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Latest Stories
How Gov. Daniels built Indy’s NFL stadium
INDIANAPOLIS —The mammoth NFL gridiron sprawling out across this city’s southern flank has long been called “the house that Peyton Manning built,” a tribute to the Hall of Fame Colts quarterback. But it was a man who stood nearly a foot shorter and, perhaps, 75 pounds lighter, who really was responsible for building Lucas Oil …
An interview with Democrat candidate for governor, Jennifer McCormick
INDIANAPOLIS — Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, Hoosier voters have selected true partisans as their governors. These have been White men who worked their way through the Republican and Democrat establishments, serving as party chairs, at the White House, legislators or as members of Congress. Jennifer McCormick is seeking a distinctly different path. The …
Solutions for the debt ceiling issue, and the consequences of inaction
In the coming days, the United States again confronts our statutory debt ceiling. This is a 1917 law (increased every year or so) establishing a cap on federal government debt. The law itself runs up against the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which was intended to reassure bondholders that we pay our Civil War debts. …
DeSantis botches his Twitter rollout
INDIANAPOLIS — Who can forget Donald Trump descending the escalator at his Manhattan tower in June 2015 as he kicked off his long-shot presidential campaign? Or Ronald Reagan in 1979 with the Statute of Liberty as his backdrop? Or Barack Obama at the old Illinois Statehouse on a frigid Springfield February morning in 2007? On …
Holcomb’s change of the guard picking up
INDIANAPOLIS — The Holcomb administration, now in its seventh year and with just one legislative session left, is experiencing the type of change of the guard you’d expect at this tenure. This month, Health Commissioner Kristina Box announced she was retiring. On May 1, it was Department of Child Services Director Terry Stigdon who was …
Columns
View More‘Solving’ the illegal immigrant problem
INDIANAPOLIS — Last week, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita called on Gov. Eric Holcomb to send Hoosier National Guard units to the southern border to help staunch the tide of illegal immigrants.“When you’re not enforcing the border and the federal government is not doing their job, the answer is not to not have the job …
Arts, culture and spectator sports
INDIANAPOLIS — Polly Morphos can be irritating. Willy-nilly she’ll change her opinion, or the topic being discussed. Recently, we were talking about the role of entertainment in American society. “We’re being swallowed up by entertainment,” she said. “Everything has to be entertaining, happy news, newscasters joking around. Commercials all tell little entertaining stories. It’s another deterioration …
Big savings for ending prevailing wage
MUNCIE, Ind. — In 1931, the federal Davis-Bacon Act mandated that wages paid to contracted workers on government construction projects be set at the prevailing level. That “prevailing wage” effectively ended competition on salaries for businesses bidding for federal government construction jobs.The most likely reason for the initial prevailing wage laws is that the legislation …
Dialogue of democracy needs tending
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — There are so many things I worry about these days. Are we going to default on our debts? Can we adapt to the accumulating impact of climate change? How are we going to handle the dangers posed by China and Russia? But bigger than all of those is this: Can we as a nation …
Clarence Thomas and his ‘originalist’ views
GARY, Ind. — If we must endure a bought man on the highest court, at least he wasn’t cheap. Gifts lavished on Clarence Thomas and his crusading wife Ginni taste, feel and smell appropriately lux: Island hopping on staffed superyachts; pampered vacations worth millions over two decades; bougie boarding school tuition; a free refurbished home for …
News & Analysis
View MoreShreve faces a daunting task in his bid for Indy mayor
INDIANAPOLIS — Republican mayoral nominee Jefferson Shreve knows his challenge to beat Mayor Joe Hogsett is tantamount to climbing a political Mt. Everest. What he’s hoping for is a redux of 2007.That year, Democratic incumbent Mayor Bart Peterson was upset by Republican Greg Ballard by a 50.4% to 47.2% margin, generated by a tax and …
Crouch is trotting out daily endorsements
INDIANAPOLIS — One by one, every business day, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch is trotting out a series of endorsements. Connie Lawson. Sen. Ryan Mishler. Bob Grand. This morning, it was State Rep. Wendy McNamara, who said, “It is my honor and privilege to endorse Suzanne Crouch for governor. She has dedicated her life to public …
Young distances himself from Trump, Braun and Banks still with him
INDIANAPOLIS —- “Where do I begin?” That was U.S. Sen. Todd Young’s response to a Capitol Hill reporter’s questions after he became the first current elected Hoosier Republican officeholder to say he will not support Donald Trump’s presidential renomination in 2024. Sen. Young’s tipping point appears to be on the subject of the Russia-Ukraine war. …
Jennifer McCormick enters race for what will be a historic 2024 gubernatorial bout
INDIANAPOLIS — With Democrat Jennifer McCormick’s official entry into the 2024 Indiana gubernatorial race, Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott has ruled out seeking the Democratic nomination. “As for me, I don’t see the stars aligning for a McDermott candidacy in 2024 at this time,” McDermott texted Howey Politics Indiana on Wednesday. “Of course, you can never …
Cummings, Goodrich enter 5th CD while Ruckelshaus ponders
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — The two open-seat congressional races are beginning to take shape. State Rep. Chuck Goodrich declared last Friday, joining Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings in the contest to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz. They could find the field growing, with former state Sen. John Ruckelshaus and former U.S. Senate candidate Mark Hurt …