Browsing: News & Analysis

A reversal by the State Historic Preservation Review Board on the significance of the 35-year-old “postmodern” 100 East building in downtown Milwaukee could mean tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks if the building is fully renovated.

Wisconsin’s economy is thriving under free market reforms, many aided by Badger Institute research and advocacy.

By the best estimate, the Act 10 reforms saved Wisconsin taxpayers between $18 billion and $31 billion since 2012.

Populist trade policy at the national level is especially dangerous for Wisconsin workers.

Results from the nation’s most comprehensive experiment in offering people a guaranteed basic income offer a warning: Unconditional cash payments did nothing to permanently lift participants out of poverty and dependency.

While Milwaukee continues to struggle putting sworn officers on the streets, the police departments in Wisconsin’s other largest cities are at or fast approaching full staffing.

Cheeseheads have a new bleating heart When it comes to dairy cow production, Wisconsin was long, well, the GOAT. For…

The median time it takes to close out felony criminal cases is down 5% from 2022 to 2023, and the median misdemeanor criminal case is reaching a conclusion 2% faster, according to figures from the Wisconsin Court System.

In his new book, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch laments the vast expansion of the federal government into matters once left to the states, and he cites Badger Institute’s “Federal Grant$tanding” book, published in 2018.

While Wisconsin rarely prosecutes possession or sale of larger amounts of marijuana, some municipalities are much more likely than others to prosecute less serious violations.

In the 2023-24 school year, MPS schools called police 1,245 times for help with allegations of everything from armed robbery to sexual assault to felony theft.

MPS may regret its ongoing resistance to the state’s resource officer requirement the next time it comes to the Legislature looking for tax money.

Government overregulation is imperiling the start of a $1 billion plan to expand broadband service to the hardest-to-reach places in Wisconsin.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ new housing down payment assistance proposal, which would give $25,000 to qualifying first-time home buyers, would dramatically increase housing prices, particularly in Midwestern metro areas such as Milwaukee, according to a new study by scholars at the American Enterprise Institute.

“There are communities that have decided they just don’t want to grow,” said Chad Lawler, who heads the Madison Area Builders Association.

Wisconsin accounted for 53% of the nation’s total mink pelt production in 2023, down 10 percent from the previous year.

Wisconsin’s largest school district, whose voters narrowly approved a quarter-billion dollar increase in funding last spring, is breaking the news to those voters that it may have to close some schools. But the process isn’t moving quickly.

Wisconsin is nearing the end of what Gov. Tony Evers proclaimed “Clean Energy Week,” and the Badger Institute offers ample reading on the subject.

How does Wisconsin’s spending compare to other states? It depends which ones you’re looking at and what sort of spending counts.

A federal report this month is touting two Wisconsin nuclear power plant sites — one operating, one shut down — as attractive locations for installing new nuclear electric generating plants.