Thumbs Up: To a bill just signed into law that will help in recycling electronic waste.

The bill, authored by Rep. Penny Bernard Schaber, D-Appleton, and Sen. Mark Miller, D-Monona, requires manufacturers of electronic equipment to register with the state Department of Natural Resources and create a collection-point system throughout the state.

What to do with electronic waste has become an issue. It's hoped that this new law will make it easier for consumers to recycle their old computers, printers, TVs and monitors so they don't end up in landfills.

Thumbs Up: To a bill that would help candidates file campaign finance reports.

The bill, authored by Sen. Michael Ellis, R-Neenah, and Sen. Dave Hansen, D-Green Bay, would allow candidates to file reports on paper. Currently, they have to file electronically. But there have been so many glitches with the computer system that the Government Accountability Board is using to process the reports, it's become a real challenge for candidates to file properly, even for those who are computer-savvy.

For those who aren't computer-savvy, it might even be an impediment to running for office. And that would be a shame.

Campaign finance reporting is supposed to be thorough, but that doesn't mean it has to be difficult. This bill would make it easier to report and easier for the public to see. That's the main goal.

Thumbs Down: To Wall Street firms that are continuing to pay huge bonuses.

Goldman Sachs, which got (and has paid back) $10 billion in bailout money, is going to pay more than $20 billion in bonuses this year. Morgan Stanley, also helped by the bailout, has an $11 billion bonus pool.

Isn't it that kind of behavior that led those firms into financial distress to start with? Weren't they going to change their practices? Isn't it, at least, galling to the taxpayers who subsidized them?

As Federal Deposit Insurance Chairman Sheila Barr said to Reuters, "I think it is in the enlightened self-interest of these large financial organizations to suspend these outsized bonuses at least, if not permanently."

Thumbs Down: To the state's educational system, for continuing its terrible gap between test scores of white and black students.

The results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that Wisconsin again has one of the highest achievement gaps in the nation.

In the test of fourth-graders and eighth-graders earlier this year, white fourth-graders in the state scored an average of 33 points higher than black fourth-graders. Among eighth-graders, the average gap was 40 points.

For nearly 20 years, there has been a significant gap — and the state hasn't found a way to close it. New state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers vows that'll change. Let's hope so.