Weekly commentary from Bill Lueders, Money & Politics Project director.

Only three of the University of Wisconsin System’s 13 four-year campuses — Platteville, Stevens Point and Parkside — have more than half of students, faculty and staff signed up to receive text alerts, according to a review by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. The overall participation rate for all 13 campuses is about 32 percent, the Center found, based on data from each campus.

The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and MinnPost are receiving a major grant from The Joyce Foundation to support reporting on key issues in their neighboring states. The $100,000 grant from the Chicago-based foundation, to be split by the two nonprofit news organizations, will fund coverage of political reform, environmental protection and gun violence issues in Wisconsin, as well as political reform in Minnesota.

The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication played major roles in a project named a finalist in the Investigative Reporters and Editors awards, which were announced today.

The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism received eight awards from the Milwaukee Press Club’s annual Awards for Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism, which were announced today. This represents the Center’s best showing ever. It received four awards in 2012 and five in 2011.

Thirteen offenders told the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism that Wisconsin’s GPS tracking system repeatedly fails, registering false alerts and landing the offenders in jail although they had done nothing wrong. Meanwhile, Gov. Scott Walker is proposing an expansion of nearly 50 percent in the number of offenders monitored by GPS devices.

Since 1986, at least 297 personal injury, wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuits have been filed against Wisconsin nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, according to an analysis by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.

Attorneys for families of residents say that facilities’ failure to report serious injuries or deaths related to abuse or neglect is not uncommon. Far more often, they say, the state health department only learns about a case of alleged neglect or abuse after a family member files a complaint. Advocates for health care providers stress that incidents of neglect and abuse are extremely rare, and can come to regulators’ attention in a variety of ways.