The General Assembly's study committe on gambling has issued its report, and Fort Wayne's chances to get a referendum on a casino here, always slim, have been whittled even further. Among the report's points:
--An expansion of gambling to new cities or counties is not in the best interest of the state or industry.
Has anybody in the history of celebrity ever gone from got it made to total disrepute quite so quickly?
Our federal stimulus dollars at work:
Columbus City Schools have more than 120 buildings designed for teaching.
But in a three-day effort to teach its teachers, the district is renting banquet halls, high-end hotels and conference centers -- using almost $145,000 in federal grant dollars.
Here's an interesting juxtaposition for you.
Trying to make "the shopping experience" appealing to men:
Willa Gillispie, a Jeffersonville woman who recently became a vendor for Silpada Jewelry, was thinking about Black Friday crowds and how many men spend the day avoiding stores.
So, she decided to come up with a shopping day for men. She calls it Black Monday.
“Men usually don't like to shop, so we thought we would put everything in one place and make it easy for them,” Gillispie said.
Local governments in Indiana say they are going to face extraordinary pressures because of property tax caps and an expected drop in income tax revenues, so they're asking legislators to be cautious about putting the caps into the state constitution:
Rep. Terry Goodin, D-Crothersville, said the confluence of pressures should force lawmakers to take some action to help local governments.
A nominee for the best conspiracy theory ever, via hit & run:
In the opinion of Arlington [Tennessee] Mayor Russell Wiseman, President Barack Obama's speech on Tuesday night on the war in Afghanistan was deliberately timed to block the Christian message of the "Peanuts" television Christmas special.
It's a Charlie Brown Christmas we demand,
Say, here's a great idea -- let's have a meeting about how to have more open government, and keep the public out of the meeting:
It's hardly the image of transparency the Obama administration wants to project: A workshop on government openness is closed to the public.
The Journal Gazette does not agree with my opinion that the comonly understood letter grades A, B, C, D and F, having been used for generations to rate school students' performance, would also be a logical way to rate the schools themselves:
Last week I mentioned three personal signs of the winter season: 1. The annual closing of Zesto's. 2. First wearing of the overcoat. 3. First time scraping the windshield. I should have mentioned a fourth -- PEOPLE BEING MORONS!
The early morning snowfall has led to slippery roads throughout the area and a number of accidents during the morning commute.
[. . .]
I remember writing about Indiana's hypnotist licensing requirement as one silly example of overregulation and too much credentialization. Kevin Carey, who worked for the General Assembly when the law was enacted, recalls an embarrassing side effect:
I haven't seen a lot of zombie movies, but I still remember with fond dread the original "Night of the Living Dead" -- an ever-dwindling band of heroic real people withstanding the relentless march of the undead. I swear, it feels more and more like that in the newspaper business these days. Today was an especially bad day.
The state ranks Indiana's public schools with names that a lot of average people might not immediately grasp the significance of: exemplary progress, commendable progress, academic progress, academic watch or academic probation. How much better than commendable is exemplary, or is it even better? What's the difference between watch and probation? What the heck is "academic" progress?
Gruesome details are emerging in the case of the Rising Sun, Ind., 17-year old who is accused of killing his 10-year-old brother. Authorities say Andrew Conley showed no remorse or emotion as he described choking Conner Conley for about 20 minutes, then striking his head on the ground several times before putting the body in the trunk of his car and driving to his girlfriend's house.
Well, finally, everybody line up for your shots. You don't have to be a high-risk patient:
Hope you weren't planning on E.T. landing anywhere around here, because it is Denver that has the welcome mat out:
Reporting from Denver and Las Vegas -
Forget sky-high unemployment and those two wars overseas. Jeff Peckman has more earthly concerns:
For one thing, if extraterrestrials were to descend on Denver, what's the best way to welcome them?
Nice work if you can get it:
As struggling communities throughout the country wait for more help from the $787 billion stimulus package, one region is already basking in its largess: the government-contractor nexus that is metropolitan Washington
Is this incredibly tacky, or am I just being overly critical?
You are invited to a birthday party. Each year, Hobart businessman Nino Bruscemi gives a birthday party for Jesus on the first Saturday in December.
At noon Saturday at the gazebo in back of Hobart City Hall, there will be a parade with about 100 children in angel costumes, a live manger scene and guest singers. Santa Claus will pass out birthday cake.
Well, guys, we might as well stop pretending; they're onto us:
Scientists studying the effects of pornography fell at the first hurdle - after failing to find a man who had not viewed X-rated material.
The researchers were comparing the views of men in their 20s who had never been exposed to pornography to regular users.
Lots of outlets have carried the news that Indiana University basketball coach Tom Crean was "incensed" over IU fans chanting vulgarities during the game with Maryland, especially the ones aimed at Maryland senior guard Greivis Vasquez. But they were so coy about what was actually said that I couldn't determine whether I should agree with him or not. This report is typically unhelpful:
