Pence signs school safety grants, 40 other measures into law

INDIANAPOLIS | School corporations can each seek up to $50,000 in matching state funds to hire local police as school resource officers under a new law signed Tuesday by Republican Gov. Mike Pence.

New Whiting alcohol permits win governor's approval

INDIANAPOLIS | Whiting Mayor Joe Stahura plans to aggressively move ahead on new lakefront development projects now that the city has six additional alcohol sales permits.

Pence OKs new criminal code, expungement law

INDIANAPOLIS | Gov. Mike Pence has approved two of the most significant changes to Indiana's criminal law in decades.

Taxpayers may get hit with 'convenience fee' under new pay-to-pay law

INDIANAPOLIS | Hoosiers soon may be forced to pay a "convenience fee" when using a credit or debit card to pay municipal or utility charges under a new law signed by Republican Gov. Mike Pence.

Senate gives final OK to Whiting lakefront liquor licenses

INDIANAPOLIS | A key element in Whiting's plans to develop new restaurants near Lake Michigan is headed to the governor.

RICH JAMES: This political theater was a farce

I’ve never met state Rep. Jim Lucas, a Republican from Seymour.

House shoots down guns-in-schools mandate

INDIANAPOLIS | The Indiana House on Thursday backed off a plan to require at least one person in every public school including charter schools carry a firearm at all times.

Schools may get secret waivers for gun mandate

INDIANAPOLIS | Volunteers packing concealed, loaded firearms and known only to school board members soon may be patrolling the hallways of every public or charter elementary and high school in Indiana, or at least Hoosiers will be made to think so.

Pence signs six laws championed by region legislators

INDIANAPOLIS | Republican Gov. Mike Pence has signed 25 proposals approved by the General Assembly into law over the past two weeks, including six measures primarily sponsored by Northwest Indiana legislators.

House OKs new restrictions on pill-induced abortions, clinics

INDIANAPOLIS | The Republican-controlled Indiana House voted 70-26 Tuesday to strictly regulate the use of abortion-inducing pills and the clinics that distribute them.

Whiting lakefront liquor plan wins House OK

INDIANAPOLIS | The Indiana House on Tuesday endorsed Whiting's plans for alcohol sales at new restaurants near Lake Michigan.

House approves revised plan for hospital police departments

INDIANAPOLIS | A proposal allowing public and private Indiana hospitals to establish their own police departments was approved 84-8 by the House on Thursday, but only after lawmakers made several major changes to the Senate-approved version.

EDITORIAL: Senate must recalibrate scales of justice

Indiana's criminal code, no less than any other mechanism, requires periodic maintenance.

EDITORIAL: Study library mergers at county level

Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. has been pushing for a merger between the Hammond Public Library and the Lake County Public Library system. While we're not saying no, it's a complicated issue that merits a thorough examination.

Ind. criminal code rewrite wins House approval

INDIANAPOLIS | A five-year project to rethink and reform how Indiana sentences its felony criminals won approval by the House late Monday night.

House nixes forced Hammond-Lake County library merger

INDIANAPOLIS | A forced absorption of the Hammond Public Library by the Lake County library system was removed Wednesday from legislation advancing toward a final vote in the Indiana House.

Criminal code rewrite clears second committee

INDIANAPOLIS | The first wholesale rewrite of Indiana's criminal code since 1977 is headed to the House floor after winning unanimous approval Monday by the Ways and Means Committee.

House backs referendum on Griffith leaving Calumet Township

INDIANAPOLIS | Griffith is halfway toward winning legislative permission to hold a referendum on whether to leave Calumet Township and join another Lake County township.

Restitution may soon be required for maiming, killing a police dog

INDIANAPOLIS | A criminal who injures or kills a police dog acting in the line of duty would be required to pay restitution to the dog's owner for its full value under legislation approved 97-0 by the Indiana House Tuesday.