‘Valentine’s Day’ is a movie as sappy as its namesake ARTS l PAGE 5
University of Wisconsin-Madison
BADGERS OUTHUSTLE HOOSIERS IN BLOWOUT Senior Jason Bohannon dominates with 30 points in lopsided 83-55 win.
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Madison could be test city for Google project By Grace Urban The Daily Cardinal
The city of Madison may soon get the opportunity to be a test site for Google’s new fiber optic network. Mayor Dave Cieslewicz announced Friday he is working with Madison’s Information Technology staff to apply for the project. Cieslewicz wrote in his blog that he has received e-mails and phone calls from citizens who want the city to apply. Even a Facebook group supporting the project has sprung up. “We’ll need to build on that
Monday, February 15, 2010
Love on the Run
already strong level of support and work together with our partners in the community both to complete our application and to successfully implement the project should we be selected,” he said. Google’s project is looking to test “ultra-high speed broadband networks” in different locations throughout the country. The company is searching for test cities with a population between 50,000 and 500,000 people with “tech savvy” citizens. Cieslewicz said he believes Madison embodies all of these qualgoogle page 3
Unemployed could see extended benefits from federal legislation Up to 100,000 Wisconsin residents set to lose unemployment benefits in the coming months may see an extension under new federal legislation introduced Thursday. The bill, authored by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, aims to extend unemployment insurance through May 31, offer tax breaks and increase tax credits through an $85 billion package. Wisconsin lawmakers sent a letter to Baucus last week requesting extensions after the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development began sending out letters to individuals who are within
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weeks of losing their unemployment benefits. The letter, signed by 30 legislators, requested an extension of COBRA assistance, a federal program that provides temporary, subsidized insurance to employees who have recently left their job, as well as unemployment benefits through Dec. 31. Wisconsin residents can currently receive benefits for up to 93 weeks. According to John Dipko, DWD communications director, 250,000 residents are currently unemployed. The unemployment rate is 8.7 percent, one percentage point lower than the national rate.
Lorenzo Zemella/the daily cardinal
Students ‘strip down’ to raise money to go toward the William J. Clinton HIV/AIDS research initiative.
New poll results show Dem. Barrett barely ahead of Republican Walker The frontrunners in the Wisconsin 2010 gubernatorial election are neck and neck according to a recently released poll. The poll, conducted by the democratic-leaning pollster The Mellman Group, showed Democratic candidate Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett had 40 percent of the vote while Republican candidate Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker had 39 percent. Twenty-one percent of those polled were undecided. The poll did not survey opin-
ions on Republican candidate and former congressman Mark Neumann. “I wouldn’t say that this poll reliably shows Barrett ahead by one [percent] ... but it shows that the race is very close.” Charles Franklin political science professor UW-Madison
“I wouldn’t say that this poll reliably shows Barrett ahead by
one [percent], that’s within the margin of error anyway, but I think to the extent that it shows that the race is very close, that seems quite reliable,” Charles Franklin, UW-Madison political science professor, said. According to Franklin, Republicans may dispute the polls findings because other recent polls, such as a poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports, showed Walker ahead of Barrett. However, Franklin said the varying methodologies of each pollbarrett page 3
SLAC asks Martin to cut UW’s contract with Nike By Kelsey Gunderson The Daily Cardinal
Isabel álvarez/the daily cardinal
Members of the Student Labor Action Coalition held a teach-in Friday at Chancellor Martin’s office to update students with the current situation involving Nike’s alleged labor violations.
The Student Labor Action Coalition held a teach-in at Chancellor Biddy Martin’s office Friday, asking her to cut UW-Madison’s apparel contract with Nike because of the mistreatment of factory workers at two plants in Honduras. Dan Cox, a SLAC organizer said the teach-in was a way to provide students with information on the details of the situation and to demonstrate to Martin that SLAC feels it is necessary for UW-Madison to cut the contract with Nike. According to Cox, the teachin was partly a response to a letter Martin wrote in The Badger Herald last semester asking for more student involvement with the issue. “To date, a small but dedicated
core of students, faculty and staff has been active on our campus,” Martin wrote in the letter. “I would like to see more involvement and exchange.” According to a UW-Madison press release, Nike’s Honduras plants were shut down without notice in January 2009, and the owners failed to pay the workers over $2 million in severance and back pay, which violates the code of conduct UW-Madison has with its licensees. UW-Madison’s Labor Licensing Policy Committee advised Martin in November to cut the apparel contract with Nike. In response, Martin said she did not condone Nike’s action but did not think it was grounds for contract termination. Instead, Martin sent a slac page 3
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”