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Equal Pay Day: How far into 2019 women must work to match men from 2018

April 2 was National Equal Pay Day, which marked how long women have to work into this year to catch up to what men earned in the previous year, on average. Women of color must work even longer into this year to bring their 2018-19 earnings up to the same level as men’s earnings from last year. Race and gender-based pay disparities devalue women, especially women of color, and rob them of opportunities to achieve financial security and establish wealth. Workers should not pay a penalty for being female or of color. But in Wisconsin, women – and especially...

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Shared Wealth: Investment strategies needed for a path to mutual prosperity

Everyone in Wisconsin deserves the opportunity to fully benefit from the state’s economic growth. Our economy, our communities, our schools, and our families will fare better when every person in the state has full access to opportunity. A new budget framework from the Wisconsin Budget Project shows how effective investments in the state’s families, schools, and communities, can promote full opportunity and move Wisconsin along the path to shared prosperity. For our state to be competitive and prosperous, we also need to remove the structural barriers to opportunity for people of color. To fund the investments that expand opportunity...

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Pardeep Kaleka: Our habituation to mass murder and violence is a bitter soup of inaction

I woke that Friday morning, March 15, to a barrage of notifications on my mobile phone. Another mass murder was committed in a place of prayer by a self-proclaimed White Nationalist who live-streamed his attack on Facebook. The social media feed described multiple dead and injured in a New Zealand Mosque. My concern centered on the families directly impacted, and before I could even truly reflect, my phone was ringing and dinging from various media outlets. CNN, Newsweek, and a local TV station wanted an interview. I immediately recorded a video response with my wife to express our condolences,...

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An Economic Tug-of-War: How Wisconsin can win its treasury battles without fighting other states

Economic skirmishes among the states are taking a heavy toll on state and local treasuries. Halting the interstate war over jobs can and should be a cause that attracts conservatives as well as liberals. Inspired by the withdrawal of Amazon.com’s plans for a 2nd headquarters in New York City, and by the potential debacle of Foxconn’s broken promises in Wisconsin, Good Jobs First is proposing a way to end the economic war among the states. What is this war? It is a battle where states and local governments bid against each other for economic development projects in a way...

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Congresswoman Gwen Moore scolds ICE over its fear tactics in letter defending Sheriff Earnell Lucas

The U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has arrested 83 people across Wisconsin since September 2018. According to the limited data provided by ICE, at least 39 of the individuals arrested in the state had no documented criminal history. President Trump has claimed that ICE has only been deporting dangerous gang members, drug dealers, and human traffickers. But according to its own records, ICE is deporting members of Wisconsin communities with minor offenses or no criminal history. The Federal agency has failed to properly notify local law enforcement of ICE operations prior to conducting raids. It has also routinely ignored...

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Laura Wozniak: On being gay and missing my United Methodist family

When people ask about my relationship with religion, I tend to fall back to the Facebook option, “it’s complicated.” The United Methodist Church (UMC) I was raised in was actively warm and unconditionally loving. It was a place where I was safe to explore my identity and free to be anyone I wanted. In my adolescence, that meant experimenting with outfits as much as ideologies. To their credit, my church family never withheld their support, although my parents likely had some interesting conversations. As I grew older, I began learning about the incredible pain that other people were causing...

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