Wednesday, February 19, 2014
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Since 1892
dailycardinal.com
l
@dailycardinal
Dane County plans to improve 911 dispatch
ON CAMPUS
Scout’s honor
A local Girl Scout troop sells cookies at University Avenue and Mills Street to fundraise a trip to Disney. They will be selling the trademark cookies through Thursday. + Photo by Jane Thompson
Senate passes heroin, drone, cell phone bills
City officials met Tuesday to improve Dane County’s 911 dispatch time that has resulted in a public safety concern. Mayor Paul Soglin said in a letter to Dane County Executive Joe Parisi the 911 dispatch center is processing calls at a rate of “three times” slower than the agreed-upon national standard. Many issues resulted from the significant delays between the time Dane County’s 911 dispatch center receives calls and when officers are actually dispatched to help, according to the letter. This is an ongoing issue for Dane County citizens that poses as a threat to public safety, since every minute of delay increases risk at a crime scene. According to the letter, one past instance resulted in a fatality. The Madison Fire Department did not dispatch to the scene of a structure fire
Oct. 16, 2013, until three minutes and 48 seconds later— more than triple the agreedupon arrival time, according to the letter. Despite the numerous preventable incidents that resulted from dispatch delays, the 911 Center is not always an unreliable source for immediate help. Eve Galanter, host of “District Reports,” said her experience with the 911 dispatch center was timely and helpful. Galanter said after falling on the ice one afternoon, “within … minutes someone appeared and they were just absolutely fabulous.” The Madison Police and Fire Department and the chairman of the 911 dispatch center will seek improvements to Dane County’s dispatch times to restore public safety, according to the letter. —Jamie Lefebvre
‘Heroin Opiate Prevention and Education’ bills approved By Andrew Hahn THE DAILY CARDINAL
The state Senate passed several bills Tuesday addressing heroin addiction, cell phone tracking, school accountability and drone use. A legislative package known as “HOPE: Heroin Opiate Prevention and Education,” passed the Senate Tuesday. These four bills would require more identification to purchase prescription drugs and provide immunity for individuals who get emergency services for a person in danger. The bills, introduced by state Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, would also permit emergency first-responders to administer naloxone, an overdose-countering drug, and change state drug disposal programs. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, applauded his colleagues for passing the legislation, saying this legislation “may be
the difference between a close call and yet another fatality,” according to a statement. The Legislature also approved a measure prohibiting law enforcement from tracking the location of cellular telephones without obtaining a warrant. State Rep. Melissa Sargent, D-Madison, and Rep. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, co-authored the bill. “By providing parameters for the collection of this high personal data, we are providing clear guidelines, and less chance for data to be found inadmissible in court,” Sargent said in a statement. The Senate also passed a bill that would create new guidelines for public and private school accountability. It would require the Department of Public Instruction to conduct a new school accountability system for public and private districts. The system would assess math, reading, college readiness and other standards.
Sponsored by state Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, the bill would also provide new guidelines for public, private and charter school improvement, including changes to curriculum, instruction techniques and evaluation methods. “It is crucial that we also maintain transparency and ensure that any schools that receive taxpayer funding will be up to par,” Fitzgerald said in a statement. “This bill is a strong first step in that process.” Additionally, state Sen. Jerry Petrowski, R-Marathon, saw passage of a bill he authored that would outlaw the use of drones equipped with audiovisual recording technology to assist in a criminal investigation. The legislation concerning drug abuse and cell phone tracking await signatures from the governor, while the bills regulating school accountability and drone use move to the Assembly.
Assembly approves constitutional convention resolution By Eoin Cottrell THE DAILY CARDINAL
Assembly approves potential delegate selection process
The Wisconsin Assembly moved one step closer to becoming the 21st state to request a constitutional convention Tuesday night. At the original constitutional convention in 1787, the Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia and replaced the
Articles of Confederation with the Constitution. All Assembly Republicans voted to request a constitutional convention to propose a balanced budget amendment. State Rep. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, authored the bill and gave final comments after more than an hour of debate. Kapenga urged legislators to pass the resolution, saying there is no fiscal accountability in Washington,
D.C., and warned legislators not to “shrug off responsibility.” Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, asked Assembly members to vote against the resolution, saying a convention would put the entire Constitution up for potential editing or amendments. The Assembly also passed a bill specifying how delegates
Your brain on poverty UW professors report on poverty and brain growth +SCIENCE, page 4
assembly page 3
JANE THOMPSON/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO
Mayor Paul Soglin met with Madison Police and Fire Department members to improve the local dispatch time.
Nursing school to offer incentives for grad students The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing will offer new loan forgiveness and fellowship programs to encourage nursing students to pursue further education and fill nurse educator positions in the state, according to a university press release. The overall goal of the program is to address the statewide nursing faculty shortage, according to the release. Led by UW-Eau Claire and funded through a UW System incentive grant program, the $3.2 million “Nurses for Wisconsin” initiative comes in response to predictions that the state could see a shortage
of 20,000 nurses by 2035, the release said. Fifty to 80 percent of qualified undergraduate students who applied to nursing schools at four UW System institutions in 2012-’13 were denied admission, primarily because there was not enough qualified nursing faculty to teach them, according to the release. The program also offers to pay up to $50,000 in outstanding debt in return for a threeyear teaching commitment. In addition to UW-Madison, nurses enrolling in doctoral programs at UW-Oshkosh, UW-Milwaukee and UW-Eau Claire will receive fellowships from the initiative.
Brave Baby Boomin’
+ARTS, page 5
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”