More than 65 percent of depressed mothers don’t get adequate treatment for depression, according to a nationwide study released this fall by the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. The study of 2,130 women found that black, Hispanic and other minority mothers, as well as uninsured mothers, were among the least likely to be helped.
Posted inEducation, Health & Welfare, Justice & Safety
Investigators head off threats from 125 troubled people at UW-Madison
Officials at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say they defused threats from 125 troubled students, employees and area residents under a little-known program launched two years ago in response to deadly tragedies on college campuses in Virginia and Illinois.
But the program didn’t identify at least three individuals before they caused problems at Wisconsin’s flagship campus, including threats against a campus leader, a bomb threat and a murder near campus.
Posted inDairyland Diversity, Economy
Rural immigration summit focuses on ‘invisible community’
DODGEVILLE — Rapid increases in the Latino population of Wisconsin’s rural areas are reshaping work, school and social life, but also are raising concerns that Spanish-speaking immigrants are often isolated and mistrusted, experts and residents said at an event aimed at fostering better connections between newcomers and long-time residents.
Posted inEconomy, WisWatch Blog
Spending and debt increase in Wisconsin’s largest cities in past five years
Municipal spending and debt both increased in Wisconsin’s biggest cities between 2003 and 2007.
Posted inEconomy, Education
Wisconsin’s low-income school population rises, includes nearly 4 in 10 elementary students
Nearly four in 10 Wisconsin elementary students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch last school year, and the proportion of low-income elementary students has climbed every year of this decade, according to state Department of Public Instruction data analyzed by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.
Posted inGovernment
State employees misused state credit cards, auditors say
Auditors released a report Wednesday documenting state employees’ misuse of state credit cards on 131 charges totaling nearly $75,000, including a fox fur stole, pricey airline tickets to Europe and $16,686 in inappropriate purchases by a state worker who subsequently resigned.
Posted inEnvironment, WisWatch Blog
Investigative reports, news and updates
News and notes: New tools for monitoring environmental data in Wisconsin; the governor’s campaign contributors favor keeping him in control of DNR; DOJ hosts free seminars on government sunshine; and tax revenue was down last year.
Posted inGovernment
Doyle’s travel records deficient 64 times, not 145
Gov. Jim Doyle and his staff submitted receipts 70 percent of the time in 2007 and 2008 for travel expenses reviewed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, newly released records show, and not 28 percent of the time as the newspaper reported nine weeks ago.
Posted inGovernment
Wisconsin voter turnout patterns shift, creating tough landscape for Republicans in governor’s race
Republicans hoping to reclaim the governor’s office in next year’s election will have to overcome shifting patterns of voter turnout. More than two-thirds of the counties that handed victories to Republican President George Bush in 2004 shifted to support Democrat Barack Obama last year, data and interviews show.
Posted inHealth & Welfare
Seattle’s mystery man identified as University of Wisconsin grad
The man who woke up in a Seattle park with $600 in his sock but with apparently no memory of his identity is Edward F. Lighthart, who graduated in 1984 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a French degree.
Posted inHealth & Welfare
Can you help identify Jon Doe?
The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism is assisting The Seattle Times in an effort to determine the identity of a man, possibly suffering from amnesia, who turned up three weeks ago at a Seattle park. The man says he attended UW-Madison in the 1980s.
Posted inDairyland Diversity, Economy
Farmers discuss immigrant workers
Wisconsin Public Television, a partner with the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, talks with Wisconsin farmers about the role of Hispanic immigrant workers in the dairy industry, as part of a new investigation launched by the Center.