Hemp bill’s chances growing with Senate passage
Farmers hoping to add a new crop to their rotation next planting season just moved closer to that dream, now that the Indiana Senate voted nearly unanimously to pass an agricultural hemp bill.
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Indiana House passes $34.6B budget along party lines
The Indiana House on Monday passed a $34.6 billion two-year budget along party lines. The budget includes an increase of more than $550 million over two years for the Indiana Department of Child Services.
Senate committee splits over homeless youth bill
A bill that would assist homeless youths in getting access to various documents that could help them find employment passed through a committee Thursday, but not without concerns.
Senate backs study of juvenile justice system
Concerns surrounding the way Indiana adjudicates and rehabilitates its juvenile offenders has resulted in the proposal of a summer interim committee to address how adequately the juvenile justice system is governed.
Lake Michigan shoreline bills advance in Indiana Senate
Two pieces of legislation that would define public and recreational use of Lake Michigan’s shores and give jurisdiction of seawalls, beach grooming and land walls to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources have made advances in the Indiana Senate this week.
Mueller report looming, new attorney general in hot seat
William Barr has been attorney general for just one week but is on the cusp of staring down what will almost certainly be the most consequential decision of his long career: How much of the special counsel’s findings to make public.
Indiana seeks injunction against assisted living center where woman died
State officials are seeking an injunction against a western Indiana assisted living center where a woman died after wandering outside on a cold night. The request filed on behalf of the State Department of Health seeks to stop Bethesda Gardens in Terre Haute from providing nursing care outside the scope of an unlicensed assisted living facility.
Indiana Senate approves stripped-down hate crimes bill
The Republican-dominated Indiana Senate passed a stripped-down hate crimes bill Thursday and sent the measure to the House, where Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb and others hope the legislation can still be strengthened. The Senate voted 39-10 in favor of the legislation that was changed two days earlier to remove a list of specifically protected characteristics, including sexual orientation, gender identity and race.
State, IBM spar over damages during Supreme Court oral arguments
It’s been roughly nine years since a hard-fought legal battle over the creation of a new Hoosier welfare system ensued between the state of Indiana and IBM Corp. And on Thursday, the long-lasting litigation returned to the Indiana Supreme Court, which this time must answer a multi-million-dollar damages question.
COA rejects developer’s private pond argument
An Evansville developer’s argument that the Indiana Department of Environmental Management does not have jurisdiction over private ponds did not hold water with the Indiana Court of Appeals.
Trump chooses Jeffrey Rosen for deputy attorney general
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he intends to nominate Jeffrey Rosen, a longtime litigator and deputy transportation secretary, to replace Rod Rosenstein as deputy attorney general.
Judge orders Roger Stone to court over Instagram post
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Roger Stone to appear in court to consider whether to revoke his bail after the longtime Donald Trump confidant posted a photo on Instagram of the judge with what appeared to be crosshairs of a gun.
Indiana’s abortion cert petition relisted for 5th time
The petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a law restricting abortions in Indiana has been distributed for a fifth conference with the justices. Now the petition has been scheduled for consideration Feb. 22.
Indiana agrees to provide Hepatitis C drugs to more Medicaid recipients
An agreement reached in federal court in February will allow Indiana Medicaid recipients infected with Hepatitis C to receive direct-acting antiviral medications, or DAAs, sooner rather than having to wait until the disease has significantly damaged their livers.
SCOTUS rejects appeal of Lake Michigan public access case
The Supreme Court of the United States will not hear an appeal that sought to restrict public access to the Indiana shore of Lake Michigan. Justices let stand an Indiana Supreme Court decision that found a public access right to the state’s 45 miles of Great Lakes beaches.
New book on President Harrison highlights his life in law, politics
Author Ray Boomhower describes the Hoosier president as a man whose legal career made him a powerful speaker capable of reaching and swaying an audience. “He had that experience of trying to convince a jury which, I think, translated very well in trying to convince voters to support his candidacy.”
Indiana Senate committee moves bias crimes bill forward
After more than three hours of testimony and discussion on Monday morning, the Senate Public Policy Committee voted to send a bias crimes bill to the full Senate for consideration. Senate Bill 12 would give judges the ability to consider whether a crime was committed out of hate or bias toward specific groups of individuals as an aggravating circumstance at sentencing.
Indiana Senate panel backs hate crimes bill
A proposed Indiana hate crimes law has been endorsed by a state legislative committee. The Senate Public Policy Committee voted 9-1 on Monday to advance the bill to the full Senate after hearing nearly three hours of public testimony from opponents and supporters of the legislation.
Trump emergency declaration faces fights in the courts
President Donald Trump declared a national emergency along the southern border and predicted his administration would end up defending it all the way to the Supreme Court. That might have been the only thing Trump said Friday that produced near-universal agreement.
Justices to decide if 2020 census can ask about citizenship
The Supreme Court will decide whether the 2020 census can include a question about citizenship that could affect the allocation of seats in the House of Representatives and the distribution of billions of dollars in federal money. The justices agreed Friday to a speedy review of a lower court ruling that has so far blocked the Trump administration from adding the citizenship question to the census for the first time since 1950.