Around Indiana

Police: 10 hurt at Ind. Black Expo in 3 shootings
INDIANAPOLIS — Three separate shootings left 10 people wounded and scattered hundreds during an opening burst of gunfire in downtown Indianapolis during the crowded Indiana Black Expo, police said early Sunday.

Police spokesman Lt. Jeff Duhamell said authorities made no immediate arrests directly tied to the shootings and investigators were seeking leads to the suspects.

None of the victims’ injuries were life-threatening, Duhamell said, adding that police had made three unrelated arrests on weapons charges.

Duhamell said the shooting victims were all males between 10 and 18 years old. He said most were taken to two area hospitals where they were in good condition early Sunday. One person was treated at the scene.

“It’s pretty unusual to have this many shots in one time,” Duhamell said. “It’s very unfortunate.”

Ind. gets $15M to fund homeless, other housing
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana is getting more than $15 million from the federal government to build affordable housing for seniors, people with disabilities and the homeless.

HUD also has awarded $5.6 million to the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority to provide housing for homeless people. Projects in Gary, Michigan City and the southeastern Indiana communities of Lawrenceburg and Batesville are receiving more than $1 million each. Other projects are in Bloomington and Fort Wayne.

Ind. spends savings, cuts budgets to balance books
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana collected $957 million less in taxes than budgeted during the last 12 months, a gap that was closed by slashing spending and dipping into state reserves.

The state started the year with $1.3 billion in the bank and still had $830 million left in reserves as of June 30, state auditor Tim Berry said Friday after closing the books on the 2010 fiscal year.

But Berry had a message for lawmakers who will meet in January to work on a new two-year state budget: “Don’t get giddy.”

The current budget calls for $300 million of reserves to be spent in the 2011 fiscal year, which began July 1. So the state is really starting the 2011 fiscal year with a $530 million cushion.

Berry predicts that state reserves will dwindle to $188 million by the end of June 2011 — less than 2 percent of the state’s $12.9 billion budget for that year. And if economic growth is slower than the 5 percent gain expected in fiscal year 2011, it could bring the reserves to near zero.

Traffic court judge accused of mishandling cases
INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana judicial commission has filed disciplinary charges against an Indianapolis judge accused of mishandling traffic court cases.

The misconduct charges filed Friday said Marion County Superior Court Judge William E. Young imposed “substantially higher penalties against traffic court litigants who chose to have trials and lost.”

The charges against Young center on his handling of a 2009 case in which he sentenced a woman to one year in jail for speeding and driving while suspended. The state Supreme Court later ordered a new trial, saying Young’s behavior didn’t meet ethical standards.

He has 20 days to answer the charges.