UW-Madison students will join others from across the country in Washington D.C. this weekend to protest a possible war with Iraq.
Organizers from Stop the War!, the student and youth caucus of the Madison Area Peace Coalition, said the group of Madison activists will join a rally organized by a national anti-war group, International Answer, at 11 a.m. Saturday on the west side of the Capitol and then march on Navy Yard.
Another rally Sunday at the Department of Justice is specifically for students and youth to voice opposition to discrimination against Arabs and Muslims in the United States.
With troops being deployed to Iraq, Madison organizers said they believe this weekend's activities are a vital opportunity to show the strength of the peace movement in the United States.
UW-Madison professor Hector DeLuca signed an agreement with Pfizer, one of the world's largest drug companies, allowing Pfizer to license and sell DeLuca's bone-growing drug, 2MD.
Although the drug has not been tried on humans, in animal tests the compound enabled the growth bone cells. The drug could be used as a way to fight the effects of the bone-deteriorating disease, osteoporosis.
The agreement could pay up to $42.5 million plus future royalties to DeLuca's start-up company, Deltanoid Pharmaceuticals.
Many investors, including Venture Investors, Mason Wells and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation have already put $4.25 million into the company, which they called a large market opportunity.
Facing a $40 million deficit over the next two years, the Department of Natural Resources announced Tuesday it will increase hunting and fishing license fees.
DNR Secretary Scott Hassett told the Wisconsin State Journal the exact amount of fee increases have yet to be determined, but they will not follow a flat percentage increase.
\Our fees have typically been raised every four years,"" Hassett said. ""They haven't been raised in seven years. When these fees go in, they are going to be comparable to other states.""
Hassett said the cost of fighting chronic wasting disease contributed to the fee increase.
Right now, single fishing licenses and small game licenses cost $14 per year. Gun deer hunting licenses cost $20 per year.
Madison Metro ridership is at a 16-year high, the Wisconsin State Journal reported Tuesday. Estimates for 2002 put ridership at 11 million, topping last year's total by about 556,000 passengers.
Ridership has rebounded since 1998, when it decreased after Metro changed to its current transfer-station system. Metro has increased fares and cut routes since then.
""We're pretty excited. It's taken a few years for the restructuring to take hold and for people to get used to it and use it,"" said Metro General Manager Catherine Debo. According to Debo, an influx of college students using bus passes contributed to the increase.
Lambeau Field may soon have a new name to go with its revamped look.
According to the Associated Press, now that the Green Bay Packers have finished the 2002 football season, the city of Green Bay will turn to the business of selling naming rights to the stadium.
The measure was narrowly approved 53 to 47 percent in a November 2000 referendum. It is intended to help alleviate the $295 million cost of stadium renovation.
An advisory committee is working on setting up a meeting Jan. 21 to begin the process of selling the rights.
The committee will accept the highest bid above $120 million, if the bidder is deemed an appropriate match for the team and city.
The Packers and the city postponed selling the naming rights until after the 2002 season when more construction was complete, so buyers could see more of what they were bidding on. Construction is expected to be finished before the start of the 2003 football season.
U.S. Senators Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced Jan. 14 they want to double funding for federal Pell Grants by 2010.
According to Feingold, financial aid for students consists of 60 percent loans and 40 percent grants, a change from 20 years ago when grants constituted over 50 percent of aid.
""Without Pell Grants, many individuals simply can't consider college,"" Feingold said in a statement. ""We have made progress during the last four years in restoring some ... of the Pell Grant program, but the job's not done.\
