Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb on Wednesday said he would extend the state’s mask mandate for another month amid sharply rising COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations. He made the announcement while revealing that Dr. Kristina Box, the state’s health commissioner, had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
The Indiana Lawyer editorial staff has been covering Indiana’s voter suppression laws and how they are holding up to court challenges. So far, so good for several statutes, which is awful news for democracy and the right to vote.
The number of coronavirus patients in Indiana hospitals grew over the weekend to the highest level in nearly five months, state health officials said Monday.
Indiana Democrats are targeting the state attorney general’s race as their best chance to break the stranglehold Republicans have over state government.
Indiana’s attorney general candidates are divided over how the Republican governor has used the state’s emergency powers law to impose a mask mandate and other coronavirus-related executive orders that have stirred discord among conservative voters.
Plaintiffs in Indiana’s vote by mail case are questioning the state’s assertion made this week in oral arguments to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that Hoosiers can request a special exemption from the Indiana Election Commission to cast an absentee ballot if they do not meet one of the law’s categories of who may vote by mail.
The Indiana General Assembly is once again being asked to add to Indiana’s court roster, with six counties presenting requests for new judicial officers. Most significantly, Hamilton County is asking the Legislature to add a new court.
The water utility for Indiana’s second-largest city will lift its protections against utility shutoffs next week after Fort Wayne officials said the months-long moratorium had become “unsustainable.”
Indiana health leaders say the wearing of face masks will be as important as ever to stem the coronavirus spread, even as most of the statewide restrictions imposed by the governor were lifted as of Saturday.
Interviews of 10 candidates to fill a vacancy that will occur on the Lake Superior Court in January have been scheduled for next month, the Indiana Supreme Court announced Thursday.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb on Wednesday said he was moving Indiana to Stage 5 of the Back on Track recovery plan starting Saturday, but was extending the state’s pandemic mask order through at least Oct. 17.
Indiana has scrapped plans to buy land at an Ohio River site under consideration for the state’s newest shipping port, Gov. Eric Holcomb announced Thursday.
Plaintiffs in the battle to expand no-excuse absentee voting in Indiana before the Nov. 3 general election filed their reply brief Wednesday, arguing the state’s suggestion of requiring all Hoosiers to vote in-person, regardless of age, would create a “more confusing and chaotic outcome.”
The state of Indiana is still sitting on more than $1 billion in federal coronavirus aid with a little more than three months to spend the funds.
At 10 a.m. Monday, Leanna Weissmann transitioned from practitioner to judge. “What a star,” Chief Justice Loretta Rush said of Weissmann when her appointment was announced. “I will miss you standing before me arguing cases. … I always knew it would be a whale of an argument.”
Anticipating a shortage of poll workers on Election Day, the Indiana Supreme Court has joined the recruitment effort. Lawyers who serve on Nov. 3 will be able to claim up to one hour of continuing legal education credit for going through the training and report the time worked as pro bono hours.
Crises present tests of leadership, and Holcomb’s milquetoast excuses for not backing no-excuse mail-in voting during this time will haunt him and define him. This is easily his worst hour in a long political career.
An Indiana judge has said it’s too late to take his name off the November ballot and he will not serve if elected to a third term due to health issues.
Attorney Brian M. Johnson was appointed the new judge of Knox Superior Court on Monday by Gov. Eric Holcomb, just days after the Knox County Republican Party selected him to be the party’s unopposed candidate on the November ballot.
Less than two months before the November presidential election, the Indiana Attorney General is countering a push to remove the state’s restrictions on mail-in voting by telling the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals those restrictions guard against fraud and encourage voter turnout.