Indiana House sees leadership change as session nears end
The top leadership position in the Indiana House changed hands Monday for the first time in a decade in an unusual transition just as this year’s legislative session is about to wrap up.
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Justices OK state charges for immigrants who use fake IDs
The Supreme Court made it easier Tuesday for states to prosecute immigrants who use fake Social Security numbers to get a job. The issue for the court was whether states could pursue the immigrants in court or had to leave those choices to the federal government, which typically has authority over immigration.
AG Hill’s ethical, political limbo leaves leaders guessing
The only thing certain in the discipline case against Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill is uncertainty. That’s the consensus of legislative and political leaders responding to the recommendation that the Republican AG serve a 60-day suspension without automatic reinstatement.
Legislation, lawsuits used to combat Indiana’s lead problem as contamination cases persist
Organizations and individuals around Indiana have been pushing for a solution to the lead problem. The toxin is everywhere and exposure, especially in very young children, can cause lifelong cognitive impairment.
Indianapolis man facing fines in Ky. for employing children to sell candy
Kentucky is seeking $45,000 in fines from an Indiana man who is accused of using children to sell candy in Bowling Green. Shawn Floyd, 55, also faces 12 felony charges of human trafficking.
Pence’s handling of 2015 HIV outbreak gets new scrutiny
President Donald Trump’s choice of Vice President Mike Pence to oversee the nation’s response to the new coronavirus threat is bringing renewed scrutiny to the former governor’s handling of an HIV outbreak in southern Indiana when he was governor.
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.
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.
DCS, trial court reprimanded in reversal of parental rights termination
A father will have his parental rights restored after an Indiana Court of Appeals ruling that reiterated the Department of Child Services does not have the authority to set policy inconsistent with the law.
Holcomb orders steps on Lake Michigan shoreline erosion
As the Great Lakes continue to rise to record levels and the Indiana shoreline of Lake Michigan continues to erode and put at risk nearby homes, roads and infrastructure, Gov. Eric Holcomb on Thursday took official action that may be a catalyst for a future disaster declaration.
DNR: Fish kill near Portage likely caused by ‘natural event’
About 200 fish that were found dead Sunday in a northwestern Indiana river likely died due to natural causes, state wildlife officials said.
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.
State aims to extend Healthy Indiana Plan
Indiana has submitted a request for a 10-year extension of its Medicaid alternative program, the Healthy Indiana Plan, and still included is the suspended work requirement that was imposed on some enrollees in the public assistance program but is currently under review by the courts.
Medicaid changes could have big state consequences
Nearly one in five Hoosiers is on Medicaid, a program that pays for medical care, hospitalization, drugs, skilled nursing and other services for low-income and disabled people. But the future of the program is now up in the air after the Trump administration announced in January it would allow states to add eligibility requirements, benefit changes and drug-coverage limits.
Indiana pregnancy accommodation proposal unlikely to advance
Indiana legislators aren’t likely to revive a proposal aimed at requiring more businesses to provide workplace accommodations for pregnant women. Gov. Eric Holcomb urged lawmakers to support the proposal, but it was rebuffed in the state Senate by his fellow Republicans earlier this month.
Ruling in Arkansas case creates hurdle for Indiana’s Medicaid work mandates
Indiana’s attempt to impose work requirements on some Medicaid recipients likely suffered a setback Feb. 14 when an appellate court ruled that similar mandates in Arkansas fell outside the core objective of the federal health care program.
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.
Judge: Indiana environmental agency violated rules on factory permit
Indiana’s environmental agency broke its own public comment rules when it issued an air pollution permit for a planned $2.5 billion coal-to-diesel plant, an administrative law judge ruled in siding with the plant’s opponents.
COA halts bid to recoup hundreds of millions in motor carrier fees
An appeals court on Friday affirmed a judgment for the Indiana Department of Revenue in a class-action lawsuit that sought to recoup hundreds of millions of dollars in state motor carrier fees trucking companies paid online.
‘Social justice prosecuting’ bill advances despite widespread opposition
Despite unanimous opposition from nearly all of the organizations and individuals who testified, a bill that would allow the attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor over certain cases that a local prosecutor declines to prosecute has advanced out of an Indiana Senate committee.