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Update: The city of Wisconsin Rapids announced Aug. 28 that its planning commission on Sept. 16 will hold a hearing and make a recommendation to the city council on the request for a conditional use permit for the proposed data center. 

Editor’s note: A breach-of-contract lawsuit in Pennsylvania against Andrey Sharkov remains pending, but a claim of fraud in the case was dismissed. This story has been updated to note the claim’s dismissal.

No matter where in the U.S. an artificial intelligence data center is proposed, communities express the same worries.

Water scarcity and contamination, electricity rates and reliability, air pollution, noise.

Residents are voicing those same concerns 100 miles north of Madison in Wisconsin Rapids, where developers want to replace a former paper mill with a 210-acre data center. 

But there’s another worry in Rapids that makes the situation different from other Wisconsin communities where data centers have been proposed:

Russians.

“I hear it from other people; people bring it up very often,” data center opponent Mary Olson said.

Ruslan Zinurov, the man who first proposed the data center, was born in Russia.

Anton Voronkin, who has since taken over the project, was born and educated in Russia and worked there for years.

Marissa Johnson, a leader of a group fighting the data center, said that while residents have environmental concerns, the Russian ties are “a sticking point for people.” Some residents don’t say so publicly, out of fear of being perceived as xenophobic, but they worry about the developers’ past business practices, she said.

The questions aren’t limited to whispering.

At public meetings, residents mostly express common fears: How much water will the data center use? Will my electricity rates go up? How can we know it won’t cause air and noise pollution? 

One woman urged city officials to “just do the right damn thing” and find any way to block data centers.

But at a city meeting in July, a woman said a “Russian national” had applied to the city for a permit for the data center.

In August, at a meeting organized by the team proposing the data center, one audience member drew applause from the audience when he said to Voronkin: 

“We like to know who’s running this operation. And from what I understand, you, sir, are not an American citizen; you’re Russian. Am I right or wrong?” 

Voronkin’s reply didn’t seem to satisfy the crowd. “I have worked in many countries overseas,” he said.

Russian born, Green Bay ties

The first record of the data center proposal is an email sent Dec. 16 by Zinurov to Wisconsin Rapids city planner Kyle Kearns. He wrote that he was looking to acquire a site in the city of 19,000 to convert into a data center. 

The location turned out to be part of a former paper mill site near downtown and the Wisconsin River.

Kearns replied the next day, writing: “It is exciting to hear about your interest!”

By February, Zinurov had met with Kearns and Mayor Matt Zacher. He said in an email that he was working to acquire part of the mill site. He wondered if the city could help secure electricity and natural gas for the operation.

The proposal didn’t make news until April, when the city planning commission announced a public hearing on Zinurov’s application for what is known as a conditional use permit.

The 43-year-old Zinurov identified himself as being with California-based Performance Computing Holdings. In a 2020 article about a Zinurov-led investment in Ukraine, Zinurov told the Kyiv Post he was born in Russia, his wife is Ukrainian and he had been living in the U.S. more than 15 years.

He also has Wisconsin ties.

Zinurov’s cellphone number has a 920 area code, which covers Green Bay. According to his LinkedIn profile, he has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, plus a master’s degree in the same subject from the University of California, Berkeley.

Zinurov’s profile also says he founded a company originally known as Consensus Technology Group. In a 2024 interview, he said that company operates data centers in North Dakota, South Dakota, Pennsylvania and Missouri. 

According to news reports, Zinurov also partnered with Chinese tech company Bitmain to convert a former paper mill in Washington state into a cryptocurrency-mining business.

Zinurov declined Wisconsin Watch’s requests for an interview, noting in a text that Voronkin has taken over the Wisconsin Rapids project. 

Zinurov wrote that he “spent a good chunk of my life in Green Bay, so Wisconsin indeed has a special place in my heart. Go Pack.”

New face of the project

As Zinurov has worked behind the scenes, Voronkin, 42, has become the public face of the Rapids proposal.

By early May, a week after Zinurov filed the permit application, city planner Kearns had turned to emailing with Voronkin instead. Kearns noted that Voronkin and one of his team members, former New York City Mayor Eric Adams, had made plans to visit Wisconsin Rapids.

Adams’ background has also riled some residents. While mayor, he was indicted on federal conspiracy charges, which he denied. In April 2025, the charges were dismissed at the request of the U.S. Justice Department.

Voronkin, who was born in Russia, says in his LinkedIn profile that he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in St. Petersburg, Russia. The profile says he worked in commercial development in Russia from 2009 to 2022, when he began development work on Neom, a $500 billion ​mega-project in Saudi Arabia.

The nonprofit group Human Rights Watch reported in December 2024 that Neom workers suffered abuse, such as being paid less than they were promised. The same month, a Wall Street Journal investigation found Neom employees reported incidents of gang rape, suicide, attempted murder and drug dealing on the site. 

In 2026, Voronkin became chief development officer, including for data centers, at PNK Group, a New York-based developer of industrial buildings. 

PNK began operations in Russia around 2003, according to the Scranton Times-Tribune in Pennsylvania, where PNK is proposing a data center. 

Voronkin said at the August meeting in Wisconsin Rapids hosted by his team that PNK “withdrew the brand from Russia in 2024.”

Data center opponent Mike Schmidt, a local attorney, said he doesn’t trust PNK because of Voronkin’s work with Neom and what Schmidt described as corruption allegations against PNK owner Andrey Sharkov.

In two federal court lawsuits over business matters, Sharkov was accused of fraud in Pennsylvania and is the subject of a racketeer/corrupt organization lawsuit in Utah. Both cases are pending, but the fraud allegation in the Pennsylvania case has been dismissed, and Sharkov has denied the allegations.

“It’s not just that they’re Russian, it’s that they’re behaving in a corrupt fashion,” Schmidt said of Voronkin and Sharkov.

Voronkin declined Wisconsin Watch requests for an interview. In messages, he wrote: 

“I am not aware of such concern about my work for Neom. I am proud to be a part of the biggest development in the world and most likely in history. I wish more people had same level of ambitions and could think about the future same way as Neom. There are no corruption charges against Andrey Sharkov.”

He added: 

“I have indeed worked on some unique projects, but I don’t think my background is the most exciting subject for Wisconsin Rapids.”

City nearly poised to act?

Mayor Zacher told Wisconsin Watch that perhaps 15 data center developers and another 15 manufacturers have explored the former mill site but most didn’t move forward. According to his understanding, most data center developers didn’t think enough electricity was available. 

Zacher said he has tried to remain neutral as the current data center proposal has advanced and opposition has increased. The city must consider business proposals based on the project’s merits, not who makes them, he said.

Voronkin’s group has continued to try to build local support, holding a series of four webinars in August.

Zacher said the city is waiting for Voronkin’s group to provide more details on their proposal before it acts on their application for a conditional use permit and indicated the waiting time is limited.

“I would say we don’t want to go months,” he said.

In Wisconsin Rapids, data center objections include developers’ Russian connections 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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Illinoisans and Minnesotans are buying about the same amount of waterfront property in Wisconsin.

A long-running resentment in Wisconsin is how Illinois residents behave when visiting the Badger State. Another common belief is Illinoisans buy up all the vacation property in Wisconsin, particularly near water.

But that’s exaggerated.

Wisconsin Property Map, an independent project, posted an article examining state property transfer records for sales of waterfront property.

The article stated that from 2021 through mid-2026, Minnesotans bought 9.5% of Wisconsin waterfront property, compared with Illinoisans’ 9.4%.

Wisconsin Watch did its own analysis and found nearly the same figures, with Minnesota edging Illinois by no more than 1 percentage point. 

Illinoisans might gain resentment partly because of the type of property they buy. 

They bought 17.6% of every $1 million-plus lakefront sale during the period, according to the article.

This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Milwaukee Magazine: Where Did the Nickname ‘FIB’ Come From?
• Wisconsin Property Map: About Wisconsin Property Map
• Wisconsin Property Map: Are Illinois Residents Really Buying Up Wisconsin's Lakes? We Traced Every Deed
• Wisconsin Watch: Wisconsin home purchasing analysis

Are Illinois residents buying more Wisconsin waterfront property than Minnesota residents? 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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Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley completed an unlikely political comeback in Tuesday’s primary election, narrowly winning Wisconsin’s Democratic nomination for governor after Gov. Tony Evers gave him a late endorsement. 

Crowley will face U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany in November, with President Donald Trump backing the Republican nominee.

The Associated Press declared Crowley the winner at 2:34 a.m. Wednesday, ending a race that remained unsettled deep into the night.

With 98% of the votes tallied, Crowley led Madison state Rep. Francesca Hong by less than half a percentage point —  State Sen. Kelda Roys and former Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan trailed far behind with percentages in the single digits. 

Crowley, who served two terms in the Assembly, often highlighted his experience as Milwaukee County executive as the key difference between himself and his primary opponents. He was elected to lead Wisconsin’s most populous county in 2020 and reelected in 2024. On the campaign trail, Crowley pointed to his ability to work with both Democrats and Republicans to help improve lives in Milwaukee County. He frequently highlighted the 2023 shared revenue law that helped Milwaukee County pay off debts from the pension scandal in the early 2000s. 

Crowley’s revived campaign drew criticism from people who saw his return to the race as efforts by establishment Democrats to stop more progressive candidates, like Hong. Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who had been Hong’s closest competition in polls before he dropped out of the race in July, at the only televised debate called Crowley “revived by special interests.” 

Crowley in recent campaign stops has dismissed the “establishment” label and pointed to his early years growing up in Milwaukee where his parents struggled with mental health issues and addiction and his family faced evictions. 

The 2026 election for governor is an open seat after Evers chose not to run for a third term. It’s the first open governor’s race in the state since 2010 when Gov. Scott Walker ushered in a conservative era during which Republicans dismantled public sector unions, increased pension and health insurance contributions for public employees, cut taxes and enacted gerrymandered legislative maps.

Democrats are hoping to take control of the state Legislature for the first time in 16 years after flipping the state Supreme Court to a liberal majority and enacting bipartisan legislative maps. But even with a legislative majority, the ability to enact Democratic legislation would still run through the governor’s office.

Hong, a democratic socialist, led in the polls for months, and her primary victory seemed all but assured heading into Tuesday. But the close race mirrored a similar battle between establishment Democrats and left-wing activists in the Michigan U.S. Senate primary. Polls showed the left-wing candidate with a double-digit lead heading into last week’s primary, but he only won by 1 percentage point.

Hong had led the Democratic field in five Marquette University Law School polls ahead of the primary. Her rise as a front-runner in the race happened alongside significant democratic socialist candidate wins in states like New York and Colorado. 

Hong, though, faced questions from some Democrats over whether she could win in November. Republicans in recent weeks also seized on Hong’s old social media posts on positions such as defunding the police, abolishing the U.S. Senate and canceling Thanksgiving. Hong spent time in national news interviews during the final week of the primary attempting to walk back those past comments.  

A political comeback

Crowley’s strong showing marks a stunning turnaround for a candidate who polled in single digits before he dropped out of the race in early July. Even in the final Marquette Law School Poll before the election, he only mustered 7% support to 38% for Hong, though 34% were undecided.

Crowley initially ended his campaign after he said he saw both poll and fundraising numbers show momentum for Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez. 

But then Rodriguez dropped out of the race after revelations of issues with her campaign finance reports, which led Crowley to return to the race with a historically rare endorsement from Evers. In the final week of the primary, the two-term governor joined Crowley on the campaign trail to champion Crowley as his successor.

At the Atwood Music Hall in Madison on Tuesday night, Hong’s supporters waited for the results as the loudspeakers pumped in Stevie Wonder, Spice Girls and Chappell Roan. One Hong staffer estimated that a couple hundred people were in attendance, but didn’t have an official number. Reporters and TV cameras packed the balcony. 

Luca Farmer, a 21-year-old Madison resident, cheered and waved a poster reading “Hotties 4 Hong” as CNN results showed the state representative pulling closer to Crowley around 10 p.m. Tuesday. 

Farmer said he had been following the race since Evers chose not to run for reelection last year. He said he voted for Hong because she is “policy first.” 

But Farmer said he did not anticipate Hong and Crowley were going to be as close as they were Tuesday night. 

“My heart is palpitating,” he said. “I did not think it was going to be this close. I was very confident, but I am still confident that we will win.” 

Around 11:20 p.m., Hong walked onstage to address and thank supporters, who erupted in cheers. She acknowledged that the results were not final, but “the fight continues no matter what.” 

“In 11 weeks, no matter who’s on the ballot, y’all, we are going to fight to win for one another,” Hong said as the crowd started a chant of “we will win.” 

“We will win together, united, because everyone who’s running in this race, they know that we can make better possible, and we must make better possible.” 

At the Hyatt Regency in downtown Milwaukee, at least 250 people were spread among two ballrooms and a reception area. Chatter was loud but, as of 11 p.m., few cheers went up — the vote totals simply remained too tight.

Early in the evening, Noel Morales, a 21-year-old Crowley supporter from suburban Milwaukee, expressed confidence about Crowley’s chances. But he worried whether young Hong supporters would back Crowley if Crowley wins the nomination because Crowley has been cast as an establishment Democrat.

It’s a very big “it depends” on whether Democrats can find unity, he said.

The first sustained cheer at the Crowley gathering went up about 11:15 p.m. when a TV station went live from the party. Minutes later, the party went mostly quiet to listen to remarks made by Hong at her gathering. At that point, Crowley had yet to appear before his supporters. 

At midnight, Milwaukee election officials said “human error” would delay ballot counting. At the Crowley party, just as supporters appeared ready to claim victory, the news was deflating. 

“I’m at a loss for words,” said Crowley supporter Angela Hinton of the Milwaukee suburb of Glendale. “With the votes so close, we were on pins and needles. Now this.”

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore told the gathering just after midnight that results were 90 minutes away. “It looks very good, but we have to wait,” she said.

Other results

In other primary results Tuesday, Rebecca Cooke won the Democratic nomination in the 3rd Congressional District for a rematch with Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden. The seat is rated a toss-up and one of two that national Democrats are hoping to flip to retake control of the House.

In the other, the 1st Congressional District in southeast Wisconsin, Mitchell Berman won the Democratic nomination to take on U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil.

Michael Alfonso, the son-in-law of U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, won the Republican nomination in the 7th Congressional District in northern Wisconsin. The Democratic nomination was too close to call, though the seat being vacated by Tiffany leans Republican.

Nic Cravillion, a staffer for Sen. André Jacque, R-New Franken, won the Republican nomination for the 1st Senate District to replace Jacque after his two terms in the Senate. 

Rep. Jenna Jacobson, D-Oregon, won the Democratic nomination in the 17th Senate District to challenge Sen. Howard Marklein in November. Jacobson is supported by the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, which sees this district as a potential flip opportunity. 

Case manager Ismael Luna beat incumbent Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, D-Milwaukee, by a large margin for the Democratic nomination in the 8th Assembly District. Ortiz-Velez had left the Democratic caucus last year after making a gun-related threat to a fellow Democrat. 

In the 21st Assembly District, Oak Creek Mayor Dan Bukiewicz won the Democratic nomination and will now face Republican Carroll University student Dylan Pfaffenbach in the general election. The winner will replace Rep. Jessie Rodriguez, R-Oak Creek, who won by a narrow margin in 2024.

Former Sheboygan Ald. John Belanger won the Republican nomination in the 26th Assembly District and will face Rep. Joe Sheehan, D-Sheboygan.

In the 76th Assembly District, Hong’s district, Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford, a former Madison City Council member, won the nomination. She will face Republican Nina Chat in the general election in the solid Democratic district. If elected Martinez-Rutherford would be the first transgender person elected to the Assembly.

David Crowley caps unlikely comeback with win in Wisconsin Democratic primary for governor 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’s highest income tax rate is 7.65%. 

For individuals, it applies to all taxable annual income above $323,290.

For married taxpayers filing jointly, the threshold is $431,060.

Lower tax rates apply to taxable income below the two thresholds.

A married couple with taxable income of $450,000 would pay the same tax rate on the portion of their income above $431,060 as a billionaire with $50 million in taxable income would pay on the larger portion of their income above that threshold, said Jason Stein, president of the nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum.

The couple and the billionaire would still have different average tax rates because a different share of their taxable income would be taxed at the highest rates, he said. 

Democrats have called for raising the top rate, which ranks 10th highest among the states. Republicans cut the top rate from 7.75% to 7.65% in 2013.

This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Wisconsin Department of Revenue: Tax rates
• WPR: During debate, Democrats running for governor find consensus, avoid attacks
• Intuit Turbo Tax: States with the Lowest Income Taxes and Highest Income Taxes
• Nerd Wallet: California State Income Tax Guide for 2026
• Minnesota Department of Revenue: Income Tax Rates and Brackets
• Wisconsin Policy Forum: Wisconsin Tax Burden Remains at Record Low as Incomes Rise
• Tax Foundation: State Individual Income Tax Rates and Brackets, 2026
• Wisconsin Department of Revenue: Improving Wisconsin's Tax Climate

Is Wisconsin’s income tax rate the same for people earning $400,000 annually as it is for billionaires? 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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It didn’t get much attention at the time, but last fall an out-of-state developer proposed an artificial intelligence data center 35 miles north of Madison in Columbia County.

At $10 billion, it would have been the third-largest data center to come to Wisconsin.

The Maryland-based Stonebridge real estate development company isn’t saying why it stopped exploring a site in Pacific, a town of about 2,800 people. 

But town chair Steven Pate told Wisconsin Watch there was no follow-up after he told Stonebridge executive Douglas Firstenberg that the proposal would have to be aired publicly.

“You’re going to talk to me, you’re going to talk to all five (town board members) and it’s going to be a public meeting,” Pate said he recalled telling Firstenberg in what he said was their only conversation.

The first mention of the possible data center came last November in a local news report about a solar farm. Columbia County planning director Kurt Calkins said in the article that a developer was exploring a $10 billion data center in Pacific with 400 permanent jobs and an opening in 2027.

Nothing more ever became public.

Here’s the rest of the story.

Madison real estate attorney Kevin Ramakrishna made the first contact with Columbia County last August, according to emails Wisconsin Watch obtained from the county under the state public records law. 

Ramakrishna, who represented Stonebridge, wrote that he and Firstenberg first met with county officials in October. 

The next month, according to Ramakrishna, Firstenberg met with Pate.

The Pacific town clerk said she had no emails related to any data center.

Stonebridge has since accelerated its involvement with data centers in other parts of the country.

The company is promoting its plans for a $15 billion, 569-acre complex on the site of a former dynamite factory northwest of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. And it has won initial approval for a $2.6 billion, 1,300-acre data center in Fort Meade, near Tampa, Florida.

Firstenberg and Ramakrishna didn’t reply to requests for comment. 

Calkins said the county hasn’t heard from Stonebridge in months.

Although Stonebridge’s interest appears dead, Columbia County is bracing for more data center proposals.

Columbia County Board Supervisor Denise Brusveen introduced a policy change, adopted by the board in July, that prohibits supervisors from signing nondisclosure agreements regarding data centers.

The use of data center NDAs by local communities was revealed by Wisconsin Watch in January.

“I wanted to be very clear to the public that they should be able to trust us,” Brusveen said.

A $10 billion data center proposal vanished after a local official told the developer the process would have to unfold in public 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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Earlier this year, the Madison suburb of DeForest abruptly rejected a $12 billion, 1,600-acre data center amid mounting public opposition.

In doing so, the village of 12,000 also turned down wide-ranging public benefits that some experts say could be a model for what communities can demand from hyperscale data center projects.

Wisconsin Watch reported in January that DeForest and other communities around the state had, for months, secretly worked on proposals for billion-dollar data centers before informing the public.

The day after the report, DeForest officials announced the project was “no longer viable.”

The retreat was a response to a swell of opposition fueled by outright objections to data centers, misinformation about their impact and anger over the proposal being kept quiet. 

Amid the controversy, little attention was paid to an agreement the village had negotiated with Virginia-based QTS Data Centers.

Here’s some of what the community could have received if the data center had come to fruition:

• A guaranteed amount of taxable property value for the data center of $1.2 billion, which would be worth an estimated $12 million annually in property tax payments to the village, schools and other taxing bodies.

• Tens of millions of dollars in payments toward the village’s signature natural feature, the Yahara River, as well as for affordable housing and other needs.

• Protections for nearby property owners and electricity ratepayers.

“You’re not seeing these in other development agreements,” said Tyler Byrnes, a researcher at the nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum.

Local governments throughout Wisconsin, even where data centers have not been proposed, are adopting data center moratoriums. At the same time, data center development proposals are being considered in communities such as Kenosha, Menomonie, Wisconsin Rapids and Rock County.

Even though no data center was built in DeForest, the village’s agreement could offer guidance for future data center deals in Wisconsin.

‘Best package’

QTS’ proposal drew opposition because data centers have become inherently controversial, but also because DeForest would have had to annex 1,600 acres from the neighboring town of Vienna. Moreover, there was backlash to the news that DeForest staff were meeting with QTS representatives and Alliant Energy as early as March 2025 — seven months before announcing the proposal.

Three weeks before dropping the project, DeForest announced it had reached a pre-annexation agreement with QTS that put more than a dozen requirements on the developer.

“It’s our job to provide the best package that we can get from our development, to benefit the population and the village,” village Administrator Bill Chang recently told Wisconsin Watch.

The provisions are wide-ranging. Here’s an overview:

Guaranteed assessed value of at least $1.2 billion for 15 years 

QTS would have had to pay property taxes based on at least that amount, even if the actual valuation were lower. The village estimated that QTS would pay $12 million annually to local jurisdictions by 2031 and that over 15 years, a home with an assessed value of $400,000 would save $1,772 per year in property taxes.

“The tax benefits are big,” said professor Ross Milton, a local government tax expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Milton said the guarantee means that even if the data center’s property valuation didn’t reach $1.2 billion, the village would still receive the amount of property tax revenue as if it did, though other local taxing bodies would not.

Pay $50 million for community infrastructure

That funding would have included $100,000 annually for 15 years for preservation, restoration and other improvements for the Yahara River; paying $1.5 million toward a planned $15 million interstate interchange; contributing $200,000 annually for five years to the village’s affordable housing program; and creating a community solar energy project to help homeowners. 

Pay for public infrastructure

QTS would have paid for all public infrastructure improvements serving the data center, including water, sewer lines and roads.

The deal included on top of that a $1 million payment for a sewer main extension, completed in 2024, that would have served the data center.

Another provision would have paid for any police, fire and EMS vehicles and equipment necessary to address needs caused by the development. The developer also offered to provide emergency services, including an ambulance, to the development site for five years after signing of the agreement so as not to draw away from existing community services.

Also covered were planning and design of a public transit connection from DeForest to Madison and operation of the transit line during construction, as well as an alternative snowmobile trail through the property.

The developer also would have had to reimburse the village for water, sewer and stormwater expenses that would otherwise cause general rate increases. And QTS would have paid to install a wastewater monitoring station to measure effluent discharged from the data center. 

“QTS wanted to work with us,” Chang said. “They were willing to play ball, per se, to get into a position where it would make sense for the village to approve an annexation.”

Pay for power infrastructure

QTS would have paid for all improvements to electric power infrastructure needed to serve the data center without — subject to state regulation — affecting existing ratepayers.

The agreement included a commitment that the data center would draw 45% of its energy from solar, wind or other renewable resources. The agreement noted the developer had bought 750 megawatts of renewable energy credits for the project.

Protecting neighbors

The agreement would have committed the developer to repairing or replacing private wells, or connecting a home to municipal water, within a quarter-mile of the data center if the data center construction or operation contaminated the wells.

QTS also would have committed to buying residential properties within a quarter-mile of the data center if the property “is materially adversely affected by noise, vibration, private water supply contamination or other negative impacts” from the data center.

The purchase price would have been no less than 110% of the property’s assessed value.

Democratic candidates for governor have called for gaining benefits in data center deals. One of them, state Sen. Kelda Roys of Madison, supports creating a state team of experts to help communities negotiate with data center developers.

Reclaiming the site

If the DeForest center had been built but later stopped operating, the deal would have allowed the village to reclaim the site. Then the village would have been able to sell or lease the property or demolish the buildings on it.

QTS “did communicate that they are long-term-involved in their facilities and that they have, as one of their priorities, to be a good community partner,” said village Community Development Director Alex Allon.

One of the proposal’s opponents, former Vienna town board member Shawn Haney, said he had urged village staff to be more precise on some requirements of QTS, but that the staff “were definitely doing their homework and they had some good ideas in there. The concept behind it was good.”

No tax incremental financing

The agreement doesn’t include a tax incremental district, a common tax break that commits future property taxes from a land parcel’s anticipated increase in value to finance a proposed development. 

That “makes the proposal abundantly better” for residents, said Prescott Balch, who is sought out as an expert by data center opponents around Wisconsin.

The difference is that while a property is in a TID, it isn’t counted in the total value of the village’s property for tax purposes and therefore doesn’t lower taxes on other property owners until the TID is closed, Byrnes said.

Nevertheless, the sheer opposition to the data center far overshadowed what was in the pre-annexation agreement. The village never took a vote on annexation, which would have required support from a supermajority of the board.

“The politics got too loud too fast,” Chang said.

Looking ahead

In contrast, the local government agreements covering the three data centers under construction in Wisconsin, in Beaver Dam, Mount Pleasant and Port Washington, use tax incremental districts. 

None of them includes the wide-ranging community investments and protections that DeForest negotiated. 

Other communities around the U.S. are negotiating deals similar to DeForest’s. In Pennsylvania, for example, a developer seeking local approval of a data center has offered $165 million, including $10,000 payments to homeowners.

UW-Madison professor Anna Haensch, who researches data center policy, said DeForest’s agreement contains some elements in what are typically contained in more formal “community benefit agreements” — provisions that local governments seek as part of the process of approving a data center. 

She and UW colleagues are working on a framework that local governments could use for negotiations.

“Community benefit agreements are not yet the norm, but I think they should be and I think they will be,” Haensch said.

“When you’re in a tough position in life, knowing what you can ask for is half the battle.”

Guaranteed tax revenue, river funding, affordable housing: What DeForest negotiated before a data center deal collapsed  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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For six months now, Wisconsin Watch has made a concerted effort to report on data centers. We’re publishing major stories at WisconsinWatch.org and, each Monday, we provide data center news nuggets in our Forward newsletter (subscribe here).

Here’s a month-by-month summary of what we’ve reported.

January: Wisconsin Watch revealed that officials in at least four Wisconsin communities (the number has since grown) signed nondisclosure agreements that hid details of billion-dollar data center proposals from the public.

February: We detailed how a $1 billion data center is being proposed for Grant County in the Driftless Area of southwest Wisconsin.

March: In a sign of the impact of artificial intelligence data centers, we reported that just three Wisconsin companies have done more than $1 billion in business supplying the facilities. We also disclosed more NDAs and other ways local governments have tried to keep data center details secret.

April: We were the first to report on an official estimate that state government will forgo $2 billion in revenue because of a sales tax exemption for data centers that was adopted in 2023.

June: We spent months gathering behind-the-scenes details on what happened to the Driftless Area proposal.

July: We detailed how land sales for the data center under construction in Port Washington turned homeowners and farmers into millionaires and, in some cases, created generation-changing wealth.

More stories are in the works. 

If you have suggestions for future data center coverage, please let me know: tkertscher@wisconsinwatch.org.

The public demanded data center news, and Wisconsin Watch is delivering 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 state government is not spending $2 billion on data centers.

The campaign website of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong stated that Wisconsin is “spending over $2 billion in public money” on data centers “this year.”  

The statement linked to a Wisconsin Watch news article, which is based on a Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo.

The article made clear that the $2 billion is forgone revenue, not an expenditure. The LFB estimated the state will forgo $2 billion in revenue over a period of years because data centers are exempt from paying state sales tax.

It’s unclear whether the three artificial intelligence data centers under construction in Wisconsin would have been built without the tax incentive, which most states offer.

Some states are rolling back the exemptions or imposing requirements for receiving them.

Texas’ Republican governor has called for elimination; Ohio’s GOP governor and Arizona’s 2027 budget paused exemptions.

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

Sources

• FrancescaHong.com: Data Centers and AI
• Wisconsin Watch: Wisconsin data center tax break to cost state more than $2 billion
• Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau: Sales Tax Exemption for WEDC Certified Data Centers
• Wisconsin Department of Revenue: Qualified Data Center Exemption
• Texas Tribune: Abbott recommends sweeping data center regulation, including eliminating sales tax exemption
• Ohio Governor's Office: Governor DeWine Announces Pause of Data Center Tax Exemption
• Bloomberg Tax: Arizona Data Center Tax Incentive Pause Signed by Governor Hobbs

Is Wisconsin state government spending $2 billion on data centers? 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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Generally it’s legal in 38 states, including Wisconsin, to record a conversation between two parties if at least one of them consents.

It generally would not be legal for a third party to record a conversation between two people, unless one of the two consented.

There are exceptions, said Wisconsin attorney Maxted Lenz. For example, two people talking loudly on a public bus don’t have an expectation of privacy. If a third party recorded them, it would not violate Wisconsin’s one-party law.

The law is not clear if a person in a one-party state wants to record a call with a person in a two-party state.

The Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press says reporters should assume that the two-party state law applies.

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

Sources

• Recording Law: One-Party Consent States: Complete 2026 Guide
• Wisconsin State Legislature: Interception and disclosure of wire, electronic or oral communications prohibited
• Wisconsin Bar Association: Wisconsin Formal Ethics Opinion EF-24-01: Recording Others Without Disclosure or Consent
• Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press: Wisconsin Reporter's Recording Guide
• Recording Law: Wisconsin Recording Laws (2026): One-Party Consent Rules
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Is it legal to record a conversation without the other person knowing in Wisconsin?

In most states, including Wisconsin, is it legal to record a conversation without the other person’s consent? 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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Whether artificial intelligence data centers are essential to modern life, an existential threat or something in between, one impact is clear:

As they pave over homes and farmland, they are minting millionaires — and even generation-changing wealth.

In Wisconsin, the clearest example is in Port Washington, a city of 13,000 north of Milwaukee where a 672-acre data center is under construction. 

Some land deals were eye-popping, according to public records analyzed by Wisconsin Watch:

• Members of the Karrels family and their family farming business earned at least $20 million. The largest sale was $10.2 million for 173 acres, or $59,000 per acre, 17 times the fair market value of $590,000.

• Members of the Schlenvogt family, which has a long history in local government, sold properties for well above fair market value. Bonnie Schlenvogt sold her Lake Drive home and 65 acres for $3.44 million, nearly eight times the fair market value of $437,000. Her daughter-in-law, former Town of Port Washington Clerk Jennifer Schlenvogt, sold her nearly 3,000-square-foot Lake Drive home for $1.87 million, more than four times the fair market value. 

• A couple in their 60s, Peter and Ellie Burmesch, sold their 2,000-square-foot Tudor Revival on five acres for $2.13 million — seven times the estimated fair market value. 

• An adult group home with a fair market value of $320,700 sold for $6.5 million. Part of the deal involves relocating the facility. 

Those sellers declined to comment. 

Mayor Ted Neitzke, the data center’s most prominent supporter, said sellers fear being targeted by facility opponents.

“There’s a vocal minority that’s decided it needs to be louder,” he said. “That’s uncomfortable for (sellers) and they’re just not going to engage in it.”

Neitzke said the sellers are humble and not looking for publicity.

“They woke up one day and they just happened to live in the right spot.”

Port different from other data centers

Nationally, data center developers are willing to overpay for land near electric power and to beat competitors in what has turned into a land rush.

In Wisconsin, besides the Vantage-Oracle-Open AI $15 billion project in Port Washington, Microsoft is building a $20 billion data center in Mount Pleasant and Meta is building a $1 billion facility in Beaver Dam.

In Mount Pleasant, 25 miles south of Milwaukee in Racine County, most of the land had already been purchased by the village for a project launched by Foxconn that never fully developed. Racine County property sales records suggest Microsoft spent roughly $260 million on land alone. 

In Beaver Dam, 40 miles northeast of Madison in Dodge County, the data center is located on 520 acres that were previously part of the Alliant Energy Commerce Park. Meta paid roughly at least $10.4 million for the land. Dodge County property sale records indicate that the tech giant purchased at least another 226 acres in Beaver Dam and neighboring Trenton from private landowners.

In Port Washington, on Lake Michigan’s shore in Ozaukee County, developers made big purchases from individuals. County property sale records show developers spent at least $125 million acquiring 1,500 acres of land or more.

Unhappy sellers

The windfall might have been welcomed by some sellers in Port Washington, but not others.

Ryan Nowak sold his 65-acre Lake Drive property for $1.75 million — over $1.3 million more than fair market value. But now, living on a 1.5-acre property about 10 miles north of Port Washington, he regrets it.

Nowak recalled that, before hiring an attorney, he signed documents that he said prevented him from discussing sale offers with his neighbors.

“On paper it looked OK, until you go to replace what you had,” Nowak said. “I don’t even have a fraction of what I had and it’s not like I have a ton more money left over or anything. I don’t know. I upgraded. What I have now is nicer, but it’s a fraction of the size of a property and buildings and everything else.”

Curtiss Smith also said there are misconceptions about his new wealth.

“People that weren’t part of it, they’re like, ‘Oh, now you’re a millionaire,’” he said. “Far from it.”

Smith, a 53-year-old crane operator, remembers the developer’s agent telling him his property would sell for three times the value of his four-acre property. 

Sure enough, the property with a fair market value of $258,000 sold last August for $895,000.

The transaction left Smith appreciative but, having negotiated the deal alone, feeling some of his neighbors did better.

“After the fact, you hear what everybody else got,” he said. “You’re like, what the heck? Why did I sign so early, you know?”

Smith said the data center would have practically been in his backyard had he not sold. But, having bought a farmhouse a mile away, he still sees the data center every day. 

Residents like Amanda Mueller — who live near the data center, but not close enough to get a purchase offer — are unhappy, too. They worry whether the project will cause environmental problems and bleed their property values.

“For all the people that moved here, for the tranquil beauty, the silence,” Mueller lamented. “It just seems so absurd now to look back at it and go, ‘Oh, God, if only we had a crystal ball. If only we knew.’

“I don’t think this town is ready for the culture change that’s going to happen,” she said. “So we’re looking at the future that’s really uncertain. And unfortunately, we’re trapped in the shadow of this thing.”

In a Wisconsin land rush, data centers made them millionaires 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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By a traditional count, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections accounts for about 28.5% of state employees, according to the 2025-27 state budget.

The total number of full-time-equivalent positions in state government is 74,426.

But that includes 38,239 Universities of Wisconsin positions. 

UW employees, who are funded largely by federal funding, tuition and other revenue, typically are excluded from such counts.

Excluding UW employees, the state FTE total is 36,187.

Corrections’ 10,328 positions account for 28.5% of that.

The next-largest departments are Health Services (6,741 positions) and Transportation (3,258).

Wisconsin Watch reported in May that Wisconsin’s prison population is heading toward a record high, with women’s prisons 78% over capacity and men’s facilities 30% over capacity.

Wisconsin Watch’s prison tracker shows that as of May 1, the adult prison population was 23,577. The record of 23,826 was set in 2019.

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

Sources

• Legislative Fiscal Bureau: Comparative Summary of Provisions: 2025 Wisconsin Act 15
• Wisconsin Watch: Wisconsin’s prison population is heading toward a record high. Track the trend here.
• Wisconsin Watch: Wisconsin prison population tracker

Do more than a quarter of Wisconsin state employees work for the Corrections Department? 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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Even for a guy like Ron Brisbois, whose job is to cultivate prosperity, a data center proposed for Wisconsin’s Driftless Area was too big to imagine.

Nothing like this had come along in Brisbois’ quarter-century as economic development director in rural Grant County. An up to $2 billion project spanning 500 acres would be at least three times larger — in dollars and space — than any development in the county.

The construction contracts. Dozens of new permanent jobs. Millions of extra tax revenue for schools and local government. This is what economic development is all about.

For months, the out-of-state developers pitching the data center spoke repeatedly with Brisbois. They toured the county in Wisconsin’s southwest corner. They visited Madison to discuss details with state officials. 

Their talk was big. 

But Brisbois never dug into the developers’ backgrounds.

Then, as if someone flipped a switch, they stopped returning his calls.

Now, a project that would have been historically transformational — and was already highly controversial — is all but dead.

Drawing on two months of behind-the-scenes interviews Wisconsin Watch conducted with Brisbois, here’s the behind-the-scenes story of the rise and fall of a data center proposal. 

Out for a drive

Brisbois first heard about the data center last fall. A colleague told him the developers were scouting northern Illinois for a cryptocurrency project when they drove across the border into Grant County and looked up to see the Cardinal-Hickory Creek transmission line. It delivers electricity along a 100-mile corridor from Dubuque County, Iowa, through Cassville in Grant County, to Dane County. 

The developers quickly surmised that with access to the kind of power that artificial intelligence data centers desperately need, the town of Cassville (population 400) could be ideal.

“There’s a chunk of power there, Ron, and we need to grab it before someone else does,” Brisbois recalled the developers saying. “If we don’t, someone else will.”

Brisbois’ reaction: “Well, why shouldn’t we?” 

The median $67,000 household income among Grant County’s 52,000 residents is $10,000 below the state median; 12% live in poverty.

Brisbois said he initially felt curiosity, not excitement, “because I never would have thought a project like that would look at this area.”

The two-man team included a businessman from the Northeast and a technical expert from the South. 

Even now, citing a custom of confidentiality common to economic development proposals, Brisbois won’t identify them. 

The man for the job?

Early in his career, not long after working in economic development for the former state Department of Commerce, Brisbois yearned to bring jobs and industry to his home area.

Married with two grown daughters, Brisbois, 60, grew up on a southwest Wisconsin dairy farm and still does a little farming of his own. After six years in the state job, he became executive director of the Grant County Economic Development Corp. in 1999. A resident of Ithaca in Richland County, which borders Grant, he’s a former Ithaca School Board member and currently serves on the town board.

“I’ve had multiple staff, people from multiple governors tell me, ‘Ron, we love what you do, but we like to see these projects done in Milwaukee, Madison or the Fox Valley,’” he said. 

“And that’s because of votes. And I get it. I’m not naive. I mean, people want to get reelected. They want to have their impact. And I appreciate it. But things like that really motivated me. It’s like, what could I do out there (in the Driftless)?”

First meeting, excitement builds

Brisbois began work in earnest on the project Nov. 6. He gave the developers a book of maps, noting where the transmission line runs. He emailed Grant County Board chair Bob Keeney, saying he would meet the next week with a “data center prospect who is flying in from Rhode Island.” 

Keeney called the news exciting.

“My meeting is the first of the day for them,” Brisbois told Keeney. “Then they meet with the energy reps. Land is my primary assignment, plus they want to know about the political feel for such a project.”

The meeting, requested by the developers, was at Scenic Rivers Energy Cooperative in Lancaster, the county seat. Because of a storm on the East Coast, they drove instead of flying. 

“It was about a less than a half-hour meeting,” Brisbois recalled. “And I just said, ‘What are you guys thinking?’ And that’s where they started talking about a hyperscale project.”

“It was more of just feeling them out,” he added. “OK, what scale? And that’s where they talked about $1 billion to $2 billion. And they started to talk in the 500-acre range.”

They understood there would be a lot of work to confirm that enough power would be available.

The developers were also considering sites in Indiana and North Dakota. They didn’t ask about financial incentives, but wondered what the public might think about a data center. Brisbois told them residents would want to know about jobs, but he emphasized more local tax revenue. The developers had seen a headline in the Grant County Herald Independent about local schools and municipalities struggling with budgets.

Momentum built after more conversations with the developers.

Brisbois began to let himself feel excited.

“I was (thinking): OK, there’s potential here.”

Going public, progress continues

Brisbois went public a month after the first meeting. He announced Dec. 3 at the annual meeting of the Grant County Economic Development Corp. that a $1 billion data center had been proposed for the county. The Herald Independent reported on it a week later. 

It would be three times or more larger than the largest development in the county, A.Y. McDonald’s $350 million, 100-acre foundry. 

Brisbois said the developers later asked, “How did this get out?” He told them he wanted to be transparent. 

“I’m sure my (economic development) colleagues would have said, ‘You were a fool to do it. I would never have released that information.’” 

But progress continued.

Brisbois met again in early February at Scenic Rivers with the developers. 

“It was more of, you start getting into the brass tacks of the project. The formality kind of is done. You’ve met them, now you’re on a first-name basis, that type of thing.”

Brisbois was also encouraged by a virtual meeting he had in February, the same month that officials two hours away in Beaver Dam announced they were working to land a $1 billion data center, which is now under construction. The meeting was with Prescott Balch, who has been sought out by data center opponents around Wisconsin for his expertise. Balch confirmed that he agreed that Brisbois’ estimate of 50 permanent jobs seemed solid.

“If I start talking 50 jobs, that’s a big deal in Grant County,” Brisbois said.

And yet, the developers never told Brisbois where exactly in the county they wanted to locate.

Opposition takes hold

People in Grant County have particular affection for being part of the Driftless Area, with its rugged hills and steep valleys, the result of being missed by the last glacier that covered most of Wisconsin. They worry about too much development.

Data center opponents began mobilizing early in 2026, but interest peaked March 8, when hundreds attended a rally featuring comedian Charlie Berens. The efforts of Pete Moris and Melodie Betts were beginning to pay off.

Moris, a public relations executive and Grant County native, has a son Grant, named after the county. He believes the data center would be too large for the Driftless Area and fears it would harm water wells.

Moris recalled the December newspaper story about Brisbois announcing the proposal. 

“That set off alarm bells because if Ron’s talking about it in the paper, then this had to be in the works for a while,” Moris said. “And the fact that we weren’t being told who the developer was and who the end user is, that’s scary.” 

Betts, a restaurant owner who drinks only reverse osmosis-purified water, also worries a data center would harm the water supply and attract more development.

“If we don’t stop this now, we’re going to lose everything that’s precious in the Driftless Area,” she said. “You let one in, you open up the door.”

Progress and optimism rise

As opponents claimed the spotlight, the developers seemed to back off. 

About a week after the Berens rally, the developers called Brisbois out of the blue. “That was unusual,” Brisbois recalled.

They said a potential operator of the data center had asked about incentives, including a tax increment district (TID).

A TID is a common tax break that commits future property taxes from a land parcel’s anticipated increase in value to finance a proposed development.

Brisbois said he told the developers he didn’t think a TID would be legally possible for a town. He said he thought that not offering the tax break would appeal to residents, but sensed the developers disagreed.

“I don’t think they saw it as that,” he said. “After that, dead quiet.” 

Brisbois followed up with two calls, leaving messages — but, for the first time, got no response. 

They had always been “very prompt,” he said.

Then the developers reengaged.

They flew to Chicago and drove to Madison to meet with Brisbois and the Department of Natural Resources on March 19. They discussed state regulatory issues such as permits for air, water, wetlands and other issues. The developers emerged “feeling very good,” even as they began to hear the approval process would be time consuming, Brisbois said. In later phone calls, the developers were enthused that the data center might qualify for a state sales tax exemption.

That exemption is expected to be worth billions of dollars to data centers around the state.

By early April, Brisbois was confident enough to release more details, including an estimate that the data center would produce $5.5 million per year in property tax revenue to municipalities and school districts in Grant County. He said he had received fewer than five phone calls or emails opposing the data center, which had been “demonized” through social media, and dozens of supportive contacts, particularly from the local school district.

Keeney called local data center supporters “a silent majority.”

Brisbois also was optimistic because he felt he provided the developers what they needed. It was up to them to proceed with financing and acquiring land.

“From my perspective, they should have all that they need to put their ducks in a row,” he recalled. “I don’t know then why they wouldn’t proceed in Grant County.” 

Brisbois had rated the chances of getting the data center as 1-in-12 after his first meeting with the developers, then 1-in-6 after the second meeting.

On April 6, he said it was better than a coinflip. “I would say right now, it’s leaning towards.”

‘Dead quiet’ and a town residents uprising

It didn’t take long for that optimism to fade.

Data center opponents had been contacting Brisbois’ board members, so he emailed them April 14. He tried to rebut claims about water and electricity use and emphasized the jobs and property tax revenue. “This data center project is going to be located somewhere,” he wrote. “If it’s going to be somewhere, it should be here.”

But asked the next day if there had been more progress with the developers, Brisbois said: “It’s gone dead quiet.” He adjusted the chances of landing the data center back to less than 50-50. 

“I don’t know that I’ve ever had one (developer), after they were hot to trot, and then they went cold, and then they come back and they’re hot to trot,” he said, admitting that despite his optimistic nature, he was a bit deflated. “I don’t think I’ve ever had one of those yet. But we’ll see.”

Meanwhile, the opposition was doing more than rallying.

In Cassville, home to Nelson Dewey State Park, named after Wisconsin’s first governor and a longtime Grant County resident, the town board approved a data center moratorium. That was significant for a town that previously had no zoning regulation.

Following Cassville’s lead, several Grant County towns and the County Board adopted data center moratoriums. Lawmakers proposed legislation for statewide regulation. The state Public Service Commission moved to require data centers to pay the cost of generating and transmitting the electricity they would need. And gubernatorial candidates from both parties were vowing to protect communities from data centers.

Meanwhile, Brisbois continued to call the developers, with no luck. His daughters told Brisbois they were “ghosting” him — like a person who doesn’t want to go on a second date.

“When people go quiet like this, it’s an indicator to me that the project is not moving forward, or at least their interest is waning,” Brisbois said in late-April. 

“Historically, that has been a very common practice in my industry. They just fade away.”

Brisbois admitted he was turning more attention to other projects and feeling disappointed.

“I put a lot of time into this and lost a lot of sleep over it,” he said at the time. “It stings a bit. I don’t know that it’s done-done. But I’m pretty calloused over by now.”

‘Very little due diligence’

Brisbois acknowledged he did “very little due diligence” into the developers, saying he had limited ability to background check out-of-state residents.

He said that left him feeling vulnerable.

“I’m making a leap of faith,” he said. “But I do that all the time. I’m assuming that a business has the financial means to pull this off.”

“It’s not my job to really scrutinize — OK, you’re a good candidate versus … you’re not qualified,” he continued. “I don’t necessarily have the resources to do that, I’m a one-person show.”

By late May, the proposal seemed like only a memory. No return phone calls. Nothing scheduled, even as opponents continued public protests.

It’s possible the developers will never announce whether or where they’re building a data center. But Brisbois expressed no regrets.

“I felt that the project certainly has its merits,” he said, “and certainly was worth pursuing.”

A $2 billion proposal, then silence: How a Driftless Area data center deal fell apart 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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Two 2025 studies found the majority of calories consumed by U.S. residents comes from ultraprocessed foods.

From August 2021 to August 2023, the mean percentage of total calories consumed from ultraprocessed foods among people age 1 and older was 55%, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

Top sources included sandwiches, sweet bakery products, savory snacks and sweetened beverages.

Ultraprocessed foods typically are low in dietary fiber, contain little or no whole foods and have high amounts of additives like salt, sweeteners and unhealthy fats, the CDC said.

From 2003 to 2018, over 50% of the calories consumed by adults age 20 and up were from ultraprocessed foods, according to a study led by Johns Hopkins University researchers.

University of Wisconsin-Madison nutritional sciences professor Beth Olson recommends choosing foods lower in added sugars, sodium and saturated fats, and higher in dietary fiber and whole food ingredients.

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

Sources

• National Center for Health Statistics Ultra-processed Food Consumption in Youth and Adults: United States, August 2021–August 2023
• The Journal of Nutrition Trends in Adults’ Intake of Un-processed/Minimally Processed, and Ultra-processed foods at Home and Away from Home in the United States from 2003–2018
• University of Wisconsin-Madison Nutritional Sciences Ultra-Processed Foods
• Newswise It May Not Just Be What’s in Ultra-Processed Foods, But How They’re Made
• JAMA Trends in Consumption of Ultraprocessed Foods Among US Youths Aged 2-19 Years, 1999-2018
• American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Ultra-processed food consumption among US adults from 2001 to 2018

Do over half of calories consumed by Americans come from ultraprocessed foods? 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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We found no authoritative estimate that the number of Ku Klux Klan members in Wisconsin in the 1920s was 40,000.

That’s the current population of Wausau in central Wisconsin.

“No one knows for sure how many Americans joined during the 1920s but the best estimates are around 2 million members, some 15,000 of whom were in Wisconsin,” according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

That’s the size of the Milwaukee suburb of Whitefish Bay.

The KKK is a white supremacist hate group originally formed in the South after the Civil War.

Two Wisconsin KKK researchers said the 15,000 estimate is reasonable: Stephen Kantrowitz of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, author of a report on KKK activity on the campus; and Michael Jacobs of UW-Platteville.

As of 2024, the Southern Poverty Law Center counted 13 KKK groups in the U.S., mostly in the South and none in Wisconsin.

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

Sources

• Britannica: Ku Klux Klan
• University of Wisconsin-Madison history professor Stephen Kantrowitz: Email
• University of Wisconsin-Madison Ad-Hoc Study Group: Report to the Chancellor on the Ku Klux Klan at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
• University of Wisconsin-Platteville history and social sciences professor Michael Jacobs: Email
• Southern Poverty Law Center: Ku Klux Klan

Did Wisconsin have more than 40,000 KKK members in the 1920s?  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 2025 total compensation of WEC Energy Group CEO Scott Lauber was $12 million.

That’s down from the $18 million paid in 2020 to WEC’s then-CEO, Kevin Fletcher.

WEC, the largest Wisconsin-based utility company, is the parent company of We Energies and other electric and gas utilities in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota.

Former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, one Democrat running for governor, said utility “CEO pay” had increased from $4 million to $12 million. His campaign said Barnes was referring to Lauber.

Lauber’s total compensation was $4 million in 2020. But he was senior executive vice president, not CEO.

Nationally, the average total compensation for utility CEOs in 2025 was $12 million, up 47% since 2017. The top earner was the CEO of Ohio-based American Electric Power, at $36 million. That $12 million, as a median, was the lowest among all industry sectors.

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

Sources

• Energy Policy Institute: Utility Executive Compensation
• Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance: CEO Pay Study
• AFL-CIO: Executive Pay Watch
• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: WEC Energy Group 2021 proxy statement
• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: WEC Energy Group 2026 proxy statement
• WEC Energy Group: About us

Did compensation for the CEO of Wisconsin’s largest utility company triple in five years to $12 million? 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 median price of a Wisconsin home has increased significantly in the past few years, but it has not doubled.

Median means half the sale prices were higher and half were lower.

The latest full-year figures: 

2025: $325,000

2024: $310,000

2023: $285,000

2022: $265,000

The 2025 median was 23% higher than in 2022.

In each of the first three months of 2026, the median price was higher year-over-year compared with 2025.

The last time the median decreased was in 2011.

Experts say the COVID-19 pandemic and a 2022 interest rate spike in 2022 caused homeowners to postpone or cancel plans to sell. The smaller supply pushed prices higher.

Also, construction costs have risen and new home building has not kept pace with population increases.

In 2023, the Republican-led Legislature and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers allocated $500 million toward loan programs aimed at creating affordable housing.

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

Sources

• Wisconsin Realtors Association: Wisconsin Housing Statistics, as of April 27, 2026
• Wisconsin Policy Forum: Home Prices Outpace Incomes
• Wisconsin Watch: Wisconsin faces a housing affordability crisis. Here’s how lawmakers and candidates for governor plan to address it.
• Kurt Paulsen, University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of urban planning Email

Have Wisconsin home prices doubled in the last three years? 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 in 2023 exempted data centers from the sales tax. A new estimate finds that means the state is missing out on more than $2 billion in revenue from massive data centers under construction.

• The estimate does not include related sales tax and other revenue the state is collecting as a result of the construction.

• Other states, including Minnesota, are starting to pull back on tax incentives for data centers as public opposition grows.

Wisconsin is poised to forgo more than $2 billion in sales tax revenue to subsidize hyperscale data centers built by trillion-dollar companies such as Microsoft and Meta.

Data centers were granted a sales tax exemption in the 2023-25 state budget, which was approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers as a way to attract economic development to the state. 

That means the $1 billion data center in Beaver Dam, a $20 billion complex in Mount Pleasant and a $15 billion facility in Port Washington don’t have to pay the 5% state sales tax, or local sales taxes, on purchases for constructing and equipping their facilities.

When the budget passed in July 2023, the scale of the data center boom was so uncertain that the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau did not estimate how much state revenue would be “forgone” under the exemption, aside from a hypothetical example.

But now a fiscal bureau projection is in:

The state will be out $1.5 billion in forgone state sales tax revenue during construction, which can take years, plus $369 million annually once the facilities are built.

The estimates apply to the hyperscale data centers under construction in Beaver Dam and Port Washington and the facilities under construction or planned in Mount Pleasant. A much smaller Epic project in Verona is also part of the estimate.

It’s unclear whether the data centers would have been built in Wisconsin without the tax incentive.

“Obviously it’s a big number, but it’s right to think that this is not really revenue that the state realistically could have ever captured,” said economist Ross Milton, a state government tax expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“It seems quite likely that if Wisconsin wasn’t providing incentives of these kinds, we wouldn’t be seeing these data centers being built here.”

Highlighting the fierce competition for development, 38 states offer data center sales tax exemptions or other tax breaks, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. 

Wisconsin offers sales tax exemptions for a wide array of products and services. One of the largest exempts food bought at the grocery store, which reduced state revenue by about $920 million in 2024.

Tricia Braun, executive director of the Wisconsin Data Center Coalition, a business group that supports data center development, pointed out that the fiscal bureau projection does not include economic benefits from data centers, including taxes paid by data center suppliers.

Wisconsin Watch reported in March that just three Wisconsin companies have done more than $1 billion in business supplying data centers.

Jason Stein, president of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, a nonpartisan think tank, said “the state has good possibilities for recovering” the forgone revenue. That could come from spending by construction workers and income taxes paid by those workers, their employers and permanent data center employees, as well as corporate income taxes and utility taxes, he said.

The unexpectedly large amount of forgone revenue has helped fuel efforts for data center regulation.

State Sen. Jodi Habush Sinykin, D-Whitefish Bay, who requested the estimate, said lawmakers should discuss what the state can get in return for the exemption. She said the exemption could be tied to, for example, requirements to protect the environment.

Habush Sinykin wants the Legislature, which Republicans control, to convene what is known as an extraordinary session to discuss a variety of data center bills, rather than waiting until the next regular session in January.

Sen. Romaine Quinn, R-Birchwood, and Rep. Shannon Zimmerman, R-River Falls, introduced legislation in 2023 that led to the exemption and have proposed expanding it. They did not respond to requests for comment.

Their original legislation received more than 200 hours of lobbying support from Microsoft, power companies such as We Energies and Alliant Energy, and business groups. No one registered to lobby against the bill.

Nationally, state data center legislation has shifted from incentives to regulation.

In 2021 and 2022, 44 of the 45 data center bills introduced in states across the U.S. offered tax and economic incentives, according to an analysis released April 22. Since then, many other types of legislation have emerged. In 2026, only 61 of the 262 state data center bills covered incentives. The vast majority dealt with regulation of energy, environment and transparency. 

Some states, including Minnesota, have taken steps to restrict or roll back data center sales tax exemptions.

Data center opponent Shawn Haney, a former elected town board member in Dane County, said he understands that Wisconsin created its sales tax exemption to attract economic development. But he thinks it should be modified so that the state can collect some sales tax revenue from data centers.

“I don’t think anybody could have forecasted the size and magnitude of these massive data centers,” Haney said.

“You could do some good things with” the revenue, he said, tossing out a few ideas. “Look at all the roads we have to repair.”

Wisconsin data center tax break to cost state more than $2 billion 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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Data centers have made headlines and influenced the political debate across Wisconsin this year.

That’s why earlier this year we launched Data(Centers)Watch as a regular feature in Forward, our free Wisconsin government and politics newsletter that comes out on Mondays. Every week since mid-February, reporter Tom Kertscher has provided tidbits of data center news, including the latest from city council and county board meetings where land use decisions are being made amid public outcry, national industry news and recent polling about the issue.

To get these data center updates each Monday, please subscribe. Here’s a look at the updates that appeared in Forward since March.

April 13, 2026

From ballot box to court: The reportedly first data center referendum in the U.S. could make large-scale developments more difficult in Port Washington. Approved last Tuesday by voters in the Ozaukee County city, it was pushed by opponents of the $15 billion data center under construction there. The city now must get referendum approval to create any tax incremental finance district — a business development tool — worth over $10 million. The city created a $175 million TIF district for the data center. Attention now turns to the courts. A hearing is set for Thursday on a business-backed lawsuit seeking to block the referendum from taking effect.

Second poll: Costs outweigh benefits: Some 70% of registered Wisconsin voters believe the costs of data centers outweigh the benefits, according to a Wisconsin Conservation Voters poll taken in February and released last week. The same result was found in a February Marquette Law School poll.

Add-on data center approved: With a $1 billion data center under construction, Beaver Dam has approved a second, much smaller, $40 million data center. 

Data center opponent elected: Menomonie City Council member Matthew Crowe, an opponent of a data center proposed for Menomonie, unseated incumbent Mayor Randy Knaack in Tuesday’s election. Crowe cited lack of transparency over the data center proposal as a key to his win. Menomonie is among several Wisconsin communities that signed nondisclosure agreements to hide details of the proposals.

ICYMI: We’ve been discussing our coverage of data center secrecy deals. Recent spots: WUWM radio’s “Lake Effect” show (segment starts at 11:15), Civic Media’s “Nite Lite” show (starts at 23:30) and the Ventures of the Land podcast. We reported that Wisconsin companies are part of a coalition asking a federal agency to pause competitive bidding for electrical transmission projects needed to serve data centers.  

April 6, 2026

Cure for blight? The $8 billion data center proposed for Janesville is unique in that it would involve a $30 million cleanup of the contaminated General Motors plant, which shut down in 2008. The cleanup cost has led 200 potential developments of different types to walk away, the energy and environment-focused E&E News reports. Also noteworthy is this quote from the city manager about power: “One of the most glaring needs that has not yet been addressed is statewide legislation to clarify that data centers pay for 100% of their costs.”

Referendum on Tuesday’s ballot: A referendum that could make large-scale developments more difficult is on Tuesday’s election ballots in Port Washington. It was pushed by opponents of the $15 billion data center under construction there. If the referendum is approved, the city would have to get referendum approval to create any tax incremental finance district — a business development tool — worth over $10 million. The city created a $175 million TIF district for the data center. 

Limiting public comment: The city council in Beaver Dam, where one hyperscale data center is under construction and a smaller one is proposed, limited the public comment at its meeting last week to 20 minutes. That irked some data center opponents because the period is usually open-ended, though each individual is asked to speak for two minutes. Mayor Bobbi Marck told Wisconsin Watch several items were likely to involve lengthy discussion and the comment limit was meant to use the council’s time effectively. All 10 speakers criticized data centers and the council, including Jackson Brook, 18, who said the council made data center decisions too quickly and without enough public input. 

Legislative intent/inaction on NDAs: Commenting on the Legislature ending its 2025-26 session without approving any data center bills, Milwaukee data center attorney Rod Carter cited legislation that would have prohibited local governments from signing nondisclosure agreements with data center developers. “The legislative intent was clear: the era of secret data center deals in Wisconsin should be over,” he wrote. “Whether that intent becomes law remains an open question.”

March 30

Town chair calls cops on petitioner: In Grant County, which is one location being considered for a $1 billion data center, Waterloo town chair Chad Brinkman called the sheriff’s office March 21 asking that resident Richard Stelpflug be removed from public property. Stelpflug was collecting signatures on a petition seeking to have the town authorize “village powers” — which the neighboring town of Cassville did March 12 to try to get more control over any data center proposal. A sheriff’s deputy informed Brinkman that Stelpflug had a First Amendment right to circulate a petition on public property — which happened to be the Waterloo Township Shop and Hall. As it turns out, the town already adopted village powers in 1965. An update on where Grant County stands among sites being considered is expected soon.

Rock County also signed NDA: A Rock County Board committee voted down a resolution prohibiting county employees from signing nondisclosure agreements. Pointing to data center NDAs, the resolution cited concerns “across Wisconsin that the signing of an NDA without the input of the public and elected officials is unethical and risks the public trust.” Wisconsin Watch reported that the town of Beloit in Rock County signed an NDA in February 2025, more than a year before announcing this month that a data center has been proposed. Last week, Rock County responded to a Wisconsin Watch public records request showing it signed an NDA with the same company, Delaware-based Cambrin LLC, in January 2025. Janesville, about 10 miles northeast of the town of Beloit, has also signed a data center NDA, with Colorado-based Viridian Acquisitions.

Alliant Energy’s record stock price: Madison-based Alliant Energy’s record-high closing stock price reached $73.03 on March 16. The main reason, according to The Motley Fool: an influx of data centers in the Midwest, including one under construction in Beaver Dam.

AI fear fuels opposition? Some opposition to data centers might stem from uneasiness about artificial intelligence. The Marquette Law School Poll found 69% of Wisconsin registered voters surveyed said AI is being developed too quickly. The same percentage said the costs of data centers outweigh the benefits.

ICYMI: Wisconsin Watch looked at competition over who builds out the grid as data centers demand more power.

March 23

No data center legislation: The Legislature considered a number of data center bills but concluded its work in the 2025-26 session without passing any of them. That means data center legislation won’t come up again until the Legislature’s next regular session begins in January. One of the bills, to ban nondisclosure agreements between data center developers and local governments, was introduced by Rep. Clint Moses, R-Menomonie. He told Wisconsin Watch his bill was crowded out by other priorities, but that he’s hopeful it will eventually pass. Also disappointed was GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. He said at an event that requiring data centers to pay for their own electricity, as some legislation would require, is “probably an 80% issue for the public.”

Opposition in Grant County: Cassville township residents voted 54-3 this month to authorize “village powers.” The move gives the township more control over matters such as zoning. It was sought by residents who want more control over any data center proposal. A developer has included Cassville, in the Driftless Area in southwest Wisconsin, as one possible site for a planned $1 billion data center.

ICYMI: Microsoft announced it would stop doing NDAs with local governments amid growing focus on local governments and data center secrecy. We explored data centers’ job implications, particularly for developers, construction and operations. We also fact-checked a claim that Mount Pleasant’s massive data center will use relatively little water. Go here to see our data centers coverage in one place.

March 16 

‘Bulletproof’ vest in Port: Port Washington police have been called about a dozen times to Lighthouse, the Vantage-OpenAI-Oracle data center campus, since the construction groundbreaking Dec. 17. Police reports show the largest number involve complaints of either trespassing or excessive construction noise. But on Dec. 26, a security officer on the site reported being told by a motorist she “hopes the vest they wear is really bulletproof.” Police called the motorist and left a voicemail message, according to the report. The motorist did not return calls and emails from Wisconsin Watch.

‘Stranded assets’ targeted: One of the Democratic candidates for governor, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, announced a plan to prohibit residential and other utility customers from having to cover the cost of “stranded assets” — power plants that have been shut down but on which debt is still owed. Wisconsin Watch reported in December that ratepayers owe $1 billion for stranded assets and that the rush to build more plants to serve data centers runs the risk of creating more stranded assets.

‘Stranded assets’ targeted II: In a model for state data center legislation, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Water Policy proposed making data center companies financially responsible for stranded assets. The companies would be required to post a bond.

Beaver Dam limits public comment: The city council in Beaver Dam, where one data center is under construction and another is proposed, is limiting to 20 minutes total the public comment at its meeting tonight. That raised concerns among data center opponents, some of whom packed a town hall meeting on data centers last week. Typically, the council’s public comment period is open-ended, though individuals are each asked to limit their remarks to two minutes. Mayor Bobbi Marck said several items are likely to involve lengthy discussion and the comment limit is meant to use the council’s time effectively. Ald. Nancy Wild said data center opponents have spoken at the previous eight council meetings. “I think we have been very reasonable,” she said.  

March 9

Quietly, a possible Beloit data center: News of a possible data center in the town of Beloit comes eight months after the town quietly signed a predevelopment agreement. Last week, the town, saying it was responding to information “being disseminated” about a possible data center, announced it had begun “very preliminary discussions,” including signing the agreement. The town board in May approved negotiating a predevelopment agreement with Delaware-based Cambrin LLC, but the meeting minutes do not mention a data center. The predevelopment agreement, signed in July, also does not mention a data center. It says that the town will pursue a tax incremental district to finance infrastructure improvements that would be needed and that Cambrin agreed to reimburse the town up to $175,000 for preliminary work. “If the project actually moves forward, we would have a frank discussion with the developer about who should be paying for any improvements that are needed,” town administrator John Malizio told Wisconsin Watch. News reports indicate that Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, could be the data center operator.

Data centers’ $1 billion for Wisconsin: Even before the first hyperscale data center begins operation in Wisconsin, data centers have made an economic impact in the state. No comprehensive tally has been done. But just three Wisconsin companies have received more than $1 billion of business supplying data centers, and other companies are benefiting, too, Wisconsin Watch found. That’s separate from the economic impact from constructing data centers.

Electric-onnections: The data centers under construction in Mount Pleasant and Port Washington came together because a We Energies executive met the co-founder of Cloverleaf Infrastructure, which secures power and land for data centers, The New York Times reported. “We’ve got the site for you,” the executive said at a Chicago conference in 2021, proposing Mount Pleasant and, later, Port Washington.

March 2

Who pays for the power: The state Public Service Commission held a hearing last week on who will pay for providing the electricity needed to run the $1 billion data center being constructed in Beaver Dam. The center is owned by Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram. Opponents said the rate structure proposed by Alliant Energy doesn’t protect general ratepayers from bearing some of the costs. The same concerns have been raised to the PSC about We Energies’ proposed rates for data centers in Mount Pleasant and Port Washington. Comments on the Alliant case can be submitted through March 9. That deadline was extended after Alliant agreed to remove some redactions it made in its application to the PSC.  

Legislation delayed, in doubt: One bill on data centers might see action, but others are likely on ice now that the state Assembly has adjourned for the 2025-26 session. The Senate could still act on an Assembly-approved bill that seeks to limit how much general ratepayers can be charged by utilities for the cost of providing electricity to data centers. It’s likely that various bills that would prohibit local governments from signing nondisclosure agreements with data center developers won’t be considered again until a new Legislature convenes in January.

Blocking a possible data center: A move is afoot to block a possible data center in Grant County in southwest Wisconsin. Doug Schauff, the town chair in Cassville, said the town will hold a meeting March 12 on adopting “village powers.” That, in turn, would enable the town to create zoning that would regulate projects such as a data center. A data center developer has told the town it is considering the Cassville area, among other locations, for a possible $1 billion facility.

Port Washington referendum: An April 7 referendum in Port Washington pushed by data center opponents can proceed as scheduled, a judge ruled last week. Pro-business groups had sued to try to stop the vote. If the referendum is approved, the city would have to get referendum approval to create any future tax incremental finance district – a business development tool – worth over $10 million. The city created a $175 million TIF district for the $15 billion Open AI/Oracle data center now under construction in Port Washington. 

From DeForest to Iowa: Virginia-based QTS Data Centers will build in Iowa a data center it had planned for the Madison suburb of DeForest, according to Alliant Energy, which will supply the electricity. Amid community opposition, the $12 billion facility proposed for DeForest was abruptly dropped in January after Wisconsin Watch reported that village officials had worked on the proposal for months before announcing it to the public.

Voters down on data centers: Regardless of how much they have heard about data centers, most registered Wisconsin voters polled by Marquette Law School said the costs outweigh the benefits. Opposition was 74% among those who have heard a lot about data centers, 73% among those who had heard nothing at all and 68% who had heard a little. 

Expect delays? Some 30-50% of data centers projected to open worldwide in 2026 could be delayed, according to the Sightline Climate research firm: Access to electricity is a key reason, and more data center operators are building their own power rather than relying on the grid.

Get the latest Wisconsin data center news you might have missed 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.