Hoosier lore

OK, that last post was a cheap shot, and shooting fish in a barrel and beating a dead horse, too. Demonizing politicians is good, clean fun, and we are more likely to induge in it as tax time approaches. But we should be careful not too go too far in demonizing all public service, which I'm sure I've done on occasion and which the governor succumbs to once in a while:

A followup:

IUPUI has withdrawn a reprimand issued to a janitor after co-workers complained about him reading a book about the University of Notre Dame's fight against the Ku Klux Klan.

Matt Welch at Reason doesn't think to much of John Mellencamp:

The Mob continues to strong-arm the competition:

If you ever find yourself in a friendly game of poker that involves betting at any type of bar or other establishment in Indiana, it might be time to fold. That's because the Indiana Gaming Commission is taking a tough stance against illegal gambling. And one bar owner in Scott County, Indiana has already been busted. WAVE 3 Investigator Lindsay English has the details.

Don't let your kids or your cats read over your shoulder on this one:

MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — A man surrendered Thursday to face allegations he forced his 7-year-old daughter to kill the family cat by holding a knife in her hand and making her stab the feline.

Danield J. Collins, 39, was taken to the Delaware County Jail, where he was being held on one count each of animal cruelty and battery and two counts of neglect of a dependent.

Nearly 80 years ago, a couple of sociologists wrote a book about Muncie called "Middletown," detailing one Midwestern city's struggle with change -- moving from 19th-century agriculture to 20th-century industrialization. Now, that 20th-century-style industry is disappearing, and The Associated Press visits Muncie to see how residents are coping with the transition to the 21st-century global economy.  Predictably, change is just as unsettling as always:

I feel for this guy:

ELLETTSVILLE, Ind. -- Town Marshal Gary Darland dropped 24 pounds training for the rigorous physical tests he needed to pass to keep his job.

But after less than a year on the job, Darland resigned Monday about five weeks before he would have faced a 300-meter sprint, a 1.5-mile run and other physical challenges.

We expect Republicans and Democrats to reach agreement on something as big and controversial as property tax reform, and they can't even get together on something as small and universally desired as vote centers:

A bill that would allow counties to use vote centers instead of neighborhood polling places appears to be dead for the year.

[. . .]

And you thought northeast Indiana was a staid, stick-in-the-mud region:

A man is being held without bond in the Allen County Lockup after police say they seized more than 6,000 pounds of marijuana from his rented home.

Sheriff Ken Fries says the drugs seized Thursday could have a street value of more than $6 million.

Man, oh, man -- probably not the best way to get rid of Gary's reputation as a crime-plagued city:

The police chief in the violence-plagued city of Gary assaulted two people he suspected of burglarizing his home and had them and two others wrongfully locked up for three days, prosecutors said today.