The Cash-for-Clunkers program may have set some sort of record for the most federal money thrown away in the shortest amount of time. But, hey, there is good news:
The “Cash for Clunkers” program ended with nearly 700,000 car sales, the Department of Transportation announced Wednesday.
Aww, poor babies:
Parents in some Indiana school districts say they are frustrated with changes in school bus routes that districts say are designed to save money.
School officials say the changes, which include fewer bus routes and require more children to walk to school, are needed because many districts are facing steep budget cuts as a result of changes in the state's property tax system.
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Here are two women I really would not like to have as neighbors:
Two women are lobbying the Lafayette City Council to change an ordinance that bars residents from keeping chickens, saying the fowl should be considered acceptable pets along with their four-legged counterparts.
"It's a little hobby. They are pets," said Gay-Ellen Stulp, who has collected more than 200 signatures on a petition supporting the change. "I guess I'm now part of the chicken underground."
A Marion County sheriff's deputy working an off-duty security job at a Speedway gas station gets this month's horny cheapskate award. He was charged with official misconduct after a police sting caught him in the act of patronizing a prostitute:
Brizzi said Wagner was heard on a recording offering to trade a pack of cigarettes and a soda for oral sex.
Roland Maxwell and about 12 other people were let go by their Fort Wayne company. Maxwell doesn't buy the reasons the company gave him for letting him go, so it must be discrimination. But he's not taking any chances with claiming just one or two puny charges:
"I think it was my race—it could have been my age, too,” said Maxwell, who is 54.
So, the city is going to buy a building for $7 million and spend another $7 million to fix it up. We don't know yet if it's going to do it on its own or in conjunction with the county, and we don't know what the relationship will be between city and county in the City-County Building. Where are city and county police going to end up, and which government functions will be where?
If any of you remember Andrea Muirragui Davis, there is news that is both sad and life-affirming. Andrea grew up in Fort Wayne, then came to The News-Sentinel as a reporter and eventually became assistant metro editor. She then left us for greater job opportunities and is now associate editor of the Indianapolis Business Journal. She recently learned that she has breast cancer:
They were just legislators who wanted to do good, so what could possibly go wrong?
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A law taking effect this week could make criminals out of those who bring Tupperware onto many Missouri rivers.
The law was intended to reduce the floating debris from abandoned foam coolers in the state's waterways. But lawmakers, apparently a little rusty with chemistry, barred the wrong plastic.
I haven't seen any evidence that the GOP is smart enough to take back Congress in 2010 all by itself. But if it has enough help, who knows? Some groups are targeting five House Republicans with attack ads on their reluctance to vote for cap-and-trade. Good. Keep reminding voters who is for and who is against this job-killing piece of garbage that won't even affect global warming.
Here's a green idea I can actually get behind:
The landscaping around Muncie's city hall is undergoing a big change as crews rip out high-maintenance plants to create something called a "dryscape."
The city hall's landscaping is being replaced with thousands of drought-tolerant, native plants and prairie grasses that require relatively little water, fertilizer and pesticides.
Here's an end-of-life story for you:
Here's some research that seems totally bogus to me. A couple of applied mathematicians at the University of Vermont have concluded that Monday, far from being the most miserable day of the week, is actually the second-happiest. They state that we are at our absolute lowest on Wednesdays:
Let's see. Feeling a little aggression creeping in. I could take medication. I could have a few therapy sessions. I might try meditation. Oh, wait, I know:
A 20-year-old Evansville man suspected of setting a series of Dumpster fires told investigators committing arson helps ease his aggression, according to a police affidavit.
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"Schoolyards could be hotbeds of swine flu infection" -- Gee, do ya think?
One of the main battlegrounds in the fight against an expected resurgence of swine flu this fall will be the schoolyard, a place where the disease could, well, go viral.
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Large groups of children and young adults? Check.
In close proximity? Check.
Lax sanitary standards? Check.
Supporters of health care reform have gotten some traction by deploring misinformation, shouting out about people who are upset about things that just aren't in the plan.
Indiana 8th District Rep. Brad Ellsworth has found a way to have a town hall meeting on health care reform without having to actually deal with those obstinate and obnoxious creatures known as constituents:
"Privacy ain't what it use to be" department. First I read this story on our Web site about how to find the old folks who wander off:
The state doesn't need to require adults with dementia to wear tracking devices because voluntary programs already offer electronic monitors for those likely to wander away, advocates told state officials looking into the matter.
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Halle-damn-lujah (that's an example of an infix, as opposed to a prefix or a suffix, for all you budding grammarians) -- we do have some honest-to-goodness small-government officeholders in Allen County. County Commissioners are hot to enter into joint ownership with the city of the City-County Building and the yet-to-be-purchased and -renovated Renaissance Square.
Whenever there's gun violence in Indiana, Paul Helmke can usually be counted on to blame the state of the law more than the actions of the shooter:
When Daniel Mola shot Christopher Elkins outside a Winfield bar last month, the killing became the town's first homicide.
The president of a national gun-control group says Indiana's lax laws could be part of the problem.
PETA people are usually pretty silly, but, after all, we should show respect for other opinions, right? I'm just sorry I couldn't be in Evansville to offer my support in person:
It's not everyday that two naked women shower together on the sidewalk. Covered only by a banner that was exactly what happened in downtown Evansville Wednesday. Two nude PETA members showered together to show the impact eating meat has on the planet.
