Home Blog Page 5

California woman returns home after the Trump administration deported her to Mexico

By
The Associated Press
-

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California woman who had been living in the U.S. for 27 years before the Trump administration deported her to Mexico in February reunited with her daughter this week after a judge ordered her return.

Mexican citizen Maria de Jesús Estrada Juárez was among the hundreds of thousands of people shielded from deportation under an Obama-era program allowing people brought to the U.S. as children to stay in the country if they generally stay out of trouble.

But that changed Feb. 18 when she showed up for an immigration hearing and was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and deported the next day.

“I didn’t get to say goodbye,” the 42-year-old mother said at a news conference Tuesday in Sacramento. “It all happened so fast. This has been one of the most painful experiences of my life.”

Estrada Juárez held hands with her daughter and began to choke up as she recounted those experiences.

“It’s hard to describe what it feels like to lose your mother so suddenly, especially when you believed she was safe,” said Damaris Bello, Estrada Juárez’s 22-year-old daughter. “It was like grieving someone who was still alive.”

The federal government has arrested several other recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA, during President Donald Trump’s second term. The events come amid the Trump administration’s reshaping of immigration policy more broadly.

Immigration advocates say Estrada Juárez’s removal highlights the need to offer more permanent protections for DACA recipients, often referred to as “Dreamers.”

The case is a rare example of a judge ordering a person’s return to the United States after being deported, said Talia Inlender, deputy director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law.

“But, perhaps unsurprisingly, it feels like this is happening with more frequency under the current administration which is prioritizing speed and quotas, rather than fairness and process, in facilitating removals,” Inlender said in a statement.

The federal administration said Estrada Juárez was deported because of a 1998 removal order when Estrada Juárez was a teenager, shortly after she arrived in the U.S. She was sent to Mexico at the time but returned to the U.S. weeks later and has had DACA status since 2013. Federal officials reinstated the 1998 order in February after arresting her.

Estrada Juárez spent the next few weeks after being deported with relatives, stressed about being separated from her daughter.

“You can’t enjoy life when the most important part of your life is not there,” she said.

U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins, who was appointed by then-President Joe Biden, issued a temporary restraining order on March 23, giving the federal government seven days to facilitate Estrada Juárez’s return to the U.S. Her deportation was a “flagrant violation” of her DACA protections and infringed upon her due process rights, Coggins wrote.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has defended the deportation.

“ICE follows all court orders,” a department spokesperson said in a statement. “This is yet another ruling from a Biden-appointed activist judge.”

But Estrada Juárez wasn’t aware of the 1998 order, which her lawyer argues wasn’t final.

“DACA gives you a vested right to not be deported once it’s granted,” said Stacy Tolchin, an immigration attorney based in Pasadena, California. “I really don’t understand what they’re doing.”

Bello, who was reunited with her mother Monday night, said she is recovering from the events and hopes other families don’t have to endure the same thing.

“Having her back home means everything to me,” she said. “It means we can begin to heal, to rebuild and to move forward together as a family.”

A messy California governor’s race raises Democratic fears of potential loss

By
The Associated Press
-

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Democrats have run California for years, but in a nationally critical election the party is being confronted by the limits of its own power: the race for governor is out of control.

Barely a month before the start of mail-in voting, Democratic leaders are openly dreading the possible loss of a statewide election for the first time in two decades. As candidates jockey in a crowded field, the contest has degenerated into finger-pointing over debate eligibility, identity politics and 2025 ballot counting, issues distant from voters struggling with the soaring cost of gas and groceries.

“Squabbles about debates or other inside baseball politics are likely under the radar for most voters and seem almost absurd, given what’s facing us,” Kim Nalder, director of the Project for an Informed Electorate at California State University, Sacramento, said in an email.

Candidates agree that a large number of voters remain undecided on the question of who should take charge of the nation’s most populous state that, by itself, represents the world’s fourth-largest economy. There are more than 50 candidates on the ballot — including eight established Democrats and two leading Republicans.

Dominant Democrats contend with uncertainty

For the first time in a generation the governor’s contest is being defined by uncertainty, not inevitability — former Gov. Jerry Brown and outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom coasted through their elections. How do Democrats reassert their political clout and regain control of the race in a state where the party holds every statewide office, dominates the legislature and outnumbers registered Republicans by nearly 2-to-1?

“I have no idea and anybody who tells you they do, they don’t know either,” said veteran Democratic consultant Dan Newman, who is not involved in the race.

For Democrats, the party’s dicey chances in the June 2 primary stem from the state’s unpredictable “top two” primary system that puts all candidates on one ballot, with only the top two vote-getters advancing to November, regardless of party. The fear is the party’s 24 listed candidates will undercut each other and divide the Democratic vote into small fractions, clearing the way for the two leading Republicans — Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and conservative commentator Steve Hilton, both supporters of President Donald Trump — to advance.

While affordability is a top issue around the country, the race for governor has detoured into messy personal attacks and squabbles that have given the campaign a chaotic aura. A major televised debate was canceled after an uproar over the selection criteria that resulted in six white candidates qualifying for the stage while Black, Latino and Asian candidates were snubbed.

The University of Southern California, where the debate was to be held, said the dispute “created a significant distraction from the issues that matter to voters.” The school’s decision to cancel the event followed accusations of discrimination by candidates of color who were not invited.

The scratched debate came shortly after state Democratic Chair Rusty Hicks pleaded with lagging candidates to drop out of the race. Meanwhile, Rep. Eric Swalwell, one of the leading Democrats, accused Trump of trying to influence the contest after reporting that administration officials ordered FBI agents to gather documents about a decade-old investigation into the congressman’s ties to a suspected Chinese spy. The probe did not result in criminal charges.

Earlier this week, Bianco, after seizing more than half a million 2025 election ballots, said he paused a probe into election fraud allegations, citing mounting legal challenges from the state and a voting rights group.

A ripple effect down the ticket?

Elsewhere in the country, Democrats have been heartened by victories in a string of races — even on Trump’s home turf — that they see as promising signs ahead of this year’s midterm elections, when control of Congress will be in play. Democratic officials in California fear a vacancy at the top of the ticket in November could depress turnout in critical U.S. House races.

Such a scenario could “imperil Democrats’ chances to retake the House,” Hicks, the state Democratic chair, has warned.

The contest to succeed Newsom is playing out with Trump the ubiquitous foil for Democratic candidates — California is regarded as the home of the so-called Trump resistance. Simultaneously the state is beset with a long-running homeless crisis, commonplace seven-figure home prices and projected future budget shortfalls, while residents contend with some of the nation’s highest gas prices, taxes and utility bills.

Polling in early February by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found the field had broken into two distinct groups, with Bianco, Hilton and three Democrats — Swalwell, former Rep. Katie Porter and billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer — in close competition, with other candidates trailing.

The volatile race has recalled the surprise outcome in 1998 — the last wide-open race for governor — when underdog Democrat Gray Davis surged past two leading Democrats in the primary who relentlessly attacked each other, with Davis going on to win in November.

The rules have changed in the attention economy, where candidates must compete with digital platforms and content creators to connect with distracted voters.

“Normally people would paying attention,” Newman said. “The whole campaign has been in slow motion.”

Board condemns 13th Street house

By
Reilly Gaunt
-

City code enforcement asked the Columbus Board of Public Works and Safety to approve an order to vacate and condemn a house due to unsafe conditions.

Code Enforcement Officer Fred Barnett said he has been working with the 2909 13th St. property since the first of the year with issues regarding garbage, trash and unlicensed inoperable vehicles which he said the property owner did handle.

Barnett said that after the outside of the home was fixed up, his team inspected the inside of the building. He told the board that inside the building were issues such as holes in the roof and electrical issues from open-panels and spigot leaks next to electrical panels.

Due to these issues, he asked that the house be vacated, condemned and that legal action be taken if needed. Barnett also added a building permit requirement for any action taken on fixing the house.

Board member John Pickett asked if there is anything the board or the Columbus City Council could do to prevent houses from getting bad enough to the point of condemnation.

“It would be nice if we could be more proactive, because we have some crap housing stock,” Pickett said.

The board voted unanimously to approve the order to condemn, vacate and take legal action on the 13th Street home.

BCSC updates board on IREAD-3 projections

By
Brad Davis
-

Hack

Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. is continuing to make significant progress in fostering the skills of young readers, according to IREAD-3 projections provided to school board members on Monday night.

IREAD is an online test given to second- and third-graders across the state to determine their ability to understand letter sounds and assess their vocabulary and reading comprehension.

Just over 89% of BCSC third-graders passed the IREAD-3 assessment last year, up nearly 10 points from 2022-23, and projections show that figure is expecting to climb to 90% in 2026 at school year’s end.

The current crop of third-graders took the test as second-graders to give district officials and teachers the chance to find out ways to support those who are at risk of not passing, and that strategy has proved effective.

Students are able to take IREAD three different times before the year is out, and if they don’t pass, state law requires they be held back.

Students can also qualify for a good-cause exemption that would allow them to move on to fourth grade even if they don’t pass, including students who have been in the United States for fewer than two years or those who have an individualized education plan (IEP).

Students took the first administration of the test during the first two weeks of March. Director of Elementary Education Laura Hack, Elementary Curriculum Specialist Jeannie Long, and Taylorsville Elementary Principal Jennifer Dettmer talked about the results.

Of the current second-graders who took the test meant for third-graders, 54% were able to pass the test, Long said, up from 50% in 2025 and 44% from 2024.

“Over the past two years we’ve made intentional investments in structural consistency with teacher development grounded in the science of reading,” Long said. “These efforts have yielded measurable results.”

The science of reading is a way of teaching reading based on a large body of research on how kids actually learn to read.

Of the 819 second-graders testing, 441 passed. There are 90 students on track to pass the assessment next year as third-graders and 288 identified as at risk of not passing. There were 2% fewer students deemed at risk of not passing compared to 2025, according to BCSC.

Of the 810 current third-graders, 664 of those either passed the test in second grade or during the first administration of the test, or 82%. Of the remaining third-graders, 72 are on track to pass over the next to administrations and 74 were identified as at-risk of not passing.

“We still have intentional work to do with these students,” Hack said. “This comes in the form of small-group instruction and progress monitoring from now until the next two (test) administrations.”

The next two chances to take IREAD will be in May and June.

Some of strategies that district officials say have paid dividends include the small-group instruction and progress monitoring, but also mentoring of first year K-3 teachers by experienced colleagues; clear and consistent communication with student families about where their child is at; and strategic staffing of teachers in second- and third-grade that have experience with the science of reading.

Funk-rock band Here Comes the Mummies to perform at Brown County Music Center

By
Hallie Gallinat
-

Photo provided Eight-piece funk rock band Here Comes the Mummies will be performing at the Brown County Music Center April 11.

They might be 5,000 years old, but these mummies really know how to rock out.

Here Comes the Mummies, an eight-piece funk rock band, are invading the Brown County Music Center this April with their “terrifying funk from beyond the grave” that’s sure to leave audiences smiling.

The show starts at 8 p.m. on April 11. Tickets are available at browncountymusiccenter.com.

Formed in 2000 in Nashville, Tennessee, Here Comes the Mummies consists of eight members, all of whom go under stage names and keep their real identities under wraps.

“We’re just mummies when we hit the stage,” Mummy Cass, the band’s lead vocalist and guitarist, said.

The band’s members have shifted some over the years, but their current line up includes Mummy Cass, vocalist and drummer Eddie Mummy, vocalist and bassist K.W. TuT, vocalist and keyboardist Spaz, bassist The Pole!, vocalist, saxophonist and tambourine player Dr. Yo and tenor saxophonist Highlander.

There’s also “HPOD,” or High Priest of Death, on trumpet and Midnight Mummy on bari and tenor sax, keys, percussion, talk box and vocals, according to the Brown County Music Center. Mummy Cass said this line up has been performing for five to six years, though they do have past members come back every once and a while.

“Everyone’s kind of got their parts and we try to play as a section, as a band, we like to try to get the groove on as much as we can but we always let everybody have as much time as they want to just kind of be free,” Mummy Cass said. “So there’s sections where we’ll let the trumpet player go, we’ll let the sax guy go, that kind of thing. And then just some dancing and stuff that we do but you got to remember: we’re 5,000 years old so we’ve got some creaky hips and some bad knees.”

If artists like Earth, Wind and Fire, Prince and P-Funk are your style, Mummy Cass said Here Comes the Mummies is trying to go for something like that. They like to use lots of innuendo and double entendres in their songs, and Mummy Cass likes to think of their shows as high energy performances.

“It’s an eight-piece band with a big horn section and it’s… funky and we want people shaking their booties, having a good time,” Mummy Cass said. “It’s all about smiling and forgetting what’s going on in the outside world.”

Here Comes the Mummies have brought their freaky funk with them to appearances on That’s My Jam with Jimmy Fallon, festivals like Summer Fest, Summer Camp and Musikfest, and have become regulars on the Bob & Tom Show. They’ll play anywhere, from across the Midwest to down south in Florida and New Orleans to even internationally in Canada and Australia.

They’ve also performed at the Brown County Music Center before, where Mummy Cass said they had a good crowd and a lot of high energy the last time they played at the venue. Fans of theirs can look forward to the same energy they’ve always delivered and some new tunes from their latest EP “Road Trip.”

“We’re going to play some new songs, we’re going to do some old favorites too, so hopefully it’s just going to bring a smile to your face,” Mummy Cass said.

Commissioners approve building change

By
Reilly Gaunt
-

The Bartholomew County commissioners approved suggested changes to the new government storage facility being built at the county fairgrounds.

Larry Mohr Construction Inc. is building the new facility and recommended some ways to give the facility a longer lifespan. The suggested changes add another $18,580 to the project, lifting the total cost up to $758,930, which still falls under the initial $1 million cost estimation.

“I totally support these. The building will last much longer with the foundation change, I’m glad to see it,” Commissioner Larry Kleinhenz said.

The storage facility is important for the county to keep government documents secured in a safe location. Currently documents are kept all over the county: the Bartholomew County Courthouse, Purdue Extension Building, Bartholomew County Health Department and the Bartholomew County Youth Services Center.

Indiana law requires that certain documents be stored for 50 years with some even in climate-controlled environments.

Bedford native Clayton Anderson to perform at Crump Theatre

By
Hallie Gallinat
-

Photo courtesy of Hannah Fink Bedford native and touring country musician Clayton Anderson will be performing at the Crump Theatre on April 11.

Some may say all roads lead back home. For touring country musician Clayton Anderson, that’s especially true.

Though his musical career has taken him across the country and the world, for the time being, the Bedford native is back home in Indiana and will be making a stop at the Crump Theatre for a high energy concert.

The show starts at 7 p.m. April 11. Tickets cost $23.18 for general admission and $39.19 for early access general admission tickets. Early access ticket holders can enter the theater ahead of the crowd. The link to purchase tickets can be found at thecrump.org.

Growing up in Bedford and an alumnus of Bedford North Lawrence High School, music was always a part of Anderson’s household. He decided to pick up the guitar while attending Indiana University, where he said one thing led to another and the next thing he knew, he was playing shows, running around the country and making records in Nashville.

“Music’s really, it’s more than just music, it’s brought me everything that I have in my life,” Anderson said. “It’s brought me my wife, I met my wife through music, I met a lot of my best friends through music, I’ve met so many people through music and it all stems from there and I’m very appreciative for it.”

Throughout his musical career, Anderson has released a series of albums, a line up of singles and has performed alongside the Zac Brown Band at the Indy 500, according to his website. He has also opened for artists such as Eric Church, Blake Shelton and Thomas Rhett, and his 2023 track “Gotta Get Up” can be heard on ESPN as it was picked up by the network for their college baseball season.

Anderson also opened a country bar in Indianapolis last September. Though he technically resides in Nashville, he has spent a lot of time in Indiana lately because of the country bar keeping him busy, and he said it’s really nice to be back in the state again.

“I never wanted to leave to begin with,” Anderson said.

His musical style takes heavy influence from fellow Hoosier musician John Mellencamp, who he grew up listening to, but he also takes influence from ‘90s country artists he listened to growing up such as Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. Anderson takes the “write what you know” approach to his music, and his experiences growing up in southern Indiana are where he takes inspiration.

“I’m a homer for Indiana, especially southern Indiana and I just think there’s a charm about it, there’s a goodness about it,” Anderson said. “I think people live the right way of taking care of one another the way we should and I’m very proud to be from here so all those things that I’ve witnessed growing up, obviously you got to write what you know and those are small town relationships and family ties and that type of thing.”

His upcoming show at the Crump Theatre will feature him performing alongside guitarist Aaryn Martin, drummer Niko Albanese and bassist Cole Mcglothlin. Audience members can look forward hearing songs Anderson wrote in addition to songs that have inspired him.

Anderson said he looks forward to entertaining the crowd at the Crump, a place he has driven past several times and always thought it would be cool to play at.

“Columbus is a great town, I have a lot of respect for Columbus, I think Columbus is one of the jewel towns in all the world,” Anderson said. “I appreciate its love for art and part of art is music and I think saving and keeping these… theaters alive is wonderful for the arts of music and entertainment, comedy, anything like that. So I’m very excited to be a part of that.”

Vance and Rubio’s differing postures on Iran war highlight their challenges ahead of 2028 election

By
The Associated Press
-

WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Donald Trump assembled his Cabinet last week, he asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance to give an update on the Iran war.

Rubio, known for his hawkish views, gave an impassioned defense of the war, calling it “a favor” to the United States and the world.

Vance, who has long pushed for restraint in U.S. military intervention overseas, was more sedate. He said that the U.S. now has “options” it didn’t have a year ago and that it is important Iran does not get a nuclear weapon — before redirecting his remarks toward wishing the troops a happy Easter.

The exchange was a distillation of their diverging postures toward the war that their boss has launched in Iran. And it comes as some would-be Republican presidential candidates begin quietly courting officials in key states like New Hampshire in the early stages of the GOP’s next nomination fight.

With Vance and Rubio seen as the party’s strongest potential candidates in a 2028 primary, the two have to balance their roles in the Trump administration with their future political plans.

“It’s very obvious from the way that Rubio talks about Iran and the way that Vance talks about Iran that they are of different casts of mind,” said Curt Mills, the executive director of “The American Conservative” magazine and a vocal critic of the war. The Cabinet meeting episode was telling, he said, because it seemed as though Vance, discussing Easter, was “literally trying to talk about anything else other than the war.”

Vance’s office declined to comment. The State Department declined to comment but pointed to Rubio’s remarks last year during a Fox News Channel interview where he said he hopes Vance intends to run for president and wouldn’t rule out anything for himself.

It’s too soon to forecast how Republican voters might feel about the war next spring, when the 2028 contest is expected to begin in earnest, but the risks for both Vance and Rubio are acute. Rubio’s full-throated support for the war could come back to haunt him depending on how the conflict develops. Vance, meanwhile, would risk accusations of disloyalty if he were to stray too far from Trump, but struggles to square an appearance of support for the war with his past comments.

Vance’s restrained comments stand in contrast to Rubio’s full defense

Vance, who served in the Iraq war, has said that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, but he’s long been skeptical of foreign military interventions.

Trump seemed to allude that Vance may have held onto that position in private discussions about Iran, telling reporters that Vance was “philosophically a little bit different than me” at the outset of the conflict.

“I think he was maybe less enthusiastic about going, but he was quite enthusiastic,” Trump said.

Though Vance has been careful in how he speaks about the war, what he’s not saying has been conspicuous. On a March 13 trip to North Carolina, he was twice asked by reporters if he had concerns about the conflict. Each time, he said it was important that Trump could have conversations with advisers “without his team then running their mouths to the American media.”

A few days later at the White House, when Vance was again asked if he had concerns, he accused the reporter of “trying to drive a wedge between members of the administration, between me and the president.”

For Rubio, long before he became the country’s chief diplomat, he voiced support for muscular foreign policy and American intervention abroad.

Days into the war, he told reporters that it was “a wise decision” for Trump to launch the operation, that there “absolutely was an imminent threat” from Iran and that the operation “needed to happen.”

Fractures are emerging in the GOP

The apparent split between Rubio and Vance on the Iran war is emblematic of the divide starting to cleave within the Republican Party. A recent survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found some divisions within the GOP on Iran, with about half of Republicans saying the U.S. military action has been “about right.” Relatively few Republicans, about 2 in 10, say military action has not gone far enough, while about one-quarter say it’s gone too far.

While some conservatives have described the war as a betrayal, many other Republicans have cheered on the president’s actions.

Alice Swanson, a 62-year-old who attended Vance’s event in North Carolina, said she wants Vance and Rubio to run together in 2028 but favors the vice president.

“I think he fully believes and supports exactly what his convictions are,” Swanson said.

Swanson acknowledged, nonetheless, that Vance has been an outspoken opponent of interventionist policy but has been quieter on the subject since the war. “I can see both sides,” Swanson said after expressing full support for Trump’s decisions.

Tracy Brill, a 62-year-old from Rocky Mount, spoke highly of Rubio, but declared, “I love JD Vance.”

She made it clear she sides with the president, calling the course he’s taken “spot on.” But she defended the vice president if he seems at odds with his past statements, noting politicians do it frequently. “They’ve all changed their positions at one point or another,” she said.

However, Joe Ropar, attending the Conservative Political Action Conference last week, said Rubio’s unequivocal support for the Iran war helped crystallize his preference for the secretary of state for 2028.

“I’m not looking at JD Vance for president, and it’s for stuff like that,” said Ropar, a 72-year-old retired military contractor from McKinney, Texas. “I don’t 100% trust him.”

Benjamin Williams, of Austin, Texas, said at CPAC that both Trump and Vance are “tied to this war.” The 25-year-old marketing specialist for Young Americans for Liberty is looking elsewhere for a candidate.

The political risks might not be known until the field fills out

Whether the war becomes a political problem for Vance and Rubio depends on who ultimately enters the GOP’s next presidential primary.

While Vance and Rubio are currently considered the overwhelming front-runners, former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu expects a half dozen high-profile Republicans to enter the contest.

Sununu and former RNC Committeewoman Juliana Bergeron told The Associated Press that multiple Republican presidential prospects have reached out to them in recent weeks to discuss the political landscape in the state that traditionally hosts the opening presidential primary; they declined to name them.

Republican strategist Jim Merrill, a top New Hampshire adviser for Rubio’s 2016 presidential bid, predicted that Iran would become a flashpoint in 2028 — just as the Iraq war was for Democrats in 2004 and 2008.

“If for some reason things don’t go as anticipated, there will be contrasts drawn,” he said.

Still, Sununu is doubtful that Iran would become a meaningful dividing line in a prospective Vance-Rubio matchup given their status as prominent members of the Trump administration. Both will likely take credit if the conflict ends well, and both would look bad if it does not, he predicted.

“They’re tied together with the success or failure of Iran. It doesn’t really separate one versus the other, at least I don’t think that’s how the electorate will see it,” Sununu said.

___

Peoples reported from New York. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington, Bill Barrow in Rocky Mount, N.C., and Thomas Beaumont in Grapevine, Texas, contributed to this report.

Column: Some statistics about Indiana’s ‘old’ houses

By
Staff Reports
-

Morton Marcus

You can’t judge a house solely by its age. Unlike people, houses can be modernized, updated, and refurbished because they are less integrated than humans. Replacement furnaces are easier to install than human hearts and come with a longer warranty. Failed plumbing systems at home have complete, routine remedies while our personal systems often require extensive monitoring of their imperfect performance.

Data on the condition of houses is not as readily available as buyers would like. Most often we can discover the age of a structure, but we know little beyond that in most cases. It takes a professional inspector to tell us about the condition of the beams and the boards, the furnace and the fireplace, the garbage disposal and the garage doors.

As home buyers, however, we think of prospective properties in terms of their age. We base much on our prejudices of construction techniques and materials of today compared to yesterday.

“Oh, them old doors were real wood, not some cheap compost veneer.”

“Lordy, today’s kitchen will make your breakfast coffee, eggs, and toast before you can get down the stairs and to the table.”

Nationally, 48% of houses were built before 1980. That means nearly half went up more than 46 years ago, in a time before the cell phone or the WNBA.

Houses in Indiana rank 18th oldest among the states, with 52% built before 1980. That’s just ahead of Maine and right behind West Virginia. Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan are all even older than we are; only Kentucky, at 45% built before 1980, ranks younger among our neighbors

Now this can be a tribute to homebuilders and the suppliers of materials that go into homes. It also might be a compliment to home owners and renters who take care of property so that our residential infrastructure is well maintained.

But that is not what we see often as we drive our city streets and county roads. Maybe our eyes pick out the rundown porches, the unpainted boards, the broken windows of still occupied dwellings. And we label them as Old Houses because, in contrast, that really Old House across the way is so attractive with fresh paint, an intact roof, and flowers coming back for another burst of springtime. Certainly, that can’t be really old.

Within Indiana, 79.6% of occupied housing was built before 1980 in Benton County. Right behind are Wayne, Cass, Randolph, Fayette, and Henry counties, all with more than 75% of their housing structures built before 1980.

The newest housing is found (surprise!) in five counties adjacent to Indianapolis (Marion County). Only 18% of the occupied housing in Hamilton County was built before 1980. That is followed by Hendricks at 27%, then trailed by Johnson, Boone, and Hancock, each from 35% to 39%.

To me, age is not the crucial housing factor. It’s the volume of the neighbors’ music players and brightness of their exterior lights after sundown. A house is only as good as the people living in it allow it to be. Even the home inspector gathers no data on those factors.

Marcus is a research economist formerly with the Kelley School of Business at IU. Contact him at mortonjmarcus@gmail.com. Send comments to editorial@therepublic.com.

Letter: Learning the lessons of history

By
Staff Reports
-

From: Danny K. Johnson

1SG U.S. Army (Ret.)

Columbus

There is a lesson from history that we ignore at our own risk, to continue on Mr. Don Strietelmeier’s thoughts.

In the years leading up to World War II, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain believed peace could be preserved through concession and negotiation with an aggressive regime. History has judged that approach harshly. Appeasement did not prevent conflict—it encouraged it.

Over the past 47 years, we have seen a similar pattern in how the world has dealt with Iran.

Since 1979, Iran has been linked to or accused of supporting terrorist activity across the globe—from attacks and assassinations in Europe to support of proxy forces in the Middle East. These are not isolated incidents, but part of a consistent pattern.

Yet the response from much of the international community has often been hesitation, negotiation without enforcement, or a quiet “not our war” attitude.

Iran rarely carries out attacks directly, instead relying on proxy groups to do its work. Examples include Hezbollah’s bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 American service members, and the Khobar Towers attack in Saudi Arabia. It is estimated that between 800 and 1,000 Americans have lost their lives due to Iran-backed actions, including many killed by Iranian-supplied IEDs during the Global War on Terror. Our NATO allies have also suffered, with civilians killed in attacks such as nightclub bombings in Berlin and assaults on newspapers in Paris. The list goes on.

World War I began with a single assassination, and World War II began with a single act of aggression, proving how quickly conflict can escalate when warning signs are ignored. History reminds us how small events can trigger massive consequences.

History shows that when nations treat growing threats as someone else’s problem, those threats rarely stay contained. They grow, spread, and eventually demand a far greater price.

Appeasement is not just about avoiding conflict—it can enable it. When there are no clear consequences, aggressive behavior continues.

This is not an argument against diplomacy, but against relying on it alone while ignoring repeated patterns.

As a retired member of the United States military, I believe strength, accountability, and unity among allies—not wishful thinking—are what prevent larger conflicts.

If we fail to recognize that, we risk repeating the mistakes of the past.

1...456...22,141Page 5 of 22,141