Hoosier lore

Because it is constitutionally significant, and not coincidentally because it coincides with the longest presidential campaign in modern history, Indiana's voter-ID law is getting a lot of national attention as it is considered by the Surpreme Court. Here, James Taranto of The Wall Street Journal responds to an anti-ID column by a former Democratic congressman and makes a sly point I haven't seen anywhere else:

I couldn't see it, so I DON"T CARE:

Indiana's quest for a Big Ten basketball title begins tonight at Iowa with this big difference: The No. 11 Hoosiers (11-1) will face an 18-game conference schedule instead of the 16 they've played for the last decade.

Granted, a lottery is a disgraceful scam perpetuated on citizens by the state, at least we can hope that the Indiana lottery is run better than the other ones. Well, too bad. The state ranks 40th (out of 43) for fairness and disclosure in connection with its lottery. Ours is criticized for, among other things, taxing lottery winnings and giving people only 60 days to claim prizes after the close of scratch-off games.

An alarming environmental story that doesn't seem so alarming when you read it through the second time:

Southern Indiana's rolling hills are greener now than they were a century ago, but the region's rate of reforestation may be on the verge of being outpaced by suburban sprawl's deforestation, according to a new report by Indiana University Bloomington and University of Minnesota researchers in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Today's quiz: What is wrong with this advice from Gov. Daniels, from his TV ad urging Hoosiers to live healthy liefestyles?

And if you can, try to quit smoking.

If no one has the answer, I'll give it tomorrow.

Shocking, just shocking:

People may insist that they aren't influenced by what others think, but a new study has revealed that negative opinions do cause attitudes to shift, especially when it comes to shopping.

The study conducted by researchers at Indiana University found that negativity not only causes shifts from good to worse, but also from bad to worse.

At an unmanned Redbox kiosk, you can pay your money and get a movie from the vending machine, even an R-rated one. The kiosks are at a lot of areas with high kid traffic, like McDonald's. So the fight is on:

Having received no response, Conklin is now preparing to seek a state injunction to remove the mature movies from McDonald's.

This should give pause to even the most ardent supporters of rights for the student press:

The Indianapolis Star editorial page, which hasn't been as reliably conservative in recent years, finds religion in a piece headlined "Lavish school buildings throw taxpayers for a loss":

Not so fast:

FLOYDS KNOBS, Ind. - An outbreak of E. coli has sickened at least 10 people, including seven schoolchildren, and officials have ruled out school cafeteria food as a source.