INSIDE WISCONSIN

By Tom Still GREEN BAY, Wis. – An entrepreneur at the March 18 Wisconsin Tech Summit in Green Bay, who happened to be visiting the state, told me he almost came to blows the previous night with another guy in a Milwaukee bar over an unusual flashpoint: plastic straws....

By Tom Still MADISON, Wis. – Young people are natives when it comes to using technology, from smart phones to tablets, and from social media to video games, but they can be aliens when it comes to working in tech jobs. Despite the coast-to-coast glut of well-paid jobs...

By Tom Still WAUKESHA, Wis. – One of the highlights of the annual Governor’s Business Plan Contest is a half-day “boot camp” for contestants who reach the semi-final round. They gather to hear from experts on elements of writing a solid plan, to ask questions and to...

By Tom Still MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin was once a leading producer of wheat, but a combination of disease and pests devastated the state’s crop in the 1860s. Farmers turned to alternatives, from rye to barley, and from produce to corn. The predecessors for today’s...

By Tom Still MADISON, Wis. – Little-noticed by the public but a source of pain for most health systems was a Trump administration order in January that hospitals must post list prices for their services, in theory offering consumers more transparency and competitive...

By Tom Still MADISON, Wis. – If you’ve ever gone on a “speed date,” and even if you haven’t, you probably get the concept: A short meeting in which both parties exchange a bit of information about one another and break the ice, with the goal of moving to the next...