Opinion

Increasingly, however, I’ve seen the NIMBY label weaponized as a blanket term for all neighborhood activism. Under this overly simplistic narrative, concerns ranging from the trivial to the serious get lumped together. Any community opposition, no matter the issue, is written off as stubborn interference.

People with more than a passing knowledge of farming know CAFOs are actually cutting the bottom out from under smaller producers who can’t compete. Making liberal standards for new and expanded CAFOs isn’t going help small- and medium-sized producers. It can only hurt them.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson wants to take America down the Trump-Giuliani rabbit hole.

Let’s reframe and reset the debate and move Wisconsin Medicaid expansion forward.

A political storm, unlike any other, is coming.

The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com. Early in his administration, Wisconsin Gov....

State lawmakers are demanding an audit of Wisconsin’s Public Finance Authority following a report in the Wall Street Journal that it is responsible for selling the riskiest municipal bonds in the country.

In this excerpt from his memoir, "For the Good of the Game," the ex-MLB Commissioner Bud Selig recounts the political struggles to get financial help to build a new Brewers ballpark in the mid-1990s.

New report shows big decline in federal aid for state while he was governor.

Federally-required agricultural promotion organizations may not benefit small dairy farms.

Wisconsin companies finding success are doing so by providing strong wages and benefits, prioritizing inclusivity, which expands their candidate pool, and addressing barriers to employment such as housing and transportation when possible.

The president would be well-served to recognize that increasing biofuel volumes to appease ethanol interests would undermine the very communities at the center of his "America First" and "Energy Dominance" agendas.

Should a government body have the power to decide if a drug or treatment is too expensive for a sick patient?

Either he can admit that he lied about when state law required him to hold that special election or he can admit that his Administration was too incompetent to read applicable federal law before issuing his executive order.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is sounding an awful lot like The Godfather’s Tom Hagen these days as he tries to pressure both the State Legislature and Milwaukee County voters to approve a sales tax increase next spring

In an Oct. 1 meeting with reporters at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue tied the current dairy crisis to economies of scale, telling reporters, “In America, the big get bigger and the small go out.” It might have been refreshing to hear a politician speak so plainly, had the line not been so apathetic that it hit the attending farmers like a kick in the guts.

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway is proposing a $40 wheel tax on car registrations in order to fund her transit plans and plug holes in her overall budget.

The gap between the haves and have-nots in the U.S. grew to its largest level in more than 50 years, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.

Kaul announced that Wisconsin was joining a coalition of 28 other attorneys general to push back on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's astonishing new debt collection rules.

Wisconsin Public Radio recently launched a new podcast series it calls "Derailed," revisiting how Wisconsin blew its best chance to expand passenger rail service in the state.

During a news conference on the Expo grounds, the biggest gathering of dairy farmers and suppliers in the world, Perdue said, "In America, the big get bigger and the small go out." And if that wasn't enough of a downer to those who had banked on a Trump administration to provide some help, Perdue added that in America, no small business should expect a guaranteed income or a profit.

The Republican state senator, often referred to as Wisconsin's most anti-environment legislator, is running for the 7th Congressional District seat recently vacated by Republican U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy.

Name-calling and character assassination don't cut it where the really tough are needed.

Koval's resignation Sunday was a siren in the night alerting others to take up his battle with the cop-bashers.

An enormous task is before you: to provide a leader for your police department who thoroughly understands and is to show he or she can lead community-oriented policing department-wide, sees the community as an ally, is well-educated, trained, experienced, respectful to everyone and understands the use of physical force by police is a sacred and public trust.

At a time at which climate change is threatening the niches of thousands of Wisconsin species, at which invasive species are posing increased harm to our ecosystems, at which animal diseases are still spreading throughout the state, we should be doubling down on our efforts to protect wildlife, not tearing down our efforts.

Not only would the Protecting the Right to Organize Act undermine protections for Wisconsin workers, it would jeopardize the Badger State’s aforementioned economic growth.

Every mature voter knows there is a need to enhance revenues if we are to meet the needs of the citizenry. An honest approach making it clear that streets and roads must have more funds, so they can be serviced adequately, should not be politically risky in this city.

Students should be expected to read diaries, journals, letters of their loved ones and original historical documents throughout their education. To achieve that end they must be schooled in cursive writing.

The Joint Finance Committee approved the plan and funding for the Dairy Innovation Hub at the University of Wisconsin.

WILL and other elements of the Koch Machine are free to broadcast whatever propaganda they want, but the Fourth Estate should look beneath the surface and beyond “he says she says" reporting to help people understand what is really going on.

Vos & Co. continue their contemptible scheme to use Anderson's plight for partisan advantage.

There are more signs that the right's goal in Wisconsin is to harden GOP rule and keep our swing state's electoral votes reliably Republican and permanently maintain Wisconsin as a low-wage, pro-polluter, one-percenters' playground with an intentionally-weak and underfunded public sector.

In an email to his constituents on Thursday, Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, R-New Berlin, broke the bad news: the new Blue Books are ready.

There’s no shortage of good ideas, but we can do more. There’s too much at stake to tell dairy farmers to “get big or go out.”

Less than six months after taking office, Evers reinstated the pardon board — opening a door for Vasser and others like him.

Should leftists debate Republicans to show the errors of their ways? Nope. Instead, they believe conservative opinion needs to be shut down and branded as “hate speech.”

Instead of anecdotal discussions that touch on a past vote or the latest crisis created by President Trump, Democrats need to have a full and robust debate on these issues.

The Congress has become such a pathetic remnant of what the founders of the American experiment intended it to be that it is perhaps not surprising that some commentators were taken aback when U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan got serious about checking and balancing the Trump administration and its appointed henchmen.

Clearly, the future of the family-owned dairy farm is not a concern of Perdue; just as clearly, the future of rural America is not a concern of the trade-war-obsessed Trump administration.

Johnson attacks FBI, CIA, and the whistleblower to defend Trump.

Democrats are listening to the will of the people, and basing our plans on priorities that will improve lives.

One especially pro-growth reform would be to conform to Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 168(k), which allows investments in short-lived assets (machinery and equipment) to be fully claimed as an expense in the first year, rather than incrementally over the depreciable life of the asset.

In an effort to boost science literacy, the state Department of Public Instruction is supporting a unique statewide project centered on a commodity that we have in abundance around here: water.

Dental therapists in Minnesota help more low-income kids and adults get the oral care they need.

When its Legislature authorized dental therapists a decade ago, Minnesota became the first state in the nation to license dental therapists. It’s a profession that is new to the US but is common elsewhere in the world.

Lincoln announced, on September 22, 1862, that if the rebels did not end the fighting and rejoin the Union by January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious states would be freed as punishment. The Confederacy did not rejoin the Union and that is how we got the second Emancipation Proclamation.

Hate and the violence it frequently produces is an illness, not unlike alcoholism. Twelve steps can get us to wellness.

Regardless of where students attend school in Wisconsin, these high debt loads will have a significant impact on their lives after graduation, and more should be done by Wisconsin politicians to help reduce student debt in the state so that young Wisconsinites aren’t struggling with repayment.

Running a small business is extremely difficult, and new digital small business tools have made it easier for me and for many others. The last thing we want is our elected officials to make our businesses or our lives any more difficult, but I’m afraid that will be the result of overregulation of the digital economy.

According to the latest Fox News poll, 55 percent of Wisconsin voters are dissatisfied with the direction of the country. If Republicans are going to win this election cycle, they have to address the issues that matter most to Wisconsin voters.

With just 19% of MPS students proficient in math and 16.5% in English language arts, what changes will the district make to improve student achievement?

The Republican-led state Legislature has long championed pro-growth tax reform.

Can whoever succeeds Koval as Madison police chief succeed in a city so prone to criticism?

Often maligned, Rockford, Illinois is the subject of a whimsical new book. The city delivers its civic boosterism with passion and good humor.

It’s heartening to realize that all of Wisconsin apparently still cares mightily about the quality of local public education. Which, to me, hadn’t always been clear.

Few decisions are more important to terminally ill, mentally capable people than deciding on what terms they will leave this life.

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which I chair, started investigating the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal in March 2015. ... The information we have obtained only heightens my suspicions that there was corrupt behavior occurring within the Obama administration during the 2016 campaign and presidential transition.

State GOP leaders mislead as they fight gun control efforts.

Thompson Center Director Ryan Owens discusses the latest news relating to the impeachment inquiry with UW-Madison professor Kenneth Mayer.

Under the leadership of President Trump, we’re working to address systemic trade imbalances that have hurt the agricultural sector.

Multiple DUI convictions demonstrate that laws imposing tougher penalties do not deter drunken driving. It is encouraging to hear Sen. Alberta Darling report that treatment, diversion programs and other alternatives are being expanded. They provide a possible cure to the root cause of drunken driving.

Drop in homeownership among African-Americans and Hispanics underlines an affordable housing crisis since the Great Recession.

The Convention of States resolution that’s before the legislature would curb the federal government’s ability to spend recklessly, impose term limits on politicians who seem to get too comfortable on Capitol Hill, and reassert our 10th Amendment states’ rights.

It’s time to get serious about investing in our kids, our schools and our educators, because what’s best for our kids is what’s best for our state.

The WisOpinion Insiders, Jensen & Chvala, discuss Gov. Tony Evers' muffed call for a special election to fill the northern 7th Congressional District seat once held by Republican Sean Duffy. Evers is now looking at new dates to satisfy federal law. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and Michael Best Strategies.

Amid national concern about mass shootings, the WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala & Jensen, consider how the GOP-run Wisconsin Legislature will respond to Gov. Tony Evers' call for action against gun violence.

With Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, a leading candidate next year for Wisconsin's 5th Congressional District, the WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, consider other candidates and scenarios in the race to succeed outgoing GOP U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner.