Rural Economy
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Beef Month highlights the impact of Wisconsin’s beef community
As warmer weather arrives across Wisconsin, grills are firing up and beef is taking center stage.
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New Wisconsin law taps ‘Dreamers’ to fill critical rural labor gaps
A bipartisan Wisconsin law removes barriers for more than 5,000 DACA recipients in the state, allowing them to work in high-need fields, especially in rural areas, including nursing, teaching, plumbing, and other licensed trades.
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Miles to go before they eat: How SNAP and school meals help WI’s rural students
Fewer kids in our state will have access to free school meals as President Donald Trump rolls out the federal cuts to SNAP that he included in his “Big Beautiful Bill.”
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Mandela Barnes says Tom Tiffany puts farm families on the back burner ‘time and time again’
Mandela Barnes calls Tiffany’s rural record “ridiculous” as farmers face skyrocketing healthcare costs, a punishing trade war, unchecked corporate power, and attacks on migrant farm workers.
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Is it time for a moratorium on AI data center construction in Wisconsin?
Candidate for governor Rep. Francesca Hong wants a pause on data center construction, citing bipartisan calls for more information about the impact on water and electric rates.
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These were Wisconsin’s biggest political stories of 2025
Wisconsin top stories of 2025. A governor decides not to run. A judge is prosecuted by the president. Schools’ pleas are ignored, pushing property taxes higher. Farmers and families get rolled by Trump’s Washington.
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WI diversified, specialty farmers could be slighted in federal aid
Policy experts predict small, specialty farms will be on the losing end of the latest federal agricultural bailout meant to offset farmers’ losses from rising production costs and the market disruptions from new tariff policies.
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Rural resilience runs deep but crisis looms for WI schools
Wisconsin educators are shedding light on the unique dilemma rural school districts face as they work to meet a large portion of the state’s student needs despite significant funding and resource uncertainty.
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Facing Medicaid cuts, Wisconsin families stockpile medical supplies
In July, President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law, bringing cuts of around $1 trillion to federal Medicaid spending from 2025 through 2034. The cuts are predicted to result in a loss of the health insurance coverage affecting around 80 million lower-income Americans, including children and people with disabilities.
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The clock is ticking on a popular land stewardship effort in Wisconsin
Some Republicans expressed interest in saving the Knowles Nelson Stewardship program, but other GOP lawmakers want the conservation effort defunded. A Democratic legislator is making a public plea to a Republican colleague to schedule a committee hearing on a bipartisan effort to save a popular land conservation program from its pending demise. The Knowles Nelson…
