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Mark Belling: The great escape
I don’t know if Ted Oswald will get his commutation but it’s a sure bet a lot of crooks will. Evers wouldn’t have given himself the power to commute if he didn’t intend to use it.

Gregory Humphrey: Wisconsin’s fiscal surplus should be used on big ideas
Tax refunds may feel good for a moment, but big ideas and statewide investments pay dividends for generations.

Maya Livni: Wisconsin must act before another 1,000 basements flood
The divide between Wisconsin’s flood crisis and its climate policy is the product of a legislative choice to treat climate change as someone else’s emergency.

Pat Kreitlow: President Trump will visit Wisconsin and say he’s been good for farmers. His claims need a fact check
Inflation, tariffs, and healthcare costs have all taken a big bite out of farm families’ income as Trump becomes the latest major figure trying to save Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden.

Dave Zweifel: War on immigrants is quieter now, but just as cruel
Donald Trump’s war on Iran has pushed them out of the headlines, but don’t think for a moment that those masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents aren’t hard at work harassing neighborhoods, small businesses and even a few farmers.

John Torinus: GrandCare CEO asks Senate to tackle aging crisis
West Bend native Laura Hillman Mitchell played a star witness role in Congress recently as she pitched the use of technology to keep seniors living longer in their homes.

John Nichols: Primaries are good; Wisconsin should have more of them
Pundits and political insiders may bemoan the fact that so much energy is going into the Democratic race to replace outgoing Gov. Tony Evers. But I disagree. History suggests that primaries are good for the parties that allow them to play out.

Jessica F. Simmons: Tom Tiffany had two chances to protect Wisconsin’s SNAP. He chose Trump both times
Over the past year, tens of thousands of Wisconsinites have lost FoodShare after Rep. Tom Tiffany voted for two bills that pushed for and locked in SNAP cuts.

Steven Walters: One in five Wisconsin Republican legislators are retiring
Four Milwaukee-area Republicans and key Senate leaders are among those stepping down this year.

Peter Cameron: Your Right to Know: Names of police should be public
We are currently unable to track wandering officers who have been fired or forced out in other states and come to work here because we don’t have a list of all law enforcement officers here.

Jill Underly: Schools must redefine student success
The rise of artificial intelligence has left many questioning what jobs may disappear, even as schools try to prepare students for jobs that may not yet exist. If we want our students to succeed in this evolving landscape, our definition of success must evolve with it.

Richard Moore: Another day, another argument for total control
In Sierra Club v. DNR, the issue is whether state agencies can effectively legislate through guidance documents without ever undergoing the public scrutiny.

James Causey: Push to rewrite story of George Floyd killing has begun
The murder of George Floyd changed how many Americans viewed policing and race. The movement to pardon Derek Chauvin raises questions about whether that change was ever real.

Jerry Hanson: Local law enforcement agencies, should stop helping ICE
Immigrants deserve the protections of their local law enforcement agencies, not to be victimized by the denial of constitutional safeguards afforded the rest of us living in this nation.

Bill Berry: Even now, the arc of history bends toward equality
Equality and equity don’t happen overnight, but I sure wish it would hurry up a bit here in the 21st century. We need the absolute best minds available to help us in these times.

Bill Kaplan: Evers stepped up
As Wisconsinites reel from economic pain under Trump’s economy, Gov. Tony Evers and GOP legislative leaders came up with a compromise for using the state surplus to increase spending for public schools, cut property taxes and give regular folks tax rebates.

Christopher Fons: MPS faces crisis from poor decisions by Wisconsin leaders
With a Democratic governor and a Republican legislature, we saw a 0% increase in general aid funding for schools. This forces school boards to choose between cutting budgets or raising property taxes.

Mark Lisheron: Restoring accountability in Wisconsin government
Some of Wisconsin’s most important recent failures of accountability share a common feature: Power has increasingly shifted away from the Legislature and toward governors, agencies, courts and other institutions that operate further from direct democratic control.

Aiden Lesley: Wisconsin shouldn’t be charging so many kids as adults
The fact that Wisconsin is so behind when it comes to the rights of children in the justice system is antithetical to Wisconsin ideals, and it’s long past time the state took the steps to remedy these injustices.

Brian Fraley: Shout it out loud: June is Dairy Month
June Dairy Month in Wisconsin is a time-honored tradition that celebrates the rich agricultural heritage and dairy industry of the state.

WisOpinion: ‘The Insiders’ examine Wisconsin’s 7th CD GOP primary
The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, look at Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District primary, where big money is backing competing GOP hopefuls. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership.

Rewind: Your Week in Review for May 29
On this week’s episode of “Rewind,” Wisconsin Public Radio Capitol Reporter Anya van Wagtendonk and Associated Press Capitol Correspondent Scott Bauer talk about the latest Marquette Law School poll finding widespread public support for the failed surplus deal and how the issue is playing out in the governor’s race, a Dem bill to tax payments from President Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund at 100%, a lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s school funding system, and more.