Region students win top marks in We the People contest

INDIANAPOLIS | Fifth-grade students from four Northwest Indiana schools earned top ratings in a We the People competition at the Statehouse on Friday by demonstrating their knowledge and understanding of government and the Constitution.

YOUNG VOICES: We're giving up freedoms without getting any safer

In a previous column, I warned you that our public education system is being used against us. I warned you that the coming generation was being taught to not fear the government, but to fear freedom. Call me crazy, but in the time that has passed since then have we not allowed more and more …

Lake councilwoman retracts allegation she was offered job to vote for tax

Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott Jr., left, and Lake County Councilwoman Christine Cid

Christine Cid

Lake County Councilwoman Christine Cid, D-East Chicago

RICH JAMES: Good government would take major overhaul

What if Hammond had three mayors? Or Valparaiso? Or Crown Point?

Politicians eager to push for government control

Democrats in particular, and politicians in general, never miss an opportunity to use a catastrophe to push for more government control. Sadly, the American people buy into it.

Students rule the roost in Sauk Village

SAUK VILLAGE | Sauk Village administrators and officials this week turned the village over to a bunch of school kids.

EDITORIAL: Go with conventional, not with convention

Indiana's call for a constitutional convention -- at the federal level, not state -- didn't make it out of the House Judiciary Committee and is now dead for the year. That's a relief.

EDITORIAL: Mixed news on public access issues

Hoosiers must remain ever vigilant when the Indiana General Assembly is in session, alert to any action that could affect the public's access to government records and government meetings. There's mixed news so far this session.

Visclosky announces support of marriage equality

U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky announced his support of marriage equality Thursday, calling unfair current federal laws that bar same-sex couples from having the same financial and legal benefits as married couples.

Eldon Strong

County government jobs desireable, tough to get

County government jobs in Northwest Indiana look attractive, if you can get one.

ACLU of Indiana celebrates 60 years of fighting for civil liberties

After last week's settlement of a lawsuit claiming Griffith Public Schools violated First Amendment rights of three students, a longtime official with the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana declined comment on the case.

Government ruined industrial base, health care next

America has the most unusual government in the world. It is the only governing body in existence that has ruined its nation's industrial base.

LaPorte OKs expanding TIF district for job creation

LAPORTE | A financing mechanism is now in place to pay for developing 137 acres of farmland viewed as having the potential to create up to 1,000 new jobs in LaPorte.

EDITORIAL: Speak up, train to fight unethical behavior

Former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and others offered valuable insight Friday at the annual Ethics in Government breakfast meeting: If you don't report corruption, you're an enabler.

DOUG ROSS: NWI residents take a stab at federal budget

There's something eerie about writing about the federal budget for the Ides of March, considering all the political backstabbing going on right now. But there are good things happening in regard to the federal budget, too.

Representation in Washington isn't very representative

I don't know what kind of government we have in the United States. We have, by design, severe unequal representation in the "filibustering" Senate. Our elections are "filtered" by the electoral college that installed Mr. Mission Accomplished in power even though he lost the popular vote by o…

GUEST COMMENTARY: Sequestration is no way to run a country

The episode of sequestration – the $85 billion in automatic, across-the-board spending cuts that take effect today – reminds us of what happens when legislators cease to legislate.