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May 31
News Flash! At 12:30 p.m. today the Bureau of Motor Vehicles announced the winner of the license plate contest. Its "Back Home Again", showing a scene in blues and greens looking out toward a horizon . This design will be used on plates starting January 2003 and continue through 2008.
The weather postponed the originally planned Saturday opening day for Shields Pool. Now scheduled to open today, the weather still is not cooperating. Showers and predicted high temperatures only in the 60's are expected throughout the weekend.
Today the Bureau of Motor Vehicles will announce the winner of the contest determining what license plate our cars will be wearing in 2003. Stay tuned.
To mark the one year anniversary of the disappearance of Jill Behrman, churches around Bloomington will ring bells this morning at 9:30. Jill was last seen May 31, 2000 when she left for a bike ride.
Yesterday the radio and Bedford OnLine announced that Bedford City Police would be standing on the corner of 16th Street and Brian Lane Way between 10 am and 2 pm looking for violations of the seatbelt law or child restraint law. It was not a roadblock. Cars were stopped only if officers could see people NOT buckled up. It was part of Operation Pull Over which is underway in Indiana through June 2nd. The results of the effort? Well, in spite of letting the public know their plans, Bedford City Police still issued 50 citations in a four-hour period yesterday. Over. 45 seatbelt violations, 2 child restraint violations and one violation each of driving with a suspended license, having no driver's license in possession, and having no registration plate were issued during the inspection. (NEXT TIME, PEOPLE SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO THE NEWS TO HAVE ADVANCED WARNING!)
"Hello Dolly" opens tomorrow night at Little Theatre of Bedford. It plays next weekend as well. If you are interested, see their website for details - Little Theatre of Bedford. Curtain time is 8:00 p.m., and having dinner at the Bittersweet Inn in Brownstown (reservations recommended) would be a nice way to start the evening!
May 30
A photograph in the Bloomington Herald-Times helped police arrest a man responsible for two robberies. 28-year-old Daniel Antes of Nashville faces two counts of burglary, and one count each of theft, attempted theft and possession of a controlled substance. Antes is accused of breaking into two Bloomington-area supermarket pharmacies on May 16.
The Billy Graham Crusade will be in Louisville at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium from June 21st through June 23rd. For crusade information, scheduled events, etc. go to their website at http://www.louisvillecrusade.org/
May 29
A 9-year-old Westland, MI girl, who was visiting relatives over the holiday, drowned Sunday when she slipped in ankle deep water while playing near a dam on White River near Seymour. The body was recovered Monday morning. The current over the dam creates a strong undertow and the water was higher because of recent rain.
Did you vote for your favorite state license plate? More than 158,000 Hoosiers did, and nearly 130,00 of those voted on the Internet site! The winner is a secret until the announcement ceremony on Thursday. The BMV is pleased with the level of participation. Stay tuned to find out which license plate design your car will wear in 2003
Bloomington city officials have been developing a system of alternative transportation routes around the city. When the plan is presented to residents later this week, they will see a nearly complete circle of biking and walking routes with spokes driving inward toward the downtown area, which would allow people to commute to work, to school or to Indiana University, all without using their cars or encountering motorized traffic.
So it may not be summer just yet. Shields Park Pool was scheduled to open Saturday, but because of the cool temperatures the opening was postponed to Thursday.
May 25
Summer is here! We know that because Shields Park Pool is scheduled to open tomorrow. The bad news for swimmers, though, is that this is to be a cool, wet holiday weekend.
A word of warning to those traveling this weekend. Indiana State Police will be out in force, patrolling the highways in marked and unmarked cars as they target speeders, tailgaters, abrupt lane changing without signaling, and driving without seat belts.
May 24
Thanks to five Indiana University administrators, the reward for information into the disappearance last May of Jill Behrman has doubled. The reward now stands at $100,000.
Road construction is at a peak and the number of holiday travelers will also be at a peak this weekend. Road construction crews will start the holiday weekend at noon on Friday to ease the passage for cars in many areas, but conditions will still be far from ideal. Check the links at the top of the page to access road information.
May 23
A 50-year-old woman called Monroe County police early Tuesday saying she was robbed and tied up by the same two men she reported having come to her house last week to use her phone. Both times, the suspects appeared after the woman's husband left for work. Tuesday, the pair tied the woman up in a closet and left with an undisclosed amount of cash. One suspect is a 5'3" white male in his teens to early 20s, with medium-length blond-brown hair and no facial hair. The other is a 6'3" black male with short, dark hair and no facial hair.
The attempted abduction of a female cyclist in Bowling Green, Kentucky is being compared to last year's abduction of Jill Behrman. FBI agents are looking to see if the two cases are connected.
May 22
Area farmers have a fight on their hands as they are currently battling Armyworms. The pests are attacking hay, grass and even corn. One problem with the Armyworms are the fact that they usually operate at night. When a farmer looks for the pests during the day he may not see them. The next day, damage caused by the worms could be seen. For information about the armyworms and how to battle them, call the extension office.
Using two drain-cleaning agents and not telling the plumber, caused three people in Lawrence County to be taken to the hospital Monday. Marilyn Grimes, co-owner of a plumbing business, said the home owner used a drain-cleaning agent the night before which did not help and used a second agent the next morning. Since the second attempt did not help, the homeowner called professionals. Not knowing agents had been used, the plumbers used a plunger to help open the drain. Contact with the air caused the cleaning agents to form a chlorine cloud. The men who were taken to the hospital were released later that evening. Grimes warns that if homeowners use agents like that, let plumbers know so such happenings can be avoided.
More than 50,000 brand new Explorers and Mercury Mountaineers will be recalled by Ford Motor Co. because of tires that may have accidentally been cut by a narrow assembly line. Some of these vehicles were built at the Ford plant in Louisville, KY. The cuts are said to be cosmetic, not affecting tire performance, and the company has not received any accident or injury reports. Ford will be sending letters to all owners of such vehicles by the end of this month. The damaged tired, all Goodyear and Michelin brand, will be replaced free of charge at dealerships. The assembly line problem has been corrected.
May 21
Tomorrow Peggy Brooks, who has grown and used herbs for eighteen years, will teach a class in sachet and bouquet making at SICA from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. The class will learn how to use herbs to enhance the flavors of food and how to make simple, safe herbal cosmetic preparations. Cost of the class is $25 for SICA members and $35 for non-members. Call 812-522-2278 to register. You should plan to bring a sack lunch.
Oops! It was a mistake!....That's the word from the Indiana State Department of Health regarding the measles advisory for Lawrence County. Health officials say the earlier laboratory test on an adult male in Lawrence County was a false positive for measles. The advisory was lifted/cancelled Friday afternoon.
The rain last week helped the Indiana crops, and cooler, wetter weather is on the agenda for this week. You may be turning off the air conditioner, turning on the heat, and pulling those sweaters on!
May 18
Women beware! A scam called "Women Empowering Women" has taken a foot-hold in Lawrence County. According to the State Attorney General's Office and the Lawrence County Prosecutor's office, women are being asked to give 5-thousand dollars to the scam with the hope of receiving 40-thousand within 8-10 weeks. The AG's office says the scam is a pyramid business, whish is illegal in Indiana. If you have been a victim of the scam, call the AG office at 1-800-382-5516.
Have you voted for the 2003 license plate? Today is the last day for the public to cast votes. The winner will be announced May 31st. VOTE!
Thursday the U.S. House of Representatives voted to increase the adoption tax credit for families adopting children. The Hope For Children Act, H.R. 622, passed by a vote of 420-0. Adoption can be very expensive, costing between $8,000 and $30,000, so to encourage adoption this bill changes the tax code to lessen the financial burden on adopting families. The Hope For Children Act increases the adoption tax credit for families who adopt special needs children from $6,000 to $10,000. The credit for families who adopt non-special needs children increases from $5,000 to $10,000 and is extended permanently. The legislation would increase the income cap at which the credit begins to phase out from $75,000 to $150,000. The exclusion for employer-provided adoption assistance is increased and extended in a comparable manner.
The Indiana Regulatory Commission has approved a rate increase allowing PSI Energy to recover its cost of buying electricity last summer. The recovery will be spread out over a 12-month period beginning with PSI's next billing cycle. PSI has about 650,000 customers in 69 Indiana counties.
Now you see it, now you don't! A class of kindergartners in Jeffersonville got a surprise Thursday afternoon when a deer crashed through the window of their classroom. After cavorting around the classroom briefly, it bounded back out through another window, leaving some traces of blood and lots of broken glass in its wake. Although a few children sustained scratches from flying glass, there were no major injuries.
An adult male resident of Lawrence County has been diagnosed with measles, causing the Indiana State Department of Health to issue an advisory for residents of Lawrence County. Any new cases would be expected to appear before May 25th. It is recommended that people born after 1956 should check their immunizations. Measles are highly contagious and can lead to severe complications.
May 17
Have you voted yet for your choice for the 2003 Indiana license plate? If not, you have only two days left! Voting continues through tomorrow. Vote!
Brown County resident David Francis has been indicted and charged with being a felon in possession of firearms. He He was a manager of the Greenwood Auto Center and was allegedly trading vehicles for drugs and guns. Thousands of dollars worth of cocaine and methamphetamine were seized in the raid at the business and the search of his home. He could face 15 years to life in prison if convicted, federal prosecutors said.
According to the latest census figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, 12.4% of the population in Indiana is 65 years of age or over. How do area counties compare to the state average? Brown County - 12.9%; Jackson County - 13.3%; Jennings County - 10.7%; Lawrence County - 14.8%; Monroe County - 9.2%; Orange County - 14.9%.
Additional statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that Indiana's Asian population grew faster than its white majority during the 1990s, recording a 61 percent surge. For area counties the numbers are: Jackson County, from 184 in 1990 to 323 in 2000; Lawrence County, from 73 to 129; Jennings county from 51 to 72.
The American Red Cross, which provides about half the nation's blood supply, has announced there will be a nationwide increase in the price of blood that it provides to hospitals on July 1st. It will go up from an average price of $122/per unit to $165.30/unit. Although the blood is donated, federally mandated tests drive the cost up, and the Red Cross is now almost $400 million in debt. This price increase will cause problems for hospitals when it comes to recovering the cost from traditionally reluctant insurance companies.
May 16
It's a PowWow this weekend at Black Swan Lake. The Seventh Annual Indiana Indian Movement PowWow will be Saturday and Sunday. Gates open at 10 a.m., and admission is $3/person or $5/carload. There will be dancing and drumming each day, and vendors will be selling food and crafts. Black Swan Lake is located north of U.S. 50 about 18 miles east of Bedford. There will be signs.
Yesterday a gun shop dealer in Columbus lost his federal firearms license forever and was sentenced to 15 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges that he illegally sold a machine gun and unregistered silencer to an undercover police officer in 1998.
On Tuesday Gov. O'Bannon and employees of the Muscatatuck Developmental Center met to discuss plans for closing the institution and transferring its residents and the concerns of the employees and union leaders about those plans. The facility is scheduled to be closed by December 2003 and its residents are to be transferred into community-based care, but the union does not believe it is necessary to close the facility so quickly. However, there have been problems in the past with loss of Medicaid funding and lawmakers are of the opinion that the state cannot afford the aging facility as well as other regional centers and new programs. While the current plan calls for some employees to be transferred to other facilities or given jobs in other state agencies, many will be laid off. Muscatatuck is the largest employer in Jennings County, employing around 1,000, and city and county officials believe the closing will seriously affect the local economy. The meeting with the governor was private, so there were no details of the discussion, but his spokeswoman announced that the governor agreed to consider the concerns.
May 15
May 14
Temperatures will warm up this week, but will bring rain. The forecast calls for a chance of rain everyday except Wednesday and Thursday.
Don't expect to get anywhere before June 10, if you fly on Comair. The company, with headquarters in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, has cancelled all flights through June 10 due to a pilots strike. The pilots and Comair have been in contract negotiations for three years. The pilots have been on strike for 48 days and voted down a proposal by the company that would have made them the best paid pilots in the industry. Talks will continue.
May 11
The 3rd Annual Wings Over Muscatatuck will take place this weekend at Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge. A festival celebrating birds and the natural environment, the weekend will feature nature walks, demonstrations, and slide presentations, as well as vendors. The event, which opens tonight at 7 p.m. and closes at noon Sunday, is sponsored by the Muscatatuck Wildlife Society, the Jackson County Visitor and Convention Bureau, and the Jennings County Visitor and Convention Bureau.
Gov. O'Bannon has vetoed the bills exempting the General Assembly and Legislative Services Agency from the state's public records law, thus allowing legislators to decide which of their records, if any, should be public and which should be kept secret. The bill had little opposition as it sailed through the House and the Senate, but it caused much criticism from citizen and media groups. The governor chastised the lawmakers for the way in which they passed the bill, in that the final version received only one public committee hearing and offered little opportunity for proper input, and last minute changes to the bill that were not publicly disclosed before the hearing. Legislators can now decide whether to let it ride or seek a veto override when they meet again on June 12th to fine tune bills.
In spite of pleas to put partisan politics aside, yesterday the five-member commission of lawmakers did in fact adopt the new congressional maps proposed by the democrats. The vote followed party lines (3-2) and there was no debate. Although redistricting is always political, it was even more so this year because of the loss of one congressional seat mandated by the 2000 census.
Gov. O'Bannon yesterday signed legislation that will help prevent lines at the BMV branches in the state by adding a mid-month deadline that will stagger license plate renewals, permit cross-county vehicle registration and allow some driver's license renewals online or through the mail. In addition to the $3 fee increase already approved by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles Commission, a 50-cent technology fee will be added to each transaction during the next two years. It is estimated that the technology fee will raise about $5 million, which will be used to purchase and upgrade equipment.
May 10
This is the day! The deadline for paying property taxes is today. They must be paid in person at the Treasurer's office or if they are mailed the envelope must have a postmark no later than May 10, 2001! Get out the checkbook!
State Rep. Brent E. Steele, Bedford, has announced that he will not seek re-election. He has been a member of the Indiana General Assembly since 1994.
It has taken eleven years, but yesterday Gov. O'Bannon signed legislation lowering the drunk driving theshhold. The law lowers the blood-alcohol level for drunk driving from the current 0.10 percent to 0.08 percent and will go into effect July 1st. It was vigorously opposed by restaurant and alcohol industries. However, last year Congress passed a law that would withhold a portion of federal highway dollars from states that don't adopt the 0.08 stand by 2004, and that incentive help the legislation pass this year in a last ditch effort and among much wrangling..
Melissa, ILOVEYOU, Kournikova, etc. These are just three of the documented worms or viruses that can infect your computer. There is now another quickly spreading E-mail worm known as "Homepage" that affects users of Microsoft's Outlook E-mail program. Another quick-spreading worm called Onthefly, VBS/SST.Worm, or VBSfly also sends itself to every address within an infected user's Outlook address book. This worm entices its victims an E-mail subject line that reads "Here you have, ;o)" or some variation on that theme. The message body reads "Hi: Check This!" with what appears to be a jpg picture file attached. New worms and viruses, as well as variations on old ones, are constantly appearing. How can you protect yourself? Use a program other than Outlook to access E-mail. Most E-mail worms are written to exploit Outlook because it's so widely used, but viruses that exploit other mail programs are rare. Disable VBS. Homepage and other worms like Kournikova are visual basic scripts--sets of instructions that tell Outlook to copy and distribute the message. Outlook can be set to not recognize these scripts. Use an antivirus program and keep it updated. The bottom line is DO NOT OPEN ATTACHMENTS!. The worm is only dangerous if users click on the attachment, or if they set their E-mail to automatically open the file. If you send attachments, send them as html documents. MANY offices and businesses do not yet understand the importance of this!! Seymour On-Line will not open attachments unless they are html.
May 9
Seymour Chamber of Commerce members will be enjoying great spring weather today with a "Picnic in the Park", sponsored by Seymour Memorial Hospital.
The polls are open at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles! This is YOUR opportunity to have some input in the selection of the state's license plate for 2003. The five choices consist of a design with a racing theme, two designs with a "Hoosier Heartland" theme, one with a "just feels like home" theme featuring kids and farm life, and another "Back Home Again" farm scene. More than 1,400 designs were submitted and judges narrowed the field to sixteen before Gov. O'Bannon chose the final five. Voting starts today on the BMV website at http://www.in.gov/bmv/contest/ or beginning tomorrow at the license branches. Voting closes on May 18th, and the winner will be announced May 31st.
According to law, new Indiana Congressional Districts will soon be final. Tomorrow the commission of five Indiana legislators will meet at Franklin College to complete the process for dividing Indiana into nine new congressional districts. No one expects any surprises since the Democrats have a 3-2 advantage because they control the House, as well as the governor's office, and the maps drawn up by the Democrats in the Indiana House will probably become law. Although there are many people in several counties that are not pleased about the proposed districts, the meeting is expected to be concluded in less than two hours. The new districts will be in effect for ten years.
May 8
Today is expected to be the last day of testimony in the trial of Judy Kirby who is accused of causing a head-on crash last March which left seven people dead. It was "expert vs expert" in the trial Monday. The state rested its case with the defense calling two experts about the accident itself. Kirby faces seven counts of murder and four counts of neglect of a dependant.
With the price of gasoline rising each day, solar power sounds good at this point. On Wednesday a team of engineering students from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology will defend the title they captured last year as they travel to Topeka, KS, to compete with twenty-two teams of students from colleges in the U.S. and Canada. The Formula Sun Grand Prix is a three day solar car race at Heartland Park Raceway. The Rose-Hulman group is convinced that they have constructed an even better car than last year's model. This year's car, named the Solar Phantom VI, is reportedly 500 pounds, covered by 788 solar cells that produce close to 1,000 watts, and can travel up to 72 mph on highways, using solar energy instead of gasoline!
Lack of moisture has been a concern so far this year, but according to the Indiana Agricultural Statistics Service, planting of corn and soybeans is progressing well so far this spring. And even with the dry conditions, the corn is emerging and fields seem to be in good shape. Corn planting is running eight days ahead and soybeans planting is running seven days ahead of records set in previous years. This time last year only 62 percent of the corn acreage had been planted statewide, whereas this year the number is at 90 percent planted, with percentages in the central and southern parts of the state even higher. Soybean planting is also well ahead of last year.
May 7
There may be some relief in the form of moisture, with slightly cooler weather also on tap. Showers and thunderstorms are likely Monday with some strong storms possible in the afternoon, the National Weather Service said. The chance of thunderstorms will persist through Monday night. Lows will be from the mid 40s to mid 50s. Keep track of approaching weather with the Current Local Radar link.
Time is running out to pay the spring installment of your property taxes. This Thursday is the deadline. You may either pay them in person in the Treasurer's office or by mail. If mailed, they must contain a postmark of Thursday or before.
Attorney General Steven Carter says that, although he has concerns about the legality of a provision in the plan, he will probably approve new property tax assessment rules proposed by Gov. Frank O'Bannon's administration. The provision in question is the shelter allowance and is meant to soften the shift in property tax burdens from businesses to homeowners, but even with that provision, the average property tax increase for homeowners is expected to range from 6.5% to 15%. For years homes, businesses, and farms assessments have been evaluatated with outdated figures. The intent of the changes is to bring these assessments in line with current market values. O'Bannon is expected to sign the new rules before the June 1st deadline. The shelter allowance gives homeowners a deduction based on the cost of bare-bones shelter. For eight years the property tax controversy has created an area of uncertainty for property owners, as well as local governmental units. In 1999, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that the current assessment system was unconstitutional. Tax bills under the new assessment rules will be due in 2003.
May 4
Jackson County Community Theatre Presentation "The Emperor's New Clothes", a classic Hans Christian Anderson tale, will be presented in traditional Japanese kabuki style at the Royal Off the Square theatre in Brownstown tonight. For more information call 812-358-JCCT.
Because of the state's current financial situation, Gov. O'Bannon
yesterday vetoed the bill providing a pay raise for legislators, as well as the state's
judges and prosecutors. It would have been the first raise since 1985. He had
earlier expressed the belief that the timing was bad for the proposed pay raise.
However, if he signs the proposed two-year budget, legislators will still see their
$25/day payments for expenses while out of session increase to $44.80/day, which will cost
taxpayers $2.1 million of the next two years. Sen. Becky Skillman, R-Bedford, didn't
vote for the pay raise because of her concern over the state's financial future and the
appearance of being selfish.
However, she isn't opposed to including a per-diem increase in the budget because of the
"disparity among those who live in central Indiana compared to those who live more
than 50 miles out each way to the Statehouse.
Gov. O'Bannon is expected to sign the bill making it possible for Hoosiers to get their names on a "no-call" list so they won't receive telemarketing calls. If signed, the law will not go into effect until January 1st, but you may call the hotline 888-834-9969 now to put your name on the list if you don't want to receive such calls. House Bill 1222 requires the attorney general to compile the list and gives the office the power to prosecute offenders. Repeat offenders could be charged with a misdemeanor and fined up to $25,000. In the past, legislators have been reluctant to deal with the telemarketing problem. This was one of the major goals of Attorney General Steven Carter, but he would have preferred a bill that had fewer exemptions. Charities, insurance companies, real estate firms and newspapers will not be affected. On Thursday, it was reported that more than 50 names were added to the list within the first hour of operation. The hotline operators are available 24 hours/day, seven day a week! You will need to give them your name as it appears on your phone bill.
May 3
According to the Tax Foundation, Tax Freedom Day - the day that Americans stop working to pay for government and start earning for themselves - falls on May 3, the latest date ever. For the past 123 days, every hour of every day that you've worked from January 1 to May 3 went to pay for taxation in some form!
The House of Representatives voted yesterday for legislation that would allow more Americans to save for retirement and contribute to private pension plans. The bill, known as the Comprehensive Retirement Security and Pension Reform Act, passed 407-24, and will bring retirement security into the 21st century. Under the provisions of the bill, the IRA contribution limit would increase to $5000 and then indexed for inflation thereafter, limit on salary reduction contributions to 401(k) plans increases to $15,000 by 2005, workers over 50 could contribute up to an additional $5,000 in "catch-up" for 401(k)'s, workers would be vested and eligible for employee matching contributions in 3 years, 401(k)'s would be made more portable, and there would be more fairness for union workers under Section 415.
The Bloomington woman who has been tree-sitting since April 1st in Yellowwood State Forest to block logging in the forest east of the city has come down to join another protest. However, she says her month in the tree in Yellowwood was successful because it at least postponed the logging there. Tthe terms of the timber sale contract state that there is to be no logging between May 1 and July 10 in order to protect nesting songbirds. While the protest at Yellowwood will be continued by others, her efforts will now be directed toward an anti-logging protest at Morgan-Monroe State Forest.
A Brown County couple whose dogs attacked and killed a census worker last summer have pleaded guilty to a felony charges of criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon and misdemeanor charges of harboring non-immunized dogs. Wayne Newton would face up to three years in prison, and Latvaitis would face up to 1 1/2 years. The marijuana possession charges have been dropped in return for the guilty pleas. for the attack. Although neither was home at the time of the attack, prosecutors say they are liable because the dogs were not restrained. Sentencing will take place July 5th in Brown Circuit Court.
This is Derby Festival Week in Louisville. Today is the Pegasus Festival Parade, starting at 5 p.m. There is free viewing along the route. This 46th annual spectacle of colorful floats, marching bands, giant inflatables, equestrians and celebrities will be broadcast live on WAVE-3 TV.
May 2
IU's Kirk Haston has made himself eligible for the NBA, but has done so without signing with an agent. This leaves him free to withdraw his name on of before June 20. IU head coach Mike Davis has said he will not bring in someone to replace Haston. This gives Davis 4 scholarships for the 2002-2003 season.
May 1
Two of Judy Kirby's sons say she was not trying to commit suicide when she drove a car the wrong way on State Road 67. The 32-year-old Indianapolis woman is charged with seven counts of murder and has admitted to driving the wrong way for nearly two miles before striking a van. Prosecutors say she was trying to kill herself, while the defense says she had an untreated thyroid imbalance that left her delusional. Kirby's trial began its second week on Monday.
IU officials say the new state budget will most likely raise tuition three percent to four percent from recent years. IU trustee Stephen Ferguson says he sees no way IU can hold to the four percent tuition increase the trustees adopted last year. He cites both faculty raises and double-digit increases in health-care costs as the main problems.
Under the proposed budget that is on its way to Gov. O'Bannon, the kindergarten cut-off date will be shifted by one month. Children who are 5 by July 1st will be able to start kindergarten this fall without a waiver. With the current June 1st date, Indiana has had the dubious claim of the oldest kindergarteners in the country. Most states have a Dec.1 cut-off, which still leaves Indiana behind. Although there was a push for a later cut-off date in the state, the Indiana Department of Education said that at least the one month shift is better than no change at all.
It is no revelation that things are dry and rain is needed as dust clouds rise from fields being plowed and disked. The National Weather Service began keeping rainfall records in Indianapolis in 1871. The past month (April) was the driest April in 25 years and the past six months have been the driest ever for that time period.. Only 5.17 inches of precipitation has been measured at Indianapolis International Airport since January 1st, a period in which 12.27 inches is the normal amount. To compound the deficit in the rainfall, we have had unseasonably warm temperatures and wind. The past month was the warmest April in 105 years. Hopefully the situation will improve in May.
April 30
Plans to build the new jail in Brown County have been postponed for at least a year. The construction bids were higher than expected, which would increase the cost by $1 million to almost $7.7 million, and the project had already caused protests and a lawsuit. The current jail is in bad shape, with inadequate facilities for questioning suspects and poor conditions with such hazards as exposed electric cords in the cells.
Just fifteen minutes before the midnight deadline for ending the regular session of the State Legislature, lawmakers voted to adopt a two-year budget, thus avoiding a special session. Increases of 3.5 percent/year for the average public school district and 3.2 percent/year for state-supported colleges and universities are included, as well as money for building projects and for human services are included. However, the state's current cash surplus will be tapped and some bookkeeping tricks will be used. It will be necessary to control Medicaid if higher taxes are to be avoided. The current budget expires July 1st.
State police are investigating the death of an inmate who died at the Bartholomew County Jail hours after returning to his cell following a brief release to attend a family emergency. 32-year-old Michael Pedigo of Columbus was unresponsive when jail staff found Pedigo after other inmates said he was ill. An autopsy will be performed today.
JC Penney stores in Bloomington and Anderson are no more. The company is closing stores that have poor sales, and is also closing stores in Martinsville and Washington Square Mall.
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