If we are lucky, by the time you read these words the Indiana General Assembly will have passed a new budget. Democrats use
tarot cards and Republicans chicken innards to determine how much to spend. There are alternatives.
Democratic legislative leaders want Indiana to reconsider the way it divvies up school funding, claiming the formula in the new state budget will devastate public education. Under the budget signed into law Tuesday, schools can lose money if they lose students, while fast-growing suburban schools will receive large funding increases. Republicans say that’s the way […]
President Barack Obama is nominating former Bloomington Mayor John Fernandez for a senior position in the U.S. Department of Commerce. The White House announced yesterday that Fernandez has been picked to become assistant secretary of commerce for economic development and Economic Development Administration administrator. Fernandez was Bloomington’s mayor from 1996 to 2003 and was the […]
Indiana’s privately run welfare project has so many problems that the state could start taking steps to cancel its $1.16 billion contract with IBM as early as this fall, a state official said today. Secretary Anne Murphy of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration said she asked lead vendor IBM Corp. to submit a […]
Health care reform is making for odd bedfellows. The pharmaceutical industry – which for two decades has given twice as much in campaign donations to Republicans as Democrats – organized a panel composed mostly of Democrats on Tuesday in Indianapolis to argue its position on health care reform. Former Democratic House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt […]
A 20-percent budget reduction for the Indiana Arts Commission will affect as many as 400 grant-dependent organizations
across the state. The agency’s overall budget will shrink from $4 million in 2009 to $3.2 million for the
next two fiscal years.
Indiana welfare officials considering canceling the state’s privately run welfare system have no backup plan in place, and critics say it will be hard to undo the privatization of 1,500 state case workers more than two years ago. Anne Murphy, secretary of the Family and Social Services Administration, confirmed recently that the system led by […]
A bankruptcy judge has approved a plan by Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings to buy Frontier Airlines, although other bidders could still come forward. Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc. spokesman Steve Snyder said the judge approved the plan at a hearing today in New York. Republic, a regional carrier that currently flies for other airlines, is offering […]
The Senate health committee cast a milestone vote today to approve legislation expanding insurance coverage to nearly all Americans, becoming the first congressional panel to act on President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority. The 13-10 party line vote advanced a $600 billion measure that would require individuals to get health insurance and employers to contribute […]
The pharmaceutical industry—which for two decades has given twice as much in campaign donations
to Republicans as Democrats—organized a panel composed mostly of Democrats this month in Indianapolis
to argue its position on health care reform.
Ivy Tech Community College’s Lafayette campus is reaching out to a state in Mexico to start a cultural and education program focusing on agriculture. Administrators from Ivy Tech’s Lafayette campus and officials from the state of Hidalgo, Mexico, signed an agreement yesterday that starts the exchange program. The agreement will allow Ivy Tech and a […]
A former member of the Indianapolis City-County Council has been elected to fill a vacancy in the Indiana State Senate. Republican precinct committee members elected Scott Schneider during a caucus last night to replace Teresa Lubbers, who resigned from the Senate to become the state’s higher education commissioner. Schneider’s term representing Senate District 30, which […]
An Indiana committee that oversees government spending will seek detailed explanations next week from public colleges and universities on why they have raised or proposed to raise tuition. Republican state Sen. Luke Kenley of Noblesville, chairman of the State Budget Committee, said today that the panel wants the colleges to justify their tuition increases at […]
A state committee has set tomorrow as the date that officials from Indiana’s public colleges and universities must explain their decisions to raise tuition. The State Budget Committee, which includes four fiscal leaders in the General Assembly and the state budget director, wants the colleges to justify the increases when so many students and families […]
Stant Corp., a 111-year-old manufacturing firm based in Connersville, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, according to Bloomberg News. Stant, the world’s top maker of automotive fuel, oil and radiator caps, was one of Indiana’s 20 largest public companies in the mid-1990s, with annual sales exceeding $600 million, before it was acquired by United […]
Ten years ago this week, the National Collegiate Athletic Association opened the doors to its new headquarters in White River
State Park.
Teresa Lubbers became Indiana commissioner for higher education on July 7 after serving 17 years as a Republican state
senator from Indianapolis. She says every Hoosier needs some college-level training. Lubbers got a running start on her new
job, having served as chairwoman of the senate education committee
for years. She also worked frequently at the commission’s downtown offices during May and June—after her predecessor
had
left but before the Legislature returned for a special session to pass a budget. Her new staff dubbed her SenComm.
Republic Airways Holdings says it has completed its acquisition of privately held Midwest Airlines
for $31 million in cash and debt.
In the eyes of Scott Law, Congress is heading in exactly the wrong direction on health care reform.
But the
CEO of Zotec Partners predicts a big bump in sales for his physician-billing management company if current reform proposals
become law.
Southwest Airlines Co.’s bid for Denver-based Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc. may have hit turbulence, according to the Dallas
Morning News.
