New prescription drug Web site offers alternative to imports\nINDIANAPOLIS -- Pharmaceutical companies are running a new Web site that can direct Indiana residents to prescription drug programs offering free or discounted medications -- a safer alternative to importing drugs from other countries, Gov. Mitch Daniels said Tuesday.\nThe Web site, http://rxforindiana.org, asks patients for information on age, income level and insurance to determine whether they are eligible for discounts or free medicine from drug companies. Patients and doctors can fill out enrollment forms online and send them electronically to the programs. A toll-free number is available for those without Internet access: 877-793-0765.\nSeveral states have programs to import cheaper prescription drugs from Europe and Canada. But Daniels, who was a top executive for pharmaceutical maker Eli Lilly and Co. during the 1990s, said that is risky. He said in some places counterfeit drugs and medication past its expiration date are a problem.\n"We just can't take the chance that a single Hoosier is hurt by that," Daniels said.\nDaniels said the Web site, run by a group of pharmaceutical companies and health organizations, can help slash prices for low-income residents.\n"This can be a lifesaving difference," Daniels said.
Mother of 4 claims $19.9 million Powerball jackpot\nINDIANAPOLIS -- A mother of four carried the winning ticket for a $19.9 million Powerball jackpot in her wallet for two days after the drawing before checking the numbers.\nBarbara Lennen, 28, bought the ticket at a convenience store near her Elwood home but didn't look to see whether she had won until her father-in-law told her Monday night that the store had sold the jackpot winner for Saturday's drawing.\n"I checked the Powerball numbers one at a time. I looked at it three times," she said Tuesday after claiming the jackpot at the Hoosier Lottery offices.\nLennen said after seeing that the numbers matched, she told her husband, "Don't get up. Our lives are changing. We just hit the Powerball."\nLottery officials gave Lennen a $663,000 check Tuesday as the first payment on a 29-year annuity for the jackpot.\nLennen, who works at a Meijer gas station in Noblesville, said her first wishes were for a new minivan and a home in the country for her husband, Craig, and four children -- ages 6, 9, 10 and 11 -- near her family in Elwood, about 35 miles north of Indianapolis.\n"It must have five bedrooms, one for each of the kids," she said.\nThe winning numbers for the drawing were 9, 13, 27, 40, 53 and Powerball 28.
Angola man pleads guilty to murder with wood-splitting tool\nANGOLA, Ind. -- A man charged with killing a drinking companion with a wood-splitting tool pleaded guilty Tuesday, a day before his trial was to begin.\nJerry Lee Earles, 45, of Angola, entered the guilty plea in Steuben Superior Court.\nProsecutor Tom Wilson said the plea agreement called for Earles to be sentenced to 48 years in prison.\nWilson said he was not surprised Earles entered a plea on the eve of his trial.\nJudge William Fee took the plea agreement under advisement and scheduled a sentencing hearing for April 4.\nEarles and the victim, Keith Grant, 54, of Angola, had been friends for about 20 years, police said.\nPolice discovered Grant's body in October 2003 under yard debris outside Earles' rural home about 40 miles north of Fort Wayne.\nAn autopsy found that Grant died of blunt trauma to the head. Police said Grant's wounds were consistent with what could be expected from a woodcutting device such as an ax.
