Paving work to begin on section of B&O trail

IndyStar.com

The first paved section of a trail in Hendricks County on the former B&O Railroad should be completed by the end of the year.

A groundbreaking ceremony will be Thursday on the trail just west of Raceway Road. The work marks a big step for trail enthusiasts who have planned for nearly two decades to turn the old railway corridor into a trail through Marion and Hendricks counties.

"We've had some rustic trail sections, but this will be the first tangible piece of the trail," said Carrie Walter, secretary of the B&O Trail Association. "In getting it paved, it allows people to see what it will be like when we get it all done. We are just very excited about it."

Michelle Obama to visit Fort Wayne next week

Chicagotribune.com

Michelle Obama is scheduled to make a campaign stop on behalf of her husband in Fort Wayne on Wednesday.

The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says she'll talk with voters in what's being billed as a "community event." The campaign says additional details of the visit will be announced later.

Mass Murderer Dies in Prison Cell, Suicide Suspected

Indiana's NewsCenter

Mass murderer Simon Rios dies in an Indiana prison, marking the end of a story that brought terrible pain and suffering to the Fort Wayne community.

Rios was found hanging after 12-30 a.m. Thursday in his cell at the Pendleton Reformatory.

There were indications the torment he caused others, became a burden too great to bear.

Attempts to revive Simon Rios failed, and he was pronounced dead before 1-30 a.m. at the Pendleton Correctional Facility.

Prison officials say there were no signs of foul play, and in fact, he left behind a suicide note.

Police Still Searching For Clues In 20-Year-Old Cold Case

WRTV Indianapolis

He was shot and left for dead inside an Indianapolis-area parking garage and 20 years later police still don't know who killed a popular hospital administrator and father of four.

Charles McGraw was shot and killed on Oct. 7, 1988, after hosting a reception at St. Francis Hospital, where he worked as director of food services.

A co-worker found his body slumped in the front seat of his 1984 Cadillac Seville on the second floor parking deck at the hospital.

Since then, four different Beech Grove police detectives have worked the case, ruling out robbery. Instead, they classified the slaying as an execution.

New poll shows Daniels with slight lead

Chicagotribune.com

A new statewide poll shows Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels with a slight lead over Democratic challenger Jill Long Thompson.

The WISH-TV Indiana Poll released Tuesday night found 49 percent of likely voters supported Daniels, while 45 percent said they favored Long Thompson.

The four-point difference was just slightly greater than the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

That comes after a poll last week that found a one-point difference in the race, which was within that poll's margin of error.

Indiana may be ripe for Democrats' picking

Chicago Sun-Times

The economic view from Northwest Indiana isn't pretty.

And if Indiana goes to Barack Obama on Nov. 4, get ready for an Election Day avalanche.

Remember, Indiana is as ruby red as we in Illinois are baby blue.

The last Democrat our neighbors to the east helped send to the White House was Lyndon Johnson in 1964. If you were born that year, you are middle-aged.

On Tuesday morning, as the breakfast crowd was thinning and the lunch crowd arriving, the customers at Schoop's Diner in Portage had a litany of worries as they prepared to watch last night's debate between John McCain and Obama.

Marion Co. GOP: Clerk Beth White violated election law

IndyStar.com

Marion County Republican Chairman Tom John today accused Clerk Beth White of violating election law when she spoke on television about a get-out-the vote effort by the Barack Obama campaign.

White, a Democrat, said the Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign informed her office that it would give preferential seating at Obama’s speech at the State Fairgrounds tomorrow to people who vote early. She said she was simply relaying information passed on to her office.

John said White is misusing her office by encouraging people to vote in exchange for something of value — seating at an event that he compared to getting free tickets to a rock concert. He said local, state and federal law prohibits soliciting votes by promising something in return.