State Rep. Charlie Brown has a simple goal: ban smoking in enclosed public places in Indiana. But Brown, a Democrat from Gary, knows getting his legislation through the General Assembly won’t be easy. The bill has been characterized as one that pits life or death against dollars and cents. But it’s not nearly so black […]
Obesity and smoking rates are little changed since Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels took office in January 2005.
Bill Wisniewski, a salesman from Munster, has shed 86 pounds in the past year with help from the “Ready, Set, Walk” campaign run by the INShape Indiana program. The 56-year-old said INShape’s e-mail tips helped him set a routine and work through pain as he ramped up to walking 70 minutes a day. As the […]
The Arts Council of Indianapolis is leading talks with city councilors, Deputy Mayor Nick Weber and the chiefs of top cultural
organizations about how to create a bigger pot of revenue for the arts.
If Indianapolis is going to be a first-class city, it needs to have a comprehensive smoke-free workplace law.
Dr. Judith Monroe, Dr. Virginia Caine and G. Marie Swanson are three local women who have risen to leadership positions
in the health care community.
The Indiana General Assembly should pass a bill into law that bans smoking in public places.
Mitch Daniels has plenty of reason to feel good about himself these days.
Last week, he won reelection in a landslide after cutting a wake through a change-averse state, and without
going negative on his opponent, Jill Long Thompson.
Daniels also needs…
Just how big of a deal was the Healthy Indiana Plan? That seems to be the key question dividing Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels and his Democratic challenger, Jill Long Thompson, in their competing plans over health care reform. Daniels’ campaign for re-election points to his administration’s ongoing rollout of the Healthy Indiana Plan as his entire plan for health care reform in his second term. The plan, which uses cigarette tax revenue to offer health insurance and health savings accounts…
A new clinic that is on the cusp of conducting human trials in Indianapolis could distinguish itself as a key player in drug development, not only within the state, but nationally as well. Centurion Clinical Research LLC serves pharmaceutical companies and medical-device makers that need to test their products before they can be approved for widespread use. That first phase, in which healthy people are paid to participate in the overnight studies, is critical in determining the safety and success…
Small businesses in Indiana stung by rising health care costs now can band together to broker better deals from insurance providers. The rule from the Indiana Department of Insurance took effect in late August and is the final piece of a 2007 health care expansion state lawmakers financed with a 44-cent increase in the cigarette tax. The pooling program is open to businesses with two to 50 employees and is meant to give them strength in numbers so, in essence,…
Mitch Daniels ran for governor four years ago promising to shake things up, and it would be hard to argue
that he hasnâ??t followed through.
Daylight saving time passed. Cigarette taxes were raised to fund health insurance. Property taxes were reformed.
What…
Cleaning crews are wiping construction dust from the 63,000 seats in Lucas Oil Stadium, prepping for the public’s first peek at the $720 million venue Aug. 16. But the hard work is only beginning for the city’s Capital Improvement Board, the entity charged with operating the stadium. The fumbling point: CIB is anticipating a $20 million operating deficit for Lucas Oil Stadium in 2009.
“I heard the news,” Sorethroat says. “It’s a shame and a surprise. Funny how you think there’s always time and then there isn’t. I talked with him just a week ago and we discussed plans to have lunch.” “Same here,” I say. Sorethroat, my inside informant at state government, and I are on the steps of the Capitol. We’re reflecting on the life and death of Chuck Coffey, a good man and a good friend. “He worked in this building…
Health advocates beamed with a â??told-you-soâ?? response this week when state officials announced that cigarette
sales dropped dramatically after taxes were raised last July.
Sales fell nearly 18 percent, apparently a direct result of boosting the tax 44 cents to a…
One of the great struggles of the day-Airlines vs. Human Beings-has taken some interesting turns lately, but the score remains the same as it has been for years: The human beings are not winning. Consider these touchdowns, so to speak, just from the last couple of weeks: A piece of a wing detaches itself from a US Airways jet and smacks into several of the plane’s windows before falling to the ground somewhere in Maryland. “May I have your attention,…
For decades, local governments begged the Legislature to pick up their enormous tab for pre-1977 police and firefighter pensions. Thanks to property tax reform, this year they got their wish. Indiana will use a portion of its 1-percentage-point sales tax hike, which is expected to raise close to $1 billion annually, to underwrite the pensions. The state’s additional yearly expense will be $115 million to $125 million. “We believe the portion of the sales tax pledged will be sufficient to…
Many readers would call the Indiana literary legend Kurt Vonnegut’s legacy priceless. Not Mike Pellegrino. His job is to estimate
future sales of Vonnegut’s work so his estate can be fairly divided today. That means Pellegrino will have to determine whether
the author’s popularity is more likely to wax or to wane in the years to come.
Anyone with young kids knows the value of a sticker. Whether a reward for a hissy-fit-free afternoon or a gift from a friendly grocery bagger, a sticker is a deceptively simple object that brings a surprising amount of pleasure. I’ll admit, I didn’t give stickers a whole lot of thought until I wandered into Alias, the unique Fountain Square gallery created by Dave and Holly Combs. The couple has been obsessed with stickers since spotting-and pondering the implications of-an “Andre…
A friend of mine did a project once with Indiana rocker John Mellencamp and said he was one of the biggest jerks he’d ever met. It put a bad taste in my mouth. Not one who was wild about his music to begin with, I liked him even less after that. Well, the Hoosier musical icon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame March 10 after failing to get enough votes when nominated in both 2003 and…
