Around The Region

INDIANAPOLIS -- Legislation that would raise speed limits on interstates and highways cleared a key stage without any changes in the Indiana House Thursday, making it eligible for passage next week.\nRep. David Wolkins, R-Winona Lake, was concerned his bill would be loaded with controversial amendments, but only one was offered and it was quickly withdrawn.\n"The people want this," Wolkins said.\nWolkins has sought higher speed limits in nearly every legislative session since the mid-1990s. Last week, for the first time in years, his bill received a committee hearing and was cleared for consideration by the full House.\nThe bill would increase speed limits from 65 to 70 mph on interstates and from 55 to 60 mph on four-lane state highways. Current limits for semitrailers would remain the same.\nThat vote is expected to take place next week. Tuesday is the deadline for bills to clear the House and be sent to the Senate.\nWolkins said he was optimistic the bill would pass the House. Higher speed limits have passed the House twice in recent years, but have died in the Senate.\nDoctors, supermarket chain urge Hoosiers to slim down\nINDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana is the 13th-fattest state in the nation, and some Hoosiers aren't taking the news sitting down.\nA group of doctors and a supermarket chain on Wednesday announced a statewide campaign called "Lighten Up Indiana" that asks us to drop the munchies, get up from the couch and get physical.\nThe goal is to get overweight Hoosiers to drop 10 percent of their weight during the next six months.\n"We're not trying to get people to look like Barbie," said one of the campaign's leaders, Dr. Catherine Bain, noting that excess weight can lead to heart disease, diabetes and other problems. "We're approaching this as a health issue, as opposed to a judgmental issue."\nThe campaign follows the recent release of data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing Indiana tied for 13th (with North Carolina) with 21 percent of Hoosiers classified as obese.\nBacking the campaign are organizations ranging from the Indiana Department of Health and the National Institute of Fitness and Sport.\nAt Wednesday's campaign announcement, doctors said thinner Hoosiers would translate into improved health and reduced medical costs.\nSeven charged with skimming $3.5 M \nin bingo profits\nINDIANAPOLIS -- Seven people, including an Indianapolis police officer, were charged Thursday with operating a scam that prosecutors said skimmed more than $3.5 million in profits from four bingo parlors.\nMarion County Prosecutor Scott Newman said the charges, the result of a 10-month investigation by state and local officials, were just the first wave in a series of charges he expects to file in the coming weeks.\nThe seven are accused of taking more than $3.5 million in profits from four Indianapolis bingo parlors, instead of giving the money to the charities that sponsored the games.\nState law requires that all bingo proceeds go to the sponsoring charity and prohibits bingo workers from being paid.\nJonathan Wilson, 37, a 14-year veteran of the Indianapolis Police Department, and his wife, Donna Wilson 34, were charged with theft, money laundering, promoting professional gambling, perjury and filing a false income tax return.\nJonathan Wilson also was charged with corrupt business influence.\nThe Wilsons' attorney, John Kautzman, said they would not comment on the charges.\nFive others from Indianapolis were charged with theft and promoting professional gambling, both felonies. They are: Howard Bueche, 59; Nicole George, 35; Martin Ridley, Sr., 87; Gaile Acton, 56; and Kenneth Dotson, 52, a retired 30-year veteran of the Indianapolis Fire Department.\nAll five face up to six years in prison and a maximum $20,000 fine.\nSenate approves dockside gambling, Orange County casino\nINDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Senate passed legislation Thursday that would legalize dockside gambling, authorize a casino in economically distressed Orange County and allow gambling devices similar to slot machines at pari-mutuel horse tracks.\nAlthough the House has yet to formally weigh in on pro-gambling legislation, the casino industry considered early Senate passage a key hurdle to gaining dockside this session. The House passed dockside gambling legislation last year, but it was killed in the Senate.\nThe Senate approved the bill 27-23 after an hour of debate Thursday. Many lawmakers and political observers believe dockside gambling will be part of any final package approved this session to address the state's budget woes.\nThe bill would allow the state's 10 riverboat casinos to remain permanently moored so patrons can come and go as they please, as they are now allowed to do in Illinois.