Students for a Fair Wisconsin hosted a meeting Thursday to discuss domestic partner benefits for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and increased legal protections. State Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, spoke at the meeting said supporters of LGBT rights had made several victories in the past year.
Under pressure from Gov. Jim Doyle, the UW System withdrew Tuesday from a funding dispute between UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee over research related to water technology. The conflict centered on funding for a Madison-based freshwater research consultant, Jeff Smoller, who is on leave from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
UW-Madison was awarded $9.5 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for influenza virus research, it was announced Thursday. Yoshihiro Kawaoka, UW-Madison professor of virology, is leading the team of international researchers charged with identifying viral mutations.
UW-Madison sophomore Alana Bandos had not seen the homeless connection to students until a recent lunch at Rheta’s cafeteria in Chabourne Hall. “I saw a student, backpack and papers out, eating my half-eaten, disgusting cafeteria food,” she said.
Wisconsin’s unemployment rate decreased from 7.7 percent to 7.6 percent this October, according to a report released by the Department of Workforce Development Thursday. In October 2008, Wisconsin’s unemployment rate was 4.4 percent.
Wisconsin employers and workers pay on average 22 percent higher than the national average for health insurance, according to a new survey conducted by Mercer. The study showed the cost of health benefits for employees in Wisconsin rose by 6.8 percent in 2009 and employers paid an average of $10,888 per employee.
A homeless man was arrested Tuesday afternoon for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after he assaulted a man on the 500 block of State Street, according to a police report. Around 3:30 p.m. a Madison police officer arrived at the scene after the victim, a 55-year-old male, had been “shoved down hard to the ground” by Earlie Wilson, 48, the report said.
A patient trying to escape a medical facility assaulted a Madison police officer on the 1200 block of Regent Street Tuesday morning, according to a police report. Security staff from an unknown medical facility called the Madison Police Department for backup around 9 a.
