The Observatory (https://observatory.journalism.wisc.edu/category/explaining-wisconsin/)
In May, The Observatory reported about what President Donald Trump’s trade war could mean for Wisconsin farmers. Trump’s first round of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in March brought concerns about volatile trade relations and higher costs of production for the farm industry. So what’s been happening to Wisconsin farms since then?
About one-fifth of the signaled intersections in Madison also have audible signals to help visually impaired pedestrians cross the streets. The head of the Wisconsin Council on the Blind and Visually Impaired believes there should be more.
A growing movement in the United States seeks to loosen regulations on having guns on school grounds and college campuses. A proposal in Wisconsin to allow more concealed carry license holders to do that died in the most recent legislative session.
Sen. Kathleen Vinehout’s criticism of Wisconsin’s startup activity was Verified by The Observatory as the state has ranked last in the past three years in the Kauffman Foundation’s annual report on state startup activity.
In a recent fact-check conducted by The Observatory, we verified a claim from Mayor Paul Soglin that Madison “leads the nation as one of the worst cities for binge drinking.”
Even before he took office in 2011, Gov. Scott Walker rejected $810 million in federal stimulus funding to build a passenger rail route between Madison and Milwaukee. Now, as the state is spending millions to draw more millennials, experts say what these young people want is more trains — and other mass transit.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction communications director, Tom McCarthy, a decline in enrollment often means a decrease in funding for school districts.
When you have a small school district and a limited budget, it comes down to choices, according to Kickapoo Area School District District Administrator Doug Olsen. For his district’s roughly 500 students, that often plays out in fewer electives and support staff.
Based on the Wisconsin Budget Project’s analysis, Walker’s tax cuts benefited the highest income taxpayers more than lower income taxpayers. The tax cuts further benefited the wealthiest taxpayers, who already pay a smaller portion of their income in state and local taxes than poorer taxpayers, according to the Wisconsin Budget Project.
New outreach efforts, new message seek to bolster support for the state’s flagship university beyond Madison.
State Senate District 10 has unfailingly voted for Republican Sen. Sheila Harsdorf for the past 16 years, despite sometimes shifting to vote for Democratic presidential candidates. The Observatory dug deeper to find out why Harsdorf has been consistently so successful.