Hoosier lore

So it's not just texting while driving by teens that we have to worry about:

An Elkhart teen is in critical condition after police say he was texting and biking and swerved into oncoming traffic.

This is an interesting idea. I suspect so few students will take advantage of it that some of the potential negative results (such as the schools losing the funding) won't be much of a problem:

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is proposing a three-year graduation plan, with a reward for those who speed thru their secondary education.

The Indianapolis Star's Matthew Tully is tired of the will he run/won't he run coyness about Mitch Daniels and the presidency and believes the evidence is pretty clear that he is running:

Daniels, of course, insists he has only cracked open the door to a run, and that he's done that only to appease his supporters. Time and again, he has said he is not running.

But he is.

Indiana is said to be killing some of its residents with soot:

An environmental group's national report said pollution from Indiana's coal-fired power plants will cause an estimated 550 premature deaths in the state this year.

The report from the Clean Air Task Force ranked Indiana fifth in the U.S. in per capita mortality risk from pollutants that create lung-choking soot. The elderly and people with respiratory disease are most susceptible to such pollution.

Under Indiana law, prosecutors can't seek the death penalty against Andrew Conley of rural Ohio County because he was only 17 when he killed his 10-year-old brother.

The Indianapolis Public Schools system is toying with the idea of year-round school:

Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Eugene White has informally proposed year-round school as a way to reduce "summer learning loss." But its merits have long been a source of debate. And it's an idea that, while tried elsewhere, is not common in Indiana and not always popular with parents or kids.

My prognostication skills don't seem to be improving. When Evan Bayh announced his retirement from the U.S. Senate, there was a lot of speculation that he might be interested in being governor again. I pooh-poohed the idea and expressed doubt that Bayh would take a "been there, done that" route. Apparently, I was a little hasty:

Expect Sen. Evan Bayh to announce a run for governor after the first of the year, a supporter says.

If this is really true, good for them:

If they take over the Indiana House, Republicans will launch a major campaign for competitive-oriented education reform in next year's General Assembly.

Look for a big push for grants to low-income families so they can have school choice, and a big boost for charter schools in Indianapolis.

[. . .]

Help, help, the Amish are coming:

People in the Indianapolis area don't see many Amish, but a new study by the Indiana Business Research Center shows Indiana already has a higher concentration than Pennsylvania or any other state.

As someone with libertarian instincts, I probably have some survivalist in me. Sometimes I feel like just getting off the grid, hanging out in the wilderness beyond the reach of government. It never occurred to me, though, to stay in society and merely pretend the forces around me, like the law of the land, didn't apply to me: