Steven Wright, a clinical law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, disagreed with Dean’s characterization, but said that judges have a responsibility to be neutral so that people have a sense that a trial is being conducted impartially and fairly under the law.
Tag: featured
Rittenhouse’s emotional display could fortify his defense, legal observers say
His young appearance — one witness testified that the 18-year-old defendant has a “baby face” — could help the jury sympathize with him, added Steven Wright, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin.
Kyle Rittenhouse trial’s dramatic moments could have legal implication
“It would be a pretty dramatic turn of events,” Keith Findley, a former public defender and University of Wisconsin law professor, said of the judge possibly declaring a mistrial. “This is a judge who likes to be in control of his courtroom and everyone knows it, and he doesn’t particularly care if people are unhappy about it or his rulings.
Kyle Rittenhouse trial: Understanding key legal issues in the contentious case
“What’s not being assessed is whether the shooting of Mr. Blake [was] justified. Nor will Second Amendment rights, outside of a limited sense, be litigated,” said Keith Findley, a former public defender and University of Wisconsin law professor.
Scientists Fight a New Source of Vaccine Misinformation: Aaron Rodgers
“Aaron Rodgers is a smart guy,” said David O’Connor, a virologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Packers fan. But, he added, “He’s still vulnerable to the blind side blitz of misinformation.”
U.S. renewable energy use nearly quadrupled in past decade, report finds
“It’s really been a surprise even for people working on it,” said Greg Nemet, an environmental policy researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Kyle Rittenhouse Defenders Are Saying This Is the Moment the Prosecution Collapsed
Speaking to Spectrum News, John Gross, a clinical associate professor of law at the University of Wisconsin Law School and director of the Public Defender Project, described the testimony from Grosskreutz as “remarkable.”
Wages are up, especially in low-paying sectors
And prices have increased, said University of Wisconsin economist and Manhattan Institute adjunct fellow Noah Williams. “Inflation is up somewhere between 4.5% to 5%, probably, year-over-year,” Williams said. “So, yeah, that 5.5% average wage gain is really only maybe .5% to 1%.”
Accounting Experts Ask Congress to Change Proposal on Minimum Corporate Tax
Among those listed as signing the latest letter: Thomas Linsmeier, a University of Wisconsin accounting professor who served from 2006 to 2016 on the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the nonprofit organization that sets U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, and retired Cornell University professor Thomas Dyckman, who held positions with groups affiliated with FASB in the 1980s and early 1990s.
WaPost, WSJ take different approaches to Trump claims
“When something is factually incorrect, you need to take greater care with what you are going to do with it,” said Kathleen Culver, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “I applaud the Post for being transparent in what they decided to do … I don’t know that we necessarily do enough of that in journalism, explaining to readers and viewers and listeners, explaining why we made the choices that we made.”
Failed by the healthcare system, transgender people find help elsewhere
Dr. Ellen Selkie, an adolescent medicine specialist at the University of Wisconsin, noticed that many of her patients came to terms with their gender identity through social media.
The battle over Biden’s child tax credit and its impact on poverty and workers
“Almost all of our thoughts were about families who had very low or zero earnings who would not work or reduce work effort,” said Timothy Smeeding of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. “We did not have any credible estimate of the substitution effect for families earning $25,000 to 40,000, and so we ignored it.”
Let Us See It – Why companies with long histories should open up their archives
Op-ed by Gregg Mitman: Firms build worlds. On this, historians and businesspeople agree. Corporations have always been among the greatest forces shaping American life. And the many corporations that hold private archives documenting their past activities have unique powers to disclose—or hide—their contributions to racial injustice in America. That’s why, if they truly want to advance the cause of social justice, companies should throw open their archives for researchers to use.
Northern hemisphere lakes, Great Lakes warming fast
“The earliest observers that wrote these down were not scientists. Ice was important for the way of life and living and killing whales and fishing in the wintertime,” said John J. Magnuson, a limnologist the University of Wisconsin at Madison. “The longer records all began before there was a science, and the science is capitalizing on what’s occurred.”
Ancient child’s bones deepen mystery of enigmatic human relative
“No one involved in this had any expectations that we were going to find naledi bones in these situations,” says John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “We’re pushing into places that are meters and meters down impossible passages.”
Vax skeptics score big in Green Bay
“I think that’s a fair question to ask, not only of Aaron Rodgers: Why did you potentially put these folks at risk?” said Jeff Pothof, University of Wisconsin Health’s chief quality officer and an emergency medicine physician. “Also, the Packers organization. If you knew Aaron Rodgers was a more high-risk individual being unvaccinated, why did you tolerate that? And lastly, the NFL in general. It sounds like the NFL in general knows who’s vaccinated, who’s not vaccinated. I’m sure they saw Aaron Rodgers speaking at press conferences too.”
How the $3 campaign contribution check box on your tax form works
Kenneth R. Mayer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, said the program aimed to “allow candidates to be less reliant on private contributions from individuals, political action committees and parties.”
First Homo naledi child fossil found in the Cradle of Humankind
“This makes this the richest site for fossil hominins on the continent of Africa and makes naledi one of the best-known ancient hominin species ever discovered,” said John Hawks, Vilas-Borghesi Distinguished Achievement Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and lead author of a previous study on the Neo fossil skeleton, in a statement.
America’s native grasslands are disappearing
“Grasslands are mostly used for grazing of livestock and when that balance gets out of line, and crop agriculture becomes more profitable, that’s when we see the resurgence of the tillup,” says Tyler Lark, an researcher at the University of Wisconsin who has studied grasslands for the past decade.
Kyle Rittenhouse trial: When can you shoot as self-defence?
But convincing the 20-person jury to convict Mr Rittenhouse will be an uphill climb, says John Gross, a criminal defence expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Once the evidence suggests that the defendant may have acted in self-defence, the burden shifts to the prosecution, and the prosecution has to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant acted in self-defence,” he explains.
Widespread Coronavirus Infection Found in Iowa Deer, New Study Says
“If deer can transmit the virus to humans, it’s a game changer,” said Tony Goldberg, a veterinarian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies the evolution of infectious diseases as they jump between animals and people. “To have a wildlife species become a reservoir after transmission from humans is very rare and unlucky, as if we needed more bad luck.”
How parents can help themselves, and their children, feel okay again
Parents can talk about their child’s personal growth and say, “ ‘I’ve been thinking how great it was that you found ways to stay connected to your friends,’ ” says Seth Pollak, a professor in the psychology department at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. “A child may not have the meta-awareness to reflect in that way, but you can help them develop a self-concept of, ‘I’m a person who handles things.’ ”
Wisconsin leads nation in imprisonment rates of Black people
Further, prosecution rates are higher and plea deals are lower for Black residents, said Ion Meyn, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The new faces of Covid deaths
“This has become a disease of the unimmunized,” said Dr. James Conway, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and associate director for health sciences at the school’s Global Health Institute.
Kyle Rittenhouse’s Homicide Trial Will Be a Debate Over Self-Defense
“It’s a battle of the narratives,” said Steven Wright, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin. “People will either see this as a young man who came across state lines with a weapon intending to do trouble, or people will come with the belief that he came here with a medical kit and attempted to defend the law and defend people.”
Most Americans Likely Qualify for COVID-19 Booster Per CDC Guidelines
“The guidelines are unnecessarily complex, but there is a fair degree of latitude,” David O’Connor, a pathology professor at the University of Wisconsin, told Insider.
Charleston Saver Coupon Book Spread Conspiracies and Sparked Furious Backlash
But Anuj Desai, an expert on the intersection of free-speech law and the usage of the U.S. postal system at the University of Wisconsin Law School, explains that the mail is considered a conduit for the free flow of ideas. In other words, the First Amendment protects people’s ability to mail out even baseless conspiracies and falsehoods freely.
Kyle Rittenhouse homicide trial in Kenosha begins this week
The case “represents that clash of our polarized politics,” said Keith A. Findley, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin.
Kyle Rittenhouse: Teen’s homicide trial for Kenosha shootings opens with jury selection
“It’s a pretty substantial burden for the prosecution to do that and I think that’s going to be where the real challenge for them lies,” said John Gross, a clinical associate professor and the director of the Public Defender Project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School.
Those chosen to sit on the jury will be tasked with assessing the reasonableness of Rittenhouse’s actions that night.”We want the jury to be a check on the power of the state and to enforce community norms,” said Cecelia Klingele, an associate professor of law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “So when the law requires that force is used reasonably, we want our community to decide what is or isn’t reasonable.”
COVID Booster Shots: Experts Share Advice They Give Friends and Family
David O’Connor, a pathology professor at the University of Wisconsin, said there’s little downside to adults of all ages getting a booster.
Kyle Rittenhouse Shooting Trial to Focus on Reasonableness, Self-Defense
Ultimately, the case will be decided by the jury based on their assessment of the reasonableness of Mr. Rittenhouse’s actions, said Cecelia Klingele, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School.
Rittenhouse judge in spotlight after disallowing word ‘victims’ in courtroom
Keith Findley, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin and a former public defender, said that while the order is more of a “defense-friendly position,” it’s not entirely unjustified, because it would “allow the prosecution to continually use language that suggests a conclusion as if it’s a given fact to jurors.”
Why people shot by Kyle Rittenhouse can be called “rioters” and “looters” but not “victims” at trial
Findley explained the judge is differentiating the facts of the case from the questions the jury must answer. Since Rittenhouse is claiming he acted in self-defense, the question is not who shot three people, killing two of them, but rather if Rittenhouse was justified in defending himself out of fear of bodily harm. If his lawyers can show he had reason to believe the men were each engaged in activities such as looting, rioting and arson at the time, that could sway the jury to accept Rittenhouse’s defense.
What kind of costs can unvaccinated workers ring up for a business?
“You know, there are a lot of downstream decisions that need to be made,” said Margie Rosenberg, professor of risk and insurance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She said this is where calculating costs starts to involve some prediction, planning and math.
Influencers aren’t going anywhere. So what does that mean for today’s teens?
“Media influence on young people is something that’s been known for years,” Ellen Selkie, an adolescent medicine specialist and researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Mashable. “But I think the thing with influencers that is additional is that there is a development of a para-social relationship with the influencer.”
Should young children be made to wear face masks?
But other experts are skeptical of how much of an impediment masks really are. “Faces aren’t necessarily the only or the most important cue to someone else’s emotions,” says Ashley Ruba, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Child Emotion Lab. There are other vital signals too, she says, “things like tone of voice, body posture, and overall social situation”.
We Need to Ground Truth Assumptions about Gene Therapy
Emily Howell, a science communication expert at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, says that the trust part happens when researchers meet people where they are by asking about their concerns, their hopes and their fears. Howell, who studies how to communicate controversial topics such as fracking and gene editing, says starting with emotions and values rather than with facts and figures can help to foster trust. People tend to trust someone when that person not only is competent but also seems to care about the same things as they do, Howell says.
Ancient-DNA Researchers Set Ethics Guidelines for Their Work
“I will say that it’s encouraging to see a group of scientists like this say we have talked about this standard of behavior and we’re willing to agree to it,” said John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved with the paper. “It’s a step forward for them to say at least we’re going to follow the law.
Yes, There Has Been Progress on Climate. No, It’s Not Nearly Enough.
“We know there are these big tipping points in the climate system, and once we get past them, it’s too late to go back,” said Andrea Dutton, a climate scientist at University of Wisconsin-Madison who co-authored a study finding that a 3 degree trajectory could lead to an abrupt jump in the rate of Antarctic melt as early as 2060.
Will eliminating quantitative popularity on Instagram actually make it safe for kids?
Megan Moreno, a principal investigator of the Social Media and Adolescent Health Research Team at the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Mashable that there’s space to try out what we can to make social media safer. While she thinks the idea of fully eliminating quantitative popularity is “an interesting idea,” she is “not hugely optimistic that it will make a gigantic difference.” That’s because the idea of likes is so engrained in our society already, that the concept will be there if it’s turned off or not. And, she adds, popularity isn’t completely numerical.
The Pay Gap for Women Starts With a Responsibility Gap
In fact, our research and research by others shows conclusively that women do ask for higher salaries as often as men do—sometimes more. They’re just not getting the same results. A 2018 study from the University of Wisconsin examined the propensity to ask for salary bumps among 4,600 employees across 800 Australian workplaces and found no gender difference, but men who asked got raises 20% of the time compared with 15% of women.
Thousands of missed police killings prove we must address systemic bias in forensic science
Peter Neufeld is a co-founder of the Innocence Project. Keith Findley is a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Dean Strang is a criminal defense lawyer and law professor at Loyola University Chicago. Findley and Strang are also co-founders of the Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences.
A new study from the University of Washington concludes that, over nearly 40 years, medical examiners and coroners undercounted killings by U.S. police by more than half. During that time, these officials missed or covered up more than 17,000 police killings between 1980 and 2018.
VendRx sounds convenient. But it could pervert physician incentives.
In the years that followed, some patients continued to buy certain drugs from their doctors, and some pharmacists continued to compound medications. But, as regulation increased, the diverse pharmaceutical market began to consolidate. With that transition, said Lucas Richert, a historian of pharmacy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, pharmacists began “moving away from this role of compounders, and moving into a role where they are offering pharmaceutical services in their own shops.”
‘Lurching Between Crisis and Complacency’: Was This Our Last Covid Surge?
“We’re in a shoulder season, where it’s cooler in the South than it is in the middle of the summer and it’s warmer in the North than it is in the middle of the winter,” said David O’Connor, a virologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
HHMI devotes $2 billion to boost diversity in biomedical sciences
“It is a disservice to fund individuals to come into environments that continue to drive them away,” said Angela Byars-Winston, a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health who led a 2019 National Academy of Science study on effective mentoring in STEM fields. “We know there are things institutions can do to change the environment instead of focusing on students who are not broken.”
Wisconsin GOP review of 2020 election beset by blunders from former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman
“I do think it’s harmful,” Barry C. Burden, director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said of the review. “It’s obviously amateurish and uncoordinated and irresponsible and open-ended and partisan. The people who are leading the effort have already decided they think the election was fraudulent, or they’re distrustful of the outcome. It’s a violation of all the standards you’d use in a usual election audit or review the state might do.”
UW-Madison secures $20 million donation for new classroom building
UW-Madison announced on Wednesday a $20 million donation for a new academic building that will help clear the way for the demolition of the Humanities Building.
Vaccine hesitant New Yorkers consider leaving the city as mandates take effect
“We can’t expect that medical systems who have earned the mistrust of many marginalized groups will now be trusted because of Covid. It doesn’t work that way,” said Tiffany Green, a population health scientist and economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
As more colleges require COVID-19 vaccinations, one is finding success without mandate
Getting vaccinated on campus at the University of Wisconsin in Madison is relatively normal.
“I think is in the best interest of everyone, not just here on campus but in the larger Dane County community for students to be vaccinated,” said Sam Kuchta, a senior at the university.
Dorland v. Larson: On the Legal Disputes at the Heart of “Bad Art Friend”
The New York Times dropped jaws with a tea-spilling article detailing an ongoing six-year dispute between a white writer who donated a kidney and a writer of color who wrote a short story inspired by the donation. Dawn Dorland and Sonya Larson now find themselves deep into contentious litigation with no end in sight.
Why 2021’s college sophomores are the new freshman
With so many colleges going virtual last year, many sophomores are on campus for the first time. But it’s different — a lot still feel like freshman. Colleges set up programs to get them caught up.
UW-Madison chancellor headed to Northwestern in 2022
Blank became chancellor of UW-Madison in 2013. She has deep ties to Northwestern and the Chicago area, serving as a faculty member from 1989 to 1999 and directing the Joint Center for Poverty Research. She was married in Chicago and her daughter attended Northwestern as a student.
Wisconsin’s political divide has implications for 2022 and 2024 elections
Still, Wisconsin, a state whose people enjoy a reputation for embodying the concept of “Midwestern nice,” stands out. Mark Copelovitch, (Ken) Mayer’s University of Wisconsin colleague, argued that everything that has become commonplace at the national level, including the transformation and radicalization of the Republican Party, has been part of Wisconsin’s political experience for the last 10 years. “Wisconsin has been the canary in the coal mine,” he said.
Remote Workers Can Live Anywhere. These Cities (and Small Towns) Are Luring Them With Perks.
“I can see where this is going to end up going to people who were going to move to a community anyway,” said Tessa Conroy, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies economic development. “Or maybe you do manage to attract someone. Is that really the ideal resident, someone who was paid?”
Wisconsin’s political divide has implications for 2022 and 2024 elections
“When you have 51 percent of the vote, it had been generally [accepted] that you don’t govern like you’ve got 95 percent of the vote,” said Kenneth Mayer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. “In 2011, that norm was abandoned.”
A newspaper tries to make ends meet by asking for donations in honor of its reporters
Kathleen Bartzen Culver, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin, said she sees no immediate problem with the campaign but generally advocates for news organizations to take every opportunity to “pull back the curtain” and educate their audiences about the role ethics plays in their business decisions.
9-year-old raises money for diverse library books with lemonade stand
The presentation included statistics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Cooperative Children’s Book Center, which found that there are more books with main characters that are white or animals than there are books with protagonists that are Black, Indigenous, or a person of color.
Flu shot side effect: Are reactions worse this year?
Nasia Safdar, the medical director for infection prevention at the University of Wisconsin Hospital: It really shouldn’t. Quadrivalent vaccines have been available and most of us have been getting those for years. There is a high dose flu vaccine that is recommended for people who are older, and the arm tenderness might be a little bit more and it takes a little bit longer to recover.
Who Was Emma Tenayuca? A Mexican American Champion of Workers’ Rights | Teen Vogue
Tenayuca’s drive to lead and organize union workers stemmed from her personal understanding of their plight. “It wasn’t by coincidence,” Marla Ramírez, assistant professor in the Department of History and Chican@ & Latin@ Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, tells Teen Vogue. “She knew the people she was organizing. She grew up with them. She had similar experiences of discrimination, inequality, hunger, and poverty,” Ramírez explains. “She was fighting for herself when she was fighting for others too.”
Alcohol Is the Breast Cancer Risk No One Wants to Talk About
University of Wisconsin oncologist Noelle LoConte has long felt that the link doesn’t get enough attention—even among oncologists. She is the lead author of a 2017 statement on alcohol and cancer from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, which calls on these specialists to take the lead in addressing “excessive exposure to alcohol” through education, advocating for policy changes, and research.