millions of dollars in agency spending and not expect any increases over the next two years.
Wisconsin may experience a $3 billion budget deficit over the next few years due to the present economic situation, Gov. Jim Doyle announced at a press conference Wednesday.
Wisconsinâ??s upcoming biennial budget could be $3 billion or more in the red due to the downward spiral of the national economy, Gov. Jim Doyle said Wednesday.
Bibliophiles will be lining up for bargains starting Wednesday night during the UW-Madison fall used book sale, the largest used book sale in Wisconsin.
The sale is in Room 116 at Memorial Library, 728 State St., held in conjunction with the Wisconsin Book Festival.
For the state of Wisconsin the outlook is now pretty bleak as well.
Today Governor Jim Doyle said the state is likely facing at least a 3-billion dollar budget deficit and to climb out of that hole cuts will be made that will affect everyone.
After holding strong for several months, Wisconsin is now too falling victim to economic struggles.
Doyle says, “There is no doubt it is going to be very, very severe here in the state.”
State sales tax collections in Wisconsin were down ten percent in the month of September, and income and corporate tax collections are down for the year. Governor Jim Doyle said that means the state could be facing a three billion dollar deficit in the next two year budget cycle.
“Since September collections reflect August economic activity, we are I think justifiably concerned, that the full impact of the credit and stock market crisis is yet to be felt in tax collections,” Doyle said during a press conference Wednesday in his state Capitol office. “We are certainly looking at more than three billion dollars in deficit, and it could grow well beyond that, if the nation’s economy continues to spiral downward.”
Local economies, those dominated by stable industries, could be relatively well-cushioned. BusinessWeek.com worked with data from PolicyMap.com, a demographics and data site run by Philadelphia’s Reinvestment Fund, to identify the best places to live during a recession. We looked at places where large portions of the population worked in anticyclical industries such as government, health care, education, agriculture, and legal services.
Madison has a second recession buffer: the University of Wisconsin. More than 17% of the working-age population works in education, according to PolicyMap. Colleges don’t necessarily flourish in bad times, but they don’t go out of business either.
Don’t slap a horse on the rump, especially if a cop is sitting on it.
A Janesville man was arrested and tentatively charged with battery to a police animal after allegedly whacking a police horse very hard on the rump shortly after midnight early Sunday morning in the 600 block of State Street.
A man who fondled himself while following women walking down the street after the Badger football game Saturday night was arrested and tentatively charged with lewd and lascivious behavior, police said.
A 20-year-old Madison woman was able to break away from a sexual assault attempt Saturday night in the East Johnson Street/Pinckney Street area.
With the economy on everyone’s mind, two economic heavyweights squared off at the UW.
Dr. Ike Brannon and Dr. Austan Goolsbee met at Grainger Hall to fight for their candidates.
“In the next two hours we hope to learn how a McCain or Obama administration would shape the economic agenda from two people who would play a large roll is setting those agendas,” said debate moderator and business school Dean Michael Knetter.
An adviser to John McCain said Friday his plan to buy bad mortgages with tax money is the best way to address the nation’s economic crisis, but an aide to Barack Obama argued that would reward greedy lenders.
The comments came during a two-hour debate between Obama’s senior economic adviser Austan Goolsbee and senior McCain policy adviser Ike Brannon at the University of Wisconsin-Madison business school.
Economic advisers to presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama agree: The $700 billion financial bailout package isn’t enough to save the flagging economy.
But their disagreements on what to do were in high relief at a UW-Madison School of Business forum Friday that came amid the unpredictable global financial crisis that has become the dominant theme of a campaign with less than four weeks before election day.
The Union Design Committee focused their meeting Thursday night on sustainability, particularly water usage, as they forged ahead with plans for the new south campus union.
Momentum behind efforts to build a cleaner future for Dane County lakes has run headlong into a shaky economy.
The collision will provide plenty of excuses to say we cannot afford new spending on the lakes.
Nearly every TV ad Republican John McCain ran last week was negative, compared to just 34 percent of those by Democrat Barack Obama, according to an analysis released Wednesday.
The harsher tone in McCain’s ads mirrors the sharper attacks he and his running mate Sarah Palin have been making on the campaign trail as polls show Obama opening up a lead.
Obama also has a lead in fundraising, which is letting him do more advertising than McCain, the Wisconsin Advertising Project report said.
Two people walking on the bicycle path near North Charter and Spring Streets on the UW-Madison campus were robbed at gunpoint early Wednesday morning. Neither of the victims were injured.
If all goes well soon people in the area won’t even have to open their mouths to tip off authorities to crime in the area.
They’ll be able to let their thumbs do the talking.
It seems like it’s everywhere now a days.
Kelsey Dalnymple a Senior at the UW says, ” It’s becoming more difficult not to text.”
Nearly a decade after the city enacted a plan to revamp State Street, residents and officials gathered Monday to celebrate the grand reopening of Madisonâ??s signature downtown drag.
The University of Wisconsin Faculty Senate voted Monday to support changing the name of Campus Drive to honor a former UW professor who created a popular blood thinner.
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents did a fine job of hiring a new chancellor for the system’s flagship campus at Madison — respected scholar and administrator Biddy Martin — but the board’s chancellor searches do not always turn out well.
Ellen Foley is stepping down as the top editor of the Wisconsin State Journal, ending a four-year tenure in which the newspaper strengthened its Internet journalism and refocused its coverage of Madison in the face of industry challenges.
James L. Baughman, director of the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication, noted that Foley led the State Journal during a time in which newspapers around the country faced financial pressures and staff cuts as they struggled to hold onto their readers.
“She’s had to take chances that an editor 30 or 40 years ago wouldn’t have had to take,” he said.
The deaths of the patriarch of a prominent local family and his young wife in an apparent murder-suicide has left members of the local Latino community shocked and saddened.
“This is truly an incredible tragedy,” Peter Munoz, executive director of Centro Hispano, said Monday.
The UW Credit Union is providing scholarship money for students. UW Credit Union president and CEO, Paul Kundert, says the credit union is giving some $600,000, including $215,000 for UW Madison, to provide need-based scholarships for low and moderate income students.
(UNDATED) A new website directed at universities lets users view detailed maps of crimes on or around their campus. But some security officials question just how well they work.
UCrime.com launched in August, and features about 200 colleges and universities in North America and England so far. The U-W Madison is the only Wisconsin school currently on the site. Its map shows various icons: a gun signifies a shooting; fists indicate assault; and cartoon figures with black masks represent robberies.
Accuracy and timeliness are two concerns some officials have about UCrime.com, including Dale Burke, assistant chief of the U-W Madison police. (5th item.)
STEVENS POINT, Wis. (AP) — University of Wisconsin System leaders say they’ve expanded a program that allows students to earn UW-Madison degrees after spending their first two years at other campuses.
The University of Wisconsin Credit Union will donate $215,000 to need-based scholarships at UW-Madison and match contributions from its members today through Dec. 31, university officials said Wednesday.
In addition, the UW Foundation will match total gifts from the credit union and its members. That means a donation from a credit union member of $100, for example, would yield $400 for the university.
This is part of the UW Foundation’s initiative, “Great People. Great Place.” The foundation has set aside $20 million to match private gifts designated to need-based scholarships.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Four University of Wisconsin chancellors will have to wait for raises that had been expected to be approved this week.
University System spokesman David Giroux says the Board of Regents will not take up the raises on Friday because of “turmoil and uncertainty in our nation’s economy.”
Dear Editor:
Science, technology and innovation matter to everyone!
Sixty-one Nobel laureates in science just announced their support of Barack Obama for president. They know how much science matters; and they know that Obama’s science and technology policies are an essential component of any plans to change our direction as a nation and address our critical problems in energy, medicine, climate change, security and economic competitiveness.
We, UW-Madison physics professors emeriti, have watched with great concern the loss of industrial jobs throughout Wisconsin, and the resulting growth of our economic problems.
The people involved in the failed search for a chancellor at UW-Parkside could have done a better job of sharing information about the top candidate, University of Wisconsin System President Kevin Reilly said Friday.
Reilly commissioned a review of the search process used to choose chancellors at all System schools after Robert Felner, who was hired as chancellor of UW-Parkside last spring, resigned amid a federal criminal investigation in Kentucky.
The consultant hired to review the University of Wisconsinâ??s screening process after a failed chancellor search at UW-Parkside recommended changes in checking finalistsâ?? references, including possibly visiting their home campuses.
Chadwick Becker remembers the day he was introduced to the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society. He was sitting in his dorm room on the Iowa State campus when his roommate ran in and told him he had to come and check something out.
What he saw were guys and girls dressed in medieval dress, wielding cushioned swords and shields as they fought one another. That was seven years ago. Once he saw it, he was hooked.
“I haven’t been able to stop,” said Becker, 25, of Illinois. “I do it for the physical activity. You have to be fast and quick. It’s like a sport.”
Becker was among a dozen Belegarth members who were demonstrating their skills at the second Geek.kon convention held Saturday and Sunday on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
MADISON â?? Four University of Wisconsin chancellors are slated to receive pay raises of between 3.5 percent and nearly 5 percent.
The Board of Regents will consider the raises at its meeting in Stevens Point next week. The raises would take effect Oct. 3.
Milwaukee chancellor Carlos Santiago, who has held the position since 2004, would see a 4.99 percent raise under the proposal. His salary would go from $280,550 to $294,550 with another $20,000 paid by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Foundation.
Frequenters of downtown Madison will not be able to celebrate the completion of State Street construction for long, as city planners met Thursday to discuss various construction projects that will last until 2013.
Four University of Wisconsin chancellors are slated to receive pay raises of between 3.5 percent and nearly 5 percent.
The Board of Regents will consider the raises at its meeting next week.
A man was arrested Wednesday night after a State Street apartment resident reported that someone was trying to cut or rip his window screen, Madison police reported.
Two officers patrolling the area responded and arrested Samuel L. Coffee III, 39, no permanent address. Coffee was jailed on tentative charges of burglary and six counts of bail jumping.
According to police, a 22-year-old man reported that he was in his apartment in the 500 block of State Street around 11 p.m. Wednesday when he heard someone outside in the area of a fire escape, trying to cut or rip his window screen.
A Dane County jail inmate accused of first-degree intentional homicide tried to commit suicide early Thursday morning, the Dane County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The inmate, described as a 20-year-old man from Stillwater, Minn., fit the description of Adam Peterson, who has pleaded not guilty in the stabbing death of Madison resident Joel Marino.
While many University of Wisconsin students are still waiting to get their 15 minutes of fame, one graduate has already secured herself a place in reality TV history.
A 20-year-old male inmate awaiting trial on a charge of first-degree intentional homicide attempted suicide in the Dane County Jail early Thursday morning, the Sheriff’s Office reported.
The inmate from Stillwater, Minn., attempted to hang himself in the shower with his jail-issued uniform pants, but was rescued by a deputy and was conscious and alert after the rescue, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
….The Sheriff’s Office has a policy of not releasing the names of inmates who attempt suicide. However, 20-year-old Adam Peterson of Stillwater, Minn., is being held in the jail on a charge of first-degree intentional homicide for the January death of 31-year-old Joel Marino.
A science historian at UW-Madison has been named interim director of the University’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.
Gregg Mitman, 47, is a professor of history of science, medical history, science and technology studies and environmental studies.
Provost Pat Farrell, who announced the two-year appointment Wednesday, said Mitman will help the Nelson Institute meet the goals of a new university-wide strategic plan while addressing the environmental challenges of the 21st century.
Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler, ousted in a bitter campaign last spring which featured unprecedented money spent in a court race in the state, will be the next Justice in Residence at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Law School Dean Kenneth B. Davis Jr. announced Wednesday that Butler will return to his alma mater to teach at the school for the next two years.
MADISON, Wis. — Organizers and Madison’s mayor have announced the lineup of bands and entertainment stages for Freakfest, the city-sanctioned Halloween party on State Street.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz announced Wednesday that O.A.R. will headline Madison’s Freakfest 2008 on Saturday, Nov. 1. This year, the city is again partnering with Frank Productions to feature live entertainment at the event.
Local interest in the latest version of CBS’ hit series “Survivor” will be high starting Thursday night: One of the 18 competitors is a UW-Madison graduate.
Jacquie Berg, a 2005 graduate who originally hailed from Woodbury, Minn., is a member of the “Survivor: Gabon” cast, with the show debuting at 7 p.m. Thursday, the show’s 17th season on the network.
More than 100 Milwaukee Area Technical College students will be offered emergency loans from the school because a private student lender doesnâ??t have the cash to provide loans on time.
Students with Edamerica loans at UW-Madison, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Stout had three- to four-week delays in receiving their checks but have gotten their money, UW System spokesman David Giroux said.
Under a new collaborative program, doctorate-level students in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s art history program and UW-Milwaukee’s School of Architecture can take classes at the other university.
In addition, UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden will speak at 7 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center. He leads a UW research team recently awarded a grant to improve the state’s ability to collect accurate election returns.
State spending on the University of Wisconsin System has trailed inflation and overall state spending, according to a report by the nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. The report shows state funding for UW nearly doubled between 1983 and 2007. But state aid and tax credits for primary and secondary schools more than tripled, as did overall state spending, while inflation also contributed to the disparity.
Would-be First Lady Michelle Obama also campaigned across the state on Monday, making stops in Madison, the Milwaukee suburbs and Wausau. She targeted women and college students during a campaign stop at UW-Madison on Monday morning before about 1,800 people.
Michelle Obama made a stop in Madison on Monday, and challenged supporters of her husband’s presidential campaign to engage with their friends and neighbors on the issues
MADISON — Michelle Obama didn’t mention John McCain or Sarah Palin in her remarks today at a rally in a park near the University of Wisconsinâ??s football stadium. But she did make it clear that her husband, Barack Obama, is more in touch with issues that affect average Americans than his rival.
