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Get the latest news and research from Badger Institute
- Florida could teach Wisconsin how to demand a more open-minded academia
- Wisconsin still holds $800 million in people’s unclaimed cash despite a top ranking in returning funds
- More Wisconsin circuit courts use text reminders to move justice along: a ‘godsend’
- How to strengthen the climb from the safety net
- The silence breaks: Accountability at last for those who make Milwaukee life unlivable
- Data centers could be a godsend — if communities let them
- Economic freedom is worth defending — even when political parties forget it
- Wisconsin is missing its Medicaid accountability moment
Browsing: Media
A majority of voters believe the state’s criminal justice system needs significant improvements, nearly three-quarters believe expungement law needs reform, among other findings.
For those with a single, low-level, non-violent offense on their record, receiving an expungement would give them the chance to fully move past their mistake, opening employment and housing opportunities.
Every time we get our feet on the ladder, they cut the rungs off.” I was in high school when my dad made this statement regarding the minimum wage.
Dentists see that adding the mid-level providers eases the care shortage, expands access and creates efficiencies
Some of the governor’s budget proposals to help low-income families are ineffective, ripe for abuse or better left to the private sector
By Angela Rachidi
March 16, 2021
Incarceration is rare for pot-only convictions; coupled with municipal policies, Wisconsin has, in effect, decriminalized marijuana.
The Wisconsin Criminal Justice Coalition, led by the Badger Institute, offers policy ideas for combating recidivism, fostering opportunity, saving taxpayer money and maintaining public safety in its second edition of Criminal Justice Reform Recommendations.
Nearly 90,000 Wisconsin small businesses that have taken out loans under the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) will face hundreds of millions of dollars in state income tax liability on those loans this spring, despite the loans being tax-free at the federal level.
Review and recommendations
Streamlined licensing reciprocity should be made permanent and extended to other professions
They’re working and should be made permanent
As streetcar ridership and funding dwindle, alderman warns of long-term fiscal burden
A trilogy of reports looking at police use of force, police discipline, and violent crime
While NBA players tout education reform, Milwaukee school officials continue to rig the game.
Parents with disabilities or health limitations often time out of the program or end up on disability insurance
Disciplinary actions against police officers in Wisconsin’s largest cities, whether for use of force or anything else, are rare
State needs better crime data to get an accurate picture of who’s incarcerated here and why
A call for greater transparency
A growing list of states that have adopted universal licensure recognition
The policy decisions state policymakers make in the months ahead will have far-reaching implications for how quickly jobs and wages are restored in Wisconsin.

