Hoosier lore

A Gary Post-Tribune columnist is suggesting 10 places in that city at which to have a good time on Sunday, New Year's Eve. There will undoubedtly be similar suggestions made in other cities, and you can get lots of tips on where to go in Fort Wayne. Here's my advice: 1. Get food, beverages and whatever other supplies you might need early, say on Thursday. 2) Go home on Friday after work, and get a good night's sleep. 3.) Go out on Saturday and get whatever you forgot on Thursday.

A cynical New Yorker finds a reason to rhapsodize about Indiana:

IF LIFE were fair, Ronell Wil son, the weasel, would wind up on the same juice-jab gurney as Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

"Knowing full well that nobody would ever be executed in New York, I asked where Wilson could be executed and I was told, Terre Haute, Ind.," said Mike Palladino, president of the Detectives Endowment Association.

The worst thing about the state's fireworks law is that it overrode all local ordinances on things like nuisances and noise. Neighboroods let local officials know they werre upset with the disturbance of their peace and quiet, and local officials let the state know. But now that some corrective action might be taken, the author of the law isn't happy:

But Sen. Tom Weatherwax, R-Logansport, said he will work to kill the proposal.

The intended sale of the Verizon (aka Deer Creek) Music Center is a much bigger story than the possible loss of one concert venue. It's part of a much bigger shift in music, which in turn is part of the digital revolution we're all going through. The Indianapolis Star explains:

When costs increase, demand falls. That's the law of demand, on which almost the whole study of economics is based, and until somebody figures a way to repeal it, it explains why the increasing the minimum wage is a disputable idea. Labor is the most expensive component of most businesses. If you force businesses to pay more for labor, they will figure out a way to use less of it, or to increase the prices of their goods and services to make up the difference.

Did anyone else have the same reaction I did to the Olive Garden story, namely, what in the world is a norovirus?

A contagious stomach virus is likely to blame for sickening about 370 people who ate at an Olive Garden restaurant in Indianapolis last week, a county health official said on Monday.

So Evan Bayh is out of the presidential race, barely two weeks after he officially almost got in it, to no one's great surprise. And he's getting a lot of credit for recognizing reality and dealing with it honestly. But before he got out, he offered fellow Democrats a reality check they'd do well to heed:

Gov. Mitch Daniels is a very smart person, but sometimes he's too clever for his own good, which can give him the insufferably arrogant demeanor of your average high school sophomore. The latest case in point is his reaction to critics of his plan to privatize the lottery as part of an effort to keep Indiana's best and brightest in the state:

Give me the money, give me the money, don't care where it comes from, just gimme, gimme, gimme. Honestly, I'm wondering if our universities would even call pitting Christians against lions a bad idea if they got a cut of the gate:

The state's university presidents said Thursday that Gov. Mitch Daniels' plan to privatize the state lottery and use the proceeds for scholarships and top professors could transform the state's higher education system and economy.

Some startling information from Channel 13 in Indianapolis: Holiday spending often results in holiday debt. Tonight at 11: Christmas eating often results in Christmas indigestion. Love those public-service stories.