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Bruce Murphy: Beware of data center darkness
There’s little transparency on these deals. No one knows what the impact on Wisconsin will be.

Jason Tashea: AI’s accuracy and dependability can fall short of standards required in court
Supporters of AI use in courts hope that it will save the state money. Unfortunately, the technology isn’t up to the task.

Mike McCabe: Man versus machine
The current regime wants nothing to do with any pause on AI’s breakneck development. For ruling Republicans, it’s full steam ahead, no guardrails. Scientific consensus and public buy-in be damned. Opposition Democrats are the proverbial deer in the headlights.

Christina Lieffring: What Dane County needs vs. what Sheriff Barrett wants
The Dane County Board’s 2026 budget amendments meet the moment.

Sean Wilson: I lived inside Green Bay Correctional. Wisconsin can’t wait another four years
Real reform means investing in people, not prisons.

J.B. Van Hollen: Legislators gambling with future of sports betting in Wisconsin
The push to legalize sports betting across the nation has grown over the last several years, and the stakes are far too great for us to get this wrong.

Mark Belling: Allegedly drunk Muskego teacher is enabled by lawyers and lousy court officials
The teacher has a problem. What’s everybody else’s excuse?

Melody McCurtis: When poor Black neighborhoods sound the alarm, don’t just listen. Do something.
When poor Black communities sound the alarm, we must listen and act as if everyone else is next. The struggle for food justice is not just about groceries.

Gregory Humphrey: Supreme Court rejects revisiting gay marriage, homophobe loses decade-long hate-filled journey
The Supreme Court’s rejection of Davis’s appeal is a reminder that civil rights are not subject to the whims of individual clerks or the shifting tides of political ideology.

Dave Cieslewicz: Moderates act like adults
Three weeks ago in this space we urged Democrats to do the responsible thing, be the adults in the room, and vote to end the government shutdown. Now, thanks to the sensible moderate Democrats in the Senate, that’s exactly what’s happening. Moreover, it’ll pay off politically for their party.

Bill Barth: Unlikely to pass, but Steil is right
Steil is behind legislation intended to take away elected representatives’ paychecks when the federal government is shut down.

Dave Zweifel: While we’re at it, let’s make America radioactive again
Even if Trump’s new testing is something less than he suggested, nonproliferation advocates worry that even the scientific objectives suggested by Energy Secretary Chris Wright would create a backlash that would open the door for other major nuclear powers to begin their own widespread testing.

Patrick Testin and Scott Krug: Trust the community with solar
Community solar is an option like none we have experienced before; it is decentralized, flexible, and ready to power Wisconsin’s future.

John Torinus: Guv wannabes could tackle health costs
Health care management is complex. But smart politicians should, on behalf of citizens, be able to cut through the complexity toward solutions that work.

Richard Moore: Keeping Wisconsin, Wisconsin-owned
The Wisconsin legislature has introduced a bill to prohibit “foreign adversaries” from owning or acquiring land in Wisconsin. Richard Moore gives the low-down and compares it to similar efforts being made in other states, and at the federal level.

Lee Drutman and Barry Burden: How to break the doom loop of modern American politics
UW Law School on Friday will be holding a one-day conference on reviving fusion voting in Wisconsin.

Steven Walters: Should Wisconsin allow fusion voting?
The process was once common, according to Project Democracy, and two states — New York and Connecticut — allow some version of it.

John Nichols: Fusion voting opens up the fuller promise of democracy
Fusion voting gave New York City voters a chance to reject Trump’s outrageous attacks on Mamdani, while at the same time putting an increasingly marginalized GOP in its place.

Anna Adl: The US threatens to break its promise to special education students
Until now, special education has been one of the few areas where politics didn’t divide us.

Ruth Conniff: Tariffs, trade wars and immigration crackdowns
The cruelty, the waste, the lack of any coherent plan by this administration is becoming clearer and clearer.

WisOpinion: ‘The Insiders’ discuss possible impact of Supreme Court race on race for state superintendent
The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, consider the spring primary election outcome and how the Wisconsin Supreme Court race may affect the race for state schools superintendent. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership.

Rewind: Your Week in Review for Jan. 31
On this week’s episode of “Rewind,” WisPolitics.com’s JR Ross and CBS 58’s Emilee Fannon discuss the Trump administration’s now-rescinded memo freezing federal grants and loans; Republican legislation regarding the governor’s veto powers, schools and taxes on cash tips; the race to lead the national Dem Party with state Dem Party Chair Ben Wikler among front-runners and more.