To make up for years of writing that tends to annoy people with guns, let me take this opportunity to congratulate Wisconsin’s deer hunters on a job well done. For decades now, I’ve written one of the few columns in the state about deer hunting from the deer’s point of view. And every year I receive a flood of...

The number of home foreclosures has risen exponentially nationwide, and Wisconsin is no exception to the rule. With rising unemployment and perhaps the worst of the mortgage default crisis still to come, many Wisconsin families may soon face the prospect of losing their homes to foreclosure. In this no-win situation...

Even in a good job market, the most difficult to employ are those with a criminal record and a minimal employment history.And if you’re a black male in Wisconsin with a criminal record, you have only a 5% chance of getting a callback from an employer when searching for a job. So when the Felmers...

Ending a year with the worst economic cataclysm since the Great Depression, entering the seventh year of the Iraq war and facing a growing, all-out war between Israelis and Palestinians, you’d think we’d all be a little down. So why does everybody seem to be so upbeat about 2009? Obviously, the overwhelming credit...

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker is once again being accused of putting his political ambitions above the needs of struggling Milwaukee taxpayers. Walker has stated that he’d refuse to participate in President-elect Barack Obama’s plan to stimulate the economy by investing in job-rich public works...

They are at it again. The ultraconservative Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, WPRI, has hired two “researchers” to argue that if Wisconsin enacts Healthy Wisconsin, a fairly comprehensive health care program, Wisconsin will become a magnet for ill people throughout the country. Twenty plus years ago...

This coming summer, 150 teams from around the country will descend on Milwaukee for NAGAAAFest 2009, the Gay Softball World Series, staged by the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Association. Organizers say the event is expected to have an $8 to $10 million tourism impact on the city, fueled by 3000...

Like all successful entrepreneurs, Wisconsin-born Barry Bursak knows opportunity when he sees it. Unlike many in the business world, however, he chooses projects that benefit the environment as well as his bank account. With his newest and perhaps most significant venture soon coming to fruition, Bursak and I...

Six hours of Super Bowl pregame coverage. SIX HOURS! And that was just on NBC; four hours on ESPN put the TV gasbagging into double digits. The Observers pride themselves on never watching one second of such “maybe this, maybe that” silliness. As kickoff approached, the only blather they listened to was...

Last year’s state Supreme Court race was the ugliest Wisconsin voters have ever witnessed. In fact, the candidate who won and now sits on the state’s highest court—Michael Gableman—is still facing the fallout from his distorted, race-baiting campaign commercials, which have been condemned by observers from all sides...