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First, my sincere condolences to the Gebauer family; I have heard that Paul worked here in St. John for many years. As I was leaving our neighborhood about 7:30 AM today to head over to Crown Point, US 231 was completely blocked off between Parrish and Cline with a number of emergency vehicles. When I was headed back west on 231 at 9 AM, flatbeds carrying both the Camaro and van were headed in the other direction--and it was obvious from both that there had been a huge impact and massive fire. My initial thought was that everyone involved was likely killed. Word has gotten around that the Camaro was traveling at an estimated 100 mph at the time of the impact.

March 17, 2013 8:54 pm on C.P. man killed in fiery wreck
You have it mostly right, NewTomorrow.

At least the H-G's have finally realized that their infighting has done nothing but fritter away a large portion of their fortune, and recently expanded the board to non-family members and hired a CEO for H&Co that will change things quickly...but they are in this position due to their own mismanagement of the product. Tony George's creation of the IRL permanently harmed open wheel racing in the US to the point that Indycar teams cannot find sponsors for drivers that were series champions in recent years. TV ratings are abysmal compared to the heyday of the sport during the CART era, and even though the series introduced a new car and engines last year, TV ratings dropped from 2011...leading several major sponsors to tell teams they'd have enough. IZOD's management has undergone a shift to a group that doesn't see any value in motorsport sponsorship and the series is searching for a new "title sponsor".

However, when it comes to Bruton Smith...well, he's never been bashful about asking for government help, then often puts a heap of blame on state and local agencies for failure to spend money to upgrade roadways adjacent his tracks. In many cases, the only reason access is insufficient is that he built the track but refused to fund the infrastructure upgrades to provide adequate access.

February 19, 2013 11:22 am on EDITORIAL: Race money here for Cline Avenue
According to several articles in the past year or two, Ameristar Casino was willing to pay $35MM toward the project, which would maintain Cline as a free public highway. IMS wants $5MM/yr over 20 years to fund a bond issue for $100MM of improvements inside the private facility. IMS is putting up only $20MM for that work over that same time period. There is also no language in SB91 that clarifies who owns the improvements within IMS. Seems to me that it's a no-brainer. The Cline project benefits both industry and the public, and private entities were willing to contribute a substantial portion of the funding...it's clearly a more prudent and justifiable investment for the state.

February 18, 2013 1:46 pm on EDITORIAL: Race money here for Cline Avenue
Forgot to mention...I accessed the in.gov web page of State Senator Michael Young, sponsor of SB91, to express my dissatisfaction with the proposal the day it was announced. I had a followup question three days later, but found that Young had removed any ability to contact him via email from that official page--the only State Senator to disable such ability. To me, that speaks volumes about the situation. The Indy crowd just doesn't want to hear any objections to this, much less respond.

February 18, 2013 10:25 am on EDITORIAL: Race money here for Cline Avenue
@thinkaboutit123 -- why does IMS, a private entity, deserve $100MM in state aid to install lighting, new LED screens, and become ADA compliant inside a facility that charges $80 for a race day ticket? Some in that area are arguing that IMS is the barrier between the impoverished west side of Indy that's been going downhill for the past 30 years, and that this will stimulate "gentrification". I can't buy that big LED screens inside the track are going to convince the slumlords who own the properties around 21st and Tibbs (just east of the IMS golf course) to reinvest in improvements.

February 18, 2013 9:45 am on EDITORIAL: Race money here for Cline Avenue
The problem is that IMS is perpetrating a big lie to justify this...from their press release announcing SB91, in which Mark Miles, the new CEO of IMS, also claims that state aid is "necessary" for IMS to be competitive:

"IMS officials indicated that the Motorsports Investment District as proposed would not financially impact the local school funding formula because it would not be funded through property tax collections."

I'm a lifelong Indycar fan...but this smacks of IMS's ignorance of reality that's been evident from their mismanagement of the facility over the past generation. Any educated Indiana taxpayer knows that local school operating expense is funded based on that formula by the state ever since the passage of PL146 in 2008 and the subsequent increase in state sales tax to 7% in return for the cap on property taxes.

The prevailing attitude in "the Holy Land" is that "we've done it for the Colts and Pacers, why not IMS?" Well...the Colts and Pacers now charge a 10% admissions tax to assist in debt service...no such tax is imposed on IMS admissions. Believe it or not, the average race day attendee at the Indy 500 pays less for that ticket than does a fan who buys a single game Colts ticket. Clearly, if "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing", a once-per-year event, can't generate a higher average admission than any of the 10 Colts pre- and regular-season games, there is a problem with the product.

February 18, 2013 8:53 am on EDITORIAL: Race money here for Cline Avenue
In 2009, only 62 of the 3141 counties in the US had a median household income of $75k or more. In other words, in only 2% of US counties is the median household income half of that $150k figure. Geographically speaking, that's not a lot of places. 2010 census data shows only 10% of families in the US had incomes of $150k or greater, and the middle 50% of families are in the $30k to $100k range. One rarely hears a statistician refer to a value in the top 10% of the range of data as "in the middle".

December 17, 2012 9:33 pm on Study: Pence tax cut would mostly benefit the rich
Median household income in the US for 2007-2011 was $52,800, for Indiana it was $48,300...so Indiana median income is indeed lower, but nowhere in the US is an annual income of $150k merely middle class for a family of four.

December 17, 2012 8:37 am on Study: Pence tax cut would mostly benefit the rich
Yes, and what that other paper says is that he made the threat Friday but was not arrested until Saturday. That makes no sense. If you make a threat to kill and are not taken into custody immediately, that in and of itself is a massive failure of our system. If that is not probable cause, what is?

I reported someone for dealing coke on my floor of the res hall, he was charged but not immediately removed from the do--and then threatened to kill me several days later. Within a few minutes after I went to the university PD and swore out a complaint, his sorry behind was shagged out and taken to the county jail. That's what should have happened in this case.

December 16, 2012 2:58 pm on Police: Cedar Lake man wanted to kill 'as many people as he could' at elementary school
Pence's argument that the tax cut will incentivize business owners to hire more workers is utter balderdash. If I own a business and put all of that $2264/yr savings back into wages for an additional employee...the best I can do is hire someone at minimum wage for 312 hours. No one can make a case that such a job is anywhere close to what will going to make any real difference in the economy here. Hoosiers who think they are overtaxed need to open their eyes--the overall tax load on residents is low compared to other states. I'm sick and tired of seeing cuts in education here as a result of the Republican focus on cutting spending without concern for the impact. Education will make a real difference in the quality of life in this state, and we will fall behind if the trend in cutting support for education continues.

December 16, 2012 11:29 am on Study: Pence tax cut would mostly benefit the rich