Local Opinion

Bloomberg Opinion

You realize that it’s not a proper Christmas season unless the realist killjoys among us start whining about “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

In 1897, an 8-year-old girl from Manhattan, Virginia O’Hanlon, wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Sun. The reply, written by Francis P. Church, the editor of the newspaper, was titled, “Is there is a Santa Claus?” The editorial took on a life of its own over time and is reportedly one of the most widely reprinted editorials in history. It also has been memorialized in books, movies and songs.

This year is the 100th anniversary of the term “stereotype” in its modern sense. The term was coined in the late-19th century to describe printing plates and the setting of “type” to produce printed materials. Back in the day, paper and ink were pressed against a plate to produce sheets for newspaper, books, fliers, etc.

Most people probably think of the ideological spectrum as a straight line, running left to right or right to left depending on one’s perspective. This places the extremes at the edges, furthest from each other. The middle holds the moderates, those who are considered the most reasonable and open-minded, if one identifies with them, or as the just plain mushy and unprincipled when one views them from either extreme.

To understand Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch’s governing philosophy, one only needs to look south of the Ford Center to the beautiful Stone Family Center for Health Sciences that houses the Indiana University School of Medicine’s southernmost regional campus in Evansville.

Now that the election is over and we have divided government nationwide and Republicans control state government in Indiana, I’ve been thinking about a couple of changes to Indiana’s voting system. Eliminate straight-ticket voting and implement ranked-choice voting. Both would be a significant improvement over what we have now.

Indianapolis Business Journal

There are so many things wrong with John Krull’s recent column, (“Chamber misses the moment,” Dec. 17) that it’s difficult to know where to begin. Let’s start with his premise that our recent Indiana Chamber report, “Indiana’s Leaking Talent Pipeline,” laid the blame for lackluster education outcomes on local educators and K-12 schools. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is not about pointing fingers. We merely cited the facts; numbers are what they are. But even Krull acknowledges there is “significant room for improvement” in our schools.

Covering four years of Columbus native Mike Pence when he was governor was often an act of futility.