Opinion

Right Wisconsin Editor Charlie Sykes explores what it means to be a conservative judge, and why that term can have different meanings.

The WisOpinion.com Insiders, Chvala and Kanavas, debate the value of the DNR magazine slated to be shuttered under Gov. Scott Walker's budget. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and Michael Best Strategies.

The WisOpinion.com Insiders, Chvala and Kanavas, debate how the Republicans' effort to repeal and replace Obamacare will play out over time. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and Michael Best Strategies.

Will Tammy Baldwin need the luck of the Irish to win re-election next year? The Insiders do an early analysis this St. Patrick's Day. Sponsored by Michael Best Strategies and the Wisconsin Counties Association.

The WisOpinion.com Insiders, Chvala and Kanavas, debate Trump, Walker, Laning and Evers-Holtz in the lightning round. Sponsored by Michael Best Strategies and the Wisconsin Counties Association.

House GOP plan does not go back to ground zero, where this disaster began. Instead, the plan is to go for "Obamacare Lite." It's simply a different version of Obamacare — a Republican version of Obamacare. It's how President Obama himself might have done it.

Last session, in his budget, Gov. Walker proposed adding 102 new auditors to the Department of Revenue. I didn't like the proposal, nor did many of my colleagues in the Legislature. A number of us tried to remove it from the budget. When that failed, to our discredit, we went along with it. We shouldn't have.

The REINS act makes several changes to improve the transparency of the administrative rulemaking process in Wisconsin.

The governor’s budget tethers student aid increases to employee benefits

I am optimistic for the future of Wisconsin’s rural communities. I believe Governor Walker’s budget makes a strong investment in our rural communities and Wisconsin’s future.

President Trump was no dealmaker and Rep. Paul Ryan was speaker in name only. A debacle for the GOP.

The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com. The Ryan-Trump health plan and federal...

On Monday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office issued a bombshell: the GOP health plan will increase the uninsured by 24 million.

John Dean, former White House counsel to Nixon, who plead guilty for his role in covering up Watergate, tweeted: “Hey, Donald (Trump), a tip: Cover-ups don’t get easier as they proceed. Russia tie leaks drown your joint session speech (Tuesday) in less than 24 hrs”.

Time and again, transparency advocates have seen that protecting Wisconsin’s traditions of open government depends on the courage and initiative of individuals. This year’s winners of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council’s Openness Awards, or Opees, include two citizens, two journalists, one fired government worker and one small but gutsy Wisconsin newspaper.

A billion-dollar shortfall in the next transportation budget started the debate about raising Wisconsin's gas tax, which was so explosive, no one seemingly had the time to confirm there is a billion-dollar shortfall.

Even for the pros, the state of Wisconsin's roads lies in the eye of the beholder.

Groups on the right and left of the political spectrum have gripes with Ryan's plan — and how those battles are fought will ultimately decide the fate of the ACA and millions of Americans' health insurance.

Just one problem - Congress changed the law so more federal funding would go to actual services and less to administrative bloat at MPS.

President Donald Trump’s executive order instructing the Environmental Protection Agency to begin the process to repeal the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, a slate of anti-coal regulations, is a welcome respite for Wisconsin and the nation.

Voters could hardly have a clearer choice in this race.

DNR staff are no longer protectors of the environment

Supreme Court chief justice slams Journal Sentinel, Janine Geske, and others.

Former county parks director investigated for management of Arizona Parks.

Nowadays, if you looking for someone to dump on Sheriff David Clarke, you can’t do better than Charlie Sykes.

Gagged by the Walker administration, its staff no longer provide any information.

Year after year the company jacks up prices with bipartisan approval. Why?

Six years later, Gov. Scott Walker’s impact on unions, worker rights and jobs.

County’s countless expensive mistakes go back at least 15 years -- and still no solution.

Trump’s protectionist trade policies will hurt state far more than others.

Trumpcare in Wisconsin and nation hikes costs the most for Trump voters.

Here are three recent examples of people making the convenient slide from correlation to causality, including Governor Scott Walker’s attempts to show that his policies created jobs and Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel’s argument that the Wisconsin gerrymander results from demographic changes. Of course, no discussion of political misleading claims would be complete without President Donald Trump.

In U.S. and Wisconsin, biggest beneficiaries are whites without degrees.

On Nov. 6, 2018 we will elect a new Congress (all the House members and 33 senators will be up for election.) Is it time to throw the bums out, keep the few good ones and start turning America into a Nation of peace builders and turn our backs on war mongering?

Chief Justice Patience Roggensack need not look any further than some of the court’s own members’ actions as reasons for the court’s decline in public confidence.

State's top justices ignore voter concerns about campaign donations they get.

It was an awesome night; engaging, enlightening and entertaining. I never thought as a journalist I would have dinner at the White House with any president.

Minutes after the most dramatic political defeat of his presidency, Donald Trump made two things clear: (1) he was actually relieved (rather than angry) that the repeal/replace bill was dead and, (2) was basically giving up on the issue that conservatives had hammered on for the last seven years.

The Oxford Dictionaries still define "liberal" as meaning a willingness “to respect or accept behaviour or opinions different from one's own; open to new ideas.” But it is hard to square that with what has become of liberalism – or more specifically the Liberal Arts – on many university campuses.

Two recent legislative initiatives provide a window onto which people state Republicans believe are worthy of government empathy and assistance, and which people should be a law enforcement priority.

In navigating federal changes to America’s system for making sure people have access to health care that won’t land them in bankruptcy court, Walker has been downright prescient. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean paying for health care in the state he leads will get any easier.

Sen. Duey Stroebel and Rep. Tyler August would expand from three to five the number of highest-earning years used in calculating monthly pension benefits for retired public-sector workers, and raise the minimum retirement ages from 50 to 52 for public safety workers such as cops and firefighters and from 55 to 60 for everyone else. The changes would apply only to future public-sector hires.

Proposal ends Walker’s giveaway to millionaires and gives tax relief to low-income and middle class.

ALEC’s drive to amend our Constitution has nothing to do with actual people and everything to do with their big corporate backers. They want to stop the federal government from protecting our environment, giving workers a voice at the table, paying fair wages, and giving the economy a boost during recessions.

People will be economically forced into refusing insurance under “TrumpCare” plan.

Walker tries to spin excuses for why he's failed to deliver on jobs pledge.

A bipartisan effort is needed to address lead poisoning in Wisconsin.

Donald Trump has now given conservatives permission to engage in a new type of verbal pugilism formerly relegated to fringe candidates in local school board races.

Nobody voted for Republicans to keep the most objectionable parts of the Affordable Care Act.

The temptation for Trump to wrap himself in the valor of a recently deceased soldier was too much to resist.

Temptation grows for right-wingers to consciously uncouple from his supporters.

Since 1937, the Forestry program has been predominantly funded by a small statewide property tax — the only property tax the state levies. The problem with the state forestry property tax is that for decades, it sat untouched, generating millions of more dollars for the Forestry Account with little justification for whether it actually needed the money.

Repeal of ESSA means legislature must take role.

I believe higher education should be affordable, and I say this as someone who chose to attend a two year college before attending a four year institution. However, by marching toward a policy of free tuition we are actually moving away from students placing their own equity in their education.

More than it used to be, but Mayor Tom Barrett fails to count all the state’s funding to the city or how much other communities give.

Why not simply pay students to work their way through college?

Last week Republicans struggled to do what they had done so easily dozens of times in the past: pass a bill to repeal Obamacare. But it got tricky this time because they had to make good on the “replace” part of their “repeal and replace” mantra that worked so well for them in every election since the law was passed.

A properly humming civic engine runs quiet. It’s boring. And boring is beautiful.

Democrats and liberals cannot regain power until they fix the problem they have with men in general and white men in particular.

Our conservative Congressional leadership should be honest with people. Medicaid reform is an effort to save money at the federal level which will in turn tighten the budgets of states.

Lon Roberts was the secretary of the Department of Financial Institutions before his appointment. The PSC is tasked with keeping public utilities in line and essentially balancing our energy needs with the resources we currently have. With that responsibility in mind, why not choose someone with experience in that field?

For close to a year now, the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute has been wrestling with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to obtain a report on what steps, if any, HUD took to stop misuse of more than $2 million in taxpayer funds by a Wisconsin tribe.

To suggest, as Donald Trump and his perennially angry base do, that thousands of media people get together each morning and decide how to demonize the president is ludicrous on its face.

Donovan passed away last month at the age of 65 a few weeks after he was struck down by an aneurysm that ruptured in his brain while he was at home getting ready to go to work.

"I won by 146,000 votes," he boasted to the New York Times. "I represent the majority. Now, they're a vocal minority," referring to the crowds at the town hall meetings. And of course Republican stalwarts like Jim Sensenbrenner couldn't possibly think that those constituents are worth representing.

Here's my advice to those pastors out there who want to do politics from their pulpits on Sundays. Go ahead. Endorse candidates, fight for or against politicians and exhort your parishioners as to how to vote. Do it all you want — just give up your tax exemption and start paying taxes on property and income just like everyone else has to do.

After all these years the pro-butter folks appear to have won their battle against those dastardly oleo people.

Two of "trickle-down" proponent Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's biggest fans are House Speaker Paul Ryan and Gov. Scott Walker.

My Cargo Coffee Shop friend Charlie was elated with New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof's column recently that noted the anomaly of how excited we get about the possibility of terror attacks, but fall asleep whenever we talk about America's real problem: guns.

Republicans, who couldn't launch enough investigations into Hillary Clinton's emails or who said what about Benghazi — both issues that even Republicans knew were phony — can't bring themselves to get behind probing the lies that are as clear as the noses on their faces.

The promise that elected ever-more Republicans in four straight elections after Obamacare’s passage eight years ago turned out to be a chimera. Lucy pulling the football.

Confirmation hearing should be required viewing on college campuses for the education it offers on the separation of powers.

Can one speech change the national mood? Perhaps not. But if any speech can, Donald J. Trump delivered it Tuesday night.

Since the election of Trump, who attracted an outsized amount of support from people who didn’t go to college, this group has been a focus of curiosity. And what we’re finding is that there are major problems in the real America that those of us in “the bubble” don’t know much about.

It’s a pipe dream for Trump followers to believe he has done anything concrete on his Buy American pledge.

The debacle of the GOP health care bill reveals a hard truth for Donald Trump. There is a strongman in D.C. he will have to work with if he wants to get anything positive done. Her name is Nancy Pelosi.

Non-partisan spring election may not be a good test of public's political anger.

The most penetrating moment in Donald Trump’s speech to Congress Tuesday night was not his, except for the crass setup.

If there is an uptick in deadly terrorist violence in the next few years the main culprit will likely be Donald Trump and his wrong-headed policies.

To prevent such incidents in the future, the state needs to invest in more voter education and training of election officials.

It is only through the ability of citizens and advocates and news organizations to monitor government that democracy remains strong.

Pushing forward in the fight against the state's opiate epidemic, the Legislature's budget committee moved a package of legislation Monday that should help victims, families and law enforcement.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) was none too happy when fellow legislators kept him in the dark about a bill aimed at reining in profits that We Energies makes from its power plants in Oak Creek and Port Washington.

When it comes to Wisconsin’s transportation finance crisis, the real “public trust” that needs rebuilding involves the governor and the legislators who have let Mark Gottlieb twist in the wind. He left the Transportation Department in better shape than when he took it over.

Where does the buck stop in Madison?

Carrying water for corporate farms, the cash-rich NRA, and major industries may play well at GOP political fundraisers. But the average citizen looks at it all and wonders how did we get so far removed from the ideals our state once embraced.

Elected Democrats across the state need to speak of how political boundaries are drawn with every coffee shop gathering, civic-club luncheon, and press interview.

In small towns and villages around this state folks who desire to get information about the places they live turn to their hometown papers.

Regardless of how one aligns politically there is agreement that some changes to the process of how government operates would be a benefit to all. One such idea is being advanced in Wisconsin to prohibit legislators from becoming lobbyists for at least a year after they leave office.

If you ignore all the chatter and study Gorsuch’s record, however, what emerges is a portrait of a far-right judge who is even more extreme than Justice Antonin Scalia, and whose legal views would harm Wisconsin workers and families.

Admitting students with little chance to graduate helps no one. Tying UW System funding to graduation rates would force change.

The plan provides tax breaks to private-sector investors who back profitable construction projects; not to mention that the plan does not directly fund infrastructure projects like new roads or airports.

Those known as the ‘resistance’ are fundamentally and potentially irrevocably altering the norms of civil discourse rooted in the First Amendment.

Shakespeare warned us that bad things could happen on 3/15 - - the Ides of March - - and sure enough, 3/15 is when a joint Wisconsin Assembly/Senate committee hearing in Madison will launch big ag and big dairy's long-sought push to finally win permanently-held rights to massive amounts of Wisconsin ground water through an expanding number of wells which pump at least 100,000 gallons of water a day.

As Trump and his budget slashers take aim at climate change science, staff and expertise at the EPA, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and even the Centers for Disease Control, remember that Walker and his DNR did it first.

Trump and Paul Ryan want to pull so-called essentials out of health insurance coverage requirements in the name of 'choice.'

"Wonkology" is my term for ideology + buzzwords, and there's no bigger believer in it and its toxic detachment from everyday human reality than Wisconsin GOP Congressman and House Speaker Paul Ryan.

A DNR website on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations includes a 2014 chart showing 230 such operations, though a recent news story about DNR inspection staffing suggests the number is "about 285," and a DNR database says the number is 292.

Milwaukee is on the road to a new city flag with up-to-date symbols, and Isthmus offered options for a new state banner, so how about some possible new state symbols that highlight right-wing Republican Gov. and reverse Midas-touch Scott Walker's signature achievements which he could add to his home page and official documents:

Gov. Scott Walker's fresh appeal to Donald Trump for federal permission to drug test public aid recipients is another Walker pre-election dog whistle to the GOP base.

Word began circulating on February 9th that Scott Walker's upcoming state budget would wipe out his 'chamber of commerce mentality' DNR's popular, subscriber-supported magazine. So why did the DNR tout the magazine and its virtues in both a posting on a DNR web page and also in a DNR weekly newsletter just a few days earlier on January 31:

The roads are a mess, there's not enough money to repair and improve them, the budgets are awash in red ink and taxpayers face mounting congestion and billions in unfunded obligations.

Do Wisconsin Democrats need a class in the state constitution? During the debate over an amendment to eliminate the office of the state treasurer, it certainly seemed that way.

Cassie Mrotek, a beauty school graduate from Milwaukee, just wants to work but has been thwarted for over a year.

“How often do ethics change in massage therapy?” wonders Sara Cerwin, a Milwaukee massage therapist who says the state should ease up on continuing education requirements.

“We’re not playing with people’s lives. We’re playing with people’s hair,” says Krissy Hudack, owner of Sky’s the Limit salon in Iron River, Wis.

It’s important that our courts are beyond reproach and that judges aren’t deciding cases involving large campaign contributors. But that’s not what the rules governing the courts and the conduct of judges say in Wisconsin today.

Fewer and fewer citizens are getting their news from traditional newspapers. There is now a superior, more cost-effective way to keep the public informed--the internet.

After failing to stop a partial repeal of Wisconsin’s prevailing wage law last session, union backed forces have now embraced the “veterans hardest hit” meme to stop a total repeal from happening this session.

In what has become a biennial ritual, the Wisconsin media is crafting alarmist stories about the “structural deficit” in Governor Scott Walker’s proposed 2017-2019 state budget. What is new, however, is the tone of criticism several Republican lawmakers are voicing about the Walker budget in private conversations.

Draconian handgun laws in Chicago, Washington D.C. and other cities have done little to stem a rising tide of violent crime. What they have done is making it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to self-protect with guns. That indisputable reality doesn’t keep Democratic lawmakers from insisting that making easier for non-criminals to legally carry guns will make society less safe.

21st century technology, although beneficial, has placed us on thin ice with the Fourth Amendment and in situations where there is an expectation of privacy.

At a time when the American Legion has a dwindling membership, potentially compromising non-partisan integrity through a muddled relationship with a third party politically leftist lobby is not only disturbing on many levels, but begs the question, how can they maintain relevancy?

I am optimistic that if Governor Walker's commitment to academic freedom is passed in the biennial budget, university campuses in Wisconsin will once again become a haven for open intellectual discourse.

End of outdoors publication has more to do with policy than money.

Five often-overlooked features of Wisconsin's economic upswing.

While Sen. Baldwin can be proud that she respected her oath and sought to avert the Sessions catastrophe, Sen. Johnson failed his state and his country.

The Medical College of Wisconsin, UW-Madison, Marquette, UW-Milwaukee and Versiti/BloodCenter of Wisconsin competed for and earned about $400 million of research funding from the NIH alone in federal fiscal year 2016, and the proposed budget would eliminate about $100 million from Wisconsin research institutions in 2018.

They had seven years while vehemently opposing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which played out as the unaffordable Care Act, to craft with an elegant plan for governing the health care industry – nearly one-fifth of the U.S. economy. Instead they made least-wurst sausage.

A tariff wall will just force companies like mine to raise prices.

President Trump may know a thing or two about hotel deals, but he totally flubbed the art of the deal with Republicans in Congress as they tried to replace Obamacare. So did his quarterback in the House, Speaker Paul Ryan.

A state that supports their veterans spends state money for programs for veterans and does not use money meant for the care and comfort in nursing homes for agency administration and rent.

The House bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act goes far beyond changing that law. Without so much as a single public hearing, the bill being voted on by the House this week also makes radical changes to the structure of the Medicaid program that provides health care coverage for about one-fifth of Americans.

While they like to call themselves "progressives", liberals sure are unwilling to let go of archaic public institutions.

To those who are ready for something better – please join the effort to fix our broken campaign finance reform system, so that we get health care reform that actually works for We The People.

Senate Joint Resolution 18 would add Wisconsin to an alarming and growing number of states calling for a constitutional convention to impose a federal balanced budget amendment.

Wisconsin is the only state where treasurer doesn't oversee cash management.

Oversight at the state level is something Wisconsin waters need right now.

Both federal and state governments have responded with grant programs to expand broadband but there are problems with assuring that residents actually receive the promised services.

In 38 counties only 5% of local roads are rated “good.”

Healthcare policy is complex. But solving problems is possible. If those in Washington have given up, let’s consider new ideas at our state Capitol. We might land on an idea that really works.

Are Muslim immigrants more likely to pose a serious threat to America than Irish immigrants were thought to in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th? Not if you asked the American nativists of those days. To them, the Irish then seemed as “other” as Muslims do to some Americans now.

The Paul Ryan health-care bill is a very good first step toward reforming health care. I think the House and Senate GOP can make the Ryan blueprint even better.

Currently, Milwaukee County Jail’s policy mandates that inmates be shackled for all medical procedures despite the fact that the Wisconsin DOC and Federal Prison Bureau no longer require the practice of childbirth shackling. States that banned the practice have not reported any increase in escape attempts or threats to staff.

Right now, the ex-prisoner re-entry process is a vicious cycle. It needs to be a navigable road.

When there’s so much evidence that something as simple as lead is so detrimental to our community’s well-being, our response should be just as simple: get the lead out.

Mr. Trump has already indicated that he intends to support the new American Health Care Act. But, it remains to be seen what changes the bill will ultimately undergo, or whether Republicans can muster enough support for passage.

Trump’s histrionics should be viewed for exactly what they are: Calculated distractions intended to keep one from peering behind the curtain of lies that he routinely espouses.

Had Scott Walker's so-called "reforms" actually worked the way he claimed, there would be no need to borrow even a dime for this budget or any his previous budgets. But he does and he did borrow plenty.

The state of Wisconsin is committed to supporting the entrepreneurs and innovators who are working to move our state and economy forward.

Let’s be very clear: Wisconsin’s agricultural industry, our tourism industry, the quality and quantity of our water resources, our natural landscapes, and our health are all threatened by fossil fuel industry-funded efforts to block meaningful climate change policies from taking effect.

As taxpayers, however, we urge the members of the Joint Finance Committee to take a very critical look at the long-term impacts of the disruptive change being considered.

Justice will speak at GOP fundraiser with right-wing leader helped by his Doe decision.

In non-public meeting they approve 31% raise in their per day expenses.

Local governments then must buy from private insurers, who donated to Walker.

The proposed balanced budget amendment would lead to economic catastrophe and an Article V constitutional convention would imperil our fundamental rights.

Under one version of legislation calling for a constitutional convention on a balanced budget, Republican leaders would get to pick all seven delegates.

Paul Ryan becomes the latest victim of the American right’s fundamental dysfunction, The inability to face reality is not a bug in conservative politics — as Paul Ryan just found out; it's a feature

We need meaningful, comprehensive solutions to prevent the continued exacerbation of lead-related issues, and I can think of no better issue to demonstrate the Legislature’s capacity to transcend partisanship than on addressing the lead crisis in Wisconsin.

Evers and Holtz square off in superintendent's race; sparks fly both ways.

To navigate the talking points and spin in the media, here are several takeaways for conservatives about the CBO analysis.

Freedoms guaranteed under the First Amendment have never been more threatened than they are today.

In "Two Minutes with Mitch" radio personality Mitch Henck says President Donald Trump behaved in his Tuesday speech to Congress.

In "Two Minutes with Mitch" radio personality Mitch Henck gives his two cents on conservative media.

In "Two Minutes with Mitch" radio personality Mitch Henck gives his two cents on the firing of a UW-La Crosse police dispatcher.

In "Two Minutes with Mitch" radio personality Mitch Henck gives his two cents on Republicans' health care overhaul.

In "Two Minutes with Mitch" radio personality Mitch Henck comes to the defense of teachers.

In "Two Minutes with Mitch" radio personality Mitch Henck gives his two cents on election meddling and wiretapping allegations.

In "Two Minutes with Mitch" radio personality Mitch Henck gives his two cents on the controversy over Attorney General Jeff Sessions' contact with Russia.

In "Two Minutes with Mitch" radio personality Mitch Henck gives his two cents on Republicans' health care overhaul.

Wisconsin has an excellent alternative to just doing the same tired thing and getting the same disappointing results. Lowell Holtz, a selfstyled “Kidservative,” plans a new path for Wisconsin education.

The Wisconsin Retirement System is a great example of government working well. Thanks to decades of prudent management by both Democrats and Republicans, it has provided an ample retirement income to generations of Wisconsin’s public employees and remains one of the only fully funded public pension systems in the nation.

The rejection of established knowledge as a tool to persuade people that they might be wrong makes politics even harder.

When a president denies science as consistently as President Trump does, what’s a scientist to do?

Political author Thomas Frank' most famous book — “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” — published in 2004, was prescient in foreshadowing the rise of Donald Trump populism.

While President Trump has the ability to inspire a messianic adoration from supporters, it becomes clearer by the day — and by the tweet — that his interest in humankind is pretty much limited to one human — himself.

Our bill guts the failing law and enacts conservative reform without pulling the rug out from under anyone.

Our plan will create an environment for universal access to quality, affordable health care. It will help create more choices, lower costs, and give back control to individuals and families. It will move decisions away from Washington and into state programs, doctors’ offices, and family living rooms.

DWD is excited to continue on the pathway of expanding career education and opportunities for youth. Under Governor Walker, Wisconsin has come a long way, and we're on strong footing to do even more.

A system that motivates workers to support themselves and their families, expands the talent pool for employers, brings greater fairness to all employers who pay into the UI Trust Fund, and drives up hiring and retention incentives, is a system that will move our economy and state forward.

Milwaukee’s School Choice program celebrates 25th anniversary of landmark State Supreme Court ruling.

It’s time to fully staff these facilities, reverse the pay cuts of nearly 20% that hit front-line staff under Act 10 and restore the fundamental right to collectively bargain over workplace conditions and safety.

People who haven't been working notice that when they take a job, they start paying taxes and they also lose public benefits they've been receiving. The combination of new taxes and lower benefits can make it economically unattractive to take a job. The solution to this problem is the EITC, which offsets some of the taxes imposed and benefits lost when people start working.

The governor’s plan creates a three-part strategy: use the schools and a public information campaign to spread the word about the success sequence; use proven programs to provide help to at-risk parents with babies so they can improve their parenting skills; and reduce financial disincentives to marriage.

Never before has Senate leadership so openly and intentionally played political games with our highest court. The consequences are staggering.

Donald Trump’s presidency is just one element of our disintegrating democracy.

For more than two centuries, governments in this country have paid newspapers to publish public notices about the actions of government. But now, Wisconsin state legislators are circulating a pair of bills, AB70 and SB42, that aim to take public notices out of newspapers and put them instead on government websites.

A public health crisis is unfolding in America due to a growth in opioid addiction. Unfortunately, drug policy change has altered at a slow pace, and Wisconsin continues to rely on outdated medicines and policies.

Once a constitutional convention is convened, all of the protections of our rights we enjoy as citizens and all of the responsibilities we apportion to the federal and state government are on the table.

During the decade before our historic four-year tuition freeze, the University of Wisconsin (UW) System jacked up tuition by 118 percent, and it built up a $1 billion cash reserve off of those massive tuition hikes. Our budget proposes a five percent reduction in tuition for Wisconsin’s UW System students, and their families, because they deserve a break.

The market for coal, both here and abroad, has been shrinking dramatically and will continue to do so.

Move over Ulysses Grant and the Crédit Mobilier scandal. Step aside Warren Harding and the Teapot Dome imbroglio. In just a few weeks, Donald Trump has you both beat when it comes to presidential financial impropriety.

City has reinvented itself, deserves greater investment from state, he argues.

2015 campaign finance law gives more power to wealthy and corporations.

$22.05 billion – or 28.9 percent of Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed 2017-19 budget – will come from Washington.

24th in taxes and fees, 25th in spending, latest data shows.

Walker’s performance metrics may mean UWM serves fewer poor students.

State lawmakers in Wisconsin are seeking to pass a resolution that calls for a convention to make drastic changes to the U.S. Constitution. If enough states join this effort, delegates to such a convention could have wide-ranging authority to make amendments to the constitution with very little in the way of external controls on what they are enabled to do.

As part of Gov. Scott Walker’s ongoing effort to generate taxpayer savings through reform, the self-insurance proposal would save taxpayers at least $60 million in the state budget while maintaining the same level of benefits for state employees.

Wisconsin state budget bills are usually 1,000 or more pages in length and contain many small items that receive little or no attention. That is not to say, however, that serious questions cannot arise from the minutiae.

As a local and state government official, I want the public to have as much information as possible. It doesn’t matter if they gather their information from a government website or if they read it in the public notice section of the local newspaper. In many areas of the state, newspapers are the lifeblood of a community and sometimes the only convenient source of information.

In the early 2000s, leaders of both the education and tourism industries sat down to compromise on a uniform school start date. Both sides negotiated that Wisconsin would have a uniform start date for public schools of after Sept. 1. This date has proven over the years to be a success and has created a good balance for Wisconsin schools and tourism.

Elections are supposed to be free and fair, but – until we get rid of gerrymandering – they will be neither in Wisconsin. We need a change!

Cyber-attacks are rampant in industry as well as within government institutions, yet there are relatively few people trained for cybersecurity careers.

With his proposed cuts in federal research and development spending, President Trump risks harming a priority he puts at the top of his own list – national security.

We spend a lot of time thinking about what we will SAY in meetings with elected officials. We want our message and our ask to be perfect. However, we should also take note of what we DO in meetings, through our nonverbal messages.

Increasing military budgets and cutting the State Department is a huge mistake. This, from a 27-year retired Navy commander. Who would think a military man would want to see his budget cut?