The bulk of legislative Democrats, allied with organized labor, are vehemently opposed to having Indiana join almost two dozen other states with right-to-work laws, labeling them as discriminatory against minorities and women, and contending that such laws will do little more than reduce wages and lower the living standards of many Hoosiers.
We spend too much on brick and mortar and administration and too little on the classroom experience.
Evaluating teachers cannot improve results. Human nature does not allow it.
Obviously, I am not the only human to have an interest in gold, as it has been the obsession of entire cultures during certain historical periods.
In the long run, a city or state will attract households and businesses through the services it offers, not the taxes it does not collect. Our political leadership knows this, but ignores it.
In the wake of the shooting, the loudest debate centers on the heated level of political discourse and its presumed effect on a shooter.
Research shows mentors can play a powerful role in a young person’s life. A mentoring relationship helps reduce the potential for bad behavior and gives a boost to academic achievement.
Government reform is an important topic, especially at a time tax caps have forced many units of local government to cut back on essential services.
Don Welsh, the departing leader of the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association, is the embodiment of the risk and reward associated with bringing in outside talent to do important work on the city’s behalf.
Indianapolis has spent more than a decade craving a robust information technology sector. Now there are signs that craving is being satisfied.
One sure bet this year is that Americans can expect to see a number of high-profile battles across the country between municipal or state governments and public-employee unions.
Recently, my wife has stopped calling me an economist. It is too hard to explain what I do, so she calls me a professor (which has far more cool points to Harry Potter or Gilligan’s Island fans).
Each January, I reflect on a few of the prior year’s columns. I’m always curious about the topics and people I have written about over the course of the year. I hope you are, too.
State of the State Address can help outline priorities for a given session, and governors have used them to dramatically draw a line in the proverbial sand, directly delivering a message to the individual members and leaders of the legislative branch—and over their heads to the voters—as to what they expect, will tolerate, and hope for.
The Public Deposit Insurance Fund, Indiana’s state-based backup to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., has served its purpose for more than 70 years, and efforts by some Indiana lawmakers to raid this fund are misguided (“Daniels, bankers may spar,” Dec. 27).
In reading the editorial, “Let’s consider tapping bank fund,” in the Jan. 3 issue, several corrections are appropriate.
Unfortunately, despite the governor’s pledge, the dollars spent by public-private entities and the recession, Indiana’s per-capita income has not risen.
Thus far, the saddest bill proposed in the General Assembly allows Hoosier local governments to seek bankruptcy and management by a state-appointed agent. This bill is a back-door confession that the state’s 30-year war on local governments has succeeded.
I am a product of the public school system in Fort Wayne. Not charter schools. Not parochial schools. Not private schools. Not home schooling.
I love it because it I allow it to suck me in like a farm kind seeing the big-city lights for the first time. I loathe it because it is becoming too much like the NFL.
