News of the Day

The Federal Reserve’s key inflation rate showed price pressures were tamer than expected in February, as consumer spending softened.

The overall personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, price index rose 0.3% on the month and 5% from a year ago, easing from a downwardly revised 5.3% in January.

Personal spending rose 0.2% in February after January’s upwardly revised 2% jump. Adjusted for price increases, goods spending and services spending both dipped 0.1%.

The Fed typically emphasizes the core PCE inflation rate. Yet with goods-price pressures abating, as demand and supply chains normalize,  and housing costs expected to follow later this year, Fed chair Jerome Powell has honed in on core nonhousing services prices as the key to the inflation outlook. That’s because prices of services from haircuts to health care to hospitality are closely linked to wages, generally the biggest cost input.

In February, core PCE services prices ex-housing rose 0.3% on the month, down from 0.5% in January and the smallest increase since July. That left the annual inflation rate for core nonhousing services at 4.6%.

Health care prices rose a tame 0.2% and education 0.1%, while air transportation costs fell 0.7% on the month. Still, wage pressures are putting upward pressure on personal care services (up 0.8%), food services (0.5%) and recreation services (0.9%).

The U.S. and Japan announced an agreement to strengthen and diversify the supply chains for critical minerals like those used in semiconductors and other cutting-edge technologies.

Under the agreement, which took effect immediately after it was signed on Tuesday, the U.S. and Japan agreed to partner in strengthening supply chains of critical minerals including cobalt, graphite, lithium, manganese and nickel. The two countries committed to taking domestic actions to address non-market policies of other countries that distort trade in critical minerals and not impose export duties between the U.S. and Japan on critical minerals.

The agreement comes as China plays a central role in global supply chains for critical minerals, boasting the majority of refining capacity for cobalt, lithium and nickel. It is also increasingly exercising control over raw commodities in areas rich in critical minerals. For example, the Nigerian government recently made a deal with a Chinese firm to develop the country’s first lithium processing plant.

The agreement established best practices for reviewing investments made within the two countries’ critical mineral sectors by foreign entities. It also included measures to promote resource-efficient approaches to reduce the demand for, and environmental impact of, virgin material extraction of critical minerals.

The U.S. and Japan will also improve information-sharing and enforcement actions related to labor rights violations in the extraction and processing of critical minerals.

State Representative Travis Tranel (R-Cuba City) and State Senator Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) circulated legislation to create the Ag-Road Improvement Program (ARIP) today, which will invest an additional $150 million in local, rural roads. The biggest logistical challenge, for many farmers, often occurs on the roads just outside their farms.

“Wisconsin farmers help feed the world and need to have strong and reliable roads in place to make sure that the food they produce is able to leave the farm and arrive to market quickly, reliably, and efficiently,” said Rep. Tranel. “The ARIP will set our states second largest industry
up for long term stability and prosperity.”

“Farmers are the backbone of Wisconsin’s $105 billion ag-economy,” said Sen. Marklein. “Targeting money to repair and improve the first-mile of ag-roads will ensure farmers can move goods off the farm and to market.”

The bill creates a state-funded program to upgrade local roads and bridges that are the critical link between farmers, their fields, processing facilities, and the businesses that provide essential feed and supplies. The program will be funded with a $150 million investment in one-time
money to provide local governments with resources to make significant infrastructure upgrades.

This program is modeled after the existing Local Roads Improvement Program (LRIP) and is designed to direct money to local roads and bridges used by farmers every day.

Plans are in the works for Microsoft to buy a 315-acre parcel of land in the Village of Mount Pleasant to create a data center campus.

Microsoft is interested in acquiring and developing all of the land lying south of Braun Road, north of County Highway KR, east of the Canadian Pacific Rail right-of-way and west of 90th Street in TID (Tax Incremental District) 5.

The proposed development will be considered by the Mount Pleasant Village Board on March 30 and the Racine County Board at its April 11 and April 18 meetings.

If approved, construction is anticipated to begin on phase one no later than July 1, 2026. Phase two would start no later than July 1, 2033.

“Microsoft was attracted to this location because it is primed for development,” Village of Mount Pleasant President David DeGroot said in a news release. “Through local investments, we have transformed this area of Mount Pleasant and equipped it with the infrastructure necessary to support a major investment by Microsoft.”

Foxconn will receive the proceeds from the Microsoft land sale (net of costs) as partial reimbursement of the funds Foxconn advanced in 2017 to acquire lands in TID 5. The company will release all rights to the 315 acres that will be sold to Microsoft.

Last year, the U.S. electric power sector produced 4,090 million megawatthours (MWh) of electric power. In 2022, generation from renewable sources—wind, solar, hydro, biomass, and geothermal—surpassed coal-fired generation in the electric power sector for the first time. Renewable generation surpassed nuclear generation for the first time in 2021 and continued to provide more electricity than nuclear generation last year.

Natural gas remained the largest source of U.S. electricity generation, increasing from a 37% share of U.S. generation in 2021 to 39% in 2022. The share of coal-fired generation decreased from 23% in 2021 to 20% in 2022 as a number of coal-fired power plants retired and the remaining plants were used less. The share of nuclear generation decreased from 20% in 2021 to 19% in 2022, following the Palisades nuclear power plant’s retirement in May 2022. The combined wind and solar share of total generation increased from 12% in 2021 to 14% in 2022. Hydropower generation remained unchanged, at 6%, in 2022. The shares for biomass and geothermal sources remained unchanged, at less than 1%.

Growth in wind and solar generating capacity drove the increase in wind and solar generation. Utility-scale solar capacity in the U.S. electric power sector increased from 61 gigawatts (GW) in 2021 to 71 GW in 2022. Wind capacity grew from 133 GW in 2021 to 141 GW in 2022.

More wind-generated power was produced in Texas than in any other state last year. Texas accounted for 26% of total U.S. wind generation last year, followed by Iowa (10%) and Oklahoma (9%). One of the largest wind farms in the United States (nearly 1,000 megawatt capacity [MW]) came online in Oklahoma in 2022.

In 2022, California ranked first in utility-scale solar generation, producing 26% of the country’s utility-scale solar electricity. Texas was the second-largest producing state (16%), followed by North Carolina (8%). Several of the largest solar plants built in the United States in the last three years are located in Texas, including the 275 MW Noble solar plant, which started operations in 2022.

The State Building Commission took up Governor Tony Evers’ third capital budget proposal Thursday, and ultimately deadlocked 4-4 along party lines on every one of the governor’s spending pitches.

Governor Evers had called for $3.8 billion in spending with major investments in 28 counties across Wisconsin. However, a big chunk of that money, roughly half, was recommended for projects on multiple UW System campuses.

Aside from a new engineering building at UW-Madison, the governor had called for investments to cover phase two of a new science building at UW-Eau Claire, along with demolishing Phillips Hall. Money for similar projects at UW-La Crosse, as well as dorm renovations at UW-Oshkosh, were also pitched.

However, Republicans rejected those proposals Thursday, which doesn’t come as much of a surprise given the same thing happened the last two budget cycles.

Unlike those previous attempts though, this time Governor Evers called for less borrowing. Instead, the governor proposed paying for roughly half of the work in cash using the state’s projected budget surplus of $7.1 billion.

The plan now heads to the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee without any recommendations on projects.

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the ninth time in a row on Wednesday, opting to continue its campaign against high inflation despite stress in the banking industry following the collapse of two regional banks.

Fed policymakers voted unanimously to raise their benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to just under 5%, which will make it more expensive for people seeking car loans or carrying a balance on their credit cards.

Members of the Fed’s rate-setting committee believe slighly higher rates may be necessary to restore price stability. On average, policymakers anticipate rates climbing by another quarter-percentage point by the end of this year, according to new projections that were also released on Wednesday.

“The Committee anticipates that some additional policy firming may be appropriate,” the Fed said in a statement.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has elected Chief Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler to serve a second two-year term as chief justice, effective May 1, 2023. Chief Justice Ziegler was first elected to the Court in 2007 and became chief justice in 2021, succeeding former Chief Justice Patience Drake Roggensack in that role.

“I greatly appreciate the opportunity to continue serving the court system and the people of Wisconsin. There’s a lot of work aside from deciding cases that goes into keeping the courts running smoothly. I am fortunate to work with a group of very talented and passionate people, who understand and appreciate the role of the courts in our justice system and in our form of government,” Ziegler said.

Pursuant to Article VII, Section 4 (3) of the Wisconsin Constitution, the chief justice of the Supreme Court is the administrative head of the judicial system and exercises administrative authority pursuant to procedures adopted by the Supreme Court. In this role, the chief justice works with fellow justices, the director of state courts, chief judges and other administrators to ensure the courts operate efficiently.

Chief Justice Ziegler is the second justice to be elected to serve as Chief Justice since the 2015 constitutional amendment that permitted Supreme Court Justices to select the chief justice. Justice Roggensack, who will retire July 31, was the first justice to be elected by fellow justices to serve as chief justice.

Three utilities have received approval from Wisconsin utility regulators to buy the state’s largest renewable energy plant.

On Thursday, the Public Service Commission approved the $649 million purchase of the Koshkonong Solar Energy Center by We Energies, Wisconsin Public Service and Madison Gas and Electric.

The utilities are buying the solar plant from Chicago-based developer Invenergy. The commission approved its construction last year in the towns of Christiana and Deerfield in Dane County, the solar panels covering roughly half of the 4,600 acre site.

We Energies and WPS will own 90 percent of the plant while Madison Gas and Electric will own 10 percent.

The project has received the support of renewable energy and environmental groups. RENEW Wisconsin said the plant is the largest addition of zero-emission generation and storage capacity in state history.

“This is going to be one of the anchor renewable energy generating facilities to serve basically the entire state,” Michael Vickerman, clean energy deployment manager for RENEW Wisconsin, told Wisconsin Public Radio.

Construction of the plant is set to start later this year and go online by the end of 2025. Vickerman said the addition of Koshkonong would replace the shuttering of coal-fired units at a roughly 1,100-megawatt power plant in Columbia County owned by Alliant Energy, Wisconsin Public Service and Madison Gas and Electric. The plant is set to be shutdown by mid-2026 after supply chain constraints and fears of an energy shortage postponed its retirement.

Wisconsin’s longtime Democratic Secretary of State Doug La Follette abruptly resigned on Friday, saying he was leaving three months into his 11th consecutive term “to focus on my personal needs” after watching the office be stripped of its power over the past 50 years.

Gov. Tony Evers appointed former Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate last year, to fill out the four-year term. Wisconsin’s secretary of state has not been in charge of elections since 1974 and has almost no official duties.

“After many years of frustration, I’ve decided that I don’t want to spend the next three and a half years trying to run an office without adequate resources and staffing levels,” the 82-year-old La Follette said in his resignation letter.

He did not immediately return a telephone message left seeking comment.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu called on Evers to hold a special election, saying the appointment of Godlewski was “an insult to voters of Wisconsin and our democratic process.”