McCarthy: What’s Next? A Subsidized 20,000-Foot Ballroom?
by Fred McCarthy Nothing like good news if in fact it is good news. We’re talking about the announced anticipation of the addition of another large hotel — 800 to 1,000 rooms — in the downtown area of Indianapolis. Which might or might not include a super-sized ballroom that the city needs. It seems the Read the full article…

Morris: Offended Sport and Art Patrons, Rise Up!
by Leo Morris “How can we know the dancer from the dance?” That sentence has been stuck in my head for as long as I can remember. By making it the last line of his great “Among School Children,” William Butler Yeats was summarizing his belief and the theme of the poem that we cannot understand Read the full article…

The Book Shelf
by Mark Franke 1517, Printing, and the Making of the Reformation. Andrew Pettegree (Penguin House, 2015) Having just passed the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation, numerous new books on the period and Martin Luther have been published. One that takes a modern approach to the man and the movement is Brand Luther: 1517, Read the full article…

Racial Zoning: A Historical Perspective
by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. This year is the 100th anniversary of a key U.S. Supreme Court case on civil and economic rights. Buchanan vs. Warley (1917) overturned racial zoning ordinances in Louisville which prohibited whites selling and blacks buying homes in white-majority neighborhoods. (On November 29th, the city dedicated a historical market at 37th and Read the full article…

Morris: Lawmakers Always Find Their ‘Emergencies’
by Leo Morris “No man’s life, liberty or property are safe when the legislature is in session.” Contrary to accepted wisdom, Mark Twain didn’t say that, although it sounds like something he should have said. It was included in the opinion issued by a New York magistrate in 1866, chiding a lawyer for bollixing up Read the full article…

Morris: Are Yours Ready for Childhood Boot Camp?
by Leo Morris On reading that Indiana lawmakers are considering lowering the compulsory school age from 7 to 5 years old, I immediately went into full fuddy-duddy mode. “I didn’t need to go to any silly kindergarten classes, so I don’t understand why children today need to. I started out in first grade and turned out Read the full article…

