If you were hoping for illegal immigration reform (that would have been found unconstitutional by the courts) forget about it. Unless some mad scientist decides to resurrect this puppy it’s dead. It didn’t die on the floor, but due to a lack of conferee signatures. All parties in the conference committee have to sign off […]

There’s talk that a vote could come tonight on property tax reform. It’s still being printed. Another nugget in the 600-page bill is tax relief for Marion County residents’ 2007 tax bill. The legislation allows for $51 million in rebate checks among property taxpayers, even if they didn’t owe property taxes. Also, the conference committee […]

I’m headed downstairs for the illegal immigration hearing, but here is some food for thought. HB 1001 (the property tax reform bill) is being printed off right now. It is 600 pages long and has to go to at least 150 members of the legislature. Any bets on how many will actually read it before […]

I’m in the House chamber this afternoon.  Lawmakers are concurring on some small bills, while HB 1001 (property tax reform) is at the printer.  There are a few more details this afternoon such as counties with more than 20 percent of their budget going to debt service are free from the tax caps (Lake and […]

Make a note, my sources tell me Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama will be here Saturday doing a town hall meeting at Plainfield High School in Hendricks County. It makes perfect sense if you think about. If I was a black guy running for President, I’d make sure a lot of my supporters looked like […]

It looks like there definitely is a deal reached amongst Indiana lawmakers. In an interview this morning with State Rep. Jeff Espich (R-Uniondale), the House Republican point man on tax relief, he told me that there are caps in the agreement; one percent for homeowners, two percent for rentals and three percent for commercial property. […]

That’s about as long as Indiana lawmakers have to close up shop with a deal on property tax reform before they have to start all over.  From what I’ve been able to gather late this afternoon, it looks like a deal has been reached on caps but they won’t be included (for now) in the […]

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is in big trouble for letting his little head do the thinking for his big head.  But I have to ask this question.  Why is prostitution a crime?  Why is it illegal to sell something you either give away for free or get for dinner, a movie and some effort?

If Indiana lawmakers are close to a deal on property taxes,  they might want to speed up a bit.  There are three days left before lawmakers are forced to adjourn.  My sources tell me a lot of lawmakers are concerned about the possibilty of raising the sales tax without caps.  They also say a lone tax […]

By now you know Andre Carson, the grandson of the late Julia Carson, is on his way to Washington. Carson won 54-43 percent over Republican State Representative Jon Elrod. Libertarian Sean Shepard got slightly less than three percent of the vote. Turn out was about 18 percent or a total of 84,750 voters out of […]