Hoosier lore

Enjoy driving on Indiana freeways while you can, before they become one giant speed trap. Spurred by the state's budget shortfall and inspired by the huge number of tickets Maryland has been able to write under a similar program, two Indiana legislators want to start using a "work zone freeway speed camera" program (added emphasis mine):

Ah, maybe a pleasant winter and an early spring. With the state strapped for cash, it is speculated that Gov. Daniels will use his State of the State address tonight to focus on smaller issues and how to keep the state solvent, rather than proposing bold new initiatives as he has in the past. And:

But he's likely to spend just as much time patting the legislature on the back.

A Hoosier teacher wonders why Indiana bothered to set new standards requiring all potential teachers to major in their field of study and minor in education:

The Chicago Sun-Times, believe it or not, has a blog devoted exclusively to Chicago's favorite talk show host -- "All Oprah. All the the time," says the subhead. The buzz on there Friday was about Lady Gaga, who canceled a Thursday night performance at Purdue University claiming illness ("An hour before the show I was feeling dizzy and had trouble breathing," she tweeted later):

You can get tickets to Saturday night's NFL game between the Colts and Ravens for $100 to $700, or you could pop for a $20,000 luxury suite for yourself and 19 friends. Sure, that's pricey, but at least the Colts will be trying to win this time. If they do, and make it all the way to the Super Bowl, maybe you'd like to save your money for that:

Super Bowl tickets are selling on the secondary market for anywhere from $1,700 to $370,000.

As a strong supporter of both the First and Second Amendments, I'm finding this a tough call. An Indiana House committee has approved a bill that would keep secret the names of people in a government database of those granted permits to carry guns:

Will the Think City electric car save Elkhart? The cars will cost "under $20,000" initially, but that's minus the battery (which will be leased) and including a $7,500 federal tax credit and other incentives. What will drivers get for the money? Test driver Jim Motavallli reports:

One argument used by opponents of putting the property tax caps into the state constitution is that stupid Hoosier voters will be unhappy when they realize what they actually asked for, i.e., they will suddenly stop getting services they want and need that property taxes once upon a time paid for. Then I suppose they will fall down on their knees and admit their shortsightedness while begging their kind and wise public servants to please, please, please raise their taxes again.

Republican Mike Sodrel has decided to enter Indiana's 9th District congressional race, so there'll be a fifth straight matchup between Sodrel and incumbent Democrat Baron Hill. Hill is up 3-1 in the first four races, and in his favor this time is the fact that President Obama carried Indiana for the first time since LBJ.

The Senate Corrections, Criminal and Civil Matters Committee has passed a bring-your-gun-to-work bill (SB 25), which would prevent employers from having policies that ban weapons from workplace property. The Indiana Chamber of Commerce, representing nearly 5,000 member companies with 800,000 workers, is urging defeat of the bill as a workplace-safety move: