MAURER: Looking back at events in 2010
Each January, I reflect on a few of the prior year’s columns. I’m always curious about the topics and people I have written about over the course of the year. I hope you are, too.
Opinion
Articles
FEIGENBAUM: Here’s what to expect from State of the State Address
State of the State Address can help outline priorities for a given session, and governors have used them to dramatically draw a line in the proverbial sand, directly delivering a message to the individual members and leaders of the legislative branch—and over their heads to the voters—as to what they expect, will tolerate, and hope for.
PDIF has served its purpose
The Public Deposit Insurance Fund, Indiana’s state-based backup to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., has served its purpose for more than 70 years, and efforts by some Indiana lawmakers to raid this fund are misguided (“Daniels, bankers may spar,” Dec. 27).
Leave fund alone
In reading the editorial, “Let’s consider tapping bank fund,” in the Jan. 3 issue, several corrections are appropriate.
WILLIAMS: Indiana must overcome wage gap
Unfortunately, despite the governor’s pledge, the dollars spent by public-private entities and the recession, Indiana’s per-capita income has not risen.
MARCUS: Our economic development is endangered
Thus far, the saddest bill proposed in the General Assembly allows Hoosier local governments to seek bankruptcy and management by a state-appointed agent. This bill is a back-door confession that the state’s 30-year war on local governments has succeeded.
HETRICK: Why this public-school baby fears school reform
I am a product of the public school system in Fort Wayne. Not charter schools. Not parochial schools. Not private schools. Not home schooling.
BENNER: Plenty of reasons to love (and loathe) college football
I love it because it I allow it to suck me in like a farm kind seeing the big-city lights for the first time. I loathe it because it is becoming too much like the NFL.
COLLINS: The crying gap between the sexes, parties
I’m sure we’ll get used to having a speaker of the House who weeps a lot. That would be John Boehner, the new guy.
DOUTHAT: Political reality forces return to normalcy
Over the past three years, American politics has been dominated by a liberal fantasy and a conservative freakout.
FRIEDMAN: Americans need to reshape a really big plan
Given where we are, the tax-cut deal with the Republicans was the best President Barack Obama could do since raising taxes in a recession would not have been a good idea and the Republicans had the votes to prevent it.
DOWD: Are we ready for a gay commander in chief?
Former President Jimmy Carter is putting the out in outspokenness.
ROBERTS: ‘Perfect storm’ casts pall over Super Bowl
As a one-time NFL lawyer who has closely followed sports labor relations for 35 years, I am often asked about the chances of Indianapolis’ losing the 2012 Super Bowl.
VAUGHN: Ethics reform is riddled with loopholes
When the Indiana General Assembly reconvened earlier this month, legislators were greeted by a huge cadre of lobbyists all wanting the same thing: their attention and support for whatever issue the lobbyist is pushing.
EARLY: Either sing ‘Kumbaya’ or ‘suck it up, cupcakes’
The real gift in the 2010 election is that the Republican landslide was nationwide and resulted in Republican majorities in legislatures all over the country. Why was this so important? It’s map-drawing time.
SHELLA: Indiana Democrats can blame Obama
Democrats couldn’t get away from Barack Obama during the 2010 election cycle. The national mood fueled by frustration over high unemployment and the continued recession, along with opposition to health care reform, carried their opponents into office.
WINSTON: Focus on kitchen and boardroom tables
Many voters I talked with wanted to send a wakeup call to politicians of both parties that they should heed the words of Jim Carville to then-candidate Bill Clinton in 1992: “It’s the economy, stupid.”
HEIN: Hoosier mayors drive U.S., China ties
Wayne Seybold is well-known as an Olympic ice skater. He is also earning a reputation as an innovative two-term mayor of his hometown of Marion. But few Hoosiers are aware of his role as global trade warrior.
MEREDITH: Students achieve more under collective bargaining
Recent reform measures—aimed at blaming teachers’ unions for all that ails public schools—claim that negotiated agreements are a large part of student achievement problems. Yet research shows that Indiana students fare better in school corporations where teachers have the right to collectively bargain.
HARRIS: Teacher contracts are written for adults, not students
Too often, teacher contracts have put the interests of adults above the interests of students. Adults have all the power.