Hamilton County Superior Court Judge Daniel Pfleging issued an order on December 23, two days before Christmas, denying former Secretary of State Charlie White's petition for post-conviction relief based on ineffective counsel he argues that he received from Carl Brizzi, who failed to put on a defense during a jury trial in 2012 that found him guilty on six of seven vote fraud-related charges special prosecutors brought against him. Judge Pfleging had earlier denied a number of arguments White had made for a new trial, which...
Thursday, 26 December 2013
Monday, 23 December 2013
A class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana charges key officers of Angie's List of defrauding investors who purchased stock in the company between between February 14, 2013 and October 23, 2013 by issuing materially false and misleading statements regarding the strength of the company’s business model and its financial performance and future prospects and failed to disclose adverse effects on the company's prospects of becoming profitable. Named in the lawsuit...
Sunday, 22 December 2013
It's the most expensive private schools in the state of Indiana where some of the wealthiest and most influential residents in the Indianapolis area send their children. So why did Park Tudor earn a "D" on recent report cards issued by the Indiana Department of Education to the state's schools? According to the Chalkbeat blog, the school's officials blame the poor grade on error. Neal pointed to Park Tudor, an expensive and highly regarded private school in Indianapolis, which received a D grade despite 100 percent of its graduates going on to...
What's the status of a marriage entered into between a man and a woman in Indiana after one of the partners to the marriage changes genders? The answer may surprise you. According to an Indiana Court of Appeals' decision picked up on by the Indiana Law Blog this past week, the marriage remains valid and, unlike other same-sex married couples, the two spouses can petition in state court for dissolution of their marriage. A trial court in Monroe County in In Re The Marriage of Melanie Davis and Angela Summers after originally granting...
Saturday, 21 December 2013
Only in the corrupt pay-to-play world in which the City of Indianapolis conducts business could a consultant produce at taxpayers' expense a report claiming that the most suited site for building a half-billion dollar criminal justice complex would be next to the Indianapolis International Airport right on the county line on the far west side next to Hendricks County. That's precisely what the Star's Jon Murray is reporting that a useless report prepared by CB Richard Ellis is recommending.That site is on the northwest corner of airport...
Friday, 20 December 2013
The Department of Education released the A to F accountability grades for the state's schools today for the 2012-13 school year, and the grades indicate that statewide schools are performing better than the previous year. More than two-thirds (67%) of the state's schools received an A or B grade. That's up from 62% the previous school year. Even better, the percentage of schools earning a D or F grade fell from 20% to 16%. “These grades are a credit to the hard work of students, teachers, and families,” said Sarah O’Brien, District 4 representative...
This week, S&P lowered the City of Indianapolis' bond rating two notches from AAA to AA. If you read the rating announcement, you understand why the rating was lowered. Firstly, S&P has adopted new standards for analyzing GO bond ratings for municipalities. Applying the new standards, the rating agency found the debt level being carried by the city was too high based on available revenues to pay its debt obligations. According to the Indianapolis Star, Mayor Ballard reacted to the lowered bond rating by blaming the Democratic-controlled...
It's supposed to operate as a nonprofit, public benefit corporation with a mission of providing public utilities to Indianapolis' citizens at an affordable cost, but Citizens Energy operates no differently than a fat-cat, privately-owned public utility looking to stiff utility consumers at every turn. The IBJ reports that Citizens Energy will report a loss of $81.3 million during its 2013 fiscal year despite seeing its operating revenue jump 15% to $711.5 million, but its CEO Carey Lykins will still earn nearly $2 million, down from the nearly...
Thursday, 19 December 2013
A former personal assistant to Mayor Greg Ballard and special projects manager for the Department of Metropolitan Development, John Hawkins, has pleaded guilty to one count of federal wire fraud in connection with kickbacks he received from the sale of abandoned property by the City's Land Bank to a nonprofit group according to the Star's Jon Murray. "The plea agreement says Hawkins’ potential penalty ranges from no time in prison to 20 years," Murray writes.Four other persons charged in the scam are awaiting trial, including Reginald Walton,...
For the second time this week, a federal district court in D.C. has issued a stinging opinion against the Obama administration. On Monday, a federal district court judge appointed by President George W. Bush ruled that the NSA's bulk gathering of telephonic metadata involving the telephone records of all Americans violated the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. Yesterday, a federal district court judge appointed by former President Bill Clinton ruled that the Obama administration's claim of executive communications...
Marion Co. Prosecutor Terry Curry filed theft and forgery charges against Marsha Thompson, the former executive director of the Indiana Association for Child Care Resource and Referral. Her agency receives funding from the Family & Social Services Administration. She is accused of filing fraudulent time sheets and spending more than $6,800 for personal use. According to the complaint, Thompson used a credit card issued to her agency to buy an airplane ticket, motel room, restaurant meals, bar tabs and other personal expenses for her...
Wednesday, 18 December 2013
I can't same that I'm surprised by his comments, but Gov. Mike Pence has finally spoken out about a recent Indianapolis Star report on surveillance software purchased by the Indiana State Police earlier this year that permits the agency to capture in bulk cellphone data within a particular radius from where it is being operated without a warrant. Pence thinks the unwarranted, unconstitutional snooping is acceptable, showing just how willing he is to violate the oath he took as governor to uphold the constitution, not to mention the oath he took...
This interview segment from CNN yesterday demonstrates just how badly the media in this country have fallen under the control of our federal police state. CNN news anchor Don Lemon, an unaccomplished journalist and unabashed Obama supporter, along with the arrogant and grossly incompetent legal commentator, Jeffrey Toobin, do a tag team hit job on Judicial Watch's Larry Klayman, the attorney who successfully brought the lawsuit in the D.C. district court against the NSA's bulk collection of telephonic metadata that Judge Richard...
Archer Daniels Midland, the Decatur, Illinois-based agri-giant with a $27 billion market cap, sought $1.5 million in annual tax breaks from the state of Illinois under its EDGE credit program to relocate its corporate headquarters to Chicago. The special tax credit program requires legislative approval on a case-by-case basis in Illinois, and the state's Speaker for life, Rep. Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), balked at the plan given the state's poor financial condition. The Chicago Tribune is reporting that ADM will go forward with an announcement...
Tuesday, 17 December 2013
It's going to make hundreds of millions of dollars for political cronies of former Gov. Mitch Daniels, but it will hit the wallets of the state's natural gas users hard as they are forced to pay higher utility rates to finance Leucadia's coal gasification plant at Rockport. The Indiana Supreme Court's decision today turning back an appeal by opponents of the project ensures that the corrupt deal that should have been investigated by the FBI will go forward. “We won a complete and total victory,” said Leucadia projct manager Mark...
Monday, 16 December 2013
Legal scholars learned in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence welcomed a decision by D.C. District Court Judge Richard Leon today in Klayman et al. v. Obama, et al. holding that the NSA's bulk collection and analysis of telephonic metadata is an unreasonable search and seizure. Judge Leon stayed a preliminary injunction pending a certain appeal by the government to the D.C. Court of Appeals.While many would agree with Judge Leon's opinion, the ruling is particularly noteworthy because of the identity...
Sunday, 15 December 2013
The FBI raided the offices of the Kenilworth Science & Technology charter school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana this past week according to the The Times Picayune. Like the Indiana Math & Science Academy charter schools in Indianapolis, the charter school in Kenilworth has ties to the controversial education movement inspired by Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish exile once accused of trying to overthrow the Turkish government who now resides in Pennsylvania under a grant of asylum. Gulen has amassed a multi-billion dollar fortune from explained sources...
The Northwest Indiana Times' Dan Carden received confirmation from Gov. Mike Pence on our earlier speculation based on an "Indiana Legislative Insight" item about a rumored big economic development project in the works that Indiana is quietly competing with many other states to land a $10 billion proposed Boeing plant that would build the aviation company's new 400-seat, 777X plane and a site near the Gary airport is the preferred location. "We have had contact with them and discussions, but I won't comment further on those," Pence said. "I will...
Saturday, 14 December 2013
Various news reports indicate that Gov. Mike Pence will announce on Monday that he is appointing State Rep. Suzanne Crouch (R-Evansville) as the state's new state auditor to replace Dwayne Sawyer, the Brownsburg Town Council President he appointed to the job in August and then forced to resign last month for reasons he refuses to tell to the public. She's a full-time lawmaker who formerly served two terms as Vanderburgh County's auditor and one term as the Vanderburgh County GOP chairman. She's been a member of the House of Representatives since...
Friday, 13 December 2013
A number of states are competing to land a major Boeing aircraft manufacturing plant for the company's new 777-X long-haul aircraft. The opportunity to land the $10 billion investment and 8,500 high-paying jobs that go along with it has about a dozen states lobbying to win the prized economic development opportunity. Indiana is not among the states publicly identified as competing for the project, but an item in the latest edition of Ed Feigenbaum's "Indiana Legislative Insight" suggests Indiana is in the hunt for the new plant. "[W]e have...
The Lake County Election Board yesterday dismissed a complaint Republican activist Eric Krieg filed against Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott, Jr. As I pointed out in a previous post, there is nothing in Indiana's campaign finance law that prohibits candidates from using campaign funds to pay family members for campaign-related work. Krieg's complaint challenged $334,000 in payments McDermott's campaign made to his wife to prepare his campaign finance...
Thursday, 12 December 2013
The highlight of President Barack Obama's day is when he gets to issue an order to our military to release another drone into the airspace of a foreign country on a mission to kill people he believes are suspected of engaging in terrorism. He gets his rocks off watching snuff films of the deadly attacks. Talking to aides about targeted drone strikes, Obama said, "I'm really good at killing people," according to a book on the 2012 presidential...
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser has provided more details about the mysterious plane crash involving the state's controversial Department of Health Director who coordinated the release of President Barack Obama's long-form birth certificate in April, 2011 that remains a source of controversy due to troubling issues regarding its authenticity. The pilot and seven passengers aboard the single-engine commuter Cessna plane survived the crash that claimed the life of Health Director Loretta Fuddy, who was concluding a trip to the island of Molokai...
I'm at a loss as to where Gov. Mike Pence is coming from in suggesting that somehow or another that Indiana businesses are at a disadvantage with other states when it comes to tax burdens. He recently announced that he would seek the elimination of the business personal property tax as part of his 2014 legislative agenda. Many legislators, Republican and Democrat alike, reacted negatively to the proposal because of the $1 billion void it would leave in funding for local governments. Only days after calling for the elimination of the business...
Ryan Loskarn, chief of staff to Tennessee's Sen. Lamar Alexander (R), was arrested by U.S. postal inspectors for possession and distribution of child pornography. Sen. Alexander, expressing shock at news of Loskarn's arrest, initially placed him on unpaid leave but later fired him before the end of the day. Sen. Alexander is up for re-election next year and is facing a primary challenge by a Tea Party candidate, Joe Carr. In recent months, Alexander had become an outspoken opponent of President Obama's Affordable Care Act, urging changes in...
This has to be one of the most bizarre plane crashes. A small Cessna commuter plane carrying eight passengers and the pilot bound for Honolulu crashed off of Molokai's north shore in Hawaii late yesterday afternoon. Spotters initially reported finding eight passengers wearing lifevests in the water after one swam to shore, leading emergency response workers to believe everyone had survived the accident, including Hawaii's Department of Health Director Loretta Fuddy and her deputy director, Keith Yamamoto. The pilot of the airplane...
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
They've been highly successful in diverting billions of our tax dollars over the past several decades to line their own pockets so it comes as no surprise that the downtown mafia would have their compliant mayor endorse their latest plan to divert another billion or more to their pockets over the next few decades through the development of a new privately-owned criminal justice complex to house the City's criminal courts, jail and other criminal justice agencies. Mayor Greg Ballard's chief selling point is that a complex that could cost...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
