Tom Winker
Editorial Columns 21 October 2025

Heavier trucks are losing deal for Wisconsin roads

Opinion Editorial Columns 2 October 2025
GUEST COLUMN: Health insurance no longer affordable

Working Americans don’t want handouts, they just want a system that isn’t rigged for and by those at the very top. They want health care they can afford when they need it.

Opinion Editorial Columns 6 September 2025
Avoid ‘gut punch’ of newspaper closing

“A gut punch.”

That’s how Dave Bordewyk, executive director of the South Dakota NewsMedia Association, described the abrupt closure of four newspapers in the state last month.

On Aug. 7, News Media Corporation, which published 25 newspaper titles in Arizona, Illinois, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming, announced it was immediately shutting down all of its operations.

Opinion Editorial Columns 6 September 2025
Your Right to Know: ‘No comment’ is no help to the public

As homelessness grows across Wisconsin, social service agencies are feeling a crunch. The federal government is slashing funding for tackling the problem, and state lawmakers aren’t helping much either.

Opinion Editorial Columns 14 August 2025
Ann Walsh Bradley and the cause of openness

Editorial Columns 6 June 2025
Your Right to Know: Want a closed session? Explain yourself!
Probably the most commonly used — and, in my opinion, abused — exemption in our state’s Open Meetings Law is the one that lets governmental bodies meet behind closed doors “whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session.” The exemption, 19.85(1)(e) in Wisconsin state statutes, is used by all manner of public bodies, from city councils to school boards.
Editorial Columns 7 April 2025
Your Right To Know
Wisconsin’s municipal courts can have a significant and devastating impact on the lives of people who can’t afford to pay a citation due to poverty. Without critical legal protections, unpaid municipal citations can lead to warrants, arrests and incarceration. There is no right to counsel in Wisconsin’s municipal courts, meaning people unable to afford an attorney face court alone, compounding the cycle of poverty and punishment.
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