News of the Day

Legislation to regulate fully autonomous vehicles in Wisconsin came under fire during an Assembly committee hearing, as members of the public raised concerns around safety and reliability.

Meanwhile, authors of AB 848 said Wisconsin is falling behind the dozens of other states with similar regulations on the books.

Rep. Dave Maxey, R-New Berlin, testified yesterday before the Assembly Committee on Transportation, arguing Wisconsin’s unique weather conditions provide an opportunity for proving self-driving vehicles can operate safely in the state.

“If we can’t test these vehicles in all weather conditions, like snow and rain, and with different vehicle types, unfortunately we won’t know that they are safe,” he said.

The legislation would establish an autonomous driving safety board within the state Department of Transportation as well as a permitting process for companies that want to operate such vehicles in Wisconsin, Maxey said.

Operators would have to meet various registration and insurance requirements under the bill’s framework, and the board would be able to designate specific highways for autonomous vehicle operation, he said. The board would also have the power to require safety reports on these vehicles as well as suspend or revoke permits when safety issues occur.

Maxey argued the bill would provide clarity by allowing self-driving vehicles to operate “without facing a patchwork of local restrictions” while also establishing strong safeguards for the technology.

But several speakers from the motorcyclist rights and safety group Abate of Wisconsin spoke against the bill, questioning self-driving vehicles’ ability to detect motorcycles, bicyclists and pedestrians. Members of the organization argued public roadways aren’t the appropriate testing ground for these vehicles.

The bill’s co-sponsor, Sen. Rachel Cabral-Guevara, said she views fully autonomous vehicles as “the way of the future,” arguing the technology will be coming to Wisconsin at some point.

“Right now, 35 other states have this in some capacity. We do not,” she said.

Maxey also said autonomous vehicles have the potential to expand transportation options for those who currently lack reliable access, pointing to older adults, people with disabilities and residents of rural areas.

“At the same time, this bill helps Wisconsin stay competitive,” he said. “States like Texas and California and Minnesota are already using testing, or deploying autonomous vehicles and seeing benefits from early regulation.”

Working natural gas stocks fell 360 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in the Lower 48 states for the week ending January 30, 2026, amid Winter Storm Fern—the largest weekly net withdrawal reported in the history of the Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report. The withdrawal exceeded the five-year average for the same week by 89% (170 Bcf). The large withdrawals resulted from increased heating demand for natural gas and natural gas production curtailments because of severe winter weather. Working gas stocks are now 1.1% below the five-year average for this time of year.

Several factors contributed to the large withdrawals:

• Winter Storm Fern: A massive winter storm brought extreme cold, heavy snow, and ice across a large portion of the Lower 48 states from New Mexico to New England.
• Increased heating demand: The extreme cold increased demand for space heating, leading to increased natural gas consumption in the residential and commercial sectors, and increased demand for natural gas for electricity generation.
• Reduced natural gas supply: The frigid temperatures resulted in decreased natural gas supply as the extreme cold reduced natural gas production because of equipment freeze-offs and shut-ins. Temperatures along the U.S. Gulf Coast averaged below freezing on January 25, contributing to the largest shut-in reported during the week.

The increased demand and decreased supply of natural gas contributed to rising prices at many locations. The U.S. benchmark natural gas spot price at the Henry Hub rose to $9.03 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) on January 28, exceeding the week-earlier price by $4.05/MMBtu and the year-earlier price by $5.60/MMBtu. Natural gas storage withdrawals can supplement other sources of supply during periods of higher prices.

The number of open jobs in the U.S. economy fell by nearly one million last year, evidence of how demand for workers has sputtered in an uneven labor market.

In December, there were just over 6.5 million open positions, down from about 7.5 million at the end of 2024, according to the Labor Department’s monthly report on job openings and labor turnover. Four years ago, at the height of the postpandemic economic boom, openings peaked at more than 12 million.

The Jolts report brought other signs that while the labor market has weakened, it hasn’t collapsed. The number of people who were hired into new jobs improved slightly in December to 5.3 million, and was roughly unchanged from a year ago. December also brought a slight increase in the tally of people who left their job voluntarily, typically a healthy sign that workers are finding new opportunities.

Layoffs ticked higher at the end of last year, but remain relatively subdued overall. The layoff rate ended 2025 at 1.1%, roughly unchanged from a year ago.

Wisconsin Democrats have introduced a bill to fully legalize marijuana.

But the effort to create legal recreational and medical programs is all but sure to fail. Republicans, who control both chambers of the Legislature, have not taken up previous Democratic attempts at legalization and have nixed repeated attempts by Governor Tony Evers to include legalization in his state budgets. GOP leadership has said it will only consider limited medical programs.

The proposal would create a licensing system for growers, processors and retailers, and regulate the testing and distribution of marijuana products.

And it would create a process for reviewing the sentences of people locked up on drug charges, with a path to vacating current convictions, or expunging a person’s record of past convictions.

But Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, has said he won’t back recreational marijuana, and GOP leaders across the Assembly and Senate have struggled to create a unified plan for establishing a medical program.

Bipartisan bills have since been introduced to adapt Wisconsin’s legal hemp framework. One would introduce a three-tier regulatory system similar to how alcohol is regulated. Another would essentially add guardrails to the status quo, adding safety standards to the existing market of vapes, gummies, edibles and beverages that have proliferated across Wisconsin.

President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States and India have agreed to a trade deal that would lower tariffs, following a phone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the agreement would reduce U.S. tariffs on Indian goods from 25% to 18% and that India would move to eliminate its tariffs and non-tariff barriers on American products.

He claimed Modi agreed to stop buying Russian oil and instead increase purchases from the United States and potentially Venezuela.

In a separate post on X, Modi confirmed that tariffs on “Made in India” products would be reduced to 18%.

“Big thanks to President Trump on behalf of the 1.4 billion people of India for this wonderful announcement,” he wrote. “When two large economies and the world’s largest democracies work together, it benefits our people and unlocks immense opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation.”

The U.S.–India trade announcement comes after the European Commission said last week that the European Union and India had concluded negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA), a deal officials described as creating one of the world’s largest trading zones.

The PPI for final demand jumped 0.5% last month, the biggest rise since ‌July, after an unrevised 0.2% gain in November, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the PPI climbing 0.2%.

In ​the 12 months through December, the PPI increased 3.0% after rising by the same margin in November. The PPI advanced 3.0% in 2025 after rising 3.5% in 2024.

A 0.7% increase in services accounted for the rise ‌in the PPI ‌last month. They were driven by a 1.7% jump in margins for final demand trade services, which made up two-thirds of the increase in services.

The cost of services ⁠less trade, transportation and warehousing increased 0.3%, while prices ⁠for transportation and warehousing services rose 0.5%. Portfolio ​management fees increased 2.0% after gaining 1.4%. Airline fares soared 2.9% while wholesale prices of hotel and motel rooms surged 7.3%.

Producer goods prices were unchanged in December after increasing 0.8% in November. Energy prices dropped 1.4% after rebounding 3.7% in November. They were held down by lower gasoline prices. Food prices fell 0.3% amid a 20.4% plunge in the cost of fresh and dry vegetables.

The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday amid what U.S. central bank chief Jerome Powell described as a solid economy ​and diminished risks to both inflation and employment, an outlook that could signal a lengthy wait before any further reductions in borrowing costs.

“The economy has once again surprised us with its ‌strength,” Powell said at a press conference after Fed policymakers voted 10-2 to hold the central bank’s benchmark interest rate in the 3.50%-3.75% range following a two-day meeting.

Noting broad internal support for the decision, Powell said the Fed remains “well-positioned” to assess when or whether another rate cut may be needed.

“There could be combinations, infinite numbers of combinations that would cause us to want to move,” he said, with labor market weakening or inflation heading back down to the Fed’s 2% goal as two of those possibilities.

Since the Fed’s last policy meeting in December, when it delivered a third straight rate cut, “the upside risks to inflation and the downside risks to employment have diminished. But they still ‌exist,” Powell said. “We think our policy is in a good place.”

The state Assembly passed a package of nuclear energy incentives Thursday, with backers promising a “nuclear renaissance” in Wisconsin amid a data center building boom.

The legislation, authored by State Rep. Shae Sortwell, R-Two Rivers, and state Sen. Jesse James, R-Thorp, would offer two decades of tax credits for companies building new nuclear plants in the state. During the first 10 years, they’d qualify for annual $10,000 credits. After that, the credits would decrease by $1,000 per year.

It would make nuclear energy a high priority for Wisconsin and include nuclear power alongside other sources like wind and solar in a new “low-carbon-emission resource” definition in state law. It would also authorize the Wisconsin Public Service Commission to approve tariffs aimed at preventing residential customers from paying costs associated with providing electricity to large users, like data centers.

It passed the Assembly on an 86-11 vote, with strong support from both parties.

Unlike in years past, Democrats and Republicans have, for the most part, gotten behind the push for new nuclear power facilities in Wisconsin recently. Currently, the Point Beach Nuclear Plant in Two Rivers is the only plant of its kind in the state.

The Wisconsin state budget, signed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in July, included $2 million for a nuclear power feasibility study. Later, he signed legislation creating a nuclear power summit board to advance nuclear and fusion energy in the state and directing the state Public Service Commission to study potential sites for new reactors.

Wisconsin’s tax burden remained at an all-time low in 2025, as its residents’ combined incomes grew at the same rate as state and local tax collections, a new Wisconsin Policy Forum report finds.

This ratio between what Wisconsin residents pay in all state and local taxes and what they receive in income from all sources held steady at 9.60% in 2025 — matching the previous year’s record low to remain at the lowest total burden since at least the 1970s.

Each year, the Wisconsin Policy Forum examines every local and state tax paid, from bingo license fees ($187,039 in 2025) to gross local property taxes ($13.64 billion). To these fiscal year 2025 figures, we compare state personal income data from the prior calendar year, in this case 2024, to calculate tax burdens.

Overall state and local tax collections in 2025 rose 5.0%, making it one of the largest annual increases in the last two decades. That was due in part to the largest percentage increase in local tax revenue in two decades. However, the state and local tax burden held steady because statewide personal income also grew by 5.0% in 2025.

However, the experience of individual taxpayers will vary. The average tax burden may be felt differently depending on where in the state a taxpayer lives, his or her level and source of income, type of business, and other factors.

In our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, we forecast retail U.S. gasoline prices will be lower the next two years than in 2025, falling 6% in 2026 and then increasing 1% in 2027. Our gasoline price forecast generally follows a similar path as global crude oil prices, but decreasing U.S. refinery capacity this year may offset some of the effects of lower crude oil prices on gasoline, especially in the West Coast region.

On a regional basis, we expect gasoline prices to decrease in every region in 2026 and increase in 2027. Despite that expected increase, 2027 average gasoline prices remain less than 2025 averages in every region except the West Coast (PADD 5), where we expect the upcoming loss of refinery capacity will contribute to relatively higher gasoline margins and gasoline prices that are about equal to 2025, in nominal terms.

The West Coast region typically has the highest gasoline prices in the country, and we expect that trend to continue through 2027. We expect the Gulf Coast region to maintain the lowest gasoline prices through the forecast, followed by the Midwest.

Our forecast for generally lower retail gasoline prices over the next two years follows an ongoing trend of falling gasoline prices since reaching a historical high point of $5/gallon in mid-2022. On a nominal basis, we estimate the 20 cents-per-gallon decrease in 2026 will be comparable to price decreases in 2024 and 2025.

The price of crude oil is the largest factor in determining U.S. retail gasoline prices. In the previous 10 years, the price of crude oil used at U.S. refineries accounted for slightly more than 50%, on average, of the retail average gasoline price. In 2026 and 2027, we expect crude oil’s contribution to the retail average gasoline price to fall below 45%, on an annual average basis. We expect global increases in crude oil supply to continue to outpace increases in demand in 2026 and for crude oil prices to fall to their lowest annual average since 2020.