Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage advances in House\nINDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana House finalized a first step toward a state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage Tuesday, approving the proposal with wide bipartisan support.\nProponents hailed the 76-23 vote as a move toward protecting the sanctity of traditional marriage in Indiana, but opponents pledged to intensify their efforts to block the ban before it could clear more legislative and election hurdles to be amended in the state constitution.\nAmending the constitution requires a resolution to pass consecutive, separately elected General Assemblies and then be approved in a statewide vote. That means if the proposal passes again in 2007 or 2008, it could be on the November ballot in 2008.\nIndiana already has a law that bans gay marriage, as do 42 other states. Seventeen other states have constitutional language defining marriage.\nA similar resolution passed the Republican-controlled Senate with bipartisan support last year, but Democrats who controlled the House then refused GOP attempts to advance or even debate it. Democrats controlled the chamber 51-49 then, and all 49 Republicans had pledged to support the amendment.\nRepublicans now have a 52-48 majority in the House, and House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-District 88) has pledged efforts to pass it this session.
Boy left at pizza parlor returns home\nINDIANAPOLIS -- A 5-year-old boy left at a pizza parlor spent two nights at a home for neglected or abused children before his mother reported him missing, authorities said.\nOfficials returned the boy to his mother, Maricela Guerrero, Monday, but Marion County sheriff's deputies are investigating possible neglect charges in the case, said Capt. Phil Burton, the department spokesman.\nInvestigators have not determined whether the boy was abandoned at the Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant or left there by mistake, Burton said.\n"We don't know what the situation is here," Burton said. "Suffice it to say, the child is unharmed and was returned to the parent."\nGuerrero told deputies she arranged to leave her son with his aunt, and that was where she believed he was over the weekend, Burton said. She did not know the boy was lost until she spoke with his aunt Monday, Burton said.\nRestaurant manager Joann Smith called authorities after finding Latrell Dreveon looking for his family Saturday night in the restaurant on the northeast side of Indianapolis, according to a sheriff's department report.\nSmith said she believed the boy was part of a group of about 25 adults and children celebrating a birthday. It was unclear when his mother was part of the group, Burton said.\nWhen no one showed up for the boy by the time the restaurant closed, deputies turned the boy over to child welfare authorities. After spending nearly two days at the Children's Guardian Home, child welfare agents returned Latrell to his mother, Burton said.
