The law and the jungle

I can't remember doing it, so please set me free now:

More than four decades after Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated, his convicted murderer wants to go free for a crime he says he can't remember.

Another judge has upheld Obamacare's individual mandate. For those keeping score, that makes three Democratic-appointed judges in favor, two Republican-appointed ones against. Philip Klein at The American Spectator zeroes in the scary part of the ruling that makes clear "how broadly one has to interpret congressional powers to find the mandate constitutional":

A bunch of college students get together to drink. Some of them are over 21, and some are under:

Police arrested three Notre Dame students on felony charges for providing alcohol to minors early Sunday morning, according to South Bend police logs.

One 19-year-old male was also arrested on a misdemeanor charge for the same offense. Of the three arrested on felony charges, one was 21 years old and two were 22.

My fellow libertarians, here's a spending cut that seems petty and counterproductive even to me:

Jurors in some Lake County cases won't get free lunches while serving because budget cuts have forced judges to halt a practice of using public money to feed them.

The changes affect Lake Superior Civil Division Courts but not jurors serving in the better-funded Lake Circuit and Lake Criminal Courts.

The Indiana Senate locks and loads:

Indianapolis — If some lawmakers have their way pretty soon you'll be able to carry a gun just about everywhere in Indiana.

Don't know if Hammond residents will be safer, but the city is at least making the effort:

While other police departments are downsizing, Hammond is looking to hire more police officers.

The northwest Indiana city's Board of Public Works and Safety recently gave the police chief the go-ahead to start accepting applications for 10 permanent positions.

[. . .]

This is maddening, but not exactly a big surprise:

The Defense Department and the FBI should have recognized that Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan had become an adherent of “violent Islamist extremism” before he went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, that killed 13 people, two US senators said Thursday in a special report.

[. . .]

A budding crime career is nipped in the bud:

I don't get the distinction:

House Republicans plan to sidestep a charged debate over the distinction between “forcible rape” and “rape” by altering the language of a bill banning taxpayer subsidies for abortions.

Smoking-ban advocates have never been able to get a bill through the General Assembly. This might be the year they succeed, but with more exemptions than supporters would like. Some accept the compromise philosophically: