Politics

Richard Lugar was the 44th mayor of Indianapolis, and the first to successfully seek reelection (before then, city law prohibited the mayors from serving consecutive terms)

Of her half-century marriage, she says, “When I think about it, I wonder, ‘How could 50 years have gone by so fast?’ I used to think people who celebrated their 50th were old, decrepit, and in wheelchairs—not still enjoying life.”

He loved to tell dirty jokes, and reportedly hated being called “Abe.”

Girl Power: As the new City-County Council president—the first woman to hold the job—Lewis has been leading the push for a new, more comprehensive smoking ban.

I. The Vonneguts were here (and still are). The new Kurt Vonnegut mural along Mass Ave has made the likeness of Indy’s most famous author a permanent fixture of the cityscape. And the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, opened in 2011, allows visitors to lay fingers on the very typewriter keys the giant once tapped (and […]

“Zach is the model of a modern LGBT candidate,” says one political observer. “He has done it all on his own. He didn’t wait for the party boss to tell him it was okay.”

This month, Republican Mayor Greg Ballard and his Democratic opponent, Melina Kennedy, will spell out their positions on every major issue facing the city. Loosening up never hurts anyone, so we posed a few personal questions instead. Surprisingly, they found some common ground.

Editor’s Note: As Richard Lugar has lost his battle for a seventh U.S. Senate term, we look back at our trip to Russia with him, published in December 2007.

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