One of the most controversial proposals to emerge at the 2013 General Assembly has resurfaced as the topic of a summer study committee. Late last month, the Interim Study Committee on Economic Development focused on ag gag legislation that would make it a crime to expose illegal, inhumane or unsafe conditions at factory farms in Indiana.
We Americans pride ourselves on free speech and demonstrate that privilege—vocally, written, cartooning, tweeting, publishing, televising, on billboards, and through movies, TV shows and publications.
Nothing in politics is so constant as change. Consider the Indiana State Teachers Association.
Recent ISTEP test scores seem to indicate a correlation between academic success and economic prosperity. These test results show that school districts in affluent neighborhoods have better scores than schools in poorer neighborhoods.
My son started kindergarten in August. Within a few days, it became apparent that his kindergarten experience is significantly different from that of his parents. Homework every night. Reading that must be logged and initialed. High expectations for reading, math, technology and the arts.
In the modern political world, it seems the validity or importance of an idea is treated no more seriously than what brand of butter substitute you buy from the local grocery store. Most recently, Indiana has experienced this phenomenon in education policy.
When Indiana Republicans started their push to ram so-called right-to-work legislation through the General Assembly nearly three years ago, they said the measure would rain blessings down on the Hoosier state.
Governors and mayors normally talk as if they are personally responsible for bringing jobs to their states and communities. This is nonsense.
Our public dialogue about competing with other states often focuses on development tools, tax policy, infrastructure and the like. These are surely some of the hard-edge elements of any sensible approach to building Indiana’s economic future.
I spent a large chunk of the last eight years as the spokeswoman for the Indiana Democratic Party. It was the best of times (big wins in 2006, 2008 and 2012), it was the worst of times (it sure would be nice to forget about 2010 and some stinging losses at the local level).
My law partner and longtime friend Joe Russell died suddenly at age 63 in July. Such a stunning event unleashes introspection: How could this happen to someone so young? How likely is it that I’ll keel over in the next year? Time to start planning vacations NOW.
Indiana and Indianapolis have much to be proud of. The state is in a relatively good financial position, to the point of rebated taxes.
Let Rand Paul have his epic filibuster and Ted Cruz his scowling threats to shut down the government. Let Chris Christie thunder to a second term as the governor of New Jersey, his hubris flowering as his ultimate designs on the White House take shape.
The only commonly accepted facts about the immigration debate in Washington and at every other political level in America are these:
What is it about our Republican political stars here in Indiana that they are constantly underestimated and under-rated? The reason, of course, is politics.
They will call it Northern Colorado if they can get the job done. Ten counties in the rich area north of Denver produce almost all the agriculture and most of the gas and oil that comes from the Mountain State. Its residents pay well over half the taxes but garner a fraction of the representation in the Democratic-controlled Legislature.
A realization struck recently as I was sitting in the shade of an umbrella stuck into the white sand that rims Thunder Bay in northeast Michigan, a copy of “The Last Policeman” across my lap.
Which of our leaders ever talks with us about a good book she or he has recently read?
Brookings Institute researchers recently published a book called “Confronting Suburban Poverty in America” that profiles how quickly poverty is migrating from many urban centers to their surrounding suburbs. Metro-area poverty has grown fastest in the suburbs over the past 30 years—experiencing a 64-percent increase versus 29-percent growth in urban centers.
As a child, racial segregation was a fact of my life, whether by law or by custom. In the South, barriers between whites and blacks were rigidly codified by statute before the civil rights victories of the 1950s and 1960s.
