Opinion

Property taxes are going up and so is the debate at the Statehouse. But is there really a problem to fix?

At first glance, it seemed like a pretty good deal. Enjoy a complimentary $25. gift card from one of the local supermarkets. All it required was answering a few questions online. I figured it was a marketing scam. I wasn’t born yesterday. In fact, as you’ll see, I was born 100 years ago.

Let me tell a story.

I grew up in a time when most people in my town were members of one local church or another. I recall this with no intention of romanticizing an era when participation in religious life was so assumed that asking for one’s religious affiliation could be found on job applications.

Several books and opinion columns I’ve read in the past months have sounded the death knell of the two-party system in America. Or at least encouraged those bells to toll.

I am not the world’s greatest housekeeper, so if you enter my home, you are likely to detect a musty, stale odor or two.

The advanced practice registered nurses, commonly known as nurse practitioners, are again at the legislature seeking independent practice. Currently an APRN with prescription authority must have a collaborative relationship with a physician that includes chart review.

Yes, it is true! Johnson County Public Library has its very own mascot. It’s not just any mascot, but Bibli the Bookworm — short for Bibliography.

If all goes according to plan, Dear Readers, you will be wading through this column on Feb. 15, the day after Valentine’s Day. At the same time — again, if things go according to schedule — I will be sitting in a dentist’s chair wearing safety glasses and blanketed with a heavy vest having a permanent crown fitted onto my upper left back molar while yesterday’s Valentine’s celebration is just a sweet, fading memory. Thus, life goes on.

Several readers have asked what is happening in labor markets, and why it is so difficult to find workers. That’s a common concern in the post-COVID world and is worthy of a deep dive into labor market data. The Indiana experience is similar to many states, but with a few notable twists.