Hoosier lore

It's big enough news that Indiana is creating what will be the largest school voucher program in the country. The bigger news is that we're part of a nationwide trend representing the resurrection of school choice as one tool in efforts to improve education. In Washington, House Republicans managed to restore the school choice program in D.C. killed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. And voucher plans are being implemented or debated in a growing number of states:

When I lived in Michigan City, one of my favorite places to visit was Mt. Baldy, the magnificent giant sand dune at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Starting soon, there will be less opportunity for such visits. Lakeshore officials plan to restrict -- restrict, not eliminate -- access to the dune:

The Indiana General Assembly's support for home rule waxes and wanes. I've noticed the same thing this session observed by political commentator Brian Howey -- it's been a horrible year for local control:

It goes far beyond the plea of cities for local taxing options in this era of crimping property tax caps.

Here from the Washington Post is the latest "will he or won't he" run story about Mitch Daniels:

For more than a year, Daniels has been on the fence about running for president. Now, with the legislative session in Indiana ending, he says he owes it to potential supporters to make a decision. “It's time to cut bait,” he said in an interview in his statehouse office.

One of the members of a one-hit-wonder band is gone:

Joe Pennell, a local musician who helped launch a local band to national fame in 1964, died Thursday at the age of 66.

Pennell was the lead guitarist for the Rivieras, a five-member South Bend garage band that struck music gold with their recording of “California Sun.”

Indiana is one of only 10 states that takes away people's voting rights if they're jailed even for misdemeanors. Whether that goes too far depends on how the Indiana Supreme Court interprets the term "infamous crime" in the state constitution:

The Good Old Boys don't like it when some upstart comes knocking at the clubhouse door:

Senate GOP leaders are backing Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana against his 2012 primary challenger, helping him raise significantly more campaign funds than state Treasurer Richard Mourdock this year.

The nearly $1 million that Lugar raised in the first three months of 2011 was six times what Mourdock has collected since announcing his campaign in late February with the backing of many county GOP leaders.

When does "sticking up for working people and the middle class" seem a lot like being a bought-and-paid-for tool of the unions? Maybe when the unions, including out-of-state ones, pay your hotel bill during your desertion to Illinois? Indiana GOP Chairman Eric Holcomb:

Democrats continue to fight for narrow special interests clamoring for the status quo. A finance report filed last week shows the entire Urbana hotel bill was footed by unions - many of them out-of-state.

The swindling swine have hit the renege reset button:

A state budget proposal before the Indiana Senate could snuff out the state's top anti-tobacco agency.

The two-year, $28 billion spending plan that would take effect July 1 calls for the abolishment of the Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation agency and places tobacco-cessation efforts under control of the state Department of Health.

Even if you buy into the Americans With Disabilities Act requirement that employers make "reasonable accommodations" for those with disabilities, shouldn't the definition of reasonable be, well, reasonable? If a job requires vision, for example, should companies have to find a way to hire the blind? If a job requires a certain level of physical stamina, should companies have to keep the infirm on the payroll? Apparently so: