Articles

Rush, Goff publish dissent on poverty as probation violation

A split Indiana Supreme Court denied a petition to transfer a homeless man’s probation violation appeal, with two justices writing in a published dissent that the litigant was an indigent man incarcerated for probation violations that resulted from his poverty, not his intentions.

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Justices agree to again hear long-running IBM dispute

A years-long legal battle between the state of Indiana and IBM Corporation over a failed welfare benefits processing upgrade will continue now that the Indiana Supreme Court has again granted transfer to the long-running dispute.

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Justices hear murder, jurisdiction arguments

Indiana Supreme Court Justices heard oral argument in two cases Thursday, beginning with a man who argued there was insufficient evidence to sustain his triple-murder conviction and that certain evidence was improperly admitted.

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State, community group urge SCOTUS to reject Lake Michigan access case

The state of Indiana and a community group favoring public access to the shore of Lake Michigan have filed briefs urging the Supreme Court of the United States to reject an appeal that could partly privatize the state’s 45 miles of Great Lakes beaches. Briefs filed Friday urge the high court to affirm the Indiana Supreme Court ruling that found the public has a right to walk along the shore of Lake Michigan from the water’s edge to the ordinary high water mark.

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Decatur lawyer sentenced to jail for forgery, counterfeiting

A suspended northern Indiana lawyer was sentenced Friday to nearly nine months in jail for forging a judge’s signature on a phony divorce order and sending a client a bogus email that she represented as coming from a deputy prosecutor. Jill Holtzclaw of Decatur was sentenced to serve 270 days behind bars followed by a year of probation for her convictions of Level 6 felony counts of forgery and counterfeiting.

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Congress to face same question: When will shutdown end?

Congress returns to Washington for its first full week of legislative business since control of the House reverted to Democrats, but lawmakers will be confronted with the same lingering question: When will the partial government shutdown end?

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Tow operator pleads guilty to bribing Portage mayor

A northwestern Indiana towing operator has pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge alleging he paid a mayor $12,000 for a towing contract. John Cortina, 79, of Kustom Auto Body in Portage entered the plea Friday, three days before the public corruption trial of Republican Portage Mayor James Snyder is set to begin.

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Bar groups oppose grandparent visitation bill

The Indiana Senate Judiciary Committee is pumping the brakes on a bill that would allow grandparents and great-grandparents to seek visitation with their grandchildren despite estrangements with the children’s parents, with two notable Indiana bar association groups speaking out against the proposed legislation.

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