Post-Tribune

Wed, 08 May 2013 06:05:49 -0500

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Historic Memorial Opera House is worth checking out

Sun, 19 May 2013 02:09:38 -0500

Since being appointed the new business director of Memorial Opera House in Porter County, I have found that many people are completely unaware of its existence. This historic theater, a living memorial to the Civil War built by the Grand Army of the Republic, is 120 years old this year and has been on the National Registry of Historic Places since May 24, 1984. The staff, volunteers and actors mount seven theatrical productions each year while also providing the community access to concerts, orchestras, plays, stand-up comedy, lunchtime cabarets, children’s theater camps and advanced theater/dance classes. In essence, we bring …

Finally, an airport deal that helps the Gary area

Sun, 19 May 2013 02:09:48 -0500

Today I am proud to be a Gary resident! The Gary community has scored a first victory in the never-ending struggle for jobs for area residents. On May 7, the Gary Common Council voted 7-0 and Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson pledged to support a new Community Benefits Agreement, or CBA. The agreement will be brought to the Regional Development Administration for approval, guaranteeing that 30 percent of the hours worked at the Gary-Chicago airport expansion and at future development projects will go to Northwest Indiana residents living in the poorest zones with the highest unemployment rates. The Community Benefits Agreement includes …

Regular exercise is key to a long and healthy life

Sun, 12 May 2013 02:07:21 -0500

The excuses many people — Hoosier women in particular — use to avoid exercise are seemingly endless: Children take all my free time, work leaves me exhausted, it’s not any fun anyway and I’d prefer to sit and watch television. Yet we all know that America is in the midst of a health crisis as we pack on the pounds, keep smoking cigarettes and suffer heart disease at unacceptable levels. Shockingly, however, findings from recent studies conducted at Ball State University detail our poor health habits. In fact, Ball State’s Global Health Institute discovered in 2012 that 66.5 percent of …

Hard decisions necessary to improve Gary

Sun, 12 May 2013 02:07:11 -0500

Life’s changes often play to mixed reviews. Most of us embrace changes that result in positive outcomes. The paving of Fourth, Fifth and 25th avenues and the exploration of a public/private partnership at the Gary/Chicago International Airport are such examples. Although these changes have led to some displacement, inconvenience and uncertainty about new models, they are still viewed favorably, albeit with some caution. Other changes, while greatly anticipated, are occasionally deferred. Examples like the demolition of the Sheraton Hotel and the Dollar House program, while taking longer than anticipated, are still on their way. There are yet other changes, like …

Undocumented kids need legal representation

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:04:33 -0500

Last week, a federal judge in California ordered immigration courts in three states to provide legal representation for immigrants with mental disabilities who are in detention or facing deportation. This happened the day after federal immigration officials issued a new policy that would effectively expand that ruling, making government-paid legal representation available to people with mental disabilities in immigration courts in all states. This is a common-sense move to provide protection to the most vulnerable of a class of people — immigrants facing deportation — who don’t have the right to a lawyer if they can’t afford one. Now that …

Munster residents shouldn’t vote for higher school taxes

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:18:54 -0500

On Tuesday, the School Town of Munster is asking residents to vote on an increase of our property taxes to fund its school districts. According to school corporation officials and its superintendent, homeowners can expect to pay approximately an extra $200 a year in property taxes for a home valued at $200,000. This does not seem like an unreasonable request; for those with homes in the $200,000 price range, it comes to about $17 a month more in property taxes. Such is the pernicious thinking that goes into all tax increases — it is not that much money, so what’s …

Lessons from the legacy media – get it right, first

Thu, 02 May 2013 08:40:28 -0500

Enough mistakes and maybe we’ll learn: When in doubt, leave it out. I saw the spirit of that timeless journalistic warning used in the Boston Marathon case. Boston police were closing in on Suspect No. 2 and the people at my table went on high alert. This was at a journalism awards banquet in Indianapolis. The meal had ended and the awards were starting when one of the college students at my table began streaming CNN on a smartphone. He propped it up so we could see. Four other student reporters hunched over their own phones, working the wires, news …

Workplace volunteering improves employee morale, bottom line

Thu, 02 May 2013 08:40:18 -0500

National Volunteer Week was April 21 to 27. In its 40th year, National Volunteer Week serves to remind everyone of the power and impact of volunteering. While everyone knows that volunteering makes people feel better about themselves and their communities, few consider the measurable impact. According to the 2010 “Do Good Live Well Study” commissioned by United Healthcare, 92 percent of employees who volunteer report better health and 96 percent say they feel happier. The benefits of employee volunteerism are endless: it boosts employee morale, helps with recruiting and retention, and enhances the company’s reputation among investors, consumers and the …

The aftermath of terror is chaos, uncertainty

Wed, 22 May 2013 06:21:14 -0500

You know the feeling. You wake up filled with dread but, still groggy, you can’t put your finger on the reason. Possibilities flitter across the landscape of near-consciousness: An exam? A deadline? A speech? What day is it? Oh my God, Boston. For longer than usual, you linger, head on pillow, breathing, thinking, I have my legs. Oh my God. Coffee. “Boston will survive,” someone is saying on TV. The papers lead as expected. Drudge, Lucianne, Beast, HuffPo, Twitter. Two brothers each lost a leg. Horror. Breathe. And then, the worst thing happens. You get a grip. You speak to …

Program gets kids READY for life after schooling

Wed, 22 May 2013 06:19:27 -0500

Growing up as I did in an inner city can be isolating. For a long time, in fact, I did not know there were cows, or that there are many religions. I did not know that highways cross our nation, that there were people who lived beyond the end of the bus line, and that there were many opportunities for me and others who worked toward desired goals. Because of this experience, I am able to understand the challenges of trying to inspire “bigger thinking” among our young people who lack understanding of the possibilities available to them. On the …

Obama, Democrats at odds on spending cuts

Wed, 15 May 2013 06:18:06 -0500

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, red in the face, took off his jacket and rolled up a shirt sleeve — but there was no relief from the discomfort of his affliction. The poor guy is suffering from triangulation. The man triangulating him, President Obama, has proposed cuts to Social Security and Medicare as part of an attempt to find a middle ground in the budget debate. For Sanders, an independent and liberal member of the Senate Democratic caucus, the betrayal stung so badly that he literally took to the streets, joining left-wing activists for a protest Tuesday afternoon outside the …

Time to lean on society to make help women, girls

Wed, 15 May 2013 06:17:38 -0500

The striking juxtaposition of the preternaturally perfect Angelina Jolie, waifish and wispy in a ghostly gown, and the punchy Pakistani schoolgirl Malala, her face cruelly misshapen by the effects of a Taliban bullet to the head, captures the confluence of feminine power assembled here to “lean on” the world to save women and girls. Not lean in, as you’ve heard incessantly the past few weeks, referring to Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg’s book about empowering already empowered women. While Sandberg wants to help women crash through glass ceilings, Tina Brown, supernova of her own galaxy, wants the civilized world to lean …

Retirement cash crunch is looming

Sat, 04 May 2013 06:06:30 -0500

The U.S. is facing a retirement crisis. The simple fact is that most workers are saving too little to retire, according to the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI), which tracks pension issues. And workers are acutely aware of this. An institute study found that the percentage of workers saving for retirement dropped to 66 percent from 75 percent in 2009. One-third said they had saved nothing for the years when they were no longer working. Of those surveyed, 28 percent had no confidence that they would have enough to retire comfortably and 21 percent were “not too confident.” So about …

Mysteries of superior technology

Thu, 02 May 2013 06:01:47 -0500

The burst of electronic technology in the 21st century has produced at least two connected but unexpected results. First, technology has made life better except in the equal number of cases where it seems to make life harder. Second, the world is packed with more amazing gadgets that fewer of us understand. The latest testimony to these phenomena occurred recently in Tinley Park’s Brookside Marketplace mall in Illinois where some imbedded electronic monitoring system prevented some cars in the parking lot from being started with their keyless ignition devices. New technology yielded to old instincts, and baffled and frustrated drivers …

Voucher plan hits brick wall

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:00:23 -0500

The plow-ahead mindset for Indiana’s two-year-old school voucher plan met its brick wall when the chairman of the Indiana Senate’s Appropriations Committee signaled his objections. Boiled down, Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, asked: Can’t we just slow down? There have been plenty of Hoosiers encouraging the General Assembly to take a breather on the voucher system — perhaps no bigger message sent than the election of voucher skeptic Glenda Ritz as state superintendent of public instruction. If that public show wasn’t enough, the state should wait for the Indiana Supreme Court to rule on a challenge of the current voucher system. …