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Patrick Testin: Why I’m trying to legalize medical marijuana
Cannabis is far less harmful and poses fewer negative side effects than most prescription drugs – especially opiate-based painkillers – and our state’s residents should also have the choice to decide which health care options work best for them.

JoAnn Pushkin: Early breast cancer detection saves lives. Bipartisan bill deserves passage.
Gail’s Law is named in honor of patient advocate Gail Zeamer, a brave Wisconsin woman whose own battle with breast cancer inspired her to fight for others.

Bill Barth: Public or private, taxpayers get the bill
We are well on the way to having, at least, two separate school systems — and taxpayers are on the hook for both.

Mark Belling: The crisis of perverted teachers goes back to do-nothing DPI
Voters elect hacks like Underly who do nothing. The grooming coverup is one result.

William Osmulski: The Obamacare shutdown
Every day, Tony Evers and Tammy Baldwin take to social media to spell out the reason for the government shutdown. Republicans won’t extend the affordable care tax credits – which means the premiums on Obamacare plans will go up. Here’s what they don’t want you to know.

Ellen Carlson: Wisconsin food pantries cannot replace federal SNAP benefits
Support your local food pantries and food banks to help bridge this gap. More critically, we all need to advocate for restored federal funding to SNAP. Only federal support can provide the long-term solution.

Spencer Black: Resistance in red districts essential to saving democracy
Democrats can’t just rely on big margins in favorable areas to turn this country around.

Dave Zweifel: Why march? There are so many reasons
People are still debating whether the millions who marched in rural and urban America, the 20,000 here in Madison and the thousands of others in Dane County communities did any good to change the way Donald Trump and the Republicans are governing.

Bruce Murphy: Do Democratic candidates need to be more moderate?
Experts argue it will take a Democrat like Tony Evers to win the state.

Brad Olson: End the nightmare: Put Wisconsin in charge of wolf management
Wisconsin has the tools, data and public accountability mechanisms necessary to balance wolf conservation with the protection of livestock and human safety.

LaKeshia N. Myers: Healthcare crisis: Government shutdown exposes America’s moral failure
As families across Wisconsin and the nation prepare for open enrollment, they’re discovering that their monthly health insurance premiums have skyrocketed.

Dave Ciesewicz: Shutdown showdown
The undeniable tangible human costs of these abstract political strategies is about to become abundantly clear.

John Torinus: 10 million for next anti-Trump rally?
The incredible uprising against Trump’s first eight months in office constitutes what looks like the start of a political movement, like a juggernaut.

David Blaska: Left wing laments the East Wing
The demolition of the heretofore little known East Wing is one of those pop-up cultural thunderstorms, momentarily intense, quickly gone. Symbolizes Trump in the China shop, upsetting norms, defying tradition, setting the agenda without asking Nancy Pelosi for permission.

Richard Moore: Strong nations, not the United Nations, ensure peace and prosperity
The unity of nations was always a misnomer, double-speak for the unified power of an elite. What we need is the unity of a nation, not in policy but in purpose.

Scott Fitzgerald: I’m proud to support veterans initiatives
Veterans’ issues are always top of mind for me, not because they make the headlines, but because I am a veteran myself and understand firsthand the sacrifices and challenges our servicemen and servicewomen face.

Lisa White: We need to rebuild democracy from the ground up
I’m running to represent Wisconsin’s 17th Senate District, which stretches across our western counties into the edges of Dane County.

Steven Walters: Wisconsin data centers become political litmus test
Expect candidates to field questions about economic growth/environmental concerns.

Ruth Conniff: Wisconsin schoolchildren become a 2026 campaign issue in the worst possible way
There’s a reason it’s a big story when adults abuse the trust of children. It’s despicable behavior. Politicians who ignore or capitalize on that crime for political gain do us no good.

David Blaska: The party of defund the police
Thanks to Dane County, the Democratic Party is poised to live down to its reputation as the party of defund the police. What did Republicans do to deserve such luck?

WisOpinion: ‘The Insiders’ analyze the Dem field for Wisconsin governor
The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, take a look at the Democrats running for Wisconsin governor and those who may yet join the race. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership.

Rewind: Your Week in Review for Oct. 3
On this week’s episode of “Rewind,” Wisconsin Public Radio Capitol Reporter Anya Van Wagtendonk and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel State Government and Politics Reporter Jessie Opoien discuss the federal government shutdown, the races for governor and Supreme Court, a bill from GOP senators to legalize medical marijuana and more.