http://www.tribstar.com en-us Copyright CNHI All Rights Reserved. 5 Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:54:00 +0000 http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_334235523.html http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_334235523.html There is no debate over one aspect of Indiana lawmakers considering a statewide ban on smoking in indoor public places.Their decision can’t possibly please everyone. Sat, 29 Nov 2008 15:25:00 +0000 http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_334152725.html http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_334152725.html There is no debate over one aspect of Indiana lawmakers considering a statewide ban on smoking in indoor public places. Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:58:00 +0000 http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_327200046.html http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_327200046.html ISU is paying for an enrollment decline that began years ago. This month, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education recommended a nearly $3-million cut in ISU’s appropriation for the 2009-11 biennium, and no capital project funding for the school. Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:00:00 +0000 http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_320210045.html http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_320210045.html In a rented room, somewhere in the black mountain hills of Dakota, Rocky Raccoon found solace on his nightstand. Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:59:00 +0000 http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_305221713.html http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_305221713.html The world could see America at its best.That potential exists on Tuesday, regardless of whether John McCain or Barack Obama wins the presidential election. Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:35:00 +0000 http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_303223510.html http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_303223510.html Hypnosis sounds good right now. “You’re getting sleepy. Very, very sleepy. When I snap my fingers, you’ll wake up and it will be Nov. 5.” Snap. Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:16:00 +0000 http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_299181905.html http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_299181905.html When a dam of formality broke at a brainstorming session about downtown Terre Haute’s future, the ideas, worries and obstacles began to flow Wednesday morning. Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:14:00 +0000 http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_291225638.html http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_291225638.html At face value, the information was typical political campaign fodder.During a debate Tuesday at Bloomington, comments cropped up about an incident in 1970, when Mitch Daniels was arrested on a marijuana charge. Sure, that was 38 years ago when Daniels, now 59 and Indiana’s governor, was a student at Princeton University. Still, as elections draw near, the candidates’ pasts — no matter how distant — routinely become fair game. Sat, 11 Oct 2008 23:13:00 +0000 http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_285231403.html http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_285231403.html In a debate long ago, one candidate derided his rival’s “new ideas” and demanded to know, “Where’s the beef?”Over the past eight months, Hoosiers have been served a triple cheeseburger-sized portion of the 2008 presidential politics, with only a side-order of Republican. If they peek under the campaign bun, they’re bound to ask, “Where’s McCain?” Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:19:00 +0000 http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_277162142.html http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_277162142.html Sometimes, Washington and Wall Street treat average Americans like those unsuspecting guys in “America’s Funniest Videos.”They hold the whiffle ball bats. We take the groin shots. Sat, 27 Sep 2008 18:07:00 +0000 http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_271180748.html http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_271180748.html Locust Street is a long way from Wall Street. The troubles in that New York financial district so tightly gripped America last week that President Bush used the word “panic.” Sun, 21 Sep 2008 00:05:00 +0000 http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_264170252.html http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_264170252.html Abraham Lincoln wouldn’t bail out AIG.Or would he? It was Lincoln, the Republican, who signed the National Bank Act of 1864, creating a new system of banks and a federal government agency to regulate it. Sun, 14 Sep 2008 00:07:00 +0000 http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_256205343.html http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_256205343.html You can put lipstick on an SUV, and it’s still an SUV.(It’s also vandalism, but we’re digressing unnecessarily.) Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:16:00 +0000 http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_250160006.html http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_250160006.html Skeptics have spent the past 10 days accumulating doubts about Sarah Palin’s vice presidential qualifications. What unique things, they scoff, can she possibly bring to the table? Sat, 06 Sep 2008 22:12:00 +0000 http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_250221412.html http://www.tribstar.com/mark_bennett_opinion/local_story_250221412.html As Barack Obama emphasized each misstep and misplaced priority of the Bush administration, and then offered a remedy, his voice rose, and his enthusiastic supporters rose to their feet.