The Trump administration and the Environmental Protection Agency have announced massive changes to the nation’s environmental policy, moving to rescind the 2009 Endangerment Finding results on which the United States of America’s current emissions regulations are based. President Trump and EPA administrator Lee Zeldin maintain that this is the single largest deregulation action in American history.

Back in 2009, EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson signed two distinct findings related to the endangerment brought by and causes of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The Obama administration and the EPA moved to limit these specific gases based on the results of the Endangerment Finding study, rolling out tighter emissions regulations for new vehicle fleets and powertrains. Detractors have argued that the EPA does not possess regulatory authority, and that Congress must be involved in establishing emissions rules.

The EPA under Zeldin first proposed rescinding the findings altogether back in July 2025, and has already rolled back tailpipe emissions regulations established by his political predecessors. With this new action, Trump and Zeldin have terminated green emissions standards imposed from 2012 onward, with no plans to impose them beyond 2027. Zeldin announced that the EPA will be advising automakers to kill start-stop technology, which he referred to as the “Obama Switch” during the press conference. (It is important to note that start-stop technology has never been mandated by the government.)

The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) today announced its 2025 Financial Summary of Wisconsin’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund which showed decreased tax rates for employers and an increased overall balance.

The UI Trust Fund is the account that holds Wisconsin employers’ state UI taxes which finance regular state UI benefit payments. The UI Trust Fund functions as a reserve in case of increased state UI benefit payments during economic downturns. The higher the UI Trust Fund balance, the less likely the state will need to borrow from the federal government during recessionary periods.

Highlights of the summary include:

• UI Trust Fund balance as of December 31, 2025 was over $2.1 billion
• $151 billion in wages insured for Wisconsin employees
• Schedule D (lowest tax rate schedule) in effect
• Employers’ UI tax rate is assessed only on the first $14,000 of each employee’s wages and
  • More than 95% of employers had a UI tax rate below 4%
  • More than half of all employers had a UI tax rate below 2%
• Employers saved an estimated $50.5 million in payable taxes in 2025
• Tax rates decreased or remained unchanged for 57.9% of employers in 2025

“Ensuring that the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund remains strong, solvent, and effective for both employers and employees is essential for the continued economic security of our state,” said Secretary Amy Pechacek. “With low unemployment rates and an increasing UI Trust Fund balance, we should continue exploring opportunities to bolster our UI system so it can provide reliable support to workers in the years to come.”

Retail sales were unchanged in December from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, down sharply from November’s 0.6% increase. The figures are adjusted for seasonal swings but not inflation.

Retail sales declined across most of the categories tracked by the Commerce Department, falling the most at furniture stores (-0.9%) and at so-called miscellaneous stores (-0.9). Meanwhile, retail spending edged higher in a handful of categories, rising the most at home improvement stores (1.2%.)

A measure of retail sales that strips out volatile categories and gives a better indication of underlying demand — widely known as the control group — fell 0.1% in December.

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.”