Politics and other nightmares

While Fort Wayne struggles to get its downtown going, Indianapolis has done so well that downtown might be entering the "victim of its own success" stage. Nordstrom, the only anchor tenant originally committed to taking a spot in the new Circle Centre Mall, is leaving downtown, which is causing some to worry about the future of the other anchor tenant, Carson Pirie Scott, and the whole future of the mall. But the upscale company's departure doesn't mean downtown has stopped thriving.

Today's government tap dance comes from City Hall.

Indiana's NewsCenter voiceover:

Wednesday night, important road closure and flooding information was not relayed to the public, leaving some to question the Mayor's office.

This, after tax dollars were used to pay a consultant more than $70,000 just months ago to help with their social media efforts.

Cut to video of Mayor Tom Henry:

Is Texas Gov. Rick Perry going to be the new Mitch Daniels, taunting us mercilessly with a "maybe I will, maybe I won't" tease on a possible presidential run?

The Perry camp is still telegraphing the notion that the default position is not to run, but it's safe to say they have cracked the door open, at least a little bit, over the last week. Specific wording matters — a lot — in these speculative political matters

Only the federal government would spend millions to save thousands. A pilot program in five Americann cities will provide some federal government workers with plug-in cars. In San Diego, there will be 116 of the electric vehicles:

The purchases announced Tuesday are expected to cut gas usage by almost 29,000 gallons a year, saving taxpayer an estimated $116,000 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 257 metric tons, said GSA administrator Martha Johnson.

For all their tough talk about cracking down on illegal immigration, Indiana legislators actually passed only two pretty weak measures, one denying in-state tuition at state-supported universities and the other revoking some tax credits for businesses that hire illegal immigrants. That doesn't mean the critics have been silenced or mollified:

The ACLU of Indiana is filing a lawsuit on behalf of foreign-born people Wednesday over immigration laws Gov. Mitch Daniels recently signed.

We don't have to turn our pork chops into rubber anymore:

Finally, the government agrees that pig should be pink. On the inside, at least.

New guidelines released Tuesday by the USDA

The officious little rule-mongers are always coming up with something new:

Two Warsaw tattoo parlors were granted special exceptions for their business locations Monday night by Warsaw Board of Zoning Appeals.

The Muncie Star Press states the problem:

Daniels is not the first to forego a run for higher public office because of family concerns, and he won't be the last.

But it's an indictment on the presidential selection process when good candidates refuse to run because of concerns over the attention given their family. It's akin to the lack of civility that plagues this nation, and that former Rep. Lee Hamilton spoke about last week in Muncie.

Not on their best day in their wildest dreams:

President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron kick off two days of diplomacy this morning by pledging to work against repressive regimes in the Middle East -- by force if necessary.

Whenever I visit my brother in Hill Country, I catch up on Texas politics. One thing that's always amazed me is that its legislature meets only every two years. Only three other states -- Montana, North Dakota and Nevada -- still have biennial legislative sessions. States began opting for the biennial system in the 19th century when travel as more difficult, and as recently as 1940, only four states had legislatures that met every year.