(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s new budget will spend down most of the state’s reserves, resulting in a balance of $770.5 million on June 30, 2027.
That will be the lowest balance since 2018, according to new analysis from Wisconsin Policy Forum.
The spending is an increase of 12.4% over two years, an increase of $12.3 billion. The budget includes $111 billion in spending with $3 billion in bonds.
The budget calls for 300 fewer state employees but will result in a budget increase for staffing due to the rising costs of benefits and 3% wage increases in July 2025 and 2% in July 2026 for all state workers.
That will cost the state an additional $385.7 million over the two years from general tax revenue and $242 million from other funds, according to the analysis.
The budget calls for more funds going into the rainy-day fund, with the reserve level moving to $2.8 billion by the end of the two years, which is approximately 11.4% of the net general fund appropriations in 2027.
“That relatively strong balance could be needed, since moving forward the state could face a return to budget challenges,” the analysis said. “The state’s reserves are projected to drop for the next two years because state spending will outpace revenues in both years of the 2025-27 budget.”
The spending levels in the approved budget will lead to issues heading into the 2027-29 budget with a significant shortfall in funding that likely cannot be made up through increases in tax revenue.
“To fully close the gap, state officials will likely have to turn to measures such as spending cuts, tax increases, or further drawdowns of reserves including potentially part of the rainy-day fund,” the report says.
The budget’s income tax cut, meanwhile, will lead to up to a $190 cut from single and head of household filers and $253 for married couples if the filers have a taxable income of at least $50,480 for single filers and $67,300 for married couples filing jointly.
“In other words, this change delivers a savings of a similar dollar amount to both middle and high-income taxpayers but would not provide any savings to low-income state residents who owe little to no income taxes,” the report said. “The provision will lower state tax collections by about $320 million in each year of the two-year state budget.”

(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources ended a two-week effort to trap a black bear involved in a Barron County attack after not locating the bear.
The DNR, Barron County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Department of Agriculture – Wildlife Services had game cameras and live traps on the property and trapped and released two male black bears, two yearling bears and two sows that were determined to be unrelated to the incident.
The black bear allegedly attacked 69-year-old Karen Frye in her backyard in Comstock on the early afternoon on July 12.
“After two weeks of round-the-clock surveillance on the property and no additional signs of the sow involved, our current options are exhausted,” said Randy Johnson, DNR large carnivore specialist.
Officers found a cub in a tree after the attack, which they say indicate the attack involved a sow and cub, but did not find the bear.
The DNR also found a dead female black bear nearly a mile away from the attack that had been hit by a car. But there was no evidence it was the same bear.
The DNR said there are an estimated 24,000 bear in the state and that “black bears are generally secretive, not aggressive and tend to avoid humans as much as possible but bears are sometimes known to be aggressive if cubs are present and feel threatened.”

(The Center Square) – Scott Walker is not running for governor.
Walker, who served two terms as governor, took to social media over the weekend to clarify that he’s not jumping into next year’s race.
“I’m not going to be a candidate for governor in 2026,” Walker said in his video. “I’m going to continue my work as president of Young America’s Foundation.”
Walker was first elected in 2010, then won a statewide recall race in 2012, and won his third election for governor in 2014.
He was Wisconsin’s 45th governor, and had he run again and won, he would have been the state’s 47th. That’s why Republicans in the state took special notice when he posted a picture of a MAGA hat with 45, 47 on the side.
“It really was an honor to serve as the 45th governor of this great state,” Walker said. “Looking ahead we’ve got to work even harder to make Wisconsin great again.”
Walker then said one of the keys to a Republican return to the governor’s office is the youth vote.
“When I last successfully ran for re-election, we took 47% of the vote of people aged 18-29,” Walker explained. “Eight years later, the Republican running for governor took just 30% of the vote with that group.”
That Republican was Tim Michaels. Michaels has not said if he plans to try again with a run in 2026.
With Walker out, the Republican field remains businessman Bill Berrien and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann.
Northwoods Congressman Tom Tiffany on Monday said he’ll decide whether he’s running within the next 60 days.
Democratic Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez announced her bid for governor last week with a video of her own. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley also said on Friday he’s running in the Democratic race to replace Gov. Tony Evers.
Next year’s race will be the first since 2010 where Wisconsin voters will not see an incumbent governor on the ballot.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley both entered the 2026 race to be the Democratic candidate for the state’s next governor after Gov. Tony Evers announced Thursday that he would not be running for re-election.
The Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association issued support for Rodriguez immediately, saying “as a nurse, a mom and lieutenant governor, Sara has spent her life putting people first—fighting for affordable health care, protecting reproductive freedom, and delivering real results for working families across Wisconsin.”
Crowley, meanwhile, told reporters he was taking steps toward entering the race and that “time is of the essence” in entering the race.
Rodriguez pointed to her time as a nurse, saying she is a public health policy expert, small business owner and problem-solver for the state’s top office in her announcement.
“We are in a precarious moment in our history and we need leaders who will stand up for Wisconsin, who understand the challenges facing families here and who believe deeply in our ability to build a stronger future for our children,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “That’s why as a Wisconsinite, a daughter of a veteran and union member, a mom and your Lieutenant Governor, I’m proud to be announcing my campaign for Governor,”
Whitefish Bay Resident Bill Berrien and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann, both Republicans, were the first two candidates to announce they are running for the seat.
“Sara Rodriguez is the very embodiment of Tony Evers and the Madison Democrats’ failed record over the last six years,” Berrien said in a Friday statement. “Wisconsin cannot afford to have a continuation of the Evers’ policies that kept us stuck in reverse. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Sara Rodriguez or another one of the radical left Democrats that decide to enter this race, one thing is for certain: I plan to win.”

(The Center Square) – There is more good news for people looking to buy a house in Wisconsin’s latest home sales report.
The Wisconsin Realtors Association recently released its report on June home sales that showed a huge jump in sales.
“Existing home sales increased 8.1% over June 2024 – the first year-over- year increase in June sales in four years,” the report states.
The Realtors say more than 7,100 homes were sold in June of this year. June of 2024 saw just over 6,600.
Realtors Board Chair Chris DeVincentis said June is usually a busy month, but June of 2025 was particularly busy.
“June is usually our most active month for closings, with just over 11.5% of the state’s annual sales typically taking place during that month,” DeVincentis said. “So, it was good to finally see an upturn in June’s performance compared to the previous June.”
But it’s not just the jump in sales that is grabbing attention.
The Realtors report also shows a nearly 5% jump in available homes compared to last year, and a less than 5% jump in home prices.
“This is the fourth straight month where median price appreciation has been moderate, with prices going up less than 5% annually in three of those four months. In contrast, the annual appreciation of median prices has exceeded 5% every month since June 2020 when we were in the depths of the pandemic,” Realtors president and CEO Toim Larson said. “We hope this moderation in prices is a trend rather than an aberration.”
The median price for a home in Wisconsin last month hit $434,000. That’s up from $325,000 last June, and $330,000 last month.
But those are median, statewide prices. Local prices continue to vary from a median price of $265,000 in central Wisconsin to $399,900 in the Madison/Dane County area.
Madison/Dane County and the Milwaukee area continue to see most of Wisconsin’s home sales. The June report shows just less than 55% of homes sold last month were in the two areas.
The other numbers from the report are positive, even if they are not overwhelming.
The Realtors say mortgage interest rates dropped from 6.92% last June to 6.82% last month. At the same time there was a 0.1% increase in year-to- date home sales compared to last year, and a two day increase in time on the market from June of 2024 to June 2025.

(The Center Square) – A technology policy group that describes itself as left-center will be in Madison on Tuesday urging Gov. Tony Evers to sign a portable benefits bill for gig workers that recently passed the Legislature.
Chamber of Progress is expected be at the Wisconsin Capitol on Tuesday along with at least 30 app-based workers and bill sponsors Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, D–Milwaukee, and Sen. Julian Bradley, R–New Berlin.
“Gig workers are pretty clear that they want to preserve their independence but also get benefits that travel with them from job to job,” Chamber of Progress Director of Civic Innovation Policy Ruth Whittaker said in a statement. “The legislature listened to gig workers today. Let’s hope the governor listens, too.”
Another group of drivers from Uber and Lyft protested the bill soon after it passed along with the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, saying they were concerned the bill would strip app-based transportation and delivery drivers of employee status and reclassify drivers as independent contractors.
The bill would then allow gig workers to create portable benefits options such as health care and retirement accounts.
Sen. Melissa Ratcliff, D-Cottage Grove, called the bill a covert way to deny employment protections for these drivers during floor discussion before the bill passed.
Drivers who make $750 in a calendar year are eligible for a portable benefits account, with the company being obligated to pay 4% of the driver’s earnings in the previous quarter, minus tips, if a company contributes to the account.
Gig worker bills across the country are growing with Chamber of Progress pointing to ballot initiatives in California and efforts in Washington and Minnesota along with legal settlements in New York and Massachusetts on the topic.
Maryland and Pennsylvania have launched portable benefits pilot programs for gig workers.

(The Center Square) – Leaders in Wisconsin public broadcasting said they are expecting to lose $6 million every year after Congress passed $1.1 billion in federal funding cuts to public broadcasting.
The cuts, first reported by WMTV-15 News, will directly affect the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds PBS Wisconsin and Wisconsin Public Radio.
PBS Wisconsin and WPR receive 10.4% of their revenue from federal funding.
However, a broadcasting official said the rippling consequences of the cuts may run deeper than just the $6 million loss.
“This rescission will have a significant effect on public media in Wisconsin and across the system, but we do not yet know the scope and specifics of those effects until we learn more about how the funding cuts will be implemented and what the impact will be on the larger public media system,” Marta Bechtol, executive director of Educational Communications Board, said in a statement to The Center Square.
Bechtol said because CPB provides centralized services to the public media system such as educational research, content development and other contracted services, the cuts could force other Wisconsin stations to absorb the costs, driving up additional financial consequences.
While the funding cuts won’t be immediate, Bechtol said several changes are already being planned for next year, such as the cancellation of new shows at PBS kids and the ending of four programs on WPR due to budget challenges.
“We know that this rescission will reshape public media in our state,” Bechtol said. “But, our mission to provide essential public media service and statewide emergency alerts to Wisconsin will not waver.”
Some conservatives in the state, however, have pushed back on public broadcasting leaders’ views.
“These funds should have been cut years ago,” Mike Nichols, president of the Badger Institute, told The Center Square. “Government subsidies turn journalists – usually leftist ones – into lackeys for politicians, undermine the true value of the so-called Fourth Estate, and create unfair, subsidized competition for privately funded media.
“At any rate, if you can’t find out about a tornado or how to grow flowers somewhere other than public media, you don’t own a cell phone or a computer,” Nichols concluded.
The $1.1 billion cuts to public broadcasting were signed into law by President Donald Trump Thursday.

(The Center Square) – A new poll found majority support for several recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, with most issues receiving bipartisan support and some having partisan divides.
However, approval of the court as a whole is at 49% when not considering specific rulings, according to a new Marquette University Law School poll that surveyed 1,005 adults nationwide between July 7-16, 2025, with a margin of error of +/-3.4 percentage points.
In a similar May MLS poll, the court’s approval was at 53% with disapproval at 47%.
“The decline in approval in July is driven by shifts among Democrats, whose approval fell from 31% in May to 18% in July,” the poll found. “Approval among Republicans and Independents increased only slightly.”
Although support among Democrats declined, the poll found the court’s 78% approval among Republicans in the May survey increased to 81% approval in July, while the 43% Independent approval in May increased to 45% in July.
Across seven cases, however, 75% of respondents favored a majority of the rulings, while 25% opposed a majority of the results. Most respondents disagreed with at least some rulings.
The court’s decision upholding a Texas law to require proof of age before accessing sexually oriented websites received widely bipartisan approval at 75%, with 84% of Republicans, 70% of independents and 68% of Democrats approving.
A ruling requiring due process for people subject to deportation received 53% of Republicans approval while 75% of Independents and 92% of Democratic respondents favored it.
The court upholding a Tennessee ban on gender-transition treatment for minors got 90% Republican and 72% Independent approval, but only 52% of Democrats backing the ruling.
The court’s decision allowing parents to opt children out of some school lessons received 91% of Republicans’ and 66% of Independents’ approval, but 52% Democratic disapproval.
Also, 77% of Republicans supported a ruling forcing the sale of TikTok, while 53% of Independents and 53% of Democrats opposed it.
The court’s ruling in favor of religious tax exemption for Catholic charities received 70% Republican approval, 60% Independent approval and 53% Democratic disapproval.
Finally, a ruling limiting district court use of nationwide injunctions was favored by 78% of Republicans and 63% of Independents, but rejected by 68% of Democrats.
The poll also surveyed opinions on a July 2024 decision granting presidents immunity from criminal prosecution for official presidential acts, finding that 83% of Democrats and 58% of Independents disapprove of the ruling, while 61% of Republicans agree with it.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Democrat Gov. Tony Evers will not be running for re-election in 2026.
That leaves Whitefish Bay Resident Bill Berrien and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann, both Republicans, as the two candidates who have announced they are running for the seat.
Schoemann led U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, WI-7th Congressional, in a straw poll at the Republican Party of Wisconsin convention in May. Tiffany has not announced if he is running in the race.
“So, would I win if I ran a sixth time?” Evers said in his announcement. “Of course, no question about that. But whether I would in or not has never been part of my calculus about running again.”
It is not clear yet who will run on the Democratic side of the race but Democratic Governors Association Chair Laura Kelly said that it believes the next governor will also be a Democrat.
“No matter who emerges from the Republican primary, one thing is certain: they will be too extreme for Wisconsin, in stark contrast with the strong, results-focused leadership in the governor’s office that Wisconsinites have enjoyed over the last six years,” Kelly said. “The DGA looks forward to protecting Governor Evers’ historic legacy and keeping this office in Democratic hands.”
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley told WISN that he would consider a run if Evers announced he would not run.
Berrien, meanwhile, said he believes Evers didn’t run because the state is ready for a change.
“Tony Evers is too scared to run on the Madison Democrats’ record of failure,” Berrien said in a statement. “I’m going to spend the next 15 months making sure whoever the Madison liberals pick from their bench of radical career politicians learns the same lesson.”

(The Center Square) – The Green Bay Packers made $83.7 million last year, a profit increase of $23.6 million that that team attributed to hosting a ninth regular season game.
The team saw $64.9 million in increased revenue but also spent $41.3 million more, expenses that included both travel for games and a joint practice in Denver along with depreciation of Lambeau Field and team facilities being factored in.
The Packers are unique in that they are a publicly owned, non-profit corporation that releases financial information publicly each year.
The Packers also have paid for stadium upgrades primarily through private funds instead of asking for public funding. The team had a 0.5% stadium tax that ran from 2000 through 2015. The team doesn’t pay property tax on the public-owned stadium but does make annual rent payments. The Packers and city of Green Bay remain in negotiations on a $1 million annual payment along with a 2.75% annual escalator on a lease extension.
The Packers saw a $34.6 million increase in local revenue last year while national revenue payments from the NFL related to television and streaming rose $30.3 million with a total $432.6 million payment from the league.
The NFL recently hosted the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay outside of Lambeau Field with Experience Greater Green Bay and the Packers claiming the event created an economic impact of $73 million in Brown County and nearly $105 million statewide.
But a recent academic paper showed the benefit for draft host cities is far less than what host cities have claimed and Las Vegas actually saw 20,000 less hotel rooms rented during the event.

(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump’s AI action plan is getting support at the Wisconsin Capitol from State Rep. Nate Gustafson, R-Fox Crossing, who said it will open new opportunities for Wisconsin’s burgeoning data center industry.
“This plan cuts red tape, boosts real investment, and puts power back in the hands of states, workers, and the private sector, not federal bureaucrats,” Gustafson said.
Trump’s AI Action Plan promises to “create streamlined permitting for semiconductor manufacturing facilities, and energy infrastructure while guaranteeing security,” according to the White House.
Gustafson said that means not just investments in new data centers, but investments in rural broadband across Wisconsin.
Gustafson is also excited about tax credits and incentives for “investments in apprenticeships, tech colleges, and STEM programs.”
“This plan is about more freedom, more innovation, and more jobs. That’s what we need right now in Wisconsin and across the country,” Gustafson said. “President Trump is doing what he does best, getting government out of the way so America can win. Wisconsin stands ready to lead with this kind of smart, America-first approach to AI.”
The public, however, doesn’t agree with Trump or Gustafson when it comes to data centers, which have been linked to higher consumer energy costs and very little jobs when completed.
In a poll released earlier this month by Libertas Network with a specific question from The Center Square regarding data centers, most U.S. voters oppose having data centers built in their community and even more oppose the data centers if tax incentives are awarded to have them built.
The poll asked voters specifically if they supported or opposed building new data centers for artificial intelligence in their community with 46% of respondents strongly or somewhat opposing the prospect, 36% strongly or somewhat supporting and 18% uncertain.
Wisconsin is moving forward with a couple of large data center investments, with public incentives.
Microsoft is in the first steps of building a $3.3 billion data center at the old Foxconn site in Racine County. That project is expected to begin in full by the end of next year.
There’s also a planned data center in its early stages in Port Washington. Developers there have recently closed on $50 million in home and land buys.
“President Trump understands that AI is the next frontier in global competition, and he’s making sure America leads from the front,” Gustafson added.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin saw the June unemployment rate go down in 24 of the state’s largest 35 cities over the month while the rates lowered in 63 counties and stayed the same in eight more, according to new numbers from the state’s Department of Workforce Development.
Wisconsin’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate went down to 3.2% in June, less than the 4.1% national rate.
Wisconsin’s labor force participation rate went down to 65.1% in June while the national rate decreased slightly to 62.3%.
Wisconsin saw 10 of its largest metropolitan areas show unemployment decreases while three of those areas remained the same. Twelve of the metropolitan areas saw unemployment decreases over the year while the rate in Sheboygan remained the same.
Menominee, meanwhile, was the only county that saw a month over month increase in unemployment rate while the rate increased in just four counties year over year.