No fallout from DADT repeal

The results of the first academic study of military service after the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” were released Monday and found no overall negative impact on military readiness.

The study compared 2011 pre-repeal and 2012 post-repeal survey data. The comparison found that even in units including openly gay service members, cohesion did not decline after the new policy of open service was put into place.

The study was performed by the Palm Center, a research institute that sponsors scholarship about gender, sexuality and the military, according to its website. The center has released public statements opposing “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

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Chicago teachers begin strike

Chicago Public School teachers officially went on strike Monday, leaving about 350,000 students without educators.

The Chicago Teacher’s Union turned down a deal from the Chicago Board of Education that would have increased teachers’ salaries 16 percent over four years, totaling $380 million, in addition to increased teacher contributions to their benefits and healthcare and a mechanism for rehiring teachers who were laid off due to school closings.

The average teacher salary in Chicago was $74,839 for the 2011-2012 school year.

“Recognizing the Board’s fiscal woes, we are not far apart on compensation,” the CTU said in a news release. “However, we are apart on benefits.”

The Chicago BOE said that 67 percent of CTU members would still not see a change to their healthcare under their plan.

Last year, CPS graduated students at an all-time high rate of 60.6 percent. The union represents the third largest school district in the country.

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Wolf hunting draws 20,000 applicants

More than 20,000 people bought permit applications for Wisconsin’s first wolf hunting and trapping season, according to data released Monday by the Department of Natural Resources. The DNR plans to issue only 1,160 licenses through a lottery later this week.

The state set a wolf harvest quota of 201 wolves, 85 of which have been reserved for American Indian tribes. The wolf hunting and trapping season will run from Oct. 15 2012 to Feb. 28, 2013.

The new hunting season was created after wolves came off the endangered list in Wisconsin last January.

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Obama up in the polls

A CNN/ORC poll released Monday showed President Obama holding a 6-point lead over Mitt Romney in the wake of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. According to the poll, Obama now leads Romney 52 to 46 percent nationally.

Other polls, including one from Gallup, also showed Obama leading Romney following a 4-point jump after the convention. Despite the results for CNN’s poll having a 3.5 percent margin of error, trends showed that President Obama did “gain strength from his convention,” CNN Polling Director Keating Holland told CNN Monday.

The poll was conducted from Sept. 2 to 8, during the Democratic convention, and also coincided with low August job numbers released Friday. Despite the jobs numbers, the Gallup poll showed President Obama to currently have his largest lead over Romney since early July, when he lead Romney 49 to 44 percent.

Obama also outraised Romney for the first time since April, bringing in more than $114 million in August compared to Romney’s $111 million.

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Wisconsin leads nation in broken temperature records

With 2012 as the hottest year on record for the U.S., Wisconsin is leading the nation in broken records for high temperatures this year.

According to a study released by the climate change awareness group Climate Central, Wisconsin broke 1,345 temperature records this summer at various locations around the state, a number four times higher than originally estimated. On average, the new temperature records were found to be 4.4 degrees hotter than previous highs.

While other states such as Texas reported more high temperatures, Wisconsin came out on top after other considerations such as the state’s number of record keeping stations, the expected number of records and the disparity in the ratio between high and low record temperatures were factored in.

Of the ten highest record-breaking states, the top eight were all in the Midwest. Following Wisconsin were Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Illinois and Ohio (tied). Overall, the summer of 2012 has been the third hottest for the contiguous United States since record keeping began in 1895, with the first eight months of the year so far making 2012 the hottest year on record.

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