The other day, I was driving down a road that was recently repaved but had not yet had striping to designate traffic lanes. It occurred to me that the signs cautioning drivers could well apply to voters as well. As a political centrist, I’m...
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The Imperiled Political Center
Time to Address a Flaw in Indiana’s Legislative Process?
We Hoosiers are incredibly fortunate to have many capable and dedicated legislators representing us in the Indiana General Assembly. I know many of them personally, and I appreciate and applaud their good work. They are part-time, citizen legislators...
Read MoreTime for New Approaches to Address Indiana’s Voter Turnout Problems
Voter turnout is a concern across the country, but it’s especially concerning in Indiana. It’s been low in Indiana for years, but it hit rock bottom in 2014 when, by many measures, Indiana had the lowest voter turnout of all the states. By the...
Read MoreLeigh Morris on Reality vs. Reputation: NWI Environmental Quality
If you asked many people—particularly those from other areas of the state—where Indiana’s worst environmental problems exist, they’d probably say it would be in Northwest Indiana. But they just might be dead wrong. The data suggest that...
Read MoreTime to Rethink U. S. Highway 30
U.S. Highway 30 is a key 155 mile traffic artery that runs between the Illinois and Ohio state lines. For most of its length, it is classified as a limited access highway, which means that at-grade intersections or driveway cuts are not allowed...
Read MoreLeigh Morris on Symbiosis
Symbiosis: Interaction between two different entities in close physical association typically to the advantage of both. I submit that is what's missing--or at least minimized--in the relationship between Northwest Indiana and the Greater Chicagoland...
Read MorePurdue University Northwest: A Regional Powerhouse
Northwest Indiana is blessed with great institutions of higher education, including Indiana University Northwest, Valparaiso University, Calumet College of St. Joseph, and IVY Tech, but the 2016 unification of Purdue Calumet and Purdue North Central...
Read MoreCan We Make NWI a Healthier Place to Live?
There’s so much good about Northwest Indiana that I hesitate to focus on something that’s negative. However, it involves the health of all of us; and it’s been a problem for far too long. The 2016 rankings by the University of Wisconsin...
Read MoreLeigh Morris: Ivy Tech Helps Northwest Indiana Achieve
Northwest Indiana has tremendous strengths in higher education with our four-year and graduate colleges and universities, but the four Region Ivy Tech campuses provide unique advantages. The roots of Ivy Tech go back to 1963, when it focused...
Read MoreContractors and Skilled Tradesmen: Great NWI Economic Development Assets
Our capacity to meet the complex infrastructure needs of an employer—or a prospective one—is one of Northwest Indiana’s great assets. We have about 14,500 skilled tradesmen who live and work in NWI and it’s estimated that we have 700 or so...
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