Universities oppose bill allowing guns on campus
Universities across Indiana are cautiously eying a state lawmaker’s proposal that would prohibit them from banning guns on campus.
Universities across Indiana are cautiously eying a state lawmaker’s proposal that would prohibit them from banning guns on campus.
The proposal sponsored by Republican state Sen. Carlin Yoder of Middlebury would eliminate the requirement that siblings of current voucher students first attend a public school for a year before becoming eligible for the program.
A proposal to write Indiana's same-sex marriage ban into the state constitution may be on hold as Republican leaders ponder its fate this year, but the House and Senate sponsors are charging ahead anyway.
The state Senate's education committee is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday on a bill that would require all public school districts and all accredited private elementary schools to teach cursive writing.
Indiana's General Assembly jumped to a quick start Monday with promises from Republican leaders to focus on workforce development and a request from Democrats to place a moratorium on divisive social issues for the next two years.
Legislators will be busy drafting the state's biennial budget, pondering the restoration of education spending and looking for ways to pay for road projects.
Indiana lawmakers will look at expanding what is already the nation's largest school voucher program when the General Assembly gets to work Monday despite concerns that the program is hurting public schools in big cities.
The latest state revenue forecast projects annual casino tax revenue will decline by about $42 million, or 9 percent, for the second year of the new two-year state budget.
Sen. Mike Delph said he believes the economic development organization is intentionally misleading the public about the number of jobs that companies receiving incentives create.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. is looking to renew its commitment to life sciences by creating a $30 million venture fund. The amount dedicated to one sector would be equal to the state’s allocation for all high-tech startups over the past two years.
A license plate tax of $20 to $50 per car will be one of a raft of proposals considered by the Legislature next year as a way to fix a hole in funding for road maintenance, and to keep expanding Indiana’s system of highways.
When lawmakers reconvene Jan. 7 for the 2013 legislative session, they will do so under a unique structure: a new Republican governor and Republican super-majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly.
What the 2013 legislative session lacks in spectacle, it’s sure to make up for in surprises.
Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke said mayors want lawmakers to require prescriptions statewide to purchase medicine that contains pseudoephedrine.
There's renewed interest from top state lawmakers in the highway, which would link communities stretching from Martinsville southwest of Indianapolis to Pendleton northeast of the city.
State lawmakers and Indianapolis officials are looking to regulate the gold-buying business, which police say provides an easy outlet for stolen goods. Cash-for-gold stores have multiplied as prices more than doubled since 2007.
Stores with crime problems that wanted to remain open overnight would have to do one of the following: have two employees working, install a bulletproof enclosure, have a security guard or conduct business through a pass-through trough.
Hoosier mayors say they're concerned that decision-making authority has been removed from the local level and transferred to state lawmakers in recent years.
Senate Education Committee chairman Dennis Kruse said he would not introduce a creationism measure again this year, choosing a lighter tack instead. His new proposal, he said, would encourage students to question a broad range of topics in the classroom.
Key lawmakers are playing their cards close to the vest heading into the 2013 legislative session with a new governor and a list of big priorities.