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Cavalier Johnson, Howard Fuller, Gregory Wesley and JoAnne Anton: DPI failing Milwaukee students by holding reading funding
State schools superintendent reverses course and says DPI lacks authority to support the Milwaukee Reading Coalition at all. That directly contradicts the guidance provided in previous year.

Gregory Humphrey: Why America’s 250th birthday doesn’t feel like 1976’s celebration
For a nation that once threw itself a year‑long Bicentennial bash — tall ships crowding New York Harbor, wagon trains converging on Valley Forge like a Norman Rockwell recreation — the silence today is deafening. And it is very sad as we prepare to observe the semiquincentennial.

Natalie Eilbert: On the tyranny of screens
Screens are unavoidable, and can be used for good, but only if we change our doom-spiral routine.

Dan Knodl: Order matters
One of the most important lessons from the last several decades of criminal justice policy is surprisingly simple: communities are safest when laws are enforced consistently and wrongdoing is addressed before it escalates.

Kalvin Barrett: License plate recognition technology bolsters rural safety
Modern ALPR systems, when implemented responsibly with strong policies and oversight, can significantly enhance safety while protecting the constitutional rights of citizens.

Mark Belling: The great escape
I don’t know if Ted Oswald will get his commutation but it’s a sure bet a lot of crooks will. Evers wouldn’t have given himself the power to commute if he didn’t intend to use it.

Gregory Humphrey: Wisconsin’s fiscal surplus should be used on big ideas
Tax refunds may feel good for a moment, but big ideas and statewide investments pay dividends for generations.

Maya Livni: Wisconsin must act before another 1,000 basements flood
The divide between Wisconsin’s flood crisis and its climate policy is the product of a legislative choice to treat climate change as someone else’s emergency.

Pat Kreitlow: President Trump will visit Wisconsin and say he’s been good for farmers. His claims need a fact check
Inflation, tariffs, and healthcare costs have all taken a big bite out of farm families’ income as Trump becomes the latest major figure trying to save Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden.

Dave Zweifel: War on immigrants is quieter now, but just as cruel
Donald Trump’s war on Iran has pushed them out of the headlines, but don’t think for a moment that those masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents aren’t hard at work harassing neighborhoods, small businesses and even a few farmers.

John Torinus: GrandCare CEO asks Senate to tackle aging crisis
West Bend native Laura Hillman Mitchell played a star witness role in Congress recently as she pitched the use of technology to keep seniors living longer in their homes.

John Nichols: Primaries are good; Wisconsin should have more of them
Pundits and political insiders may bemoan the fact that so much energy is going into the Democratic race to replace outgoing Gov. Tony Evers. But I disagree. History suggests that primaries are good for the parties that allow them to play out.

Jessica F. Simmons: Tom Tiffany had two chances to protect Wisconsin’s SNAP. He chose Trump both times
Over the past year, tens of thousands of Wisconsinites have lost FoodShare after Rep. Tom Tiffany voted for two bills that pushed for and locked in SNAP cuts.

Steven Walters: One in five Wisconsin Republican legislators are retiring
Four Milwaukee-area Republicans and key Senate leaders are among those stepping down this year.

Peter Cameron: Your Right to Know: Names of police should be public
We are currently unable to track wandering officers who have been fired or forced out in other states and come to work here because we don’t have a list of all law enforcement officers here.

Jill Underly: Schools must redefine student success
The rise of artificial intelligence has left many questioning what jobs may disappear, even as schools try to prepare students for jobs that may not yet exist. If we want our students to succeed in this evolving landscape, our definition of success must evolve with it.

Richard Moore: Another day, another argument for total control
In Sierra Club v. DNR, the issue is whether state agencies can effectively legislate through guidance documents without ever undergoing the public scrutiny.

James Causey: Push to rewrite story of George Floyd killing has begun
The murder of George Floyd changed how many Americans viewed policing and race. The movement to pardon Derek Chauvin raises questions about whether that change was ever real.

Jerry Hanson: Local law enforcement agencies, should stop helping ICE
Immigrants deserve the protections of their local law enforcement agencies, not to be victimized by the denial of constitutional safeguards afforded the rest of us living in this nation.

Bill Berry: Even now, the arc of history bends toward equality
Equality and equity don’t happen overnight, but I sure wish it would hurry up a bit here in the 21st century. We need the absolute best minds available to help us in these times.

WisOpinion: ‘The Insiders’ preview the 2026 WisGOP state convention
The WisOpinion Insiders, Chvala and Jensen, preview the Republican Party of Wisconsin’s upcoming state convention and discuss challenges facing the party going into the midterms. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership.

Rewind: Your Week in Review for May 8
On this week’s episode of “Rewind,” WisPolitics.com’s JR Ross and Wisconsin Public Radio Capitol Reporter Anya van Wagtendonk discuss a lawsuit challenging an order to toss 23 Madison absentee ballots due to a clerk error, Gov. Tony Evers rejecting a call to end Wisconsin’s ban on conversion therapy, the race for governor and more.