By now, should be used to bad parents offering lame excuses for their failure and neglect. Still, some are so outrageous that we can't help but be repelled:
INDIANAPOLIS - A northern Indiana woman who left her 8-year-old son at a Nebraska hospital under that state's safe haven law says she did so because she doesn't trust Indiana's child welfare system.
Boy, couldn't see this one coming, huh?
Bankruptcy. Red ink. Painful shakeout.
Those terms, normally associated with old-line manufacturing, now are popping up to describe what was seen just three years ago as a sure bet for Indiana: high-tech ethanol plants.
What is it about James Dean? He came and went, phhht. And yet:
FAIRMOUNT — James Dean just won't go away. Even though the young movie actor died 53 years ago after making only three motion pictures, still the James Dean legend goes on and on.
Support continues to grow, slowly but steadily, to allow grocery and liquor stores to sell alcohol on Sunday. The Indianapolis Star and WTHR (Channel 13) recently commissioned a poll on the subject:
The poll showed 46 percent of Hoosiers support changing that law, while 45 percent favor keeping it. Nine percent were undecided.
That shows a slight change from two years ago, when a poll conducted by The Star found that 50 percent of Hoosiers favored the Sunday ban and 43 percent opposed it.
The Journal Gazette does a typical "life is tough in the shadows when you fear being rounded up any minute" heart-tugger:
Pilar can turn on her radio or television and hear Spanish broadcasts. At most specialty grocery stores or Mexican taquería , she can pick up a local Spanish-language newspaper.
Some good advice for Republicans:
Expel your base or retreat into an echo chamber: If those choices seem dispiriting, Republicans can take heart. They're the same false alternatives that the Democrats allegedly faced four years ago. Then a politician who hadn't fallen behind the bipartisan Iraq war -- but, unlike Howard Dean, actually wanted to be president -- came out of nowhere to beat his party's establishment and take the White House.
Perils of the modern age:
The start of Indiana's firearm deer season is this weekend, and authorities are warning hunters not to touch the remains of meth labs that they may find in the woods. Indiana State Police say containers used to cook meth may look harmless, but could contain dangerous chemicals or explode.
"Hey, Earl, watch me shoot that bottle!"
Hanover Central High School comes to its senses:
A northwest Indiana high school is relaxing its ban on purses.
The Hanover School Board raised the ire of female students and their parents at Hanover Central High School in Cedar Lake when it imposed the ban earlier this year.
The school board voted unanimously this week to allow girls to carry strapless handbags that are not larger than 9 by 7 inches and no more than 3 inches deep. They will also allow pencil cases and pouches of similar size.
The Muncie Star Press doesn't think much of the idea of concealed weapons on the Ball State campus:
In Indiana, there is one very good reason for a campus ban on concealed weapons: Just about anyone can get a gun for any reason.
The only requirement for a gun permit is that you pay the fee, which runs around $100 or so, depending on whether you are applying for a four-year or lifetime permit.
Gov. Mitch Daniels is being suggested for a course he should probably avoid:
As Republicans do some soul-searching about the future of the GOP, political analysts say they should look to their crop of progressive governors -- including Indiana's Mitch Daniels -- to help mold the party's future.
That may mean Daniels, who won a commanding victory Tuesday to a second term, has a future as a candidate for higher office -- an idea he has shunned so far.
