While statewide home sales and listings were still down year-over-year in September, the latest Wisconsin Realtors Association report shows some areas of improvement.  WRA Board of Directors Chairman Joe Horning notes the annual decline in new home listings was below 4% for the second month in a row — a

A UW-Madison think tank is urging policymakers to raise the state’s minimum hourly wage, arguing low-income workers in Wisconsin are “falling behind.”  The progressive COWS High Road Strategy Center yesterday released a new report on how the state would be impacted by upping the minimum wage from its current level

Biohealth companies in south central Wisconsin are drawing on the region’s growing pool of skilled talent as they expand.  Speaking yesterday during the Wisconsin Biohealth Summit hosted by BioForward Wisconsin in Madison, panelists acknowledged the workforce challenges facing most industries in Wisconsin. But they said the influence of UW-Madison and

While poverty rates in Wisconsin have fallen from their latest peak during the Great Recession, they haven’t rebounded to the lows seen about a decade before that.  That’s according to a recent report from UW-Madison’s Division of Extension, written by Prof. Steven Deller, an economist and professor in the Department

A cybersecurity expert is urging businesses to be proactive in guarding their data and take online threats seriously.  “If you don’t have an [incident response] retainer, you sure should,” Ghostscale founding partner DJ Vogel said Friday during the Cybersecurity Summit in Milwaukee. “When you’ve got a ransomware screen with a

SHINE Technologies has completed a $70 million funding round — the largest investment deal of the year so far in Wisconsin.  The Janesville-based company is developing fusion technologies for applications in various industries, including health care, aerospace and more. Ultimately, SHINE aims to achieve fusion energy generation in the final

Milwaukee 2024 Host Committee Chair Reince Priebus is praising the bipartisan cooperation required to pull off next year’s Republican National Convention.  Speaking yesterday during a meeting of the Milwaukee Rotary Club, he said attendees “should feel really great about” the Democratic city opening its arms to those with opposing viewpoints.

Five entrepreneurs developing companies around fintech and services make up the latest Black Founder Accelerator cohort in Milwaukee.  Northwestern Mutual yesterday announced the startup leaders joining the program for its second 2023 cohort, hosted in partnership with Madison-based accelerator gener8tor. It’s funded through a $20 million commitment from the financial

Wisconsin has been ranked 22nd in the country for the health of its women and children, reflecting the state’s high level of access to clinical care.  The ranking comes from the latest United Health Foundation report. It analyzes states’ performance on an array of metrics, ranging from education and economic

AI is being used for crunching data, detecting fraud, writing software, analyzing language and much more, but business users say human expertise remains as important as ever.  Spencer X. Smith, founder of Madison-based digital marketing firm AmpliPhi, emphasized the importance of human feedback for an AI training method called reinforcement

Marquette University researcher Qindan Huang is getting nearly $740,000 in federal funding to explore a method for protecting critical infrastructure from corrosion.  Huang is an associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering in the Milwaukee university’s Opus College of Engineering. She will use the U.S. Department of Transportation grant

The state has seen a substantial improvement in drought conditions over the past few weeks as farmers continue harvesting corn, potatoes and other crops.  The percentage of Wisconsin experiencing extreme drought — the second-worst category — has fallen from 22% in early September to just 6.8%, according to the National

While investment activity in Wisconsin so far this year is faltering, one expert says there’s still time for “a nice uptick” in the coming months.   The Tech Council has identified about $191 million in investment deals in 2023 — well below the year-end totals of $870 million in 2021 and

Early investment figures for 2023 suggest the number and size of deals in Wisconsin may be lower this year, according to Tech Council Investor Networks Director Joe Kremer.  Speaking yesterday during a luncheon hosted by the Wisconsin Technology Council in Madison, Kremer noted the group’s Investor Networks program tracks early-stage

Madison has been named the top Midwestern metropolitan area for technology jobs, according to a recent report.  The rankings were compiled by a CommercialCafe, a real estate listing service that frequently produces market analyses and other industry reports.  Its latest post ranked the 20 best metro areas for tech development

Wisconsin’s clean transportation sector added nearly 400 new jobs last year, reflecting growth in the electric vehicle market.  That’s according to the 2023 Clean Jobs Midwest report, which shows this sector’s employment grew by nearly 7 percent in 2022, reaching 6,158 workers. Report authors noted EV-related jobs accounted for most

By Brian Clark  For WisBusiness.com For nearly 20 years, Dan Siedlecki sat behind a desk at Madison-based CUNA Mutual Group, when he wasn’t on the road.  For the most part, Siedlecki said he enjoyed his time with CUNA — which changed its name to TruStage in May of this year.

GOP lawmakers are circulating legislation that would bar landowners from claiming the state’s farmland preservation tax credit for some cases when solar energy systems are present. The bill would apply to portions of property that house a solar energy system, unless it plays a role in farming operations.  In a

Leaders of the UW System and Wisconsin Technical College System are developing a new pathway transfer program for students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and math.  Speaking yesterday during a Wisconsin Technology Council event in Wauwatosa, WTCS President Morna Foy said the program isn’t finalized yet, but expects to