5 officials want judge to block Indiana conflicts law
Five municipal employees in northwestern Indiana are asking a state court judge to block a law that prohibits them from holding elected office in the same city or town.
Government
Articles
Under new law, Indiana alcohol sales now OK on Christmas Day
Indiana residents will be able to purchase wine, beer or other alcoholic beverages on Christmas Day for the first time in decades under a change in state law.
Lawmakers offer alternative to cold medicine sales crackdown
Republican Sens. Randy Head of Logansport and Jim Merritt of Indianapolis said pharmacists should have the authority to approve or disapprove sales for medicines containing pseudoephedrine, which is a decongestant used to treat colds and allergies. A rival measure backed by Indiana prosecutors and GOP House Speaker Brian Bosma would require a prescription for such medicines.
Attorney questions if schools complied with Nativity ruling
An attorney who filed a lawsuit that led to a federal judge banning a northern Indiana school district from including a live Nativity scene in its annual Christmas show says he believes the district's use of mannequins instead of student actors had many of the same constitutional flaws.
Study: Smaller counties driving jail population growth
A study shows jail populations in mid-sized counties with populations of 250,000 to 1 million residents grew by four times and small-sized counties with 250,000 residents or fewer grew by nearly seven times since 1978. In that time large county jail populations grew by only about three times.
Patent reform law withstanding challenges
A battle between two tech companies put a key provision of the recent patent reform law on the firing line. But intellectual property attorneys were not surprised the patent holder attempted to knock out the administrative review process or that the attempt failed.
Beer distributor foams at Indiana’s alcohol law
Monarch Beverage launches another effort to upend limits on liquor wholesalers.
Hamilton, Ruckelshaus receive Medal of Freedom for public service
As young men, Lee Hamilton and William Ruckelshaus followed their passion for public life to Washington, D.C., where they left their imprint on the legislative and executive branches at a time the country and its attitudes were changing.
Complex legal efforts part of groundwork for 2 new bridges across Ohio River
Hoosier attorneys and their Kentucky colleagues had to find ways to write agreements to bring four state highway and financing agencies together to cooperate across state lines in a manner that complied with their own statutes.
7th Circuit upholds Indiana’s cold beer law
Cold beer will continue to be sold only by licensed liquor stores in Indiana. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld state law that prohibits convenience stores, gas stations and other retailers from selling beer cold.
Justices: Kentucky death sentence wrongly overturned
Justices ruled Monday that a federal appeals court was wrong to overturn Roger Wheeler’s sentence based on the exclusion of a juror who expressed reservations about the death penalty.
Southern Indiana county OKs riverboat revenue settlement
The settlement calls for Switzerland County officials to deliver to Jefferson County within 10 days about $50,000 in economic development money they're currently holding.
Counties in central Indiana address jail overcrowding
Three central Indiana counties have been working over the past five years to address jail overcrowding by building or upgrading facilities.
Anderson latest city to pass local gay rights ordinance
Officials in another Indiana city have approved banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity ahead of an expected debate in the state Legislature over whether to pass a statewide law that supersedes any local ordinance.
Speeding ticket tossed because of invalid Carmel ordinance
“Carmel’s wholesale adoption of chapters of Indiana Code resulted in its ordinance being nothing more than a ‘duplicate’ of already existing State law,” Court of Appeals Judge Melissa May wrote.
Suit challenges constitutionality of RFRA fix, local gay rights laws
The “RFRA fix” passed in April to quell discrimination fears about the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is now being challenged as unconstitutional by two organizations that were the most vocal proponents of the original legislation.
Judge rejects Texas’ latest attempt to block Syrian refugees
A federal judge Wednesday knocked Texas for offering "largely speculative hearsay" about extremists possibly infiltrating Syrian refugees seeking to resettle in the state, rejecting another attempt by Republican leaders to keep out families fleeing the war-torn country.
Prosecutors want ban on over-the-counter pseudoephedrine
Prosecutors urged Indiana legislators Wednesday to ban over-the-counter sales of a common cold medicine used to make methamphetamines and stiffen sentences for convicted drug dealers.
Syrian refugees resettled in resistant Texas, Indiana
Syrian families have been settled in Texas and in Indiana, the groups helping them said Tuesday, defying efforts by the conservative states' governors to stop their arrival.
Ex-agent gets 6 years of prison for betrayal in Silk Road probe
A government agent who stole $820,000 in bitcoins while investigating an online drug emporium was sentenced to almost six years in prison after a prosecutor said his deceit amounts to a “breathtaking abuse of trust.