It’s become a tradition for me to reprint this column I wrote back in 1996.  And with the new age of accountability that’s coming,  it seems to be even more relevant this year. Recently I had a conversation with a black friend of mine and she told me something I found was a bit disturbing. […]

You guys know that in addition to the broadcasting and politics, I teach college part-time.  I had something interesting happen this past week. While in class Thursday and going over the course schedule, I had one student (a young African-American male) ask me if we had class on Inauguration Day?  I told him “yes, why […]

I’m planning to relax today with a couple good cigars, martinis and the future Mrs. Shabazz, so today’s gossip will be short and to the point. Marion County Democratic Party Executive Director Adam Kirsch has been making the rounds lately speaking to township organizations.  The big questions the locals want to know is who’s running […]

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels says based on the figures he’s seen, the state could possibly receive up to $3 billion from the federal stimulus package so there’s no need to dip into the state’s reserves to pay for education or other programs. Daniels made the announcement during a news conference this morning. The Governor said […]

Although I understand the need to create jobs in Indiana, I am totally confused at a move by Democratic State Representative Terri Austin to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from the Department of Transportation to cities and towns to pay for local road projects. By a vote of 7-5, the House Transportation and Roads […]

Remember when I told you about how the Greater Clark County School Board gets taxpayer-funded health insurance and it only costs each board members a dollar? Well, get a load of this!  If you’re a member of the Warren Township Advisory Board in Marion County, you can get free life insurance.  So if you die […]

Here are the latest government consolidation bills introduced so far in the legislature. SB 184 – Consolidates Marion County Emergency dispatch functions. SB 379 – Creates a single county executive via local referendum. SB 444 – Consolidates Marion County Fire Departments. HB 1341 – Eliminates township government in Marion County. HB 1373 – Forbids government […]

Here’s some of  the reaction from Tuesday night’s State of the State address… House Speaker Pat Bauer “Creating jobs is more important than extended philosophical debates over taking local government control out of the hands of the public. It should take priority over whether we need to pass constitutional property tax caps, something that cannot […]

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels spelled out a State of the State tonight which he called sobering, but also held opportunities. In the 30-minute speech Daniels advocated education, a balanced budget and government reform.  The speech did not directly refer to Indiana’s jobs situation, however in a pre-State of the State briefing, administration officials said the […]

If today’s budget hearing in the House Ways and means Committee is any indication, it’s going to be a somewhat testy legislative session. Democrats chastised and at time raised their voices at Daniels administration officials over their proposed budget.   Chairman Bill Crawford and OMB Director Ryan Kitchell got into a slight exchange. And Vice […]