Indianapolis Star

In its first rankings of online programs for veterans, U.S. News & World Report put Ball State's among the top in the country.

Ball State's “Cardinal Commitment: Developing Champions” campaign has a $20 million fundraising goal by December 2014, an amount of money that is expected to bring significant upgrades to the Ball State baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball, football and golf facilities.

Colleen Steffen, a journalism instructor at Ball State University and former newspaper feature writer, spent five years researching the girl’s disappearance. She wrote a book about it, which is yet unpublished, and probably knows more about the case than anyone.

Many people find these questions to be simple ones, at least based on a new Ball State study that showed Hamilton, Hendricks and Johnson counties experiencing the state’s largest net migrations in recent years -- meaning people moving in from another county. Marion County suffered the lowest such migration, meaning thousands more moved out than moved in.

Though it continues to draw more new residents than any other city in the state, Indianapolis continues to lose population at a slightly higher rate, according to a new population-movement study by Ball State University. Hamilton County, the suburban neighbor to the north, continues to reap the benefits. "It is kind of surprising that the rankings are so consistent," said Dagney Faulk, the director of research, who co-authored the study. "Hamilton County has had the highest population growth for years, it’s always at the top. Marion County has the most moving in, but they also have the most moving out. It’s the classic story that’s been going on for decades all across America."

Last December, a poll taken for the Bowen Center for Public Affairs at Ball State University and WISH-8, indicated that 54 percent of those polled opposed changing Indiana’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage. The younger a person was, the poll found, the more likely they were to support legalizing same-sex marriage.

Fishers starts search for its downtown heart Monday (Dec. 10): Scott Truex, associate professor of urban planning, is quoted about Fishers' efforts to plan a new look and identity for its downtown. "The focus has to be on 'place-making,' not architectural style," said Truex. "It is about providing the opportunity for engagement and memory; creating intersection (for people) and destinations that generate interaction, dialogue and expression."

A dive off the fiscal cliff would hurt Hoosiers (Dec. 7): Such impacts may be significant, but they shouldn't be surprising, said Ball State economist Michael J. Hicks. If the nation wants to get rid of its more than $16 trillion debt, Indiana's annual share over the next 25 years would be more than $13.2 billion -- an amount roughly equal to the state's annual budget.
Note: This story originated with the Gannett news service and distributed nationally. The Star-Press, among other papers, published over the weekend.

Michael Hicks, director of Ball State University’s Bureau of Business Research, said the study’s estimates of indirect jobs and spending that airports induce appear reasonable. But he questioned whether many of the small airports around the state can claim to be responsible for the jobs and spending numbers tallied in the survey.