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Technology companies are pursuing projects that would launch data centers into space — efforts called Starcloud at Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Project Suncatcher at Google.

According to reporting from the Wall Street Journal, the idea is that, instead of consuming land, power and water on Earth, the orbiting data centers would harness the sun’s energy for unlimited power.

The projects are in the early stages of development, according to reporting from National Public Radio, and viability remains in question over the cost of launching servers into space, where the heat from the servers will go, and the logistics of maintaining and upgrading the technology.

While data centers in space are unlikely to happen in the next few years, studies, including one from Southern New Hampshire University, conclude space-based data centers could be a reality in the next decade.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Aldrich K. Wooden Sr.: Space-Based Data Centers: First Principles Deconstruction and Market Ecosystem Analysis Through 2035
• Wall Street Journal: Data centers in space: A pipe dream, or AI’s next big thing?
• National Public Radio: Big tech’s next move is to put data centers in space. Can it work?

Are tech companies working in 2026 to launch data centers into space? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Federal legislation known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” included an estimated $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid spending over the next decade. 

Passed in 2025, the bill included tax cuts and increased spending on immigration enforcement and the military, offset by nearly $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, according to the Congressional Budget Office. 

Provisions included mandating able-bodied adults to work 80 hours per month to qualify for Medicaid benefits, known as BadgerCare in Wisconsin. That’s estimated to reduce spending by $326 billion through reduced enrollment. 

It also freezes provider taxes in states like Wisconsin that have not expanded Medicaid, and it gradually lowers the provider tax rates in expansion states from 6% to 3.5%, saving the federal government $226 billion. States have used taxes on providers such as hospitals to draw federal matching funds.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Congressional Budget Office: Supplemental Cost Estimate
• Congressional Budget Office: Memo to lawmakers
• KFF: A closer look at the work requirement provisions in the 2025 federal budget reconciliation law
• USA Today: Medicaid 'churn': How working Americans could lose coverage under Trump tax bill
• The Commonwealth Fund: How new limits on state provider taxes will affect Medicaid funding

Did Donald Trump’s signature 2025 legislation cut Medicaid spending by $1 trillion over a decade? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Wisconsin once banned the construction of new nuclear power plants, only to lift the rule in 2016 to allow for more energy options. 

Former Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill overturning the moratorium on April 1, 2016, allowing new plants to be built, according to a post from the Wisconsin Energy Institute. 

The previous moratorium was approved in 1983, stipulating that a federally licensed facility for nuclear waste must be available. 

The 2016 bill allowed the state to move forward with new nuclear facilities, but no new facilities have been built as of 2026. Currently, Wisconsin has one nuclear facility in operation, Point Beach, near Two Rivers, according to the Public Service Commission. 

With changing technology and support from the Wisconsin Legislature, companies are working to get approvals for a new facility in the future, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Wisconsin Energy Institute: Governor Walker signs nuclear energy bill into law
• Public Service Commission of Wisconsin: Nuclear Energy
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin and UW-Madison partner to study future of nuclear energy

Did Wisconsin have a ban on building new nuclear power plants before 2016? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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The 2026 U.S. Farm Bill reclassifies the definition of intoxicating hemp and is expected to lead to the closure of businesses selling delta-9 THC and hemp-derived products as soon as November.

The new rule bans the sale of products that have more than 0.4 milligrams of THC per container, excluding virtually all such products. 

Currently, Wisconsin hemp dispensaries can sell products with up to 0.3% of delta-9 THC by weight, under a loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill. Current law doesn’t have any restrictions on hemp-derived products, such as delta-8, THCP or delta-10. The 0.4 milligram limit is far stricter.

The new rule goes into effect Nov. 12, 2026.

According to Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, the hemp industry closure could impact 3,500 jobs and reduce economic input by $700 million. Wisconsin has 470 federally licensed hemp growers.  

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Congressional Research Service: Change to Federal Definition of Hemp and Implications for Federal Enforcement
• Gov. Tony Evers: Letter to congressional delegation
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin cannabis businesses have one year to try to overturn federal hemp ban
• Wisconsin Public Radio: The government put me out of business’: Wisconsin hemp growers, sellers brace for new federal hemp law
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Gov. Evers says federal hemp law will hurt Wisconsin

Does the US Farm bill ban products sold by Wisconsin THC and hemp businesses? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Rebecca Cooke, a Democrat running for Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, did political consultation for Kirk Bangstad during his bid for Congress in 2016. 

Bangstad, now the owner of Minocqua Brewing Co., ran a short campaign in 2015 against then-U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy, currently the secretary of transportation under President Donald Trump.

According to Federal Election Commission reports, Bangstad paid Cooke and her consulting company, Cooke Strategy, about $12,300 for her services. 

Cooke listed Bangstad’s campaign on her company’s now-deactivated website, according to the WayBack Machine website.

Cooke recently criticized Bangstad for a social media post promoting the idea of assassinating Trump, by saying his brewery would provide free beer on the day of his death. Bangstad, who said on May 2 he was launching a run for governor, has endorsed Cooke’s Democratic challenger in the race for the 3rd Congressional District, Emily Berge.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Wayback Machine: Web archive
• Federal Election Commission: Campaign finance report
• Wausau Daily Herald: Duffy challenger drops out; now what?

Did Rebecca Cooke serve as a political consultant for Kirk Bangstad? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Incarcerating someone in Wisconsin correctional institutions costs far more than tuition at a state technical college. 

According to data in a 2025 report to the Legislature, it costs on average $144.88 per day to house someone in an adult corrections facility, or $52,881 a year. Those numbers come from a 2023-24 study, the most recent data available. 

The report notes that some facilities are more expensive than others. The maximum-security Columbia Correctional Institution costs $256.66 per day. The medium-security Stanley Correctional Institution costs $111.94. 

The annual cost of tuition at a Wisconsin technical college for an in-state student is about $4,585, not including books, materials or other related fees, according to the Wisconsin Technical College System website. By comparison, in-state tuition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is $12,166 for the 2025-26 school year, according to the Universities of Wisconsin website.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Legislative Fiscal Bureau: Adult Corrections Program
• Wisconsin Technical College System: Annual cost of tuition and fees
• Universities of Wisconsin: Tuition and fees

Does incarcerating someone in a Wisconsin prison for a year cost more than annual state technical school tuition? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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Climate researchers predict storms that produce golf ball-size or larger hail will become more frequent, thanks to climate change.

According to a 2024 study by Northern Illinois University, a warmer climate increases water vapor in the air, which provides energy for thunderstorms like those seen April 14, 2026, in Wisconsin that produced large hail.

Hail is created when strong updrafts of air are pushed up into the colder atmosphere, freezing water droplets and pushing them around, making the droplets bigger and bigger. Eventually, those hailstones get too heavy and fall to earth. 

“Our study suggests golf ball-size hail or larger will become more common because of more atmospheric instability, which leads to stronger thunderstorm updrafts,” NIU Atmospheric Science Professor Victor Gensini said.

A 2017 study in Nature that looked at historic patterns and forecasts also found hailstone size is expected to increase due to climate change.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Nature journal Climate and Atmospheric Science: Hailstone size dichotomy in a warming climate
• Nature Climate Change: The changing hail threat over North America in response to anthropogenic climate change
• Accuweather: Is climate change making hailstones larger?
• BBC: How climate change is leading to bigger hailstones

Is golf ball-sized hail expected to increase due to climate change? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.