IBJ talked with incumbent Democrat Joe Hogsett and his Republican challenger, Jim Merritt, about why they’re running for mayor, what they’ve learned about themselves in the process and how they’ll tackle crime, neighborhood development, crime and more.
The area that includes the Fletcher Place neighborhood and the southeast corner of downtown is one of the hottest parts of Indianapolis, yet it’s included in a federal program designed to spur investments in poor neighborhoods.
Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett says if he’s elected to serve a second term, he hopes “that prosperity can be shared by more people in Marion County than has been the case in the past.”
Republican state Sen. Jim Merritt says his campaign for mayor has taken him to places and introduced him to people in the city he never knew before—an experience he wants to continue if he’s elected.
Talking with people, he said, is key to finding solutions to difficult problems.
The Democratic mayor nearly raised six figures in a seven-day period that ended Wednesday. Hogsett’s opponent, Republican state Sen. Jim Merritt, logged nearly $20,000 in the same time frame.
State lawmakers passed legislation during the 2019 session that allowed the Indiana Office of Tourism Development, which is under Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and funded by the state budget, to become a quasi-governmental corporation as of July 1, 2020.
Thursday’s near party-line 232-196 roll call was the chamber’s first formal vote on a process that’s likely to take months, possibly stretching into the early weeks of the 2020 election year.
Republican state Sen. Jim Merritt, Democratic incumbent Joe Hogsett and Libertarian Douglas McNaughton specifically addressed the eminent domain issue at Monday night’s Indianapolis mayoral debate.
Indiana residents soon could have a hotline for reporting improper or illegal spending and other suspected corruption by local government officials, if lawmakers approve a proposal being drafted by a legislative committee.
The two major political party candidates for mayor of Indianapolis took the stage Monday night in a what black leaders called a historic discussion on issues facing their community.
Central Indiana elected officials want to create a formal organization that could combine regional resources to pursue transformational projects.
With a low unemployment rate in Hamilton County—2.5% last month—some employers see the inmates as an untapped workforce and are more than willing to give them a chance, helping inmates overcome one of the biggest hurdles they immediately face upon release
Some state lawmakers want to require paper tickets, but event organizers say they can easily be manipulated and duplicated. Digital ticketing reduces fraud, they say.
Members of the General Assembly’s Interim Study Committee on Transportation will decide later this month whether to officially recommend that Indiana’s Legislature consider making the state the sixth with work zone speed cameras.
On Tuesday, an interim committee of lawmakers discussed potentially consolidating the state board of education, governor’s workforce cabinet, and Commission for Higher Education.
Despite raising a staggering $51 million for his presidential campaign in 2019, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg has been stuck in fourth place, between 5% and 7% in national polls. Part of that is because he’s hard to define.
Security experts have urged for adoption across the country of paper-based voting systems, saying they are less vulnerable to manipulation and election workers can use those records to audit results.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Owens, the 34-year-old CEO of tech firm SupplyKick, has never held elected office. But he doesn’t consider that a bad thing.
The board carries $56 million in liability insurance for its facilities, including a $1 million general liability policy and a $55 million umbrella policy.
Indianapolis-based developer Kite Realty Group Trust is asking the cities of Carmel and Indianapolis to ante up incentives for a trio of mixed-use projects in its pipeline.
