There is a certain amount of irony in the fact that the person Indiana Democrats have hated the most in the last 12 years might be their only salvation to recapture the office he took from them back in 2004.
In a recent poll by Rasmussen, nearly one in four voters said they would stay home or vote a third party if Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were the nominees of their respective parties.
Gentrification is controversial, but guess what? It works.
It’s offensive—and, in fact, quite racist—to think a black person or minority has “black” or “minority” opinions simply because of the color of his or her skin.
Indiana needs a long-term fix for its roads and bridges. For too long, Indiana’s road-funding solution has been to pour more short-term money into projects while never addressing the state’s long-term needs.
With Joe Hogsett as mayor and the Democrats with control of the council by a 13-12 margin, they now have the power to put their vision into play. They also get the responsibility if things go south.
For all the consternation about alleged Republican GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump, I really don’t worry about him all that much.
Hey, guys. How’s it been going? I am writing this column to offer you all some friendly advice.
The problem with most sequels is that, with a few exceptions, they are never as good as the original—Superman II and Star Trek II notwithstanding of course.
Anti-smoking advocates like to push the image of servers forced to work in a smoke-filled bar because they have no choice. Sorry my friends, in real life the facts tend to lead otherwise.
Just like Willie Sutton, who liked to rob banks because that’s where the money was, I’m going to get myself a job in township government because, "There is gold in them thar hills."
I recently had a post-election conversation with a good friend who is a staunch supporter of Mayor Bart Peterson. We were talking about the two-term incumbent’s loss to the little-known challenger, Greg Ballard. My friend told me, “Abdul, I never thought Bart Peterson would lose.” My response: “Neither did he and that’s why he did.” I am amazed at how many people were shocked at what happened less than a month ago, because, if you paid attention, you saw it…
I have no idea who will get the job of mayor of Indianapolis come Nov. 7. But whoever it is can make a real difference in this town by tackling its most pressing issue: public schools. Good schools are the lifeblood of any community. They increase property values, lower crime and make your municipality more attractive to companies looking to relocate. Marion County schools haven’t had the best track records. Whether it’s Indianapolis Public Schools and its academic performance, Washington…
Of all the topics I could have chosen to write about this week, the one I kept coming back to was the whole issue of “living wage.” You guys are a pretty sharp audience by the fact you read this publication, so maybe one of you can help me figure out the living wage crowd. I just don’t get them. If you saw last week’s IBJ, you probably read Michael Dabney’s story on the ongoing efforts by the Service Employees…
As someone who writes and pontificates about the events of the day, summer is usually my slow season. I have to work hard to find things to write and talk about for public consumption. However, this summer has been a whole different matter. We have all been taken aback by the tax protests and subsequent government actions to mitigate the damage. But that wasn’t the big story that caught my attention. The story that stuck in my craw was the…
Many of you who read this column know I do a number of things to make a living. I host the morning radio show at WXNT-AM 1430, practice law, write this column, teach at the University of Indianapolis and Ivy Tech Community College, act, perform stand- and most recently started doing commentary at WRTV Channel 6. I make a pretty good living and, with the exception of my son, who inherited his adopted father’s bad spending habits, I don’t do…
A lot of people across Marion County are going to be upset this month as their property tax bills start landing on their doorsteps. Taxes are expected to increase an average of 24 percent. Although that means there will be some people with tax increases much less, there will be a lot more with increases way above that number. I’ve already heard stories of 30-percent increases in tax bills, 50-percent increases, and one poor soul told me he got a…
I had originally planned to write this month’s column about the “Titanic-Hindenbergesque” disaster that was last month’s primary election in Marion County. I had the best lines all set about the incompetence of the County Clerk’s office, the disenfranchisement of more than 3,000 voters, or the hypocrisy of the Amercian Civil Liberties Union, the Indiana Legislative Black Caucus and other groups that oppose Voter ID and don’t speak out about the voters who were not able to cast their ballots….
A couple of years ago, during the daylight-saving time debate, a caller into my radio show suggested Indiana be divided into two time zones, one Eastern, one Central, with U.S. 31 as the dividing line. The caller suggested that, this way, people who wanted to be in the Eastern time zone could live in the eastern half of the state and those who wanted to be on Central time could live in the western half. I told the caller he…
I have always been a big believer in education. It’s something I got from my parents. They told me that, since I wasn’t born into money and had no athletic ability, I better get a good education if I wanted to improve my chances of being successful in life. I’ve been very fortunate that the teachers I’ve had over the years, from my public grade and high schools in Chicago to graduate school to law school, have been awesome. In…
