I am leaving my dream job to pursue new dreams.

A long-stalled push to eliminate gerrymandering suddenly enjoys some momentum.

A day at Danville's Andy Griffith Show themed Mayberry Cafe

Avon grad among four local transfers trying to become starting QBs

The third-ranked Orioles knocked off Ben Davis 41-17 with strong QB play and a defense that just keeps scoring.

The new offensive scheme allowing Tri-West graduate to become a difference maker for IU offense.

Plainfield's volleyball team won nine matches in 2015. This year, they've won 11 matches already. Here's what changed.

Danville senior Ella Collier is Hendricks County's all-time leading scorer. And it didn't happen by accident.

Olivia Head, 17, founded Oinking Acres in Brownsburg and has rescued up to 160 potbellied pigs and some other animals.

Oinking Acres Pig Rescue and Sanctuary is making a difference in the Brownsburg community by saving more than 150 potbellied pigs.

A look at Danville, Indiana, during the coronavirus pandemic

"We all struggled with personal protective equipment in the funeral industry," said Eric Bell, funeral director and owner of David A. Hall Mortuary in Pittsboro, Ind.

Eric Bell, a funeral director in Pittsboro, Ind., says the longest he's waited to hold a memorial service is two months for a deceased person. He explains why.

The Western world remains where it has been for some time, delicately poised between anaemic recovery and a shock that could tip us back into economic contraction.

Perhaps the most conspicuous manifestation of the instability is that investors can't make up their minds whether the greater risk comes from surging inflation that stems largely from China's irrepressible growth or the deflationary impact of the unsustainable burden of debt on peripheral and not-so-peripheral eurozone (and other) economies.

And whence do investors flee when it all looks scary and uncertain, especially when there's a heightened probability of specie debasement - to gold, of course.

Unsurprisingly, with the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schauble, implying that a writedown of Greece's sovereign obligations is an option, and with consumer inflation in China hitting 5.4% in March, there has been a flight to the putative safety of precious metal: the gold price hit a new record of $1,480.50 per ounce for June delivery yesterday and could well break through $1,500 within days (say the analysts). Silver is hitting 30-year highs.

In a way, if a sovereign borrower were to turn €100bn of debts (for example) into an obligation to repay 70bn euros, that would be a form of inflation - it has the same economic impact, a degradation of value, for the lender. But it is a localised inflation; only the specific creditors suffer directly (though there may be all sorts of spillover damage for others).

And only this morning there was another blow to the perceived value of a chunk of euro-denominated sovereign obligations. Moody's has downgraded Irish government debt to one level above junk - which is the equivalent of a bookmaker lengthening the odds the on that country's ability to avoid controlled or uncontrolled default.

Some would say that the Irish government has made a start in writing down debt, with the disclosure by the Irish finance minister Michael Noonan yesterday that he would want to impose up to 6bn euros of losses on holders of so-called subordinated loans to Irish banks.

But I suppose the big story in the eurozone, following the decision by the European Central Bank to raise interest rates, is that the region's excessive government and bank debts are more likely to be cut down to manageable size by a restructuring - writedowns of the amount owed - than by generalised inflation that erodes the real value of the principal.

The decision of the ECB to raise rates has to be seen as a policy decision that - in a worst case - a sovereign default by an Ireland, or Greece or Portugal would be less harmful than endemic inflation.

But is that right? How much damage would be wreaked if Greece or Ireland or Portugal attempted to reduce the nominal amount they owe to levels they felt they could afford?

Let's push to one side the reputational and economic costs to those countries - which are quite big things to ignore, by the way - and simply look at the damage to external creditors from a debt write down.

And I am also going to ignore the difference between a planned, consensual reduction in sums owed - a restructuring that takes place with the blessing of the rest of the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund - and a unilateral declaration of de facto bankruptcy by a Greece, Ireland or Portugal (although the shock value of the latter could have much graver consequences for the health of the financial system).

So the first question is how much of the impaired debt is held by institutions and investors that could not afford to take the losses.

Now I hope it isn't naive to assume that pension funds, insurance companies, hedge funds and central banks that hold Greek, or Irish or Portuguese debt can cope with losses generated by a debt restructuring.

The reason for mild optimism in that sense is that those who finance investments made by pension funds and insurers - that's you and me by the way - can't get their money out quickly or easily. We simply have to grin and bear the losses to the value of our savings, when the stewards of our savings make lousy investment decisions.

As for hedge funds, when they make bad bets, they can suffer devastating withdrawals of finance by their investors, as and when the returns generated swing from positive to negative. But so long as those hedge funds haven't borrowed too much, so long as they are not too leveraged - and most aren't these days - the impact on the financial system shouldn't be significant.

Finally, if the European Central Bank - for example - ends up incurring big losses on its substantial holdings of Greek, Portuguese and Irish debt, it can always be recapitalised by solvent eurozone nations, notably by Germany and France.

However this is to ignore the node of fragility in the financial system, the faultline - which is the banking industry.

In the financial system's network of interconnecting assets and liabilities, it is the banks as a cluster that always have the potential to amplify the impact of debt writedowns, in a way that can wreak wider havoc.

That's built into their main function, as maturity transformers. Since banks' creditors can always demand their money back at whim, but banks can't retrieve their loans from their creditors (homeowners, businesses, governments), bank losses above the norm can be painful both for banks and for the rest of us.

Any event that undermines confidence in the safety of money lent to banks, will - in a best case - make it more difficult for a bank to borrow and lend, and will, in the worst case, tip the bank into insolvency.

Which, of course, is what we saw on a global systemic scale from the summer of 2007 to the end of 2008. That's when creditors to banks became increasingly anxious about potential losses faced by banks from a great range of loans and investments, starting with US sub-prime.

So what we need to know is whether the banking system could afford losses generated by Greek, Irish and Portuguese defaults.

And to assess this, we need to know how much overseas banks have lent to the governments of these countries and also - probably - to the banks of these countries, in that recent painful experience has told us that bank liabilities become sovereign liabilities, when the going gets tough.

According to the latest published analysis by the Bank for International Settlements (the central bankers'central bank), the total exposure of overseas banks to the governments and banks of Greece, Portugal and Ireland is "just" $362.2bn, or £224bn,

Now let's make the heroic guess that a rational writedown of this debt to a sustainable level would see a third of it written off - which would generate $121bn (£75bn) of losses for banks outside the countries concerned.

If those loans were spread relatively evenly between banks around the world, losses on that scale would be a headache, but nothing worse.

But this tainted cookie doesn't crumble quite like that. Just under a third of the relevant exposure to public sector and banks of the three debt-challenged states, some $118bn, sits on the balance sheets of German banks, according to the BIS.

For all the formidable strength of the German economy, the balance sheets of Germany's banks are by no means the strongest in the world. German banks would not be able to shrug off $39bn or £24bn of potential losses on Portuguese, Irish and Greek loans as a matter of little consequence.

This suggests that it is in the German national interest to help Portugal, Ireland and Greece avoid default.

If you are a Greek, Portuguese or Irish citizen this might bring on something of a wry smile - because you would probably be aware that the more punitive of the bailout terms imposed by the eurozone on these countries (or about to be imposed in Portugal's case) is the expression of a German desire to spank reckless borrowers.

But as I have mentioned here before, reckless lending can be the moral (or immoral) equivalent of reckless borrowing. And German banks were not models of Lutheran prudence in that regard.

If punitive bailout terms make it more likely that Ireland, Greece or Portugal will eventually default, you might wonder whether there has been an element of masochism in the German government's negotiating position.

You might have noticed that my mind (and body) have been away from the day job. But I am so gobsmacked by the comprehensive defeat of the banks in the PPI case that my fingers felt compelled to tap on smartphone keys.

What probably matters most is that the judge has ruled against the banks on all important issues.

And two really mattered: first that the Financial Services Authority's principles governing the behaviour of financial firms are a proper basis for compensation awards; and that FSA rules based on those principles are necessary but not sufficient for judging whether financial firms engaged in mis-selling.

Frankly if the banks had succeeded in proving otherwise, it would have been utterly disastrous for the whole system of consumer protection in the UK, both the existing system and the new one being erected by the government.

As it turns out, it is the implications of today's ruling for the banks that are serious.

Unless they appeal (and I will come back to that question) they face having to make compensation payments of around £4bn to around two and a half million people (around a quarter of all PPI policies were allegedly mis-sold).

The damage is greatest for the two banks in which we as taxpayers have big stakes, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland (which is just dandy for all of us) - largely because they have the largest shares of the retail banking market.

Lloyds faces the biggest bill: both it and RBS look as though they will have to pay compensation in excess of £1bn each.

That Lloyds and RBS appear to have done the most mis-selling in this instance will be seen by some as further evidence that their particularly powerful positions in retail banking is bad for the welfare of consumers - it will be taken as strengthening the argument of the Independent Commission on Banking that reinforcing competition is a priority (see my recent posts Banking Commission wants firewall around retail banking and Banking Commission: Retail banking must be ring-fenced).

The tab for Barclays and HSBC will also be pretty steep - some hundreds of millions of pounds each.

Given that few lawyers in my acquaintance rated the banks' chances of winning the case terribly highly, it is slightly odd that they used the courts to minimise or delay making restitution - especially at a time when they are not exactly the most popular institutions in the UK.

It is even more curious that they have fought and fought to limit their liability in the light of the two main examples of mis-selling identified by the FSA.

First there were all those refusals to make payouts under the loan insurance plans to those who had a pre-existing medical condition - when it is clear that relevant customers had no idea that pre-existing medical conditions were grounds for non-payment.

Second, it is a logical absurdity that the policies should have been sold by the banks to the self-employed, given that is impossible for a self-employed person to be made redundant.

So what next? Well the banks could make those two and a half million victims of mis-selling wait another couple of years to be made whole by appealing to the Supreme Court.

Or they could take the view that the prospects of winning in any court are too slim to outweigh the potential for further damage to their respective public images from being seen to defy an unambiguous legal judgement that they let down millions of their customers.

Unless of course they regard their reputations as so impaired that there's nothing left to lose from prevarication.

IndyCar Series driver James Hinchcliffe has asked to sit for this "Dancing With the Stars" interview because his body is too tired – his feet too sore – to stand.

Both school systems are moving to eLearning over coronavirus concerns. They're the second and third districts in the metro area to do so.

Schools across the state are suspending in-person instruction, canceling travel and asking students to stay away.

The school district provided free grab-and-go breakfasts and lunches for students Monday. It will do it again next Monday (March 23).

In less than 24 hours, teachers organized a parade of nearly 40 cars to say hello to students from afar.

Colleges across Indiana are navigating how to handle refunds for students who have had to vacate residence halls during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The April Fools' prank is being shared in Indiana and other states across the nation.

During coronavirus, Indiana schools turn to donors to fill gaps in access to devices and home internet as state and federal resources lag behind.

While learning loss is a concern, ESL teachers are finding ways to stay connected, even if that means doing more in students' native languages.

Join IndyStar and #ThankATeacher during Teacher Appreciation Week. These are some educators that are making the best of a bad situation.

As colleges look to the fall semester, they're faced with the uncertainty of what it will look like. But plans are underway.

This Teacher Appreciation Week, IndyStar asked readers to help recognize some of the amazing teachers going above and beyond during these times.

Ex-juiz da Lava Jato, Moro anunciou sua demissão do governo e acusou o presidente Bolsonaro de tentar interferir em investigações.

BBC News Brasil apresenta situação do país no cenário internacional a partir de cinco dados: taxa de espalhamento da doença, taxa de morte por 1 milhão de habitantes, taxa de teste por mil habitantes, o número de dias que leva para dobrar o total de casos registrados e a previsão do PIB (soma de todas as riquezas produzidas) em 2020 e 2021.

Para Mirian Goldenberg, que pesquisa envelhecimento há 20 anos, "estamos assistindo horrorizados a discursos sórdidos, recheados de estigmas, preconceitos e violências contra os mais velhos".

Observadores do setor preveem mudanças nos aeroportos e no tráfego de pessoas, além de temer demissões em massa, em meio a uma grande incerteza sobre o futuro próximo.

Enquanto o fundador do Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, apoia medidas de isolamento, Elon Musk, da Tesla, está cada vez mais cético.

Estudo feito com trabalhadores de quatro Estados brasileiros apontou que 89,7% dos entrevistados tiveram ganhos iguais ou menores em relação ao período antes da pandemia.

Eduardo Massad diz que próxima pandemia depois de coronavírus deve ser avassaladora e defende que o mundo aprenda mais sobre medidas de distanciamento social.

Repórter da BBC volta a entrevistar líder de grupo após vídeo que virou meme.

A look at where locals land on new national lists

Purdue and Indiana have prioritized the Valparaiso product for their 2019 class, but they aren't short on competition.

Right now, there's a 1 in 8 chance the Hoosiers land the consensus top-10 talent out of Minnesota. But they're competing with NCAA royalty.

Zeke Nnaji, a four-star, top-30 power forward from just outside Minneapolis, is arguably as good a pianist as he is a basketball player.

Hamilton Southeastern senior averaged 8.4 points and 5.7 rebounds as a junior

Anderson, a 6-7 wing from South Bend, put his name in the transfer portal exactly a week ago.

Chatard's Miranda Stickel was so determined to return to state, she ran on legs she knew might break. Then the coronavirus pandemic ended her career.

The 64-team 'Build-A-Team' first-round results are in as bracket moves into second round this week with roster additions

Charles Johnson and his wife, Kay, rarely missed a boys or girls basketball game or football game at Warren Central. He died of the coronavirus.

In 2018, Gray was honored as the state's top coach at the Indiana Sports Awards.

Carmel and IU grad Sage Steele will co-host and star athletes like Drew Brees and Venus Williams will announce winners during the online broadcast.

If you somehow find yourself visiting Clipperton Island and lack things to do (understandably), try running around the island and timing yourself; the record circumnavigation time is one hour and 17 minutes.

IndyStar reached out to every candidate to ask questions about topics Hoosiers care about. Here's what the Republicans on the ballot said.

So far, Indiana leaders haven't made a decision to postpone the May primary over coronavirus despite decisions to do so in Ohio and Kentucky.

Indiana's 2020 primary has been moved to June 2 due to the coronavirus outbreak. Here's everything you need to know about the primary.