Navigating Public Policy, Technology, Health, Data, and Innovation for a Fairer Future
Sheila Kennedy, one of Indiana’s sharpest public thinkers, just dropped a masterstroke of modern commentary. Her post, AI Talks to Trump, isn’t just clever, it’s necessary. The premise is simple but profound. What if ChatGPT could summon the rhetorical spirit of Thomas Jefferson, Jesus of Nazareth, and Ronald Reagan, then ask them to speak candidly Read More “AI, Trump, and the Voices of History”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has never lacked influence. But this is the first time she’s trying to wield it like a blade. Her endorsement of Assembly member Zohran Mamdani in the 2025 New York City mayor’s race marks her debut on the political stage not just as an icon, but as a kingmaker. This is the first Read More “The Crown and the Vote: AOC’s First Kingmaker Moment”
The United States pays more for prescription drugs than any other country. That is not a function of better drugs or better care. It is a result of a deliberately engineered system that protects monopolies, encourages price discrimination, and stifles competition from the very products that could save the system billions: biosimilars. Pharmaceutical companies insist Read More “Biosimilars Are the Billion Dollar Solution We Keep Ignoring”
They say when the economy contracts, it takes a while for the layoffs to reach the surface. But in Indiana, they’ve arrived. Ivy Tech, our statewide community college system, just announced the elimination of over 200 jobs. Most people will read that and think “budget tightening.” But if you’ve worked in public education or research, Read More “The Bridge We’re Building”
Some of the smartest people I know are working three jobs, and none of them are full time. A startup CEO I met last month described his team this way: a fractional CFO from Chicago, a part-time brand strategist in Portugal, a contract developer in Vietnam, and a virtual assistant in Indianapolis. The only person Read More “Fractional Work Is Eating the Org Chart”
Modern economies reward efficiency, not reflection. Our institutions—schools, platforms, governments—are calibrated to deliver outcomes, track progress, and benchmark success. In this landscape, the arts are often treated as indulgences: budget-line luxuries, extracurricular distractions, or marketplace novelties. Yet this utilitarian bias misses something profound. The arts are not ornamental. They are infrastructural. They construct emotional intelligence, Read More “Art’s Journey to Wisdom Travels the Path of a Public Good”
NYC has one of America’s most watched mayoral races ongoing. Perhaps the most surprising issue dominating headlines is not crime or housing. It is childcare. Candidates are proposing free care for toddlers, city-run after-school programs, extended school days, and tax-funded support for working parents. Voters are listening. Polls show overwhelming support for universal care for Read More “Why the Next Superpower Will Subsidize Daycare”
It began with a cough. Then a fever. By the time the red rash appeared on Ian Rojas’s neck, the pediatric unit at Dallas Methodist had already started pulling masks from storage. A disease thought to be a relic of another era, one that once claimed hundreds of young lives in the United States each Read More “How Measles Came Back to America”
Homelessness in America is not a crisis of ideas. It is a crisis of follow-through. Every few years, headlines declare a renewed focus. Tent encampments become election issues. Cities deploy task forces, declare emergencies, and promise action. But if you trace the arc of U.S. homelessness policy over time, one thing becomes painfully clear: we Read More “Learning from What Already Works”
Most people believe that if a study proves something works, the system will change. That is not how it goes. We live in a country where the machinery of research is world-class, but the machinery of implementation is largely improvised. Brilliant people generate important findings. But the policies those findings should inform rarely shift in Read More “The Broken Bridge Between Research and Policy”