If everything works out as under-promised, Microsoft will make the biggest single technology investment ever in the state of Wisconsin — a transformative infusion of billions of dollars to develop more than 1,500 acres in Racine County.

The scale and impact of the project is only now becoming apparent, with Microsoft cautiously unspooling its land purchases and plans, well aware of the hype that overwhelmed the original player in the area, Foxconn.

Over the last year the company has made a flurry of land purchases in addition to its initial $50 million, 315-acre purchase next to Foxconn in what is now the Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park.

Late last month, the company purchased about 200 acres for just under $34 million near the park in Mount Pleasant, according to Racine County records. The company in December 2023 also spent more than $175 million to buy three tracts totaling 1,048 acres.

And it is by no means clear company leaders are finished buying.

The odds of a UW-Madison pre-tenured professor’s political donation going to Republican are only 1 in 490, according to an analysis by outgoing UW political science professor Ryan Owens and his colleague, Alex Tahk.

And when it comes to faculty in social sciences and the humanities, where professors’ viewpoints on politics and culture have more of a bearing on the lectures than fields like engineering, the odds of finding a Republican donor fall to just 1 in 530.

The numbers back-up in stark terms comments Owens made in a recent interview with the Badger Institute in which he discussed the skewed ideological climate at the Badger state’s flagship university and said the atmosphere is full of an omnipresent “left-wing, dogmatic orthodoxy.”

Primary elections are this Tuesday, Aug. 13 in Wisconsin. On the backside of your ballot are also two referendum questions. Voting “Yes” to both will help Wisconsin rein in wasteful, out-of-control spending.

Smarter spending through stronger checks and balances.

That’s what’s on the ballot Aug. 13.

Wisconsin will be the first state to pass out federally funded rebates to homeowners for energy-related home alterations — including heat pumps that will increase homeowners’ heating costs sharply.

Gov. Tony Evers’ office last week announced $149 million in federal subsidies for homeowners and landlords who, for example, add insulation, rewire, or replace gas appliances. Among the largest rebates will be up to $8,000 to replace an existing furnace with an electric heat pump.

While heat pumps can be cheaper than gas-powered furnaces, they add an average of more than $2,000 a year to a new Wisconsin home’s heating bill, according to a recent Badger Institute study.

Wisconsin’s one nuclear power plant consistently puts out more than 90% of the maximum amount of power it’s rated for. In 2022, the capacity factor for combined cycle natural gas plants was 63.2%, and for coal, 47.6%.

But what about? “renewable” sources of electricity?

Registration open!

Registration for the Badger Institute’s Annual Dinner is now open. The Institute is honored to welcome Rich Lowry, editor-in-chief of National Review, as the keynote speaker.

Event details:

The Badger Institute, formerly known as the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute (WPRI), has long been at the forefront of the fight for school choice, right to work, welfare reform, tax restructuring, limited government, civil society and so much more. If you appreciate the Institute’s legacy and want to support free markets, opportunity and prosperity, please consider donating today. Your support will help the Institute continue to advocate for conservative principles now and in generations to come.

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