(The Center Square) – Openness and transparency is now an issue in Wisconsin’s race for governor.
Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, who is one of seven Democratic candidates for the state’s top seat, last week said she would craft a new state budget in secret to avoid Democratic opposition if she is elected in November.
“I have committed to having a budget done before I swear in, and we are going to do this, we are going to do our negotiations behind a curtain so that we are not doing a circular firing squad within the Democratic Party,” Rodrigez said. “We have got to make a difference in people’s lives. We have got to be on the same page.”
Channel 12 broke the story, and on Wednesday, most of Rordiguez’s Democratic opponents responded.
“Latest reminder to everyone that sunshine is the best disinfectant,” Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, said. “Backroom deals are NOT the way to deliver progress for Wisconsinites. Democracy delivers best when it’s transparent and inclusive of everyone in the state.”
“As the only person in the race with experience creating budgets, this sounds like hiding from the people, and that is unacceptable. I have never created or signed a budget in secret. I have done it in the open with town halls, public input, and real transparency because it is your money and you deserve a say,” Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.
Former Department of Administration secretary Joel Brennan also joined the fray.
“I helped build two budgets with Gov. [Tony] Evers, and I can tell you, it’s one of the hardest and most important things a governor does. You’re balancing the demands of every state agency and every community across the state, all while the clock is ticking and people are counting on you to get it right,” Brennan said on X. “You don’t get a good budget by hiding it from the people it’s supposed to serve.”
Republican Tom Tiffany also slammed Rodriguez’s comments.
“@saraforwi said she will negotiate her budget “behind a curtain” because moderate Democrats will struggle with her ideas,” Tiffany wrote on X. “You deserve transparency. Listening sessions will be held across Wisconsin during the budget process. I won’t govern in secrecy.”
Rodriguez later tried to clarify, and said she is simply trying to be ready to go as soon as she is sworn in.
“My commitment is simple: be ready on Day One as governor to deliver a state budget that reflects our values and priorities,” she added.
Rodriguez’s focus on working with Democratic leaders behind the scenes is also a bit of a criticism of how Gov. Tony Evers crafted three of his four state budget.
Evers routinely worked on a budget on his own, then delivered his spending plan to lawmakers. A number of Democratic lawmakers didn’t like that approach.
Democratic legislative leaders did have more say in the current budget, but that was because Republicans needed Democratic votes to get the plan through the Assembly and Senate.

(The Center Square) – A majority of adults in the U.S. believe that the costs of data centers outweigh the benefits with 69% believing the costs are greater and 30% believing that the benefits are higher, according to a new national poll from the Marquette University Law School.
The results were an increase from the 62% who believed that the costs outweighed the benefits in January.
The results mirrored results from a survey of 850 registered voters in Wisconsin, when 69% of those voters said the costs outweigh the benefits.
Questions were asked of 982 voters nationwide between April 8-16.
Large-scale data center projects have popped up across the country in recent years with the tax incentives often hidden in tax increment districts and waiving sales tax on construction materials.
A recent Good Jobs First report showed that 14 states and scores of local governments fail to properly disclose how much revenue they are losing to data center tax breaks while a deeper look at just three states showed that they are losing more than $1 billion per year to data center tax breaks.
A Wisconsin waiver on sales tax on large-scale data center construction materials has led to that $70 million in forgone sales tax in its first two years, a number that is expected to multiply as data centers in Mount Pleasant, Verona, Beaver Dam and Port Washington have now been certified by the state to be eligible for the sales tax exemption.
The new Marquette Poll showed bipartisan opposition to data centers with 62% of Republicans, 76% of Democrats, and 73% of independents saying the costs are greater than the benefits. Those numbers all increased since a January poll.

(The Center Square) – A reported $3 million campaign was not enough to get Paul Wassgren to the primary in the race for Congress in northern Wisconsin.
Wassgren announced that he is suspending his campaign to replace Tom Tiffany as the congressman in Wisconsin’s Northwoods.
“This election has never been about a position or a paycheck for me – it is about serving Wisconsin families and creating economic opportunities for our state,” Wassgren said in a statement. “While I have the resources and message to win this race and be a fierce advocate for our district in Congress, I recognize that a bloody and highly expensive primary will only benefit the Democrats. In light of the spring election results, I call on all Republicans, including candidates, to prioritize the interests of the Republican Party and the state of Wisconsin.”
Wassgren is a businessman and corporate attorney from Ashland. Campaign records show he spent more than $3 million on his campaign through early April.
Wassgren said instead of running for Congress, he is going to spend his time as Ashland County Republican chairman to get Tiffany elected governor.
“As our next governor, Tom Tiffany will restore common sense and conservative values to Madison. I will proudly advocate for him during this critical election year for Wisconsin,” he added.
Wassgren’s exit thins the crowded field in the Northwoods a bit, but still leaves seven candidates vying for the open seat.
Republicans Michael Alfonso, Jessi Ebben, Nina Baum and Kevin Hermening are still in the race. As are Democrats Fred Clark, Chris Armstrong and Ginger Murray.
Alfonso may be the best-known candidate in the race.
Alfonso is married to one of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s daughters. Duffy held the Congressional seat from the Northwoods for almost eight years.
Alfonso also has President Donald Trump’s backing. Trump endorsed Alfonso back in January.
Voters will make their choices in the primary in August. The actual election will follow in November.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin was second in the Midwest and 12th among all states in per capita correctional spending, according to a new wide-ranging report on Wisconsin’s criminal justice system.
Combined spending for the system and all of its functions between local governments in the state is between $4.5 and $6 billion annually, according to the study from the Wisconsin Policy Forum.
Law enforcement spending of $328 per resident in the local level was slightly below the national average but state spending on law enforcement was the lowest of any state in the country at $8 per resident, according to the report.
The next-lowest spending state was Florida with $32 per resident while the average in the country was $60 per resident. There were 22,801 adults in state prisons in 2024, exceeding the 17,648 capacity that the facilities were designed to house.
“Wisconsin’s correctional system carries significant financial and human costs,” the report concluded. “State and local spending on corrections ranked 12th among the states in 2022, and Wisconsin had the highest cost per capita in 2021 to reincarcerate people for violations of community supervision conditions, although these reincarcerations have decreased in recent years.
“Corrections costs are likely to increase both from the significant wage hikes for prison staff that were approved by the Legislature in 2023 to combat persistent understaffing, and from growing medical costs to care for the aging prison population.”
The state also has seen the number of individuals incarcerated whose most serious offense was a violent crime rise between 2000 and 2023 and, over that same time, the number incarcerated who were found guilty of intoxicated driving has quadrupled.
The report reasoned that increase was the result of increased penalties with longer prison stays along with more convictions for those offenses.
“While the overall number of court cases decreased during our period of study, we also observed a rise in the number of cases involving at least one felony across most crime categories,” the report stated. “These trends have contributed to Wisconsin’s prison and community supervision rates remaining high even as overall crime rates fell between 2019 and 2023, including an ongoing decline in property crimes.”

(The Center Square) – A late-session bill that would have protected local racing facilities in Wisconsin from litigation and law changes was vetoed by Gov. Tony Evers in a flurry of post-session vetoes.
The “right-to-race” bill would prevent neighbors who buy their homes after the racing facility was in place from filing nuisance lawsuits against the facility unless the facility had a substantial and material expansion of operations.
The bill also prevented new laws that conflict with the racing facility’s use.
“I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to creating unfair and unnecessary hurdles for people pursuing legal avenues to vindicate the use and enjoyment of their land,” Evers said in his veto message. “As I have said before, I believe the presumption should be an open courthouse door to anyone seeking justice and an honest debate of the law of the land, and any immunity or deviation from that presumption should be tailored and finite.”
Bill supporters, however, believe that the bill was built to protect racing from subdivisions and home owners who move to an area after the facility was already operating.
“Motorsports is an industry that has enlivened life in Wisconsin for nearly a century,” the Specialty Equipment Market Association wrote in a post-veto message. “Instead of protecting Wisconsin’s economy and network of family-owned dirt ovals, drag strips, and every motorsports facility in between, and instead of fostering American manufacturing, STEM education, and engineering innovation, Evers made it crystal clear whose side he’s on: lawyers and NIMBYs.”
State Rep. Jeff Mursau, R-Crivitz, said in testimony on the bill mirrors right-to-farm legislation already in law.
Sen. Cory Tomczyk, R-Mosinee, said in testimony that the bill would protect everything from the Milwaukee Mile and Road America to smaller tracks like Marshfield Motor Speedway and Golden Sands Speedway in Wisconsin Rapids.
“Wisconsin’s racing heritage runs deep and unfortunately, NIMBYTsm is putting these businesses at risk of closing and decimating a way of life for small town America,” Tomczyk wrote. “Current law allows individuals and local governments to bring actions to stop or correct a public nuisance, but also recognizes that certain longstanding and lawful activities should be protected from nuisance claims when they do not pose a substantial threat to public health or safety. Race tracks certainly fall into that category.”
Evers’ veto said that he did not approve of the block on local legislation against racing facilities because he prefers local control.
“I am also vetoing this bill because I object to removing control from local authorities and preempting their ability to pass ordinances with the interests of their community in mind,” Evers wrote. “This bill removes the ability for local residents in municipalities throughout the state to engage in self-government by passing local ordinances related to nuisance actions involving racing facilities.”

(The Center Square) – There was lots of pot talk on social media in Wisconsin on Monday.
A number of Democrats, including two of the leading candidates for governor, took to X to push for legal marijuana on 4/20.
“It’s about time Wisconsin legalizes marijuana. Illinois got $36 million dollars in tax revenue from Wisconsinites in one year – we are giving our neighbors millions every year by not legalizing,” former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes said in a post. “Happy 4/20, please enjoy responsibly!”
4/20, celebrated on April 20th, is the unofficial holiday for marijuana.
Barnes was not the only one who took to X to push for full legalization in Wisconsin.
“Wisconsin is one of the last states without a real cannabis program, and we’re handing our neighbors millions every year because of it,” Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison, said in a post. “My Weed for Speed policy sets us up for smart legalization and puts the revenue into rural broadband. We’ll build it right and repair the damage from decades of criminalization.”
Hong and Barnes are the frontrunners in Wisconsin’s Democratic race for governor.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who is also running for governor, also took to X to show his support for legal marijuana.
“Wisconsin is falling behind. Legalizing marijuana is about fairness, growth, and common sense. Outdated laws hurt communities and waste resources,” Crowley said. “As governor, I will legalize it and invest the revenue in schools, infrastructure, and small businesses.”
Almost every Republican in Wisconsin was silent about Monday’s push for legalized pot, but Republicans at the Capitol have fought full legalization for years.
The only Republican who spoke up on X on Monday was the head of the St. Croix Valley Young Republicans, who pushed back on the statement from Madison’s Democratic Socialist candidate for the Assembly who said Wisconsin needs to join most of its neighbors and legalize marijuana.
“”No, Wisconsinites shouldn’t have to drive to Illinois or Michigan to buy weed,” DSA candidate Juliana Bennet said on X.
“Actually, they should,” said Brady Penfield.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin legislators aren’t giving up on gathering more information on the firing of former Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman.
Sen. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, said recently that the Legislature is not done exploring the matter and make sure that the Board of Regents and university leaders are meeting their obligations to students.
“The Regents cited performance reviews and concerns about Mr. Rothman’s style, but they had no documentation for the committee and didn’t provide a single note, memo, or record to support their decision,” Hutton said in a radio address. “Even the smallest private employer has to maintain thorough records for the most routine personnel decisions. The public deserves at least that level of transparency when it comes to one of our state’s most important institutions.”
The Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges recently invited all 10 regents who were up for confirmation to a meeting with two appearing and answering questions about the vote to remove Rothman.
Republican committee members, however, did not believe the response was sufficient and did not vote on the confirmations at its April 9 meeting.
Before the vote for his removal, Rothman said that he was told to resign or be fired. He decided not to resign.
“The UW System is facing major long-term challenges that demand attention, such as declining enrollment, affordability, and the ever-changing needs of employers,” Hutton said. “Instead, this firing has damaged confidence in the institution and created many unanswered questions at this critical moment.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin football’s struggles to win in the five years since name, image and likeness rules allow athletes to receive compensation have been in effect has led to between $29 million and $68 million less in gameday spending, according to a new analysis from UW-Madison’s Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy.
The report used employment data from Dane County hotels and attendance at Badger home game to extrapolate information on less visitor spending while showing the overall Madison economy did not exhibit an economic downturn independent of the home football games.
Home football attendance dropped from a pre-COVID average of 66,530 fans per game (2006–2019 average) to 56,343 (2021–2025).
The report noted that peer-reviewed research has shown that there are small or null economic effects of sports at the metropolitan level and that gameday losses are partially offset by other local spending.
The report comes as Gov. Tony Evers signed an NIL bill from the Wisconsin Legislature that will send $14.6 million from the state’s general fund annually to UW-Madison athletics for facility debt, a move that the report points out is unprecedented in the Big Ten Conference or in the country.
North Carolina is also an outlier by sending $300,000 to each of 13 state public school collegiate athletic departments.
“The case for the appropriation rests on optimistic assumptions about its effectiveness and on the implicit judgment that general-fund dollars are better spent on athletics than on their next-best alternative use,” the report concludes. “The case against rests on the opportunity cost of those dollars, the availability of private channels (donor collectives) that most Big Ten peers rely on, and the broader question of whether subsidizing a commercial entertainment enterprise is an appropriate use of state resources.
“The effectiveness of AB 1034 should be evaluated in the years ahead against the trajectory of on-field performance, attendance, and hotel occupancy in Dane County—and against the returns that the same dollars might have produced elsewhere.”
The report stated that, while 2025 numbers are not complete, it estimates that a 17,467 attendance shortfall led to more of a gameday spending shortfall.
While Badgers football had long outperformed athletics spending, the start of the NIL era and Chris McIntosh’s time as athletics director at the school saw the team’s results recede back to what would be expected for its athletics spending.
Private donations and NIL funds to athletes are not included in the spending. Even with that not included, conference median athletics spending rose from $31.6 million to $43.5 million in the first three NIL years, with Ohio State and Michigan spending $64–$73 million and Wisconsin spending $43 million, similar to Indiana and below Nebraska, Michigan State, Iowa, Rutgers and Penn State.
“Wisconsin moved from a large positive residual to near or below the spending–wins relationship once compensation restrictions on athletes were lifted,” the report said. “In a labor market where talent can be priced and traded freely, the rents that previously accrued to well-managed but moderately funded programs are now flowing to athletes themselves. Operational efficiency still matters, but it no longer substitutes for compensation.”

(The Center Square) – Milwaukee’s superintendent says she understands that she must make difficult budget decisions, even as she hopes what some people call the most significant school budget reform in Wisconsin history gets struck down.
Milwaukee Public Schools superintendent Brenda Cassellius was on UpFront over the weekend.
She defended her decision to cut nearly 200 jobs at MPS’ central office, while also using a federal grant to hire more than 150 new teachers and paraprofessionals.
“We have to make the very difficult decisions to tighten our belt to make sure that we’re spending within our means. We have been overspending within the district,” Cassellius said.
Cassellius said MPS has to stop “overspending,” largely because the district doesn’t have any extra money to spend.
“We only have about $14 million left on the referendum that we can spend in the budget year past this one, and so we know that by [fiscal year] ’28, which is the funding for the school year ’27-28, we won’t have any new additional referendum dollars,” she added.
Voters approved a $252 million tax increase in 2024 to stabilize MPS’ finances.
That money is already earmarked, and Cassellius said MPS is looking at $20 million in additional insurance costs next year, which means there could be a deficit going forward.
And that is before the Wisconsin Supreme Court decides the fate of Act-10.
Proponents say Act-10 has saved taxpayers more than $35 billion since it was signed into law in 2011. The law limited what teachers can negotiate on, specifically banning insurance rate increases from contract talks.
Cassellius said she wants to see Act-10 struck down.
“I’ve always been a supporter of unions and labor,” Cassellius said. “I think they play a really important part. I actually said to the union I’d want to be one of the first ones to have our contract in place.”
She didn’t offer a guess as to how much the end of Act-10 would cost MPS.
Cassellius also said she can’t rule out a new school referedum to raise more money. She said MPS must also look at its aging buildings.
But Dan Lennington with the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty said MPS, like all schools in the state, don’t need as many buildings because they are looking at fewer students.
“Wisconsin will lose 4.6% of its public school enrollment by 2031. Large school districts MUST plan to cut spending/staff/facilities,” Lennington wrote on social media. “Why should budgets keep growing?”

(The Center Square) – The number of school referenda approved in Wisconsin has led to a larger gap in how much school districts can receive from taxpayers.
That means school districts that have passed referenda are receiving much more funding than those that have not.
“The question may eventually be decided in court,” Wisconsin Policy Forum wrote in its report. “In February 2026, a group of school districts, parents, and advocacy organizations sued the Wisconsin Legislature, alleging that it has systematically underfunded K-12 school districts and violated the state constitution in the process. The Wisconsin Supreme Court last found the school aid funding system to be constitutional in 2000.”
The state saw 61.3% of referenda pass in the spring, with 46 of 75 school district referenda being approved by voters. More will be coming in the fall election.
The only lower percentage of approvals in spring elections in an even-numbered year is 55.0% in 2010 with 60.2% in 2024.
Overall, the lowest approval rate in an even-numbered was 52.7% in 2010 and it was 70.1% in 2024.
Will Flanders, research director for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, has shown using Department of Public Instruction data that Wisconsin is currently spending more on public schools than it did a decade ago, jumping to $18,592 per student from $16,820 in 2014.
He also has pointed out that there is no correlation between spending more on schools and student performance.
“The relationship between spending and outcomes is generally slightly negative,” Flanders wrote. “When we’re spending nearly $19K per student, we are well past the point of diminishing returns. More money is not the answer.”
The data that Flanders used to present that information, however, has now been removed from DPI’s website.
After WILL exposed that current public school funding is HIGHER than year 2000 levels, @WisconsinDPI suddenly removed the once publicly available school spending data. We need more transparency, not less. pic.twitter.com/mTxtPGvbOQ— WILL (@WILawLiberty) April 13, 2026

(The Center Square) – Sen. Tammy Baldwin introduced a bill that she touted as stopping sports blackouts and slashing streaming costs but that bill could have the largest impact on the Brewers and Bucks.
Major League Baseball teams play 162 games and the bill requires all of those games to be provided to home state viewers for free.
Main Street Sports Group shut down their regional sports networks due to finances after the final National Basketball Association regular season games this week and the NBA, Major League Baseball and National Hockey League teams are moving their broadcasts elsewhere.
MLB made the move in January with the final nine teams – including the Brewers – leaving FanDuel Sports Network and creating their own networks, something Brewers owner Mark Attanasio told the media would likely cost the team $20 million in revenue this year.
Baldwin’s bill would prevent the Brewers from charging for those games in Wisconsin while those outside the area can get the games along with the MLB package.
The Bucks have not determined who will hold rights to televise their games next season.
The Brewers’ network, Brewers.TV, costs fans in Wisconsin $100 for the season or $20 monthly or they can can get the broadcasts on cable partners Xfinity, Spectrum, DirecTV, Fubo or AT&T U-Verse.
Baldwin’s bill would require the Brewers to provide that service free through either streaming or through over-the-air broadcasts, which would significantly cut into the revenue the Brewers receive for running their own TV network.
The Center Square was unable to obtain a comment on the proposal from the Brewers before publication.
“Rooting for our favorite sports teams brings all walks of life together – but in order for that to happen, families need to actually be able to watch the games,” Baldwin said in a statement. “Gigantic streaming services and big sports leagues have created a complicated and expensive maze of subscriptions that either stop fans from watching their teams altogether or gouge fans to simply watch the teams they love.”
Finances related to NFL games are far different than those for MLB or NBA teams.
But that is being questioned now in the House Judiciary Committee, which is examining the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 and the NFL’s ability to pool its TV deal and then split the revenue evenly amongst teams like the Packers, even though they are in the league’s smallest market.
The Packers worry messing with the current law could force teams to once again have their own TV deals, hurting small market teams.I asked the team’s director of public affairs, Aaron Popkey, if that’s realistic.”That is the great unknown…that is the grave concern we have” https://t.co/WusOiu4muw pic.twitter.com/w83Eh7689s— A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) April 10, 2026
The Packers wrote to Wisconsin Congressman Scott Fitzgerald, calling changing the model an “existential threat” saying that changing the act would “disrupt competitive bland, threatening the ability of the Packers to meaningfully compete and making it more difficult for fans to watch the Packers play,” CBS Milwaukee’s A.J. Bayatpour reported.
Packers vs. Feds? WI Congressman Scott Fitzgerald applauds the DOJ investigating the Sports Broadcasting Act.The Packers sent him a letter two weeks ago saying “any disruption to the current SBA model…would pose an existential threat to the Green Bay Packers” https://t.co/VMjEtoNWN8 pic.twitter.com/cGGHosIgWq— A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) April 10, 2026
Baldwin touted the proposal as a way to simplify payments from fans who purchase league-wide packages such as MLB.TV, NBA League Pass, NHL Center Ice and NFL Sunday Ticket by preventing blackouts of some games that are then on other streaming services such as Netflix, Prime, Peacock or YouTube TV, calling those single-game blackouts “deceptive practice.”
The NFL entered a five-game long-term broadcast agreement with YouTube TV recently, Front Office Sports reported on Thursday.
YouTube is the current rights holder for NFL Sunday Ticket.
The Brewers joined the Atlanta Braves Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays in beginning their own sports networks and streaming this season.
Those teams have acknowledged that the new model leads to less revenue than their previous regional sports contracts.
The blackout ban would also allow Iowa viewers – who are currently blacked out for Cubs, White Sox, Cardinals, Royals, Twins and Brewers games – to watch all of those teams through MLB TV.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose slightly in February to 3.4% in numbers released Thursday, sitting below the 4.4% national rate for February.
March numbers are expected to be released in two weeks as the data catches up to a normal timeline following the federal shutdown late last year.
Wisconsin’s number of individuals employed rose 1,500 from January but was down 11,900 year over year. The labor force participation rate went up to 64.4%, above the 62.0% national rate.
“The Wisconsin labor market has cooled a bit, along with the national economy,” Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Section Chief of the Office of Economic Advisors Scott Hodek said.
Wisconsin manufacturing jobs were down 100 for the month and down 8,600 year over year.
Hodek said that trend matched national labor market trends but “those contractions don’t always indicate the health of the industry.”
Hodek said that manufacturers can become more efficient and see increased productivity and that, if companies have open positions that they are struggling to fill, that can also be reflected in the numbers, saying there are “mixed indicators” but manufacturing is an important sector with good-paying jobs.

(The Center Square) – Judge Lyndsey Brunette began her campaign Thursday for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, becoming the first judge to enter the race to replace Annette Ziegler, who has announced that she will not run for reelection in 2027.
Ziegler will be one of two conservative justices on the court until her term ends. Brunette has been a circuit court judge in Clark County since 2018.
She previously ran as a Democrat and won the race to become Clark County District Attorney in 2012, the first woman to hold the position. She began her legal career at the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis under then County Attorney Amy Klobuchar.
“Before I became a judge, I served as a district attorney, prosecuting cases in this very courthouse and fighting for victims of domestic abuse and assault,” Brunette said in her campaign announcement. “I worked hard to protect families and keep communities safe.
“Today, on the bench, I make sure the law is applied fairly and equally. Because in our courts, justice shouldn’t depend on who you are, your politics, or how much money you have.”
The court will have five liberal justices and two conservatives after Chris Taylor takes her seat on Aug. 1 and, if she wins the race, Brunette would have the potential to extend that liberal majority to six members with one conservative.
“I’m running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court because those principles matter now more than ever,” Brunette said. “Judges should follow the facts and the law, respect the Constitution, and protect the rights and freedoms of everyone.”

(The Center Square) – There is now a state of emergency in Wisconsin because of this week’s rain and storms.
Gov. Tony Evers issued a disaster declaration after severe thunderstorms rolled across southeastern Wisconsin and after heavy rains left communities near Green Bay dealing with flooding.
“It is critical that we ensure our communities have access to every available resource to help local folks and families in need to secure essential infrastructure,” the governor said in his order. “We are grateful to all of the neighbors, emergency and first responders, local partners and volunteers, who are already working to support each other, respond to damages, restore essential services and ensure that homes, buildings and other important structures are as secure as we prepare for more severe weather to come.”
Tuesday saw two rounds of severe thunderstorms roll across southeast Wisconsin. The National Weather Service has not officially confirmed all of the damage, but forecasters say it appears that at least one tornado touched down in Waukesha County.
That tornado hit near the town of Sussex. Another tornado touched down in Juneau County.
In northeastern Wisconsin, this week’s storms have dumped heavy rains that have left several communities flooded.
In Suamico, the sheriff said flooding opened a sinkhole near the Suamico River that ate away part of a road and downed a power pole. That road is now closed.
The village of Hobart has declared a state of emergency because of flooding throughout the town.
In Manawa, volunteers are sandbagging at the local water treatment plant because the Little Wolf River is rising and could threaten the plant.
In New London, volunteers are being asked to help make more sandbags just in case.
So far there haven’t been any storm related deaths, though officials in Suamico said a driver drove into their sinkhole and had to be rescued. The person suffered only minor injuries.
Forecasters say there are more chances for rain or storms today, Friday and into Saturday morning across the state.

(The Center Square) – Jill Underly, Wisconsin’s State Superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction, did not attend a Wednesday morning committee meeting she was invited to about her department’s 2024 standards-setting conference in the Wisconsin Dells.
But representatives from her department were present and adamant the work of the 88-member committee that met was not subject to open meetings or open records disclosure because it was setup by vendor Data Recognition Corp.
Committee Chair Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, had the legislative legal affairs department read from state law that included a stipulation that a private company contacted to do public work had to follow the same record-keeping and notice process as a public entity.
Also, Institute for Reforming Government General Counsel Jake Curtis testified he believed prior case law was clear that the 88-member committee constituted an Ad Hoc Committee that should hold its meetings publicly.
“Given the decision by IRG to file an action in court against us … we are going to keep these comments to a fairly high level,” DPI Assistant State Superintendent Division of Government & Public Affairs Rich Judge said.
DPI Legislative Liaison Andrew Hoyer-Booth said that DPI feels “clearly and pretty strongly” that Data Recognition Corp.’s work at the conference did not constitute a public meeting.
IRG filed a complaint in Adams County Court about the meeting and plans to file a legal action on the meeting if no further action is taken by the court.
“Wisconsin case law is clear,” Curtis told the committee. “… The DOJ compliance guide is extremely clear on this.”
Judge was asked further questions about delays in the release of public records related to the conference, to which he responded that DPI’s legal department needs more resources to fulfill requests and that those same resources are then taken away from sexual misconduct investigations when they are used for public records.
Judge said that 100 legal hours have been spent on records related to the conference and the department expects that 100 to 150 more hours will be spent on the case.
The sexual misconduct work that Judge referenced that were heightened after a Capital Times report into how DPI handles teacher license investigations occurred after the public records response from DPI was delayed.
Rep. Mike Bare, D-Verona, asked Nedweski and Curtis if they would join him in a request for more funding for DPI for public records responses. He said that committee meetings like Wednesday’s unfairly add to educator and public school mistrust.
“The mistrust is growing because of theater like this,” Bare said.
Rep. David Steffen, R-Howard, said that Democrats always attempt to use discussions about DPI’s actions to push for more funding for the department.
“The solution provided from the other side is almost always money,” Steffen said. “I reject that. I know the public does as well.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin continued to drop in economic outlook, ranking 28th amongst the state’s in the new ‘Rich States, Poor States’ rankings from the American Legislative Exchange Council.
The group uses 15 state policy variables to project economic outlook and also computes economic performance based upon gross domestic product, absolute domestic migration and non-farm payroll employment.
Wisconsin ranked 32nd in economic performance between 2014 and 2024 because it was 34th in GDP, 27th in absolute domestic migration and 36th in non-farm payroll.
Wisconsin’s economic outlook has dropped from a top ranking of 12th in 2020 to the current 28th spot. It ranked 26th last year.
Wisconsin ranked at the top of the list for its right-to-work policy, relying on the federal minimum wage and not levying an estate or inheritance tax.
But the state ranked 40th for its 7.65% marginal personal income tax rate, 43rd for personal tax progressivity and 44th for its average workers’ compensation costs.
Wisconsin also ranked 30th in property tax burden, 36th in debt service as a share of tax revenue, 35th in top marginal corporate income tax rate and 18th in sales tax burden.