A federal judge’s injunction Wednesday is blocking the Trump Administration from saving $1.7 billion annually and closing down Job Corps centers — including two in Wisconsin — that have an expensive and dismal record ostensibly training the young and disadvantaged for work.

The Milwaukee center on N. 60th St. had a 2023 budget of $9.2 million and more than 100 employees who served 224 Corps members at a cost of $40,969 for each enrollee.

There were only 63 graduates of the program that year, a 28 percent graduation rate, at a cost per graduate of $145,668.

The numbers for the Blackwell Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center in Laona, which is in Forest County, are even worse.

Rain is proverbially indiscriminate. It falls over whole swaths of thirsty land, not caring nor asking whether the cornfield belongs to a well-fed farmer or a guy just hanging on. One suspects Wisconsin progressives would sue the clouds about that, if only they could.

Consider their complaints about a $1.3 billion tax cut that Republicans passed this month through the Legislature’s budget committee. Progressives complained it was too big. They complained it was too small. They complained that the money wasn’t funneled into government programs they like.

And some complained because some of the relief rained down upon Wisconsinites they imagine deserve none of it — those with the temerity to earn more than $100,000.

The Wisconsin tourism sector had another record-breaking year in 2024 with 114.4 million visits and $25.8 billion in total economic impact, official statistics compiled by research firm Tourism Economics on behalf of the state’s tourism agency show.

In absolute terms, Milwaukee, Dane and Waukesha counties saw the largest increases in economic activity due to tourism. The largest number of tourists visiting Milwaukee come from Chicago, according to Visit Milwaukee.

Milwaukee was the host of the 2024 Republican National Convention, which alone was estimated to have contributed $320 million in economic impact.

The Wisconsin State Assembly passed a number of items Tuesday advancing the state’s interest in nuclear energy production. SB 125 calls for a study on viable sites for nuclear power facilities; SB 124 creates a board to organize, promote and host a Wisconsin nuclear power summit; and SJR 7 signals legislative support for nuclear power and fusion energy as clean energy sources.

The bills, passed by the State Senate earlier this year, now head to the Governor’s desk.

The Badger Institute has been registered in favor SB 125 and SJR 7.

The crux of the American Dream in the eyes of a vast majority of Americans is homeownership — an aspiration increasingly out of reach.

The solution is not rent caps or big government interventions that drive costs higher and burden taxpayers. It’s much simpler, economically sound, and in line with the fundamental American belief in letting markets work.

The best part about legislative Republicans’ proposed tax measure is that it really does cut taxes in a reasonable way for a lot of Wisconsinites, says an authoritative observer of states’ tax reforms.

The proposal would raise the upper limit of the personal income tax’s second-lowest bracket, meaning the tax rate on a lot of income would fall from 5.3 percent to 4.4 percent.

A temperature of 114°F was recorded in Wisconsin Dells on July 13, 1936, according to the National Weather Service.

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