King | Same-Sex Marriage in Indiana: Who Decides?
by Stephen M. King, Ph.D. Neither on the Left nor the Right was there a shortage of viewpoints regarding Justice Anthony Kennedy’s Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) opinion. The Wall Street Journal labeled it “A Gay Marriage Muddle.” Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion in Hollingsworth vs. Perry called DOMA “an illegal federal intrusion on the traditional Read the full article…
Indiana at 200 (2): Mounds Leave Evidence of Indigenous Hoosiers
by Andrea Neal Indiana’s name means “Land of the Indians.” A trip to Mounds State Park in Anderson reminds us why. Among the first inhabitants of our state were the Adena, a hunting and gathering people that lived in east central Indiana beginning around 1,000 BC. They left behind earthen monuments — deep ditches surrounded Read the full article…
Keating: Youth Are Floundering in Rigid Labor Markets
Editors: For a high-resolution copy, click on mug shot. by Maryann O. Keating, Ph.D. For those 25 years of age and under, joblessness remains a disaster both in the U.S. and elsewhere. German chancellor Angela Merkel risked incurring the wrath of struggling Eurozone countries by saying unemployed youngsters must be prepared to move for work. Read the full article…
King: Federalism and the Supreme Court Rulings
by Stephen M. King, Ph.D. The Supreme Court of the U.S. has capped off another contentious session by ruling on four major cases: affirmative action, voting rights and two same-sex marriage cases. All of these cases enjoin the diminishing effects of federalism as the Founders envisioned. None of the cases directly affect Indiana — at Read the full article…
King: The Need for Honest State-Based Research
by Stephen M. King, Ph.D. In a recent Governing Magazine article (“What Happened to Federalism?”), the author laments that the 1996 closing of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) was a mortal blow to the non-partisan influence and interaction of state and local officials with their federal counterparts on a plethora of policy Read the full article…
Heller: Indiana’s Favor-Ridden TIF Districts
by Thomas Heller Tax Increment Financing (TIF), a widely misunderstood economic-development tool in Indiana, operates something like a bank. TIF districts make investments in local public improvements (roads, etc.) hoping to attract follow-on investment from private companies. Often these improvements are financed by borrowing — that is, issuing bonds to be paid off by the Read the full article…
