Hoosier lore

Man, oh, man, the time-zone debacle is the issue that just won't die. After a marathon hearing in South Bend, it's becoming clear that St. Joseph County's petition to go Central won't fly. And people in Elkhart County, trying to keep all of Michiana Eastern, apparently said some mean things, and people's feelings got hurt. Never thought I'd see participants in Indiana's rough-and-tumble political theater crying like babies.

Maybe Gary should spend a little less time on foreign-policy resolutions and a little more on bringing peace to its own streets.

Better access to the Indiana legislative process, thanks to the Internet. More from the Indiana Law Blog (via Indiana Blog Review).

If Kurt Vonnegut is still your favorite Indiana author, you might want to think about giving Booth Tarkington another look. Vonnegut has gone from being a competent chronicler of the horror of war to being a venemous old fool who thinks suicide bombers are "very brave people" who must have an "amazing high" before blowing themselves up.

Is it really schools' job to help students lose weight and get fit? The state thinks so, but its voluntary plan to have schools measure the weight and height of Indiana's 1 million public school students this year is running into school concerns about privacy. Only 320 of Indiana's nearly 2,000 public schools have signed up to participate.

Let's see if I have this straight: Crime was running rampant in Indianapolis, but the members of the Marion County Sheriff's Department didn't really care; I dunno, maybe they were too busy eating donuts or sleeping in their cars. Then the Indianapolis Star did a hard-hitting expose revealing that robberies were up 18 percent. The sheriff then realized the jig was up -- "Gadzooks, the newspaper is onto us!" -- and immediately arrested nine suspects thought to be responsible for 30 robberies.

There, there, it's all right. A college student helpfully explains to Hoosiers that they can cope with daylight-saving time without having a nervous breakdown:

At first, it could be difficult for Hoosiers to adjust to daylight-saving time. I believe it can be done!

I feel better already.

You might be under the impression that patents are supposed to be given only for things that might actually work. If Boris Volfson of Huntington had thought that way, he never would have been awarded Patent No.

No, I don't have much to say at this point about Rep. B. Patrick Bauer's intention to fight Gov.

"Why do we need townships?" is a fair question. The answer is porbably a little more complicated than either township advocates or detractors will admit: