Marijuana affects its users mentally and physically — that much has long been known. As more states legalize its use, research is making clearer exactly what those effects are. 

This matters because cannabis use by adults rises after legalization. So a look at the health effects indicates what the consequences of legalization could entail for the state as a whole. 

Some might be positive: The idea that cannabis has health benefits has spurred legalization of medical marijuana in other states, and there is some research suggesting upsides. 

There is also research, a great amount of it, showing harmful consequences. We review the principal findings here.

Key members of the Milwaukee Historic Preservation Commission seem to think their job is to assess housing availability, make sure developers can do deals they like or maybe even smooth the way for tax breaks.

The evidence: Last month the commission voted 3-1 to endorse putting a mediocre-at-best, 35-year-old “postmodern” knock-off on the National Register of Historic Places — a surprising decision that appears even more misguided now that a similar state entity reached the opposite conclusion.

A look back at the video of the meeting in which the city commission’s decision was made provides an explanation.

Once again, there will be no police officers in Milwaukee Public Schools when classes begin this Tuesday, violating a requirement that is part of the current state budget.

It was way back in June of 2023 that Milwaukee leaders reached a deal with legislators allowing both the city and the county to raise sales taxes in exchange for putting officers back in crime-ridden Milwaukee Public Schools by Jan. 1, 2024.

State Sen. John Jagler, chair of the Senate Committee on Education, said he was at first surprised to learn MPS was still flouting the deadline to put cops back in schools for the first time in eight years. Then he was angry.

“They are breaking the law and they don’t care because there are no ramifications for not complying with this,” Jagler, R-Watertown, told the Badger Institute. “The flippant attitude is just crazy.”

Enrollment in Wisconsin’s system of two-year colleges has declined steadily since its peak in 2011, data from the UW Office of Policy Analysis & Research show.

The data report the level of full-time equivalent enrollment, which accounts for part-time enrollment. A campus’s headcount measures the number of students enrolled regardless of status.

As the Badger Institute previously reported, the decrease in students attending what are now branch colleges has raised questions about the future of the program.

All things solar

The response:

“My wife and I purchased 122 acres in 1996 and built a beautiful home on our heaven-on-earth. Well, we have been fighting the solar people in the township of Arpin for about 1.5 years. We even got a committee of people involved with lawyers drawing up a solar and wind tower ban. 

The solar people are just too powerful and have too much money. There is going to be a 160-acre field of the black-glass pieces of &%$£ directly across the road from us, right in our front yard. 

We’re not having anything to do with that! We sold our property and are moving away from it. That’s how much I hate ‘solar gardens’ ruining our agricultural land. The solar people do not tell the truth about them and they do not last 50 years, as they claim.

People better wake up and do some research before signing up to lease their land to those people.”

— Harry Jonas, Arpin, WI

One month away!

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

Event details:

Learn why the Founding Fathers created the Electoral College, its protections against a national popular vote as well as how our presidential system compares to other republics around the world. With the November election just months away, you won’t want to miss this timely and insightful look into how the Electoral College affects our democracy.

Keynote delivered by Michael Maibach, a Distinguished Fellow at Save Our States, giving talks across the country in defense of the Founders’ Federalism and the Electoral College design.

Date: Tuesday, September 10 at 6:30pm

Location: Concordia University

RSVP: Submit form on event page

The Concordia Free Enterprise Center promotes the ideals of a free and virtuous society, the unleashing of creative human potential, and the advance of economic and human flourishing.

Click to explore the Center’s autumn event schedule — complete with upcoming offerings on economics, politics, philosophy and faith.

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.

The Institute never has, and never will, accept government funding. We gratefully welcome your online donation or email Angela Smith, Executive Vice President.

The Badger Institute is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization funded solely by the generosity of foundations, companies and individuals.

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