UW In The News

How Leather Seats in Luxury SUVs Fuel Amazon Deforestation

Holly Gibbs, a University of Wisconsin-Madison geographer who has been researching agribusiness in the Amazon for a decade, said that though legitimate middlemen often buy and sell cattle on the same day, the fact that the transactions aren’t closely tracked “is a huge loophole.”

The Rittenhouse trial is all about race

“So much of the prosecution’s argument is rooted in the idea that the jury needs to stop vigilantism,” Steven Wright, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School told The Recast.

Kyle Rittenhouse trial: Who is Judge Bruce Schroeder?

“This is a case that brings to the fore a lot of matters of public concern – gun rights, the use of force by police officers – and it makes sense that people are paying attention, then, to what’s happening in the courtroom and the manner in which conversations are occurring,” said Cecelia Klingele, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

‘Piece of theater’: Legal experts weigh in on Kyle Rittenhouse’s seating jurors deciding his fate by lottery

John P. Gross, the director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Public Defender Project, said he has seen only judges do the picking, but he didn’t object to Rittenhouse’s having the heavy hand of selection.

“It’s completely random, and whoever is picking is picking,” Gross said. “It was an interesting piece of theater having the judge inviting the defendant to make the draw.”

Let’s plan for human ingenuity in our fight against climate change

Solar has had a six-fold decrease in costs since 2010, “below where even the most optimistic experts expected they would be in 2030,” according to Greg Nemet of University of Wisconsin. The cost of batteries for electric vehicles have fallen 88 percent in 10 years, below what 37 separate estimates put it in 2020, 2030 or even 2050.

Video shows deer break window, jump into church on opening day of Michigan’s hunting season

Roman Catholic leaders believed a consecrated church was “protected space,” Karl Shoemaker, a professor of history and law at the University of Wisconsin and author of “Sanctuary and Crime in the Middle Ages, 400-1500,” told History.com in 2019. “It would be inappropriate in the extreme to carry weapons into the church or to arrest someone or to exercise force within the church.”

Kyle Rittenhouse jury deliberations continue as trial nears verdict

Schroeder said he has allowed defendants to perform such a move for the last 20 years. While not illegal or unethical, the task is usually reserved for the clerk of courts, said Ion Meyn, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Hank Paulson Calls On U.S. and China to Ease Tensions

Why did this emerge so late in the process? Did someone at TIAA change their mind? Sometimes a late-stage reversal occurs because a previous employer learns of the move only when it’s announced, said Martin Ganco, a professor of management and human resources at the University of Wisconsin. Some people also think a prior employer won’t enforce a noncompete clause or legal agreement on conflicts.

Why Kyle Rittenhouse No Longer Faces a Gun Possession Charge

The misdemeanor charge of illegally possessing a dangerous weapon as a minor was the least serious one Mr. Rittenhouse faced and carried a relatively short sentence. But jurors might have settled on the charge, said Steven Wright, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, if they balked at the more serious counts but wanted to convict Mr. Rittenhouse of something.

Young kids can likely read facial expressions when people are wearing face masks

Ashley Ruba, a developmental psychology expert in the Child Emotion Lab at University of Wisconsin-Madison, was not affiliated with this study, but has done similar work during the pandemic. She said she saw similar results with her work.

In Scrutinized Kyle Rittenhouse Trial, It’s the Judge Commanding Attention

“Anytime a judge opens his or her mouth while on the bench, that’s just another opportunity for an appellate attorney to use that down the line as evidence of the judge making a mistake,” said Steven Wright, a clinical law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has been following the trial.

Explainer: Could jury weigh lesser charges for Rittenhouse?

Adams said prosecutors most likely will seek second-degree versions of the intentional homicide charges. Such charges could apply if jurors determined that Rittenhouse sincerely believed his life was in danger but used an unreasonable amount of force, University of Wisconsin-Madison criminal law professor Cecelia Klingele said. Second-degree reckless endangerment could apply if jurors found that he put someone in harm’s way but did so without showing utter disregard for human life, she said.

Kyle Rittenhouse homicide trial: What we learned from Week 2

“It feels like the case is very, very close. And in very close cases, the defendant should win,” said Steven Wright, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

California and Colorado Bypass CDC, Recommend Boosters for All Adults

“We have a choice as we look into the winter,” David O’Connor, a pathology professor at the University of Wisconsin, recently told Insider. “Down one path, we have being reluctant and living with waning immunity, living with cases and the problems that brings with it. Down the other path, we have something that looks more like Israel, where a large fraction of the population is highly protected from being infected in any way with Delta. I don’t know why you would choose the first path when the second path is right in front of us.”

How Pearls Obtain Their Remarkable Symmetry

While pearls lack carefully planned symmetry that keeps brick buildings in order, pearls will maintain symmetry for 20 layers at a time, which is enough to accumulate consistency over its thousands of layers. In a way, the pearl “self-heals” when defects arise without using external scaffolding as a template, comments Pupa Gilbert, a physicist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who was not involved with the study, to Science News.

Can lucid dreaming help us understand consciousness?

“There’s a grouping of higher-level features, which seem to be very closely associated with what we think of as human consciousness, which come back in that shift from a non-lucid to a lucid dream,” says Dr Benjamin Baird, a research scientist at the Center for Sleep and Consciousness at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “And there’s something to be learned in looking at that contrast.”

Kenosha hopes for calm as Kyle Rittenhouse trial nears end

John Eason, an assistant sociology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said closing arguments and the verdict will be a pivotal moment for America.

“I think the mood in Wisconsin, not just Kenosha, is that they’re over the whole racial awakening. All signs are this is going to be the case that vindicates white people,” Eason said, adding: “If the peak of the country’s social justice reckoning was George Floyd, then this is the pendulum swinging back. This is the tipping point back.”

As Rittenhouse trial winds down, polarizing judge lashes out

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.

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.