When a corporate chain bought our home-owned newspaper many years ago it undertook a renovation of the office space. New carpet was put down. Potted plants were sat around — lots of them. The carpeting, though, succumbed to a mold that persists in these parts. Nor did the potted plants, a variety of Ficus, do well in Indiana light, dropping a few yellowed leaves every week until they stood almost bare — pathetic sentinels of…

by Andrea Neal It’s no coincidence that Indiana’s second largest city occupies land that once served as a capital of the Miami Indian nation. Native Americans chose Fort Wayne for its strategic location. The confluence of three rivers — St. Joseph, St. Marys and Maumee — would prove equally appealing to French fur traders, English military men and American pioneers. “This area was important for one main reason,” explains Kathleen O’Connell, a volunteer for Historic…

DRAFT COPY FOR MEMBERS ONLY:  NOT FOR PUBLICATION, QUOTATION OR DUPLICATION   Editors: The author earned his bachelors in economics at the Wharton School and a masters in regional science, both from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to his move to Indiana, he was principal and founder of regional analytic sciences in Seattle, Washington. Heller’s specialty in public finance, land economics and transportation was developed in an array of positions with the Washington State Department…

by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. Full disclosure: I have a dog in this race. I am on the board of Delaware Christian Academy (DCA), a private Christian school that uses a traditional curriculum and accepts state-financed vouchers. I have long advocated educational vouchers as a means for improving educational quality. I agree with Dr. Milton Friedman, who would have been 101 years old on July 31 of this year; I think competition in K-12 education is…

by Stephen M. King, Ph.D. In U.S. vs. Windsor, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the provision in the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) denying federal benefits to legally married couples was unconstitutional. The court, however, left intact Section 2 of DOMA, which essentially says that all 37 states that do not recognize same-sex marriage are not required to recognize same-sex marriages in the 13 states that do. Confusing? It only gets…

by FRANK STAHL Marion, Ind. — Marion in Grant County makes a handy laboratory for examining the mix of politics, capitalism, economics and, some might say, neo-mercantilism that is municipal economic development in Indiana today. With only about 30,000 residents, Marion is of a size that meaningful documentation can be gathered in only an afternoon. There is an innocence to official dealings here — many believe honestly and, alas, without question that mayoral and councilmanic…

by Andrea Neal Historians aren’t sure which white man stepped first on Hoosier soil, but he most certainly was French, and he likely arrived in the 1670s — 150 years before Indiana statehood. “Possibly it was an obscure Frenchman whose adventures were never recorded — if he lived to tell the tale,” wrote the historians John Barnhart and Dorothy Riker in their book, “Indiana to 1816,” the first in a five-volume history published for the…

by Leo Morris Indiana can take a lesson from Detroit — the biggest city in American history to declare bankruptcy: Stick with your “red model” of governing based on restraint and fiscal discipline. Resist those who urge you to drift closer to the “blue model” of high taxation, profligate spending and unsustainable benefits. Yes, there are many culprits in Detroit’s downfall, including the collapse of an auto industry that once dominated the world and the…

by Maryann O. Keating, Ph.D. There is currently discussion about apprenticeship and structured work experiences to promote the school-to-work transition. This concern emphasizes the development of young people to have the skills needed for applying academic learning to real-life situations. Here in Indiana there exists an exciting such program that enrolls thousands of young people between the ages 8 and 18 in critical-skills training — it is called 4-H. With a network reaching every corner…

by Maryann O. Keating, Ph.D The Wall Street Journal recently listed penthouses available for sale at $2.1 million or more at Philadelphia’s “most prestigious address.” Units were designed by an award-winning architect and are located in a fully staffed building with five-star concierge services. Each sale includes a 10-year tax abatement. In March of this year, it was reported that the city of Philadelphia mailed new valuations to owners of 580,000 parcels. One owner found…