Gas prices jump to more than $2 a \ngallon in Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS -- Gas prices jumped higher this week in Indiana, fueling some drive-offs at the pumps and headaches for paying customers.\nThe statewide average for a gallon of regular unleaded gas was $2.02, more than a dime higher than a month ago, according to a fuel report posted early Wednesday on the AAA's Web site.\nIn Indianapolis, Bloomington, Evansville, South Bend, Gary and Fort Wayne, unleaded gas prices averaged more than $2 a gallon. Terre Haute averaged $1.97, according to the figures.\nThe Marion County Sheriff's Department said the high prices have sparked an increase of drive-offs at gas pumps this week.\n"It's safe to say we had anywhere from 75 to 100 of them between (Sunday and Monday) all over the town," said Capt. Phil Burton. "It's unfortunate, but we see the rash of drive-offs happening, and we think gas prices must be going up."\nAmong the driving forces for the jump in prices, experts said, are the strife in Iraq and the Middle East; China's and India's growing economies and demand for fuel; Hurricane Ivan, which shut down offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico; and strikes by oil workers in Nigeria and Norway.\n"It's important (for consumers) to know that events halfway across the world can have an impact on crude oil prices and influence the price at your neighborhood gas station," said Maggie McShane of the Indiana Petroleum Council.\nThat may be little comfort to those filling up their tanks.\n"This is just another way to keep the working man broke," said Indianapolis resident Adrian Stuart as he pumped $7.50 worth of gas at $2.15 cents a gallon. "This is too expensive, really."
\nHAMMOND -- A jury recommended Wednesday that a Michigan City man be sentenced to death for his conviction in the 2002 killings of two Porter County bank tellers during a botched robbery.\nThe same jury found Naish Ra'id, 39, guilty of the murders two weeks ago. U.S. District Court Judge Rudy Lozano is scheduled to sentence Ra'id on Dec. 15.\nOn Aug. 27, 2002, Ra'id, formerly known at Odell Corley, went on a shooting spree inside the First State Bank of Porter in the town of Pines, killing bank teller Kay Peckat, 52. Teller Chandler Simpson, 59, died about three months later from his wounds.\nSecurity guard Keith Hill, 39, was left a quadriplegic from his wounds in the failed robbery, which yielded no money because the bank's vault was locked.\nDuring the trial, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Randall Stewart and Susan Collins introduced video footage from the robbery that showed Ra'id firing the fatal shots and presented a palm print recovered from the shooting scene that matched Ra'id's palm.\nFormer co-defendants Edward Johnson and Andre McGregor testified that they were involved in the robbery with Ra'id and that he was the trigger man.\nJohnson, 32, and McGregor, 29, each pleaded guilty for their roles in the crime in exchange for leniency.\nProsecutors described Ra'id as a man with no redeeming qualities who deserved to die.
