Category: Indiana Writers Group

“A protest will take place outside of the NFL headquarters in New York City in support of free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick. The “United We Stand Rally for Colin Kaepernick” will take place on Aug. 23 at the league’s headquarters on Park Avenue.” — ABC-7 News by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. Colin Kaepernick is the latest…

“At least six states with GOP governors — Arkansas, Kentucky, Arizona, Maine, Wisconsin and Indiana — have drafted plans meant to introduce new rules people would have to meet to be eligible for Medicaid.” — The Hill, Aug. 3, 2017 by Josh Claybourn As GOP attempts at federal healthcare reform continued to flounder, John Boehner…

“Governor Eric J. Holcomb today signed an executive order creating a new cabinet-level position in state government to serve as Indiana’s chief talent and recruiting official.” — July 27 press release by John Kessler Will the economic development projects currently being pursued by Indiana make the state more attractive to young people? I can’t foretell…

Editors: For immediate release (475 words). The table and chart below the column are source material indicating that the developer gets all of his $3.25 million “equity” returned at deal closing as a “development fee.” by Jason Arp In the town where I serve on city council we have had several “quality of place” projects come…

THE KIND OF NEWSPAPER that the Indianapolis Star has become is not news. Everyone knows it already. It is important, though, to understand why it has become so. What will surprise some is that it has little to do with any bias of the staff. Rather, it is the predictable result of a shift in ownership structure — and…

“Bipartisan usually means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out. ” – George Carlin  IT IS PREDICTABLE that when political division is great, as it is this week in the U.S. Senate on the issue of healthcare, the calls for compromise are strong. And this is the time, also and incongruously, when the vilifying and name-calling are…

by Josh Claybourn The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will spend $10 billion this year on “community development,” with most of it allocated to Community Development Block Grants (CDBGs). Approximately $60 million gets allocated to Indiana municipalities, primarily for projects like affordable housing, street repair and subsidizing neighborhood businesses. Part of the lure…

by Craig Ladwig A rare enlightening discussion broke out at my council meeting last night. A councilman repeatedly challenged an opponent on an economic-development issue to say how he would have cast a hypothetical vote in the past. “Answer the question,” he demanded, trying to pin the councilman as being against a popular civic venue,…

HAS THE TRUTH become just a detail? The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette recently stepped over the line of protected opinion into either purposeful deception or self-serving carelessness. Discussing vouchers, a July 2 editorial was set under the shock-and-awe headline, “Evidence Casts Doubt on Voucher Education.” It said that a local educator wasn’t surprised by a study “showing that voucher students who transferred from Indiana…

by David Penticuff Loren Matthes, a partner at Umbaugh and Associates, spoke at a Wednesday at our local council meeting about the financial predicament of our city. In calm fashion, for the first time in a year and a half of working on our city’s budget problems, an Umbaugh official spoke in public about our…