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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.

Mark Belling: DPI staff parties in the Dells while lowering school standards
Until conservatives show up in the spring the way they show up in the fall for the likes of Donald Trump and Ron Johnson, our schools are going to be run by entitled elitists who want to enrich themselves all the while schools in our state are going to hell.

Bill Barth: Retiring Sen. Nass did things his way
No finger to the wind. No telling people whatever they wanted to hear. Voters knew what they were getting. America could use more of that.

Dave Zweifel: The relationship between Gophers and Badgers runs deep
You might not know it from the sports rivalries between the Gophers and the Badgers, or the Vikings and the Packers, but Wisconsin has long cherished its relationship with its neighbor Minnesota.

Ron Malzer: America is turning its back on its Afghan allies
Afghans served as translators and other support personnel during America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan, the longest war by far in American history. They saved countless American lives during the mission, ultimately successful, to track down Osama bin Laden.

Steven Walters: More turnover in the Wisconsin Legislature
Gone are the days when senators spent decades in the state Legislature.

John Nichols: Joel Brennan’s got a good plan for defending democracy
Brennan recognizes what’s at stake.

Dave Cieslewicz: Law Forward could take us backward
Madison takes enough incoming from the hard-right. We don’t need the left to pile on.

George Mitchell: Some solid reporting on MPS literacy dysfunction
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel education reporter Kayla Huynh’s February 2 story pulls back the curtain on an issue with adverse consequences on a par with the decades-long forced busing desegregation plan.

LaKeshia Myers: Get your financial house in order
Estate planning isn’t just for the wealthy. It’s for anyone who wants to ensure their wishes are honored, their loved ones are protected, and their hard-earned assets go where they are supposed to go.

Paul Fanlund: George Austin, still remaking downtown after all these years
Over more than four decades, George Austin has steered iconic Madison projects like the Monona Terrace Convention Center and the Overture Center for the Arts. He is doing it again now as the project manager for the forthcoming Wisconsin History Center on Capitol Square.

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 Sept. 19
On this week’s episode of “Rewind,” WisPolitics.com’s JR Ross and Wisconsin Public Radio Capitol Reporter Anya Van Wagtendonk discuss the growing Dem field for governor, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Rebecca Taibleson’s hearing before the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, Gov. Tony Evers’ executive order on vaccine access and more.