Category: Indiana Writers Group

For the past 10 years, we’ve distributed Andrea Neal’s biweekly essays on Indiana public-policy issues. She has written extensively about taxes, good governance, higher education, civic education and K-12 reform. Twenty-five Indiana newspapers have routinely published her column, making her one of the most widely read opinion writers in the state. Beginning with her column…

by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. All energy sources generate what economists call “external costs,” a concept Hoosiers will have to master to make sense of the current energy debate. It also ends up that most energy sources have benefited from federal government subsidies. There is a great deal of controversy about how much the federal government…

by Andrea Neal “For First Time, Majority in U.S. Supports Public Smoking Ban.” That was the headline in July 2011 as cigarette bans swept the country. In 2000, just one major U.S. city banned smoking at work sites, restaurants and bars. As of last year, 60 percent of the 50 largest cities did, including Indianapolis.…

A few hours on one of those genealogical web sites can put the immigration debate into sharp personal focus. I stumbled on her picture, a criminal mug shot actually, while looking for more glamorous ancestry. She was my great-grandmother, a suspected enemy alien. Wilma Philipina Rosina Haug Bader was required to register as such on…

by Andrea Neal The nation’s eyes are on Indiana as it moves to reconsider the Common Core academic standards that are supposed to raise student achievement and standardize what children learn across the country. The operative word is “supposed.” These national academic standards were adopted by 46 states and the District of Columbia with little…

by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. Wind power is a darling of the green movement. In the mid-1970s, long before man-made climate change was on the radar screen, environmentalists were excoriating fossil fuel and extolling the virtues of wind energy. I recall a student-made poster of the era with a hand-drawn picture of an oil well. The…

by Jeff Abbott, Ph.D., J.D. In the past few weeks, we have heard horror stories throughout Indiana about testing under ISTEP+ — particularly the overload of the computer system and the failure of the testing company’s servers to handle the testing. State Board of Education members expressed frustration about what Indiana educators and education policymakers…

by Andrea Neal Otis Bowen will go down in history as the governor who delivered landmark property-tax relief to Hoosiers. He also deserves mention for what happened on Mitch Daniels’ watch: a tax-reform amendment to the state Constitution. Relief is “lightening of something oppressive,” according to Merriam-Webster. Reform is “correction of an abuse or wrong.”…

by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. A conservative Republican governor has super majorities in both branches of the legislature. One might suspect such one-party government will lead to major changes in public policy, but this did not happen in 2013 in Indiana. When out of power, many conservatives, progressives and libertarians (me included) love to wax on…

Please mark your calendar: 11 a.m. July 9, Hilton North, 8181 North Shadeland Avenue, Indianapolis This is your invitation to the foundation’s summer seminar. Click on the photo at right to save a seat for lunch, an endless coffee pot and a roomful of informed discussion ($20 if you register now). With a Republican sitting…