Loading ...
DANIELS FINDS HOOSIER SOLDIERS IN IRAQ IN GOOD SPIRITS: Gov. Mitch Daniels finished up a short, hot trip to Iraq on Tuesday after visiting hundreds of Indiana soldiers and reporting that security in the area is much improved from his last trip in 2006 (Kelly, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette). .jpg)
“I’m coming back … enormously impressed with the character, the sheer confidence and the professionalism of the entire American military, and of course I’m especially proud of the members of the Indiana National Guard,” he said. “I’ve seen hundreds of them in various places throughout Iraq, … just trying to bring a message of support and love from home.” About 3,400 members of the 76th Infantry Brigade are deployed to Iraq, including about 680 out of Fort Wayne’s 1st Battalion 293rd Infantry Regiment. The call-up is the largest for Indiana troops since World War II. Daniels said he was in Kuwait on Saturday and Sunday and entered Iraq on Monday. He visited several spots, including Camp Victory in Baghdad, Camp Anaconda – where many of the 76th soldiers are – in Balad and Camp Speicher in Tikrit. He said the morale of the Guardsmen from Indiana was high, though he conceded they have been there for only seven or eight weeks out of a yearlong deployment. He hearkened back to a 2006 visit, saying Baghdad is now cleaner, with more infrastructure, and the level of violence is on the downturn. He said the big talk in Iraq is a recent move by the Iraqi military to clean up Basra and Mosul on their own – without aid from coalition forces. He did say a mortar round was fired into Camp Anaconda while he was there, but it didn’t wake him up and no one was injured. “It’s a more orderly place,” Daniels said. Daniels, who was joined on the trip by Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons, told reporters that the trip to Iraq was the first by a governor in 2008 (Richmond Palladium-Item).
OIL REACHES $130: Crude oil prices are shooting further into record territory, breaking above $130 a barrel for the first time on persistent supply concerns and a weaker dollar (Associted Press). The July contract for light, sweet crude rose as high as $130.30 in electronic trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange late afternoon Wednesday in Singapore.
SGT. FORD LAID TO REST: You could tell by the piped-in music at his funeral that Sgt. Joseph A. Ford was not your typical Hoosier soldier. It was Celtic — all bagpipes and fiddles. It was apparent, too, in the maroon banner hanging in front of the lectern: "SPQR," it said — shorthand for the Latin "Senatus Populusque Romanus," or "The Senate and the People of Rome." Ford, 23, was a practitioner of Roman paganism, the religion of ancient Rome (Indianapolis Star). Also one of the Indiana National Guard’s top machine gunners, Ford died May 10 on a mission near Al Asad, Iraq, when the ASV gun truck he was riding in rolled over. He was the first soldier with the Indiana Guard’s 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team to die since deploying to Iraq in March. About 150 family and friends attended a memorial for him Tuesday in the gymnasium of the Evansville Armory. Ford’s interest in Rome was not a passing thing. While at Knox High School, he read voraciously on Roman mythology. He took fencing and attended Renaissance fairs dressed as a Roman. In college, at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, he majored in history. But he lived in the here and now. Ford was an expert on modern weapons systems. His light reading included trade journals published by Jane’s Information Group, the renowned weapons experts. During training in Fort Stewart, Ga., he was one of just eight soldiers of the 3,200 to fire a perfect score in tests on the .50 caliber and 240 Bravo machine guns. At one point in his training, his higher-ups considered making him a driver. But there was no way Ford was not going to be a gunner. "He felt that’s where he belonged," said Capt. Aaron Rogers of the Indiana guard, who knew Ford when Ford trained in New Albany. Gov. Mitch Daniels was in Iraq visiting Indiana Guardsmen, including Ford’s unit. "Folks are very sad about it," the governor said in a conference call Tuesday. "It was an accident pure and simple, but it doesn’t matter. It is equally sad and tragic." Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman spoke at the funeral in Daniels’ absence, characterizing Ford’s life as one of service. "I know he’ll be greatly missed. I know he’ll be long remembered," she said. Rogers recalled being at a Memorial Day event in New Albany with Ford when Ford was introduced to U.S. Rep. Baron Hill. Though only 21, Ford was anything but cowed, Rogers said. "He told Baron Hill, ‘After the war, I’m taking your job.’ He had no boundaries."
NO COMMITMENT FOR FORT WAYNE VA CENTER: The fate of the Fort Wayne VA Medical Center should be decided based on the age and medical needs of the region’s veterans, how far they’d have to drive to get treatment and whether good-quality medical care is available close by, the head of the agency said Tuesday (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette). The hospital on Lake Avenue is the medical center for 44,000 of the region’s 160,000 veterans and was marked for partial closure by a 2004 advisory panel called the CARES Commission. During a question-and-answer session after a speech to the National Press Club, Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake made no commitment about the Fort Wayne facility. But he said, “I am about to the point where I say let’s declare victory on CARES and let’s start looking again to the future and applying good sound common sense to what we’re doing.” As for the Fort Wayne medical center, Peake said, “We need to take a look at what we need, what the population is going to look like, and then how we would shape it to provide veterans access to care, so they don’t have to drive 500 miles to get care.”
Super Bowl
EASTSIDE REVITALIZATION KEY TO INDY SUPER BOWL: Indianapolis landed the 2012 Super Bowl with a unique gambit: plans to transform a downtrodden Near-Eastside neighborhood in a project meant to create a lasting legacy (Indianapolis Star). Leaders of Indianapolis’ bid and Indianapolis Public School students will kick off that revitalization project with a party this afternoon at Harshman Middle School. The school is just down the street from the centerpiece of the bid: a $9 million athletic facility at Tech High School that will be turned over to IPS after the event. League officials and the team owners cited the practice facility as a key factor in choosing Indianapolis over Houston and the Phoenix area, its competitors for the 2012 game. Indianapolis won on the fourth secret-ballot vote over Phoenix. "That’s a facility that will be used for many generations by people who play sports," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. "I think that’s a great thing for the NFL and the community." "A lot of times, people think it’s just about big numbers and big money, but it’s also about big hearts, too," Colts owner Jim Irsay said. In Indianapolis, Mayor Greg Ballard said his first goal is to put together the right team to put on the event. "It’s one thing to sell a project and another thing to execute it," he said. Ballard said he expects the city to have to pay $1 million to $2 million for public safety support but estimated the game would generate an economic impact of at least $100 million and up to $20 million in tax revenue.
BALLARD STATEMENT ON SUPER BOWL: “This is great news for not only Indianapolis, but for the whole State of Indiana. The decision made by the NFL owners shows their recognition of the hard work of our team and the strength of our community,” said Mayor Greg Ballard (Howey Politics Indiana). “This was truly a community bid. It began with a process of involving anyone interested in being a part of it, and ended with our 8th grade ambassadors flying all over the country to hand-deliver our final bid package.” Studies of past Super Bowl host cities show that Indianapolis can expect 100,000 visitors over the course of one week and over an estimated $120 million direct spend into the local economy. “We are once again eager to share with the world our incomparable package of convenience and outstanding facilities,” said Bob Bedell, president and CEO of the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association. “This decision today stands as a testament to our deliberately designed downtown, which has become the ideal destination for this and many other major events. I know our thousands of hospitality service providers and community volunteers will once again deliver with excellence.” Tamara Zahn, President of Indianapolis Downtown, Inc. agreed. “We are thrilled! This is a sensational score for Downtown Indianapolis,” Zahn said. “Now it is up to all of us to exceed NFL expectations and deliver what we know Indianapolis can do!” (Howey Politics Indiana)
DANIELS STATEMENT ON SUPER BOWL: “As a Colts fan, I’m thrilled. As a citizen of Indiana, I’m proud. This cements our state’s reputation as a sports and big events capital.” (Howey Politics Indiana)
Presidential
OBAMA 60 DELEGATES SHORT OF NOMINATION: Barack Obama is inching ever closer to locking up the Democratic presidential nomination despite another resounding loss to Hillary Rodham Clinton, this time in Kentucky (Associated Press). Clinton beat Obama by 35 percentage points in Kentucky, after trouncing him by 41 percentage points in West Virginia last week, and has won five of the last seven primaries. Once all the delegates were allocated from Tuesday’s contests in Oregon and Kentucky, however, Obama was expected to be within 60 of the magic 2,026 needed to cinch the nomination. With 80 percent of the vote counted, he was winning Oregon by a 58-42 percent margin. “Tonight, in the fullness of spring, with the help of those who stood up from Portland to Louisville, we have returned to Iowa with a majority of delegates elected by the American people and you have put us within reach of the Democratic nomination for president of the United States of America,” Obama said Tuesday evening at a rally in Des Moines. Obama has an overall total of 1,956 delegates, including endorsements from party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton has 1,776, including superdelegates, according the latest tally by the AP.
KENTUCKY RESULTS SHOULD CONCERN OBAMA: Despite Barack Obama’s win in the Oregon primary, the results from Tuesday’s Kentucky Democratic presidential primary are stark (Cillizza, Washington Post). Hillary Rodham Clinton drubbed Obama among the very white working class voters who helped Clinton claim victories in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Consider these findings from the exit polling: * Among Kentucky voters living in rural areas or small cities — nearly six in 10 voters — Clinton took 75 percent to 19 percent. * Among non-college educated whites in Kentucky (66 percent of the electorate), Clinton won by 44 points — 69 percent to 25 percent. * Among whites with a family income less than $50,000, Clinton received 75 percent of the vote while Obama took just 22 percent. Obama allies insist these sorts of staggering numbers aren’t meaningful when it comes to understanding the general election playing field. Obama spent very little time in West Virginia or Kentucky, they argue, and when and if he does this fall the numbers will move up accordingly. They also note that Obama fought Clinton to a draw in Oregon with whites who make under $50,000 and among non college educated white voters, according to exit polling in the Beaver State. Perhaps. But Obama’s struggles in winning over white working class voters in the Rust Belt has to be on the mind of party strategists who recognize the importance of Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania — each of which has a considerable number of these types of voters — to their general election calculus.
HILLARY CAMPAIGN DEBT BALLOONS TO $31M: No wonder Sen. Hillary Clinton was so late filing her required campaign financial reports Tuesday night. Her political team didn’t want the shocking news in it to overshadow her lopsided thumping of Sen. Barack Obama in Kentucky (Los Angeles Times). But here’s the morning after, pay-up time. Clinton’s campaign debt has now soared to nearly $31 million, according to numbers crunched early this morning by The Times’ campaign finance guru, Dan Morain. She added another $9.5 million in unpaid bills to vendors this past month alone, pushing her total debt to vendors and herself to the new astronomical figure, about a 50% debt increase in one month. According to a campaign release put out Tuesday evening as election returns revealed her big win in Kentucky and loss in Oregon, Clinton raised "approximately $22 million" from other people in April. The release also touted that $10 million had poured in within 48 hours of another lopsided Clinton victory over Obama, that one in Pennsylvania, and said it was the second best fundraising month of her entire campaign.
RNC BAILING OUT McCAIN: The likely Democratic nominee Barack Obama continues to vastly out-raise Sen. John McCain, but the presumed Republican nominee is closing the money gap with the significant help of his party, according to new campaign finance reports filed Tuesday (Los Angeles Times). McCain disclosed he had $21.7 million in the bank at the end of April, compared to…. Obama’s $46.5 million. But the Republican National Committee is proving to be a real financial equalizer for the Arizona senator with the notorious disaste for fundraising. With significant time and help from President George W. Bush, the RNC ended April with $40.6 million in the bank—10 times more than the Democratic National Committee, which had a modest $4.4 million in the bank.
Congress
SEN. KENNEDY HAS BRAIN CANCER: A cancerous brain tumor caused the seizure Sen. Edward M. Kennedy suffered over the weekend, doctors said Tuesday in a grim diagnosis for one of American politics’ most enduring figures. "He remains in good spirits and full of energy," the doctors for the 76-year-old Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement (Associated Press). They said tests conducted after the seizure showed a tumor in Kennedy’s left parietal lobe. Preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma, they said. His treatment will be decided after more tests but the usual course includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy. Kennedy has been hospitalized in Boston since Saturday, when he was airlifted from Cape Cod after a seizure at his home. "He has had no further seizures, remains in good overall condition, and is up and walking around the hospital," said the statement by Dr. Lee Schwamm, vice chairman of the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Dr. Larry Ronan, Kennedy’s primary care physician.
LUGAR LAUDS ROSE-HULMAN CHALLENGE X TEAM: U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar today met with the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology team participating in the Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility competition (Howey Politics Indiana). Lugar congratulated the team on their efforts to research fuel efficient technologies that could lessen America’s dependence on oil, saying “Thank you for your talents and the way you exemplified them so well in this contest.” The vehicle, a GM Equinox modified to run on split hybrid architecture, B20 biodiesel fuel and COBASYS nickel metal hydride battery, is the culmination of a four-year design project conducted on campus. Rose-Hulman is the only Indiana college participating.
Indiana Republican Convention
GOP CANDIDATES SET: The Republican candidates for Lieutenant Governor, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Attorney General are set (Howey Politics Indiana). Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman has filed to once again run with Gov. Mitch Daniels. Prior to her term as Lieutenant Governor, Skillman held various county offices for 16 years and served for 12 years in the Indiana Senate. In 2004, Skillman became the first woman ever to be elected Lieutenant Governor. Dr. Tony Bennett has filed and is unopposed for candidacy as the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Bennett is currently the superintendent of Greater Clark County Schools, and has served the schools of Southern Indiana for over two decades. Jon Costas, Mayor of Valparaiso, and Greg Zoeller, chief deputy to Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter, have filed to be the Republican Attorney General candidate. The filing deadline passed at 5 p.m. today, May 20. The Republican candidates for the General Election will be determined at the Indiana Republican State Convention. The convention will be held June 2 at 1:30 p.m. at the Indiana Convention Center.
BURTON ENDORSES ZOELLER: U.S. Rep. Dan Burton has endorsed Greg Zoeller for attorney general, according to Zoeller’s campaign manager Jim Banks (Howey Politics Indiana). Burton joins U.S. Rep. Mark Souder in endorsing Zoeller.
Nation
GOV. RENDELL, PENNSYLVANIA MAKES A MAJOR MOVE: Pennslyvania Gov. Ed Rendell announced the winning bid for the lease of the Pennsylvania Turnpike yesterday (Frugal Hoosiers). A team led by Citi Infrastructure Investors won the competitive bid by offering $12.8 billion for a 75-year lease of the Turnpike. The deal offers many of the same protections as the lease of the Indiana Toll Road in terms of limited toll increases and guaranteed improvements to the road. In terms of the dollars and cents, the deal is very close to what Indiana received. The Turnpike is 520 miles long, as compared to the 157 mile Toll Road. The Turnpike deal will be paying $2.46 million per mile, as compared to $2.42 million for the Toll Road.
2007 Election
KELTY AUCTIONS OFF HOME TO PAY LEGAL BILLS: About one year ago, Matt Kelty was at the political summit. Less than a month from now, his home could be auctioned to pay legal bills (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette). Kelty’s Florida Drive home is slated for auction June 14 in an effort to help the failed Republican mayoral nominee fight campaign finance and perjury charges. While he said he has spent some time thinking about the past year, Kelty remains upbeat, saying he plans to make the most of a bad situation and use it as a teaching experience for his children. “It’s very disappointing that I don’t have a chance to put our plans into action,” Kelty said about his loss to Mayor Tom Henry last fall. “Everything happens for a reason.” Kelty said the money made from the sale of his home must be used to repay legal fees. He and his family plan to move to a cottage on Sylvan Lake. The cottage was built by Kelty’s great-great-grandfather and bought by his family a few years ago, he said. “This is just for the summer,” he said. “Once we get the house sold, we’ll begin figuring out what is next.”
Indiana General Assembly
LANDSKE DONATES TO SAFETY VILLAGE: Youngsters who might not be able to afford to tour the Tri-Town Safety Village may now be able to do so, thanks to a $1,000 donation from state Sen. Sue Landske, R-Cedar Lake (Times of Northwest Indiana). Landske’s gift is intended as seed money to help start a foundation in which families needing financial help would be able to send their children to the Schererville-based Safety Village free of charge. Tri-Town Safety Village, located off U S. 41 north of U.S. 30, features a "Survive Alive" House, which teaches children about what to do in case of a fire. The village has roads and a Main Street, where participants learn about traffic safety and a recently added rail crossing, operated by Canadian National Railway, offers pointers in rail crossing safety.
GARY METHODIST FACES LOSS OF FUNDING: The financially troubled Methodist Hospital is in danger of losing much of the state and federal funding it relies on to care for poor and uninsured patients (Post-Tribune). The state Family and Social Services Administration will make a final $80 million payment this week to Methodist, making the hospital wealthy in the short term. After that, the financing is in doubt because of recent statutory changes. Methodist officials have persuasively argued in recent years for about $30 million annually because Lake County residents paid at least that much in property taxes into the state’s Hospital Care for the Indigent fund. But the General Assembly this year transferred HCI costs to the state, making it more difficult for urban Lake County hospitals like Methodist, St. Margaret Mercy and St. Catherine to make a case for receiving a large share of the payouts. State Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, pledged to try to maintain the current levels of funding for Lake County’s hospitals, but acknowledged it will be tough to convince his legislative colleagues to go along with that. "It may require legislation, and that’s going to be an uphill battle, because hospitals around the state feel like they now deserve a greater portion of these funds," said Brown, who chairs the House Public Health Committee.
Counties
ALLEN EYES BRIDGE TAX: To avoid being forced to find extra money for bridge repairs, several members of the City Council expressed muted support Tuesday to raising the county’s wheel tax and surtax (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette). The Allen County commissioners and members of the Allen County Council presented options for closing a financial gap to properly maintain 321 bridges less than 200 feet long scattered throughout the county.
Cities
STATE LAW TO CHANGE TIF DISTRISTS: Changes in the way the state will require local redevelopment commissions to operate mean Plymouth’s Redevelopment Commission will need to review projects in its three tax incremental financing districts before July 1 (South Bend Tribune). That’s the date John Julian of Umbaugh & Associates, Plymouth’s financial advisers, said the new requirements will go into effect. Julian said the July provisions include that TIF districts will, in effect, now be under "sunset" laws in which they will "expire" from "allocation area" status. Two of the city’s TIF districts, created after 1993, have 30 years from their creation dates in which to fully capture their revenue stream. The third, created before 1993, is exempt. However, another mandate is that any modifications to existing TIF district boundaries have a 25-year limit. And the way in which those boundaries are created also is different beginning July 1, Julian explained. If the change is 20 percent or greater than the original size, redevelopment commissions must take their wish to the local government’s planning commission, to the city council, and then hold a public hearing before any action can take place. Additionally, after July 1, plans for the use of revenue within a TIF district are pretty much written in stone so far as the state is concerned, Julian said. "As of July 1 … you have to stay within the identified plan," he said. "And you can’t change the boundaries for anything not already in the plan." "If (the two areas) don’t meet, you’re going to have a hard time using those funds," Julian warned, adding a legal opinion may be needed, as well as a separate TIF to deal with the situation. "Then they’re going to have this problem all over the state," Don Wendel, commission president, said.
No tag for this post.Related posts
This entry was written by and posted on May 21, 2008 at 8:52 am and filed under Daily Wire. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
Post a comment(Latest is displayed first) or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.