‘This is the way communists think’

Government-supported grocery stores are suddenly all the rage.

In New York, democratic socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has promised to open city-owned stores in each of the five boroughs.

In Atlanta, the city contributed $8 million in cash and grants to a store that opened last summer and is already planning another subsidized store 6 miles away.

There have been government-owned stores in recent years in Florida and Kansas.

And in Madison — well, what’s happening in a south side neighborhood in Madison is the perfect illustration of why government should stay out of an intensely competitive business it knows nothing about.

Wisconsin can follow suit and cut regulations

The dire need for more houses in America has even regulation-heavy cities like Los Angeles, New York City, Minneapolis and St. Paul streamlining rules — and providing a playbook for Wisconsin.

By reducing public-hearing periods and City Council votes, Los Angeles has cut the approval wait time for some apartment buildings from about a year to 60 days, according to The Wall Street Journal. In New York City, voters just voted in favor of three affordable housing ballot proposals, supported by developers and opposed by city officials, to fast-track approvals.

There is a growing recognition in states ranging from California to Montana to Washington that government regulation can stifle home construction and affordability, according to Tobias Peter, senior fellow and co-director of the American Enterprise Institute Housing Center.

“But too often they only free the market for affordable housing and not market-rate housing,” he says. “That’s a problem and inconsistent.”

A special thanks to former Governor Tommy Thompson and all of the Badger Institute supporters who joined us last week in Wausau for an insightful discussion of the challenges we face as a state — and how to overcome them through sound public policy and strong, effective leadership.

The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families informed Milwaukee County’s Social Development Commission (SDC) last week that it will no longer be recognized as a federally-designated community action agency. 

The decision was made following decades of scandalous leadership practices and an abrupt suspension of services in April 2024.

Time will tell if UMOS, the organization slated to carry on the county’s anti-poverty programs, will escape a similar fate.

The Social Development Commission, Wisconsin’s largest anti-poverty social services agency, abruptly closed its doors after the latest in a series of scandals stretching back over more than 30 years.

The shutdown has focused attention once again on a community action agency that has operated more than two dozen social programs funded at one point by as much as $60 million in annual federal grants — but an agency that has no direct state, county or local supervision.

Ridership on Amtrak’s passenger service between Milwaukee and Chicago decreased by 9,200, or 1.3 percent, in the last 12 months and remains well below pre-pandemic numbers, federal figures show.

There are two lines that run between the two cities, the Hiawatha, which runs between Milwaukee and Chicago, and the Borealis, connecting Chicago to the Twin Cities but making a stop in Milwaukee. For federal fiscal year 2025, total Amtrak ridership on both lines between Chicago and Milwaukee decreased from 691,200 to 682,000.

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