Some Wisconsin communities are hit harder by increasing energy prices. Explore where energy costs take the biggest bite out of household incomes — and why there’s debate over what those numbers mean.
Paul Kiefer / Wisconsin Watch
Paul Kiefer became Wisconsin Watch’s data-driven accountability reporter in September 2026, focusing largely on immigration and data reporting. He joined the newsroom in 2025 as a Roy W. Howard fellow. Paul grew up in Washington state and first set foot in a newsroom as a teenage producer-in-training at a Seattle public radio station. He went on to cover criminal justice in Washington for the Seattle news site PubliCola and InvestigateWest. He headed east in 2023, working as a state politics reporter for Delaware Public Media before earning a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland and interning on the Washington Post’s metro desk.
Posted inEconomic Development
We Energies strikes deal to power Oracle data center with nuclear energy
The utility says the proposal to allow Oracle to tap electricity from the Point Beach nuclear plant could save other customers millions in fuel costs.
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Public Safety & Criminal Justice
Two Wisconsin sheriff races test the future of local ICE cooperation
Voters in Sauk and Winnebago counties will choose between sheriff candidates with competing visions for local law enforcement’s relationship with ICE.
Posted inEconomic Development
Court ruling spares Wisconsin ratepayers costs of keeping Michigan coal plant open
A federal appeals court overturned an Energy Department order extending the life of the 60-year-old J.H. Campbell plant. Wisconsinites alone faced an estimated $117 million in costs over several years.
Posted inPublic Safety & Criminal Justice
ICE arrests in Wisconsin hit a new peak. Follow what happens next.
Federal immigration authorities are ramping up operations nationwide to meet new daily arrest quotas. ICE agents in Wisconsin have turned to prisons, jails and — increasingly — street arrests to make their numbers.
Posted inEconomic Development
Microsoft, ratepayer advocates challenge ATC plan for data center transmission costs
The world’s fourth-most-valuable company and Wisconsin ratepayer advocates say a plan to assign infrastructure costs to data centers falls short of protecting Wisconsinites.
Posted inEconomic Development
Oracle drops lawsuit challenging Wisconsin data center credit rules
The credit requirements, designed to protect We Energies customers from financial risks, now stand unchallenged.
Posted inPublic Safety & Criminal Justice
Wisconsin tracks police use of force, but the numbers are hard to compare
Wisconsin law requires police agencies to report serious uses of force, but inconsistent standards make comparisons between departments difficult.
Posted inEconomic Development
We Energies says Microsoft won’t be held to contract terms that conflict with state regulators’ order
The contract says power plants serving Microsoft’s Mount Pleasant data center must be in eastern Wisconsin or Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, even though the state Public Service Commission rejected that requirement.
Posted inEconomic Development
We Energies says Oracle dispute won’t derail Port Washington data center
The utility told investors the project remains on schedule despite the tech giant’s legal challenge to Wisconsin’s new credit rating requirements for large data center operators.