The legislative legacy forged on Capitol Hill and the jovial hog farmer-turned-politician who won three terms in the Senate were both remembered during an Indiana Statehouse memorial service Wednesday for U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh, who died in March at age 91.
The American Civil Liberties Union has once again filed a federal lawsuit challenging an Indiana abortion law, this time filing a complaint against recently signed legislation that would place new restrictions on second-trimester abortions.
Dozens of Indianapolis political and civic leaders joined a tribute for former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar outside the building where he served as the city’s mayor before winning the first of his six Senate terms. Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett called Lugar an “American statesman” during Monday’s ceremony a day after he died at age 87.
A recently retired Lake Superior Court judge will temporarily return to the bench as a judge pro tempore. The Indiana Supreme Court has appointed former Judge Diane Kavadias Schneider as judge pro tempore in Lake Superior Court, Civil Division 5, in preparation for an upcoming vacancy that will be left by Judge William E. Davis.
Indiana lawmakers are entering the second half of the legislative session with more than 400 bills still alive, covering issues including teacher pay, gambling and hate crimes.
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.
Opponents and supporters of a proposed Indiana hate crimes law are arguing their positions before state legislators. A state Senate committee opened a hearing Monday morning on a bill that would create a law specifically against crimes fueled by biases regarding traits such as race, religion and sexual orientation.
Indiana is again appealing to the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn a preliminary injunction blocking a state abortion law, this one requiring women to get an ultrasound at least 18 hours before the procedure. The provision was included in House Enrolled Act 1337, which was signed into law by then-Gov. Mike Pence in 2016.
Planned Parenthood’s affiliate overseeing Hawaii and three western states announced Friday that it was adding Indiana and Kentucky, a first-of-its-kind consolidation based not on geography but on reallocating resources to fight new abortion restrictions in the Midwest and South. The arrangement places Indiana and Kentucky under a Seattle-based affiliate that currently oversees clinics in Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho and Washington.
Interviews for a Lake Superior Court vacancy have been rescheduled for March 11, following a postponement due to weather concerns. The interviews were initially scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 31.
A man arrested for smoking a blunt in Indianapolis failed to convince the Indiana Court of Appeals that his misdemeanor conviction violated his constitutional rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The appeal also raised the issue of the Hoosier State now being among a minority of states that have yet to legalize marijuana in some form.
Lawyers interested in trial court judgeships in two Indiana counties have three weeks left to apply for vacancies to be filled by appointment by Gov. Eric Holcomb. The vacancies will exist in Kosciusko and Posey Counties, and applications are being accepted until 5 p.m. Feb. 13.
A lawsuit naming Gov. Eric Holcomb filed on behalf of a prisoner on Indiana’s death row urges a state court to issue an injunction halting capital punishment and rule that the state’s ultimate criminal penalty violates the Indiana Constitution.
Fort Wayne native Michael T. Douglass has been named a magistrate judge in the Allen Superior Court Civil Division, the courts announced in a statement. Douglass will join the court Jan. 22.
The Lake County Judicial Nominating Commission will interview 10 applicants Jan. 31 for a Lake Superior Court vacancy that will occur in February when Judge Diane Kavadias Schneider retires.
As they did in January 2018, supporters of hate crimes legislation rallied Tuesday in the Indiana Statehouse to again push lawmakers to add a bias-motivated crime statute to the Indiana law books. Advocates from a broad array of groups, including business, education, nonprofits and faith-based organizations, were on-hand to applaud and cheer as legislators and community leaders called for Indiana to join the 45 other states with hate crimes law.
The priorities for Indiana House Republicans this year align with Gov. Eric Holcomb’s agenda, but one significant issue did not make the list: a hate crimes bill.
Indiana’s petition for a review of its 2016 abortion law is still pending at the Supreme Court of the United States after the justices relisted the Hoosier state’s writ of certiorari for this Friday’s conference. The state is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a preliminary injunction blocking the implementation of a law that limits when a woman may terminate her pregnancy and mandates how fetal remains should be handled.
In an effort to remove Indiana from a list of five states without hate crimes legislation, lawmakers have filed three separate bills so far in the Indiana General Assembly, but the latest measure does not specify the classes of individuals and groups who would be protected.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb remains opposed to efforts by state lawmakers to allow medical or recreational marijuana in the state, even as such uses are becoming legal in a growing number of other states.