Longform

Reaching a compromise

The Listening Tour officially began last week with a discussion including members of the newly formed IU Campus Greens. As a growing national political party and one with a strong campus and community presence, IU Greens wanted to see their party's beliefs and concerns addressed in the IDS opinion pages.

Festival combines music, religion

Screaming "Fall down and praise" into microphones, Sides of the North, a Christian hard rock band from Ohio, was the first to play at the Tau Music Fest at Whip-Poor-Will Lake near Martinsville this weekend.

Jock Jams' one-hit wonders scourge on popular music

"Who let the dogs out? Woof, woof, woof, woof." -- Baha Men, "Who Let the Dogs Out?" Who let the dogs out? Who wrote this stupid song? Why do the radio and television stations play it? Why does anyone like it? Why does this song get voted onto TRL? Why am I tempted to whack my television with a baseball bat whenever that video comes on?

Limestone Grille offers fine dining, intimate atmosphere

The Limestone Grille, 2920 E. Covenanter Drive is a hidden Bloomington treasure. Nestled behind the Kroger store on College Mall Road, most people never see this establishment and don't realize it even exists. But our meal was delightful from beginning to end, and this American grille quickly took its place as one of our favorite restaurants.

Fusing music with tradition

Total cacophony. That's the best way to describe the beginning of the Marching Hundred's Homecoming show rehearsal. The band's 290 members, crowded into a barely big enough room at the Creative Arts Center, chattered away while they tuned their instruments and looked over the music they'd just received for Saturday's halftime show. But the noise died down as director David C. Woodley approached the center of the room to make his announcements. People shushed their friends, and one girl snapped, "Shut up!"

TGIF and human sexuality

Forty minutes of last Friday was spent with a stack of 100 questions on pink attendance sheets and Brian Dodge's intrepid Human Sexuality class. Too little time, too many questions, but it was the first time I'd been given written questions by a class, and it suited the 40 minutes just fine. I brought the questions home with me, and thought I'd answer a few:

Getting guns out of the wrong hands

Vice President Al Gore has proposed several new ways to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, while maintaining the rights of law-abiding citizens to own guns.

With candidates like these, who needs presidents?

Four score and several years ago, our forefathers did a bunch of stuff that created a more perfect union, or something like that. But, albeit unbeknownst to them, they also set the wheels in motion for what could be our nation's greatest crisis since the XYZ Affair: the 2000 presidential election. (Sorry, I promise not to make anymore obscure historical references.)

Candidates debate on education issues

With the election less than a month away, Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore are firing shots in the battle for better education which have national and local ramifications. In last week's presidential debate, both candidates emphasized improving American schools and attacked many issues surrounding the improvement of education. They each agreed on the need for teacher accountability, better testing performance, localized control of schools and overall improved quality of schools.

Forum introduces candidates

With just over a month until Election Day, the first in a long series of public forums for candidates kicked off last night at Monroe County Public Library.

Libertarians push for recognition, political gains in upcoming election

America's third largest political party is switching into high gear for November's elections. The Libertarian party is supporting 113 candidates in Indiana and more than 1,400 nationwide. Libertarian Jim Billingsley, a Monroe County resident, said he wants people to know that a vote for Libertarians is not a vote wasted.

Race for coroner's office carries political overtones

Responsibilities of a coroner: 1) investigate all deaths that are a result of violence, casualty, suspicious circumstances or when they occur suddenly to someone in good health; 2) identify the decedent, establish time of death, cause of death and manner of death; 3) file a report on the findings with the coroner's office, and in some counties with the clerk's office.

Bush moves up in polls

With elections less than a month away, Texas Gov. George W. Bush has overtaken Vice President Al Gore in multiple opinion polls since last week's presidential debates. A Gallup Poll, conducted Thursday to Saturday, is the most recent organization to report a Bush lead, at 49-41 percent in Bush's favor.

Digital Democracy

With Americans able to conduct bank transactions, order airline tickets and shop for almost anything online, it might seem logical to many to cast votes from a personal computer instead of going to the polls.

Mudslingers take to the Internet

Add one cup of virtual water to one cup of virtual dirt, mix in a few political enthusiasts, and the result is a large political mudslinging fest splashed across the Internet.

Civility reigns in second debate

'Civility' was the key word this time around as presidential nominees George W. Bush and Al Gore turned in the sighs and angry expressions for a more subdued form of discussion. The debate docused primarily on issues that have had less media exposure than others during the campaign.

Candidates target swing voters

Swing voters, or those people whose loyalty is sworn to neither the Democrats nor the Republicans, could be the deciding factor in this year's presidential election.

Candidates for county council

Parties focus on differences in race for 3 council seats

Four votes decided the last county council election. This year, candidates realize the race could again be close and are campaigning hard to outline their differences. With three seats open on the council and six candidates in the running, Democrats and Republicans are holding fast to party lines.

Candidates for county commissioner