government

Crusader of the Year: U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett. No one made more big cases in the past year—and his savvy press people made sure we all heard about the exploits. The crime-fighter still has plenty of fish to fry.

The measure must win simple majorities in both Statehouse chambers again this year before the question is popped to Hoosier voters. Let the pots and pans fly.

Including one of Indiana’s biggest cons, a complicated woman in her final days, a reality-TV hilljack, the crafty governor-elect, a big-deal farmer, the coupling of an actress and a corn-fed rocker, and more.

Inside Crooked Creek Elementary School’s cafeteria, Glenda Ritz wielded a scalpel, in-structing about 100 fourth-graders in the art of dissecting a spiny dogfish shark. The smell of the dead specimens, spread out on metal trays on top of blue table covers, filled the air. It was a lesson she had delivered—and a procedure she’d performed—more than a dozen times throughout her 33-year teaching career.

To understand the chasm currently separating Indiana’s political parties, all you need to do is picture their election-night celebrations. On November 6, the Democrats chose a sedate ballroom at the Downtown Marriott. The Republicans, who were marching toward supermajorities in the House and the Senate, chose the end zone at Lucas Oil Stadium.

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.”

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.