September 2009 Entries
Friday Sept. 18, 2009
Elkhart County’s 2010 budget deliberations — three thrilling days last week and two more this week — are over. The final numbers are still being tallied and formal adoption of next year's spending plan is set for next Thursday.
In case you couldn’t make it, here are a few highlights from the discussions:
Biggest non-cut cuts: $300,000 for new squad cars was removed from the sheriff’s department budget, part of the general fund. But if the 2009 spending plan is any indication, money may just be sought in 2010 from another fund to buy the...
Wednesday Sept. 16, 2009
Just say no to high-speed rail, says the Cato Institute.
Some Elkhart County officials are eager to see a Chicago-based high-speed rail line pass through Elkhart County. The Washington D.C.-based Cato, though, blasts high-speed rail - pushed by the Obama Administration as part of the federal stimulus package - as a costly, inefficient means of travel.
“High-speed rail is a technology whose time has come - and gone,” said a Cato report last week. See the report here.
Interest from Elkhart County officials stems in part from a desire not to be left in the...
Wednesday Sept. 9, 2009
Those taking part in a handful of new Elkhart County groups worried the country is headed in the wrong direction gripe mainly about overreaching.
The federal government — even under President Bush, but especially under President Obama — is assuming powers that aren’t its to take, in...