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Daniel Gage: When after-school programs are out of reach, kids miss more than activities
These programs are not “extras”; they provide crucial support to kids, families, and entire communities.

Dave Zweifel: You don’t have to wonder if Trump will rig the 2026 election
David French, who in 2023 joined the opinion staff of the New York Times after years working at the National Review, the magazine founded by conservative icon William Buckley, sounded an urgent alarm in a column earlier this month entitled “This Is Not a Drill.”

Steven Walters: Small set of counties could pick Democratic candidate for governor
Evers won just 16 of 72 counties in November 2022 election.

Isaiah Ness: Wisconsin’s unfolding energy crisis — data centers, AI, and who really pays
Investment and economic development are often framed as unequivocal wins, but energy infrastructure is different. If built without foresight, the consequences will reshape the future.

Kurt Bauer: Wisconsin lags on taxes, workforce, education
WMC Foundation report clearly shows that Wisconsin is not where we need to be on the metrics that matter

Goldy Brown III: Wisconsin should join others in appointing top education official
As education authority returns to the states, WI should appoint its superintendent. Today, 38 states appoint their top education official, reflecting recognition that the role is executive in nature.

Tom Still: New uses for old mines? It’s worth pursuing in Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s lead and zinc mines played out long ago as sources of lead and zinc, but what if some took on a second life as a source of so-called “rare earth” minerals with properties that underlie many modern technologies?

LaKeshia Myers: Of mules and men: Black women
According to recent research, Black women are the most educated demographic in America, outpacing all other groups in college enrollment and degree attainment. We show up. We do the work. We earn the credentials. And then we watch corner offices fill with people who look nothing like us.

Jim Crist: Elections have been hijacked by the rich
Just as we did in the late 1800s, during the last Gilded Age, we need to create a populist/progressive alliance. Today’s Democratic Party is controlled by affluent urbanites who have little in common with regular Americans.

Spencer Black: Unpopular Trump tries to rig the election
All signs point to a historic repudiation of MAGA Republicans at the ballot box in November. Like any wannabe dictator, Trump seeks to deny the people the chance to limit his power and repudiate his leadership.

Richard Kyte: The responsibilities of citizenship are not optional
An unexamined problem bedeviling the United States today is that we have no shared understanding of citizenship.

Bill Kaplan: Cruel betrayal of rural Wisconsin
It’s time for farmers to “raise less corn and more hell.” They and their neighbors in rural areas are getting shafted: loss of health care coverage, rural hospitals at risk of closure and lack of economic opportunities. Do Republicans even care?

Kerri Parker: The human impact of making food harder to reach
FoodShare is more than a nutrition program. It is a covenant between a community and its people, affirming that no one should go hungry in a state blessed with so much. Before policy proposals move forward, we urge lawmakers to consider the human stories that will unfold at the checkout counter, at the kitchen table, and in the quiet moments when families must decide which essentials they can live without.

Brian Fraley: DPI stonewalls public: Where’s the secret Waterpark Workshop contract?
DPI has a transparency problem that is quickly becoming a legal one. After a year of stonewalling our investigation into what we discovered was a taxpayer-funded Waterpark Workshop, the department has yet to release the vendor contract. Conveniently for them, it is the very document they claim restricts their ability to provide more details about their secret process to change the state’s Forward exam.

Mark Lisheron: Medicaid mission-creeps its way into the housing business
Lure of federal money leads Wisconsin to embrace bloat, with little prospect for accountability

James N. Fitzhenry: Mayor Ted Neitzke says data center will be transformational
Deadline for mayor recall brings data center debate to head.

Peg Sheaffer: Wisconsin data center development anything but transparent
Tech companies have hidden their identity and environmental impacts with anonymous LLCs, non-disclosure agreements and claims of trade secrecy. This secrecy has eroded public trust and undermined democratic decision-making.

John Imes: Federal climate rollback tests Wisconsin’s clean energy momentum
What happens next will be determined less by national rhetoric and more by decisions made at the Public Service Commission, in county zoning hearings and in legislative debates at the Capitol. The federal rollback raises real risks, but it also clarifies where leadership is needed most: here at home.

JB Van Hollen: Wisconsin risks an unfair monopoly on online sports betting
New polling shows Wisconsinites are skeptical of the Legislature’s current plan, and for good reason.

Glenn Grothman: People with disabilities in Wisconsin deserve real work
Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act allows employers to pay wages based on an individual’s productivity when a disability significantly limits the ability to perform job tasks at a typical pace. The point of 14(c) isn’t the wage — it’s the opportunity. It opens the door to work for people who would otherwise be shut out entirely.

WisOpinion: ‘The Insiders’ discuss how election-year politics may shape plans for Wisconsin’s $2.5B surplus
The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, discuss how the 2026 legislative elections will shape plans to spend Wisconsin’s $2.5 billion budget surplus. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership.

Rewind: Your Week in Review for Dec. 12
On this week’s episode of “Rewind,” WisPolitics.com’s JR Ross and Wisconsin Public Radio Capitol Reporter Anya Van Wagtendonk discuss Gov. Tony Evers’ actions on a series of bills, new teaching requirements for Universities of Wisconsin faculty, the race for governor, timelines in cases challenging Wisconsin’s congressional district lines and more.