(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s unemployment rate rose to 3.5% in March, below the national rate of 4.2%
The rate was up from 3.2% a year before while the number of nonfarm jobs in the state was down 17,200 year over year but up 1,200 from February.
The numbers were released two weeks after the February numbers were released as the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics caught up from a government shutdown.
The state’s labor force participation rate remained at 64.4% from February, ahead of the national 61.9% rate.
Wisconsin had 5,200 less manufacturing jobs than a year before but were up 6,600 construction jobs. The state was down 7,700 government jobs year over year with 4,500 less local government jobs, 1,100 less in the state government and 2,100 less federal government jobs.
Overall, the state now has 8,800 less people employed than a year before.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin state Sen. Andre Jacque, R-New Franken, announced Thursday he won’t be running for reelection in the state Legislature.
Jacque has spent the past 15 years in the Legislature.
“My constituents have been the driving force behind bringing so many of these ideas to the legislature’s attention, and I am grateful that they have trusted me with their stories, often borne out of great loss and suffering, to enact meaningful, effective, and even life-saving change,” Jacque said in a statement. “Their ideas have become landmark improvements in Wisconsin’s statutes, some of which have been copied in other states – measures like Dillon’s Law, the John Mingo Kennedy Act, Ethan’s Law, Post-Traumatic Stress coverage for first responders, the just-enacted stillbirth tax credit, informed consent for pelvic exams and much more.”
Others who won’t be running for reelection include Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg and Sens. Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, Jesse James, R-Thorp, and Van Wanggaard, R-Racine along with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Reps. Rob Brooks, R-Saukville, Jerry O’Connor, R-Fond du Lac and Scott Allen, R-Waukesha,
“I am excited to assist my constituents and finish my term strong through the end of this year,” Jacque said. “This is not farewell – there is still much to be done and I will always work for a brighter future for our state and the advancement of those worthy ideas that never quite made it all the way through the legislative process.”

(The Center Square) – The average price of a gallon of unleaded gas in Wisconsin rose to $4.20 on Thursday morning, up from just more than $2.50 in late February and below $3.70 just 10 days ago, according to GasBuddy.
Numbers from the American Automobile association showed a $4.16 per gallon average on Thursday, up from $3.96 on Wednesday and $3.68 a year before. That’s up from $2.97 a year ago.
The average price of a gallon of gas across the country reached $4.30 on Thursday, the highest price since July 2022 according to GasBuddy Head of Petroleum Patrick DeHaan.
Gas prices in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin are now at their highest levels since summer 2022, and are approaching new all-time records— Patrick De Haan (@GasBuddyGuy) April 30, 2026
Part of the reason for the jump in the oil market is the conflict in the Middle East along with discussions and disagreements between the U.S. and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz, AAA told The Center Square.
Another part of what impacted the prices across the Midwest, according to GasBuddy, is limited spare refining capacity in the region, following a power outage Sunday at a BP refinery in Whiting, Indianq, near Chicago.

(The Center Square) – No one knows what is going to happen with Wisconsin’s congressional map, but experts say the state’s local political maps are almost certainly going to change after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on racial gerrymandering.
The conservative-majority court on Wednesday ruled Louisiana’s political map, which included a second majority-minority congressional district, was unconstitutional.
The ruling means no state will be able to use race as the primary factor in any of its political districts.
Dan Lennington, managing vice president with the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, said that means all political districts.
“Any electoral district anywhere in America drawn with race in mind (or to ‘comply with Voting Rights Act’, is likely unconstitutional,” Lennington told The Center Square. “In Wisconsin, most notably, this would include most of the Milwaukee aldermanic districts, which were expressly drawn based on race and the record is voluminous proving that.”
Lennington also said the ruling could mean changes for school board districts in Milwaukee and across the rest of the state.
“The decision effectively closes the door to the Voting Rights Act disparate-impact type litigation and opens the door to the 14th Amendment ‘no race’ plaintiffs.” Lennington added on X. “This should apply to cities, counties, school districts, legislative districts, etc., created to ‘preserve’ minority representation or to be ‘equitable.’ I’m sure examples abound. Milwaukee is one definitely.”
Wisconsin’s congressional map is in flux. There are at least two lawsuits that look to redraw the map and give Democrats two more seats. WILL is involved.
Earlier this week a second three-judge panel dismissed one of those lawsuits. But it remains to be seen if the liberal-majority Wisconsin Supreme Court will take the case directly.

(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources asked those attending their spring county hearings and online if it’s users would support increases in license fees or a state sales tax increase as the department looks to increase funding for its programming.
Nearly 76% of respondents supported a one-eight of 1% increase in sales tax to fund general conservation programs including wildlife management, fisheries management and/or conservation law enforcement activities.
There was similar support for a $6 increase to the inland waters trout stamp from the current $10 price. Results were nearly 50-50 for a 50% increase in hunting, fishing and trapping license fees to support wildlife management, fisheries management and/or conservation law enforcement activities while users were opposed to a 75% increase and were supporting of a 25% increase.
The spring hearing question results were gathered at county meetings April 13 and online from April 13-15. The results will be considered at the Conservation Congress convention in may and then will be sent to the DNR and Natural Resources Board in June.
The questions come after the DNR requested spending authority for $1.1 million for core work of the Bureau of Wildlife Management and nearly $2.9 million for Bureau of Fisheries Management work from the state’s Joint Committee on Finance by April 12.
The department said in a letter to the committee that the Fish and Wildlife Account of the Conservation Fund has been in a structural deficit since Financial Year 2019 and it has used transfers from the Forestry Account of the Conservation Fund to cover the deficit but “the expenditure authority for the Wildlife Management Bureau was not correspondingly adjusted to meet the business needs of the department and the public.”
The department then outlined the cost if it did not receive the spending authority, including reduced pheasant stocking by 10,000 birds, reducing surveys for deer, grouse, pheasants and prairie chicken populations along with waterfowl, mourning doves and woodcock. The department would also need to cut maintenance costs by 34% for public use facilities including parking lots, trails, access lanes, property boundary postings and wildlife visitor centers.
The fisheries costs included $1.4 million for stocking of fish, nearly $700,000 for monitoring and assessments and nearly $800,000 for habitat management. That includes a 70% reduction in muskellunge stocking and 45% for walleye.
“A lack of additional expenditure authority is forcing Fisheries Management to make difficult and time-sensitive decisions about core work duties that can or cannot be completed in FY 2027,” DNR Secretary Karen Hyun wrote in a letter to the Joint Finance Committee.

(The Center Square) – There are accusations of DEI in the child pornography case that earned a former Sun Prairie school official almost two decades in prison.
A federal judge sentenced Robert Gilkey-Meisegeier to 18 years in prison for possessing child pornography. Gilkey-Meisegeier pleaded guilty earlier this year.
Prosecutors say he had sexual and explicit pictures of at least two students at Sun Prairie West High School. Gilkey-Meisegeier was the school’s dean of students.
He initially denied having a relationship with the students, but later admitted to what he did, including that he bought one student a car, and bought another student alcohol.
WMTV in Madison reported Gilkey-Meisegeier’s lawyer said to reporters outside the courtroom that his client was a victim of both of fetal-alcohol syndrome, and of Sun Prairie Schools’ lax hiring and supervision policies.
“What qualifications did he have for that? What training did he have for that? What supervision did he get for that? None,” the station reported attorney Chris Van Wagner said after the sentencing.
Van Wagner said Gilkey-Meisegeier was promoted to dean of students despite not having the qualifications for the job.
“They didn’t really look. Why? Because they had a person of color who had a degree. It was in the post-George Floyd era. It was in the DEI era. And the last thing they were going to do was remove a young black man who they viewed as a professional staffer who was apparently popular with and supported by the young people of color in the high school in a district where young people of color were becoming more numerous,” Van Wagner said.
Sun Prairie Schools denied those claims.
“[The district] never condones behavior that could endanger the welfare of a child by any employee and continues to reinforce with all staff the collective expectation that student safety remains paramount at all times,” Sun Prairie Schools said in a statement.
Gilkey-Meisegeier did not have a teaching license. He was working while that license was being processed. He also had a criminal recording, including drunk driving convictions.
Gilkey-Meisegeier is not the only one facing charges in the case. Sun Prairie West’s now-former principal is facing state charges for failing to report child abuse. She is challenging those charges in Dane County.

(The Center Square) – A second three-judge panel in Wisconsin dismissed a challenge to the state’s congressional maps as gerrymandered on Tuesday.
The panel ruled that the state’s Supreme Court is the “ultimate interpreter” of the state constitution and that the challenge goes against the court’s prior interpretation that the maps were constitutional.
The ruling in Wisconsin Business Leaders For Democracy v. Wisconsin Elections Commission was consistent with the ruling of a separate three-judge panel in March.
Law Forward vowed Tuesday that it will appeal the decision to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
The motion to dismiss in the case ruled on Tuesday came from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. Will argued that the challenge asked the lower court to overrule the Wisconsin Supreme Court, that the challenges were filed too late and that the challenges lacked merit.
“Upon careful review of the law, the panel concludes that Intervenors are correct,” the panel wrote in its ruling. “The Wisconsin Supreme Court has held that claims of the sort Plaintiffs allege are not actionable under Wisconsin law, and this panel, as an inferior tribunal exercising the powers of a circuit court, has no authority to modify or overrule that precedent.”
WILL had warned in early 2025 that challenges would come to the state’s maps following Judge Susan Crawford’s victory over Brad Schimel for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat that left the court with a liberal majority.
“The three-judge panel got it right,” WILL Deputy Counsel Lucas Vebber said in a statement. “This is a victory for the rule of law in our state. WILL is proud to have represented our clients in this case and will continue to work to uphold our constitutional separation of powers.”
“We are disappointed that after receiving the case from the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the circuit court panel has declined to allow us to present evidence and legal arguments that we believe demonstrate the anti-competitive nature of Wisconsin’s congressional map and how it violates Wisconsin voters’ constitutional rights,” Doug Poland, Law Forward’s Director of Litigation, said in a statement. “This is the first anti-competitive gerrymandering case ever filed in Wisconsin courts, and it deserves to be heard. We believe that the circuit court was wrong in concluding that anti-competitive gerrymandering is “functionally equivalent” to partisan gerrymandering. They are different claims, based on different evidence, that target different ways of manipulating representation to the detriment of voters.”

(The Center Square) – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Wisconsin’s attempt to block prediction markets from operating in the state.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit last week targeting Kalshi, Robinhood, Coinbase, Polymarket, Crypto.com and their affiliates for operating what they call prediction markets on event contracts in the state.
“States cannot circumvent the clear directive of Congress,” CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said in a statement. “Our message to Wisconsin is the same as to New York, Arizona, and others: if you interfere with the operation of federal law in regulating financial markets, we will sue you.”
The CFTC claims that it has exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets across the country.
The lawsuits are part of a national debate on whether states or the federal government should have the final say over prediction markets, which allow people to bet on real-world outcomes such as sports and elections.
As states ramp up enforcement against these markets, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has asserted its exclusive authority, setting up a legal battle that could determine the future of event-based trading nationwide.
The lawsuits come as Wisconsin has approved allowing its 11 tribes to start operating online statewide sports wagering after compacts are created and approved for the revenue and state payments that will be made from the operations.

(The Center Square) – A group of Wisconsin congressmen have introduced a bill that would allow Wisconsin to petition to have its air quality designation change and remove the requirement for vehicle emissions testing in Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Washington and Waukesha counties.
A group of Wisconsin state representatives sent a letter to Wisconsin’s congressional delegation in December and Congressman Tom Tiffany stood with state leaders in late March stating he would push the Environmental Protection Agency to change Clean Air Act rules to remove the emissions testing requirements.
The seven counties are part of a nonattainment area that the lawmakers said shows pollution from Chicago and outside the state with no more than 10% of the pollution measured coming from Wisconsin.
Tiffany, R-7th Congressional, along with Reps. Bryan Steil, R-1st Congressional, Scott Fitzgerald R-5th Congressional and Glenn Grothman, R-6th Congressional, introduced the Fair Air Standards Act to allow states to petition to remove themselves from the status based upon where the pollution originates.
“This is a topic we’ve been working on for 25 years, as the poorly drafted Clean Air Act has punished industries in Wisconsin, making them less competitive, especially compared to other states and factories around the world,” Grothman said in a statement.
The testing is funded through a 1-cent per gallon petroleum tax with an estimated $271.4 million spent by Wisconsin residents from 1984 to 2022-23 on testing.
Lawmakers have cited advanced technology and a low failure rate of 3.1% and 3% in 2021 and 2022.
“Because of outdated federal rules, hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin drivers in seven counties are forced to complete emissions tests every two years just to renew their registration,” Tiffany said. “Wisconsin families should not be punished with costly and time-consuming mandates because of pollution drifting in from Illinois and Indiana.
“Four decades later and with cleaner vehicles on the road, it is time to end this non-attainment zone mandate and stop burdening drivers with a system that cannot prove it works.”

(The Center Square) – Former Democratic state representative Pedro Colón announced Tuesday he will be running for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat to replace retiring conservative judge Annette Ziegler.
Colón, a Wisconsin Court of Appeals judge, joins Judge Lyndsey Brunette in the race. Brunette previously ran as a Democrat and won the race to become Clark County District Attorney in 2012, the first woman to hold the position.
The election will be April 6, 2027, with a primary Feb. 16, 2027, if necessary. Ziegler will be one of two conservative justices on the court until her term ends.
Colón was part of the state assembly representing Milwaukee between 1999 and 2010 before being appointed by Gov. Jim Doyle to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court in 2010 and serving 13 years, including winning three elections.
“I came to Milwaukee at 10 years old, not speaking a word of English. I know what it feels like to stand before a system that was not built for you,” Colón said in a statement. “For 15 years on the bench, I have made sure every person who walks into my courtroom gets the same thing: a listening ear and a fair shot. That is exactly what I will do on the Supreme Court.”
Colón was appointed to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals by Gov. Tony Evers in 2023, becoming the first Latino to serve on our state’s appellate court.
“Some of Wisconsin’s most consequential cases will come before this court over the next decade and I know that I have the experience, judgment, and empathy needed to help decide them,” Colón said. “Our state Constitution guarantees equal protection. It guarantees the right to a jury trial and a remedy in our courts when you have been wronged. It guarantees free and equal elections. I understand the law and I am ready to apply it fairly and equally to everyone who appears before the court.”
The court will have five liberal justices and two conservatives after Chris Taylor takes her seat Aug. 1 and, if Brunette or Colón wins the race, the new liberal justice would have the potential to extend the liberal majority to six members with one conservative.

(The Center Square) – There is now a formal complaint about the plan from Milwaukee Public Schools to delay raises for its teachers.
The Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association filed a prohibited practice complaint against the district, saying that “MPS has failed to bargain in good faith and has interfered with MTEA members’ exercise of their rights.”
The complaint comes after MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius announced plans to delay scheduled raises for teachers and other MTEA union members.
On Monday, she defended those plans.
“MPS must make hard fiscal decisions to ensure the district is protecting resources for classrooms and presenting a balanced budget proposal for the next school year. We cannot spend money we do not have,” Cassellius said in a statement. “Our team is committed to reaching a fair, lawful, and fiscally responsible agreement that delivers the maximum allowable wage increase to every MTEA-represented employee while honoring the district’s obligation to adopt a balanced budget.”
The superintendent said MPS has offered a full 2.63% wage increase to the union, but she wants to delay when those raises begin.
Cassellius has said delaying the raise beyond July 1 could save as much as $20 million.
The union continues to say those numbers are off.
“The difference between the cost of providing MTEA bargaining units the maximum 2.63% COLA on July 1 and MPS’s highest-cost proposal is only $2.2 million according to MPS Administration’s own calculations,” the union stated in a Facebook post Monday. “MPS Administration is making that incredibly difficult by going out of their way to mislead our community about the real financial impact of providing a 2.63% cost of living adjustment to frontline MTEA workers.”
Cassellius said MPS is looking at a $46 million budget deficit. In addition to the plan to delay the union’s cost of living raises, she wants to eliminate nearly 200 positions. Cassellius has promised to use federal money to hire back nearly 100 teachers and other classroom staffers.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany is asking that Democratic candidate Francesca Hong comment on a post by fellow Democrat Kirk Bangstad and Minocqua Brewing that said a “a brother or sister in the Resistance needs to work on their marksmanship” after a shooter attempted to run past security at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Bangstad’s company posted that it would be a free beer day if President Donald Trump dies.
Hong reportedly donated $25 to Bangstad’s 2020 campaign for state assembly.
Congressional candidate Rebecca Cooke, running again against incumbent Derrick Van Orden, reportedly previously did work for Bangstad’s campaign.
Bangstad’s post caught the attention of social media accounts such as Libs of TikTok and media outlets across the country. In response, Bangstad made several posts about reporters who reached out for comment, posting their cellphone numbers and criticizing the outlets, including Newsweek, Fox News and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

(The Center Square) – One of Milwaukee’s aldermen is jumping into the race for Congress in southeast Wisconsin.
Alderman Peter Burgelis on Sunday said he’s running for Congress against Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil.
“I can’t sit by while Bryan Steil lets Donald Trump take aim at our neighbors, our pocketbooks and our values,” Burgelis said. “Congressman Steil has made a career working for the rich and powerful, from Speaker Paul Ryan to big law firms, and he’s backed Trump’s costly agenda 100%.”
Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District runs from Racine to the Illinois stateline, and west to Janesville.
The Steil campaign called out Burgelis for now living in the district. The U.S. Constitution only mandates candidates live within a state they represent.
Burgelis was first elected to Milwaukee’s City Council in 2024. Before that, he was a commissioner for Milwaukee County.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin is estimated to lose $1.5 billion in initial foregone state sales tax from four data center projects, according to a new Legislative Audit Bureau report.
In addition, the state will lose $369 million annually once construction on the projects are complete, according to the document obtained by Wisconsin Watch.
Wisconsin has a wide-ranging sales tax exemption for data centers that was created in the state’s 2023-25 budget.
A Legislative Audit Report from fall 2025 showed that $70 million in foregone sales tax had already been foregone, which far exceeded estimates from the time the exemption was initially passed.
The exemption applies to everything from property purchases to computer servers and energy systems at the site to electricity and cooling systems.
Wisconsin’s Department of Revenue estimated the value of the incentives would be $8.5 million for the full multi-year construction of a facility and $735,000 recurring afterward. The department attributed the estimates to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that a typical data center costs about $215.5 million to construct.
But many of the Wisconsin data centers are much more expensive than initial estimates with Microsoft alone announcing more than $20.6 billion in data centers in Wisconsin.
OpenAI, Oracle and Vantage Data Centers have announced more than $15 billion in data center investments in Port Washington. Epic Hosting is expected to spend $347 million in Verona. Meta has announced a $1 billion project in Beaver Dam.
In all, that means $36.9 billion in data centers are coming to the state from those four companies alone with the state forgoing an estimated $40 million in sales tax for every $1 billion in company investment.
“The announcements and planned investments from these four certified companies combine for a total investment of more than $36.9 billion, spread over the life of each project” currently planned to occur between 2024 and 2028, the report said. “It is estimated that an investment this size would result in $1.5 billion in initial foregone state sales tax revenue. Additional foregone state sales tax revenue of $369 million on an annual basis is estimated once these projects are completed.
“Expenditures eligible for the state tax exemption would also be exempt from local sales and use taxes, resulting in forgone county, city, and premier resort area tax collections, if applicable.”
Those totals have led Congressman Tom Tiffany, a Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor, to declare that he will end subsidies for data centers.
The sales tax exemptions are just one of the tax breaks for data centers with many of the projects also being placed in tax increment districts where they can keep the additional property taxes from their properties to cover money spent on things such as infrastructure at the data center site.

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a series of three lawsuits against prediction markets in Wisconsin alleging that the companies are operating illegal commercial gambling in the state.
The tactic has previously been taken in other states, including Arizona.
The lawsuits targeted Kalshi, Robinhood, Coinbase, Polymarket, Crypto.com and their affiliates for operating what the prediction markets on event contracts in the state that look and payout like sports wagering. Kalshi makes $1 billion annually from the event contracts with sports representing 90% of its revenue, the lawsuit stated.
“Thinly disguising unlawful conduct doesn’t make it lawful,” Kaul said. “These companies’ alleged facilitation of sports betting in Wisconsin should be shut down.”
The lawsuits are part of a national debate on whether states or the federal government should have the final say over prediction markets, which allow people to bet on real-world outcomes such as sports and elections. As states ramp up enforcement against these markets, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has asserted its exclusive authority, setting up a legal battle that could determine the future of event-based trading nationwide.
The lawsuits come as Wisconsin has approved allowing its 11 tribes to start operating online statewide sports wagering after compacts are created and approved for the revenue and state payments that will be made from the operations.
The Ho-Chunk Nation previously filed a lawsuit filed against Kalshi and Robinhood for operating in the state.
Wisconsin’s tribes agreed to a ban on micro betting on small events such as the result of an individual pitch in a baseball game along with several responsible gaming concessions in order to get the votes necessary to pass the state’s new sports wagering bill.

(The Center Square) – Rising prices are not scaring Wisconsin home buyers away.
The latest Wisconsin Realtors Report, for March, shows another increase in prices. But it also shows a sizable jump in sales.
“Sales rebounded in March after a slow start in January and February. As we enter the peak period for sales, it’s good to see this bounce in closings, and hopefully it continues into the summer,” Realtors chairwoman Amy Curler said.
March 2026 home sales jumped 7% compared to March of 2025. The real estate agends said they closed on 4,750 homes last month, compared to 4,441 last March.
Since January, home sales in Wisconsin have steadily grown.
According to the report, sales were up more than 2% for the first quarter of 2026. That is noteworthy, particularly because prices are growing as well.
“The annual appreciation of home prices ticked up, rising 6.5%, and the modest improvements in family income and mortgage rates just kept pace with that price increase. Supply remains tight, so we really need to see consistent reductions in mortgage rates for affordability to improve,” Realtors CEO Tom Larson added.
The median price for a home in Wisconsin increased last month, jumping to $330,000. That’s a 6.5% increase from March of last year.
That is, of course, the statewide median price. Homes in the Madison-area remain more expensive. The median price for a house in south central Wisconsin hit $395,000 last month. Homes in southeast Wisconsin, which includes Milwaukee, saw a median price of $340,000.
Homes in central and northern Wisconsin remain the only ones with a median price less than $300,000. The Realtors report said the median price there is $272,000. The median price in northern Wisconsin saw a median price of $275,000.
The report adds that interest rates on 30-year mortgages have fallen, but the real estate agents said there continues to be not enough homes for sales.