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Get the latest news and research from Badger Institute
- Transportation policy for the way Wisconsinites actually want to travel
- Having two parents matters; so does data
- Do Madison’s schools underperform Milwaukee’s? Let’s talk about it.
- Milwaukee-Racine-Kenosha rail idea back on radar, despite costs, existing options
- Three policy avenues to help public schools flourish
- Data center boom means good times for old-line manufacturing, 50 or 500 hires at a time
- Strong foundations, untapped potential: Wisconsin’s economy
- Want to help families, Wisconsin? Stop raising childcare costs
Browsing: Media
Wisconsin transportation policy should begin with the people who use the system: where they want to go, how they want to get there and how those choices may change as new technologies become available.
A costly proposed commuter rail system between Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee is back on the radar of municipal leaders, even as frequent service on high-end buses already serves commuters on the same route.
If Wisconsin children receive poor instruction, attend chaotic schools, and learn through weak, incoherent curricula, then industry and civil society will struggle accordingly.
Much remains to make Wisconsin reach its full economic potential, including matching its strong inputs with stronger outputs.
With important reforms, Wisconsin can meet both the demands of ensuring safe and affordable childcare for Wisconsin families while controlling overall costs.
Tax increment financing can raise existing residents’ property tax bills, at least the way the tool is used in Wisconsin.
Overall spending by the federal and state governments on Medicaid has never once been reduced since Congress approved the program in 1965.
One recent July morning in a riverside woods west of Eau Claire, 13 high-schoolers took turns firing practice versions of PepperBalls at an old steel drum and un-abolishing the police.
Wisconsin is tied for first place among states when it comes to reconnecting unclaimed money with its rightful owners — though no state is particularly good at it.
More than 60 percent of Wisconsin circuit courts use text-message reminders to notify criminal defendants of upcoming court dates, but only a minority of counties send messages automatically.
Wisconsin is a better place because of Mark Schug’s scholarship, his advocacy, his teaching, and, above all, his kindness. His influence can be seen in the countless students, teachers, policymakers, and colleagues whose lives he touched.
A growing number of Wisconsin communities are choosing to act against considerable economic interest and sit out the data center revolution.
At a time when Medicaid fraud is making national news, Wisconsin ought to impose greater discipline on a program that now costs taxpayers $36.4 billion over the 2025-27 budget cycle.
While state law prohibits drivers from driving with a suspended license, it’s not a crime unless alcohol is involved.
Geography matters for what’s called “latency,” the small but often important amount of time it takes signals to travel from a user to whatever data center holds the information he’s using.
What Wisconsinites need to know about how the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program works.
The solution to problems left by grocery store closures in Milwaukee may include a civil-society option such as a food co-op, observers say.
Public school district leaders are thinking about what scholarships from private donations through a new federal tax credit program the will do for their students.
Wisconsin’ recent failures of accountability share a common feature: Power has increasingly shifted away from the Legislature and toward governors, agencies, courts and other institutions that operate further from direct democratic control.
“There’s never been a federal program that’s been as generous as this that the state didn’t opt in,” said Kooyenga.

