Editorials

We endorse changes to Senate Bill 361 made this week in the House that give local officials a greater voice in how money is generated in proposed innovation districts is used.

The esports events that have landed in Indianapolis aren’t equal in scale to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four or a Super Bowl. But many of them can be equivalent to the hundreds of smaller events hosted in central Indiana throughout the year.

After months of ever-changing explanations from IU as to how its under-the-radar approval of a contract extension could have complied with the law, Indiana’s public access counselor appropriately and firmly concluded that it didn’t.

While the design groups chosen by Circle Centre Development are preparing their ideas, we want you to give us yours. Go to ibj.com/circle-centre-ideas to share your thoughts.

Incentives are particularly important as Indiana focuses more on attracting higher-paying jobs from industries with strong growth opportunities: electric vehicles and batteries, green energy and computer chips.

Most landlord/tenant relationships are not nearly so difficult. But when they are, communities—and renters—need recourse. Lawmakers must figure out how to provide it.

Our hope now is that Senate leader Rodric Bray will bring the same moderating influence to a similar bill pending in the Indiana House, should it move forward.

So, here’s our request to the College Football Playoff folks: Bring the game back here.

Our hope is that state leaders will take the time to be strategic in determining what can be accomplished to provide the biggest boost to the state while preserving adequate reserves.

Raising up minority-owned businesses is America’s greatest hope in closing the nation’s economic racial divide and building more wealth in minority communities.

We are excited to see what the IEDC chooses to fund in what we hope will be just the first round of READI grants—and we can’t wait to see what communities do with the money.

We know both Huston and Bray to be reasonable leaders, and we appreciate that they wisely dropped the expedited process. Now we hope they will bring that same wisdom to House Bill 1001, which was filed this week and formally proposes most of the vaccine-mandate limits discussed during the public hearing.

We urge thoughtful consideration of an Indiana legislative proposal to restrict how companies, schools and universities can impose vaccine and testing requirements.

The money, distributed over the next five years, will gin up Indiana’s construction economy, help the state preserve its standing as a transportation and logistics hub, and give more rural communities greater access to broadband commerce and remote job opportunities.

We believe vaccinations are our community’s best defense against an overwhelmed health care system—and a wrecked economy.
But we don’t favor government mandates.

Through an extended battle with Indianapolis police for public records, The Star reported last week that it obtained a police report that shows the shooter was accused of punching his mother in the face and stabbing her with a table knife in 2013. He was 11 years old.

There’s work to do for downtown to be in tiptop shape for the college football championship—alleys to clean, construction to finish, improvements to make in sidewalks and other infrastructure.

Hoosiers with disabilities account for 12% of the civilian noninstitutionalized population in our region, and many live with aging parents who might soon be unable to care or provide for them, putting them at risk of homelessness or institutionalization.