Last Update 11/19/2008

It was a festive atmosphere at the Indiana Statehouse Tuesday when Hoosier lawmakers got together for their annual organization day. It was ceremonial for the most part, but it won't take long for the battlelines to be drawn on key issues facing Indiana. Starting January 7th, the General Assembly will begin work on a new two-year state budget and a possible state constitutional amendment to put a permanent cap on our property taxes. Lawmakers admit compromising on a budget, in these tough economic times, won't be easy. House Minority Leader Brian Bosma says tax reform has made an already tough budget tougher. Pat Bauer, who was re-elected Tuesday as the Speaker of the Indiana House, wants to wait a year to pass a state constitutional amendment to permanently cap property taxes, but Senate President Pro Tem David Long says the longer they wait, the more Indiana's economy will suffer.

Don't look for much to be done at the Indiana Statehouse to protect unborn babies over the next two years. In the last 11 legislative sessions, Democrats have been in control of the House nine times and killed every single pro-life bill, while the House passed six pro-life bills in 2005 and 2006 when Republicans were in charge. Democrats have a 52-to-48 majority heading into 2009. In an interview with WFRN, Indiana Right to Life Director Mike Fichter admits there probably won't be much of an opportunity to pass any pro-bill bill in 2009 and 2010, but he says it's important to keep legislative issues on the front burner. Fichter says the number one priority heading into 2009 will be to stop Congress from passing the "Freedom of Choice Act," which would lift virtually every restriction on abortion and invalidate every state pro-life law in Indiana, Michigan and around the country. We'll have more on that in the days to come.

Dozens of communities around Indiana have public smoking bans on the books, but a proposed statewide smoking ban is in the works. Democrat Charlie Brown, the chairman of the House Public Health Committee, plans to offer a bill to ban smoking in most public buildings, including restaurants, bars, bowling alleys and even casinos. The idea is getting the "thumbs up" from Vicki Rakowski, the Chief Operating Officer for the Great Lakes Division of the American Cancer Society. WFRN talked with Rakowski, who says more than 75-percent of adults don't smoke, not to mention kids, and we each need to be protected from second-hand smoke. Rakowski says there's also a move in Michigan for a public smoking ban.

There will be a recount of Indiana's closest Statehouse race. Lafayette Democrat John Polles has filed for a recount of his 26-vote loss to Republican Randy Truitt. Truitt was sworn in Tuesday along with 16 other freshman representatives but could still be unseated if a recount were to reverse the outcome of the race. Secretary of State Todd Rokita will oversee the recount, which by law must be finished by December 20th. If the vote count stands, Democrats would still have a 52-to-48 majority in the Indiana House for the next two years.

Indiana Congressman Mike Pence, who's set to take over one of the top Republican spots in the U.S. House, says GOP values are still sound, but the Republican party needs to gain more credibility. GOP Leader John Boehner of Ohio recruited Pence to take over the chairman of the Republican conference, the number three leadership post, when Congress convenes in January. The caucus votes on its leadership today. Pence, who has spoken several times with WFRN, told "The Herald Bulletin of Anderson" he doesn't think the party needs to come up with a new set of ideas to stand for. They will still stand for limited government and strong values, but Pence says the Republican party has lost credibility on those issues.

For many of us, the week before Thanksgiving is a time to buy a cart full of groceries and prepare our homes for the arrival of guests for the holiday. However, over 750-thousand Hoosiers will not have enough money even for a traditional Thanksgiving meal and many won't even have a place to call home. This is Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. Sandra Herman of the Indiana Coalition on Housing and Homeless Issues says many struggling people are hard-working. Statistics show 27-percent of Indiana workers don't earn enough to lift a family of four above the poverty level, a significant jump from 22-percent in the year 2000.

Police in South Bend are looking for a man accused of two robberies on Tuesday. Officers were called to the Subway Restaurant in the 100 block of East Ireland around 9:30 Tuesday night. The description of the man who held up the eatery is the same as the person who robbed the Mutual Bank in the 700 block of Ireland during the afternoon. The suspect walked into the bank and demanded teller, saying he had a weapon, but he never showed one. Police say that same person may have held up another Subway on Lincolnway West in Mishawaka last weekend.

An insurance company reports the number of deer-car crashes is up 25-percent in Indiana since 2003. State Farm Insurance claims that's a bigger increase than the nation as a whole. Indiana has the 11th highest rate of deer-vehicle collisions in the country. The report shows one in 129 Indiana drivers was likely to collide with a deer between July 1st, 2007 and June 30th of this year. State police are urging us to be alert as we drive, especially in the early evening, now that deer are in the middle of mating season.

Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman has awarded over 121-thousand dollars to nine Indiana downtown improvement projects. Elkhart, Nappanee, Kokomo and Michigan City are among the nine Hoosier cities getting the money that's aimed to promote restoration efforts.


...In Sports...

With mostly new faces on the Indiana Hoosier basketball team, questions were asked all off-season on how many wins IU could get this year. They're picked 10th in the Big Ten, but the Hoosiers have opened with back-to-back victories, including a nail-biter at Assembly Hall Tuesday night. IU squeaked by IUPUI, 60-57. The Hoosiers had an 11-point halftime lead quickly erased in the opening minutes of the second half before fighting their way to the win. Freshman Tom Pritchard scored 19 points, making seven-of-eight field goals, and blocked a last second three-pointer by IUPUI.

The Purdue Boilermakers are off to a flying start in the young basketball season. The 11th-ranked Boilers Tuesday night blew out Loyola of Chicago, 78-46, to advance to the NIT Season Tip-Off semifinals in New York. E'Twaun Moore scored 14 points and Robbie Hummel added 13 to pace the way for Purdue, who improved to 3-and-0.

The number one team in college basketball had no problem Tuesday night beating one of the other perennial powers in the hoops world. North Carolina cruised past Kentucky in Chapel Hill, 77-58, even though last year's Player of the Year Tyler Hansborough is sidelined with an injury.

Pitcher Ryan Dempster will remain a Chicago Cub for at least the next four years. Dempster has signed a four-year, 52-million dollar contract with the Cubs after winning 17 games on the mound this past season. Dempster had the chance to leave the team as a free agent, but he wanted to stay in Chicago and win a World Series.

The Ball State Cardinals will try to keep their undefeated season going tonight on the football field. Ball State is ranked 14th in the country and is 10-and-0 for the first time in school history, but tonight, they travel to Central Michigan, the only other unbeaten team in the Mid-American Conference. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

The Chicago Bulls dropped below the .500 mark with a loss late Tuesday out west to the Los Angeles Lakers, 116-109. The Bulls fell to 5-and-6, while the Lakers bounced back from their first loss of the season to improve to 8-and-1. Pau Gasol had a season-high 34 points to better Kobe Bryant's 21.

The Indiana Pacers snapped a two-game losing streak with a convincing 113-96 homecourt win over the fading Atlanta Hawks. Danny Granger poured in 34 points to lead the Pacers, who evened their record at 5-and-5. Atlanta started the season 6-and-0 but has dropped four straight since then.

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