We all know there’s been a shift in political posture from vision to reality. Hard times do that. The question, though, is whether your councilman or legislator will make the turn. Most sitting Hoosier politicians, Republican or Democrat, were elected on “the vision thing,” as George H. Bush once called it. Now they’re trying mightily to learn this new “reality thing.” The transformation can be awkward. For example, legislators are being urged to consider a…

by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. Ball State University (full disclosure: my employer) is seeking to acquire property adjacent to campus in order to build facilities that will  “house 50 dorm rooms, 100 hotel rooms, a series of conference rooms, a student-run retail area and two restaurants.” The expected cost of the project is around $25 million. There is one parcel of property in the plan Ball State does not yet own: a copy shop owned by…

by MARYANN O. KEATING, PH.D. There is no such thing as a perfect price index. Perfection in price indices requires that the prices of all products increase by the same percentage and that product quality plus the relative amounts of each product category remain constant.  Nevertheless, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), generated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is used to adjust retail sales, wages, and gross domestic product for inflation. Inflation is a yearly…

For immediate release (563 words) by JOHN KESSLER, M.A. The London Olympics was a showcase of talent and human ability by athletes from all over the world. The games, though, were not without some scandalous behavior. The badminton teams from China, Indonesia and South Korea were disqualified for trying to throw their match, and in men’s basketball the Spanish team was accused of trying to lose on purpose against Brazil. Olympic competition is supposed to…

For release Aug. 15 and thereafter (720 words) by Andrea Neal Running the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) is harder than being Marion County juvenile judge “by a factor of 18,” Jim Payne concedes. Within days of being tapped by Gov. Mitch Daniels to head the new cabinet-level department, Payne recognized the challenge: Combining 92 county programs with “92 different ways of doing things” into a statewide system with consistent policies for handling child…

For immediate release (769 words with optional cut) by BARRY KEATING, Ph.D. It was a simple statement, not particularly remarkable: “I really want the council and the city to take a second look at how we are spending the taxpayer dollars,” the new council member said, “and make sure we are getting the best return on investment.” The statement was made recently after my city council’s discussion of a more than a million-dollar loss by…

For immediate release (538 words) by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. A Manhattan scion gets on United Airline flight 797 to Los Angeles on August 31 and takes her seat in the first class section. Her daddy, who has taxable income of $1 million, forks out $6,288 so his princess can fly in style to Southern California to work on her tan. A teenage girl from New Jersey flying to California to attend a church youth conference…

The definition of mysology is contempt for reason, hatred of truth. The Greek root is a clue that it has been around for a while. Some of us, though, see it waxing, especially in our morning newspapers. I have my edition in front of me, and we can begin our forensics of the local mysology there. The headline declares: “TAX CHANGES LIKELY, COUNCIL SAYS, TO FIX CITY FISCAL CONCERNS” Changes? Fiscal Concerns? The truth apparently…

A Note to Editors:  A Notre Dame professor, a national expert on the economics of sports, offers a deeper perspective on the Penn State scandal than typically can be found on the sports pages. His column is written amidst concern that the core problem for the nation’s colleges was left unaddressed by the NCAA ruling. The corruption only touched the famed football program because that’s where the accused was employed; it could have happened anywhere…

For release Aug. 1 and thereafter (657 words) by Andrea Neal Within days of taking office in 2005, Gov. Mitch Daniels issued an executive order creating a new Department of Child Services. The handling of abuse and neglect cases was “a matter of life and death for many children,” Daniels said, but it was not getting the attention it deserved under the Family and Social Services Administration. Governor Daniels named Marion County Juvenile Judge James…