Recent editorials published in Indiana newspapers

The (Munster) Times. January 4, 2018

Don't play cop, leave it to the professionals

We all should feel a strong sense of civic duty to aid police in reporting crimes we witness or to which we have knowledge.

But playing cop and physically chasing down the bad guys, rather than leaving the tasks to trained professionals, isn't good civics.

It's a shortsighted act that can threaten human life and create an even bigger problem for police.

We have no doubt two Region men meant well when they took it upon themselves to "help" LaPorte police catch two suspected drunken drivers during the New Year's holiday weekend.

One man reportedly chased a driver on foot and ended up holding the suspect until officers could arrive on scene. Another pursued a suspect in his vehicle until police arrested that suspect.

LaPorte Police Capt. Bill Degnegaard rightly reminded the public to report, but not become involved in, pursuits or detainment of criminal suspects.

Among many hazards, one never knows whether suspects are carrying guns or pose other dangerous tendencies.

Becoming involved in this capacity can lead to more injury or death - and may, in itself, be a crime.

"You don't know if they're armed with anything. You don't know what type of abilities they have. It's better to just let the police handle that," Degnegaard said following the two weekend arrests.

We all should be rightly concerned, and even disgusted, by the illegal activity in our communities.

Becoming involved in neighborhood watches and calling 911 to report crimes or suspicious activity witnessed are constructive ways we all can help our local police departments keep us safer.

Remember to stick to those roles, and let police do the jobs for which they've been trained.

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The (Bloomington) Herald-Times. January 4, 2018

Men and women of the Legislature are back to work

Legislators returned to Indianapolis this week for their every-other-year short session, which does not include the important work of budgeting spending priorities for the next two years.

Despite its lack of budget talks, some hot-button issues will come up.

Alcohol and guns are potential topics for the year. Hoosiers can hope for wisdom and restraint.

The wisdom can come from ending Indiana's longtime ban on Sunday carryout alcohol sales. This issue will create a lot of headlines and lead a lot of newscasts because of its appeal to those for whom the Sunday ban makes no real sense.

According to Consumerist, a subsidiary of Consumer Reports, Indiana is the only state in the country that bans liquor, wine and beer sales on Sundays (except from a brewery or winery). Indiana also doesn't allow cold beer to be sold at grocery or convenience stores. Pre-session chatter suggests the Sunday ban is likely to go while the cold beer ban may well stay.

Restraint can come from blocking an attempt to repeal the state law requiring licenses to carry handguns in public.

Democrats are pushing some good ideas, including a state hate crimes law and establishing an independent commission to draw congressional and legislative election districts in an effort to stop gerrymandering. With Republicans holding strong majorities in the House and Senate, those ideas are unlikely to get far.

Gov. Eric Holcomb and both parties deserve support for developing a stronger workforce and beefing up education in STEM topics (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math).

We renew our call for adding sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes in the state's civil rights code, and we will be watching to see whether lawmakers step into Bloomington's business as they did last year with annexation.

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South Bend Tribune. January 4, 2018

Seeking justice for wrongly convicted

Sometimes, the seeds of justice grow slowly.

They grew slowly for Keith Cooper, who was convicted of a 1996 robbery in Elkhart and spent almost 10 years in prison before finally being exonerated.

Now, touched by Cooper's story and his perseverance for justice, a group of students at the Notre Dame Law School, with help from the Exoneration Project, is raising awareness about people who were wrongfully imprisoned.

The group started small, only a handful of students, but has grown to more than 100. It gained the support of Jimmy Gurule, an expert in international criminal law who became the group's faculty adviser. It was Gurule's talk on criminal justice reform that sparked even more interest when he referenced the Cooper case, that has drawn national attention.

When Cooper and his attorney, Elliot Slosar of the Exoneration Project, came to speak at the university April 12, people packed one of the school's biggest lecture halls to hear his story. "Students and professors filled the room, people who were crying," said Tia Paulette, president of the student club. "Students were overwhelmed, in a good way."

Student volunteers now are helping the organization with two cases of alleged wrongful convictions.

Justice can ultimately be served through the hard work and dedication of groups like Notre Dame's.

And it's not just Cooper. It's people like Rodell Sanders, who spent more than two decades in prison for a murder and attempted murder that he did not commit. And Jose Montanez, who after 23 years of wrongful incarceration, was freed by a Cook County, Ill., judge who vacated the convictions and dismissed all charges. These are just a couple of the cases highlighted on the Exoneration Project website.

Now, with the much needed efforts of NotreDame's chapter, the seeds are being planted to perhaps free other wrongfully convicted people.

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The (Fort Wayne) Journal Gazette. January 3, 2018

Foreigner policy

Another round of demographic information, another reminder that more growth is crucial for northeast Indiana's future. And from a respected demographer, another warning that immigration will be a key to this area competing economically.

As The Journal Gazette's Ron Shawgo reported Tuesday, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that the nation has grown by 18.2 million people since 2010, an increase of 5.9 percent. But the population in Indiana increased by just 2.8 percent during that period - putting it 31st among the states.

Population growth is not just a matter of pride; it's a key to economic competitiveness. But the state, and this region, would be even further behind on population growth if it weren't for immigration, according to Rob Paral, a demographer for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

A council report Paral produced showed the number of native-born residents in cities throughout the Midwest, including Fort Wayne, has been dropping between 2000 and 2015, and the number of immigrants in that age category has been rising. Some Midwestern cities with low immigration lost population, while others grew only because of immigrants and refugees. Fort Wayne has been a bit ahead of the curve, growing 12 percent during that time. Its foreign-born population has grown as well, led by refugees from Myanmar, and the metro area stood at 6.4 percent in 2015.

"Along with the Northeastern states, we are losing native-born residents to the West and Southwest," Paral said. Immigrants, most of whom are of working age, have been key to replacing some of those lost workers, he said, and the need will only intensify as more baby boomers retire.

"I think immigration is a tool to grow your economy," Paral said. But for the Midwest, he said, the Trump administration's efforts to discourage immigration are creating "a perfect storm, demographically" by cutting off the only sure way to counter the drain of native workers in regions such as ours.

Just 5 percent of Hoosier residents were born in another country, but a report by the American Immigration Council this fall showed more than 30 percent of immigrants have a college undergraduate degree or higher. Seventy-five percent report speaking English well and they represent "nearly 8 percent of business owners in Indiana and more than 9 percent of all engineering and architectural employees," the council said.

In 2014, immigrants in Indiana paid $1.6 billion in federal taxes and $702 million in state and local taxes, and spent $5.8 billion within the state.

Efforts to present immigration as a national problem obscure the net positive effect studies have shown immigrants and refugees have on our society and our economy, Paral said. "They're not eligible for most forms of welfare," he said. "Wages are down, but it's not because of immigrants."

Paral was quoted in a favorable Wall Street Journal article this week on Fort Wayne's efforts to reimagine the GE campus. "They're really swimming upstream," he said, referring to the demographic trends local developers in cities like ours are trying to overcome. In his interview with The Journal Gazette, Paral said he hoped the plan to convert the unoccupied plant into stores, restaurants, residences and startup incubators would be "hugely successful." But he predicted some of the work would have to be done by immigrants, both in low-skilled positions and perhaps in high-skilled computing and technical jobs. "Immigrants (work) at both ends of the scale," he said. "It's a real irony."

Immigration isn't just an economic issue, of course. But it deserves to be included in any discussion of this region's future.

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