As a member of the Janesville City Council, I am looking forward to 2019 for a number of reasons. Many positive things are happening in Janesville. I am speaking for myself, not the city council, in drawing attention to these five events that I feel will help shape Janesville this year.

In 2014, when I started to write a book about the need to restrict the amount of time our kids spend on screens, the idea was not a popular one. The research I’d done persuaded me to set a tight policy for my own elementary-school children: No television or playing on tablets on weekdays. Bu…

Within the space of 25 years, a company that began life selling niche second-hand books from a garage in Seattle has become the world’s most valuable business. Amazon was worth $815 billion when the US stock market closed on Monday, surpassing Microsoft for the first time.

How does technology affect the cost of wind power? Advancements in technology—as well as the way new wind farms are built and operated—are making this renewable resource more economic for customers.

If you are the mother or father of a high school athlete here in Wisconsin, this message is primarily for you.

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President Donald Trump’s speech Tuesday night, and the congressional Democratic leaders’ response, offered nothing to the nation that it didn’t already know—that our government is broken, and there’s not much reason to have faith that it’s going to get any better.

Political compromises in Washington aren’t easy to find these days, but for how long can an obvious solution to a standoff be ignored? As he reiterated in his address to the nation Tuesday night, President Donald Trump wants $5.7 billion to begin building a wall on the southern border; congr…

Editor’s note: This column is in response to a Dec. 31 article, “What’s up with that 88 octane fuel?”

One of the most exciting advances in recent debates about public policy has been the recognition that old approaches to criminal justice have not worked. This is especially true with regard to issues of addiction and drug and alcohol abuse.

What can Gov. Tony Evers get done? That’s a question on many people’s minds. I hope Evers accomplishes much more than I predict here. I support him. But this column is a practical assessment, reflecting the limitations Evers will face with Republicans in control of the Legislature.

2018 likely will be remembered for achieving solid economic growth, a highly volatile stock market, and an emerging trade war with China. In 2019 we can expect slower growth, continued volatility, and China to resist significant market-based reforms. These and other factors, combined with an…

Legal marijuana stinks. We’re not talking about its merits as policy, an issue on which we are still weighing the evidence. We’re talking about olfactory realities that may not have been fully considered in the debate over how to regulate the production and use of cannabis.

Whether filing for taxes as an individual or business, you are entitled to take any and all deductions. If you feel your property tax assessment is inaccurate, you can challenge it.

There are two types of happiness in this world: ones that last and ones that don’t. Either they are enjoyed momentarily, like a candy bar or spending time on your smartphone, or they are long-lasting, like the relationships you have with someone you love, or a passion that motivates you to g…

It feels like a million years have passed since Paul Ryan was Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential candidate. But a story from back then speaks volumes about his legacy today.

Public health officials in New York and New Jersey are fighting a measles outbreak that has sickened dozens of people since November, most of them unvaccinated members of orthodox Jewish communities. The virus was traced to travelers from Israel, which is dealing with its own measles outbrea…

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As we begin the New Year, the federal government is in gridlock, shut down over President Donald Trump’s demand to spend $5.7 billion on a border wall (rather than on jobs, education or health care). Trump has threatened that his shutdown could “last for a very long time.”

The progressive mob is on the march, again. Its goal is almost always to shut down conflicting speech by decrying any dissenter as a racist or misogynist or other form of hater. When they’ve got a media type in the crosshairs, the preferred method used to silence the person they deem offensi…

Andrew Pollack has packed up and left Broward County. In disgust. His daughter Meadow, a senior, was among the 17 students and staffers killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day 10 months ago.

A stunning report published Tuesday revealed that Facebook provided more than 150 companies—including Microsoft, Amazon and Yahoo—far more access to users’ sensitive personal information, including allegedly private messages, than previously admitted. The disappointing details, reported by T…

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was marketed as a middle-class tax cut that would promote higher wages. Almost a year after its passage, stock buybacks have soared while wage growth has remained stagnant.

Normally in times of national trouble, we want the president at his desk in the Oval Office in the White House in Washington.

Penny Marshall, director of the movie “A League of Their Own” and many others, died Monday night. I met her in 1989 when she contacted me after she watched a documentary I made about my mother and my aunt who were both professional baseball players in the 1940s. They were part of the All Ame…

As 2018 draws to a close, America is prospering in ways we have not for years. While challenges remain, we have seen record-setting wage increases and the lowest unemployment rates in two generations.

“Everybody I know in the Senate—everybody—is in favor of maintaining coverage for pre-existing conditions,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in June.

For millions of Americans, there’s no “making it” if you fall beneath a certain social class line. And the Michigan GOP, which was roundly rejected in the last election, is determined to keep it that way.

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When conservatives decry judicial activism, the target is inevitably a liberal judge whose rulings reach beyond interpreting law to making law. But misguided activist judges aren’t limited to the political left as last week’s federal court ruling against the Affordable Care Act shows.

Recently, a complete stranger hugged me in the grocery store.

It’s a white Christmas, and the fireplace is crackling—whiffs of hickory mingle with the aroma of fresh coffee. While the kids try out their new toys, Mom and Dad cuddle on the couch. She gives him a wink, he slips out of the den.

How can it be that no one (besides Whoopi Goldberg) wants to host the Oscars?

Citizens should be able to force binding referendum votes.

At a young age, we’re taught about good sportsmanship. Win or lose, you shake hands with your opponent and tell them “good game.”

With most Americans distracted on Black Friday, the U.S. government published its latest National Climate Assessment (NCA)—a federal report endorsed by 13 agencies and the most comprehensive study of climate change’s effect on the U.S. to date.

Thanks to the GOP tax law, corporations get huge breaks for outsourcing jobs. And workers? They get pink slips.

This week, the allegedly unbiased fact-checkers at PolitiFact awarded their “Lie of the Year” award to the “online smear machine” that attempted “to take down” the survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

In his letter this week foreshadowing his signing of the lame-duck bills, Gov. Scott Walker tried to pretend that he’s out protecting the interests of Wisconsinites.

In a policy statement released last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics aims to end the debate over whether corporal punishment is an acceptable parenting tool.

Google Chief executive Sundar Pichai’s appearance before Congress on Tuesday augured an era of increased scrutiny for technology companies. The hearing was also a swan song for a Republican majority that has chosen to prioritize political posturing over more pressing issues about how powerfu…

Election Day is about a month behind us; new terms of office are about a month away.

Italy's right-wing coalition government—composed of conservatives and internet-based populists (including former communists)—has provided a political home for the anti-vaccination movement.

What was so important about the extraordinary session bills, and why would Republicans in the Legislature stick their necks out in the face of national media blowback to pass them? Wisconsinites deserve to hear both sides.

With regard to November elections, the term “October surprise” is so commonplace as to have become a bit clichéd: A revelation or accusation about a candidate in the final month before the election—whether unearthed by the candidate’s opponent or brought to light by journalists—that challeng…

As you know, the Legislature took action last week to protect the strong conservative accomplishments that I have been a part of over the last eight years. Early actions by the incoming administration have shown an intent to weaken these reforms without including the Legislature in the proce…

The roster of men in green and gold who have given the Chicago Bears fits is long and illustrious. Ray Nitschke wouldn’t just tackle halfbacks, he’d crunch them. Bart Starr cut open Bear secondaries with a surgeon’s precision. Aaron Rodgers? Every Bears fan knows what’s on his resume—fourth …

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