A few weeks ago some Hoosiers were worried about the image of our state because of the ill-advised, ineptly named Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA. Gov. Mike Pence was so worried he decided to spend $750,000 with some opportunistic, out-of-state firm for Righteous Image Restoration…
A guy stops me on the street. “How’s the economy doing?” he asks.
The General Assembly has gone home; Hoosiers are breathing easier again. Although our legislators did a few sensible things, this session will be remembered for the continuing irresponsible behavior of basically decent people.
Every now and then the “Let’s move” virus infects us. We love our house, its amenities and location, but we are susceptible to the moving bug.
Today, for the first time, I drove down a repaved section of my street. It’s only about 30 yards, but it had been a mess for several years.
My friend is selling her house, but she won’t get a reasonable price because of the junk yard maintained by her next-door neighbor. It’s a conflict reflecting a central tension of our times.
It is easy to understand legislators in Indiana and other states taking steps against public higher education. Public colleges and universities represent a different culture, a different set of values, a different point of view than are found in political and business lives.
This column is NOT about the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA. I wrote that column and threw it away. The arrogance of those in the General Assembly who crafted and voted for the original bill and the non-fix, both signed by an irresponsible and unresponsive governor, is too depres…
Indiana will be safe for another year. We will retain our regressive social agenda as the General Assembly stays busy passing meaningless, divisive legislation. Although politicians of all stripes recognize the need to attract progressive, educated people, our leaders insist on doing nothing…
Horatio Hammer, of the law firm, Hammer and Tongs, enjoys the routine spectacle of business and economic expectations before the fact, and analysis after the fact.
Data from the American Community Survey by the U.S. Bureau of the Census indicate that 5.5 million households or 4.8 percent of all American households have income and employer-paid benefits of $200,000 or more per year. You might call these the Top 5 percent households, just as we hear so o…
Most communities entice businesses with subsidies or “incentives” to locate in their jurisdiction versus another. It’s seen as a necessary measure of competition. But now, even the oft-irrelevant Indiana General Assembly is looking into these practices.
This is a true story. Only the names and the dialogue have been changed because of the elapsed time and my faulty memory.
Last week’s column suggested the change in your county’s gross assessed value could be a good measure of local economic development. If you missed that column, please retrieve it from your recycle bin or bird cage.
Once upon a time, in a land where we now live, citizens sought to improve their communities through something called “economic development.” They formed committees of local business and government leaders to encourage transportation and other public works improvements, the attraction of new …
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President Barack Obama came to Indianapolis to rouse support for his $60 billion to $80 billion program for financing community college students. At best, it’s a good idea ahead of its time.
The American economy is a mosaic of 381 metropolitan economies, which account for nearly 90 percent of the nation’s inflation-adjusted Gross Domestic Product (real GDP).
The National Rifle Association website does not report the size of the gun industry in the United States.
Today’s sermon, members of the choir, will be upon the twin topics of gambling and guns. Now, I know that people don’t like to be told how to conduct their lives, but it needs to be done.
With the Indiana General Assembly in session, the division of funds among Indiana’s 92 counties is once again before us. In recent discussions with a former state legislator, he claimed Marion County always got more than it deserved.
Among the many issues normally ignored by the Indiana General Assembly is the fate of our cities and towns. Over the years, the legislature has cut back the revenues of local governments while increasing the responsibilities of those units.
Elected officials want to be re-elected. To achieve that end, they want us to believe they are responsible for the good things that happen. They want us to ignore bad things, or at least conclude they are not the cause of the bad things.
Just days before the big night, Elvin Elfenhousen, my confidential informant at the North Pole, told me, “The Big Guy’s in a daze. Santa thinks we may have overdone it on presents this year.”