Browsing: Media

The Badger Institute applauded Gov. Tony Evers and Republican legislators for passage of a crucial housing bill that will increase supply and bring down cost while still allowing municipalities to control whether they want to grow.

All 13 four-year University of Wisconsin System schools impose an ethnic studies requirement in order to graduate.

A bill that will ultimately help increase housing supply, make homes more affordable and still allow local municipalities to control where and how fast they grow passed through the Wisconsin Senate this week and was expected to pass in the Assembly Thursday as well.

You might be paying higher school property taxes this year because of a referendum to exceed a school district’s revenue cap — one that you did not get a vote on in a district your kids do not attend.

Until last week, it appeared that legislators from both political parties were on a path to restoring WisconsinEye, an independent channel that has broadcast state government meetings and events since 2007.

Very few people know it, but Wisconsin’s Medicaid program is in the housing business.

Not construction or real estate, but assistance in finding a home for any Medicaid recipient with a qualifying health or mental health issue and a qualifying risk of homelessness.

Republican lawmakers managed to pass a conservative-coded policy in a purple state with a Democratic governor. It’s all well and good to point to Florida or Texas and wish that every state could do likewise. Unfortunately, not every state capitol boasts a conservative governor ready to pick controversial fights backed up by a large Republican majority. Wisconsin demonstrates that even purple states can win meaningful, albeit limited, conservative victories.

Wisconsinites should be concerned the state’s growing crisis of disappearing educators — a phenomenon the Badger Institute has been taking a closer look at. Multiple studies confirm that retaining good teachers is essential to school effectiveness and student achievement.

Some lawmakers in Madison, however, led by members of the Assembly’s Socialist Caucus,  want to implement an estate tax with a top rate of 20 percent. Currently in draft form before being introduced, their legislation would propel Wisconsin to a tie with Hawaii for the second-highest state rate in the nation.

The state Assembly this week passed a bill barring data centers from passing on any utility costs to other ratepayers in Wisconsin — targeting a key objection from Wisconsinites who oppose data center development.

Assembly Bill 840, passed 53-44 almost entirely along party lines, also requires new data centers to use water-conserving technology for cooling and to report annual water use to the Department of Natural Resources.

Impacts are minimal in comparison to what might have occurred Seldom if ever conceded by many critics of the planned $15 billion 672-acre data center under way in…

A decline in cargo moving across the Great Lakes via United States-flagged “lakers” has led to widely felt impacts in port towns, including at a major Superior coal terminal now slated to shutter its operations by this upcoming summer.

Nearly 50 years after the U.S. government banned lead-based paint, Milwaukee Public Schools officials have again been trying to cover up or remove the toxic substance that parents likely presume was dealt with long ago.

The U.S. House of Representatives Thursday passed a bill that would remove the state’s rapidly expanding and aggressive gray wolf population from the endangered species list.

Widespread, intergenerational skepticism of government is not merely the result of America’s increasingly cutthroat politics.

Gov. Tony Evers is pressing the Legislature for $70 million to process FoodShare applications to stave off federal penalties that could cost state taxpayers as much as $225 million.

Two-thirds of Americans under the age of 30 say they believe most people cannot be trusted, according to a recent nationwide Marquette University Law School poll.

As math proficiency continues to decline in Wisconsin schools, the Legislature is considering a plan to improve numeracy.

The dire need for more houses in America has even regulation heavy cities like Los Angeles, New York City, Minneapolis and St. Paul streamlining rules — and providing a playbook for Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is facing a crisis of confidence after accusations of gutting academic standards, manipulating report cards, slacking on fiscal oversight and bungling oversight of sexual misconduct among teachers.