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Get the latest news and research from Badger Institute
- A Badger Institute policy report: Character education and teacher retention
- Time for UW-Madison to do away with ethnic studies requirement
- A foolish law wages war against homemade shindigs
- An estate tax would harm Wisconsin’s economy
- Assembly clears bill to tackle fears of data center spiking power rates
- Governor Evers’ property tax relief plan fails to constrain property tax growth
- Data center naysayers should consider what the future would have brought to Port Washington
- Game over: How a professor bungled the facts of Wisconsin school choice
Browsing: News
The law, passed in 2023, decrees that venues rented for private events at which the people holding the party bring their own alcohol can host only six such events a year, and only one a month — unless they prohibit bring-your-own drinks and instead get a liquor license like a tavern. Those are subject to strict quotas. Town board can simply refuse.
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.
Policymakers are scrambling for solutions as Wisconsin property tax burdens continue to rise. As homeowners clamor for relief, Gov. Tony Evers (D) has proposed using $1.3 billion from the state’s surplus to buy down property tax bills. Unfortunately, the proposal does nothing to address the structural drivers of high (and rising) property taxes and, if anything, puts more pressure on them in the future. His proposal commits the state to subsidies that shift burdens rather than alleviate them.
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.
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 University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of education policy revealed a grave misunderstanding of school choice as practiced here — and in the process slandered the Wisconsinites who educate more than 60,000 children.
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.
Money wasted on Hop while bus access for people who really need it is at risk Milwaukee County’s bus network…
As math proficiency continues to decline in Wisconsin schools, the Legislature is considering a plan to improve numeracy.
Plans for a municipally-owned grocery store in Madison is the perfect illustration of why government should stay out of an intensely competitive business it knows nothing about.
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.
Republican candidates for Wisconsin governor are joining politicians across the country who are increasingly skeptical of tenure guarantees for professors.
While undergraduate enrollment in most University of Wisconsin System schools trends downward, there has been a dramatic increase in students choosing the state’s technical colleges since the pandemic.

