Dead alligator found in Indiana drain

Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

"Surveyors looking for the source of a clogged drain in southern Adams County found a 7-foot dead alligator. 'At first they thought it was a turtle in there, but then they discovered an alligator,' Adams County sheriff's Deputy Larry Butler said.

He said the 120-pound alligator, which had been dead for about a week, was put inside the drain after it died. The sheriff's department and the Department of Natural Resources were looking for the owner of the reptile found Monday in Berne, about 30 miles south of Fort Wayne.

It is legal to own alligators in Indiana, but the state requires owners to apply for a permit with the DNR for alligators that are longer than 5 feet, said Greg McCollam, assistant director with the department's fish and wildlife division. There were no permits registered in Adams County, he said."

Activists Ask Army To Stop VX Waste Shipments

WRTV Indianapolis:

"The first shipments of chemical waste from deadly VX nerve agent being destroyed in Indiana arrived at a Port Arthur, Texas, plant on Tuesday, hours before two activist groups called on the Army to immediately halt further shipments.

Four tractor-trailers pulled into Veolia Environmental Services' plant about 12:40 a.m. Tuesday, each loaded with a reinforced tank filled with about 4,000 gallons of VX hydrolysate, said Daniel J. Duncan, Veolia's environmental health and safety manager.

That convoy left western Indiana's Newport Chemical Depot early Monday for the nearly 1,000-mile journey to Port Arthur as part of a $49 million contract Veolia recently signed with the Army to incinerate about 2 million gallons of the chemical waste."

Romney Makes Second Visit To Indiana

WRTV:

"Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney will be the featured speaker at the Indiana Republican Party Spring Dinner.

The dinner is Friday at the Fountains Banquet and Conference Center in Carmel.

The former Massachusetts governor will be introduced by Gov. Mitch Daniels, the GOP said.

Prices for the dinner range from $175 for one person to $3,000 for a table for 10 people and three photo opportunities, according to information posted on the Indiana Republican Party Web site."

Indiana's minimum wage bill on its way to governor's office

Evansville Courier Press:

"A bill that would tie Indiana's minimum wage to an expected increase in the federal minimum is on its way to the governor's office, now that the Indiana House has concurred on Senate changes to the bill.

The House by a vote of 75-22 approved the Senate's amendments to House Bill 1027, where it had passed 45-3.

The bill now would increase Indiana's state minimum wage from the current $5.15 to $7.25 an hour, if Congress also boosts the federal minimum by that amount."

Discount for Ind. drivers on Ill. Tollway in jeopardy

POST-TRIBUNE :

"Indiana officials say the rollout of new toll-tabulating transponders in June will make highway travel cheaper and easier for Indiana motorists, but their peers across the border in Illinois say private toll road operator ITR Concession Co. are making things harder.

Illinois Tollway officials say they will reconsider their longstanding practice of granting all users of Indiana's I-Zoom transponders an automatic 50 percent reduction in the tolls paid by drivers who pay cash, since ITR Concessions ann-ounced plans to give a 40 percent reduction solely to Indiana residents.

Illinois gives the 50 percent discount to the 90,000 Indiana residents who have I-Pass transponders, at an annual cost of $9 million."

Indiana’s health commissioner apologizes for state’s role in developing eugenics

BostonHerald.com:

"An Indiana official publicly apologized for the state’s role 100 years ago in pioneering state-authorized sterilization of ”imbeciles,” paupers and others it deemed undesirable.
Health Commissioner Dr. Judith Monroe expressed regret on behalf of the state Thursday for its passing of the first such eugenics law. She also unveiled a historic marker that will stand across from the Statehouse.
”It is one (law) that we do regret but we should not forget,” she said.
In 1907, then-Gov. J. Frank Hanly signed a state law widely regarded as the first in the world to permit sterilization in a misguided effort to improve the quality of the human race. "

Indiana News Tidbits

Indiana ranks second-highest in job loss in nation
Indiana lost more jobs in February than any other state except Ohio as its struggling manufacturing sector helped fuel the loss of 7,400 non-farm-related paychecks.

Figures released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that only Ohio lost more jobs, about 9,700, in February. New Jersey was third with some 6,200 job losses.

Indiana was one of only three states to report a decline in employment for the past year, shedding about 12,700 jobs. Most of those losses came from the state’s struggling manufacturing and construction sectors.

Indiana Factory To Close, Send Jobs To Mexico
Dura Automotive Systems Inc. will close its 114-employee factory in this southern Indiana community and stop production by the end of the year, the Michigan-based company announced Tuesday.

The factory makes spare tire carriers and toolkits, and production will move to Matamoros, Mexico. Brownstown sits about 62 miles south of Indianapolis in Jackson County.

The Brownstown site is one of four Dura plants slated to close as part of a restructuring. The others are in Bracebridge, Ontario; Hannibal, Mo.; and Selinsgrove, Pa. The Pennsylvania location will close in May and move its assembly line to Elkhart.

A Solution in Need of a Problem
Today the Indiana House Rules Committee will take up SJR-7, the amendment to the Indiana Constitution that would ban same-sex marriage. The language of the amendment reads as follows, marriage shall be between a man and a woman and nothing in Indiana law shall be construed to require the legal incidents of marriage to unmarried couples.

To be brutally honest with you, I really don't see what the big deal has been about this issue. I had no idea that gay marriage was such a threat to Indiana families. When a young, pregnant mother in Indianapolis was killed in her apartment by a stray bullet, I don't think it was a gay couple trying to get married who fired the gun that destroyed that family. I also don't think it's been gay couples trying to marry who have opposed progress in this state, keeping away badly needed jobs which can only strengthen families. And it's not gay couples trying to marry that are responsible for the high drop rate, obesity rate and brain drain, all things that go to harming families

Company seeks proposals for new wind farms, including in Indiana
The parent company of Appalachian Power said Wednesday it wants to buy up to 260 megawatts of wind power in West Virginia or Virginia.

Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power said it also wants to add 100 megawatts of wind-generated electricity for its Indiana Michigan Power subsidiary. AEP is seeking long-term wind power supply contracts for both subsidiaries and is considering sites in Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana and Michigan.

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