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(06/23/08 1:56am)
Bloomington police arrested a Warsaw, Ind., man for murder after he allegedly stabbed the lead singer of a Minneapolis-based thrash band to death at a house party early Saturday.\nOfficers arrested Brian P. White, 32, for stabbing Christopher A. Johnson, 32, of Minneapolis, after a fight occurred shortly before 5 a.m. at 1920 N. Arlington Road, according to a Bloomington Police Department news release.\nThe altercation began when the two got into a fist fight after White grabbed a woman’s buttocks at a house party at the Arlington Road residence. A short time later, White came out of the house and stabbed Johnson in the chest, the report said.\nJohnson was then transported to Bloomington Hospital where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy Saturday confirmed that he died from a stab wound to the chest, Monroe County Coroner David Toumey said. This is Bloomington’s second homicide of the year.\nAfter the stabbing, White ran from the scene on foot and stopped at a home at 1125 W. 20th St., the report said.\nJeremy Durham, 30, the resident of the house, said he returned home from a brief trip to the store and found White crouched on his back porch, peering in the screen door. White told Durham, “I need help. I need sanctuary.”\nWhen Durham slammed the inner door shut and called the police, White hid by crouching in the entrance to the basement of the house and pulled a large piece of plastic siding over the opening.\nPolice, who found what they believe is the murder weapon at the Arlington Road house, were already searching for White and arrived at Durham’s home in a matter of minutes.\nOfficers fanned out in search of the suspect, but did not find him in their initial sweep, Durham said.\nThey returned at about 6:15 a.m. with an Indiana conservation officer and a police dog. The dog soon tracked White to the basement entrance. Police took him into custody and transported him to Bloomington Hospital for treatment of the injuries he sustained in the fist fight with Johnson. When the investigating detective tried to interview him, White refused to speak about the fight and asked the detective to pray for him, the report said. White was arrested and taken to the Monroe County Jail shortly after 10 a.m.\nJohnson, the lead singer of the hardcore band Useless Wooden Toys, was in town performing at a house party at the Arlington Road residence. According to the band’s MySpace page, the act was scheduled to go on at 7 p.m. Friday. It also had a show booked at 7 p.m. Saturday at a house party in South Bend, Ind.\nA woman who answered \nthe door at 1920 N. Arlington Rd. declined to comment Saturday afternoon.\nBut Sheila Zink, 48, who lives next door, said when she returned home from work at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday, it was clear her neighbors were throwing a party. She said the house, which is a rental property, is often the site of large parties.\n“Other than that, it’s usually quiet as can be,” Zink said. “We’ve never had anything like this here before.”
(06/21/08 8:48pm)
Bloomington police arrested a Warsaw, Ind., man for murder after he allegedly stabbed to death the lead singer of a Minneapolis-based thrash band at a house party early Saturday.\nOfficers arrested Brian P. White, 32, after he allegedly stabbed Christopher A. Johnson, 32, of Minneapolis, after a fight at 1920 N. Arlington Rd. shortly before 5 a.m., according to a Bloomington Police Department news release.\nThe altercation began when the two got into a fist fight after White grabbed a woman's buttocks at a house party at the Arlington Road residence. A short time later, White came out of the house and stabbed Johnson in the chest, according to the news release.\nJohnson was then transported to Bloomington Hospital where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy was scheduled for 3 p.m. at Hendricks Region Hospital in Danville, Ind. However, the preliminary cause of death is a stab wound to the chest, said Monroe County Coroner David Toumey. \nAfter the stabbing, White ran from the scene on foot and stopped at a home in the 1100 block of West 20th Street and asked for "sanctuary," according to the release. When the resident of the house went inside to call the police, White hid inside a part of the cellar in the house by pulling a large piece of tin over the opening, according to the news release. At about 6:15 a.m., officers arrived on scene at the second location with a police dog and began to track White. They soon found him hiding in the cellar and transported him to Bloomington Hospital for treatment of the injuries he sustained in the fist fight with Johnson. When the investigating detective tried into interview him, White refused to speak about the fight and asked the detective to pray for him, according to the news release. Shortly after 10 a.m., White was arrested and booked into the Monroe County Jail.\nJohnson, who is the lead singer of the thrash/hardcore band Useless Wooden Toys, was in town performing at a house party at the Arlington Road residence. According to the band's MySpace page, the band was scheduled to go on at 7 p.m. Friday. It also has a show booked at 7 p.m. tonight for a house party in South Bend.\nThis is Bloomington's second homicide of the year.
(06/16/08 2:13am)
MARTINSVILLE – Leanna Starnes sat on the stairs leading to the second-floor bedroom of her home June 7 and watched the floodwater rise. It was all she could do. \nAt 9 a.m., it started to wash inside her house. By 12:30 p.m, four feet of water stood in the first floor. \nAnd now all the 55-year-old Martinsville resident can do is start over. \nOn Friday afternoon, she was still tearing everything out of her house. It laid in heaping piles on her front yard, remnants of what she had before the disaster. Inside her house, the high water left a thin line of sediment wherever it splashed. It marked the flood’s progression on the glass door, the counters, the refrigerator and what was left of the walls. \nBut Starnes is still lucky, in a way. She lived on a known flood plain and she had flood insurance. \nMany other Martinsville residents were not nearly so fortunate. They didn’t live on an area that was likely to flood and so insurance companies wouldn’t even allow them to buy insurance to cover flooding damage, and they said attempts to get even a dime out of their insurance companies were futile. \nTo help these people, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved disaster relief grants of up to $28,800 per family for flood victims in Bartholomew, Hancock, Johnson, Marion, Monroe, Morgan, Vermillion and Vigo counties. Several other counties qualified for government assistance. \nFEMA Director R. David Paulson flew into Martinsville on Friday afternoon and toured a makeshift relief center that the Red Cross set up in Poston Road Elementary School. He told reporters FEMA had mobilized and was doing everything it could to help Hoosiers affected by the recent flooding. \nFlanked by Gov. Mitch Daniels and U.S. Congressmen Steve Buyer and Mike Pence, Paulson praised the speed and effectiveness of the state’s relief efforts. \nDaniels, Buyer and Pence, in turn, praised Paulson for FEMA’s assistance. \nBefore Paulson arrived, Daniels and Buyer canvassed the milling crowd of Martinsville residents who were waiting for disaster assistance at the school, shaking hands and promising relief to anyone within arm’s reach. At one point, Daniels did “the wave” with people who were lined up along a hall waiting to talk to a Red Cross assistance adviser. Many had been waiting several hours to get help. \nHowever Bryan Lessard, 32, said he showed up at Poston Road School at 7:45 a.m. Friday and waited until 3:30 p.m., only to be turned away. \n“They told me not to even bother applying for assistance,” he said. \nLessard estimates that the flood caused at least $12,000 in damages to his home and his car, but because of the way it was damaged by the flood waters, the Red Cross and FEMA likely won’t \nhelp him. \nHe said he resents Daniels’ optimistic assessment of the emergency relief efforts. \nThe streets of Martsinville were littered Friday with heaps of refuse that people had pulled from their homes – casualties of the flood water. One homeowner posted a rueful “yard sale” sign next to a haphazard pile of furniture, insulation, children’s clothes and picture frames that had been ruined by the flooding.
(06/15/08 11:49pm)
BEAN BLOSSOM, Ind. – There’s a rift brewing at Bill Monroe’s Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival. \nFor Tommy Brown, the leader of the seven-piece bluegrass act Tommy Brown & County Line Grass, there’s really only one way to play bluegrass – the old time way. The way Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers played it when they brought the genre to the fore in the ’40s and ’50s. \nWhen Tommy Brown & County Line Grass took the stage Saturday afternoon, they played rousing renditions of classics from the legendary Stanley Brothers – songs that Ralph Stanley, now 81, still plays on tour. \nBrown’s favorite song of all time is “Rank Stranger,” a 1942 Stanley Brothers standard.\n Brown, 45, scoffed when asked about progressive-bluegrass, or newgrass, acts. \n“I don’t listen to any of that,” he said. \nNewgrass bands stray from many of the traditional instruments and styles of the old time acts – sometimes trading in the mandolin for an electric guitar and incorporating rock rhythms. Popular bluegrass acts like Nickel Creek, Alison Krauss, Old Crow Medicine Show and Cheryholmes all use newgrass elements. \nBut Ben Smith, 27, and Alan Birkemeier, 27, who grew up in Brown County and have been coming to Bean Blossom and listening to bluegrass for as long as they can remember, like the new sound that acts like Old Crow bring to the genre. \nSince Bean Blossom was founded by Bill Monroe, the father of old time bluegrass, many of the acts are in keeping with Monroe’s style. \nFortunately, on this coming Saturday, bluegrass fans don’t have to choose between the two. \nThe Hall of Fame Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys take the stage in the evening to play the old standards that will keep traditionalists’ tongues lolling. But taking the stage before him is Cheryholmes, one of newgrass’ rising stars. Also taking the stage are legends in their own right, J.D. Crowe & and the New South. \nTickets for the show are $35 at the gate. Audience members must bring their own seating and space is usually scarce after noon.
(06/12/08 12:23am)
Hidden away in tiny Bean Blossom, Ind., 20 miles northeast of Bloomington, is a giant of the music world. \nThe Bill Monroe Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival is a mecca for the bluegrass faithful. Bean Blossom was founded in 1967 by the Father of Bluegrass – Bill Monroe himself – as a venue for his new, groundbreaking bluegrass sound.\nNow in its 42nd year, Bean Blossom has grown into an eight-day event that has a devoted following of perennial attendees. \nThis year’s festival starts Saturday and runs through June 21. It features 50 bands including J.D. Crowe and the New South and the legendary Dr. Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys. Stanley is a bluegrass hall of famer and has enjoyed mainstream success in recent years with his song, “O Death” appearing on the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack.\nBut Russell Moore, front man for another headliner, IIIrd Tyme Out, which plays Wednesday, said Bean Blossom isn’t just for mega bluegrass devotees. \nNew fans don’t need an extensive knowledge of bluegrass to enjoy Bean Blossom, he said, just a lawn chair or a blanket. A big festival like this one can be the perfect introduction to a sound that Monroe brought into the mainstream decades ago.\n“I really think that if you want to learn bluegrass music today, you want to expose yourself to different artists, one of the best things you can do is attend the Bean Blossom festival,” Moore said. “There are different groups every day. Some of the biggest names in bluegrass music are going to be there.”\nAt $165 for the whole festival, $85 for a weekend or $30 to $35 per day, the festival offers ticket packages to fit every budget.\nIn fact, bluegrass has an accessibility that is rare in modern music. At Bean Blossom, fans can sit right up in front of the stage and watch the bands do what they do.\n“When you see a man who’s just laying the fire out their respective instrument, you can get up close to them and see their fingers work,” Moore said.\nAnd it is that small space between the fans and the stars that drew Moore to play bluegrass in the beginning. \n“The thing that got to me I guess about bluegrass music early early on, is that the musician and the bands were so accessible,” he said. “You could walk right up to them and shake their hand.”\nBut Moore says that it’s the intensity bluegrass music has that keeps new listeners hooked.\n“It makes you want to clap your hands. It makes you want to stomp your feet. It makes you want to scream and cry,” he said. \nAnd there’s no better venue than the old, historic stage at Bean Blossom to feel the intensity bluegrass has to offer. Even though there is usually a crowd of hundreds sitting in the field for each performance, audience members sit right up against the stage. That intimate feeling with the audience feeds the performers, Moore said.\nAnd playing Bean Blossom has extra special meaning for the musicians, too. Every modern bluegrass musician owes a great deal of his sound to Monroe, who took the music played in the foothills and put it on stage for all the world to see. Playing at a festival founded by the bluegrass great is the equivalent of playing the Grand Ole Opry for country musicians or driving in the Daytona 500 for race car drivers, Moore said. \nAnd, he said, bluegrass is best live. When you hear bluegrass live, it’s played with an attitude, with an edge that you just don’t get on a recording, he said.\nBut that doesn’t mean a little primer wouldn’t help. Moore recommended J.D. Crowe and the New South’s 1975 self-titled album, which is colloquially known as “0044.” Another good disc is Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver’s 1981 effort “Rock my Soul.” And, he said, his band’s 1999 album “John and Mary” received a lot of cross-genre attention.\nBut more than anything, a potential bluegrass enthusiast just needs to get immersed in the music. \n“It’s like swimming,” he said. “You just gotta jump in.”\nFor ticket sales and details, check out www.beanblossom.com.
(06/08/08 10:52pm)
A strike at four building sites on campus slowed construction progress this week, but the walk off will not significantly delay the completion times for any of the projects, said University Architect Bob Meadows.\nAbout 50 workers from the Laborers International Union Local 741 stopped work on projects across campus Monday after contract negations stalled between the union and the Indiana Construction Association, said Bobby Minton, a field representative for the Laborers Local 741. The strike targeted four general contracting firms that IU hired for the construction projects, not the University itself.\nOn Wednesday and Thursday, the workers picketed the construction site for IU’s new Multidisciplinary Science Building II, which is behind the Psychology Building, and Memorial Stadium’s north-end-zone project, Minton said.\nThe workers also walked off, but did not picket, the sites of the new School of Optometry clinic and the basketball practice facility. Both are currently under construction.\nHowever, the union and the construction association reached an agreement Thursday night and workers were back on the job Friday, Minton said.\nDespite losing nearly a week’s worth of work time, Meadows said he is not concerned about the slowdown. The Laborer’s International only represents a portion of construction workers who are at the sites on any given day, he said.\n“To lose a couple of days, they most likely will make it up. It’s not really much difference. It will not represent a significant delay at all,” he said.\nIn fact, Meadows added, a crane at the site that was rendered inoperable after flooding Wednesday knocked out electricity to the Psychology Building has interrupted construction at MSBII more than the strike did.\nThe Bloomington-based Laborers International Local 741 represents about 1,600 workers. The members of the Local 741 went on strike along with union members in five other Indiana cities.
(06/07/08 5:30pm)
A strike at four building sites on campus slowed construction progress this week. But the walk off will not significantly delay the completion times for any of the projects, said University Architect Bob Meadows.\nAbout 50 workers from the Laborers International Union Local 741 stopped work on projects across campus Monday after contract negations bogged down between the union and the Indiana Construction Association, said Bobby Minton, a field representative for the Laborers Local 741. The strike targeted four general contracting firms that IU hired for the construction project, not the University itself.\nOn Wednesday and Thursday, the workers picketed the construction site for IU’s new Multidisciplinary Science Building II, which is behind the Psychology Building, and Memorial Stadium’s north end zone project.\nThe workers also walked off, but did not picket, the new School of Optometry clinic and the basketball practice facility. Both sites are under construction.\nHowever, the union and the construction association reached an agreement Thursday night and workers were back on the job Friday, Minton said.\nDespite losing nearly a week's worth of work, Meadows said he is not concerned about the slowdown. The Laborer’s International only represents a portion of construction workers who are at the sites on any given day, he said.\n“To lose a couple of days, they most likely will make it up. It’s not really much difference. It will not represent a significant delay at all,” he said.\nIn fact, Meadows added, a crane at the site that was rendered inoperable after flooding Wednesday knocked out electricity to the Psychology Building has interrupted construction at MSBII more than the strike did.\nThe Bloomington-based Laborers International Local 741 represents about 1,600 workers. The members of the Local 741 went on strike along with union members in five other Indiana cities.
(05/08/08 12:37am)
INDIANAPOLIS – It was (almost) a premature victory speech for Hillary Clinton.\nBefore any of the networks or major newspapers had called the Indiana race, Clinton declared her triumph in the Hoosier state to a cheering, raucous crowd in the Egyptian Room at the Murat Centre Tuesday night. With former President Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea Clinton standing behind her and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh at her side, the New York senator proclaimed that her win in Indiana was a mandate for her to carry on in the race.\n“We’ve come from behind, we’ve broken the tie, and now it’s full speed to the White House,” Clinton said.\nLast month, her opponent Barack Obama told a Muncie, Ind., crowd that the Hoosier state would be a “tie breaker” for the major remaining primaries.\nClinton promised to stay in the race through West Virginia and Kentucky, both states where she holds a significant lead in the polls. West Virginia Democrats vote May 13 and Kentucky votes May 20.\nBut in reality, Clinton’s Indiana victory was by the slimmest of margins. It was not until early Wednesday morning, several hours after the crowds cleared out of the Murat Theatre, that most media outlets called the state for Clinton. In the end, she took the state by some 14,000 votes, or about one-and-a-half percent, CNN reported Wednesday afternoon. She lost in Monroe County by 32 percentage points. \nAnd after Obama’s 14-point win in North Carolina, the Illinois senator actually came out on top in Tuesday’s contests. Clinton’s failure to rack up a significant margin in the Hoosier state makes it harder for her to argue that she deserves the Democratic nomination, said Andy Downs, the director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.\n“It is even more likely now that Sen. Obama now is going to be the nominee,” Downs said.\nAn initial head start for Clinton in Indiana quickly led into a tight race well into the night. However, after the pivotal count of Lake County votes in northwest Indiana, the former First Lady emerged as the winner just after 1 a.m. Initial returns from the Chicago-influenced county indicated that Obama was poised to win there by a wide enough margin to swing the \nelection in the Illinois senator’s favor. However, the final tally gave him only an 11-point win. This was likely due to the strong support Clinton enjoys among union workers, Downs said.\nThe victory will net Clinton four delegates in the race against Obama, according to CNN projections. The Indiana primary had 72 delegates at stake. However, Obama netted 16 delegates from his North Carolina win, leaving him about 183 delegates shy of the 2,025 he needs to clinch the nomination. Clinton has 1,686, according to CNN.\nDespite Obama’s loss in Indiana, North Carolina still gave a decisive win to the candidate early in the evening, with Obama snagging 56 percent of the state’s vote.\nHoosiers hit the polls Tuesday in massive numbers. The Democratic presidential race garnered a combined 1.3 million votes in Indiana – nearly as many as President George W. Bush received in the 2004 general election. \nIn Monroe County, about 33,000 voters turned out – a 58 percent increase from the 2004 primary. Nearly a third of ballots were cast in early or absentee voting. About 300,000 Hoosiers voted for John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.\nDespite Obama’s resounding victory on the IU campus, IU Students for Hillary Clinton said they believed Obama’s appeal to students was not based on educated choices.\n“The problem is, Obama is increasing voter turnout but not increasing civic engagement,” said freshman Sarah Robinson.\nRobinson’s sister Laura, also an IU freshman, said she was “constantly amazed at how easy it is to talk someone out of voting for Obama.”
(05/05/08 2:34am)
The Indiana Democratic presidential primary hasn’t mattered since 1968, but now, it seems, the Hoosier state is the center of the known universe.\nWhen Hoosiers go to the polls on Tuesday, they could very well be deciding who wins the Democratic presidential nomination, said Indiana political watcher Andy Downs.\nRecent polls suggest that Hillary Clinton is slightly ahead here after trailing her opponent Barack Obama. But it’s still anybody’s game, he said.\nA win here for Obama could effectively shut down Clinton’s bid for the nomination and counter her arguments that she is the stronger candidate, said Downs, the director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.\nIf Clinton takes home Indiana, she’ll have momentum going into the remaining primaries and a victory in the only state bordering Obama’s home of Illinois, he said.\nDuring a campus visit last week, Obama implored a 13,000-strong crowd, made up of mostly students, to hit the polls.\n“I need every Indiana student to vote for me,” he said.\nMore than 5,500 people are registered to vote in the precincts surrounding the IU campus, most of them students. It’s a small portion of the 4.3 million Hoosiers who are eligible to cast their ballots in the \nDemocratic primary.\nBut when residents of Guam voted in a caucus, Obama won the tiny island territory by just seven ballots.\nAnd both candidates have pushed hard for student votes in Bloomington. At the end of March, former President Bill Clinton’s stump speech for the former First Lady drew about 6,500 people, most of them students. At the beginning of April, the Obama campaign sponsored a Dave Matthews concert attended by thousands of students. During Little 500 weekend, Obama made an unannounced visit to the women’s race and shook hands as hundreds of adoring students screamed his name. And Hillary Clinton appeared on campus the week before Obama, drawing about 5,000 attendees, though relatively few students.\nBut it’s more than visits. The Obama campaign has organized informal shuttles to give students a ride to and from the polls for early voting. And both campaigns have active student groups on campus.\nTo be sure, IU students seem much more inclined to vote \nfor Obama.\nCase in point: Senior Dan Corson-Knowles turned out to see Hillary Clinton speak, but said he was definitely leaning toward Obama and believes Clinton is too far inside Washington politics to make any real changes.\nHowever, the state seems like it might be leaning the other way. A survey commission by the Mike Downs Center of nearly 700 likely Democratic voters that was released Friday showed that 52 percent support Clinton and 45 percent support Obama. This stands in contrast to a poll released by the same organization just two weeks ago that gave Obama a five-point lead.\nAmong five polls conducted by various organizations in May, three gave Clinton the lead, one gave Obama the lead and one had them evenly tied.\nNationally, Obama has 1,736 delegates and superdelegates in his court and Clinton has 1,602, according to The Associated Press.\nIndiana has 84 delegates at stake. North Carolina goes to the polls on the same day. That state has 134 delegates and despite Clinton’s advances, Obama is favored to win.
(05/02/08 3:13am)
Barack Obama told thousands of screaming, cheering IU students Wednesday night that he needs their vote in Tuesday’s primary election.
(05/01/08 9:19pm)
Barack Obama told thousands of screaming, cheering IU students Wednesday night that he needs their vote in Tuesday’s primary election.
(04/30/08 10:30pm)
Barack Obama will be in Bloomington Wednesday night for a rally, the Democratic presidential candidate's campaign announced Monday.\nThe program is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at Assembly Hall. Doors open at 6 p.m.\nNo details about the trip were yet available. This is the Illinois senator's second stop in town.\nOn Friday, presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, his opponent, made a speech to some 5,000 people at Assembly Hall.\nCheck out idsnews.com and idsnews.com/politics for updates as they become available.
(04/30/08 8:21pm)
Sen. Hillary Clinton painted herself as the candidate who can move America forward and change the nation when she spoke Friday afternoon at Assembly Hall. The visit marked the first speech on campus by a Democratic presidential candidate in the 2008 primary season.\nThe New York senator told a crowd of some 5,000 community members and students that not only can she inspire change, she also has the knowledge and experience to get there.\n“It is not enough to say ‘Yes, we can,’” Clinton said, referring to her opponent Barack Obama’s slogan. “We have to say how we will.”\nClinton also acknowledged that many IU students support Obama because he is inspirational and has become popular, but she urged students to look past her opponent’s celebrity image.\n“I want you to approach this as a hiring decision,” she said. “Or like picking a surgeon for a very good friend. You want the most experience you can get.”\nIn nearly every primary contest, Clinton has lost college-age voters to Obama – sometimes by as many as 30 percentage points. \nDespite the time Clinton spent pitching herself to the younger crowd, students seemed to be well outnumbered by older community members Friday.\nHoosier Democrats go to the polls a week from Tuesday for the biggest presidential primary the state has seen in some 40 years.\nDebbie and Robert Corbin, two Spencer, Ind., residents, were the first in line to see the former first lady. Despite the fact that the Corbins said they supported George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, they represent Clinton’s traditional strength – working-class, blue-collar, older voters who are concerned about jobs being moved overseas and the declining affordability of health care.\nThe nation’s economic problems recently hit home for the couple in a very real way, and they’re looking to Clinton for solutions. \nRobert Corbin, 51, is one of the 900 local workers slated to lose his job when General Electric closes its Bloomington plant in 2009.\nDebbie Corbin, 50, said she’s especially concerned about whether the two of them will have health insurance once her husband loses his job.\nBoth said they believe Clinton has proven herself to be the most capable candidate when it comes to revitalizing the economy and pushing through a national health insurance system. \nMany of the students who showed up were either ambivalent about Clinton or supporters of her opponent. \nSeniors Dan Corson-Knowles, Alexis Siamas and Sally Kirtley are all on the fence, though they’re leaning toward Obama.\nCorson-Knowles, in particular, said he believes Clinton is too far inside Washington politics to make any real change.\nHowever, in keeping with her theme of catering largely to younger voters in the crowd, Clinton spent much of her time discussing college affordability. \nShe invited two preselected IU students, senior Ryne Shadday and Christina Stigger, to the podium to discuss the issues they believe the next president should address. \nShadday, a public policy major, talked about the extensive student loan and credit card debt he has taken on in order to pay his tuition and living expenses. \nClinton, who described herself as a “policy wonk,” outlined a plan to tackle the growing difficulty for students to obtain college loans. \nThe senator said she wants to make it easier for students to get loans directly from the federal government. Currently, IU is among the universities that offer these lower-interest loans.\nThe plan will also ensure that the parents of students who have had home foreclosures are still eligible to take out federal student loans for their children. \nFinally, the plan would also make U.S. Department of Education loans available to students who are unable to secure lending from private sources, making the government a so-called “lender of last resort.”\nClinton also addressed her plan to provide universal health care. This includes a mandatory policy for all Americans. Those who don’t already have insurance would be required to buy government-subsidized health insurance.\nShe plans to pay for the plan by raising taxes on people with incomes of more than $250,000 per year and by cutting inefficiencies in both the insurance and health care industries. \nShe also lashed out against Obama for what she called “deeply regrettable” attacks on her health care plan. Obama ran television ads during the critical Pennsylvania primary that criticized Clinton for her health insurance mandates. Clinton, however, said her system will ensure that Americans get the money they need to afford coverage. \nAfter Clinton’s 10-point win in Pennsylvania’s primary last week, Indiana has become the center of the Democratic primary universe. Both candidates have already hit the state hard with organization and campaign stops and close polls, and a mixed electorate will ensure they continue all the way up until Indiana’s May 6 primary. \nEarlier this month, Obama made surprise visits to the Women’s Little 500 and Nick’s English Hut. He did not, however, make a statement.\nRegistered Hoosiers can vote early any time during regular business hours at the Monroe County Clerk’s Office.
(04/28/08 10:09pm)
Hillary Clinton painted herself as a candidate who can move America forward and change the nation Friday afternoon during a speech at Assembly Hall.\nThe Democratic presidential candidate told a crowd of some 5,000 students and community members that not only can she inspire change, but she also has the knowledge and experience to get there.\n“It is not enough to say yes we can,” Clinton said, referring to her opponent Barack Obama’s slogan. “We have to say how we will.”\nClinton also acknowledged that many students support Obama because he is inspirational and has become popular, but she urged students to look past Obama’s celebrity.\n“I want you to approach this as a hiring decision,” she said. “Or like picking a surgeon for a very good friend. You want the most experience you can get.”\nThe New York Senator described herself as a policy “wonk” and outlined her plans to turn the economy around and make college more affordable.\n For more, check out Monday’s Indiana Daily Student.
(04/23/08 5:26am)
Hillary Clinton looked ready to bring home an 10-point victory in the pivotal Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary Tuesday night. And most political watchers agreed that the outcome of the overall race is still a little murky.\nBut the result for presidential politics in Indiana couldn’t be more clear.\n“All hell will break loose,” said Andy Downs, a longtime Indiana political watcher. \nWith the pivotal Pennsylvania primary out of the way, the Hoosier state will get a full dose of presidential primary attention – like it hasn’t seen since 1968.\nThis means that until Indiana Democrats hit the polls May 6, they will see local campaign staffs double, a flurry of visits from candidates and advertising cash pour into the state, said Downs, the \ndirector of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne.\n“This may be the closest it will come to living in Iowa that people from Indiana will ever care to get,” he said. \nIn the long and grueling Democratic presidential nomination race between Clinton and her opponent Barack Obama, Indiana is now “it.” \nIn a speech on April 12 in Muncie, Obama called Indiana, with its 84 delegates, a potential “tiebreaker” for the national race. And former U.S. Congressman Lee Hamilton, a renowned Hoosier Democrat and Obama supporter, agreed. \n“I suspect that Indiana will play a very, very important role in the Democratic nomination,” Hamilton told the Indiana Daily Student.\nJoe Hogsett, an Indiana co-chair for the Clinton campaign, downplayed the state’s importance to the former First Lady’s campaign, saying it’s not a “must win.”\nBut, no one disagrees that this state is still up in the air, and that makes it a fierce political battleground.\nPolls shed little light on race. Of the six surveys of Hoosier voters released in April, four put Clinton, a New York senator, ahead while two give Obama, an Illinois senator, the lead. \nAnd in every remaining state, one candidate has an obvious advantage over another, Downs said. Not so in Indiana. \nEach campaign points to advantages that the other candidate has among Hoosier voters. \nObama has a leg up in Northwest Indiana, a stronghold of Democratic voters in the state and a region dominated by Obama’s hometown Chicago media. And he’s got a lot more money to burn.\nFor her part, Clinton has the backing of Indiana’s Sen. Evan Bayh and most of the Democratic party establishment. Bayh is a popular former two-term governor and is on the short list of potential Clinton running-mates. \nAnd the demographics in the state tend to favor Clinton – lots of blue-collar workers and a comparatively low percentage of black and college-educated voters. \nSo what will it take to win? That answer is more difficult, says Ann DeLaney, a Democratic pundit and former state party chair. \nBut one factor that could decisively swing the election is voter turnout. \nSome 135,000 Hoosiers registered to vote between January and the April 7 deadline, according to figures from the Indiana Secretary of State’s office. This includes about 6,400 new voters in Monroe County alone. \n“But, the $64,000 question is: Do they vote?” DeLaney said.
(04/23/08 5:25am)
Hillary Clinton is coming. \nThe former First Lady will speak at 12:30 p.m. Friday at Assembly Hall to discuss the economy and student issues at a town hall-style meeting, her campaign announced Monday.\nWhen she takes the stage, Clinton will be the first candidate to formally address students on campus \nin the frenzied rush to win Indiana’s May 6 Democratic presidential primary. \nHer opponent, Barack Obama, made an unscheduled stop at the women’s Little 500 and Nick’s English Hut earlier this month but didn’t make any public comments.\nClinton’s speech is titled “Solutions for the American Economy.” Doors will open at 10:30 a.m.\nThe senator’s stop at IU will give students a chance to see a side of her that is not obvious on television, said sophomore AnnElyse Gibbons, the president of IU Students for Hillary Clinton. \n“When she speaks in person, she has the ability to speak directly to you even when she’s speaking to a crowd of 3,000 people,” Gibbons said. \nAn Indiana spokesman for Clinton’s campaign said the New York senator will target her talk to the thousands of IU students who will undoubtedly turn out to see her.\nClinton will focus on the economy, student financial aid and student debt, said Jonathan Swain, who works in Clinton’s Indiana press office.\nClinton will also speak to her voting base – blue collar Democrats in Monroe County who have watched as jobs have moved overseas in droves. The senator plans to specifically discuss General Electric’s plan to lay off some 900 local workers when it closes its Bloomington factory in 2009, he added.\nGibbons said she hopes to pack Assembly Hall with students of varying political views and leanings.\nAnd, given Obama’s strong pull with college students in previous contests, Gibbons thinks watching Clinton in person could help swing young voters into her camp.\n“I hope they have the opportunity to see Hillary speak and maybe they will come away feeling as strongly about her as they do about Obama,” she said. \nClinton’s trip to Bloomington is part of a three-day, six-city tour of Indiana which also takes her to Indianapolis, Gary, East Chicago, Fort Wayne and South Bend.\nAt the beginning of April, former President Bill Clinton gave a stump speech in Assembly Hall for his wife. Hillary Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, campaigned on campus for her mother at the end of March.\nAccording to the Clinton campaign, the three Clintons – Hillary, Bill and Chelsea – have made a combined 43 stops in 30 cities in Indiana since March 18.
(04/22/08 5:41am)
Sen. Hillary Clinton is coming to campus Friday and will give a speech in Assembly Hall, her campaign announced.\nClinton will be the first candidate in the 2008 Democratic primary to speak on campus. Her opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, made an unscheduled stop at the Women’s Little 500 Race and Nick’s English Hut earlier this month, but didn’t make any public comments.\nThe speech, titled “Solutions for the American Economy,” is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Doors will open at 11 a.m., according to a news release from her campaign.\nThe former First Lady’s trip to Bloomington is part of a four-day, six-city tour of Indiana which will also take her to Indianapolis, Gary, East Chicago, Fort Wayne and South Bend.\nCheck out the Indiana Daily Student’s new politics blog for more details as they become available.
(04/21/08 2:17am)
Sen. Hillary Clinton wants to debate in Indiana. Her opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, isn’t so sure. And nothing else is certain right now.\nOn Friday, Clinton’s Democratic presidential campaign accepted two offers to square off with Obama. But after moderators and Clinton pounded Obama on his recent stumbling points at a debate in Philadelphia Wednesday, the Illinois senator’s campaign said he isn’t so sure more debates are necessary.\nComplicating matters, Gary Mayor Rudy Clay, who on Thursday proposed one of the debates, changed his offer just a day after he extended it. Clay, an Obama supporter, said he would rather see the candidates come to Gary for a question and answer session on the same night, but not share the stage together in a debate.\nThe other offer comes from the Indiana Debate Commission. On April 1, the nonpartisan group invited the two candidates to debate in Indiana.\nThis political jostling comes the same day a new poll was released putting Obama ahead of Clinton by 5 percentage points in Indiana’s key May 6 primary.\nIn a conference call with reporters Friday afternoon, Clinton’s national spokesman Howard Wolfson said the New York senator and former first lady views the proposed debates as a way to air important campaign issues with Hoosier voters.\n“We are very much looking forward to the Indiana primary and very much looking forward to having a debate with Sen. Obama in Indiana,” he said.\nKevin Griffis, Obama’s Indiana communications director, said the Illinois senator has not yet decided whether he will participate in another debate, though the campaign surely has reservations.\n“We’ve had 21 of these debates now,” Griffis said. “And I think we want to use our time as much as possible to be there to make our case directly to Indiana.”\nGriffis also railed against the “negative, destructive politics” of Wednesday’s debate \nin Philadelphia.\n“Sen. Clinton spent most of that debate launching misleading attacks against Sen. Obama,” he said.\nIn that debate, the moderators spent a great deal of time asking Obama questions about his recent political gaffes, including his comments that people in small towns “cling” to guns and religion in times of economic hardship.\nThe debate has been widely criticized by the Obama campaign for not focusing on substantive issues.\nFor this reason, Clay, who leads the largest city in Obama-leaning Northwest Indiana, decided to rescind his offer to play host to an Indiana debate, he said. The mayor said he wants the candidates to focus on “urban issues” – solutions to poverty, decay and economic development that are unique to densely populated cities. A full-fledged debate could deflect the candidates’ attention away from the issues and onto personality clashes and political wrangling, he added.\nOn Friday when Clay watched a tape of Wednesday’s debate, “a red bug went off and said to me, if we have a debate, we would discuss other issues than urban issues,” he said.\nThis shift has caused the Clinton campaign to reconsider its offer to appear in Gary at Clay’s invitation, said Ben Kobren, a spokesman for Clinton’s Indiana headquarters. \nOn the heels of the debate announcements, a new poll of likely Hoosier primary voters gives Obama a 50 percent to 45 percent lead over Clinton. Five percent of the 578 likely Democratic voters surveyed were undecided. The poll has a 4.2 percent margin of error. \nThe new data, which was collected last week, hints that Obama’s “bitter” comments haven’t changed the minds of many Hoosier Democrats.\nThe phone survey also asked likely general election voters – Republicans, Democrats and independents – about a matchup between presumptive Republican nominee John McCain and the two Democratic candidates. McCain beats them both, leading Obama by 7 and Clinton by 11 percentage points. Five percent of voters were undecided for both tests and the margin of error was 2.8 percentage points. \nThe survey was commissioned by the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne.\nCurrently, Obama leads Clinton in pledged delegates 1,644 to 1,498. Both are short of the 2,025 needed to clinch the nomination.\nOn Tuesday, Pennsylvania Democrats go to the polls in that state’s pivotal primary. If Clinton wins, which most polls predict, Indiana will be the next great battleground for the two presidential candidates. It will be the first time in some 40 years that Hoosier voters have had any real say in a primary race.
(04/14/08 6:31am)
For an hour Friday afternoon, every student on Kirkwood Avenue stopped drinking. In the heat of Little 500 festivities, on a gorgeous sunny day, students left Kilroy’s, emptied the Upstairs Pub and poured out onto the sidewalks and into the street, all looking for one man: Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. He came, after all.
(04/14/08 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For an hour Friday afternoon, every student on Kirkwood Avenue stopped
drinking. In the heat of Little 500 festivities, on a gorgeous sunny
day, students left Kilroy’s, emptied the Upstairs Pub and poured out
onto the sidewalks and into the street, all looking for one man:
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. He came, after all.The
Illinois senator crashed the Little 500 women’s race with a surprise
appearance on campus and then traveled in his motorcade to Nick’s
English Hut, where he shook hands with some of the patrons inside and
added his John Hancock to a wall.Obama was greeted at both
places by throngs of screaming and cheering students who crowded in,
trying to catch at least a glimpse of the political phenom. The lucky
ones got a handshake, a smile or a nod from the senator.Sophomore
Coco Goldenberg did one better. When she held out her pink Alpha Chi
Omega trucker hat and asked Obama to sign it, he took out a pen and
scribbled his signature across the brim.Goldenberg, breathlessly excited, posed for photos with her friends, proudly sporting the hat.“I’m a big, big Obama supporter,” she said. “He’s so tight.”His
visit came with little warning. The campaign did not officially
announce the stop until the senator’s motorcade began pulling into the
driveway of Bill Armstrong Stadium.Obama was in Indiana for a
three-day bus tour of the state. His Bloomington stop off came in
between two scheduled speeches – one Friday morning in Columbus, Ind.,
and one Friday evening in Terre Haute. Obama and his rival,
New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, have been campaigning hard in Indiana
since the middle of March. The protracted and fierce primary battle
between the two candidates has given the Hoosier state’s May 6 primary,
and its 84 delegates, a prominence Indiana Democrats have not seen for
40 years. As Obama moved through central Indiana, Clinton hit
the northern part of the state, speaking in Indianapolis, then
Mishawaka, Ind., and Valparaiso, Ind.On April 6, Obama’s
campaign sponsored a free Dave Matthews concert at Assembly Hall. The
campaign started giving away tickets for the performance as former
President Bill Clinton spoke on campus about his wife’s candidacy. “The
Daily Show with John Stewart” labeled what it called the Obama
campaign’s attempt to steal Clinton’s thunder the “Dick Move of the
Week.”When Obama showed up at Little 500, he walked out to the
infield of the stadium, shaking hands with everyone in arms’ length. He
stood for a moment on the podium and greeted each of the members of the
IU Student Foundation Steering Committee. And even though he was only
feet away from a microphone that would have carried his words to the
hundreds of screaming students in the stands, he stayed away. He did
not discuss policy or make any statements of political substance during
the visit. Instead, he opted for pleasantries; he thanked students for
their support, shook hands with Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan, asked
women’s basketball coach Felisha Legette-Jack how her season went and
posed for photos with the players. After he left the infield,
he walked around the outside of the track – flanked by dark-suited
Secret Service agents, police officers, advisers and a hoard of members
of the media – and shook hands with each Little 500 rider and any
student who reached out to him.Obama then took a position off the field and watched the start of the race.Students
who were walking into the stadium to support their friends in the race
stopped, shocked to see the senator at IU’s own Little 500 race.Freshman
Kyle Katz, who got a chance to shake Obama’s hand, said before the
appearance he was unsure whether he would vote in Indiana’s May 6
primary. But now there’s no doubt.“This guy’s going all out,” Katz said. “He deserves my vote.”As
word spread quickly via text message among IU students that Obama’s
next planned stopped was Nick’s, dozens of spectators gathered outside
the beloved Bloomington bar.His reception at Nick’s was no less
noisy and warm than it was at Bill Armstrong Stadium. When he left
Nick’s and walked down Kirkwood to his waiting tour bus, students
filled the streets.Only once has Kruzan, an IU alumnus and ardent Obama booster, seen such excitement, revelry and celebration.“It was the last time we won an NCAA Championship,” he said with a smile.