Articles that are opinion, or op-ed based

Jeff Smith - Staying Cool and Healthy in the Summer Heat

Summer has flown by this year, and it’s been a scorcher. We’ve had a record-breaking hot summer, with temperatures setting records across the nation, and August promises to be no exception.

 

It’s important to stay vigilant and safe when enjoying the end of your summer. Warm temperatures combined with

Jeff Smith - Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities

With over three years between us and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s hard to imagine a world in which vaccines are uncontroversial. In the past few years, the efficacy of vaccines has been disputed and has sparked much debate, scientific or otherwise.

 

But this marks a distinct recent change

Jeff Smith - Enabling Everyone for Equality of Access

The definition of disability is a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses or activities. That definition covers many conditions that might be considered a disadvantage. Being limited by blindness or by using a wheelchair may be some of the first things that come to mind

Jeff Smith - Making the Best of a Bad Hand

The big news in Madison last week was the Governor signing the budget. The even bigger news was how he did it. The Governor put his veto pen to work on 51 areas of the budget. Most notable was his veto of the tax cuts for the wealthy that Republicans crammed in at the very end of the process

Jeff Smith - How to Turn a Surplus into a Deficit

There are many ways to view the budget approved by the Republican majority last week: lost possibilities, squandered opportunities, tax breaks for the rich … take your pick.

Going into this spring I was genuinely excited by the possibilities before us. With a projected surplus totaling nearly $7

Jeff Smith - Progress for Pride

We are all familiar with Thomas Jefferson’s famous words from the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of

Jeff Smith - Republicans Prove Nothing Good Happens After Midnight

As a father of two adult children, I remember the 2:00 AM feedings when my kids were babies. I wanted nothing more than to just sleep, but I’d stumble out of bed and do what it took to care for the crying baby.

On Sunday we celebrated Fathers’ Day, but around 1:00 AM on Thursday last week parents of

Jeff Smith - Supporting Wisconsin Workers Makes A Strong Economy

During the Senate floor session last Wednesday, Republicans signed off on a set of unnecessary and punitive Assembly bills that create additional roadblocks for Wisconsin workers accessing unemployment, despite Wisconsin’s unemployment rate being at a historical low.

In fact, Republicans already