It gets so boring just foolishly throwing our hard-earned money away on Powerball and the Hoosier Lottery. Now, thank goodness, we will have another option:
Indiana lottery outlets began selling the Mega Millions tickets on Sunday, joining the Powerball game as big jackpot lotteries in which the state participates. The first Mega Millions drawing including Indiana tickets will Tuesday, with an estimated jackpot of $12 million.
Because of budget difficulties, the Muncie Animal Shelter has announced it will no longer accept unwanted pets. But that might not be effective in the long run, because many of those unwanted and turned away pets might become the very stray animals that the shelter is required to pick up:
Pet owners must figure out what to do with their animals, shelter Supt. Linda Bir-Conn said.
First he'll quit, then he won't, then he might again. Mark Souder is the Bret Favre of politics:
Congressman Mark Souder has filed to run for a 9th term in Congress.
Souder told us Monday this may be his final term but he wants to see a number of projects through including the VA Hospital.
"May be" his last term. Believe it when I see it.
Count me as one who looked forward to the iPad but felt disappointment at seeing the actual device, for some of the same reasons "Working Mom" Katie Granju mentions:
I won't and really can't consider buying one until it has these missing features. And that's a bummer, because if it did have a webcam, a USB port and Flash capability, I would have been first in line at the Apple Store.
So let's follow up the last post about good government spending with one about a program I hate seeing federal dollars spent on:
I've written several times that space exploration is one of those government programs I don't mind paying for. The public sector has funded the human need to expand our horizons since the time of Columbus. So I was dismayed when I heard Persident Obama might be cutting the money for a return to the moon, especially since it sounded like one of those tired, typical "Why should we waste billions on such extravagances when there are so many problems in our back yard?" arguments. Instead of going to the moon, NASA would be funded to . . . more closely monitor global warming.
I growed up in rural Kentucky where many of us spent most of the summer outside with no shoes on, scoffing at the prissy few who felt the need to protect their delicate little tootsies (I think we called them "Hoosiers") so this is no big surprise to me, that "Long-Awaited Barefoot Running Study Finds Sneakers Are Harmful" because "Shoes change the human foot strike and may lead to more running injuries":
Is "high hopes" like wishful thinking?
President Obama announced Thursday which states get part of $8 billion in high speed rail grants.
Of that money, Indiana received about $71.3 million to use for improvements in rail systems in the northwestern part of the state. While Fort Wayne is not seeing federal funding right now, supporters of a high speed rail system in the Summit City remain optimistic.
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is what I felt about "Catcher in the Rye" when I read it in my lousy high school class and what my life and all was like outside of class and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.
School bells might stay silent before Labor Day in Indiana under a bill endorsed by the Senate's education committee Wednesday.
The legislation, written by Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, would prohibit public schools and accredited nonpublic schools from starting classes before Labor Day.
The connection between political fortunes and material concerns is not exactly a revelation. A sour economy is what torpedoed Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George H.W. Bush in 1992. It's also the primary reason that the Republicans lost in 2008 to Obama—not his eloquence or policy positions.
Those of us who get excited over evidence of rightwing populist anger bubbling up in places like New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts should remember that there is still such a thing as good, old-fashioned, class-envious, rich-hating, leftwing populist anger:
Amid recession, high unemployment and tight household budgets, voters in Oregon have agreed to raise taxes on people with higher incomes, to pay for public education and social services.
[. . .]
Maybe things aren't going as well as we'd like in Fort Wayne, but we're certainly better off than Muncie:
I don't know why the mayor needs two hours to describe the state of the city when I can do so in one word: deplorable.
And thank goodness this isn't Evansville:
A Carthage man demonstrates the wrong way to show up for a court hearing:
Authorities said they smelled alcohol on the breath of Daniel R. Lucas, 38, at a Monday hearing stemming from his March 2009 conviction on drunken driving and resisting-law-enforcement charges. Tests confirmed he had been drinking, and Judge Bob Witham ordered him jailed for 15 days.
"The Reagan Resolution" authored by "James Bopp Jr., a conservative from Indiana" and up for a vote by the Republican National Committee, is a litmus test of 10 positions. If a candidate doesn't demonstrate agreeement with at least eight of them, that candidate will not get any financial support from the Republican Party. It's causing quite a stir as the committee gets ready for its winter meeting.
Mitch Daniels has been a business-friendly governor, so maybe he'll veto this when it gets to his desk:
Hoosiers who want to keep guns in their cars while they're at work gained more support Tuesday in the General Assembly.
The state House of Representatives voted 76-21 to approve a bill that would make it illegal for employers in Indiana to prohibit workers from keeping firearms in their locked vehicles on company property.
This isn't exactly encouraging:
In late October, Newsday, the Long Island daily that the Dolans bought for $650 million, put its web site, newsday.com, behind a pay wall. The paper was one of the first non-business newspapers to take the plunge by putting up a pay wall, so in media circles it has been followed with interest. Could its fate be a sign of what others, including The New York Times, might expect?
Want something from this house? Well, how about a few of these?
A home invasion suspect was in critical condition this morning after being shot by a homeowner.
Fort Wayne Police were called around 3:15 a.m. to 4730 Reed St., where officers found a man wearing a ski mask on the ground. He had gunshot wounds and a weapon nearby, according to police spokeswoman Raquel Foster.
[. . .]
From texting we move to to "sexting," the electronic transmission of sexually explicit material. The General Assembly is considering making that activity by teens a "delinquent act" not because it isn't currently covered by law but because the current statutes leave authorities with only two extreme options: Do nothing, or hit the kids with a felony that would require them to register as sex offenders and follow them for the rest of their lives. The new law would express disapproval without being quite so draconian.
The momentum keeps building for bans on texting while driving. A new federal rule went into effect yesterday that bans interstate commercial truckers and bus drivers from sending text messages while they are operating moving vehicles. And an Indiana House committee is considering a bill that would make it illegal for any driver to send text messages or e-mails while driving. The story about that also points out:
