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Editor's Note, Nov. 7, 2012: Despite outspending his opponent, Glenda Ritz, by a 10-to-1 margin, Tony Bennett was unseated as Indiana's schools czar on Nov. 6. Here, our September 2011 feature profile on the man who catalyzed a lot of visceral responses—both for and against him

Maybe it’s just those of us who work on the Circle who noticed, but the big red crane that has been nesting downtown seemed to turn yellow a few days ago. In fact, the Indiana Department of Administration swapped them right under the Circle Citizen’s nose. The larger 500,000-pound crane returned to R.H. Marlin on the south side, and the smaller yellow machine was brought in to install some light drainage fittings atop the Monument. Water infiltration, after all, was a major cont

Nothing gets Mayor Greg Ballard’s attention like a cycling event. Toward the end of the lunch hour today, Ballard stopped by the Circle to chat with Indiana police officers promoting a 1,000-mile fundraising ride that starts on Monday. The ride, Cops Cycling for Indiana, lasts 13 days and circumnavigates the state. Proceeds benefit the Indiana chapter of Concerns for Police Survivors, a support system for survivors of officers killed in the line of duty.

Amid national news last week that federal funding for bike trails is in danger of coming to a screeching halt, Indianapolis announced progress in the other direction. The Indy Bike Hub YMCA, including the city’s first commuter facility for bikers, is on track to open in August.

Had the pedestrians and shopkeepers of a less-enlightened metropolis complained about aggressive panhandling (as they did in Indianapolis a few years ago), their leaders might simply have opted for rousting the offenders. Not here. In 2008, we also got donation boxes on downtown sidewalks for the benefit of the homeless. They seemed an admirable symbol of compromise: While pledging to keep an eye on problem beggars, the city also acknowledged that combating homelessness is a cause worth raising money for. Even the boxes' signage echoes the compromise, managing to scold ("No one should be bullied to give a handout") and implore ("Give Real Help") all at once.

I am channelizer drum ARC 17. I'm on West Market Street, and I am not alone.