INDIANAPOLIS — I spent my first 10 years living in Michigan City, which is 35 nautical miles from Chicago. I was a Cold War kid. Our bogeyman was Soviet General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, who made a lasting impression when he took off his shoe at the United Nations, hammering the podium while threatening to “bury” …

He spent his freshman term learning about defense sector, and then came leadership The adjective “ambitious” has long accompanied Jim Banks. He’s had it since he was president of the IU College Republicans, as Whitley County Republican chairman, as a county councilman, as a state senator, and then in Congress. Throughout his political career, he …

INDIANAPOLIS — Eric Doden grew up in a small town – Auburn, Indiana – and is basing part of his 2024 Republican gubernatorial campaign on reviving them. “We’re going to continue to talk about the importance of our small towns,” Doden said Monday in a Howey Politics Indiana interview. “We have the Indiana Main Street …

INDIANAPOLIS — Mitch Daniels spent Wednesday talking with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as well as Sens. Todd Young, Steve Daines and Tim Scott. It is a prelude to the most burning question in Hoosier – and American – politics, which is whether “My Man Mitch” will make a political comeback. It’s unclear when a …

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Politics can be cruel. The career of a public servant who made a positive difference for 33 years can be trashed in the seconds of a negative TV ad. Rita Glenn, with 33 years of service in the St. Joseph County clerk’s office, 12 of those years as the clerk, wanted …

INDIANAPOLIS — It’s like a virus is spreading throughout the American intelligence and upper reaches of the federal government. “Classified” and “top secret” documents are turning up in Florida, Delaware and now Indiana. Last August, it was the FBI “search” of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort that cranked up the conspiracy machine once again. …

INDIANAPOLIS — How far back should we look to evaluate where we have been and where we are going? What factors should we consider? The wise analyst/consultant picks that period of time and those factors which make the folks paying the bill happiest. Since this column won’t pay me enough to buy a breaded tenderloin sandwich, …

Lawmakers should say no to expansion ANDERSON, Ind. — The headline gets straight to the point. “After two decades of studying voucher programs,” it says, “I’m now firmly opposed to them. Here’s why public money should not be funding private tuition.” The headline appears over an article written by Joshua Cowen, a professor of education …

MUNCIE, Ind. — One area of growing frustration for me is the low quality of information Hoosiers receive about labor markets. It isn’t the incessant political spin about the monthly jobs report or the use of dubious jobs announcements that vexes me. Indiana is hardly alone in deploying political spin. I’m concerned that honest efforts …