At the Appleton City Council's October 7 meeting, the mayor will give a presentation on his proposed 2027 Executive Budget and Service Plan.  This means that Budget Saturday will be here for the council's enjoyment very soon!

The first discussion of a potential Wheel Tax came at a Special Town Board meeting held on June 23, 2026, at 9:00 AM. Only two residents, myself and one other, were in attendance at the special meeting. That means, with only one discussion, and without seeking any resident input, the Board, in a vacuum, created a new Town tax in just a two-week period. This special Town Board meeting raised several issues.

There are places in Wisconsin, across the United States, and around the world that have strong cultures, prepared teachers, direct instruction, proper curricula, and high expectations. The same can be true of every school in Wisconsin if we startle the sleeping into action.

I have questions about the Wilden Portfolio Park development (at Thrivent) and the proposal that Appleton create a 14th Tax Incremental District (TID) to help incentivize this development. The Appleton City Council should consider both sides of this pancake. The colorful sprinkles presented by Thrivent’s request to create a Tax ID are all obtainable without a TID.

According to the 2020 Census, nearly SIX TIMES as many people in Outagamie County are Catholic: 62,763 Catholics versus an estimated 10,725 LGBTQIA+. Add in the numbers who belong to other Christian faiths, and you can see how many more people in Outagamie County are Christian than LGBTQIA+. So why is the Pride Flag being flown at the County Courthouse, but the Christian flag cannot be?

There are places in Wisconsin, across the United States, and around the world that have strong cultures, prepared teachers, direct instruction, proper curricula, and high expectations. The same can be true of every school in Wisconsin if we startle the sleeping into action.

The Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) is calling for a complete audit of UW–Madison’s BadgersVote Coalition and legislative oversight of its finances and operations following a new report from IRG’s Center for Investigative Oversight. The new report also raises constitutional questions regarding the program in light of a recently passed Constitutional Amendment by Wisconsin voters.