Rusthoven: Puncturing education shibboleths
There’s no correlation between more spending per se and improved performance.
Opinion
Articles
MAURER: Interesting Hoosiers you’ve never heard of
An accomplished aviatrix and a trainer of famous dogs fly mostly under the radar.
Transportation takes many forms
Perhaps the Indiana Department of Transportation should be renamed the Indiana Department of Highways and Bridges.
LOU’S VIEWS: Legislating libation at Indiana State Museum
The exhibit features artifacts, including a still, and a mini-church where an actor playing Indiana’s own Billy Sunday, who railed against “Hell’s best friend,” preaches a sermon.
Questions for Ballard
Mayor Ballard should veto or delay implementation of the proposed 0.05 percent tax to hire 150 police officers until more supporting details are offered: 1. What would these officers do each day? Would they travel our streets in cars, walk new beats or engage in “community policing”? If the latter, would they speak at events, […]
LOPRESTI: A Saturday with Don Fischer, dean of Big Ten broadcasters
Yes, there have been great moments for voice of hard-luck Hoosier football team.
Make contractor rebuild house
It is sad to see another piece of Indy history is now a pile of rubble [Sept. 15]. I lived in the Fall Creek area growing up. The homes were made better than anything you can purchase today. The owner should not have bought the property if he did not want to abide by the […]
Interview Issue a hit with faithful reader
I’ve been starting my week with the IBJ for 20 years. I just finished reading the [Sept. 29] issue cover to cover. This is the best one ever. Great idea for an issue—fascinating people and stories. I’ll look forward to the 2015 issue! __________ Ruth Lochary, Fishers
RACE: Lessons from development of the Canal District
Inappropriate, suburban-style projects should be a thing of the past in downtown Indianapolis.
Life lessons from Indianapolis leaders
There is power in learning from as many people as you can. IBJ gathered 29 Hoosiers, different in every sense of the word, for its first Interview Issue last week. Collectively, these interviews teach and reinforce many valuable life lessons. Help others. Meet as many people as you can without trying to extract value from […]
Make voting more convenient
Turnout in the recent vote in Scotland over whether to secede from the United Kingdom was reported to be 85 percent. Turnout in the most recent primary election in Ferguson, Mo., was 12 percent. These are undoubtedly the “poles”—the extremes. Yet … Americans seem evenly divided between those working to increase voter turnout—the League of […]
MORRIS: In Nashville, branding is king
We can learn a thing or two from Music City, just as its leaders learned from us.
Opt for the greatest impact
Nearly two years have passed since Eli Lilly and Co. CEO John Lechleiter called for creating a “world-class” life sciences research institute in Indianapolis, and now the fledgling Indiana Biosciences Research Institute is on the verge of naming its first leader. That choice of a chief executive, expected before Thanksgiving, will telegraph a critical signal […]
Skarbeck: Hedge fund track records fail to live up to the hype
California Public Employees’ Retirement System is dumping its entire hedge fund program. The reason, according to Ted Eliopoulos, the chief investment officer, is “their complexity, cost and lack of ability to scale to CalPERS size.“
Hicks: Rein in tax increment financing districts
Because TIF districts never go away, redevelopment commissions will have many opportunities over the coming centuries to think of multiple uses for their money. To no surprise, this raises many legitimate policy questions.
Skarbeck: A new type of index fund is gaining investor interest
Recently, financial academics, like Rob Arnott of Research Affiliates, have published white papers supporting a different type of index investing. They call their creation “smart beta.
Hicks: Traditional economic development doesn’t work
The cost of luring a firm to town has skyrocketed, while the benefits have plummeted. The United States has created more than 90 million net new jobs over the past 45 years, but fewer “attractable” jobs are available today than in 1969.
DINING: Washington Street staple rises again under new name
Javier’s Hacienda takes over the spot formerly occupied by El Sol. And, yes, the donkey is still there.
LOU’S VIEWS: Actors Theatre creates a loverly ‘My Fair Lady’
A good production needs to treat these familiar characters as people instead of icons and the songs as spontaneous bursts of emotional truth, not as a greatest-hits package.
Council should pass Ballard preschool plan
Those of us interested in reforming public education should urge support from the Democrats on the City-County Council for Mayor Ballard’s preschool funding plan that was delayed recently.