Time and again, transparency advocates have seen that protecting Wisconsin’s traditions of open government depends on the courage and initiative of individuals. This year’s winners of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council’s Openness Awards, or Opees, include two citizens, two journalists, one fired government worker and one small but gutsy Wisconsin newspaper.

21st century technology, although beneficial, has placed us on thin ice with the Fourth Amendment and in situations where there is an expectation of privacy.

Here’s my advice to those pastors out there who want to do politics from their pulpits on Sundays. Go ahead. Endorse candidates, fight for or against politicians and exhort your parishioners as to how to vote. Do it all you want — just give up your tax exemption and start paying taxes on property and income just like everyone else has to do.

Shakespeare warned us that bad things could happen on 3/15 – – the Ides of March – – and sure enough, 3/15 is when a joint Wisconsin Assembly/Senate committee hearing in Madison will launch big ag and big dairy’s long-sought push to finally win permanently-held rights to massive amounts of Wisconsin ground water through an expanding number of wells which pump at least 100,000 gallons of water a day.

When a president denies science as consistently as President Trump does, what’s a scientist to do?

Supreme Court chief justice slams Journal Sentinel, Janine Geske, and others.

A bipartisan effort is needed to address lead poisoning in Wisconsin.

A system that motivates workers to support themselves and their families, expands the talent pool for employers, brings greater fairness to all employers who pay into the UI Trust Fund, and drives up hiring and retention incentives, is a system that will move our economy and state forward.

Wisconsin is the only state where treasurer doesn’t oversee cash management.

We need meaningful, comprehensive solutions to prevent the continued exacerbation of lead-related issues, and I can think of no better issue to demonstrate the Legislature’s capacity to transcend partisanship than on addressing the lead crisis in Wisconsin.

More than it used to be, but Mayor Tom Barrett fails to count all the state’s funding to the city or how much other communities give.

Where does the buck stop in Madison?

In “Two Minutes with Mitch” radio personality Mitch Henck gives his two cents on Republicans’ health care overhaul.

Nobody voted for Republicans to keep the most objectionable parts of the Affordable Care Act.

My Cargo Coffee Shop friend Charlie was elated with New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof’s column recently that noted the anomaly of how excited we get about the possibility of terror attacks, but fall asleep whenever we talk about America’s real problem: guns.

If you ignore all the chatter and study Gorsuch’s record, however, what emerges is a portrait of a far-right judge who is even more extreme than Justice Antonin Scalia, and whose legal views would harm Wisconsin workers and families.