Save Now

By Kevin Bessler | The Center Square (The Center Square) – Hemp businesses advocating for responsible industry wide regulations urge Illinois lawmakers to reject an Illinois Department of Agriculture proposed rule regulating hemp.  The proposed regulations would criminalize the sale and transport of hemp products not purchased through a licensed cannabis dispensary.  David Lakeman, division manager

By Benjamin Yount | The Center Square contributor (The Center Square) – Small business optimism in Wisconsin grew in October. The NFIB is out with the results of its latest Small Business Optimism Index study, and while it shows that small business owners are slightly more optimistic. It also shows that small business owners are not

By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor (The Center Square) – Texas continues to break jobs records every month and October was no different. Texas again grew jobs at a faster annual rate than the national job growth rate over the year in October. It also set a new record high for the greatest

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square (The Center Square) – An Illinois trade organization has joined a legal challenge to a new law that restricts employers’ free speech rights in the workplace. The Schaumburg-based Technology and Manufacturing Association represents more than 800 small businesses in Illinois. The group has joined a lawsuit against Illinois Department

By Morgan Sweeney | The Center Square (The Center Square) — From now on, economic and housing development will be tied more closely together in the commonwealth, according to the latest executive order from the governor. Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued and announced Executive Order 42 Thursday at the annual Virginia Governor’s Housing Conference. The order brings

By Brett Davis | The Center Square (The Center Square) – Washington state employers are cautiously optimistic amid ongoing economic challenges, according to a survey conducted just before the Nov. 5 general election. The Association of Washington Business queried more than 500 employers from Oct. 16 through Oct. 30 as part of its fall 2024

By Kim Jarrett | The Center Square (The Center Square) – A company that produces heating and air products will bring 828 new jobs to Shelby County over the next five years, Gov. Bill Lee and Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter said Thursday. The $238 million plan by AAON includes a

By Jon Styf | The Center Square (The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 2.9% in October, below the national rate of 4.1%. The state also broke September’s record for the numbers of people employed in the state, according to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. There were 3,068,000 employed in the

By Greg Bishop | The Center Square (The Center Square) – A leading Illinois House Republican says Gov. J.B. Pritzker needs to stop his “macho man routine” and work with the incoming Trump administration to grow the state’s economy. Donald Trump didn’t just win the Electoral College last week. He also won the popular vote

By Steve Bittenbender | The Center Square contributor (The Center Square) – Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear launched a new strategy to promote the state earlier this week that ties tourism with business and worker attraction. The initiative called New Kentucky Home was introduced by Beshear at Keeneland in Lexington, where economic development and tourism officials

By Morgan Sweeney | The Center Square (The Center Square) — It’s not every day that a major employer descends on a rural county planning to invest over $1 billion into a new manufacturing facility and over 2,000 intended jobs.  However, that’s exactly what happened Wednesday for Virginia’s Pittsylvania County. Microporous, a leading manufacturer of battery

By Nolan McKendry | The Center Square (The Center Square) — Increased sales taxes could worsen Louisiana’s already high insurance premiums To make up lost revenue from the proposed income tax cut, the Legislature is proposing to expand the list of sales and use taxes on a wide variety of services. In total, 41 additional services

By Steve Wilson | The Center Square (The Center Square) – A recently-released report on tax competitiveness by the Tax Foundation put Florida in a familiar spot of fourth place.  Florida, like all of the states without a personal income tax, ranked first on individual taxes, 14th on sales taxes, 16th on corporate taxes and 21st

By Kim Jarrett | The Center Square (The Center Square) – An economist for the University of Tennessee said the state is growing but the labor force participation rate has declined.  Dr. Don Bruce, director of the university’s Boyd Center for Economic Business and Research, told the State Funding Board at its November meeting that Tennessee

By Catrina Barker | The Center Square contributor (The Center Square) – Pepsi workers in Chicago are out of a job after the company announced the closure of the only plant left in the city. Simultaneously, Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is urging Stellantis to reopen its plant in Belvidere. State Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville,

By J.D. Davidson | The Center Square (The Center Square) – With thoughts focused on the holiday season, small business owners in Ohio continue to struggle with finding employees. But that’s not the only issue. The quality of employees those small businesses do find is also a significant issue, according to the recently released Jobs

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square WalletHub (The Center Square) – Chicago’s south suburbs may soon be a new gambling destination. Wind Creek Chicago Southland Casino is scheduled to open Monday morning in East Hazel Crest, after the Illinois Gaming Board gave its approval on Friday. Wind Creek is Illinois’ 16th casino, the final casino authorized

By Alan Wooten | The Center Square (The Center Square) – Election Day average fuel prices in North Carolina are $2.89 for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline and $3.44 for diesel fuel, according to AAA. Often cited among other economic concerns by politicians and voters alike, the benchmarks are bettered by only 14 and

By Jon Styf | The Center Square (The Center Square) – Milwaukee’s economic attainment against 11 peer cities but ranked last in venture capital investment and low in business creation, according to a new report from Wisconsin Policy Forum. The data compares Milwaukee with Austin, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Oklahoma City,

By Tim Clouser | The Center Square (The Center Square) – The Spokane Police Department could see a funding increase of over 33% under Mayor Lisa Brown’s proposed budget for the next biennium, with fire services also receiving a 14% boost. Brown released her 2025-2026 budget proposal on Saturday, seemingly closing a $25 million general fund

By David Beasley | The Center Square contributor (The Center Square) – North Carolina has the 12th best tax code in the country, according to a new study. The nonprofit Tax Foundation publishes a ranking each year of state tax codes. It was previously called the State Business Tax Climate Index but this year has

By Kevin Bessler | The Center Square 37th for tax competitiveness  Illinois is in the bottom half of a new ranking that indicates states with structurally sound tax systems that prioritize broad bases and low rates are more competitive than those that aren’t. The Tax Foundation report shows that states that forgo one or more

By Cameron Arcand | The Center Square (The Center Square) – The Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity estimates that 486,348 jobs will be added in Arizona through 2033. The employment projection report said that employment in 2033 will be at 3,921,138 jobs, using a baseline of 3,434,790 jobs, which the office estimates is a growth of 1.3% annually.

By J.D. Davidson | The Center Square (The Center Square) – Ohio gas prices rose over the past week but remain significantly lower than a month ago and last year. According to the Automobile Association of America, the average price of gas in the state is $3.05, nearly 7 cents below the national average. Several

By Brett Rowland | The Center Square (The Center Square) – The U.S. Department of Defense said Thursday the budget for the Military Intelligence Program was $29.8 billion for fiscal year 2024. That’s a nearly 7% increase over last year’s top line budget, which was $27.9 billion for fiscal year 2023. That’s up from the $24.1 billion appropriated