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Richard Moore: PFAS chaos and the politics of liability
The latest version of the Legislature’s PFAS legislation exempts certain local governmental entities while leaving manufacturers and other private businesses fully subject to strict liability, raising serious equal protection concerns.

Julia Harris-Robinson: FoodShare feeds Milwaukee. New bill could make that harder.
Bill that impacts FoodShare raises concerns about food access and may even expand growing food deserts in our area.

Christina Lieffring: Madison needs a wake-up call
The longer we pretend this city is a progressive haven, the more people will be harmed.

David Blaska: Madison goes all Minneapolis on immigration
Envious Madison is determined to stumble in the footsteps of Jacob Frey, the preening mayor of Minneapolis.

Dave Cieslewicz: Social issues can’t save the GOP this time
The social issues that hurt Democrats are on a cold back burner. Try as they might to change the subject, there’s no reason to think the Republicans can do much of anything to save themselves this November.

Bob Chernow: Hegseth’s Pentagon mismanagement fits with Putin’s plans
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth believes he is fighting old warrior wars — no need for those who have more brains than brawn.

Bruce Thompson: What the 2025 elections data tells us
Does stunning change in voters’ preferences foretell fall election results?

Brian Fraley: Time to put the public into DPI
Electing a statewide schools chief may have reflected good governance a century ago. Today it looks more like a constitutional artifact.

Jason M. Walter and Eric Olson: Wisconsin lawmakers are OK with passing utility bills to customers
Wisconsin energy policy needs to increase energy availability, not subsidize utilities’ gambles.

Kristen Billings: Wisconsin energy utilities sacrifice affordability and sustainability to fuel the AI gold rush
Gas plants used to power data centers increase costs for consumers, risk of exposure to pollutants, and accelerate the harms of climate change.

Dave Cieslewicz: Taxpayers shouldn’t bail out UW Athletics
It’s possible that taxpayers will be on the line for most of a $20 million loan given to the UW Athletic Department in 2020.

Jeremiah Cahill: A collaborative approach could heal the wounds at GHC
The conjunction of a member-owned co-op and an employee labor union is unique. Group Health Cooperative has a chance to regard this as an opportunity, find common ground with employee organizers and become a national model for labor-management cooperation.

Ruth Conniff: Wisconsin take note: Here’s how Minneapolis parents prepared for ICE
Before Operation Metro Surge sent thousands of armed federal agents into Minneapolis, terrorizing families and spreading chaos and violence in formerly peaceful residential neighborhoods, local parent organizations were already setting up networks to provide mutual aid and safely transport children of immigrants to and from school.

Mike McCabe: Sueña, mi nación
Couldn’t understand the words, still the message came through loud and clear.

Gregory Humphrey: Conservative outrage over Bad Bunny
I surely was not the only one who laughed out loud when Congressman Andy Ogles described the Super Bowl halftime show as “gay pornography.” I viewed the show as stylized and choreographed in the same tradition that has defined pop‑music halftime shows for decades. But all of a sudden we are to believe that a cultural emergency has befallen the country.

David Blaska: It’s halftime at the culture wars
Maybe the culture wars started with the Dixie Chicks. The “Dizzy Chicks” hated on Dubya and the president’s supporters returned the disfavor. Today, even Big Bird is suspect.

Satya Rhodes-Conway: Madison election suit seeks money, not change
The city of Madison will work to protect against unreasonable monetary damages and will continue to encourage, promote, and protect the right to vote — including absentee voting. You don’t have to take my word for it; we prove it each and every election.

Lucas Vebber: Tribal gaming lobbyists pushing legally questionable effort to expand their state monopoly to print money
As lawmakers once again are poised to consider a bill related to online sports betting, they need yet another reminder that the state constitution has not changed. While the tribal gaming lobbyists may be pushing hard to get what they want, the Legislature has absolutely no power to give it.

James E. Stoll: The time is now to save Wisconsin’s hemp industry
As a doctor who has researched and used the hemp plant to help people, it would be a betrayal of Wisconsin’s consumers to take the only form of legal cannabis in Wisconsin and allow it to end or hand it over to an industry with no history, understanding or support of the plant.

Christopher Mohrman: Evers’ threatened veto would send “free money’ for Wisconsin’s families to students in other states
Starting in 2027, Wisconsin families could become eligible to receive millions in new funds – at zero cost to the state – for all kinds of educational opportunities. The funds could be used for anything from tutoring to supplemental courses not offered in their school, to covering tuition at a private school. But there is one catch. A single person gets to decide whether Wisconsin families get to access those funds.

WisOpinion: ‘The Insiders’ debate what’s behind Wisconsin’s rising property tax bills
The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, discuss property tax increases facing property owners and how Wisconsin legislators could address the issue. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership.

Rewind: Your Week in Review for Oct. 31
On this week’s episode of “Rewind,” WisPolitics.com’s JR Ross and Wisconsin Public Radio Capitol Reporter Anya Van Wagtendonk discuss the looming cutoff of Wisconsin FoodShare benefits amid the federal government shutdown, projected ACA health care premium spikes, the release of $15 million to plan Wisconsin’s prison overhaul and more.