Jakienle

Chef Jonathan Brooks of the Milktooth fame needs no introduction. If you don’t know who he is, you can educate yourself here, here and here! While Jon’s been busy working on his next (highly anticipated!) eatery, we thought we’d pick his brain about the places he likes to chow down at when he’s off the clock.

Unsurprisingly, Brooks is quite well-versed in the art of dining out. Here are his “blowin up” spots to eat and drink in Indianapolis.

From Recess to Boogie Burger as we all know there have been far too many restaurant closings of late. In the spirit of playing things a bit less close to the vest, here are 5 of my favorite restaurants that you might have missed.

Bosphorus Cafe (935 S East St, Indianapolis)

I love ducking into this place alone in the evening when im feeling lazy or sad, its warm, and the hummus platter and dolmas are an obviously delicious choice but the Kofte, Stuffed Eggplant, and Sultans Delight are even better.

Fitzgeralds Lunch House (9130 Otis Ave, Lawrence)

A great place to grab lunch before or after a brisk hike around Fort Harrison State Park.

The Mac n Cheese, the chili, the Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding and the Cuban sandwich are all served with a side of friendly sarcasm and weirdness.

Tian Fu Asian Bistro 3508 W 86th St, Indianapolis

At first glance you might pass this place by as another basic strip mall Chinese American joint…and the normal menu is not too far off from just that but ask for the ‘other’ dogeared paper menu and enjoy Ants Climbing a Tree (sichuan glass noodles with ground pork), West Lake Beef Soup, Dried Tofu Stir Fry with Leeks, or Crispy Pigs Ear Salad.

Jamaican Style Jerk 7023 Michigan Road, Indianapolis

My boy and me love the braised oxtail, rice and peas, fried plantains, and jerk chicken but what I can’t get enough of is the hot jerk sauce that’s served on the side and good on everything.

Tlaolli 2830 E Washinton St, Indianapolis

Small menu that is very fresh and simple. I love the black bean and avocado torta, the turkey tamale, and the mix and match taco plate! Make sure to peek in next door and see what’s going on at Cathead Press!

Coat Check Coffee 401 E. Michigan St., 317-550-5008 The layers of folded-over-folded dough have a chewy, moist texture that makes these good-looking creations extra decadent, especially the hefty chocolate croissant, and the divine almond croissant gussied up with a cream topping. The Gallery Pastry Shop 1101 E. 54th St., 317-820-5526 The burnished gloss of this SoBro bakery’s plain croissant—the breadiest of the bunch—would go well with a shot of espresso and a striped shirt. The little rolled chocolate croissant is four sweet bites of elegance. Circle City Sweets 222 E. Market St., 317-632-3644 The City Market bakery stocks its pretty display stands with jumbo, over-the-top versions of the delicate sweet. The raspberry-and-goat-cheese croissant tastes like a highly evolved Toaster Strudel, and the massive puff with…View Original Post

The multi-talented musician, of Nickel Creek and I'm With Her, has followed a wine track from kegs to the Côte d'Or

Almost anyone who came of age in the ’70s and ’80s spent some leisure time strolling the spacious halls of an enclosed shopping mall. They popped up like dandelions across suburbia as historic downtowns collapsed. By the early ’90s, most medium-sized cities were busy building a multi-floor mall in the hopes of revitalizing the hollowed-out urban areas the malls themselves had helped to create. And in Indy, from 1995 onward, people thronged to Circle Centre. The urban-suburban hybrid worked well for about 20 years. But as online retail took off, Americans retreated from shopping at brick-and-mortar stores as a leisure experience. After losing Nordstrom in 2011, the owners of Circle Centre—Simon, Lilly, and the City of Indianapolis—sought a replacement department store, but none took the…View Original Post

The dream of seeing Top Chef judges cringe while tasting St. Elmo shrimp cocktail will have to wait. Oh, burn! Top Chef will film the next season in Kentucky, which leaves us searching for answers in our bowls of pork belly ramen. If producers are willing to use Middle American locations after filming in food capitals like New York, Los Angeles, and Charleston, South Carolina, why not here? Indy has been gobbling up praise for its dining scene lately: We’ve been called America’s Most Underrated Food City by Condé Nast Traveler and one of America’s Favorite Food Cities by Food & Wine, and Eater just named Martha Hoover Empire Builder of the Year. Plus, if we’re good enough for Kimbal Musk, aren’t we ready for…View Original Post

One reason some cite for America’s success is that we’ve been a high trust society. While some caution was always prudent, you didn’t constantly have to keep watching out for other people and businesses to be scamming you. It seems to me that this high-trust society has been eroding for sometime, paralleling the decline in trust of our institutions. A small example would be that when I was a kid in my home town people left their doors unlocked and often their keys in their cars. People don’t do that today. You have to have things locked up or risk theft.

This news item goes along with the same theme. LL Bean just announced it was changing its guaranteed policy. Here was their statement:

A Letter to Our Customers,

Since 1912, our mission has been to sell high-quality products that inspire and enable people to enjoy the outdoors. Our commitment to customer service has earned us your trust and respect, as has our guarantee, which ensures that we stand behind everything we sell.

Increasingly, a small, but growing number of customers has been interpreting our guarantee well beyond its original intent. Some view it as a lifetime product replacement program, expecting refunds for heavily worn products used over many years. Others seek refunds for products that have been purchased through third parties, such as at yard sales.

Based on these experiences, we have updated our policy. Customers will have one year after purchasing an item to return it, accompanied by proof of purchase. After one year, we will work with our customers to reach a fair solution if a product is defective in any way.

This update adds clarity to our policy and will only affect a small percentage of returns. It will also ensure we can continue to honor one of the best guarantees in retail, with no impact for the vast majority of our customers. To learn more, please view our full return policy at llbean.com.

L.L.Bean has stood for quality, service, trust, and getting people outdoors ever since my great-grandfather founded our company over 100 years ago – and that will never change. Thank you for being a loyal customer and we look forward to continuing to inspire and enable you to Be an Outsider.

Sincerely,
Shawn O. Gorman
L.L.Bean Executive Chairman

Today, the number of scammers in America is going up. So companies like LL Bean that used to be able to take a high trust approach for many decades, assuming very few customers would abuse its generous returns policy, now have to change direction. Note that their new policy is still very generous.

Lowering of trust creates sand in the gears of relationships and transactions. This is only one example, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

Indiana landmarks will host a talk by former Milwaukee mayor and CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism , John Norquist, on thetopic of “Urban Freeways and the Value …

The Saarinen Tulip table, original to the house, is still a focal point in the dining room. The set’s captain chairs sit in the entryway.Bob Coscarelli Imagine it’s 1961. You’re thumbing through your latest issue of Life magazine. Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris are on the cover, along with a teaser for the Ann Landers column. Inside, there’s a write-up on a new developer out of Akron, Ohio, that’s shipping prefabricated homes across the country: “In the prepackaged style of powdered eggs and coffee, there will soon be an instant house with an instant kitchen … delivered in two trailer trucks, and in 48 hours … assembled down to the last fixture and appliance.” What I wouldn’t do to have one of these, you might…View Original Post

Workingman’s Friend (234 N. Belmont Ave., 317-636-2027), the downtown restaurant famous for its smashed and crispy-around-the-edges hamburgers, turned 100 years old last week. The Indianapolis Star’s Will Higgins took an in-depth look at the history of the crowd favorite, which was founded in 1918 by Macedonian immigrant Louis Stamatkin to feed local railroad workers. A century later, the restaurant is still in the family, owned and operated by Becky Stamatkin, granddaughter of Louis. Greiner’s, the busy Garfield Park shop that’s been serving sub sandwiches since 1969, opens its second location this week. Northsiders can get their Greiner’s fix in Nora (1738 E. 86th St.), right across the street from North Central High School. Owner Lisa Moyer has added a breakfast menu and craft coffee service…View Original Post

There’s a moment in Jason Isbell shows that comes during the second verse of “Cover Me Up,” a vivid love letter that’s also the sound of a guy falling to the floor and smashing into pieces. Isbell sings of some definitively indefensible booze-fueled infraction, and midway through it the crowd starts cheering, and this pre-emptive cheer builds on itself and builds some more, and by the time Isbell gets to the payoff line about sobering up and swearing off liquor “forever this time,” this cheer sounds like a wave, an instinctive release of support, and understanding, and either the memory of or wish for committing to the kind of all-or-nothing change required to reclaim a life. It’s an incredible few seconds of direct nerve-to-nerve contact,…View Original Post

He says Food Policy Action’s lobbying efforts aren’t working; he’ll work instead to help elect “better” lawmakers.

The chamber and other coalition members favor options for the interstate project that would be more neighborhood-friendly.

The 20 finalists for Amazon’s HQ2Courtesy of Amazon Amazon announced Thursday morning that its location search for a second North America headquarters, dubbed HQ2, has narrowed to a list of 20 cities. Indianapolis made the cut. With an expected $5 billion investment in construction and as many as 50,000 jobs, Amazon choosing Indianapolis for HQ2 would forever change the city’s and state’s cultural and political landscape. According to Amazon, “HQ2 will be a full equal to our current campus in Seattle. In addition to Amazon’s direct hiring and investment, construction and ongoing operation of Amazon HQ2 is expected to create tens of thousands of additional jobs and tens of billions of dollars in additional investment in the surrounding community.” With that in mind, what are…View Original Post

College football is the sport we all love to know. But what if it crowned its national champion via land conquest? As diligently shown to us by Reddit user nbingham196, Ohio State would have ended the season with a controlling interest in the future of the country.

The final stats of the season:

Rank	Team	Territories	Population	Area	Counties
1	Ohio State	31	96,339,183	1,616,013	911
2	Alabama	24	48,571,317	505,978	650
3	Pittsburgh	22	44,003,805	278,054	433
4	UCF	13	34,100,581	138,784	187
5	USF	10	20,350,361	196,041	240
6	Appalachian State	5	13,109,365	156,174	138
7	Louisiana Tech	5	13,303,556	66,228	120
8	Northwestern	5	7,860,108	107,564	117
9	Penn State	4	6,714,499	169,002	181
10	Boise State	3	11,161,966	106,585	17
11	North Dakota State	3	3,880,765	30,997	56
12	FAU	2	3,700,840	22,915	32
13	MTSU	1	4,568,651	79,789	8
14	Florida State	1	4,483,416	55,555	44
15	Duke	1	4,282,173	5,459	9

And here is how is how the Buckeye conquest came to be, in GIF form, from Alaska to New York:

Turns out that win over UNLV was more lucrative than we first thought. For fans unfamiliar with the Northwest, it's a beautiful section of the country lush with natural resources. It will do just fine.

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Thank goodness we already binged on Stranger Things and The Crown. Beginning next week, David Letterman—Indiana’s native son and the longest-serving host in U.S. late-night television—is set to return to our screens. On Friday, January 12, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman will debut on Netflix with President Barack Obama as the first guest. In a press release in August 2017 announcing the series, Netflix indicated that the funnyman will explore “in-depth conversations with extraordinary people, and in-the-field segments expressing his curiosity and humor. In each hour-long episode, Letterman will conduct a long-form conversation with a singular guest—and will also explore topics on his own, away from the studio.” The series will stream on a monthly basis from February to June. The lineup of…View Original Post

Before we jump fork-first into the new year of local dining, here’s a look back at some of the staff and contributor favorites from 2017. From national media darlings to hidden gems, it was a delicious year to be in Indianapolis. Joe Ball, Digital Editor Crudité at Bar One Fourteen (114 E. 49th St., 317-946-0114) “I’ve always liked vegetables, maybe even loved a few. But I’ve never been moved by the power of vegetables the way David Hoover’s cold platter of crudité left me craving every bite, every fresh flavor. After that magical moment, I only ever want to experience vegetables that same way. I dream of Bar One Fourteen’s crudité.” Crudite platter Julia Spalding, Dining Editor Big Bowl Combination Beef Pho at Egg Roll…View Original Post

Good news, everyone: The ’80s-era metal gods in Iron Maiden are still amazing, like you can’t believe how amazing they are, it’s ridiculous, especially since they’re all like, what, 60? Singer Bruce Dickinson even had throat cancer a few years ago, but he worked his voice back and sounds perfect now. Did you know he had to get specially certified to fly the band and crew around in the band’s special 747, the one with the huge Eddie decal on the side? I did know that, and I’m glad I did because it makes keeping up with Ed Rudisell significantly easier. We’re tucked in a post-lunch-rush corner of Rook, Rudisell’s sleek third restaurant, ostensibly to discuss his portfolio of Indianapolis eateries, his forthcoming Fountain Square…View Original Post

Now seven seasons in, the event sits to cost the Hoosiers national opportunities as conference schedules expand. And it probably stands in the way of the Kentucky series returning, too.

It’s a good idea. Or at least a good enough one. In a state that loves its college basketball perhaps more than any other, getting the state’s four top programs together for an annual summit seems like it should work. It seems like common sense.

And for the most part, it has worked. Now seven iterations deep into Morgan Burke’s idea to revive the old Hoosier Classic of days gone by, it’s provided a boost to college basketball in the state, provided another marquee non-conference game for programs involved, generated a nice chunk of cash for the universities, and provided some can’t-miss moments — some good, some bad. Alex Barlow, if you’re reading this, I hope you’re having a miserable Saturday.

Despite that, there’s a growing quorum at this blog in particular that the event’s has run its course -- and it’s probably time for Indiana to step away. “HA! HA! SCARED INDIANA FANS WANT AWAY FROM THE BIG BAD BULLDOGS,” you remark. But, no, no, not quite. As someone who watched Indiana catch a 20-some-point home L to Greg Lansing cackling at the stupidity of the situation, I promise y’all we’re not running from an in-state loss to a respectable power program.

Here’s why it’s time for Indiana to probably step away when the current agreement ends after 2021 — if not sooner.

The Crossroads Classic takes up a crucial date on the non-conference schedule. It could be used for a matchup with, yep, Kentucky.

If you hear one, it’s the most common complaint for Indiana fans about the event. Indiana’s long-standing commitment to the in-state event has already precluded the Hoosiers from playing in other big time events. That reality’s about to get even more pronounced in the future, as the Big Ten shifts to 20-game conference schedules and early December weekend conference games become more common.

It’s widely well-established from multiple sides that Tom Crean & Indiana wanted to participate in the CBS Sports Classic when the event was formed, but the event took place on the same date as the Crossroads in 2014, 2015, and 2016. The in-state event took preference. The CBS event is a week later this year, but it’d be scheduling seppuku to book the Crossroads & another high-profile event alongside Indiana’s other early-season commitments. Consider what Indiana’s already committed to in the early season schedule, next season as an example:

• Early-season Gavitt Games matchup against Big East program (annual)
• ACC/Big Ten Challenge (annual)
• Louisville series (through 2018)
• Likely two early December conference games starting in 2018 (annual)
• Jimmy V Classic in New York vs. West Virginia (2018 only)
• Crossroads Classic (annual)

None of that even ponders early-season tipoff events such as the Maui Invitational or the Battle 4 Atlantis, which Indiana would assuredly like to add back to the schedule in the future. Or Archie Miller’s stated desire to get a matchup with Arizona & brother Sean on the books.

Or, you know, the reinstatement of the Indiana-Kentucky rivalry. In the world of a 20-game conference schedule, a couple things have to come off the books to make that happen. If Indiana wishes to be a national program and recruit like it, you can’t schedule like a regional one.

Oh, and if that’s not reason enough, it should be a common sense choice because, well...

Other programs aren’t pulling their weight at the gate at the Crossroads

Walk in Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Crossroads Classic day, and well, it’s hard to not feel like you’re in a new & improved Assembly Hall.

I’ll admit this isn’t a scientific calculation, but it’s probably not a stretch to guess that the last few events have featured an arena that’s 75% covered in crimson. Some of that’s to be expected. But Purdue fans, for whatever reason, haven’t seemed to take to the event. Butler’s a school of 4,000 undergraduates with a decade of being a real top-flight program — and it shows. Notre Dame? You’d be hard pressed to find more than friends & family of players in the stands.

Results on the court aside, the Crossroads Classic seems to need Indiana far more than Indiana needs it.

The odd-year matchups don’t have much of a punch

Purdue-Notre Dame & Butler-Indiana have evolved into good enough matchups. There’s bad blood from a football rivalry gone stale in the first, and dramatic moments in Butler-Indiana matchups have carried the entire event. They’re good games! They could also exist outside the framework of this burdensome series.

Even with the Irish one of the best teams in America, Notre Dame-Indiana & Purdue-Butler just don’t seem to pack the same punch as the other side of the matchup. Oh, and one more thing.

GOOD GOD EVERY YEAR WE PLAY THIS THING WE HAVE TO HERE ABOUT POOR AGGRIEVED BUTLER FROM EVERYONE. STOP. STOP. STOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP IT.

Look at this. Look at it.

Disband this event if for no other reason to eliminate Butler Guy from your TL, who continues to seek validation for a thing absolutely no one disputes.

Last week saw the long-awaited addition to the Patachou family of restaurants: Crispy Bird (115 E. 49th St., 317-744-0000), which serves up this enchanting salad of hydro bibb lettuce, radish, crispy chicken skin, pear, and herbed buttermilk vinaigrette. Crispy Bird’s hydro bibb salad   Embrace the cold weather with a warming cup of pork pozole, a tasty pork-shoulder-and-hominy soup with the famous 18-hour fermented garda roll from Subito (44 Virginia Ave., 317-220-8211). Subito’s Pork Pozole Better be prepared to brave the line at The Taco Shop (43 E. 9th St., 317-964-0538), which makes a limited amount of tacos each day and often sells out before the lunch break ends. The carnitas are marinated pork shoulder topped with white onions and cilantro, ready for a dousing…View Original Post

The second-oldest bar in Indianapolis will soon close its doors, clearing the way for one of the city's most dynamic restaurateurs to take over the space.

Ridge Monte Bello has continued to shine brightly since its famous victory over Bordeaux at the 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting. Below, William Kelley tastes and rates vintages to look out for, including the rather special 2013 wine. Copy by Chris Mercer and Stephen Brook, and tasting notes by William Kelley.

Ridge Monte Bello has been a Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant blend since 1975, also including the classic Bordeaux varieties of Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.

It was originally a pure Cabernet wine, and the name cemented its rank among California wine royalty when the 1971 vintage beat top Bordeaux in the now-famous 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting. Monte Bello is made high up in the Santa Cruz mountains at up to 850 metres above sea level.

Read more about Monte Bello history, winemaking and terroir below the wine reviews.

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For premium members: Ridge Monte Bello wines to try

All tasting notes and scores by William Kelley. 

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History

Ridge Monte Bello Cabernet was already beating a path in the 1960s.

It was the 1971 Monte Bello that won in Paris, two years after the now renowned Paul Draper joined as a philosophy graduate-turned winemaker.

Yet, Ridge Vineyards was born in 1885 when Italian immigrant doctor Osea Perrone bought 180 acres of land on Monte Bello Ridge in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

He built a winery and in 1892 produced the first vintage of a wine named ‘Ridge Monte Bello’.

The property was later abandoned and Cabernet wasn’t planted there until after the Second World War, when a group of Stanford research engineers began producing Monte Bello Cabernet.

They replanted the Monte Bello terraces and were making 3,000 cases of Cab per year by the time Draper arrived in 1969.

Draper has since become one of the best known ambassadors for California wine and his non-interventionist and more ‘Old World’ oriented approach is interwoven with the Ridge Monte Bello style.

Ridge Monte Bello terroir

Words below by Stephen Brook, Decanter magazine, 2016.

With vines at between 400m and 800m, the Monte Bello vineyard is, according to Draper, one of the highest and coolest Cabernet Sauvignon sites in California.

The soil is decomposing Franciscan greenstone mixed with clay over a subsoil of 100-million-year old limestone, which is very rare in California. The average age of the vines is more than 30 years and yields do not exceed 30hl/ha.

Elevation keeps the site free of sea fogs, but the ocean is just 24km to the west so the vines still benefit from maritime influence.

The climate is as cool as Bordeaux, but much drier in summer, and its imprint on the Cabernet from here is relatively high acidity and a taut structure that requires bottle age to show at its best.

The wine

Draper finds a short maceration necessary to avoid over-extraction of tough tannins, which typically means racking off the skins at between 1% and 4% residual sugar. The fermentation then continues to dryness.

The blend is made up soon after the malolactic fermentation is completed and between 10% and 20% press wine is added.

Monte Bello differs from other prestigious Californian Cabernets in being aged primarily in new, air-dried American oak, as Draper has always wanted to avoid making a wine that could be regarded as an imitation claret [for all his traditional leanings].

More articles like this:

• Santa Cruz Mountains producers to look out for

• Wine Legend: Ridge Monte Bello 1970

The post Ridge Monte Bello wines to drink and keep appeared first on Decanter.

When downtown’s upscale Cerulean stops serving on Dec. 31, it will mark the end of a brutal year for the local restaurant industry marked by an unusually high number of closings.

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra experienced its fifth straight year of record ticket sales during the 2016-17 season while meeting budget projections for the fourth time in five years.

The 88-year-old, seven-story Wyndham is available for occupancy after owner the Pearl Cos. bought the building and tore the interior down to its studs.

Teachers' Village in the St. Clair Place neighborhood will consist of 21 new or rehabbed houses priced below market, with the help of about $3.1 million in subsidies.

So there was this gal a guy wanted to impress … Around the dawn of the new millennium, some friends were sharing a beer and discussing their mutual love of an artist, which snowballed into creating a tribute show in his honor. Local bands could do some of his covers. One friend knew of a venue that could host. The woman the event founder hoped to win over? Well, she knew of a worthy cause that could use the support. Tonic Ball rocked from the start. The first event was in 2002 at Radio Radio with bands celebrating the music of Gram Parsons, a pioneer in what we’d now call alt-country. Roughly 150 people showed up, and the evening ended with the final group, Citizens…View Original Post

ESPN College GameDay came to Columbus ahead of Ohio State's titanic clash with Penn State. And as always, Ohio State fans brought the ruckus. 

RELATED Jack Nicklaus picks Ohio State to get it done against Penn State.

Here are the best signs of the day, with a special shoutout to the #SaveTheCrew folks and their noble mission.

Buck-i-Guy on the scene with a huge cut out of.... himself pic.twitter.com/nATi011Uhj

— Jake Johnson (@Jake2J1Buckeye) October 28, 2017

Fasten your seatbelt pic.twitter.com/2ZNpUeY6cl

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 28, 2017

Nice #SaveTheCrew presence at GameDay. pic.twitter.com/hIe51m7mWh

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 28, 2017

Why tho pic.twitter.com/BRwTEkgRSa

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 28, 2017

Best sign of OSU Game Day?
My sources say yes pic.twitter.com/rIHCxTlwz9

— Mike Meals (@mmeals) October 28, 2017

McSorley lies about his height on Tinder. pic.twitter.com/LV6mHIoN89

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 28, 2017

I see @ramzy has made his sign for Gameday. #GoBucks #StopFallWeddings pic.twitter.com/hnbfbzRD3P

— Andrew Pierce (@apierce61) October 28, 2017

Guess who made it to @CollegeGameDay pic.twitter.com/XtcboI0IR5

— Mz. Jones (@MzUJones) October 28, 2017

Harsh pic.twitter.com/4506m0WgN7

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 28, 2017

Uh, this Saquon Deez sign... pic.twitter.com/9kClQJjjsP

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 28, 2017

[ ] Not rekt
[X] Rekt pic.twitter.com/SxVU9mtMPW

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 28, 2017

The lie detector determined ... pic.twitter.com/nobgq44fQP

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 28, 2017

The best college gameday sign! #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/H2uWv0RkkE

— Buckeye Fans Only (@buckeyefansonly) October 24, 2017

Best Gameday sign by far pic.twitter.com/dZLckmvpRE

— Kyle Pumariega (@KylePuma) October 28, 2017

Freddie Krueger ain't got nothin' on @KirkHerbstreit pic.twitter.com/Q3kASppSRV

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 28, 2017

Pitino passed a lie detector sign on College Game Day... @CBTonNBC @ESPN_ReceDavis @KentuckyMBB @DickieV @espn @UKCoachCalipari pic.twitter.com/nCz7qCJGaB

— Chris Porter (@PorterFamilia) October 28, 2017

Update: It's snowing in Columbus pic.twitter.com/dw0OcC4Umj

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 28, 2017

Cardale said it best pic.twitter.com/FU94tdrdsV

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 28, 2017

Don't we all pic.twitter.com/YZ205jTLFa

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 28, 2017

Weve finally found it: the worst sign in College GameDay history. pic.twitter.com/dOvC8RjSxp

— Cameron White (@cameronwhite34) October 28, 2017

Sign of the season on Gameday @VolRumorMill @FOXSportsKnox pic.twitter.com/GSKSiWrv8D

— Dolores Haynes (@the_dolo) October 28, 2017

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This is a follow-up to my recent piece in the changes in the share of younger adults aged 25-34 with college degrees. A CNN story today has related info too.

I do think it’s important not to get carried away by this. First, looking at stats like percentage of a certain age group with degrees is only one way to slice the data. If you look at just pure metro area percentage growth in younger adults with degree, it’s mostly Sunbelt sprawltowns. The top five are: Riverside-San Bernardino, Las Vegas, San Antonio, Orlando, and Austin. San Francisco is ranked 33rd out of major metro area, though starting from a high base.

All of these dimensions: raw growth, percentage growth, and share growth tell us something about what is going on. We should take a broader look.

Going back to my previous share map, some people said they were surprised that Cincinnati and St. Louis looked so good. I went and looked at it in more detail, and it is in part an artifact of low denominator (total population) growth.

Cincinnati went from 30.5% of 25-34yos with degrees in 2000 to 39.0% in 2016, an 8.5 percentage point gain. Indianapolis went from 30.6% with degrees in 2000 to 37.4% in 2016, a gain of 6.9 percentage points. So Cincinnati appears to have outperformed Indianapolis.

But if you look at those other dimension, Indianapolis grew its total number of young adults with degrees by 40.5%. Cincinnati only grew by 31.4%. Indianapolis added 30,860 young people with degrees, which is more people with degrees than Cincinnati’s 26,744. It looks like Indianapolis attracted a lot more people without degrees than Cincinnati, which dragged its percentage down.

Again, both numbers matter. Indianapolis grew its higher skilled labor force in that age bracket by more than Cincinnati did, but Indy is going to have the feel of a slightly less educated place overall.

I also got in inquiry from Crain’s Chicago about county level data for that region. I pulled it, and it looked weird. Two of major mature suburban, decently upscale counties, DuPage and Lake, both lost younger adults with degrees. I asked asked Crain’s to sanity check this with demographer Rob Paral, and it’s apparently accurate. I put together the following chart of percentage growth in adults with degrees for various ages groups for those counties in the following chart:

The high growth of adults with degrees all the way up to 44 is in Cook (Chicago). These younger brackets actually shrank in those suburban counties, which did well in the over 45s. There would appear to have been some significant aging in those suburbs, which could have implications for them in the future. There are a number of suburban and exurban counties I didn’t include. Many of them are growing younger people with degrees. But I found the case of these two large, mature suburban counties interesting.

The University of Wisconsin School of Business has announced that it is considering closing its MBA program.

Higher education, like business, is in an unprecedented period of accelerated change along several dimensions, including technology, globalization, and the changing expectations of students at all levels. To advance our standing as a top business school, we must respond to this reality.

In this vein, over the last several months, the Wisconsin School of Business has been studying how to best serve students and employers. We are currently having discussions within the School regarding the strategic direction of our portfolio of offerings. Included in the discussion is growing our undergraduate BBA and Master’s programs, evolving the focus of our Centers, and considering the future of the Full-Time MBA. These conversations will continue over the coming weeks and respect our governance processes.

This illustrates the impact of some of the fundamental trends in higher ed I wrote about earlier in the week.

Wisconsin appears to be a very undergraduate focused business school. It has 2,550 undergrads, but only 197 traditional MBA students.  Its MBA program is ranked 34th in the county by US News. So it falls into the category of many Midwest/Big Ten institutions of “good, even very good, but not elite.”

Several Big Ten universities have MBA programs ranked below Wisconsin. This summer the University of Iowa already announced it would close its full time MBA program. Rightly or wrongly, these actions will fuel speculation around many programs ranked in the same tier.

Decisions like this are the subtext of Gov. Scott Walker’s weakening of tenure laws.

“I do not believe the academy is precisely like a business,” Regina Millner, [University of Wisconsin] board president, said at the meeting. “But we cannot have quality, serve our students, have quality faculty if we do not have a sound financial system. This is a different century, this is a different time …. We need to protect that quality by making certain critical decisions.” Repeatedly during the meeting, Millner and other regents cited the need, in an era of tight budgets, for “flexibility” to close programs — and eliminate faculty jobs in the process.

The changes appear to have been designed to allow the university to shutter underperforming programs, which would be difficult to do if tenured faculty couldn’t be laid off.

We will see what the university does, but painful decisions like these are inevitable in the era we are in. Every state university is not going to be able to be everything to everybody. They are probably going to have to pick and choose. In the impossible dreamworld, Big Ten schools might event pool some of the programs to specialize across states to help them compete with elite schools, the same way some states like Indiana have partitioned programs within the state.

A final note about the Wisconsin School of Business. In 2007 a group of alumni jointly donated $85 million to the school to purchase the naming rights for 20 years.  The twist is that the school would remain unnamed during that time, and would simply by the School of Business. In an era when donors are eager to plaster their names all over everything they can buy, I think this was one the classiest moves I’ve seen. It would be especially disappointing for them if the school ends up closing after they made such a selfless gift.