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.
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:
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:
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?
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
I don't mean to make light of the problem of student homelessness, but neither do I appreciate numbers being used in such a way to make it sound worse than it actually is:
Those who get frustated at the lack of cooperation by Fort Wayne and Allen County public officials should count themselves lucky for at least not living in northwest Indiana. Here, a Gary Post-Tribune columnist is driven over the edge by all the initiatives that are brought forth with great fanfare, then sent to task forces to die:
Talk, talk, talk.
