UP: Schools. Gov. Scott Walker promises to increase funding for schools in the next budget, to be announced Feb. 20. In his last budget, Walker slashed school funding by $800 million, and he says the increase won't come close to replacing that amount.
DOWN: Unemployed. Wisconsin's slowly shrinking unemployment rate pushed the state below the threshold to receive long-term emergency benefits. Now, unemployed people here can receive only 54 weeks of benefits; when the rate was higher, they could get up to 63 weeks. Jon Peacock, research director for the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families, tells the Wisconsin State Journal: "It's a huge blow for thousands of families for whom unemployment benefits are their primary source of income."
