Month: February 2011

University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics - which doesn't receive state money directly - would be barred from collectively bargaining with its roughly 5,000 union employees under Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget-repair bill. The provision surprised health system executives. (JOURNAL SENTINEL, 2/23)

Marshfield Clinic has finalized plans to build the state's second dental school, releasing a rendering of the facility and planning completion for summer 2013. Groundbreaking is scheduled for June on the dental education building, which will be adjacent to the Clinic's Marshfield Dental Center that opened in August. (STEVENS POINT JOURNAL, 2/22)

FluGen Inc. has landed $7.8 million that should help bring one of its leading technologies into human clinical trials this year. Madison-based FluGen will use the money to fund a Phase I clinical trial for its vaccine delivery device, a poker chip-sized, micro-needle skin patch the company says is more effective and less painful than standard needle injections. FluGen will use a vaccine that's already on the market in the trial, said Paul Radspinner, president and chief executive officer. (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 2/22)

Senate Democrats are still in hiding and protesters are still packing the state Capitol, but Gov. Scott Walker and Republican lawmakers said Monday they plan to push ahead with efforts to pass a controversial bill to curb collective bargaining rights for public workers and make sweeping changes to Medicaid. (WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 2/22)

This year's spring game, to be held on April 23 at 1 p.m. at Camp Randall Stadium, will benefit the School of Nursing's building project, UW athletic director Barry Alvarez announced on Monday. (WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 2/22)

Allcare Dental & Dentures, which closed its offices nationwide on Dec. 31, transferred records of its Wisconsin patients to Dental Associates, which has one office in Green Bay and three in the Appleton area. Allcare patients can contact Dental Associates for continued care, to follow up on care under way, or to retrieve their records, Anthony Vastardis, Dental Associates CEO, said Monday. (GREEN BAY PRESS GAZETTE, 2/22)

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is trying to keep the pressure up on 14 Democratic state senators who skipped out of town rather than vote on a bill that takes away collective bargaining rights for public workers. Walker's spokesman Cullen Werwie released a statement Monday morning accusing Democrats of vacationing while taxpayers who pay their salaries are hard at work. (AP, 2/21)

Opponents of Gov. Scott Walker's plan to curtail collective bargaining among public employees continued their seventh day of protests Sunday, though organizers moved the rally inside the Capitol due to a winter storm. Monday could be the biggest protest day yet. As a furlough day for state workers, union organizers are planning to bring in protesters by bus from across the state. Rallies are scheduled at the Capitol for noon and 5 p.m. A Rock for Your Rights concert, featuring former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, is expected to start on Capitol Square at 5 p.m. (WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 2/21)

Gov. Scott Walker's budget plan could harm many of the state's 1.2 million people on Medicaid, but that message has been lost amid protests about collective bargaining rights, patients and advocates said Sunday. (WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, 2/21)