(The Center Square) – An Exxon Mobil fuel refinery southwest of Chicago went offline over the weekend, causing a halting of production and driving already heightened fuel costs even higher for Midwestern motorists, who likely won’t see prices ease until days later.
The cost for a regular gallon of fuel in Illinois was $4.53 Tuesday, up nearly 5 cents from Monday and up roughly 23 cents in the past week.
Meanwhile, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota were among the top five highest price increases for regular fuel in the past week.
A full power outage lasting roughly three and a half hours at the Exxon Mobil refinery in Joliet resulted in a production shutdown Sunday.
According to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, after the shutdown, some emergency flaring of fuel continued through Monday morning, and bringing the whole site back online could take a few more days – with gas prices lagging behind.
“Flaring was pretty active Sunday. Some of that flaring continued into Monday, and now as the refinery likely reduces flaring, it likely will begin a restart process – which may take several days. There may be safety and damage assessments that have to be done,” De Haan said.
He said the power loss at the scale the refinery experienced is relatively rare, and it “seems like a utility issue.”
According to AAA fuel data, diesel reached record highs Tuesday across the region – with Michigan at $6.26 per gallon, Illinois and Indiana at $6.22 per gallon, and Wisconsin at $6.10 per gallon – surpassing the all-time highs recorded this spring.
“Both regionally and nationally we’ll likely continue to see diesel going up. Again, there’s a lot of issues currently contributing to upward pressure in diesel prices, while those increases could be even further enhanced in the Midwest,” De Haan said, in reference to the ongoing Middle Eastern and Russia-Ukraine conflicts.
De Haan said the region’s Great Lakes states have the potential to see diesel hit $7 per gallon in coming days, though less likely in Wisconsin because of its lower tax rates on fuel.
“We could see some states in the Great Lakes, where this refining power outage happened, that could see diesel prices even higher. They could approach $7 a gallon at some stations in the next week or so,” De Haan said.
He said there’s also a potential for average diesel prices nationally to surpass 2022 highs of $6.58 per gallon, adjusted for inflation.
Aside from the Joliet outage, De Haan said reports of the BP refinery in Whiting, Indiana undergoing planned maintenance have been misstated, and are not contributing to reduced capacity.
The Whiting refinery is also experiencing a labor dispute with United Steelworkers Local 7-1, representing refinery workers. BP and the union held negotiations Monday and agreed to meet again this week to further discuss updating union employee contracts.
BP said in a media release Monday the dispute isn’t impacting operations.

(The Center Square) – Line 5 resumed operations in northern Wisconsin over the weekend after a natural gas pipeline spill Aug. 25 near Saxon damaged the pipeline and led to its temporary shutdown.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has sent multiple requests to Enbridge to halt construction on the 41-mile reroute of Line 5 in northern Wisconsin.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has done the same regarding a tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac with Bad River Band Chairwoman Elizabeth Arbuckle set to join a Wednesday press conference opposing the Michigan project.
The Wisconsin DNR most recently sent a Sept. 9 letter to Enbridge said “the department requests that Enbridge halt construction of the bypass so Enbridge can prioritize addressing the unresolved spill at the NGL spill site. Further, the people of Wisconsin expect and deserve that Enbridge takes the actions necessary to restore the environment and minimize the harmful effects of the discharge, especially with regards to the significant discharge of VOCs to the air.”
Enbridge said that wildlife and surface water in the area of the Saxon spill has not been impacted with water well and both soil and water monitoring in place.
“On Tuesday, Aug. 25, a parked and unoccupied subcontractor flatbed truck delivering equipment to the site rolled forward into an open excavation at a Line 5 valve project, striking the pipe and releasing natural gas liquids (NGLs), mainly propane and butane,” Enbridge said about the spill. “NGLs are transported by pipeline as liquids, but when exposed to normal outdoor conditions, rapidly vaporize into gases.”
Earthjustice filed a brief on Monday that argued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approval of the Line 5 reroute was unlawful.
Earthjustice also filed a post-hearing brief in Wisconsin circuit court on its case against Wisconsin DNR permits on the project. The Bad River Band and environmental groups have asked for reroute construction to be halted while its case is heard.

(The Center Square) – A complaint was filed against the Milwaukee Elections Commission for its handling of the Aug. 11 primary after the Wisconsin Elections Commission chose not to investigate the issues further.
The complaint, filed by observer Justin Gavery and the Center for Election Confidence, stems from the MEC’s admission that a team led by its deputy director mistakenly selected and downloaded an audit log instead of election results on five of nine tabulators at its central count facility on the state’s primary election night, leading to a delay in reporting unofficial results.
It claims that the issues are part of a “pattern of failures” that include not providing advance notice of a meeting of the board of absentee ballot canvassers and a meeting for a pre-election public test of tabulators along with preventing observers to see ballot handling in blocked off areas of the Milwaukee central count.
“The Commission had two opportunities (at its August 31 and September 9 meetings) to hold MEC accountable,” the complaint said. “On August 31, it decided to send a “polite” letter; and on September 9, rather than open its own investigation into MEC’s results-transmission failure, the Commission’s response was to ‘just move on.’
“A letter is not an order, and moving on is not oversight. This Complaint is now necessary because the body charged with oversight of MEC has chosen to look away with the General Election bearing down.”
The complaint said that windows at central count that allowed a view of ballot-handling rooms at central count were covered or obscured at first and have now been walled off to eliminate observation of ballot activities.
“The Wisconsin Elections Commission must step in and finally hold the City of Milwaukee accountable,” attorney Nicholas J. Boerke of Chalmers, Adams, Backer & Wallen, who represents Gavery, said in a statement. “It is quite concerning that Milwaukee’s long history of election administration failures has continued without substantive reform or change. The voters of Milwaukee deserve better.”

(The Center Square) – Taxpayers across Wisconsin are paying more, but not because of tax policies at the state level.
The Wisconsin Policy Forum’s latest research shows local tax levy increases drove the tax burden in the state to its highest level in nearly 20 years.
“Gross property tax levies across Wisconsin collectively grew by 5.8% on December 2025 tax bills, the largest increase since 2007,” the Policy Forum wrote. “This gross figure includes all levies imposed by all local governments and school districts in Wisconsin, before any state tax credits are applied to lower net bills for homeowners. This increase primarily is due to school district tax levies.”
The local tax increases pushed property tax bills across the state up.
“Racine County had the largest increase in gross tax levies for all local governments, [10.9%],” the Policy Forum noted. “That was followed by Washington County [at] 6.8%, Kenosha County [at] 6.3%, Walworth County [at] 6%, Ozaukee County [at] 5.1%, Milwaukee County [at] 5%, and Waukesha County [at] 3.3%.”
Madison saw one of the largest local tax increases according to the Policy Forum.
“Gross levies for all taxing authorities in the city of Madison increased 11.9%, the most since 1985,” the numbers showed.
The Policy Forum did acknowledge that Gov. Tony Evers’ 400-year veto led to some of the tax spikes.
“Voters in a large number of districts passing referenda to increase their tax levies, an increase to district revenue limits this year as a result of a partial veto by Gov. Tony Evers in the 2023-25 state budget, and a freeze in state general school aids by lawmakers and Evers in the 2025-27 state budget,” the Forum added.
Tax bills also jumped because property values across the state jumped.
“Equalized property values as of Jan. 1, 2026, increased by 7.6% statewide over the prior year. While a robust rate of growth, this still represented the smallest increase since 2021. But it was sufficient to push Wisconsin past a major milestone, as total statewide equalized property values surpassed $1 trillion for the first time in January,” the report stated.
The report also noted that while local taxes drove tax bills up, state taxes actually fell in 2025, down by 2.3%.

(The Center Square) – Another Wisconsin minority grant program is the subject of a lawsuit as the state’s $10,000-per-yer Minority Teacher Loan Program is the subject of the latest legal action from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty.
The firm, representing Citizens Defending Liberty, said that the race-based loans, which can be forgiven for teachers who teach in qualifying Wisconsin schools, are unconstitutional.
“Wisconsin cannot decide who receives taxpayer-funded educational opportunities based upon the color of their skin,” WILL Deputy Counsel Rebecca Furdek said in a statement. “By imposing this race-based barrier, the current program also undermines a near-universal goal of addressing Wisconsin’s teacher shortage. In response to our lawsuit, we hope Gov. Evers and HEAB will follow the Constitution, end this discrimination, and ensure these opportunities are available to all Wisconsin students, regardless of race.”
Earlier this year, WILL won a case in front of the Wisconsin Supreme Court regarding a grant program that sent financial aid to students based on specific race, national origin and ancestry cannot legally operate because it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
WILL has since filed additional lawsuits over a $250 million supplier program operated by the Wisconsin Department of Administration and more than 20 race-based scholarships at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The Minority Teacher Loan Program provides the $10,000 loans each year for three years to students pursuing teaching licenses in designated teacher-shortage areas.
WILL said that the loan program has nearly the same race-based criteria as the financial aid program that was deemed unconstitutional.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s gas price rose more than 29 cents per gallon to $4.09 in the last week, behind just Michigan and Utah for the highest week-over-week price change.
The price is $1.19 more than a year ago and 18 cents more than a month ago and remains below the national average of $4.31, according to the National Automobile Association.
Diesel fuel prices also set a new all-time high of $6.05 per gallon on Monday.
GasBuddy reported the national average for a gallon of gasoline to be $4.25 per gallon on Monday morning with the average for diesel at $6.18.
“Average gasoline and diesel prices rose in every state over the last week as geopolitical tensions escalated on multiple fronts, with friction between the U.S. and Iran, new hostilities in the Red Sea, and the shutdown of Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline all combining to jolt prices sharply higher,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in a statement. “New weekend attacks also knocked two additional Russian refineries offline, further straining global refined product supplies and likely offsetting any seasonal relief.
“Diesel prices could climb even faster in the wake of the new refinery attacks. While most of the country transitions to cheaper winter-blend gasoline this week, the scale of ongoing geopolitical escalations makes meaningful price relief unlikely in the near term. Motorists should brace for continued volatility ahead.”
The lowest reported prices in Wisconsin include Costco gas stations in Pleasant Prairie ($3.49), Pewaukee ($3.52), Oconomowoc ($3.52), Menomonee Falls ($3.52) and New Berlin ($3.69) along with Sam’s Club in Kenosha ($3.49) and N 124th Street in Milwaukee ($3.52). It also includes Hometown in Racine ($3.64), Amoco in Kenosha ($3.69) and a Speedway in Racine ($3.69) as of Monday morning data from GasBuddy.

(The Center Square) – There are almost as many students at the University of Wisconsin this fall as there were last fall after the university released its day one student enrollment figures.
“Enrollment decreased approximately 1% across the 13 UWs, which included significant international student decreases. Estimates show fall 2026 enrollment at 163,260 students, a decline of 1,732 students overall, with 1,100 of those being international students,” the university said in a statement.
The UW will update those enrollment numbers after the 10th day of classes, but those numbers won’t be available for a few weeks.
As expected, UW-Madison continues to drive the university’s enrollment. The Madison campus reported 50,500 students. UW-Milwaukee saw the second most students, with 23,000 on the first day.
Whitewater and Oshkosh saw more than 12,000 students, and UW-Green Bay had a little less than 12,000 students.
Many of the other campuses say they have around 10,000 students this fall.
But there are exceptions.
UW-Superior reported just 2,950 students, and UW-Parkside said there are 3,850 on campus.
UW Interim President Renée Wachter characterized overall enrollment as “steady.”
“These students and their families are making an investment in their future and Wisconsin’s future. That’s encouraging evidence that our UW universities remain one the state’s most important assets,” she said in a statement.
The UW, like many universities across the country, are dealing with an enrollment problem. There are fewer college-age students, and more students are choosing not to go to a four-year university.
Wachter said the UW understands this and is working to get more kids on campus.
“We have worked to expand access, align programs with student and workforce needs, prioritize student success, and maintain our position as the Midwest leader in affordability,” she added.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin congressman and candidate-for-governor Tom Tiffany and a pilot sustained only minor injuries after having to make an emergency water landing in a four-seat Bonanza airplane late Saturday night near Wausau.
Tiffany said in a statement that he was returning from the La Crosse County Lincoln Day Dinner when the plane lost power and was forced to land on Lake Wausau.
“After landing, we called 911,” Tiffany said in a statement. “As the plane began to submerge, we exited the aircraft and swam to a shallow area, where we waited until emergency responders reached us by boat.”
Tiffany and the unnamed pilot were taken to Aspirus Wausau Hospital and were treated for minor injuries.
“God was watching over us tonight, and I am incredibly grateful to be here in the hospital with my wife, Chris, by my side,” Tiffany said. “An experience like this reminds you just how precious life is.”
Tiffany thanked the Wausau Fire Department for quick action along with other first responders.
Tiffany is a Republican running against Democrat David Crowley in the Nov. 3 general election for governor.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s Elections Commission says there was no increase in late mail-in ballots last month, but there also wasn’t a decline.
The commission this week released a survey of local election clerks that focused on the problem of ballots that are delayed through the mail.
“In the weeks surrounding the 2026 spring election, Commission staff received reports from some clerks and voters concerned that mailed absentee ballots were taking an unusually long time to reach their destination. These individual reports were concerning, but their anecdotal nature prevented a thorough analysis of the situation. Staff therefore asked Wisconsin County and Municipal clerks to share their experiences through a standardized online survey,” the Commission wrote in a report.
The commission did not ask local clerks exactly how many late ballots they received or how many ballots were not counted because they were late. Instead, the Commission asked clerk about six things:
• Observed problems with mail travel times
• Absentee ballot travel times as compared with prior elections
• Voter feedback about absentee ballot travel times
• Perceived average travel time for ballots through the mail (one-way)
• Late arriving ballots as compared with prior elections
The clerks said 9% of them received more late mail-in ballots for the August primary compared to the spring election. The survey found that 48% of clerks said the number was about the same number of late ballots.
Hundreds of ballots in Milwaukee, Madison and across the state were not counted because they arrived at local election offices after the deadline at 8 p.m. on Election Day.
Commissioner Don Millis said the biggest takeaway from the survey should be that voters need to get their ballots into the mail as early as possible.
“We’re telling people to return your ballot two weeks beforehand,” Millis said.
Clerks said in the survey that it usually takes three or four days for mail-in ballots to reach voters or get back to the clerk’s office, though some said it takes as long as 10 days.

(The Center Square) – The latest look at Wisconsin’s brain drain doesn’t focus exclusively on the number of people who leave the state.
University of Wisconsin think tank The Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy said the problem is that Wisconsin doesn’t attract enough college-educated, career-track people to the state.
“Wisconsin has spent years asking why its educated people leave. For nearly half a century, the more unusual fact has been how few educated people from elsewhere arrive,” the report stated.
The report looks at Wisconsin’s two largest cities, Milwaukee and Madison, and noted there is a huge difference between who is moving into each.
“UW-Madison gives Wisconsin an unusual opening. It already brings thousands of talented people from elsewhere to the state. Many will appropriately leave again. But for several years they are already here, studying, working and building relationships. Whether more of them build careers in Wisconsin depends partly on what they find when they graduate,” the authors wrote.
As for Milwaukee, the report said it’s a different reality.
“Milwaukee does not lose college graduates unusually fast for a metropolitan area of its size. It receives them unusually slowly,” the report notes. “From 2010 to 2024, employment in information, finance and insurance, professional and technical services, and management of companies fell 2.9% in the four-county Milwaukee area. Nationally it rose 29.1%; in Dane County it rose 30.9%. Milwaukee underperformed the nation in all four sectors, and their share of private employment in the region fell while the national share rose.”
The report does not offer any suggestions to reverse Milwaukee’s performance. Instead, it ends with a conclusion that Wisconsin’s problem is not keeping college graduates, particularly those with ties to Wisconsin.
“Wisconsin-born college graduates are relatively likely to stay, and returnees make up an unusually large share of educated arrivals. The harder problem is attracting people with many alternatives and little prior reason to choose Wisconsin. Jobs are part of the answer,” the report stated.

(The Center Square) – The list of Wisconsin communities that are changing their minds about Flock cameras continues to grow.
City leaders in Menasha on Tuesday voted to end their contract with Flock when city council members voted 7-3 to stop paying for the cameras.
Menasha Police Chief Matthew Albrecht told city leaders that he can no longer trust what Flock is sharing.
“The actions that Flock has taken with other municipalities has greatly diminished my trust in the company and I cannot stand in front of our community and recommend that company as the ALPR vendor,” Albrecht told the council.
Menasha, however, is not alone in walking away from its Flock cameras.
City leaders in Sheboygan also voted Tuesday to end their contract.
Sheboygan’s police chief said there are benefits to being able to track suspects or look for wanted vehicles, but he, too, is not sure about all of the other data that is collected by Flocks’ cameras.
“My hope is that we continue to cultivate the positive partnership with our community while using available resources including technology like this to provide justice and protection to victims and make safe and vibrant characteristics in our community,” Chief Kurt Zempel said.
But the chief also said the Flock breached their contract terms and undermined trust.
Waupaca County leaders also moved on Tuesday to distance themselves from Flock.
“Protecting that information is an important responsibility of law enforcement,” county leaders said in a statement. “Unauthorized or unintended disclosure can compromise an investigation, expose victims or witnesses to additional harm, create public safety concerns, or interfere with our ability to hold offenders accountable.”
The county said searches from out-of-state agencies prompted concerns and added the “loss of control over sensitive law enforcement information is a concern we cannot ignore.”
Menasha, Sheboygan and Waupaca County join a list of several communities in Wisconsin that have also canceled or distanced themselves from Flock cameras.
More communities are scheduled to take similar votes next week.

(The Center Square) – A getting a better sense about Wisconsin’s measles outbreak is coming to light.
The state’s Department of Health Services said there are now nearly 140 measles cases in Wisconsin.
“As of Sept. 4, 2026, there have been 136 confirmed and six probable cases in the outbreak in Grant, Iowa, and Lafayette Counties. There have been a total of 144 cases in Wisconsin so far in 2026,” DHS said in an update.
All of the confirmed and probable cases are contained to just three counties in southwestern Wisconsin.
“DHS, in coordination with Grant County Health Department, Iowa County Health Department, and Lafayette County Health Department, are working to identify and notify people who may have been exposed to the measles virus,” DHS added.
The Department of Health Services also updated its dashboard with a breakdown of who has tested positive for the measles.
DHS says 47.9% of cases are among children between the ages of 5 and 17. Another 38.9% of measles cases are among adults.
DHS says four people have been to the hospital with the measles, and no one has died.
There is, however, no information on where or how the outbreak began.
“At this time, the investigation has not identified locations in public settings for which a full list of exposed people cannot be obtained,” DHS said. “Those who are most at risk are those who are not vaccinated or don’t know their vaccination status. If you believe you have been exposed to measles and are not immune, remain at home and monitor for symptoms.”
The CDC on Friday said there are now 3,134 confirmed measles cases in 47 states and Washington, D.C. Last year, the CDC said there were 2,289 measles cases for the entire year.

(The Center Square) – Flock spent $102,000 in Wisconsin lobbying for a bill that included license-plate reader grants on companion bills that failed in 2025, part of more than $1 million spent in states nationwide on lobbying, according to a new report from OpenSecrets.
Flock reported spending $36,000 each in the first and second halves of 2025 and the first half of 2026, according to lobbying reports.
The bills were sponsored by Sens. Jesse James, R-Thorp and Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, along with a group of 14 Republican representatives.
The Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association and League of Wisconsin Municipalities both lobbied for the bills while the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin lobbied against it.
Flock cameras are now coming under fire nationwide over privacy concerns with the technology and abuse of its database by law enforcement.
Republican governor candidate Tom Tiffany has advocated for pausing allowing the use of state funding for Flock and creating a task force on his first day to establish stronger privacy protections, penalties for misuse, limits on data retention and sharing, and safeguards against Communist China and foreign adversaries.
Cities across Wisconsin are looking into changing how law enforcement uses the cameras and what data is available beyond their municipality.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, meanwhile, is working with a group preparing a Flock camera lawsuit in Waukesha County while highlighting the privacy concerns about the use of the cameras without warrants.

(The Center Square) – State officials from Minnesota and Wisconsin gathered along with federal and local partners to break ground on the $1.8 billion Blatnik Bridge replacement project.
This will be one of the largest public works projects in Minnesota state history.
“The Blatnik Bridge is a vital link for Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the broader regional economy. It carries thousands of vehicles and trucks every day, moving goods, supporting commerce, and connecting communities. That’s why we need to build a bridge to last,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said. “I’m proud to have secured federal investments to replace Blatnik and to help ensure local workers do the jobs that will build it. This project will support more than one million good-paying labor hours and strengthen the future of the region for generations to come. We’re building a better Minnesota, and this bridge shows it.”
Opened in 1961 and nearing the end of its service life, the Blatnik Bridge was projected to have to close by 2030 and is already unable to carry overweight freight loads.
The bridge, which connects Superior and Duluth, is jointly owned and operated by the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
Both states committed $400 million for the replacement project, while the federal government also awarded it $1 billion from the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highway Projects program in 2024.
Construction is projected to continue through 2032 in phases.
“The Blatnik Bridge project is one of the largest MnDOT has ever undertaken, and it’s taken a lot of coordination with state, local, federal, and tribal governments, as well as collaboration with our business, labor, and industry partners, to get us to this project milestone,” said Nancy Daubenberger, the Minnesota Department of Transportation commissioner. “We look forward to building a new bridge that is safer and better serves our state and region.
More than 33,000 vehicles cross the current bridge each day, while more than 265,000 trucks annually transport nearly $4 billion in goods.
“Many businesses across the upper Midwest rely on the bridge to reach the Port of Duluth-Superior, the largest U.S. port on the Great Lakes,” Walz’s office said in a statement. “The bridge is also one of the largest marine links for U.S. trade with Canada, the top trade partner of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the United States.”

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s technical colleges are asking for $168 million in the state’s next two-year budget, including $59.4 million in general aid for the 2027-29 budget.
The Wisconsin Technical College System currently has 293,000 students at 16 colleges in the state.
The budget request, approved by the board this week, includes $22.6 million for industry sector grants to address workforce shortages and $54.2 million in funding for dual enrollment classes for high schoolers.
“Wisconsin’s technical colleges deliver results for students, employers and taxpayers every day,” WTCS President Layla Merrifield said in a statement. “Every firefighter in the state is certified at a technical college. Every dental hygienist, law enforcement officer, and respiratory therapist is educated at a technical college. All are currently in short supply across Wisconsin, due to the combined effects of retirements and chronic underfunding of the WTCS. The need is urgent, and the time to act is now.”
The technical college budget also includes $23.2 million for adult basic education programs to teach reading, writing, math, English language learning and financial literacy.

(The Center Square) – There’s now a pierce tag for the people who have moved out of Wisconsin.
The Institute for Reforming Government released a report that says out-migration over the past decade has cost the state $3.5 billion in lost revenue.
“Over the last 10 years, more than 900,000 filers have left the state, most of them moving to states with a flat or no income tax, taking more than $37 billion in income with them,” the report stated. “That lost income means lost tax revenue, too. Wisconsin missed out on more than $400 million in state and local tax revenue in 2023 alone, and more than $3.5 billion over the past decade.”
IRG added that 88,000 people left Wisconsin in 2023 alone. The report notes that’s as many people as Dodge County.
IRG not only calculated the totals in lost income and lost tax revenue, but the report used IRS data to see where people moved to.
“This data shows the Wisconsin economy is missing out on billions of dollars because of its undesirable tax climate. This money should be spent shopping at Wisconsin businesses, eating at local restaurants, and donating to Wisconsin charities but is instead spent stimulating the economies of Florida, Texas, and other states with friendly income tax climates,” the report’s authors wrote.
“Wisconsin families and job creators are voting with their feet. Wisconsin can’t out-tax its neighbors and expect people to stay,” IRG Deputy Director of Policy & Reform Maryjane Behm said. “It’s clear Wisconsin is losing residents to states that let the taxpayers keep more of their own money.”
Over the past 10 years, the numbers show Wisconsin lost the most people to Illinois. But Florida, Texas, Tennessee, and both North and South Carolina, also saw Wisconsinites move-in.
The report is likely to become a part of the governor’s race in the state.
The out-migration numbers, and the loss in potential tax revenue, all happened before Gov. Tony Evers’ 400-year tax increase began in earnest, and before the Wisconsin Supreme Court has decided on the future of Act-10.
The report warned that if taxes rise because of the 400-year veto or the end of Act-10, Wisconsin could lose more people.
“Policymakers need to focus more on how to prevent talent from leaving, starting with creating a friendlier income tax environment,” the report noted.