Visit WisPolitics-State Affairs for premium content,
keyword notifications, bill tracking and more
Submit columns for consideration to wisopinion@wispolitics.com
Idea Fest attendees, many of whom return night after night, seem to enjoy the variety of speakers, topics, and, well, the company of one another. They tell me they learn things, emerge thinking differently about some person or topic, and have fun running into longtime acquaintances.
Tiffany’s effort to keep out journalists whose reporting he doesn’t like violates the same constitutional principle protecting the free press that a federal judge cited when he ordered the White House to restore press passes to the three news outlets Trump banned.
If you read the sensational headlines in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, you might think Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany’s campaign arbitrarily blocked one of the Journal Sentinel’s reporters from its campaign event. That did happen.
Tiffany demonstrates a Trump-like scorn for the 1st Amendment.
For about a year these cameras had pretty much flown under the radar in Wisconsin––that is, until stories sprung up of a Milwaukee woman being held at gunpoint for a crime she did not commit.
If you tuned into State Superintendent Jill Underly’s “State of Education” address at the Capitol Thursday, you witnessed a classic (and predictable) display of bureaucratic deflection by a feckless leader who appears to be auditioning for her next gig rather than focusing on her current job.
Improving education means changing the system, not just spending more.
Three imperatives are: Advancing student success and opportunity; elevating innovation; deepening community engagement.
Japan companies have collectively been the No. 1 foreign direct investor in the United States since 2020, totaling $827 billion at the end of 2025. In Wisconsin, Japan runs neck-and-neck with Canada, with $4.2 billion invested by Japan since 2003.
Tiffany’s own rhetoric, exaggerations and misleading comments have not been useful at attaining delisting and may have emboldened efforts to challenge such delistings through the courts.
The central question before Democrats, however, is not simply how to answer attacks over ideology or crime. It is whether they can clearly and convincingly articulate concrete priorities that address Americans’ most immediate concerns about affordability, safety and foreign wars — while offering a larger, compelling vision of Americans working together to confront the complex challenges facing the country.
Congressman Tom Tiffany, the Republican candidate for governor in Wisconsin, is breaking with President Donald Trump and calling for an end to the war with Iran. … Does that mean Tiffany, as a congressman, will demand Congress reconvene so he can vote in favor of ending the war after opposing five other attempts in the House of Representatives to demand an end to the war? No, of course not.
Steil’s voting record shows he works for Donald Trump, not the people he is supposed to represent, nor the people of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin should be a place where people can build something, raise their families and have a fair opportunity to succeed.
Milwaukee Public Schools are ranked fourth worst in the nation, just after Detroit, Baltimore, and Jackson.
The internet didn’t get built safely because either chorus won the argument. It got built safely because the engineers who built it also built the guardrails, in parallel.
There has never been a moment in my lifetime when joy was more powerful and important than it is now, for our society is being poisoned. Choosing joy is not escapism, nor is it suffering with a smile, it is a conscious reaching for an antidote to the toxins.
There has likely never been a major party candidate for governor who poses a greater danger to our state’s environment than Tiffany.
Bottom line: Vote yes three times. And, if a school referendum shows up after that, vote no.
A high-profile security breach sparked outrage over jail tablets in Milwaukee County, but Shannon Ross argues the backlash ignores their role in supporting communication, education and successful reentry.
Idea Fest attendees, many of whom return night after night, seem to enjoy the variety of speakers, topics, and, well, the company of one another. They tell me they learn things, emerge thinking differently about some person or topic, and have fun running into longtime acquaintances.
Tiffany’s effort to keep out journalists whose reporting he doesn’t like violates the same constitutional principle protecting the free press that a federal judge cited when he ordered the White House to restore press passes to the three news outlets Trump banned.
If you read the sensational headlines in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, you might think Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany’s campaign arbitrarily blocked one of the Journal Sentinel’s reporters from its campaign event. That did happen.
Tiffany demonstrates a Trump-like scorn for the 1st Amendment.
For about a year these cameras had pretty much flown under the radar in Wisconsin––that is, until stories sprung up of a Milwaukee woman being held at gunpoint for a crime she did not commit.
If you tuned into State Superintendent Jill Underly’s “State of Education” address at the Capitol Thursday, you witnessed a classic (and predictable) display of bureaucratic deflection by a feckless leader who appears to be auditioning for her next gig rather than focusing on her current job.
Improving education means changing the system, not just spending more.
Three imperatives are: Advancing student success and opportunity; elevating innovation; deepening community engagement.
Japan companies have collectively been the No. 1 foreign direct investor in the United States since 2020, totaling $827 billion at the end of 2025. In Wisconsin, Japan runs neck-and-neck with Canada, with $4.2 billion invested by Japan since 2003.
Tiffany’s own rhetoric, exaggerations and misleading comments have not been useful at attaining delisting and may have emboldened efforts to challenge such delistings through the courts.
The central question before Democrats, however, is not simply how to answer attacks over ideology or crime. It is whether they can clearly and convincingly articulate concrete priorities that address Americans’ most immediate concerns about affordability, safety and foreign wars — while offering a larger, compelling vision of Americans working together to confront the complex challenges facing the country.
Congressman Tom Tiffany, the Republican candidate for governor in Wisconsin, is breaking with President Donald Trump and calling for an end to the war with Iran. … Does that mean Tiffany, as a congressman, will demand Congress reconvene so he can vote in favor of ending the war after opposing five other attempts in the House of Representatives to demand an end to the war? No, of course not.
Steil’s voting record shows he works for Donald Trump, not the people he is supposed to represent, nor the people of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin should be a place where people can build something, raise their families and have a fair opportunity to succeed.
Milwaukee Public Schools are ranked fourth worst in the nation, just after Detroit, Baltimore, and Jackson.
The internet didn’t get built safely because either chorus won the argument. It got built safely because the engineers who built it also built the guardrails, in parallel.
There has never been a moment in my lifetime when joy was more powerful and important than it is now, for our society is being poisoned. Choosing joy is not escapism, nor is it suffering with a smile, it is a conscious reaching for an antidote to the toxins.
There has likely never been a major party candidate for governor who poses a greater danger to our state’s environment than Tiffany.
Bottom line: Vote yes three times. And, if a school referendum shows up after that, vote no.
A high-profile security breach sparked outrage over jail tablets in Milwaukee County, but Shannon Ross argues the backlash ignores their role in supporting communication, education and successful reentry.
