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Hoosier lore

Margin call

A bill in the General Assembly would have Indiana follow some examples from California and New York and require chain restaurants to make nutritional information available to customers at each location. Republican Tim Brown of Crawfordsville, a physician, tells why he voted against the bill in committee:

He said the costs of complying with such a law would lead to job cuts in an industry that was suffering like so many others during this recession.

Last call

The sponsor of this alcohol-conrol bill to allow the sale of booze on Election Day won't be heard until the next legislative session, but some liquor store managers already offer a valid argument for it: We have early-voting provisions now, so what's the point of banning sales of that one "official" day?

We finally got ours

The Miss America beauty pageant scholarship competition has seemed on its last legs for years now, so I'm glad it lasted long enough for Indiana to get its turn:

Stam overcame 51 other contestants, a throat infection and laryngitis Saturday night to win the crown. She's the first winner from Indiana in the 88-year pageant.

"My state deserves it," said Stam, whose hometown is Seymour.

Jailhouse blues

The didn't escape or even try to, so this seems like a sensible decision:

BLOOMFIELD, Ind. -- An inmate at a southern Indiana jail who was part of a group that found a way to sneak between cell blocks for sex isn't guilty of escape because he never left the jail.

Greene Superior Court Judge Dena Martin's ruling means escape charges against other inmates likely also will be dismissed.

The wanderers

Saw two stories seemingly unconnected but interestingly relatable to each other. First, a story about helping us old fogies who wander off:

A state Senate committee voted Wednesday in favor of establishing a Silver Alert system. Similar to Amber Alerts, Silver Alerts would be issued by police, voluntarily broadcast by TV and radio stations and posted on Web sites when an adult is believed to be in danger.

Terrorfried

Never mind Barack Obama's pledge to close Gitmo. Could this be the sign that the War on Terror is really over?

Boulders surrounding the Marion Municipal Building that were installed shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, to protect against attackers will now be used as landscaping Matter Park.

Posted in: Hoosier lore

Sweet success

Most observers thought the General Assembly would be so consumed with passing a balanced two-year budget in the midst of a recession that no other substantive issues would be addressed. Guess all those cynics will now have to eat crow, or, er, well, something else:

The Indiana State Senate this afternoon passed a resolution urging that the sugar cream pie be named the state's official pie.

Taxing their memories

Some Hoosier lawmakers discover an economic-development incentive:

State Reps. Jackie Walorski (R-Jimtown) and Wes Culver (R-Goshen) want cargo trailers sold to out-of-state consumers to be exempt from Indiana's gross retail tax.

[. . .]

An open-government incentive

Indiana has public access laws that say we have the right to attend most government meetings and see most government information, since it is, you know, our government and our information. But officials don't always obey the law, because there are no real penalties. Maybe that will change now:

Come together

Larry DeBoer, Purdue University professor of agricultural economics, explains to Clark County officials that the "circuit breaker" system of property tax caps now in play in Indiana means officials in all taxing districts of a county are going to have to work together:

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