Newsmakers

(Every week faculty and staff from across campus are featured or cited in newspapers, magazines, broadcasts and other media from around the country. The listings that follow represent a small selection of the many stories that spotlight UW–Madison and its people. More newsmaker listings)

Making it a federal case
Unhappy that four New York City police officers were acquitted on all charges in the shooting death of Amadou Diallo, protesters have been urging the Justice Department to seek a federal trial of the officers. Bringing federal charges against defendants already cleared by a state trial is rare, but not unheard of; the dual prosecution requires federal authorities to consider whether the state trial was in some way legally flawed. Legal scholars say that test will be difficult to prove in this case. While some analysts say that there is precedent for a federal case in such circumstances, UW law professor Frank Tuerkheimer tells USA Today (March 2) that while the case is a dramatic example of police force, proving the motives of the police officers is difficult. “It would be very hard to prove [police] panic as intent,” he points out.

Incredible shrinking tumors
Harvard researcher Judah Folkman created a sensation when he announced that he had found a way to shrink cancerous tumors by restricting blood flow to them. The first human trials of endostatin, a new drug designed to choke tumors by shutting off blood supply, have heightened the hopes among patients and doctors that a cure for the devastating effects of cancer may be at hand. The Chicago Tribune (Feb. 29) profiles how trials of Endostatin and other drugs are proceeding, following patients at the UW Hospital, one of the sites where Endostatin trials are being conducted, as they undergo intensive, frequent scrutiny to assess progress. “We’re asking a lot of these guys,” Medical School professor James Thomas says. While he says that it’s still too early to tell if endostatin is producing desired results, the study has at least confirmed so far that using the drug is safe.

Can’t keep ’em down on the farm
While many farmers continue to find themselves forced out of the business, studies are showing that people who do leave farming often end up better off. Separate surveys in Iowa and Wisconsin of farmers who had given up the occupation for other careers were more often earning more money and experiencing no regrets about having left the farm. In the Wisconsin study, which polled ex-dairy farmers, nearly two-thirds said they were glad to have made the change. “It’s important to appreciate that folks who are forced or choose to get out of farming land on their feet most of the time,” Douglas Jackson-Smith, a professor of urban and regional planning, tells the Associated Press (Feb. 26). He notes the strong economy affords many opportunities for farmers in non-agricultural careers.

An evolution in creationism
Since 1925, when John Scopes was put on trial for teaching evolution in a Tennessee classroom, science has come a long way in the public schools, even now approaching a point where evolution is the only theory of existence that courts will allow in the classroom. But a growing community now supports an open debate that includes theories of creation, as well. In its evaluation of the state of “creation science,” the Christian Science Monitor (Feb. 8) consults Ronald Numbers, a history of science professor, who points out that there has been an evolution in creationism. Old notions of creationism, he says, suggest that the biblical story of Genesis may have taken place over millions of years, a line of thought that has been replaced by a stricter interpretation of biblical events, which suggest the Earth has existed for no more than 10,000 years.