Month: September 2026

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says industry-funded research and promotion programs cannot fund initiatives focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving environmental sustainability.

The announcement comes after three Wisconsin dairy farmers filed a lawsuit in June challenging the federal dairy checkoff for using farmers’ money to fund so-called “Environmental, Social and Governance” initiatives. The farmers were represented by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, or WILL.

The dairy checkoff requires American farmers to pay a fee on the milk they produce to fund industry marketing and research efforts, including popular ads like the “Got Milk?” campaign.

In a letter to the National Dairy Research and Promotion Board, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said Thursday that the Trump administration is “aligning checkoff programs with its policy positions.”

“Effective immediately, all projects funded by the dairy checkoff program must focus on long-term value creation for future generations and not activities advancing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) frameworks, net-zero or climate neutrality initiatives,” Rollins wrote.

Enrollment across the Universities of Wisconsin is holding relatively steady this fall after three consecutive years of growth, according to preliminary numbers released Friday.

The Universities of Wisconsin estimate 163,260 students are enrolled across its 13 universities for fall 2026. That is about 1% lower than last fall’s final enrollment of 164,992 students.

“I feel really good about this year,” Interim Universities of Wisconsin President Renée Wachter said. “I think the fact that we’re seeing ourselves holding this steady after three years of growth really does underscore the value Wisconsinites will see in a Universities of Wisconsin education.”

Wachter said freshman enrollment remains steady across the system, with UW-Madison hitting its freshman enrollment target this fall.

While the overall enrollment picture remains relatively steady, the preliminary numbers show a larger change among international students.

International enrollment fell by approximately 1,100 students this fall, accounting for most of the 1,732-student difference between this fall’s preliminary enrollment and last fall’s final count.

Consumers may be griping about higher prices at the pump and elsewhere, but they keep spending, helping to power the economy, according to the latest government snapshot.

Retail sales rebounded at a better-than-expected 1.2% increase last month after recording a revised 0.5% dip in July, according to Commerce Department data released Wednesday.

Much of the strength in retail last month reflected a bounce back in nonstore sales, which declined sharply in July, according to economists. That was “seasonal noise” driven by shifts in the timing of Amazon’s Prime Day shopping event, which also coincides with heavy promotions from other major online retailers, according to Michael Pearce, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. Rising gas prices also propped up gasoline station sales, he said.

But even accounting for these factors, gains in most spending categories were “decent,” led by discretionary sectors such as food services, electronics, and sports and recreation, Pearce wrote.

The so-called control group — which excludes food services, autos, building materials and gas station sales and is used to calculate economic growth — rose a strong 1.4% last month from the prior month.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time in over three years amid concerns over stubborn inflation that has been driven recently by higher energy prices.

Fed policymakers voted 12-0 to raise the federal funds rate from a range of 3.5% to 3.75% to a new target rate of 3.75% to 4%. The 25-basis-point increase marks the first interest rate hike since July 2023 and comes after the Fed left rates unchanged at its first five meetings this year.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the central bank’s panel responsible for monetary policy moves, noted that “Economic activity is expanding at a solid pace. While uncertainty remains elevated owing, in part, to geopolitical developments, domestic spending has been resilient. Productivity growth is strong, and capital investment is robust.

“Job gains have kept pace with the workforce, and the unemployment rate has changed little. Inflation remains elevated. Today’s policy action will support a timelier return to the Committee’s 2% goal.”

Governor Tony Evers announced yesterday that the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and the Agence Économique Régionale (AER) of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (BFC) region in France have approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to promote closer economic and educational relations between the two organizations. The agreement creates a framework for the two entities to coordinate, facilitate the exchange of expertise, foster the development of collaborative projects, and assist with the growth and development of companies in their respective territories.

The agreement grew from a visit by Gov. Evers and WEDC leaders to the BFC region as part of a trade mission to Germany and France in 2025. Wisconsin and the BFC region of France share a number of economic characteristics that make them natural partners, including having a strong manufacturing base, a globally recognized food and agricultural sector, world-class research universities, and a growing focus on biohealth and energy innovation.

Building on those shared strengths, the MOU identifies four priority areas for collaboration—agri-food, energy, advanced manufacturing, and biotherapies and health sciences. Under the agreement, WEDC and AER will work to connect companies, research institutions, and investors across these sectors and support joint projects between them.

Yesterday, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) suspended 870,000 U.S. borrowers connected to an estimated $39 billion in suspected fraudulent pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) activity.

The nationwide action marks the culmination of the SBA’s state-by-state pandemic-fraud crackdown as a member of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud. It is the agency’s largest suspension announcement to date, representing action against borrowers in 45 new states, six territories, and the District of Columbia.

The SBA previously announced suspensions of more than 150,000 borrowers tied to approximately $10 billion in suspected PPP and COVID EIDL fraud across five states: California, Ohio, Minnesota, Maine, and Wisconsin.  Suspended borrowers are prohibited from receiving future SBA small-business and disaster loans and are ineligible for other SBA programs, including federal contracting through the 8(a) Business Development Program.

In a separate enforcement action, the SBA and its Office of the Inspector General, led by William Kirk, also announced that it is launching “Operation No Doze.” Under the operation, the SBA will send final 30-day demand letters to suspected fraudulent PPP and COVID EIDL borrowers, starting with approximately 8,000 in Kansas and Missouri. The letters will demand repayment of debt associated with the flagged loans and notify recipients of the consequences of failing to resolve their obligations within the required timeframe. The SBA previously referred more than 560,000 suspected fraudulent pandemic-era borrowers tied to $22 billion in loans to Treasury for collection.

Borrowers who fail to remit full payment within the 30-day period may face further legal and financial consequences, including:

• Enforcement under the Administrative False Claims Act, which may subject fraudulent borrowers to liability of up to double the government’s damages, plus administrative penalties.
• Referral to the U.S. Department of Justice for further legal action, as appropriate.
• Transfer of delinquent debts to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service Cross Servicing Program for collection. Such transfers may result in added interest and collection fees of up to 28 percent.
• Offset through the Treasury Offset Program against certain federal payments, including tax refunds, contractor and vendor payments, federal salaries, and Social Security and other benefit payments.

A new report from a UW-Madison think tank challenges the notion that Wisconsin struggles with “brain drain,” arguing a lack of educated people coming to the state is a greater challenge.

The Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy, or CROWE, yesterday issued a report arguing the issue of “brain drain” is greatly exaggerated for Wisconsin and based on a flawed analysis. It refers to concerns that have been raised about the state’s college-educated adults leaving to work elsewhere at a higher rate than those arriving.

But report authors say the widely cited ranking behind these worries doesn’t fully capture this idea.

They note the state is ranked No. 2 in the country for the difference between the share of Wisconsin-born people with a bachelor’s degree or higher now living elsewhere, and those born elsewhere who now live in the state with the same educational attainment. This difference of 14.6 percentage points — 59.8% versus 45.2%, respectively — is the second highest among U.S. states.

Authors argue this figure “captures a difference in educational composition” rather than migration, since it doesn’t include when any of those people changed residence.

“A second-place rank on that statistic does not mean Wisconsin has the nation’s second-worst current loss of college graduates. … A Wisconsin-born 35-year-old living in Minneapolis is included whether she moved last year, after college, or with her parents as a child,” authors wrote.

They argued the “more distinctive finding” is who comes to Wisconsin, noting the state attracted college graduates from beyond 500 miles at about 62% of the rate implied by its share of the college-educated population. That’s compared to about 86% for the median state.

Among those arrivals, 29.5% were originally born in Wisconsin, compared to 16.2% for the median state.

“Excluding returnees, Wisconsin’s long-distance attraction index falls to 0.52, compared with 0.83 in the median state … Wisconsin is better at attachment than attraction, and so is much of the upper Midwest,” authors wrote.

Consumer prices rose 3.4% in August, matching economists’ estimates as the Fed weighs whether to hike benchmark interest rates or hold them steady.

Gas prices spiked 3.9% last month as the Iran War intensified, making them a leading driver of inflation last month.

“Core” inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, was 2.4% on an annual basis, cooling from 2.5% in July. Month over month, it rose 0.3%.

Shelter costs jumped 0.3% from a month earlier, an acceleration from a 0.1% gain in July.

Gross property tax levies across Wisconsin collectively grew by 5.8% on December 2025 tax bills, the largest increase in nearly two decades.

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. Some areas saw much larger increases: gross levies for all taxing authorities in the city of Madison increased 11.9%, the most since 1985.

This increase primarily is due to school district tax levies. Key factors include 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. Evers and lawmakers also sought
unsuccessfully last spring to pass legislation that would have reduced property and income taxes.

Meanwhile, equalized property values as of January 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.