Indiana drivers who were overcharged by the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles could soon find it easier to claim the last $3.3 million of a much larger class-action settlement. A bureaucratic snafu had prevented people from receiving their payments from the state attorney general’s unclaimed property division, so Marion County Judge Heather Welch directed the BMV to refund the money itself through credits or refund checks.

In defending the Indiana Attorney General’s objection to an agreement about early voting, Indiana Solicitor General Thomas M. Fisher said the action is “rather routine” and the office would be submitting additional filings to the courts, including an appeal to the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals. The comments came two days after the attorney general filed a motion challenging the consent decree establishing five early voting sites in Marion County.

Indiana lawmakers are considering allowing farmers to grow industrial hemp. Members of the Interim Study Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources heard from farmers and state leaders in support of the new crop during a committee meeting on Monday.

A contractor has agreed to pay $10,000 in fines for workplace safety violations found after a worker died at an Indiana University construction site.

Coming off the successful passage of Sunday sales legislation during the 2018 Indiana legislative session, the Alcohol Code Revision Commission re-convened for the first time on July 18 to chart its course for this year’s study topics. While the commission’s work last year focused on more specific topics like Sunday sales, this year’s group has been charged with studying more general issues, including alcohol permits, the state’s quota structure and the causes and effects of over-consumption.

Five reviews of the Indiana Department of Child Services cost more than $1.3 million but yielded no state action to address the troubled agency’s increasing caseloads.

A constitutional challenge to Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson’s reelection bid failed Tuesday after the Indiana Election Commission agreed with a holistic reading of the state constitution. The challenge had argued Lawson is not eligible to run because, if reelected, she will be prohibited from completing a full term under Article 6, Section 2 of the Indiana Constitution.

The Indiana Alcohol Code Revision Commission went back to work on Wednesday with a new leader and a new slate of alcohol-related issues to study ahead of the 2019 legislative session. Topics on the agenda included reducing the complexity and increasing the consistency of Indiana’s alcohol licensing laws, evaluating the permit quota structure, and studying over-consumption and its causes and effects.

The collapse of an oil company linked to the Pence family in 2004 was widely publicized. Less known is that the state of Indiana — and, to a smaller extent, Kentucky and Illinois — are still on the hook for millions of dollars to clean up more than 85 of the company's contaminated sites, including underground tanks that leaked toxic chemicals into soil, streams and wells.

A Marion Superior judge has approved Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry’s request to appoint a special prosecutor to assist the Indiana Inspector General with an ongoing investigation into groping allegations made against Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill.