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Tom Diehl: Don’t start school until after Sept. 1

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.

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Lena Taylor: Childbirth behind bars

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.

Read More »

Jerry Badger: A case study in Democratic gun mythology

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.

Read More »

Dave Cieslewicz: Hard lines equal hard times

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.

Read More »

Owen Robinson: Tweaking the Wisconsin Retirement System

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.

Read More »

Chris Rickert: Smart labor reform undermined by years of GOP labor ‘reform’

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.

Read More »

Tom Diehl: Don’t start school until after Sept. 1

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.

Read More »

Lena Taylor: Childbirth behind bars

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.

Read More »

Jerry Badger: A case study in Democratic gun mythology

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.

Read More »

Dave Cieslewicz: Hard lines equal hard times

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.

Read More »

Owen Robinson: Tweaking the Wisconsin Retirement System

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.

Read More »

Chris Rickert: Smart labor reform undermined by years of GOP labor ‘reform’

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.

Read More »

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