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As self-driving taxis roll out across much of America, Wisconsinites won’t be seeing them without some changes to existing law.

“That’s definitely one part of it,” said Andrea Bill of the Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory, or TOPS, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Right now, our state statute says that there has to be a human behind the wheel.”

Waymo first appeared on Phoenix streets in 2020 and since then has targeted technology centers and Sun Belt cities such as Atlanta, Austin, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Waymo is coming to Washington, D.C., Miami and Tokyo next year and testing has begun or will begin soon in Las Vegas, San Diego, New York and seven other cities, according to Waymo officials.

AUSTIN — Austin is one of the cool-kids cities, and Waymo’s white Jaguar I-PACE electric vehicles with big black spinning LiDAR and ranging sensor arrays on the roof is its current icon.

Just eyeballing downtown traffic during the morning or afternoon rush hours confirms Waymo is getting to be very popular. Data gathering company YipitData reported that by the end of March one in five Uber rideshares was a Waymo. Austin’s launch had 80% more traffic than San Francisco during a comparable period.

For drivers of a certain vintage, pulling up to a stop light at a busy intersection in Austin and seeing no one in the driver’s seat in the car next to you evokes feelings of awe, hilarity and deep unease.

Wisconsin’s biennial budget is passed and lawmakers are out of Madison, at least until after Labor Day.

But the calendar says Wisconsin’s Legislature has time set aside for work at least through next March. Expectations may be running high that Democrats will seize majority status thanks to new legislative maps drawn in their favor and the historic pattern of parties not in the White House benefiting during midterms. The state Supreme Court decision killing the Legislature’s oversight of state agencies’ power to decree rules may also dishearten majority Republicans.

But there are 541 days until the next Legislature’s sworn in, and there’s plenty of unfinished business. Here’s the Badger Institute’s reckoning of good policy that most deserves a shot from the Legislature...

Bikers roaring into Milwaukee this weekend for Harley-Davidson’s Homecoming festival are bringing more than their Fat Boys and Road Kings. They’re bringing money — a lot of it.

Motorcyclists and ATV riders collectively generate $1.1 billion in economic activity annually for Wisconsin, the most recent figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis show, making Wisconsin one the leading states for such recreation.

Wisconsin is the second-highest ranked state in economic activity attributable to motorcycles and ATVs. California, with six times Wisconsin’s population and three times its area, occupies the top spot for 2023 at $1.5 billion.

In some parts of Wisconsin, the “socialist” label isn’t as fringe as it once was.

But what does the label mean for policy? Our work to promote sound, free-market policy and personal responsibility led Milwaukee Magazine to ask us to examine some of what Rep. Ryan Clancy proposes.

See our exam of Clancy’s proposals at the close of this piece:

The flacks for the Milwaukee Public Schools put out a press release the other day, the sort of thing they issue at this time of year, bragging that 1,056 recent high school graduates had secured $113 million in grants and scholarships.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel took the bait, of course, reporting that MPS is breaking records and quoting the new superintendent as saying that “remarkable things can happen.”

What’s really remarkable here, though, are some other numbers.

Massachusetts became the first state to recognize July 4 as a state holiday in 1781.

The Badger Institute 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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