Indiana Writers Group column for release April 2 and thereafter (668 words) by Craig Ladwig We note with admiration how easily Bill and Hillary Clinton (with native son Evan Bayh jetting in from Washington) found connections in the Hoosier crowds during their campaign stops. It was almost as if they . . . well, as if they lived here. Truly, politicians are global citizens now. They don't have hometowns anymore in the traditional sense. And…

Indiana Writers Group column for March 26 and thereafter (730 words) by ANDREA NEAL It’s happened in other states with open primary elections. Republicans, having already determined their presidential nominee, are crossing over in large numbers to vote in the Democratic primary. In Virginia, eight percent of voters in the Democratic primary were self identified Republicans. In some parts of Texas, almost a quarter of voters with a history of participation in GOP primaries asked…

By Sam Staley, Ph.D. Indianapolis, like other big cities in the Midwest, is straining under the weight of abandoned homes. Nearly 7,000 abandoned buildings litter the landscape of the city’s most hard-pressed neighborhoods, and the Indianapolis Housing Agency and Mayor Greg Ballard deserve credit for trying to take the bull by the horns. Unfortunately, their recently announced initiative may not be bold enough. Realizing record foreclosure rates were sinking the city’s housing market, the housing…

Indiana Writers Group column for immediate release (730 words) by Andrea Neal Indiana’s celebration of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial got off to a rocky start last week. Just as state officials were releasing a new celebratory Lincoln license plate in Indianapolis, the Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne announced it was closing. So we gain a license plate; we lose a prestigious collection of Lincoln-related documents and artifacts. Not exactly an even trade. But it should…

Of Drug-Enhanced Baseball, Hoosier Basketball and March Madness  by John Bingham So even our beloved American pastime is teeming with drug-enhanced players. Is anyone really that surprised? The real question is how could the problem spread to this degree? A complete dereliction of duty by responsible authorities created a corrupt environment. This is not to excuse the cheaters. Each individual is responsible for his own actions. Nonetheless, enablers and encouragers should bear their share of…

Indiana Writers Group column for release March 5 and thereafter (450 words)b by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. There's no free lunch but deregulation is as close as you get. In 2006, Indiana ended local regulation of video franchise services. Since that time telecommunications companies have hired or stated an intention to hire around 2,000 additional workers in Indiana. Those same companies have made just over a half a billion of new investment in the state since…

Indiana Writers Group column for Feb. 27 and thereafter (720 words) (Editors: This column will be updated mid week after the full House votes on the resolution.) by Andrea Neal If politics is “the art of the possible,” as Otto von Bismarck remarked, property tax reform may be dead for 2008. The first serious sign of trouble came last week when House Democrats switched a property tax cap months in the making with a plan…

For release Feb. 20 and thereafter (620 words) by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. Recently I had breakfast with two prominent advocates for Eric Miller’s plan to repeal property taxes. They were interested to learn about some deficiencies with the plan and their consultant’s report on the plan. That same day we traveled to Salem for a public forum sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and Farm Bureau in Washington County hosted by Sen. Brent Steele and…

Indiana Writers Group column for Feb. 12 and thereafter (730 words) by Andrea Neal Indiana Congressman Mike Pence, a founder and former head of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation here, made national news last week when his name was floated as a suitable vice-presidential running mate for Republican John McCain. One obvious credential is the lead role he’s played in the attack on congressional earmarks. These are the pet projects, a.k.a. pork, which lawmakers routinely…

Indiana Writers Group column for release Feb. 6 and thereafter (620 words) by Jeff Abbott, J.D., Ph.D. Back in 1958 a movie was released in the theaters called "The Blob." The plot summary was that a mysterious creature from another planet resembling a giant blob of jelly landed on earth and kept getting larger and larger and devoured more and more people as it grew. Indiana’s government schools are much like the Blob. They keep…