Andrea Neal column for Nov. 30 and thereafter730 words INDIANAPOLIS – As lawmakers gear up for the 2005 session, they’d be wise to pick up the following self-help title: "Don’t Say Yes When You Want to Say No." As much as Republicans might like to use their new majority status to fund preferred budget items or pork barrel projects, the coming session must be an exercise in self-restraint. If the Indiana General Assembly is to…

Andrea Neal column for July 27 and thereafter710 words INDIANAPOLIS – As if parents of teen-agers didn’t have a hard enough time already, U.S. District Judge John Tinder has made things harder still. With his July 23 ruling striking down Indiana’s curfew law, Tinder stripped parents of a most powerful tool for getting kids home at a reasonable hour. In a 34-page decision preventing enforcement of the 11 p.m. weekday and 1 a.m. weekend curfews,…

Andrea Neal column for June 2 and thereafter710 words INDIANAPOLIS — It was the first day of the 2003-04 school year and my first day as a teacher. As I looked out at a blur of expectant faces, I wondered aloud how long it would take me to learn the names that went with them. My bigger worry, which I kept to myself, was whether I would like these students. For reasons that only mid-life…

Andrea Neal column for Aug. 3 and thereafter740 words INDIANAPOLIS – My son’s ’94 Honda went into the shop this week for a $3,600 repair. He didn’t cause the accident that demolished the driver’s side door, yet it’s my insurance company that’s footing the bill. We are the victims of an uninsured driver. And we’re far from unusual. The insurance industry estimates one of every five Indiana drivers is uninsured. What’s worse, they are responsible…

Andrea Neal column for June 29 and thereafter740 words Bloomington — Most people won’t recognize the name, John Patrick, yet there’s probably no Hoosier who’s done more to promote the principles we celebrate this Fourth of July. Patrick retired June 30 after a distinguished 35-year career as a professor at Indiana University, where he directed the Social Studies Development Center, wrote numerous books and articles and trained hundreds of K-12 teachers about the founding principles…

Andrea Neal column for July 20 and thereafter670 words (Note to editors: This is an updated version of this week’s column for newspapers that publish it later in the week). An Indiana congressman has emerged as the leader of the latest effort to block gay marriage. Instead of changing the Constitution with an amendment, he’s trying to use the Constitution to achieve his goal. The U.S. House voted 233-194 Thursday to approve the Marriage Protection…

Andrea Neal column for May 11 and thereafter745 words INDIANAPOLIS — Help wanted. Applicants must be willing to work long hours for low pay for just two days a year. The successful candidates will be good communicators, patient with the public and willing to buy donuts on their way to the job site. Indiana needs more poll workers. That’s one of the lessons from last week’s primary election. Across the state, party officials report chronic…

Andrea Neal column for May 4 and thereafter700 words INDIANAPOLIS — Let’s hope the Indiana Gaming Commission is less impressionable than some Orange County residents, who’ve been hypnotized by Donald Trump’s grand vision for a casino complex in French Lick. "We’re not supposed to say, but we want Trump," one of those residents, Geneva Street, was quoted saying in the April 28 Indianapolis Star. "I don’t care if the other two drop out as long…

Andrea Neal column for April 27 and thereafter735 words (Editors: Please note graf 8 and revise with newspaper-specific information if appropriate. Neal will update the NPAT response figures in occasional columns between now and Nov. 2). INDIANAPOLIS — Twenty lashes with a rain-soaked yard sign for Joe Kernan, Mitch Daniels and Eric Miller. All three failed to complete the National Political Awareness Test, one of the finest tools there is for gauging a candidate’s accessibility…

Andrea Neal column for March 24 and thereafter740 words INDIANAPOLIS — What would happen if you took one of the most rigorous private high schools in your city, moved it to one of your most blighted blocks and issued an open invitation to neighborhood kids to attend — free of charge? That far-fetched idea comes amazingly close to what’s about to happen at the Meadows, an Indianapolis neighborhood where the murder rate gets far more…