VAUGHN: Door keeps revolving at Statehouse
With Republican super-majorities in both Statehouse chambers and a newly elected governor eager to make his mark on state government, the upcoming legislative session could get controversial real fast.
Forefront
Articles
QUILHOT: GOP has become its own worst enemy
During the past three years, I have had the opportunity to serve Arsenal Tech High School’s football team. It has been an edifying time as I have gotten to know our urban high school students in ways only somebody called “coach” can understand.
NIEZGODSKI: Hoosiers would be nuts to game this paltry system
Consider for a moment what it’s like to be on unemployment in Indiana.
TORR: Existing laws are sufficient to weed out fraudulent claims
Anytime a government program makes tax dollars available to certain individuals, unfortunately, a few will look to game the system.
DOWD: Hillary will finish the job Obama started
The Mayans were right when they predicted the world would end in 2012. It was just a select world: the GOP universe of arrogant, uptight, entitled, bossy, retrogressive white guys.
MUTZ: Arcane rules will haunt the new Congress
The priority for Congress as it convenes in a lame-duck session is to reach an agreement that averts a fiscal crisis. To accomplish that goal, it may also be necessary to agree on major changes to three arcane procedures that govern the House and Senate.
HOWEY: Unchastened Chocola soldiers on
One thing is clear in the troubling weeks following the loss of a Republican U.S. Senate seat in Indiana: Chris Chocola will not give up easily in his quest for ideological purity.
BONIFIELD: Protect Ritz’s heartening voter mandate
By all accounts, Glenda Ritz has a daunting challenge as the next superintendent of public instruction. Across a state that has been at the forefront of the so-called education reform movement, recent legislation has incensed and motivated teachers in profound ways.
BECK: The biggest and worst of the elections
For the political among us, 2012 was solely focused on the election. From the early days in January with the Iowa caucuses to the ongoing transitions at the state and federal levels, the year was packed with action.
MYERS: Children need moms and dads at home
Single-parent families are at a significant economic disadvantage, and more black children in Indiana (42 percent) are living in poverty than are nationally (36 percent).
FARGO: Mildly agnostic about finishing I-69
When Interstate 64 came to my hometown, I was too young to appreciate what an amazing engineering feat it was. To me, the construction zone was a wonderland of big trucks and other exotic-looking equipment.
KRULL: The war against marijuana isn’t working
Indiana seems to be experiencing a fresh outbreak of reefer madness.
TAFT: Restore City Hall to its rightful place
Just north of the revived City Market, along the Alabama Street stretch of the Cultural Trail, stands a vacant landmark that has resisted redevelopment for almost a decade—the old City Hall.
VANE: Ballard quietly restored City Market
Legacy can be a tricky word. Most leaders are interested in the legacy they will leave when their term ends or they step down from running an organization or entity; others, you could say, probably border on obsessed. Politicians, my reading of history has educated me, fall mostly into the obsessed category.
MAHERN: Ballard turning competition on its head
While the Republican brand in some quarters may be a bit tarnished these days, there is no doubting what it represents—the idea that we should have smaller government at all levels, and that government should stay out of our personal lives at least so far as taxation and guns are concerned.
STYRING: Forecasting the next General Assembly
Battle lines for the next General Assembly are evident already.
WAGNER: Pence could learn from Daniels’ style
Here are six words I never imagined stringing together: I’m going to miss Mitch Daniels.
LONGWORTH: To a fault, Daniels focused on costs
Mitch Daniels will leave the governor’s mansion to a chorus of hurrahs from budget-balancers, conservative pundits and the Republican Party, which wishes—now even more than before—that he had run for president. But what can other Midwestern states learn from the Daniels era?
GEIB: Daniels led powerfully from weak office
Mitch Daniels had 48 former governors as role models when he took his oath of office. Now we can decide how he stands among them.
BROOKS: Cautions on the age of possibility
At some point over the past generation, people around the world entered what you might call the age of possibility. They became intolerant of any arrangement that might close off their personal options.