WAGNER: Take the opportunity to live elsewhere
I never imagined I’d be writing this column, and I want to preface it with a blanket statement that will never change: I’m a proud Hoosier, and I love my hometown of Indianapolis.
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SIDDIQUI: Tone down the education reform rhetoric
Indianapolis is home to three amazing institutions that try to improve public school education—The Mind Trust, Teach for America and IUPUI School of Education—but reform rhetoric is hurting their efforts.
HOWEY: Good mayors are getting things done
These past few weeks, we’ve seen more sclerosis in Washington, this time with the farm bill. On a topic that begged for compromise, everyone dug in, and there was celebration in some quarters even as they were spitting ashes out of their mouths.
VAUGHN: Stand your ground against tricky ALEC
With the controversial verdict in the George Zimmerman murder trial, attention has returned to the stand-your-ground law that was so central to the defense’s case. Attention has also returned to a key group behind the adoption of stand-your-ground laws in Florida and two dozen other states, including Indiana.
STYRING: Conservatives, retake the ‘liberal’ flag!
When Gov. Mike Pence was Indiana Policy Review Foundation president in the 1990s, editors of the foundation’s flagship publication, Indiana Policy Review, constantly harped at their writers to use precise English. The masthead even sported a Lord Acton quote: “When words lose their meaning, men lose their liberty.”
MAHERN? Why so much secrecy at Develop Indy?
Shortly after his 2008 inauguration, Mayor Ballard approached the Indianapolis economic development folks with a plan for international strategy—meaning foreign trips for him, his wife, staff members and security.
SHEPARD: Praise for local Zimmerman response
We hope society’s leaders will do well for us in times of turmoil. In the days following the verdict in the Florida trial of George Zimmerman, this state’s public figures responded to a difficult moment in ways that showed humanity and skill.
BECK: Jobs, marriage amendment don’t mix
The morning the news broke that the U.S. Supreme Court had struck down a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act, people across the country did a double-take. Was it possible that the members of the highest court in the land rendered one of the greatest wedge issues of our time obsolete?
FROEHLE: Career council won’t curb unemployment
In April, Gov. Mike Pence spearheaded a bipartisan effort around one item most Indiana residents can stand behind: job creation.
PILLIE: Another way on local government reform
One of my first stops after moving to Indiana back in 2000 was to the license branch so I could transfer my driver’s license. I was in for two surprises. I didn’t know I had to take a written test (I passed first try), and I was asked what township I lived in.
SWAYZE: Beyond symptoms to root causes
It hurts to watch crime escalate in Indianapolis, especially among African-American boys and girls.
MACALLISTER: Bring back the CCC for troubled youth
Those chosen to govern have wrestled eternally with troublesome, often serious situations. Political disunity, stalemating action in city or state. Law enforcement losing its battle against dope, gangs and crime.
DANIELS: Simplistic solutions won’t fix crime
Pundits and public officials are trying to make sense of the level of crime in Indianapolis, the relative safety of our community, and the apparent “new breed” of young toughs—and everyone has an opinion on what we ought to be doing to make the community safer.
BROOKS: The humanities have lost their heart, soul
A half-century ago, 14 percent of college degrees were awarded to people who majored in the humanities. Today, only 7 percent of graduates in the country are humanities majors. Even over the past decade alone, the number of incoming students at Harvard who express interest in becoming humanities majors has dropped by a third.
KRUGMAN: If not income redistribution, then what?
What happens when good jobs disappear? It’s a question that’s been asked for centuries.
SOWELL: Political correctness diminishes military
For thousands of years, people around the world had the common sense to realize that putting young men and young women together in military operations was asking for trouble, not only for young people of both sexes, but for the effectiveness of military forces entrusted with the fate of nations.
MARCUS: United funding for the arts in Indiana
A good friend has come up with a good idea. I know it is a good idea because, when he presented it to me and another friend, both of us were skeptical. Such is the inevitable fate of good ideas among friends.
MADISON: A depressing tale of two Indianas
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It’s a tale of two Indianas—one rich, one poor.
BOHANON: Contrasting Indiana and Afghanistan
I weep for my Afghan friends and thank God for the relative civility that characterizes Indiana political conflict.
SOUDER: GOP ideology fights are nothing new
At the 1969 Young Americans for Freedom convention, I learned firsthand of the intense ideological divisions within the conservative movement.