Articles

THIES: Get ready for state’s finest hour

I am a sucker for a good story. During the NCAA men’s basketball
championship last month, when that ball, or as the CBS color commentator Clark Kellogg called it, the “pumpkin,”
arched into the air from the hands of central Indiana’s now second-most-famous “babyface,” I thought, “This
is it!”

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WEIGAND: Let’s rethink fixes for urban poverty

The message to neighborhoods couldn’t be clearer: It’s absolutely essential to attract and retain middle-class
homeowners with the resources to invest in—and maintain—their own homes, as well as support surrounding businesses.

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SHOBERT: Who’s your in-house entrepreneur?

Times like this are ripe for pioneering activities. Now that your business knows it can operate profitably even in a down
economy—no small thing—the next question is what you need to be doing to grow.

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WIEGAND: Who’s monitoring home construction?

About 18 months ago, I watched as the entire exterior of an expensive condo on the Central Canal—originally
built in 1996—was rebuilt. Among the issues: There was no building paper (Tyvek) under the siding, treated lumber wasn’t
used on the exposed porches, and neither was there any drainage.

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DOUGLAS: Regulate the raters, but not too much

In Washington, the Senate Banking Committee is considering far-reaching legislation regulating the financial services
industry in the wake of the recent and ongoing crisis. This legislation will dramatically change the relationship between
the federal government and some of our financial institutions.

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RYAN: Recession could prompt tax reform

A new study by the National Conference of State Legislatures shows that states have narrowed
a collective budget gap by $145.9 billion in the fiscal year that began July 1, only to be faced with another $28.2 billion
gap for the remainder of the fiscal year. And fiscal 2011 and 2012 are equally bleak.

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