Local Opinion

Creating alliances and exercising diplomacy are key elements of foreign policy, and both are essential for America to play a constructive role in making the world more peaceful and prosperous. Recent developments remind us that these policy tools can be highly successful and deserve our support.

As we wrap up the 2023 legislative session, I want to take an opportunity to give credit to legislators for a few of the best bills passed this year. They may not have gotten the headlines but they deserve the praise.

The Indiana General Assembly concluded its session last week by agreeing to spend more on K-12 education in the next two years. However, the budget fails the overwhelming majority of Hoosier students and parents.

Let’s say a man bent on murder is on your front step asking if his intended victim is next door. You know the poor soul is home, and you believe lying is always and absolutely wrong. In other words, you think that the end never justifies the means.

We’re coming up on two years since Columbus city officials and officers of Columbus Region Health began using the name NexusPark for their bold designs to transform the ailing FairOaks Mall into a new kind of community gathering place. But the collaboration dates back much earlier, to 2018, when the partners began planning a recreational and healthcare campus.

I want you to be the first to know I intend to run for some high political office in the near future.

Economists have been seriously studying migration for a couple centuries; for me it’s been a couple of decades. Over that time, we’ve learned a few useful things that should help elected leaders think about why places grow or shrink.

Hutchfest sounded like a great idea to a whole lot of folks who rocked The Commons on the evening of Friday, April 21. They gathered for an inaugural event that could become a fundraising staple in support of plans to revive the historic Crump Theater just down Third Street in downtown Columbus.

Today’s entry for the “juxtaposition is everything” file:

• Indiana lawmakers working on the new state budget have learned that they will have $1.5 billion more to spend than previous revenue forecasts predicted. The state ended fiscal year 2022 with about a $6.1 billion surplus, the so-called “rainy day” fund.
• Both the Indiana House and Senate have passed mental health legislation that would cost about $225 million over two years, down from Gov. Holcomb’s request for a $347 million program. There is talk of funding the plan through an increase in the cigarette tax or addition of a fee to cell phone bills.

From: Rick Herman