Indiana Writers Group column for immediate release 740 words By Andrea Neal     Two years ago, after the last disastrous round of reassessment, Indiana lawmakers promised to cap rising property taxes. Most Hoosier taxpayers thought that they had.     A 2006 law established a limit — 2 percent — on the percentage of a home’s value you could be forced to pay in property taxes. If your home were worth $100,000, your bill wouldn’t exceed $2,000. If…

521 words Indiana Writers Group column for July 11 and thereafter (Digital mug shot available on request) By John Tatom The “Hoosier Comeback” program sponsored by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation is part of a strategy to boost economic growth, in this case through increasing the quantity and quality of available human resources. The plan envisions subsidies to encourage the return of former residents. A broader effort, though, could more usefully focus our energies in…

Indiana Writers Group column for June 27 and thereafter 710 words By Andrea Neal     INDIANAPOLIS — The FBI’s report that murders are up in big cities came as no surprise to Indianapolis residents who could have guessed as much reading one week of newspaper headlines: “Man fatally shot outside nightclub,” “Man dies after shooting near club,” “Two adults shot, one fatally,” “Police trying to ID body found in house.”     What’s surprising is that Indy’s 8…

Indiana Writers Group column for June 20 and thereafter 663 words Digital mug shot available on request; editors may want to insert their local milk prices for those in paragraph six. By Eric Schansberg After a bike ride with our boys two weeks ago, my wife and I went to a local grocer and were surprised to find milk at $3.35 per gallon. High gas prices have received a lot of attention in recent months.…

Indiana Writers Group column for June 13 and thereafter Digital mug shot available on request 438 wordsBy Dr. Cecil Bohanon    It is inevitable. As soon as Indiana gasoline prices rise the protest begins: “Big oil interests are ripping us off.” This time it is the gasoline refiners who are the villains. Refiner mark-ups are currently around $25 per barrel of oil. Two years ago they were around $10 a barrel. The difference is showing up…

Immigration: Our Tenured Representatives Owe Us an Accounting Indiana Writers Group column for June 6 and thereafter 639 wordsBy Craig LadwigThe problem seemed simple — or at least when we were young and callow fellows. A few of us staffers met in a Senate cafeteria to hear representatives of a group, now forgotten, express their concern about the U.S.-Mexican border. The group had statistical projections of what the situation would be in 10, 20 and…

Indiana Writers Group column for May 30 and thereafter 700 words By Andrea Neal     In 1998, right after tests revealed what one expert called “gross deficiencies” in civic knowledge of students, political leaders and educators called for immediate reform of K-12 civic education.     The latest test results are in, and nobody’s cheering. “Civics scores have remained essentially unchanged since 1998 for eighth and twelfth graders,” the National Assessment of Educational Progress reported May 16.     Modest…

A Tale of Two Indiana Election DaysIndiana Writers Group column for May 16 and thereafter 745 words By Andrea Neal     A pilot project in Wayne County that replaced 31 precinct polling places with just four centralized voting centers is getting good reviews. Considering the disaster that occurred in Marion County on primary day, Indiana might want to adopt the Vote Center idea statewide in time for the 2008 presidential election.     The concept would reduce…

Indiana Writers Group column for May 9 and thereafter 686 words By Andy Horning Tornadoes kill about 50 people nationwide every year, around 40 percent of them in mobile homes. So legislation known as “CJ’s Law” and other “making a statement” laws are passed with noble intent. But let’s think beyond good intentions for a moment. The law doesn’t offer assistance of any kind. It simply makes it illegal to live in a new or…