COVID-19 coronavirus in Wisconsin: Week six - protests and counter protests

On Friday, roughly 1,500 protesters gathered on the state Capitol grounds to demand an end to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ COVID-19-related stay-at-home order. Many attendees criticized the Evers administration for infringing on their personal freedoms and crippling the state economy. Protesters ca…

COVID-19 coronavirus in Wisconsin: Week five - where are the testing kits?

A plastics manufacturer, located in Baraboo, Wisconsin, claims to be one of two in the world able to produce the type of swab sticks needed for COVID-19 testing kits. Tom Thompson, president of Teel Plastics, said millions of swab sticks needed for the kits have been produced and shipped off to an…

COVID-19 coronavirus in Wisconsin: Week four - the effect of social distancing on the Madison curve

State and national leaders dubbed the first full week of April as "our Pearl Harbor or our 9/11 moment" in regard to the pandemic, and in the past week, Wisconsin saw the number of COVID-19 related deaths in the state reach triple digits. On this week's episode UW-Health's Dr. Jeff Pothof discusse…

COVID-19 coronavirus in Wisconsin: Week three - will state-wide elections take place as scheduled?

The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic upended an already chaotic election season across the country and in Wisconsin. Over the past week, the state election - scheduled to take place Tuesday - has garnered national news as state officials struggle to determine whether it should move forward as planned.…

COVID-19 coronavirus in Wisconsin: Week two - the impact on state-wide unemployment

Governor Tony Evers introduced the “safer at home” order in an effort to help slow the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in Wisconsin. The order effectively closed a number of businesses across the state which were deemed “nonessential” and caused the number of unemployment claims in the state to …

COVID-19 coronavirus in Wisconsin: Week one - the response from officials and the impact on higher education

The COVID-19 coronavirus has ground everyday life to a halt in Madison and in many cities across the country, as well as the world.  I spoke with health and medicine reporter David Wahlberg, about the response from Wisconsin and Madison officials to the pandemic, and higher education reporter Kell…

How Super Tuesday narrowed the field of Democratic Presidential Candidates

In the week leading up to and the week after Super Tuesday, the field of Democratic presidential candidates shrunk to three, Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.  State and politics reporter Mitchell Schmidt discusses the field of candidates, the upsets, the victor…

The controversy behind the push to land F-35s at Madison's Truax Field

The U.S. Air Force has considered Madison's Truax Field as one of its top choices for a home for its next generation fighter jet, the F-35, for over a decade. The Madison Chamber of Commerce is a huge proponent of the program, along with others, due to the influx of jobs and federal dollars it wil…

What Wisconsin learned about political polls between 2016 and 2020

Results of a new Wisconsin state-wide poll, released Sunday, show Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in a commanding lead ahead of the Democratic presidential nominees. But, given the surprise outcome of the 2016 presidential election, the question remains: How accurate are political polls in an electi…

In a time of public health uncertainty, UW-Madison researchers look to the stars for new therapeutics

As antibiotic resistant bacterium become more prevalent, rendering antibiotics useless for a growing number of illnesses, researchers at UW-Madison are exploring phages as an alternative therapeutic.  Scientists have begun to work with phages, viruses that kill bacteria but don't appear to harm hu…