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Mark Belling: Trump is choosing Brad Schimel for a reason
A battle-scarred vet is picked to lead a crackdown.

Michael Pointer Mace: Judge Dugan’s arrest threatens judicial independence
Our courthouses need a clear policy protecting Milwaukeans from disguised federal agents.

Jeremy Bauer-Wolf: Students need protection from predatory for-profit colleges
Legislators have put forth four bills that would either restrict Wisconsin for-profit institutions that may be poor performing or bolster consumer protections for students attending them.

Neil Kraus: The shady tactics shaping policy in the UW System
Unwritten “political deals,” perpetual audit threats, and fear are being used to reduce educational opportunities outside of UW–Madison and UW–Milwaukee.

Bill Barth: Sowing distrust is not productive
Elections are back to normal these days. The count can be trusted. A tweak here or a tweak there might marginally improve the process. But constant tinkering — mostly for partisan advantage — sows distrust. Stop.

Ben Slowey: We must act to save the hemp industry in Wisconsin
U.S. Hemp Roundtable predicts that the ban, which goes into effect in December, could wipe out 95% of the $28.4 billion hemp industry with dire consequences for farmers and business owners nationwide.

Mike Draper: Health care isn’t a political issue. It’s a math issue. And the math isn’t adding up.
You can’t solve an economic problem with partisan politics.

Dave Zweifel: Move over democracy; the billionaires are in charge
Extreme wealth throughout the country’s history has equaled immense political power. And now we’ve created a legion of billionaires who, let’s admit, have immense power over the lives of the great mass of Americans.

John Nichols: House members move to acknowledge Gaza genocide
U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan has signed on as a cosponsor of U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s “Recognizing the Genocide of the Palestinian People in Gaza” resolution, which would have the United States formally acknowledge that the Israeli government has committed genocide in Gaza.

Steven Walters: The legacy of Tommy Thompson
There’s only one Tommy who was a 20-year Assembly member, four-term governor, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, health-care executive and business consultant, candidate for President and U.S. Senate and former president of the Universities of Wisconsin.

Robin Vos: Wisconsin school report cards are misleading. DPI covers up real problems.
Our students deserve real accountability, especially those who are most at risk of slipping through the cracks.

Richard Moore: The moment for universal school choice is upon us
Public education is laying on a table in a 20th-century operating room. What we need is a liberation of learning. What public education needs is universal school choice.

Lakeshia Myers: Government funding bill threatens Wisconsin’s hemp industry
While most Americans were focused on ending the longest government shutdown in our nation’s history, Congress slipped a provision into the funding bill that could devastate Wisconsin’s burgeoning hemp industry.

Grace Voss: Wisconsin needs to lead on farm worker protection
Protecting farmworker health through climate-responsive labor standards is not only a moral imperative, it’s essential for the resilience of Wisconsin’s agricultural future.

Mike McCabe: New dog, old trick
Zohran Mamdani was just elected in one of the few places in the country that still allows a once-common practice called fusion voting, a practice that made Abraham Lincoln’s presidency possible.

Dave Cieslewicz: Sunset of Trump?
That orange glow you see on the horizon may be Donald Trump setting in the west.

Peter Schubert: Milwaukee can benefit from pocket urbanism
Imagine a string of pocket districts along the lake and river: each with its own identity, but connected by transit, trails, and curated experiences.

Gregg Hoffmann: Pros and cons of data centers
Water guzzling, jobs costing, high tech monsters or the future of communications and business. Those extremes can all be found in news coverage and discussions of data centers.

Dan Knodl: Lawmakers owe victims as much compassion as they give inmates
We can support decent conditions in our prisons and still remember who the justice system was built to protect.

Brian Fox and Tulio de Oliveira: Science without borders: How Wisconsin and Stellenbosch are redefining collaboration
What began as an exchange between individual researchers has become a partnership that reflects how science can advance discovery, education and innovation on a global scale.

WisOpinion: ‘The Insiders’ discuss a bipartisan vote to audit the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, discuss the recent bipartisan Legislative Audit Committee vote to audit the Department of Public Instruction following a series of issues involving the department. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public leadership.

Rewind: Your Week in Review for Nov. 14
On this week’s episode of “Rewind,” WisPolitics.com’s JR Ross and Wisconsin Public Radio Capitol Reporter Anya Van Wagtendonk discuss the end of the federal government shutdown and a ban on THC-containing hemp products included in the deal, President Trump’s pardon of lawyers involved in Wisconsin’s GOP false electors scheme, school report cards and more.