Indiana lawmakers agree on tougher tobacco sales penalties
Indiana lawmakers are poised to double the fines stores could face for selling smoking or vaping products to anyone younger than 21 years old.
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Right to Farm case ends with denial from Indiana Supreme Court
In ultimately denying transfer, a divided Indiana Supreme Court ended a dispute that pitted neighbor against neighbor and raised questions about whether the state’s Right to Farm Act was meant to cover an 8,000-head hog operation in Hendricks County.
Indiana ordered to pay $182K in abortion case attorney fees
The state of Indiana is on the hook for more than $182,000 in attorney fees and costs related to a long-fought legal battle over a controversial abortion law that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Slaughter invites challenges to reviews of agency adjudications
A Fulton County man will not be permitted to build a concrete seawall on his lakefront property after the Indiana Supreme Court unanimously denied transfer to his case. But Justice Geoffrey Slaughter wrote separately to invite legal challenges to the system for adjudicating agency legal disputes like the instant case out of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Indiana teacher gun training plan failing amid opposition
A legislative proposal for requiring annual training for teachers who carry guns inside Indiana schools was scuttled amid a disagreement over whether it infringed on gun rights. The legislation also was opposed by groups advocating for gun control.
New Virginia sentencing law ends high court’s DC sniper case
Lee Boyd Malvo, the Washington, D.C., area sniper, and the state of Virginia agreed Monday to dismiss a pending Supreme Court case after the state changed criminal sentencing law for juveniles.
Indiana panel backs ban on drivers using handheld phones
A proposal to ban drivers from using handheld cellphones on Indiana roads is advancing in the state Legislature after testimony from people who have been injured or lost loved ones in traffic crashes caused by distracted drivers.
Lake Michigan shore fight continues in court, Legislature
The years-long struggle between public and private rights along Indiana’s Lake Michigan shoreline continues in the Indiana Statehouse and in federal court, even as the state marks the two-year anniversary of a landmark Indiana Supreme Court decision that ruled in the public’s favor.
Fort Wayne gets future fire tax revenues for annexed area, divided COA rules
The city of Fort Wayne is entitled to tax revenues for providing fire protection services to annexed land in Allen County, but past revenues will stay with the original fire protection district that served the area before the annexation, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Friday. A dissenting judge, however, questioned whether the case should have proceeded in the Indiana Tax Court instead.
Teacher unions: Children terrified by active shooter drills
The nation’s two largest teachers unions want schools to revise or eliminate active shooter drills, asserting that they can harm students’ mental health and that there are better ways to prepare for the possibility of a school shooting.
Fetal remains found at Illinois properties buried in South Bend
More than 2,000 sets of fetal remains found last year at the suburban Chicago garage of one of the Midwest’s most prolific abortion doctors were buried Wednesday at an Indiana cemetery where the state’s attorney general told a gathering that the remains’ discovery was “horrifying to anyone with normal sensibilities.”
Reversal: Tax liability can’t exceed 1% of property’s gross assessed value
The Indiana Tax Court has reversed an Indiana Board of Tax Review’s final determination, answering the dispositive issue of whether an assessor should have capped a homeowner’s 2013 property tax liability at 1% instead of 2% of her property’s gross assessed value.
Indiana AG sues to shut down embattled Charlestown zoo
The owner a controversial Charlestown zoo who recently lost his federal exhibitor’s license is now also facing a state lawsuit that would shut down the zoo’s underlying nonprofit organization and remove him as its director, citing allegations of animal abuse, financial improprieties, intimidation and more.
Holcomb says he’ll keep up workplace pregnancy protection bid
Indiana’s governor said Tuesday he would keep pushing for a law requiring more businesses to provide workplace accommodations for pregnant women, even though the state Senate rebuffed his proposal last week.
More than 2,400 fetuses found at Illinois home to be buried
In what’s sure to be a politically charged ceremony, more than 2,400 fetuses found last year at the suburban Chicago home of one of the Midwest’s most prolific abortion doctors will be buried Wednesday in Indiana, a state with some of the nation’s toughest anti-abortion laws.
Judges Crawford, Moores not seeking Marion Superior Court retention
Marion Superior Judges Barbara Cook Crawford and Marilyn Moores will not stand for retention in the 2020 general election. A total of 13 other judges, however, have filed to be included on the November 2020 ballot.
Cellphone ban, pregnancy accommodations among issues facing Statehouse debate
Indiana lawmakers returned to the Statehouse this week after deadlines last week on advancing bills for action during the second half of this year’s legislative session.
Memorial service set for fetal remains connected to ex-abortion doctor
Thousands of fetal remains discovered on property owned by the late former Indiana abortion doctor Ulrich Klopfer will be memorialized at a graveside service in South Bend on Wednesday.
License of embattled Charlestown big-cat zoo revoked
The owner of a controversial Charlestown zoo that has been the subject of a bitter years-long court fight has lost his federal exhibitor’s license and is on the hook for more than $300,000 in civil penalties.
Push dropped for Indiana law requiring youth bicycle helmets
An Indiana legislator is dropping his push for a new law requiring all youthsto wear protective helmets while riding a bicycle, skateboard or skates on public property.