How was your week? We're pretty proud of ours.

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I’m Ronnie Ramos, the executive editor of IndyStar. I’ve been in Indianapolis for 10 years, and spent the last five here at IndyStar. I will be writing to you each week with inside info on some of the best content we create each week -- unique stories you can’t get anywhere else.  

I promised my 14-year-old, easily embarrassed daughter, no bad dad jokes.

Thanks for reading. And above all, thanks for subscribing.

Indylicious

Some weeks, like this one, we will let you see our content before anyone else.  Here is a sneak peek on a cool new series that takes you behind the scenes of Indianapolis’ eclectic food scene.  Grab your headphones or turn your volume up for the three-minute introductory episode of Indylicious. I love its fast-paced feel and food writer Liz Biro’s unfiltered look at places and people with interesting stories to tell. 

If you want more food-related conversation, ask to join our private Facebook group by the same name. 

Pence’s controversial return

Among our most important mission at IndyStar is to provide local context to major national stories. Cue the next presidential election.  Indiana, and Christian-affiliated Taylor University, will be ground zero for the growing debate around religion and free speech on college campuses. We sent veteran reporter Tim Evans to Taylor’s campus to dig into how the commencement speech later this month by Vice President Mike Pence has sparked intense debate and find out how students, teachers and administrators are dealing with these issues. We wanted to take you there ourselves, not rely on a national media outlet to tell Indiana’s story. Hear and see both sides and decide for yourself.

Our best reads

Our best read of the month took, quite literally, more than four years to report. Ashley’s Story is a powerful and emotional look at what happened year later to a little girl thrust unwillingly into the public spotlight, abandoned and abused, and her journey to build a life of her own. Your subscription allowed us to invest heavily in this story. Investigative reporter Marisa Kwiatkowski and visual journalist Mykal McEldowney followed Ashley to Atlanta several times and spent hours with her and her step-father to provide an unfiltered look into a complicated life.

And if you want another magnificent read, this incredible inside look into a mobster who ratted out his mafia boss father and then disappeared into the witness protection program here in Indianapolis. Fair warning: once you start this story, you will not be able to stop reading; it’s that riveting.

Until next week,

Ronnie Ramos, Executive Editor