Last Update 7/2/2009

The battle against big government and high spending is hitting the streets once again. All across the country this Saturday, July 4th, conservative groups will hold so-called TEA parties to draw attention to the huge government growth and never-before-seen spending we've had under the Obama administration and Democrat Congress. TEA stands for "taxed enough already." South Bend got the jump by holding its own TEA party on Wednesday outside the St. Joseph County Courthouse. Organizer J. Kata tells WFRN he's had enough of our Democrat leaders not paying attention to the voice of the people. He says somebody has to pay for the record-high spending we're seeing in Washington right now, noting the federal stimulus package will cost the average household over 90-thousand dollars. This Saturday, the 4th, a big statewide TEA party rally will be held in downtown Indianapolis. You can get information on our website, wfrn.com.

Dozens of urban school districts across Indiana are howling over funding cuts in the new state budget. The new two-year budget provides an overall one-point-four percent increase to public schools, although school systems with declining enrollments will be seeing less money. In an interview with WFRN, Goshen House Republican Wes Culver backs the budget that was approved just before Tuesday's midnight deadline. He says some innercity schools, like in Indianapolis and Gary, are losing thousands of students every year, and they used to get money for them over a five-year period, which Culver believes was not fair to rural schools. But Culver says they still get as much as double per child over rural districts. The just-concluded special session at the Statehouse cost Hoosier taxpayers over 200-thousand dollars, but Culver feels it was worth it to wait until the end for a good budget, which he says will save the state a billion dollars over the next two years.

New protections are on the books in Indiana if you're a homeowner facing the threat of foreclosure. During a stop in Goshen, Attorney General Greg Zoeller said lenders are now required to meet face-to-face with struggling homeowners behind on their mortgage payments. He says it's also now a crime for banks and mortgage companies to influence appraisers to artificially inflate the value of a home, so they can get a larger mortgage, and no longer can banks charge prepayment penalties for people with adjustable rate mortgages. Only seven other states in the country have higher home foreclosure rates than Indiana.

181 new laws went on the books in Indiana on Wednesday. Drivers under the age of 18 can no longer use their cell phones to either call somebody or text message while behind the wheel. All police officers have to be trained in CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver, and cities are now required to buy bulletproof vests for officers. The new Silver Alert system is also being launched. It works like Amber Alerts, which uses the media to find missing children. Silver Alerts are designed for missing senior citizens.

The mayor of Kokomo acknowledges his city's nearly 19-percent unemployment rate at the end of May. Because of the two-month shutdown of Chrysler, Kokomo's biggest employer, Howard County has passed Elkhart County for the highest jobless rate in Indiana and over the last year has seen its unemployment rate soar 11-point-seven percent, worst in the nation. Elkhart County is right behind at 11-point-four percent. But Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight expects his city's numbers to drop now that Chrysler is resuming production. Goodnight says Chrysler is looking to ramp up production levels late this month, although some employees have returned to work to get ready for the plant startup.

More than 75-thousand cars and trucks are expected to travel on the Indiana Toll Road over the Fourth of July weekend, and the state's National Guard will benefit. Fernando Redondo is the CEO of the ITR Concession Company that runs the Toll Road and says for the second year in a row, a portion of every toll paid on Saturday, the fourth, will go to a special donation to the Indiana National Guard Relief Fund. That's a fund that provides financial help to men and women of the Guard and their families who are struggling financially because soldiers are on duty away from home. Redondo hopes to donate ten-thousand dollars to the fund this year.

If you're the parent of a child at home, you're being asked to be on the frontline to protect your kid from predators on the internet. Bill Stanczykiewicz of the Indiana Youth Institute says the best way to keep our children safe online is to be an involved mom or dad and watch how your child uses his or her computer and which websites they visit. Stanczykiewicz says a child's internet use is like having an open door in your home.

A South Bend dog is being hailed a hero but is fighting for her life after being shot during an apparent home invasion attempt. Nobody in the home was hurt, but a rottweiler named Angel was hit by a bullet. Angel's owner says the ten-year-old dog was trying to protect everyone in the home when she was shot and was seriously hurt. The dog underwent surgery Wednesday at an emergency animal clinic.

Officials in Michigan feel they've fixed a mistake involving 62 of the state's convicted sex offenders. Those 62 offenders were wrongly released from the prison system due to an apparent glitch in how psychologists determined their treatment plans. State Department of Correction spokesman Russ Marlan says the parolees, who were outfitted with GPS tether devices, were picked up immediately after officials learned of the mistake. Some were released again after the Parole Board determined it was safe to do so, while most remained behind bars while the board considered if they should be free or not. Democrat Governor Jennifer Granholm has worked to shrink Michigan's prison population due to money problems but says only low-risk offenders are being paroled earlier than normal, and all have served their minimum sentences.

The 2008 Democrat for Indiana lieutenant governor is in trouble with the law. The prosecutor in Indianapolis says former State Representative Dennie Oxley is charged with public intoxication and impersonating a public servant. Authorities say the 38-year-old Oxley was seen drunk at a downtown Indianapolis gas station last Friday. He allegedly claimed he should not be arrested, since the legislature was in session, although of course, Oxley is no longer in the General Assembly after his run for lieutenant governor last year.


...In Sports...

The Chicago White Sox are on quite a roll. The Sox have won five straight games and Wednesday night completed a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians in Ohio, with a 6-2 win. Ramon Castro hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the sixth inning, and Jose Contreras pitched eight strong innings to lead the Sox to the victory. The Sox have moved to within three games of first-place Detroit in the American League Central after the Tigers lost at Oakland late Wednesday night, 5-1.

Derrek Lee and Kosuke Fukudome homered and Randy Wells won his third straight decision in the Chicago Cubs' 4-1 victory Wednesday night over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Lee gave the Cubs the early lead with a two-run homer in the first inning, and the North Siders never looked back, as they two of the three games in the series.

The wheels have fallen off for the South Bend Silver Hawks, who committed six errors and gave up 21 hits in an 11-4 loss to the West Michigan White Caps Wednesday night at Coveleski Stadium. The Hawks have fallen to 1-and-5 in the second half of the season, and are coming off a dismal 4-and-21 record in June.

In big free agent news from the NBA, guard Ben Gordon is making the trip along I-94 from Chicago to Detroit. According to new media reports, the former Bulls guard is getting a five-year, 55- to 60-million dollar deal to play for the Detroit Pistons. Gordon turned down deals from Chicago over 50-million bucks. Former Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva is also reportedly getting a five-year deal to play for the Pistons, worth some 40-million dollars. The Pistons are trying to retool after slumping to a 39-and-43 record last season.

Indiana and Butler Universities have been invited to play in the annual Jimmy-V Classic on December 8th at Madison Square Garden in New York. IU will take on Pittsburgh in the basketball opener with the Bulldogs of Butler facing Georgetown in game two. The Jimmy-V Classic is the wrap-up to Jimmy-V week, an initiative across the ESPN family of cable television networks to raise money for cancer research. Jimmy Valvano, who coached North Carolina State to the national championship in 1983, died of cancer in 1993.

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