Hoosier lore

Indiana as a possible leader, fancy that:

This week's nominee for the public-relations-challenged sweepstakes:

A central Indiana prosecutor doesn't want to give a 10-year-old girl her piggy bank back.

The Reporter-Times of Martinsville reported that Morgan County Prosecutor Steve Sonnega has filed a motion asking a Superior Court judge in the central Indiana county to reverse his order to give the piggy bank back to the daughter of Russell Hill.

[. . .]

So, Indiana will be the 23rd state with a right-to-work law, and the only one in the industrial heartland. Good for us:

From 2000 to 2010, employment in right-to-work states increased 2.3 percent, compared to a 4.0 percent decline in non-right-to-work states. Indiana saw employment decrease 6.9 percent over the same period. That means Indiana lost roughly 207,000 jobs over the past 10 years. In contrast, 1.2 million jobs were created in right-to-work states.

I know Indiana politicians are always looking for ways to prove that we're not a backward state. But do we have to prove we're with it by trying to create green energy nightmares every bit as foolish as Solyndra?

Whoops!

Is there anybody who can actually argue with a straight face that this meets constitutional muster?

INDIANAPOLIS | An Indiana Senate committee on Wednesday endorsed teaching creationism in public schools, despite pleas from scientists and religious leaders to keep religion out of science classrooms.

Those of us who have been arguing for years to keep strong local control of education should probably give up the cause and move on to something else -- that fight has been lost. Guess Scott Schneider didn't get the memo, though:

An effort to force Indiana to withdraw from "common core" education standards failed Wednesday, but the bill's sponsor promised to try to revive it.

City University of New York professor emeritus and Hudson Institute adjunct fellow Ron Radosh was very impressed with Mitch Daniels' GOP response to the State of the Union message last night:

Isn't this just dancing with who brung you to the party?

Indiana lawmakers saw few reasons to cross party lines last year.

Here's a bill making its way through the General Assembly that may have escaped your notice, Senate Bill 0183: