MTV "Real World"-er
considering run for congress
Sean Duffy, known to many Gen X-ers from his
stint on MTV’s Real World: Boston in 1997 is considering a run
against current U.S. Representative David Obey in Wisconsin’s
7th District.
Duffy, 31, is married to Rachel Campos, 31,
whom he met on a MTV’s Real World/Road Rules Challenge. The couple
have two children. He is also a professional lumberjack and
currently the district attorney in Ashland County. Campos mentioned
the possibility of a run by her husband in a recent interview with
the Wausau Daily Herald.
Duffy is a Republican with strong ties to
Wisconsin’s Northwoods. According to the Wausau Daily Herald,
Duffy’s grandfather, Walter Duffy, was a judge in the 1950’s in
Sawyer County and his father and one of his brothers run law firms
in Hayward.
Neither Duffy nor Obey would comment on the
possible candidacy to the Wausau paper.
Wisconsin women drink, smoke more than
average
According to a study published June 11 by the
Wisconsin Medical Journal, Wisconsin women are binging on alcohol
four times more and smoking twice as much than what the federal
government recommends; yet they are healthier overall than women
nationwide.
The study found that 24 percent of Wisconsin
women surveyed admitted to binge drinking, defined as consuming
five or more alcoholic drinks in one sitting, compared to the
national average of 16 percent. Moreover, 24 percent reported they
were smokers while the national average for smoking is 22
percent.
In order for Wisconsin’s numbers to fall in
line with the objectives of the Healthy People 2010 project, a
federal program designed to improve the health of Americans, the
rate of binge drinking must drop 75 percent to meet the project’s
goal of a 6 percent national average. For smoking the rate must
drop by 50 percent to meet the 12 percent goal.
UW-Madison researchers, the Wisconsin Women’s
Health Foundation and the Wisconsin Division of Public Health,
conducted the study.
UW Selects New Pharmacy School
Dean
Jeanette Roberts, a
professor and administrator from
theUniversityofUtah, was selected
from a field of four finalists to become the next dean of
theSchoolofPharmacy.
Roberts replaces Melvin Weinswig, who announced his retirement
from the post he held for more than three decades last year. She is
currently a professor of medicinal chemistry, associate dean for
academic affairs and adjunct professor of pharmacology and
toxicology at the University of Utah’s College of Pharmacy. She is
also adjunct professor of foods and nutrition in Utah’s College of
Health.
Roberts will begin in her new position by late October or early
November of this year and will earn an annual salary of
$180,000.
Monkeypox hits Midwestern states
Health officials are blaming an infected
prairie dog from a swap meet in Wausau last month for spreading
monkeypox, to 15 states, including Wisconsin. This is the first
time the disease, which causes rashes, chills and fever similar to
smallpox, has appeared in the Western Hemisphere. Scientists
believe the disease originated in western Africa.
According to the Wisconsin State Journal, federal health officials
believe the North American outbreak began in Illinois via infected
prairie dogs. Officials said the prairie dogs were infected at a
pet store by a Gambian giant rat, which is native to Africa.
Latest reports show at least 54 people from four states are
infected with the disease – 37 cases are under investigation
in Wisconsin, with seven confirmed. Officials are also
investigating the possibility that the disease may have been
transmitted from human to human in Wisconsin. However, the source
of the state health worker’s infection is yet to be confirmed.
Dean easily wins Wisconsin Democratic
Convention straw poll
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean easily won a
presidential straw poll at the Wisconsin Democratic Convention held
this past weekend in Milwaukee. WisPolitics.com and The Hotline
conducted the straw poll jointly, though attendees were discouraged
from participating by the Democratic National Committee. Only 352
of the approximately 1,150 attendees participated in the straw
poll.
The final tally gave Dean 203 votes. Mass.
Sen. John Kerry finished second with 50 votes, followed by OH Rep.
Dennis Kucinich, 27, Fla. Sen. Bob Graham, 19, N.C. Sen. John
Edwards, 18, MO Rep. Richard Gephardt, received 10 votes. All other
candidates received five votes or less.
Dean, Kerry and Kucinich were the only three
candidates out of nine declared who attended the Wisconsin
convention.
— Compiled by Herald
staff
