Hoosier lore

The lead sentence or paragraph of a newspaper story tells you -- or should -- what the writer and editors think is the single most important point of the article. Here's The Associated Press on the anaylsis showing that property tax caps in Indiana are going to have a greater impact than expected:

Road Rage poster boy of the week:

The case of a New Castle resident charged with biting off a sizable portion of another man's ear has taken another twist, with the defendant now claiming he was justified in using "allegedly deadly force."

Curtis A. "Alan" Cross, 44, is charged with battery resulting in serious bodily injury, a Class C felony carrying a standard four-year prison term, in an April 1 attack on Jeffrey Guffey.

If you don't plan a trip to southern Indiana this fall, you can still check out the foliage by going to the Visit Indiana

It's bad enough that the federal government blackmails the state by threatening do withhold funds if we don't do things like have open container and seat belt laws. But this is patently absurd:

The Indiana Department of Transportation is trying to get a better handle on exactly how many billboards sit along the state's highways after a federal agency found problems in Indiana and threatened to withhold $90 million.

[. . .]

I'm baaaack!

Hey, don't leave all that food on the plate. Don't you know there are starving people in India?

Well, screw them. We have a better use for the scraps here:

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -

Purdue University students who pile too much food on their trays at Purdue's dining courts are helping the city of West Lafayette generate extra power.

Whoda thunk it?

This year, the deep pockets of New York's rich were tapped like never before. The state's wealthiest pay new higher income tax rates, higher taxes for limousines and yachts, more to enter a horse in a race and more to dabble in real estate.

Meanwhile, many are losing millions from the closing of business tax loopholes and those making over $1 million are losing tax deductions others get.

Huh:

More than 19 percent of Wayne County residents over age 15 are divorced, according to new 2008 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. That's the highest percentage for any county with a population over 65,000 in the nation, and two other Indiana counties -- Floyd and Madison -- also made the top 10.

A little bit of irony here:

A Cloverdale man convicted in 1995 in Tippecanoe County for killing a 10-year-old boy is expected to be sentenced in November to life in prison without parole.

In exchange, the boy's parents agreed to stop seeking the death penalty during a scheduled retrial, after a federal appeals court overturned the original death sentence.

I'm not sure I agree with you a hundred percent on your police work there, Lou Garry: A sleazeball who runs a video store in Ashley us accused of taking upskirt photos of three female customers, including a 10-year-old girl, and all they're charging him with is a misdemeanor battery charge for brushing against the girl.

"We had had three different occasions where allegations were made," said Ashley Police Department Deputy Chief Garry Osborn.