UP: Housing market. For the 17th month in a row, existing home and condo sales in Dane County rose over last year, even though inventory has dropped. Sales in November were up 16%. "With only one month left, we think it's safe to declare 2012 a very strong step forward in the process of the housing market recovery," Kevin King, vice president of South Central Wisconsin MLS, tells the Wisconsin State Journal.
DOWN: The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Gov. Scott Walker created the WEDC, a public-private agency, to boost job growth. But it has become a major black eye for his administration. More bad news came this week, with an independent audit finding WEDC used sloppy accounting practices, didn't monitor loans properly and was hurt by an exodus of employees. The state also announced that the Department of Administration will take over a community development block grant program that WEDC runs.