It's a fair question: Is Sen. Richard Lugar still a Hoosier?
Greg Wright, an Indianapolis resident and Certified Fraud Examiner, filed a formal election fraud complaint with the Indiana Secretary of State on Wednesday against Senator Richard Lugar and his wife, Charlene Lugar.
Those pushing for a right-to-work law in Indiana are making the high unemployment rate the centerpiece of their argument. But now there is a dispute about the rate iteself:
Indiana's unemployment rate crept up to 9 percent in October, up from 8.9 percent the month before. The national rate dropped from 9.1 percent to 9 percent over that same period. These are the numbers most folks are used to hearing when reading official tallies of the struggling economy.
Reading Kevin Leininger's column today on the possibility of a countywide smoking sort of took me back in time:
Smoking foes aren't overly interested in civics, of course. Tobacco Free Allen County, for example, claims it wants to protect workers and cites statistics purporting to show that 1,240 Hoosiers die from secondhand smoke every year and that fine-particle air pollution in Fort Wayne declined 94 percent after Council's ban took effect.
One more indication the coming short session of the General Assembly won't be as peaceful as some might hope:
Two Indiana Republicans want welfare recipients to pass drug tests before they can receive benefits.
[. . .]
In a recent survey, Kentucky drivers were among the lousiest in the nation -- seventh worst -- and Ohio drivers were among the safest -- 10th best.
The worst states on the list, in order, were Louisiana, Missouri, Texas, Florida and Oklahoma. Rhode Island has the safest drivers among the 50 states, according to the study.
Indiana ranked 20th best for driving.
Sen. Richard Lugar's campaign sent out a press release quoting "a respected budget analyst" on Indiana Week in Review (see YouTube video below) saying that opponent Richard Mourdock's "clueless budget plan" is "just too goofy for words." It also quotes this column by Jack Colwell of the South Bend Tribune:
The Journal Gazette turns in a standard-issue civics lesson editorial lamenting the record-low 26 percent turnout in this year's city election. The piece goes through the usual list of possisble turnout inhibitors (the negative mayoral campaign, apathy and cynicism, the too-complex main issue of municipal finance, civic burnout) before concluding that nothing can probably be done in the end and delivering the final lecture to recalcitrant voters:
Lincoln Plowman is a former Indianapolis police officer and City-County Council member who could get up to 30 years in prison after being convicted of bribery and extortion. He was taped in conversations with an undercover FBI agent accepting more than $5,000 in cash and requesting a $1,000 campaign contribution to help plan a strip club downtown.
Dropout Nation is a blog covering the public education reform movement, edited by RiShawn Biddle, formerly an editorial writer for the Indianapolis Star. A recent post -- written by Biddle -- takes off on the Indianapolis school system ("The worst school district in the Midwest outside of Detroit" -- ouch) as a way to promote the importance of mayoral control of school systems as a reform strategy:
Fort Wayne in the spotlight:
The Indianapolis Colts are a sad, mopey, miserable football team that aggressively drains the life force out of anyone who watches them play because they want them to win.
