Opinion

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos decided he would buck public opinion and not make accommodations for a lawmaker with disabilities. Now that Vos has caved, he is blaming the news media for his bad press.

There are plans to expand Truax Air Force Base so that F-35 fighter jets, designed to carry two nuclear bombs each, can be stationed here.

It’s time for everyone who supports sensible gun policies to put unceasing pressure on their representatives and senators in the state Legislature and Congress to pass these reforms.

Average parole time far longer in Wisconsin; system returns many parolees to prison.

Make no mistake: the Trump-GOP lawsuit is a ticking time bomb.

Trump and the faltering GOP don’t have Wisconsin’s back. Only a clean Democratic sweep in 2020 will bring change.

An out-of-control Trump “ordered” all U.S. companies to leave China.

Johnson must stand-up for retirees and support the Butch Lewis Act.

Not one violation on 26 campuses of UW Regents’ policy. But legislators want to pass tough law.

Joint Finance co-chair made it too costly to test his claim of support for GOP budget bill.

Evers Administration uses lame duck law to make policy changes with no chance for public comments.

Fresh off his most recent trip to the US southern border, Rep. Glenn Grothman describes the crisis, what’s being done, and what he thinks needs to happen next.

And why it may not matter to news readers.

Two years after project announced, what’s left of that world-shattering deal?

Average worker pay rose just 12%, new study finds.

Why the sudden change to approve copper-zinc mine? Will it pollute Lake Michigan?

Why are state customers paying $117 million -- or more -- for unneeded power upgrades?

Another easy win seems certain. Which may not be so good for Milwaukee.

An inexplicable U.S. Supreme Court decision leaves door open for GOP mischief.

Poll shows city residents support increased funding for MPS, but referendum still faces obstacles.

With shrinking federal dollars for America's Job Centers, state and local workforce providers will need to embrace new technologies while expanding one-on-one services to job seekers who seek career advancement and training opportunities. Wisconsin can make this transition with collaboration and thoughtful planning.

Although Cephus steadfastly maintained his innocence from day one, Cephus was charged with serious crimes that exposed him to significant prison time, if convicted. Cephus was also suspended from the UW football team and expelled from the university. Cephus’ reputation was trashed, his career was in ruins and his life was effectively destroyed.

Cognitive Dissedence writer Jeff Simpson has passed away after a battle with a rare form of cancer.

For decades Justice Abrahamson was state Supreme Court’s foremost champion of open records.

Radio host Dan O'Donnell questions Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes' character in the wake of Barnes acknowledging he didn't graduate from college.

One of the most tiresome and predictable refrains in the wake of a national tragedy is a call to “do something.” Generally speaking, this nebulous “something” is never clearly defined but nonetheless failure to do it is perceived as unacceptable.

Nearly as combative as President Trump in standing up for his beliefs but infinitely more even-keeled and polite, Duffy was for northern Wisconsin just as transformative a figure as Trump has been nationally.

According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of gas in Chicago hit $3.30 on July 30, a staggering 17% higher than the national average of $2.72 per gallon. Drivers across Illinois are now paying an average of $2.99 a gallon.

The value of today’s rapid-fire presidential debates is doubtful.

American society is growing older, less healthy and less financially secure. So, what’s a boomer to do? Two things come immediately to mind: stay productive and stay (or become) healthy.

Evers’ Public Service Commission appointee Rebecca Cameron Valcq sides with big energy.

To those who work in anti-poverty causes and struggle with the challenges of affordable housing here and throughout the country, Porco's long been a superstar who has blazed a trail that others can only hope to follow.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos turns down a request by Rep. Jimmy Anderson, who uses a wheelchair, to phone into some committee hearings.

For a while earlier this year, it appeared that the UW Athletic Department was actually going to yield to the hundreds of complaints and pleas, mostly from older longtime season ticket holders, to install railings before even more people get hurt falling. Instead, the powers-that-be opted to experiment with hand rails.

It shouldn't require a lawsuit to get Gov. Tony Evers to withdraw his edict to exclude the right-wing MacIver Institute from media events, including press conferences and briefings.

Zweifel writes about an idea a reader shared to raise the bar on votes needed to win an election.

All too many of those "quality" politicians Vos talks about have no mind of their own. Like Republicans in Congress do for Donald Trump they meekly follow the dictates and bizarre stands that Vos and Fitzgerald concoct.

The use of legalized government murder has been off the table — with a few exceptions — for more than a decade. The feds stopped using it in 2003 and several states, even those who have the death penalty, have declared moratoriums on its use.

The U.S. Justice Department has given the thumbs-up to the merger of Sprint and T-Mobile, and now all that stands in the way of the two communications giants completing the deal is a lawsuit filed by the attorneys general of 13 states, including Wisconsin's.

When Scott Walker won the governorship in 2010 and Robin Vos became Assembly speaker, both passenger rail and commuter rail were shoved to the side.

Sadly, Johnson has marched lock-step with his fellow Republicans in providing whatever cover they can for a president who not only knows no decency, but has surrounded himself with what many historians are calling the most corrupt administration in the nation's history.

A conservative publication has filed lawsuit in federal court against Gov. Tony Evers for systematically excluding it from press events, including his administration’s budget press briefing that was open to other journalists.

The phantom thread under the presidential debates weaves back to how well the Democrats did in 2018.

By 1946, returning American veterans confronted the emerging nativism that Trump so typifies in “The Best Years of Our Lives,” from newly observant Hollywood master William Wyler. The encounter then was with an America First boor.

The times clearly call for some adjustments, some reckonings that go beyond the slow walk the electorate usually uses to correct itself. But these are not the adjustments we are getting.

In a country when so many gun deaths are suicides, red flag laws have proven to help take guns away from people going through obvious trauma, or drinking bouts or opioid distress. There is evidence that taking away the methods of suicide – guns, pills, whatever –deter suicidal folk. But there is little evidence that, outside suicides, red flag laws are more than a drop in the bucket of blood our society endures

Nationally and across the states, policy-makers from both parties are supporting less burdensome licensure rules.

The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com. In recent weeks, the nation’s top...

Barnes got a lot of negative attention for a series of notable missteps that hurt his general credibility as the second-highest-ranking official in state government.

I believe the most compelling reason to support the F-35 jets has to do with our duty as Americans to the larger world.

What this state needs are some Republicans who care more about facts and data regarding gun violence than they do about every election shadow that might emerge within their district.

Trump is right about our need to focus on the person who pulls the trigger, but completely wrong about people with broadly defined mental illness being responsible for gun violence in America.

In an effort to clean-up the statutes, Marklein's bill would remove 19 pages by deleting language associated with seven obsolete tax credits and obsolete Illinois income tax reciprocity criteria.

Seeking solutions for chronic wasting disease in southwest Wisconsin.

Increasing the age to 21 will ensure fewer social access points to the products in high schools, while aligning e-vapor and tobacco products with other adult products, including beer, wine and distilled spirits.

Outside of UW-Madison, the argument that the colleges have huge multiplier effect on communities and the state is nonsensical.

Assembly Speaker’s attitude toward wheel-chair bound legislator is truly Trumpian.

Wisconsin under GOP control loosened or eliminated various pesky controls on weapon possession during the Walker era.

Milwaukee County Supervisor Dan Sebring is understandably annoyed at a mural wrap on a county bus sponsored by the Milwaukee Art Museum. The mural is a student “art” project that is anti-immigration law enforcement. While we should be sympathetic to Sebring's concerns about the insult to law enforcement, the mural is not "racist."

While Republicans in the state legislature debate behind the scenes whether to try to override some of Governor Tony Evers’ partial vetoes of the state budget, a conservative legal organization is attempting a different tactic to limit the changes made by the governor.

The IRG, led by former Governor Scott Walker, relies upon the experiences of Wisconsin, North Carolina, Kansas, Colorado and Utah to make the case for the reforms.

Stopping the spread of drugs, be it in Northern Wisconsin or statewide, is not a simple task. No one policy will help curb abuse. But with this budget, our criminal justice system is better equipped to make a difference in people’s lives and that’s a good thing that you might not have read about or heard on the local news.

Legislators do more than what is seen by the public.

A recent column by state Rep. Melissa Sargent, D-Madison, called commercial pot a “gateway to equity, opportunity, and moving Wisconsin forward.” Such an outlandish statement requires some fact checking.

Some progress on democracy in Wisconsin requires a look to the past.

Switching to a progressive income tax structure would drive Illinois even further behind Wisconsin.

Let’s have a real, meaningful discussion about how to prevent gun violence.

I don’t have words of encouragement or hope, only desperation and heartache and fear, only pleading for some small action to change something, because this is the way it is. But this isn’t the way it has to be.

Those proposing stricter gun laws that would primarily burden law-abiding citizens are the same people advocating for summarily reducing our prison population and releasing violent criminals back onto our streets.

Our corrupted American elections may well be the greatest environmental threat facing the planet. But if elections pose a threat, they also offer a possibility.

If you enjoy wild and unpredictable politics, you’re going to have a lot of fun as a spectator of a three-ring circus during the build-up to the Wisconsin presidential primary and general elections over the next 14 months.

It is time for us to take action, and join 37 states in expanding health care for our residents. Medicaid is not welfare, it is an investment in Wisconsin and in our health care system.

While this could be a time for the celebration of bipartisanship, with more Republican power-grabs through undue lawsuits, I guess that’s just another missed opportunity.

Tent City residents need resources not currently available to them, not destruction of their camp.

Wisconsin is one of the worst-performing states in the country at providing dental care for disadvantaged kids.

The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com. During his administration, President Obama started...

Wisconsin has far too many programs and not enough dollars to equitably operate them all.

Program created by President Reagan provides funds to hospitals to offset costs for providing care to the uninsured.

Expanding universal background checks is critical to reducing senseless gun violence.

To be fair, Republicans and Democrats alike, have benefited from partisan gerrymandering. The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that federal judges have no power to police partisan gerrymandering has opened the door to more shenanigans from legislators seeking to retain control.

The concept of “housing navigators” would be funded in new legislation to assist the homeless to accurately identify resources, locate compatible housing and help individuals complete the applications process.

Top down approaches from the federal government must end and more flexibility for states on important issues like school discipline must be encouraged.

In an attempt to address perceived teacher shortages, a bipartisan group of state legislators have introduced a bill that would make it easier for qualified teachers from other states to become licensed in Wisconsin. While there may be as many surpluses in the wide array of teaching disciplines as there are shortages, this bill advances a worthwhile reform.

Mass killings will never be stopped by a government that respects individual liberty, but they can be stopped by a trillion simple acts of kindness.

Gov. Tony Evers is still pushing for the Wisconsin Legislature to pass new gun-control legislation and threatening to call a special session to do so. He went so far as to call people’s concerns over his gun-control measures as “BS,” as if adult deliberation and constitutional considerations are now unwelcome in Madison.

The Texas Legislature created an adult alert to cover people between the ages of 18 and 65.

Barnes has a detached relationship with the truth and a penchant for blaming others for his misdeeds.

The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com. In past years, the safety of...

Fanlund and Cap Times Opinion Editor Jessie Opoien interviewed Evers in his state Capitol office this week.

Outgoing Madison Metropolitan School District Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham's experience shows why leading here is so hard.

Are you a political junkie? A social justice devotee? A futurist? A fun seeker? Cap Times Idea Fest has got you covered.

If Bernie’s campaign is destined to drown anyway, he should at least have the decency to not try to yank the reputation of our embattled press under water with him.

Everyone should have the right to speak without disruption. But no one is entitled to speak without response. Any policy that prohibits disruption must be carefully crafted to protect the right of protest and avoid the sanctioning of protected speech.

Opportunities still exist in the trades.

The Thompson Center's Ryan Owens interviews Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz.

The Thompson Center's Ryan Owens interviews Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced that they are gutting key provisions of the Endangered Species Act. In numerous ways, the changes will drastically limit safeguards for threatened species.

Inclusion is not frivolous special treatment for which we should have to beg. Inclusion is the minimum a decent society owes us.

Walters writes a letter to Wisconsin leaders on the state's gun laws.

From the left's "basket of deplorables" to the right's "send her back," our public and private spaces have become infected with a culture of contempt.

Test-based accountability has destroyed the profession.

It’s been two years since Republican legislators (and a few Dems) bestowed their blessing on former Gov. Scott Walker’s Foxconn deal. Since then, nothing has gone right, and no one should be surprised.

Gov. Tony Evers is at best naïve, possibly worse.

As reported this week, a referendum for Milwaukee Public Schools is being discussed by district administrators.

The presence of the Air National Guard in Madison provides double enhancement of emergency response and fire protection, and the Air National Guard has been a cooperative partner in mitigating the impact of their operations on the community.

With neighboring states wrestling with siting marijuana dispensaries, the WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, consider the chances the Wisconsin Legislature will approve medical marijuana. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and Michael Best Strategies.

With a new conservative justice in place, the WisOpinion Insiders, Jensen & Chvala, debate partisanship and the state Supreme Court. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and Michael Best Strategies.

While state and national elections are more than a year away, the WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, consider which budget issues will remain politically...

With two sets of Democratic candidate debates in hand, the WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, consider which presidential hopefuls might win Wisconsin's April 2020...

With the Legislature gearing up for a return to Madison in the fall, the WisOpinion Insiders, Jensen & Chvala, grade the efforts of the GOP majority in the first half of 2019. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and Michael Best Strategies.