“So this is how liberty dies . . . with thunderous applause.” — Sen. Padme Amidala in Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of Sith WOULD YOU SAY your district representative is reasonably conservative, that is, conversant with the founding principles of Indiana and the nation? If so, you would be wrong. The proof is passage last week of a measure that traps citizens of two counties in a modern-day fiefdom, detached from either constitutional protections…

by JASON ARP When a political machine runs your town, you get results that may not make much economic sense but are nonetheless predictable — predictably bad. Who, for example, would spend the equivalent of $220 a month to lease a space for which they intend to get revenue equivalent to $65 per month? The Fort Wayne Redevelopment Commission, that’s who. During its Feb. 10 meeting, this group of city planners and overseers voted to…

by Leo Morris You’re a Hoosier. That’s not the biggest insult that can be hurled at us, to humble us with who we are. Apparently, to cut us to the quick, you have to sneer at who we are not. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden got into the name-calling recently. Feeling former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg nipping at his heels, he mocked the Indiana native’s experience as a small-city executive and declared that, “This…

IT IS DIFFICULT TO TELL from his expression whether Gov. Eric Holcomb knows that the woman in this photo taken during this summer’s junket is president of the Chinese Communist front group targeting U.S. governors and state-level politicians in an attempt to influence policy here. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed at the Feb. 8 meeting of the National Governors Association that the group maintains a list of U.S. governors ranking them as to their usefulness. Pompeo said the warning…

by Leo Morris How about those kids today, huh? Don’t ask members of the Indiana General Assembly. They’re still trying to figure it out. In every legislative session, issues come up that the most astute observers had not anticipated. This time around, there seem to be a lot of proposals involving young people that weren’t on anyone’s radar. Lawmakers have suggested, among other things: Allowing 16-year-olds to vote. Increasing the age at which Hoosier youngsters…

(For the use of the membership only.) “This recent shooting took place in a food desert area. We must take the blinders off and recognize that if the city continues to ignore the core problems, the gun violence will be the new normal.” — statement from the Baptist Minister’s Alliance and the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis following a quadruple murder this week THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR has wrapped up a year-long series of articles on crime.…

by Richard McGowan, Ph.D. Gender issues have been in the news lately. Illinois, for example, passed a law in 2019 requiring changing stations in all public rest rooms. The law helps fathers, since many restrooms would have fathers change their baby’s diapers on the counter near the sink or on the floor of the bathroom. The New York Times had an article Jan 19 entitled, “Why Mothers’ Choices Often Feel Like No Choice.” The article said…

GOV. ERIC HOLCOMB will host the first Indiana Global Economic Summit in Indianapolis this spring. Some are calling it the “Hoosier Davos,” after the annual global economic forum held this last year in fabulous Dubai. They seem to be serious. The governor and his secretary of commerce are expected to display an array of incentives, tax breaks and grants, intended to affect a company’s decisions about business location, expansion or job retention in Indiana. The…

by Leo Morris Bob Vollmer is my new hero. He is retiring from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources because, he says, his body is telling him it’s time to go. His job requires a lot of physical effort: “I mean, climb the hills, fight the elements in the woods,” he told NPR. “It’s pretty rough, being tangled in vines, poison ivy, all kinds of things that you really have to be careful with, you…

by Richard Moss, M.D. I went to a “Game Feed” recently, an event put on annually by a local who goes by the name of “Chief.” He organizes this every January, in the winter, on a Saturday, in the middle of God’s country, on the outskirts of the town of Duff in Dubois County, southern Indiana. It was a cold day with freezing temperatures, which was better than last year when it was raining and…