Our town

Further evidence that many Republicans are still hoping for a Superhero Candidate to swoop in to save the day and don't think Rick Perry is the one: For our weekly poll question (results in tonight's paper), we asked readers for their GOP candidate preferences, listing the three front-runners (Perry, Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann) and "Someone else" as the fourth choice.

Mike Dooley, a reporter who covered Fort Wayne for 25 years before his retirement in 2006 and worked for both The Journal Gazette and The News-Sentinel, has died at 65:

Reporter Kevin Leininger worked with Dooley at The News-Sentinel and competed against him during Dooley's time at the Journal Gazette.

Andy Downs of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at IPFW has an opinion piece in the Indianapolis Star exploring the obvious but dismaying (to many) fact that "Public policies are the result of compromise."

Looks like The News-Sentinel and the Indianapolis Star differ slightly on the case of the Rushville teen who barely escaped prison time for what was intended as a harmless prank. Here's our editorial, which is in line with my earlier blog post stressing the consequences of his prank:

Huh. I wouldn't have thought a business like this could make it in staid old Fort Wayne, but the owner says he's getting a lot of repeat business:

Fort Wayne Dust Bunnies offers light housekeeping to its clients, but the cleaning is done in the nude.

[. . .]

The maids are only permitted to do light housekeeping duties: washing dishes, vacuuming, and dusting.

I'm afraid I agree with this criticism:

Republican mayoral candidate Paula Hughes is trying to mislead voters by resurrecting concerns that Mayor Tom Henry wants to bring a casino to the city, according to Henry campaign officials.

The Henry “administration put forth a proposal for a casino to be located downtown,” Hughes told reporters Thursday, speaking of ideas on how to spend $75 million from the lease and sale of the old City Light utility to Indiana Michigan Power Co.

Councilwoman Liz Brown has wisely withdrawn her proposal to bar the city from hiring a business or consultant that had contributed to the political campaigns of any city officeholder or candidate. It raised First Amendment issues, and the state attorney general said it would infringe on state prerogatives. Now she says she supports a suggestion from former councilman and current candidate John Crawford.

Fort Wayne has gone the right way on taxicab control,  deregulating to the point where one-cab companies can operate. South Bend has gone the other way:

South is considering an ordinance with additional requirements for taxi cabs, but some drivers are concerned it will eliminate independent operators.

The News-Sentinel and Journal Gazette editorial pages might disagree on the worth of right-to-work laws (go ahead and guess which paper holds which position), but I think we'd agree with at least one part of the JG's editorial:

The committee did not hear testimony from the public at its meeting last week, but is expected to do so later. Hoosiers need to consider the repercussions of a right to work law and let lawmakers know what they think. The 2012 session will be too late.

Sound familiar?

Maintaining Evansville's Roberts Stadium on standby until officials decide what to do with it could cost the city as much as $300,000 a year.

[. . .]

A new $127 million downtown arena is scheduled to open in November, which will take sporting events and concerts from the 55-year-old Roberts Stadium.