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David Blaska: Redefining failure & waste
Wisconsin employers can’t find literate workers

Mike Nichols: Time for UW-Madison to do away with ethnic studies requirement
Time can be better spent on other things like AI

Tom Still: Despite caution signs, state investors aim to follow balanced road
While some regions may be more dependent on a single tech sector, it’s reassuring to know Wisconsin is spreading its investment bets. It just needs bigger bets.

Katie Kitzerow: Not ‘just an accident’; an elderly driver killed my child
We require testing and recertification for many professions where public safety is at stake, yet we place virtually no specialized requirements on elderly drivers.

Scott Walker: Happy birthday, Ronald Reagan
This week, we celebrate President Reagan’s birthday. Though his last public statements were decades ago, so many of his words still ring true today.

H. Carl Mueller: Bader legacy creates example for other families to follow
The memories of one generation of Baders is kept alive by current family members to share with others. In Milwaukee, the foundation has a special focus on community and neighborhood development.

Ryan Clancy: How do we stay safe from ICE?
Legislation alone won’t keep us safe from ICE. Because the harm that ICE does is inherent to it, it cannot be reformed or trained to be a positive institution.

Jamie Stiehm: Closing Kennedy Center stabs at the heart of D.C. life
This could well be a death blow for Washington residents to mix and match beyond politics. The closure will hurt the local economy, with African American seniors a large part of its workforce.

Mark Belling: For once, the Wisconsin GOP is united
The falling of two dominoes has left Republicans in Wisconsin, for the first time since the Scott Walker era, with a chance to unite for a year behind a candidate for governor and avoid the intraparty bloodbaths that have been suicidal.

Gregg Hoffmann: Some progress on PFAS
Gov. Tony Evers, the DNR and GOP lawmakers recently signaled a deal may be within reach to release around $132 million set aside to address PFAS contamination.

Tom Stolp: ‘Zombie’ Knowles-Nelson legislation isn’t worth celebrating … yet
A bipartisan path forward is achievable and straightforward.

Michelle Orge: Fear of immigration enforcement is deepening food insecurity in our community
Every human being deserves to eat. That shouldn’t be a controversial statement, and it certainly isn’t a political one.

Gregory Humphrey: Baldwin correct: ICE should not operate from behind masks
A free society cannot accept a system where government agents can exercise immense authority while shielded from public recognition.

David Blaska: No president should run elections
They already have too much power.

Ruth Conniff: What Trump’s threat to nationalize elections means for Wisconsin
Trump’s threats of a federal takeover would be both legally and practically hard to pull off in Wisconsin.

Kenneth Zagacki and Richard Cherwitz: Economic talk distracts from policies that would help people
This moment invites two broader questions: To what extent do economic issues dominate American political discourse? And how easily does that dominance distract from other pressing national problems?

James E. Causey: Tying hands of Milwaukee police won’t make driving any safer
With the city spending millions on traffic-calming measures, changing the policy now seems like a step in the wrong direction.

Buckley Brinkman: Have we missed the AI bus?
An interesting study from The Brookings Institute – “Mapping the AI economy: Which regions are ready for the next technology leap?” – suggests that Wisconsin may have missed the bus when it comes to being a leader in AI technology.

Sam Liebert: Absentee voting is not a privilege, it is a core feature of free elections
In recent court filings, attorneys for the former Madison city clerk advanced a troubling argument: that absentee voting is a privilege, not a right.

Bruce Murphy: Will county financial screwup affect governor’s race?
Opponents now attacking David Crowley for his handling of the situation.

WisOpinion: ‘The Insiders’ weigh in on whether Wisconsin will join the mid-decade redistricting push
The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, take up congressional redistricting and whether Wisconsin will follow Texas, California and Missouri to create new partisan districts. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership.

Rewind: Your Week in Review for July 18
On this week’s episode of “Rewind,” WisPolitics.com’s JR Ross and Wisconsin Public Radio Capitol Reporter Anya van Wagtendonk discuss the latest campaign finance reports, record spending in the spring Supreme Court election, a new challenge to congressional district lines, the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s report on the former Madison clerk’s handling of uncounted absentee ballots and more.