
Gregg Hoffmann: Trump Attacks Forest Service, USDA
The Trump administration continues its attack on nature and the environment, with the Forest Service and Ag Department the latest targets.
Visit WisPolitics-State Affairs for premium content,
keyword notifications, bill tracking and more
Submit columns for consideration to wisopinion@wispolitics.com

The Trump administration continues its attack on nature and the environment, with the Forest Service and Ag Department the latest targets.

The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, discuss the large margin of victory for liberal Judge Chris Taylor over conservative Judge Maria Lazar in Tuesday’s Supreme Court election. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Tommy G. Thompson Center for Public Leadership.

Winning in Wisconsin requires a strong message, manpower and money. Right or wrong, if you don’t have enough money, then the message and manpower don’t matter.

It’s important to know much national defense research has little to do with building better missiles or bombs. It’s often about prevention, detection, reaction and recovery in times of emergency at home. That affects civilians as well as military personnel.

Got a charge out of state Sen. Patrick Testin’s “outrage” over the Board of Regents’ firing of UW President Jay Rothman this week.

Want to see what good decisions look like? You can watch the results filling in the industrial parks of southern Kenosha County.

Evers vetoed Assembly Bill 602 that would have required the state to opt into a federal program to promote donations to Wisconsin Scholarship Granting Organizations in exchange for a federal tax credit.

Medical mistrust plays a significant role in fueling health care disparities experienced by Black people in Milwaukee, across Wisconsin, and nationally, particularly in high rates of infant mortality.

While the nation waited with bated breath to see if Donald Trump would keep his threat to destroy the ancient Iranian “civilization” by 8 p.m. ET, we also glimpsed the dark side of the moon for the first time in human history.

April is officially Second Chance Month, a nationwide effort to raise awareness about stigmas surrounding people with criminal records and the barriers they face after incarceration.

Quiet campaign didn’t work. Party is in deep trouble.

Taylor’s lopsided victory does not mean that Wisconsin has turned, overnight, from a 50-50 purple state that narrowly elected both Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump into a liberal stronghold where Democrats can expect to run the table in November.

What makes this result especially interesting is that Halvensleben is a Democrat.

We need election officials who actually care about getting this right, and we need candidates who understand and respect the law enough to follow it.

Taxpayers are right to be angry that our property taxes are so high, and they should be especially angry about the misallocation of their school tax dollars. High property taxes and low return-on-investment are a choice, and school districts have chosen poorly.

The immediate controversy over UW president’s firing centers on secrecy. However, the more significant governance issue started long before. It began with a presidential employment agreement.

Whatever the case and for whatever reasons, Churchill’s sense of moral and strategic clarity is harder to find today in our leaders’ wartime rhetoric. Instead there is fragmented and often contradictory messaging.

In the 2026 race for Wisconsin Supreme Court, Chris Taylor was always seen as the clear favorite to win, but even the most optimistic prognostication from liberal supporters didn’t quite see this — a 20-point landslide blowout victory.

On paper, Lazar was a good enough candidate to win. Lazar lost because she was wildly outspent.

Chris Taylor’s election would have been bad enough for one day, but then yesterday evening the UW Board of Regents went ahead and fired System President Jay Rothman. They did it in closed session and provided no explanation.

The Trump administration continues its attack on nature and the environment, with the Forest Service and Ag Department the latest targets.

The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, discuss the large margin of victory for liberal Judge Chris Taylor over conservative Judge Maria Lazar in Tuesday’s Supreme Court election. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Tommy G. Thompson Center for Public Leadership.

Winning in Wisconsin requires a strong message, manpower and money. Right or wrong, if you don’t have enough money, then the message and manpower don’t matter.

It’s important to know much national defense research has little to do with building better missiles or bombs. It’s often about prevention, detection, reaction and recovery in times of emergency at home. That affects civilians as well as military personnel.

Got a charge out of state Sen. Patrick Testin’s “outrage” over the Board of Regents’ firing of UW President Jay Rothman this week.

Want to see what good decisions look like? You can watch the results filling in the industrial parks of southern Kenosha County.

Evers vetoed Assembly Bill 602 that would have required the state to opt into a federal program to promote donations to Wisconsin Scholarship Granting Organizations in exchange for a federal tax credit.

Medical mistrust plays a significant role in fueling health care disparities experienced by Black people in Milwaukee, across Wisconsin, and nationally, particularly in high rates of infant mortality.

While the nation waited with bated breath to see if Donald Trump would keep his threat to destroy the ancient Iranian “civilization” by 8 p.m. ET, we also glimpsed the dark side of the moon for the first time in human history.

April is officially Second Chance Month, a nationwide effort to raise awareness about stigmas surrounding people with criminal records and the barriers they face after incarceration.

Quiet campaign didn’t work. Party is in deep trouble.

Taylor’s lopsided victory does not mean that Wisconsin has turned, overnight, from a 50-50 purple state that narrowly elected both Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump into a liberal stronghold where Democrats can expect to run the table in November.

What makes this result especially interesting is that Halvensleben is a Democrat.

We need election officials who actually care about getting this right, and we need candidates who understand and respect the law enough to follow it.

Taxpayers are right to be angry that our property taxes are so high, and they should be especially angry about the misallocation of their school tax dollars. High property taxes and low return-on-investment are a choice, and school districts have chosen poorly.

The immediate controversy over UW president’s firing centers on secrecy. However, the more significant governance issue started long before. It began with a presidential employment agreement.

Whatever the case and for whatever reasons, Churchill’s sense of moral and strategic clarity is harder to find today in our leaders’ wartime rhetoric. Instead there is fragmented and often contradictory messaging.

In the 2026 race for Wisconsin Supreme Court, Chris Taylor was always seen as the clear favorite to win, but even the most optimistic prognostication from liberal supporters didn’t quite see this — a 20-point landslide blowout victory.

On paper, Lazar was a good enough candidate to win. Lazar lost because she was wildly outspent.

Chris Taylor’s election would have been bad enough for one day, but then yesterday evening the UW Board of Regents went ahead and fired System President Jay Rothman. They did it in closed session and provided no explanation.