Articles

Man arrested for breaking into Mellencamp’s Indiana home

An Indianapolis man has been arrested after ramming his SUV through a security gate at the home of rocker John Mellencamp and kicking in a door. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department said 48-year-old Robert P. Carter was arrested about 6 a.m. Thursday by officers responding to an alarm at Mellencamp’s home outside Bloomington.

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Indiana, Ohio leading 6th Circuit appeal supporting law regulating Kentucky abortion clinics

The Hoosier state has filed its second abortion-related appeal this week, this time urging a federal appeals court to uphold states’ authority to regulate abortion clinics. Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill joined forces with Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to lead a 16-state coalition in favor of a Kentucky law requiring abortion clinics to maintain transfer-and-transportation agreements with local hospitals and ambulance services.

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Holcomb appoints prosecutor as newest Lake County judge

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb has appointed a prosecuting attorney with violent crimes experience to fill a judicial vacancy on the Lake County bench. Holcomb announced Wednesday that Aleksandra Dimitrijevic will succeed Lake Superior Judge Jesse M. Villalpando.

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Officers recognize, arrest woman who barked at police dog

An Indiana woman who barked at a police dog attracted the attention of officers, who then arrested her on outstanding warrants. Lafayette police say officers were conducting a traffic stop Monday when 20-year-old Kiana Champagne Fletcher, who was standing in front of her home, began barking at a police dog sniffing the stopped car.

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Bill: Public servants who steal would repay from pensions

The House Committee on Courts and Criminal Code on Wednesday unanimously stripped a proposed bill of language that would have required Indiana public officials to serve prison time for theft of taxpayer dollars. In its place, the committee added a provision to recoup any monetary losses from the pension funds of officials convicted of theft.

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State, national groups support Indiana public defense reform

Leaders of state and national criminal justice organizations are declaring their support for the Indiana Public Defender Commission’s reform initiative, which the commission is presenting to the Indiana General Assembly this year in an effort to secure additional funds to expand and improve indigent defense services statewide.

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Suit seeks to require counsel for kids in CHINS cases

A national child advocacy organization filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Indianapolis asserting that Indiana is violating the rights of abused and neglected children by failing to provide them legal counsel in children in need of services and termination of parental rights hearings. 

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Indiana GOP seeks abortion ban blocked in 7 other states

Indiana Republicans eager for a rare legal victory in their efforts to restrict abortion rights are seeking to outlaw a second-trimester procedure, hopeful an increasingly conservative U.S. Supreme Court will back a ban that courts have blocked in seven other states.

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Convicted ex-ASC chief Burkhart loses bid to stay civil lawsuit

The former CEO of a nursing home company now serving prison time for his major role in a corporate fraud scheme has lost his bid to stay additional civil proceedings against him while he fights to have his convictions tossed on the basis of an alleged “profound conflict of interest” on the part of Indianapolis law firm Barnes & Thornburg.

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Lapse in government funding worsens immigration backlog

The recent partial government shutdown — the longest in United States History — left federal lawyers scrambling as the government agencies they work with were shuttered, leaving cases unresolved, hearings missed and clients uncertain.

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