Indiana unemployment rate holds steady at 3.2%
The state saw job losses last month in the manufacturing sector, but the overall unemployment rate is still lower than in Indiana’s four neighboring states and across the U.S. as a whole.
Government & Economic Development
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Lawsuit filed by Ambrose alleges city tried to take stamping plant land for Infosys campus
The company said in its 28-page complaint that Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration had threatened to take the site through eminent domain in 2017—two years before it’s latest threat to use the legal maneuver to buy the land. That led Ambrose to add a clause to its project agreement with the city meant to prohibit the Hogsett administration from pursuing eminent domain in the future.
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Program to spur growth is not limited to poor communities
The area that includes the Fletcher Place neighborhood and the southeast corner of downtown is one of the hottest parts of Indianapolis, yet it’s included in a federal program designed to spur investments in poor neighborhoods.
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Tech exec sees ‘newbie’ status as political asset
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Owens, the 34-year-old CEO of tech firm SupplyKick, has never held elected office. But he doesn’t consider that a bad thing.
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Experts say CIB is thin on liability coverage for event venues
The board carries $56 million in liability insurance for its facilities, including a $1 million general liability policy and a $55 million umbrella policy.
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Articles
FBI arrests Muncie mayor amid city corruption investigation
Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler was arrested at his home Monday morning and was in custody. Tyler is a Democrat who’s been mayor for eight years after serving in the Indiana House.
State CIO Dewand Neely will tackle new challenge with Eleven Fifty Academy
After 15 years working in the information technology department for the state of Indiana—the last four as chief information officer, Dewand Neely is departing to take a job as chief operating officer for Eleven Fifty Academy, the not-for-profit coding academy with facilities in downtown Indianapolis and Fishers.
Embattled Attorney General Curtis Hill says he will seek re-election
Hill’s decision comes as he awaits the outcome of an Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission hearing over allegations he drunkenly groped a state lawmaker and three legislative staffers at a party in March 2018.
Hogsett to aim for bipartisanship even after Democrats’ big wins
Elected to a second term on Tuesday, Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett said he’ll continue to look for common ground between parties on the City-County Council, although Democrats will outnumber Republicans about 4-to-1.
Longtime Democratic Rep. Pete Visclosky retiring from Congress
The 70-year-old Visclosky issued a statement Wednesday thanking his district’s residents for “the incredible life privilege” of serving in Congress since first winning election in 1984.
Democrats expand majority on City-County Council
Democrats picked up at least five seats—and possibly six, depending on the outcome of a race with a razor-thin margin. Republican leader Mike McQuillen was among the GOP casualties.
Source: White House finds Pelosi drug plan ‘unworkable’
President Trump is instead backing a bipartisan bill that would for the first time limit what seniors have to pay out of their own pockets for medications.
Indiana GOP aiming to take some mayoral offices from Democrats
The outcome of Tuesday’s local elections will also decide whether a new casino can be built in Terre Haute and the fate of several school district construction and security improvement proposals.
Hogsett & Merritt talk neighborhoods, poverty, crime and more
IBJ talked with incumbent Democrat Joe Hogsett and his Republican challenger, Jim Merritt, about why they’re running for mayor, what they’ve learned about themselves in the process and how they’ll tackle crime, neighborhood development, crime and more.
Hogsett wants to build on administration’s ‘inclusive growth’ efforts in second term
Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett says if he’s elected to serve a second term, he hopes “that prosperity can be shared by more people in Marion County than has been the case in the past.”
Merritt says collaboration will be key to solving the city’s biggest problems
Republican state Sen. Jim Merritt says his campaign for mayor has taken him to places and introduced him to people in the city he never knew before—an experience he wants to continue if he’s elected.
Talking with people, he said, is key to finding solutions to difficult problems.
Hogsett receives fundraising boost from Christel DeHaan, Jim Irsay
The Democratic mayor nearly raised six figures in a seven-day period that ended Wednesday. Hogsett’s opponent, Republican state Sen. Jim Merritt, logged nearly $20,000 in the same time frame.
IEDC president to lead state’s new tourism agency
State lawmakers passed legislation during the 2019 session that allowed the Indiana Office of Tourism Development, which is under Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and funded by the state budget, to become a quasi-governmental corporation as of July 1, 2020.
House approves rules for Trump impeachment process
Thursday’s near party-line 232-196 roll call was the chamber’s first formal vote on a process that’s likely to take months, possibly stretching into the early weeks of the 2020 election year.
Merritt says city shouldn’t have threatened eminent domain for GM stamping plant site
Republican state Sen. Jim Merritt, Democratic incumbent Joe Hogsett and Libertarian Douglas McNaughton specifically addressed the eminent domain issue at Monday night’s Indianapolis mayoral debate.
Indiana to consider creating government corruption hotline
Indiana residents soon could have a hotline for reporting improper or illegal spending and other suspected corruption by local government officials, if lawmakers approve a proposal being drafted by a legislative committee.
Mayoral candidates square off on issues facing black community
The two major political party candidates for mayor of Indianapolis took the stage Monday night in a what black leaders called a historic discussion on issues facing their community.
Cities seek state authority to join forces on taxes, projects
Central Indiana elected officials want to create a formal organization that could combine regional resources to pursue transformational projects.
Hamilton County Jail program aims to connect inmates with jobs, mentors
With a low unemployment rate in Hamilton County—2.5% last month—some employers see the inmates as an untapped workforce and are more than willing to give them a chance, helping inmates overcome one of the biggest hurdles they immediately face upon release