Attorney for woman accused of bribery tied to attempted murder scheme says he’ll ask for jury from outside Tippecanoe County. Meanwhile, man accused of being at center of plot asks for change of venue
Every peer-reviewed sports economics study finds that public investment in sports venues is a money loser, they never pay for themselves, no matter what politicians claim. But, Indiana politicians will happily give a huge sum of money to a family worth over $6 billion in exchange for some seats in the owners' box. What a damn scam. And the politicians who vote for it will still have the gall to claim to be small government "conservatives".
Any politician who votes for this while Indiana's roads are filled with potholes and while counties need to pass referendums to pay for schools should be run out of the state. Massive taxpayer welfare for billionaires (in this case out-of-state billionaires!) is beyond stupid, and a totally negligent waste of taxpayer money.
I read a great article from 2025 on Gary's relationship to US Steel that adds so much context to the issue. In short, I think it's reasonable to see this as another promise of transformation landing on working-class region that's been absorbing the costs of other people's prosperity for more than a century. https://archive.ph/Y2Wkr
Yes, the promises of transformation are always the sanitized premise that's used to siphon local money to billionaires. It would of course be far easier to take a billion dollars and actually invest it in things like housing and child care and infrastructure for an area without erecting a massive edifice (and parking lots) that will be dormant over 330 days of the year, but then the money might actually end up benefiting local residents and local small businesses rather than lining the pockets of out-of-state billionaires.
In 2013 the Atlanta baseball team announced they'd leave their in-town ballpark and move to the suburbs. One result of that has been a rejuvenation of the largely African-American neighborhood they left behind:
These billionaires always promise economic development, but their entertainment venues tend to siphon off money that otherwise would be spent at local businesses, and take up acres and acres of space generating no economic activity most days of the year. There are few places more dead than a "stadium district" on a day that's not a game day.
If the state truly wants to rejuvenate Gary/Hammond then the state could just as easily invest in the area without all the silliness of handing a ten-figure sum to billionaires who own a franchise in one of the most profitable leagues in the world. But of course then the politicians wouldn't get invited to the owner's box to hobnob with rich and famous people.
Every peer-reviewed sports economics study finds that public investment in sports venues is a money loser, they never pay for themselves, no matter what politicians claim. But, Indiana politicians will happily give a huge sum of money to a family worth over $6 billion in exchange for some seats in the owners' box. What a damn scam. And the politicians who vote for it will still have the gall to claim to be small government "conservatives".
Any politician who votes for this while Indiana's roads are filled with potholes and while counties need to pass referendums to pay for schools should be run out of the state. Massive taxpayer welfare for billionaires (in this case out-of-state billionaires!) is beyond stupid, and a totally negligent waste of taxpayer money.
I read a great article from 2025 on Gary's relationship to US Steel that adds so much context to the issue. In short, I think it's reasonable to see this as another promise of transformation landing on working-class region that's been absorbing the costs of other people's prosperity for more than a century. https://archive.ph/Y2Wkr
Yes, the promises of transformation are always the sanitized premise that's used to siphon local money to billionaires. It would of course be far easier to take a billion dollars and actually invest it in things like housing and child care and infrastructure for an area without erecting a massive edifice (and parking lots) that will be dormant over 330 days of the year, but then the money might actually end up benefiting local residents and local small businesses rather than lining the pockets of out-of-state billionaires.
In 2013 the Atlanta baseball team announced they'd leave their in-town ballpark and move to the suburbs. One result of that has been a rejuvenation of the largely African-American neighborhood they left behind:
https://news.gsu.edu/magazine/fall2019/summerhills-next-act
These billionaires always promise economic development, but their entertainment venues tend to siphon off money that otherwise would be spent at local businesses, and take up acres and acres of space generating no economic activity most days of the year. There are few places more dead than a "stadium district" on a day that's not a game day.
If the state truly wants to rejuvenate Gary/Hammond then the state could just as easily invest in the area without all the silliness of handing a ten-figure sum to billionaires who own a franchise in one of the most profitable leagues in the world. But of course then the politicians wouldn't get invited to the owner's box to hobnob with rich and famous people.
What about the air pollution in that area? I keep wondering about that.