Candidates call for better documents\nINDIANAPOLIS -- Gov. Joe Kernan and Republican challenger Mitch Daniels are calling for more education and better access to public records after a statewide audit revealed that many government officials break Indiana's public records law.\nKernan said government access is "fundamental to our democracy," and the key was to make sure the Indiana public access counselor continues training local officials about the law. The counselor's office was created six years ago by late Gov. Frank O'Bannon after a similar audit found widespread violations.\nDaniels said the public access counselor wasn't a bad idea, it just hasn't been effective.\n"It's a good idea, but only if it performs. After several years, plainly it hasn't," Daniels said.\nDaniels said if elected, he would push legislation that would list state contracts on the Internet and regulate executive branch lobbyists.\nJournalists presenting themselves as citizens visited all 92 counties in August to obtain crime logs and incident reports, a list of public employee salaries and court files of sex offenders. Just 11 counties granted all four documents within 24 hours, according to the audit conducted by eight Indiana newspapers.\nBoth candidates said most of the violators were not trying to hide anything, they just misunderstood the law.\n"These should be solvable problems," Daniels said.\nSheriffs were the least likely to comply. Clerks' offices had the best record, handing over the sex offender files in all but five counties, while auditors granted requests for employee salaries in many of the counties.\nSeveral offices refused to provide information about county worker salaries because their computer system could not separate public and confidential information.\nKernan said he would support a law requiring better information storage if it was the best way to balance a person's privacy and the public's right to know.\nDaniels said he would consider such a requirement "as long as the cost would not be excessive."\nPublic officials who don't comply with the current law can be subject to criminal penalties, but that's a last resort, said Steve Key, general counsel of the Hoosier State Press Association, which represents many of the state's newspapers.\nInstead, he recommended increasing the public access counselor's budget so it can afford more training. Currently, the budget for the two-person office is $156,000.
Purdue's first off-campus student radio station to debut\nWEST LAFAYETTE -- Purdue Student Radio, the university's first off-campus student-run radio station, has debuted, and will be joined by an AM radio slot next month and an FM frequency expected in late 2005 or early 2006.\nThe station, which went online Sunday night, will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with music, sports and community events. The station can be heard at www.purdue.edu/radio.\n"The excitement that's been building around campus has been very positive, very positive," said senior Paul Roales, president of Purdue Student Radio. "It's nice to see after all of the work we've put into it."\nMost of the PSR equipment was donated from WBAA, Purdue's professionally run campus radio station.\nRoales began developing PSR about a year ago. He was inspired by other college stations he came across, especially the one at the University of Illinois, he said.\n"It's really rare for a college our size not to have one," he said.\nPSR now has almost 150 students wanting to help with programming, advertising and announcing.\n"This is awesome. I'm a huge music fan, and I was disappointed that Purdue didn't have anything like this before," said junior Jessica Davis, PSR assistant station director.\nThe first song of PSR's broadcast was the Purdue fight song.
