For release June 22 and thereafter (661 words) Last week the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) released criteria for applications from Indiana for spending its share of the $8 billion of stimulus money that Congress allocated to high-speed rail. Which raises a question: Would you pay $1,000 so that someone — probably not you — can ride high-speed trains less than 60 miles a year? That’s what the FRA’s high-speed rail plan is going to cost:…

For release June 24 and thereafter (700 words)   Long before it was fashionable to advocate for parkland and civic space, Indiana’s founding fathers wrote the idea into our Constitution. The framers didn’t want future generations selling off prime public land: the Statehouse, Monument Circle or Military Park, in particular. So in Article 15, section 9, they declared those three properties “shall not be sold or leased.”      That language is why Indianapolis activist Clarke…

“If the title is so important to you that it trumps other polite forms of address, you are in politics for the wrong reasons . . .” Dear Senator Boxer . . .For immediate release (255 words)Andrea Neal could not believe Barbara Boxer’s arrogance when she demanded yesterday to be called “senator” during the testimony of Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh. As a teacher of constitutional history, Neal was embarrassed for the senator and her pride…

For release June 17 and thereafter (635 words) The cartoon in the New Yorker shows a well-heeled couple on a busy city street sitting behind a sign. “Save the Hamptons,” it says. Cash-strapped Indiana legislators are in special session this week eyeing the most obvious sources of additional tax revenue. They should know, though, that although the poor will always be with us, not so the rich. The wealthy come and go on the whim…

587 words Gov. Mitch Daniels’ speech apologizing for his generation was quoted in the Wall Street Journal this week. He and others of this year’s commencement honorees described the Baby Boom generation as selfish. But one expert on the cultural impact of the generation, Neil Howe, told the newspaper that the apologies sounded like a ploy rather than a mea culpa: “You think about what an apology does, it allows you to maintain the moral…

For release noon June 10 and thereafter (655 words)Note: Graf 4 refers to start of special session Thursday. If they couldn’t agree on spending priorities in the regular session, it’s hard to imagine state legislators coming together to pass a budget by June 30, the end of the fiscal year — especially considering the histrionics we’ve seen from House Democrats. Their latest stunt was to walk out of bipartisan subcommittee hearings because they didn’t like the…

For release June 3 and thereafter (549 words) It made a great movie. In October 1991, a northeaster created by three merging storms combined with other factors so rare that the situation could not possibly have been worse. This “Perfect Storm” created waves 10 stories high and winds of 120 miles an hour. Now, in the year 2009, a perfect storm in education policy is forming. And as in 1991, three storms are merging: •   …

For release noon May 26 and thereafter (675 words)   State School Superintendent Tony Bennett has the right idea with his plan to give incentive grants to schools that raise graduation rates. The program, which Bennett is funding with cost savings achieved by his office, will award up to $20,000 to educators at high schools with the biggest increase in 2009-10 graduation rates.    If he could get it past the all-powerful teachers’ union, Bennett might…

For release May 20 and thereafter (791 words)In the past few months, as the U.S. stock market declined and unemployment increased, several former students indicated to me that they would have preferred to be studying macroeconomics this semester. Evidently, they did not learn as much as they would have liked in previous classes. As an instructor of introductory economics, I have misgivings and obviously some regrets about the long-term economic insights absorbed by students. Perhaps,…

For release May 13 and thereafter (684 words)If we can explore space, bank on-line and use lasers to remove gallbladders, you’d sure think we could get property tax bills out on time. Yet once again, Marion County residents — and folks in many other Indiana counties — are waiting for tax bills. This fiscal year, only two counties achieved “on-time property tax billing.”    The situation is much improved from last year, according to the Indiana…