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Nearly three dozen not-for-profits would have to stop selling their specialty license plates under a bill approved by an Indiana House panel Wednesday. The legislation would eliminate specialty plates approved this year and those that sold fewer than 1,000 in 2011. Indiana not-for-profits receive $25 from every $40 a motorist spends on a specialty plate. The state sold more than 420,000 such plates last year, netting more than $11 million for the organizations, but bill backers say there are too many plates and not enough oversight of how the money is spent. Groups that could be affected if the measure passes include the Indianapolis Zoo, Habitat for Humanity and Indiana Youth Group.

A northwest-side church day care center will be closed the rest of the week after a toddler drowned Wednesday in the baptismal font. Juan Cardenas, 1, was being cared for at Praise Fellowship Assembly of God when he apparently wandered into the church. He was pronounced dead at St. Vincent Hospital. The day care center, classified by the state as an "unlicensed registered ministry,” has a history of safety violations but no record of formal complaints from parents. Police are investigating.

An Indiana Senate committee voted 8-2 Wednesday to approve a proposed statewide smoking ban despite objections over exemptions for casinos and private clubs. The approval advances one of the most contentious issues remaining for lawmakers this year, sending the bill to the full Senate for debate. The House has approved the plan, which exempts casinos, racetrack slots parlors, off-track betting locations, tobacco stores, hookah bars and private clubs such as VFW halls. Supporters and opponents alike called the carve-outs bad policy. The proposal's authors said it was the best they could do given the state's political atmosphere and the gambling industry's clout in the Statehouse.