Hoosier lore

The Indiana Senate locks and loads:

Indianapolis — If some lawmakers have their way pretty soon you'll be able to carry a gun just about everywhere in Indiana.

A chaperone who is unclear on the concept:

The family of a Frankfort High School student plans to sue after the teen claims a chaperone kissed and groped him on the way home from a band trip.

The 16-year-old student said he was sitting next to Brandi Harper, 19, when she began making physical advances toward him, 6News' Joanna Massee reported.

From Politico, one possible problem for Mitch Daniels if he seeks the GOP presidential nomination:

A tough, Arizona-style anti-immigration bill in the Indiana state Legislature has put Gov. Mitch Daniels — who is mum on whether he backs it — on a collision course with tea party activists who see it as a big priority and could have national implications for the Indiana governor in a GOP presidential primary.

I have mixed feelings about the bill winding its way through the General Assembly that would allow home-school students to play on the local high school sports teams. Our columnist Reggie Hayes makes the case against the idea, though reluctantly:

One and one for the day -- here's an editorial I agree with, on the reasonableness of "buy local" programs when they are voluntary, and their danger when they are government-imposed:

I don't know if the writer here is being deliberately dense, but the editorial sure seems to labor mightily to ignore a whole category of small-government arguments:

Some of my fellow Hoosier veterans are mad as hell, etc., etc., over a legislative proposal that would end the guarantee of a full college scholarship for the children of Indiana's disabled veterans:

Since 1935, Indiana has guaranteed full payment of tuition and normal fees so that children of disabled or deceased veterans can attend college.

Mitch Daniels' speech at CPAC (transcript and video both), after which he gets praise for the "gravity of his message" and "lack of grandstanding":

He plates plenty of red meat about America's lurch towards socialism, but per Weigel, he stayed away from social issues and attacks on Obama to focus on fiscal catastrophe.

Ever since Newsweek called South Bend a dying city, the debate has been raging there. "We are not!" say civic leaders:

Economist Nelson Mark says population numbers are an unfair barometer of a city's economic success."

"Lets be clear.  The Newsweek article didn't address the economic environment at all.  They simply looked at populations numbers, which are a flawed indicator," Mark said.

I don't want to turn into the all-Mitch-all-the-time guy, but it certainly seems like he's almost in the presidential race. In an interview with POLITICO:

Daniels suggested three things could keep him from plunging in: his wife's concerns, the calculation that his party or the country aren't ready for his tough-love message or the emergence of another capable candidate.

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