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(04/14/08 2:34am)
COLUMBUS, Ind. – Columbus residents Stan and Mary Ellen Miller live in a house divided. \nMary Ellen, 62, is a staunch supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. Before the Illinois senator rose to prominence, she was a Republican who voted twice for President George W. Bush. But Obama’s presence and charisma convinced her to switch sides. \nHer husband Stan, 64, isn’t convinced, but a sprawling national debt and economic problems have forced him to keep and open mind about Obama, he said. \nThe Millers were among the 2,500 people who stood in long lines to see Obama’s speech Friday morning in the gymnasium of Columbus East High School. \nObama focused on his ability to change the nation and combat problems such as the growing number of uninsured Americans and the slowing economy. He talked about his ability to unify a fractured country, even as he emphasized what he sees at the difference between him and his opponent, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. \n“She is of Washington,” he said. “She thinks that lobbyists are not the problem.”\nObama went on the say he has worked to limit the influence that special interests have on his campaign. \n“If you elect me, we can tell the lobbyists who work in Washington that their days of setting the agenda are over,” he said.\nObama’s campaign also appears to have made some progress in courting one of Indiana’s 11 so called “superdelegates.” \nU.S. Congressman Baron Hill, D-Ind., who represents Columbus, Bloomington and New Albany, Ind., introduced Obama to the cheering crowd. \nHill, who like several other Indiana superdelegates has not come out in support of either presidential candidate, told the Indiana Daily Student that he is still undecided. However, he said he has never seen so much excitement about politics in Indiana.\nObama and Clinton are locked in a tight battle for the Democratic presidential nomination. Currently, Obama leads the race with 1,631 delegates, including superdelegates – party leaders such as elected officials and state party chairs who can vote independently of their state’s allotted delegates. Clinton has 1,501 delegates and both senators are well short of the 2,024 they need to lock up the nomination, according to The Associated Press. As a result, superdelegates such as Hill could ultimately decide who becomes the Democratic nominee.\nObama stayed with his message of change, though he also outlined several policy positions, including his plan to improve health care in America by making insurance available to everyone. \n“We don’t have a health care system, we have a disease care system,” he said.\nBy emphasizing preventative medicine and working to eliminate inefficiencies in the system, Obama said his plan will generate the money needed to make coverage universal. \nThe senator also said he plans to roll back the Bush tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and cut taxes to the middle class. \n“When you have a CEO making in a day what many of their workers make in a year, you’ve got a problem,” he said. \nIn response to a question about gay rights, Obama said he does not support gay marriage, but is for “strong civil unions” that guarantee many of the partnership rights of legally-binding marriage. \nObama’s speech in Columbus was part of a three-day tour of the Hoosier state in advance of its May 6 primary. The tour also took him to Terre Haute, South Bend and Muncie, with a brief stopover Friday afternoon in Bloomington at the women’s Little 500 race.
(04/13/08 2:37am)
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: the celebrity Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. He came after all. \nThe 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 all of the patrons inside. \nHis visit came with little advance warning. The campaign did not officially announce the stop until the senator’s motorcade began pulling into the driveway of Bill Armstrong Stadium.\nObama 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. \nSophomore Coco Goldenberg got 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. \nGoldenberg, breathlessly excited, posed for photos with her friends, proudly sporting the hat. \n“I’m a big, big Obama supporter. He’s so tight,” she said.\nWhen the presidential contender showed up and walked around the circumference of the track at Bill Armstrong Stadium, he shook hands with riders and screaming IU students.\nObama then took a position off the field, surrounded by police officers and his Secret Service detail, and watched the start of the race.\nStudents 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.\nFreshman Kyle Katz, who got a chance to shake Obama’s hand, said he was unsure whether he would vote in Indiana’s May 6 primary. But now there’s no doubt. \n“This guy’s going all out,” Katz said. “He deserves my vote.”\nAs word spread spread quickly via text message among IU students that Obama’s next planned stopped was Nick’s, dozens of students gathered outside the beloved Bloomington bar. \nHis reception at Nick’s was no less noisy and warm. When he left Nick’s and walked down the Kirkwood to his waiting tour bus, students filled the streets.\nOnly once has Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan, an ardent Obama booster, seen such excitement, revelry and celebration.\n“It was the last time we won an NCAA Championship,” he said with a smile.
(04/11/08 9:00pm)
None of it’s official, but Barack Obama is “likely” coming to Bloomington Friday and could show up at the Women’s Little 500 race.\nThe Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign has declined to confirm such a visit, but an attorney who works on election matters for the Democratic party told the Indiana Daily Student that Obama would probably make an unscheduled, unannounced stop in town.\nThe attorney, who is an IU alumnus and said he holds sway with some senior Obama officials, told the campaign that the senator’s best chance to reach IU students would be to appear on campus at Bill Armstrong Stadium before the women’s race kicks off at 4 p.m., he said.\nAnd the timeline surely works. Obama has a speech scheduled for 11:30 a.m. in Columbus, Ind., – about an hour east of Bloomington on Indiana 46. And he’s got another one set for 8:15 p.m. in Terre Haute – an hour and a half \nwest of Bloomington on the same highway. \n“My educated guess is that it’s a totally natural and necessary stop for him to be in Bloomington,” said the attorney, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not a member of the campaign staff.\nThe source stressed that the details are still fluid and that there is no set plan yet. \nCampaign spokeswoman Ganette Tseggai said the Illinois senator has no scheduled stops in Bloomington “at this point.”\nBut, she added, “We are constantly scoping out areas where we can do possible stops.”\nObama is currently visiting cities throughout Indiana as part of a three-day bus tour of the Hoosier state. His trip so far has taken him to South Bend, Gary and Lafayette. \nOn Monday, members of the Secret Service told local law enforcement officials that the senator planned to be in Bloomington Friday, said IU Police Department Capt. Jerry Minger.\nHowever, the Obama campaign has yet to contact any University or IU Student Foundation officials about an unplanned visit. And the word at an IU Students for Barack Obama meeting Wednesday was that he had no scheduled stops in town, said IU College Democrats President Anna Strand.\nIndiana Democratic voters have found themselves in the spotlight among millions of others nationwide who didn’t expect their primary votes to count. The Hoosier state’s May 6 primary will be one of the last remaining battlegrounds after Pennsylvania Democrats go to the polls at the end of this month.\nWith 86 delegates at stake, a win in Indiana could help end the protracted and tight race between Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.). Both candidates have made strong showings in Bloomington, though neither has been here personally. Sunday, Dave Matthews played a free concert at Assembly Hall in support of Obama. Tickets for the concert were available April 3 during former President Bill Clinton’s stump speech for his wife on campus.
(04/09/08 7:46am)
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama will stop in Bloomington on Friday, according to multiple sources.\nThe Illinois senator is crisscrossing Indiana on a three-day bus tour of the Hoosier state starting Wednesday.\nObama’s stump speech will focus on improving the economy and stimulating job growth, said Nick Kimball, a spokesman for Obama’s Indiana campaign.\nKimball would not officially confirm Obama’s visit Friday, but the campaign has already confirmed stops in South Bend, Gary, Muncie and Lafayette. \nHowever, IU Police Department Capt. Jerry Minger said members of the U.S. Secret Service met with local law enforcement officials earlier this week and told them that the senator plans be in town Friday.\nA source close to the campaign said Obama will visit Friday but the campaign has yet to finalize any details of his stop.\nIndiana has found itself in the spotlight as a key battleground in the contentious Democratic presidential primary. The Hoosier state’s May 6 primary, with its 84 delegates at stake, looms as one of the biggest remaining contests after Pennsylvania’s April 22 vote.\nA recent poll commissioned by the South Bend Tribune and three Indiana television news stations puts New York Sen. Hillary Clinton ahead of Obama in Indiana 49 percent to 46 percent, with a 5 percent margin of error.\nBoth campaigns have paid for commercials to run on Indiana television stations and have opened numerous campaign offices.\nThis is Obama’s third trip to Indiana and his first to Bloomington. On Sunday, his campaign sponsored a free concert at Assembly Hall with musicians Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds. \nPrior to that, former President Bill Clinton stumped for Hillary Clinton in front of an audience of about 6,500 at Assembly Hall. It marked the first visit to campus by a current or former president since Teddy Roosevelt delivered the 1918 commencement address.
(04/08/08 4:37pm)
Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama will stop in Bloomington on Friday, according to a source in the campaign.\nThe Illinois Senator is crisscrossing Indiana as part of a three-day bus tour of the Hoosier state starting Wednesday.\nThe focus of Obama's tour throughout the state is improving the economy and stimulating job growth, said campaign spokesman Nick Kimball.\nOnly one stop on his tour has been confirmed - a speech Wednesday night at a South Bend high school. Obama, however, does plan to visit Bloomington on Friday, the source, who spoke off the record because the details of the trip have not yet been released, said. The campaign has yet to finalize any of the details of his stop in town, the source added.\nIndiana has found itself in the spotlight as a key battleground in the contentious Democratic presidential primary. The Hoosier state's May 6 primary, with its 84 delegates at stake, looms as one of the biggest remaining contests after Pennsylvania's April 22 vote.\nA recent poll commissioned by the South Bend Tribune and three Indiana television news stations puts New York Sen. Hillary Clinton ahead of Obama in Indiana 49 percent to 46 percent, though the results fall within the margin of error.\nCheck out Wednesday's edition of the Indiana Daily Student for more details.
(04/03/08 5:26am)
IU junior Korpo Momolu isn’t a big fan of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. In fact, she said, she’s wholeheartedly for Clinton’s opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.\nAnd yet Momolu turned out Wednesday to stand in a line that snaked through the parking lot of Assembly Hall in order to see Clinton’s biggest backer – her husband, former President Bill Clinton.\n“I love Bill,” Momolu said with a broad smile. “I think he was a great president. I love his personality. I love his smile. He’s so great. I just love Bill.”\nMomolu is like many of the thousands of IU students who turned out to see the 42nd U.S. president stump for his wife. Many said they adore Bill Clinton and yearn for what they say was the economic prosperity he brought to America. Yet, they support Obama and believe he’s the one more likely to bring back the boom times of the 1990s than the former president’s own wife. \n“I think it’s Obama’s message of change,” said sophomore Max Einsohn. “I think he’s the one who can change this country.”\nTo be sure, the New York senator had the support of many of the roughly 6,500 people who turned out. \nSophomore Nicole Sztuk said she thinks Hillary Clinton has the passion and drive and the experience to push through reforms that will help the American people. \nThe former first lady’s record with health care reform, in particular, draws her to Clinton, she said. \nBut nearly all of the students interviewed by the Indiana Daily Student Wednesday said they supported Obama, despite their respect for Bill Clinton.
(03/26/08 5:23am)
In the drawn-out and sometimes dirty Democratic primary, the candidates have often been reduced to one name and a list of campaign policies. Sen. Hillary Clinton has been called just “Clinton” or sometimes “Hillary” or sometimes even a gender-based derogatory swear. But Monday night in the foyer of the IU Auditorium, she was “mom.”\nChelsea Clinton stumped for her mother in front of a curious crowd and made an impassioned case for why IU students should vote for the New York senator in Indiana’s May 6 primary.\n“I’d like to start out by admitting that I will always be for my mom and I think everyone should vote for her,” she said. “So in that way, I am biased.”\nThroughout her hour-and-a-half long speech, Chelsea Clinton fielded questions about her mother’s policies on a variety of student-oriented political issues from college affordability to the Iraq War. In her answers, she always pointedly referred to the sometimes embattled Hillary Clinton only as “mom.” \nChelsea Clinton, who was flanked by actor Sean Astin, of “Rudy,” “The Goonies” and “The Lord of the Rings,” spent much of her time addressing her mother’s plan to reduce the cost of college education. Her platform includes providing more low-interest federal student loans, giving tax credits to college students, eliminating the paperwork required to apply for federal financial aid and doubling the maximum Pell Grant allotment to more than $10,000 per student per year.\nHillary Clinton trails her opponent, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, with 1,498 pledged delegates to Obama’s 1,617, according to The Associated Press. It takes 2,025 delegates to secure the Democratic presidential nomination. \nAfter Pennsylvania’s April 22 primary, Indiana will be one of the last major states to have its say in the Democratic nomination process. Both campaigns already have a presence here and have promised to fight hard for Indiana’s 84 delegates. This is shaping up to be the the first time Indiana has had a voice in the presidential primary in some 40 years. \nBoth Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton made separate, three-city stops in Indiana last week and are scheduled to return to the Hoosier state again this week. \nChelsea Clinton said she was particularly inspired by her mother’s famous 1995 speech in Beijing in which she declared, “women’s rights are human rights.”\nA common theme in Chelsea Clinton’s speech was what she called the “small tragedies” of the George W. Bush presidency – seldom-publicized funding cuts in programs such as AmeriCorps and other initiatives that she said help disadvantaged people across the country and throughout the world. \nAstin, who said he’s been an avid Hillary Clinton supporter since he met her in 1992, said he hopes his fame can bring another “blip” of interest to her campaign.\n“In Indiana I am valuable to the Clinton campaign because I played Rudy,” he said in an interview with the Indiana Daily Student.\nSophomore and president of the IU Students for Hillary Clinton AnnElyse Gibbons said she hopes Chelsea Clinton’s appearance will jump-start interest in the Clinton campaigns on campus. \nMany of the IU students who showed up at the rally said they were not Hillary Clinton supporters but were interested to hear what the former first daughter had to say. \nSophomore John McLaughlin, who is a tentative Obama supporter, said he liked the way Chelsea Clinton worked to humanize her mother. Her words didn’t entirely win his vote, but “she made it a lot harder choice to make,” he said.
(03/22/08 7:23am)
TERRE HAUTE – Sen. Hillary Clinton kicked off an all-day campaign tour of Indiana Thursday by promising to bring new jobs to the Hoosier state as hundreds of rowdy and enthusiastic supporters lined up downtown to cheer her on.\nThe Democratic presidential candidate discussed her plans to prop up the flagging American economy and improve health care coverage and education for Hoosiers at a packed downtown diner before delivering a speech with a similar message to a waiting crowd out back.\nThe morning meet and greet at Terre Haute’s Saratoga Restaurant was just the first of Clinton’s three planned campaign stops Thursday – she also made an afternoon rally in Anderson, Ind., followed by an evening speech in Evansville.\nThe trip represents Clinton’s response to Democratic rival Barack Obama’s whirlwind speech to more than 2,000 supporters near Indianapolis last Saturday. Former President Bill Clinton made a three-city speaking tour of eastern Indiana on behalf of his wife Tuesday, hitting Lawrenceburg, Richmond and Fort Wayne.\nIndiana’s May 6 primary, with 84 delegates at stake, could be the last battleground in a long and bruising Democratic primary season. Clinton and Obama are running tight, with 1,498 and 1,617 pledged delegates, respectively, according to The Associated Press. Both are well shy of the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination.\nMany of the older voters in the crowd were unequivocal in their support for Clinton.\nLibby Llewellyn, a Terre Haute native, said she lined up outside of Saratoga Restaurant at 2:45 a.m. in order to be the first to see Clinton for her 10:30 a.m. arrival. Llewellyn said she sees the senator as a strong, honest woman and likes her plan to end the Iraq War.\nMany younger voters weren’t so committed, however. Indiana State University freshman Jenny Ross skipped work and a 9 a.m. class and showed up with a sign that read “Bill for First Man,” though she conceded that she was still unsure whether she would vote for the senator. More than anything, Ross said, she turned out to catch a glimpse of “a potential next president.”\n“How often do you even get to see someone like this in Terre Haute?” she said.\nThough she focused primarily on her plan to improve the flagging economy, Clinton also outlined her ideas to make college education more accessible. These include increasing the amount of Pell Grants and other federal aid available to students, cracking down on predatory college loan practices and introducing tax credits to help pay for the cost of college. She also said she plans to launch a federal initiative that will pay for much of a student’s college expenses in exchange for two years of public service work.\nWhen asked about her stance on gay rights, Clinton said she will fight for equal protection and anti-discrimination legislation for the GLBT community and reverse the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy her husband initiated.\n“You don’t have to be straight to shoot straight,” she said, jokingly quoting former Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater.\nHowever, the senator said she does not support legalizing gay marriage and that the issue should be left up to the states.\nIndiana Democrat Sen. Evan Bayh introduced Clinton before she sat down and discussed the rising cost of health care, the loss of manufacturing jobs to overseas and the economic potential of biofuels with six Central Indiana residents in the diner. Their conversation took place in front of a bustling press corps and was piped to a PA system and broadcast to hundreds of supporters outside who weren’t able to snag a seat inside. \nThe senator said she plans to institute a national health insurance program that will make health care coverage available to all Americans and lower the premiums for many families, particularly ones who don’t have employer-provided insurance.\nClinton said, if elected, she plans to renegotiate all American trade agreements with foreign countries and pressure China to change its financial practices. China keeps its currency artificially deflated in relation to the dollar, which makes Chinese exports cheaper in America. These initiatives should make American manufacturing jobs more viable, she added.\n“I want to keep making American cars right here in Indiana,” Clinton said.\nIncluded in the senator’s discussion of energy policy was making biofuels such as corn-based ethanol and soybean-based biodiesel more widely available. In recent years, Indiana has seen wide investment in the biofuels industry and staked part of its economic recovery on that market.\n“We’re going to create jobs and create homegrown energy,” she said.\nHowever, the statement that drew the most applause, both in her speech and in her discussion in the diner, was her proposal to end the military operation in Iraq as quickly as she can, if she is elected.\n“There is no military solution for Iraq,” she said to thunderous applause. “We’re going to bring our sons and daughters home.”
(03/17/08 5:12am)
PLAINFIELD – Add Sen. Barack Obama to the list of Hoosier fans who are disappointed about IU’s Big Ten Tournament loss Friday.\n“I want to give my condolences for what happened last night,” the Democratic presidential candidate told a crowd of more than 2,000 supporters packed into the Plainfield High School gym Saturday. “It was a good game, though.”\nBut, the Illinois senator said he is unhappy about freshman Eric Gordon’s choice to play for the Hoosiers rather than the Illini.\nIn his first major campaign stop in Indiana, Obama spoke for about 45 minutes before fielding about 10 questions from his wildly supportive audience. He spent most of his time talking about his favorite campaign issue – unity – though he also tackled the rising cost of health care and outlined a plan to make college more affordable.\nAnd even as he kicked off his speech, Obama promised that he would return to Indiana in force.\nWith its late May 6 primary and 84 delegates, Indiana could be the last major battleground state of a hard-fought Democratic primary season.\nCurrently, Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., are neck-and-neck, according to an Associated Press delegate tally. Obama has 1,617 delegates and Clinton has 1,498. A total of 2,025 delegates are needed to lock up the Democratic presidential nomination.\nObama will likely hit the Indiana campaign trail hard after Pennsylvania’s April 22 primary, said Tim Granholm, president of IU Students for Barack Obama.\nIn a potential blow to Indiana’s burgeoning biofuels industry, Obama called corned-based ethanol “sub-optimal” and suitable only for a transition away from fossil fuels. Fuels made from other crops – such as Brazil’s sugar-based ethanol – are more practical substitutes.\nBut the message that seemed to resonate with the audience was his appeal for voters to cross political, racial and economic boundaries and come together.\nObama also said one of his first moves in the White House will be to instruct his attorney general to review all of President George W. Bush’s executive orders and reverse the ones that he deems unconstitutional or restrictive to civil liberties.\nOnly once in his speech did the senator stumble. He was greeted with scattered but audible boos when he thanked a group of union workers who turned out to support him and called them “boilermakers.”\n“This is mostly an IU crowd, I guess,” he quipped, bringing out a raucous cheer from the Hoosier fans in the audience.\nEvoking a speech 1968 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy gave in Indianapolis after Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, Obama said the American people have a choice between rage and bitterness, and unity.\n“We have different stories, but we have common dreams and common hopes,” Obama told the crowd.\nTickets for the event were available online through Obama’s Web site, though all of them were spoken for within 30 minutes of being made available, a campaign spokeswoman said.\nIf elected, Obama said he plans to institute a federal program that will pay for the first $4,000 of a student’s college education in exchange for community service.\n“It was a unifying message,” said Granholm, a senior majoring in political science. “I think for him to do well here, we need him to do be a unifying candidate.”\nGranholm volunteered at the rally Saturday and has seen the senator speak three other times. After the speech, Obama took the time to thank the volunteers and even posed for photos with them, he said.\nPerhaps Casey McFall best embodies Obama’s vision of unity. The 24-year-old Indianapolis resident and IU alumnus was one of dozens of people who signed up after the rally to volunteer for the senator’s presidential bid. McFall said he voted Republican in the last two elections but he has been inspired by Obama’s sincerity and ability to speak plainly about the issues.\n“He really motivated me,” he said.
(03/16/08 12:05am)
Plainfield, Ind. - Sen. Barack Obama campaigns on a platform of unity. But maybe he didn't take into account the strength of the IU/Purdue University rivalry.\nScattered but audible boos greeted the Democratic presidential candidate Saturday at his first major Indiana campaign stop when he thanked a group of union workers who turned out to support him and called them "boilermakers."\n"This is mostly an IU crowd, I guess," he quipped, bringing out a raucous cheer from the Hoosier fans in the audience.\nDespite the gaffe, Obama's speech to some 2,000 supporters who packed into the Plainfield High School gymnasium received loud and energetic cheers. The Illinois senator focused much of his 45-minute speech on the importance of unity and his ability to bring the country together, though he also tackled the rising cost of health care and outlined a plan to make college more affordable.\nEvoking a speech presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy gave in Indianapolis after Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, Obama said the American people have a choice between rage and bitterness and unity.\n"We have different stories, but we have common dreams and common hopes," Obama told the crowd.\nTickets for the event were available online through Obama's Web site, though all of them were spoken for within 30 minutes of being made available, a campaign spokeswoman said.\nIf elected, Obama said he plans to institute a federal program that will pay for the first $4,000 of a student's college education in exchange for community service.\nObama also said one of his first moves if he is elected will be to instruct his Attorney General to review all of President George W. Bush's executive orders and reverse the ones that he deems unconstitutional or restrictive to civil liberties.\nIn a potential blow to Indiana's burgeoning biofuels industry, Obama called corned-based ethanol "sub-optimal" and suitable only for a transition away from fossil fuels. Other fuels made from crops - like Brazil's sugar-based ethanol - are more practical substitutes.\nThe senator fielded several questions from audience members and answered questions on issues ranging from domestic violence to the economic implications of America's foreign policy with China.\nThis was Obama's second stop in the Hoosier state since announcing his run for the White House, though he promised many more campaign stops.\nWith its late May 6 primary and 84 delegates, Indiana could be on of the last major battleground states of a hard-fought Democratic primary season.
(01/25/08 4:25am)
The Bloomington Common Council voted 6-1 with two abstentions Wednesday night for a plan that calls for the construction of nearly 100 miles of new bicycle paths, walking trails and other roadways for alternative forms of transportation. \nOne of the key updates to the Alternative Transportation & Greenways System Plan involves laying a new network of six “bicycle boulevards” that will help cyclists feel more comfortable on the roads, said Scott Robinson, the transportation manager for the City Planning Department. The bicycle boulevards concept includes clearly marking some existing streets as being bicycle-dominant, creating special intersections and traffic signals so that cyclists can cross busy streets and potentially limiting access to cars on some side roads. The bicycle boulevards concept in particular and much of the comprehensive plan in general is based on the system developed in Berkeley, Calif., Robinson said. \nIf all goes well, Robinson said he expects that the first couple of bicycle boulevards could go up in the next four years. \nMore than 75 miles of pathways were built under the original Alternative Transportation and Greenways System Plan, which was adopted in 2001. However, the plan only provided specific guidance for building pathways through 2006 and now the Public Works Department needs direction on how to spend its $500,000 annual alternative roadways and greenways budget, Robinson told the council.\nThe council members all seemed amenable to the plan, though District II representative Brad Wisler expressed concern about the possibility of using traffic diverters and limiting the access to streets in order to lower the traffic volume on bicycle boulevard streets.\nIn the end, six council members voted for the measure, Wisler and council member Dave Rollo abstained and member Steve Volan voted against it. Volan said he voted “no” because the new plan does not go far enough toward encouraging Bloomington residents to move around the city in something other than their cars. \nThe council still needs to formally vote on whether to approve the plan at its Feb. 6 meeting.
(01/09/08 2:30pm)
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in the ongoing battle over Indiana’s voter identification law, which requires residents to show photo identification before they can vote at the polls. The case questions the law’s fairness to those who might not have easy access to proper identification. \nThis case goes well beyond the issue of whether Hoosiers must show their driver’s licences at the polls; it marks the first time Chief Justice John Roberts’ court has chosen to wade into an election law dispute. It could result in a ruling that changes election laws across the country and redefines the way judges look at voting restrictions, said Luis Fuentes-Rohwer, an IU law professor who specializes in election law.\nThe case in front of the Supreme Court represents a complex battle in which the law’s critics can’t point out a single legitimate voter who was kept from casting a ballot because of the restrictions. But in the state’s entire history the law’s boosters can’t name a single instance of in-person voter fraud, the very crime targeted by the statute.\nThe law’s proponents, including the Indiana secretary of state and several Republican politicians, say it works to safeguard against voter fraud, arguing that there are adequate exceptions in place to let potential voters without photo IDs to obtain them.\nThe law, which took effect July 1, 2005, allows voters without IDs to cast provisional ballots, which will only be counted if they return within 10 days with identification. Before the ID law, voters were simply required to sign in at the polling station. \nBut critics of the law, including the Indiana Democratic party and several elderly, minority and homeless advocacy groups, frame it as a partisan and unconstitutional attempt to keep marginalized, and traditionally liberal, groups of voters away from the polls.\nThe case stems from a pair of federal lawsuits, William Crawford vs. Marion County Election Board and Indiana Democratic Party vs. Todd Rokita, that alleged Indiana’s voter ID law discriminates against black and other racial minority voters, the elderly and the impoverished. The Supreme Court agreed to combine both lawsuits into a single case.\nThe Marion County Election Board says the law has already prevented dozens of people in Marion County alone from voting. In the 2007 election, 34 people were forced to cast provisional ballots because they did not bring the proper IDs to the polls. Of those 34, only two returned to validate their provisional ballots, according to a brief filed by the group’s lawyer.\nThe state, however, maintained that there was no way to tell if the other 32 voters were even eligible.\nIn the 2006 election, Monroe County voters cast 50 provisional ballots and between five and 15 returned to validate them, said Monroe County Election Clerk Jessica White. \nBut the problem with Indiana’s voter ID law is that most people who don’t have proper IDs but are allowed to vote will stay away from the polls rather than go through the hassle of obtaining a state photo ID, a brief filed by the Indiana Democratic Party counters. \nAnd the groups that are by far the least likely to have an ID are the poor, the elderly and minorities, according to the brief.\nJoel Rekas, director of the Shalom Community Center, a Bloomington homeless shelter, said he agrees with the Democratic Party’s position. \nHe said most of the impoverished and homeless people the Shalom Center serves have lost their IDs or never had one. Replacing them is a time-consuming, complicated and sometimes expensive process, he said.\nWith barriers like that, many of the people he serves will likely just avoid voting in the next election. During the 2004 presidential campaign, Rekas said the center’s voter registration drive yielded 110 new voters.\nWith the new law on the books, Rekas said he fears that the 2008 election will not see as many of Bloomington’s – or Indiana’s – disadvantaged hit the polls.\nThe decision, which likely won’t be handed down until June, could be the court’s biggest election law ruling since the infamous Bush vs. Gore decision in 2000, Fuentes-Rohwer said. However, he predicts the court will likely uphold Indiana’s voter ID law and make only small changes to the way lower courts look at voter laws.
(08/02/07 1:25pm)
A fire Wednesday afternoon gutted the Monroe County Pizza Department, 3890 W. Third St., destroyed several adjacent businesses and heavily damaged others.\nThe blaze, which started at the pizzeria, was only visible as smoke at first, though flames eventually leapt through the roof of the building and spread to other businesses in the strip mall, Bloomington City Fire Department Chief Jeff Barlow said. \nFirefighters received the call for the fire at about 3:40 p.m. and had it under control by about 4:40 p.m., Barlow said. Although no one was injured in the fire, two firefighters were taken to Bloomington Hospital for observation because of Wednesday’s high temperature combined with the heat from the flames.\nBarlow said he could not yet speculate on the cause of the fire because firefighters were still working to extinguish any remaining hot spots in the businesses. Crews on ladder trucks poured water on the smoldering structure from above the roofs.\nThe fire almost entirely destroyed the first three businesses in the strip mall. Little of what was left of the Monroe County Pizza Department was recognizable, aside from the charred walls and window frame. The roof had apparently collapsed in on the building. In the tobacco shop next door, the only remnant of the business was a charred and battered Skoal Chewing Tobacco sign hanging in the window.\nTrish Southern, the owner of Monroe County Pizza Department, said four employees were working at the restaurant when the fire began. \n“We were just getting ready to celebrate 15 years,” she said. “So much of me was in that building.” \nShe said she plans to rebuild the business, which usually employs about 17 people, as soon as she can.\n“Too many people are depending on me,” Southern said.\nJohn Dillard, 43, of Spencer, Ind., said he was standing in front of Labor Ready, 3850 W. Third St., when the fire broke out.\nHe said that when firefighters arrived and tried to cut a hole in the roof of Kent Deford Agency, 3866 W. Third St., the force of the smoke and built-up pressure was so strong that it knocked back the firefighter cutting the hole and blew off his helmet.\nDillard, whose van was parked in front of Labor Ready and blocked in by a fire truck, was one of several dozen onlookers taking in the destruction and watching firefighters finish their work.
(07/16/07 1:23am)
IU’s Ora L. Wildermuth Intramural Center could be getting more national attention if the Commission on Presidential Debates chooses Bloomington to play host to a 2008 U.S. presidential debate.\nTwo delegates from the Commission will tour campus Tuesday to look at several sites that IU and the City of Bloomington hope to use for the event.\nAmong the buildings they will visit is the Wildermuth Center, which will serve as a filing center for some 750 journalists, should IU land the debate, said Rob DeCleene, director of tourism for the Bloomington/Monroe County Convention & Visitors Bureau.\nThe Wildermuth Center gained national attention in April when an Indiana Daily Student columnist wrote about the segregationist views of the building’s namesake, former board of trustees president Ora L. Wildermuth.\nIn a 1945 letter to IU Comptroller Ward G. Biddle, Wildermuth made his views on segregation plain when he wrote, “I am and shall always remain absolutely and utterly opposed to social intermingling of the colored race with the white. ... It always has been the dominant and leading race.”\nWhen then-IU President Herman B Wells asked the board president for funding to build dorms for black female students, Wildermuth balked.\n“So few of them succeed and the average of the race as to intelligence, economic status and industry is so far below the white average that it seems to me futile to build up hope for a great future,” he wrote back.\nThe IDS column sparked calls for a public debate on whether to change the name of the building and condemnation from many in the University community. Then-IU President Adam Herbert told Michael McRobbie, the interim-provost and University president-elect, to begin a “dialogue and develop a proposed presentation to the board as soon as possible.”\nBut for its part, McRobbie’s administration has been publicly mum on the issue. This leaves Andrew Kincannon, the diversity, recruitment and retention coordinator for the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, to which the Wildermuth Center belongs, to wonder whether the issue has fallen by the wayside.\nKincannon called the Wildermuth Center being named after a segregationist “unacceptable” in the IDS column, dated April 10.\nMcRobbie did not respond to an interview request about the Wildermuth Center, which the IDS submitted last week.\nHPER Dean Robert Goodman, who began his term at IU last week, did not return a phone call with a similar request.\nKaren Hanson, who has been appointed to be the new IU provost, said McRobbie formed a task force of three professors June 20 to investigate and recommend whether to rename the building. The task force has not met since its formation, though it is expected to give its recommendation by the end of the summer, she said.\nHanson, who was originally one of the members of the task force, said it would not be proper for her to give an opinion of whether the building should be renamed before the committee makes its decision.\nShe did say, however, that in general, “memorializing segregationism is abhorrent.”\nDeCleene would not comment on whether housing journalists from across the country in a building named after a documented segregationist would reflect poorly on IU and Bloomington. He said the Wildermuth Center was chosen purely from a logistical standpoint, primarily because its large, open space made it an ideal place for reporters to file their stories and it is close to the IU Auditorium, where IU hopes to hold the actual debate.
(07/05/07 4:59pm)
Most students go four years without ever meeting the University president.\nBut Michael Coleman got to sit at a small table and eat lunch with him. And Coleman hasn’t even started classes at IU.\nThe incoming freshman from Indianapolis was among 10 students from the Groups Student Support Services Program who had lunch with new IU President Michael McRobbie on Monday in the Indiana Memorial Union.\nAs Indianapolis television news cameras and inquisitive Orientation program parents looked on, McRobbie, who began his term July 1, chatted with the students and answered questions on topics ranging from diversity and raising admissions standards to his favorite public speakers. \nEven though the session had about as much intimacy as a press conference, McRobbie received rave reviews from Coleman and his peers.\nAndres Jara, an incoming freshman and Groups student from Whiting, Ind., proudly showed off a photograph on his cell phone of him and McRobbie making silly faces.\n“He had a sandwich with me, and I had a pizza,” he said, grinning.\nMcRobbie used the media event to highlight the Groups program, which provides guidance and support for specially-selected minority and underprivileged students at IU. He also took to opportunity to pledge an increased level of visibility and access to students. \n“I intend to do things like this on a regular basis,” he said.\nMcRobbie also said he was looking at holding regular office hours during which students could come to see him. It is widely believed that the trustees hired McRobbie with the understanding that he would have a higher public profile at IU and throughout the state than did his predecessor Adam Herbert.\nJanis Wiggins, the director of Groups, said this was the first time an IU president has taken the time meet with her students in person. Wiggins said meeting with the new president was a perfect introduction to IU for her new students.\n“One goal with students is to get them connected to the University,” she said. “And this is a wonderful connection.”
(07/02/07 2:44am)
There was no fanfare for Michael McRobbie when he officially took the helm of IU on Sunday.\nHis formal presidential inauguration ceremony won’t be until Oct. 18. He won’t be moving into Bryan House for at least a year. The presidential office in Bryan Hall won’t be ready for him for at least another week.\nBut that doesn’t mean he isn’t ready for the responsibility.\nMcRobbie has been knee-deep in preparing to take office since the IU board of trustees named him president-elect March 1.\nAnd, on the precipice of his new career, the office of the IU president hasn’t really thrown him any curve balls yet, he said. \nOne thing that has surprised him, though, is the widespread support that IU enjoys throughout the state, he said. In the months following his hiring, McRobbie toured each of the University’s eight campuses and all its medical centers.\n“I was just really struck by the enormous influence and importance this institution has in the state,” he said during a sit-down interview with the Indiana Daily Student Friday afternoon.\nDuring his tour of the state, he said, he met families who had four generations of IU alumni and dozens of IU degrees in their ranks. This support and love that alumni have for their alma mater is one of the secrets of success for American universities, he said.\n“That is alumni, on the whole, have such an experience at the University, that the University environment on the whole is just so supportive and seems to provide such a good education, such a good social experience that people remember it 30, 40 years later and are prepared to support it personally in various ways,” he said.\nMcRobbie said one of his major priorities for the summer is to fill the top positions that are currently open at the University. The provost search committee has already sent three finalists for the provost of the Bloomington campus to McRobbie, said senior Matt Jarson, the student representative on the committee. Tom Healy, the vice president of government relations, and Judy Palmer, the vice president for budgetary affairs, have both recently announced their decision to leave their current positions. Charlie Nelms, the vice president for institutional development and student affairs, was recently appointed to the position of chancellor of North Carolina Central University. McRobbie said he hopes to have his cabinet assembled by the end of July.\nMcRobbie said he won’t move into Bryan House for at least a year, until his two teenagers are out of the house, though he is certain the campus will feel his presence nonetheless.\nOther than that, McRobbie named one distinct advantage about the job that he’s noticed since he was selected IU president.\n“Perks like lack of sleep,” he said ruefully.
(07/02/07 2:44am)
It's been more than four years since Linda Fribley's son was killed in an ambush with eight other Marines in Iraq.\nBut not a day goes by that she doesn't still think of him.\nWhen David K. Fribley, U.S. Marine Lance Corporal, died in combat March 23, 2004 he became the first Hoosier fatality in Iraq.\nAnd for Linda Fribley, 49, this grim milestone makes this Independence Day, and all other national holidays since he died, a lot more meaningful.\n"His death was an awakening for many people," she said in a telephone interview from her home in Atwood, Ind. "That's part of the reason that David was chosen. It awakened us to all the freedoms of choice that we get to have in everyday life. We're blessed here in the United States."\nDavid Fribley never wanted his military service to be a symbol, she said, but she hopes that his death can serve as a reminder to Hoosiers - and Americans everywhere - that above all, the U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq are working to make this country safer.\nAnd in some ways, the knowledge that her son was killed among his comrades, trying to make the world a better place to live, gives her some solace.\n"It would be so much harder to accept his death if it were a freak car accident," she said. "His death had a purpose and it had meaning."\nDavid Fribley was 26-years-old when he was killed. He grew up in tiny Atwood, Ind. - about 40 miles south east of South Bend. A graduate of Warsaw Community High School, he was a star athlete. He attended Indiana State University and threw shot put for the Sycamores. Fribley graduated in 2001 with a degree in recreation and sport management. He was already considering a career in the military before the Sept. 11 attacks, but the attacks steeled his resolve to become a Marine, Linda Fribley said.\nWhen the war began, Fribley received permission to attend officer school, but he postponed it so he could go to Iraq, she said.\n"He thought it was important," she said. "He was compelled to be there. He had to do that."\nLinda Fribley described her son as talkative and energetic.\n"He didn't like anybody not to be smiling. If you were unhappy he'd find a way to make you smile," she said.\nBut despite the years that have passed and the knowledge that her son died fighting for his country, the pain of David Fribley's loss still weighs heavily on his family, Linda Fribley said.\n"It hasn't subsided at all, you just learn to live with it," she said. "He was a major part of our lives, you just don't up and forget."
(06/25/07 1:49pm)
With an enthusiastic and unanimous vote by the Bloomington City Council, Jill's House cleared its final hurdle Wednesday night.\nCouncil members approved an economic development bond initiative that allows the founders of Jill's House, a 50-bed temporary residence for cancer patients undergoing treatment at the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute, to finance its construction with up to $3 million in city-backed bonds.\nBecause the bonds are being sold with the city of Bloomington's name on them, the interest rates will be much lower, saving Jill's House about $700,000 over 20 years, said Bonnie Patton, vice president of Fifth Third Bank, which is marketing and selling the bonds.\nSince MPRI, which operates at the IU Cyclotron Facility and is one of the most advanced cancer treatment centers in the world, requires treatments for about an hour a day over the course of eight weeks, Jill's House will give patients and their caretakers a place to stay while they are in Bloomington, said Eric Behrman, one of the driving forces behind the facility.\nJill's House is named for Behrman's daughter Jill, an IU sophomore murdered in the spring of 2000.\n"The support of the city and the community has been tremendous," he said.\nMarilyn Behrman, Jill's mother, said the project, which started as a dream to carry on Jill's memory, has been years in the making but will finally become a reality.\nJill's House will be responsible for paying back the bonds, which are expected to total about $2.7 million, through fundraising and the boarding fee it will charge patients who stay in the house. As part of the agreement with the city, Fifth Third Bank will petition the bonds and accept the liability, Patton said. If Jill's House is unable to pay back its debt to the city, Fifth Third Bank has an agreement to cover the expense with the help of German American Bank, Monroe Bank and Old National Bank.\nJill's House, which has already begun construction, is expected to be completed in late spring 2008, Eric Behrman said.
(06/20/07 6:30pm)
Imagine cramming nearly every service the University provides into a single office in a single building.\nAcademic records, class schedules and bursar information for 100,000 students. Course registration and scheduling for 1.1 million credit hours’ worth of classes each semester. Financial management and human resources records for 19,000 employees spread across eight campuses throughout the state. Now imagine that the people who walk in the door see only the services pertinent to them, depending on whether they are undergraduate or graduate students or faculty or staff members.\nThose are the challenges Brian McGough’s team of developers are facing as they redesign the OneStart portal, the Web site interface for many of the services that every student, faculty and staff member at IU use on a regular basis. These services provide easy access for class scheduling, bursar payments, and grade information, among many other tools. \nOneStart 2.0, which is scheduled to roll out Sept. 29, features streamlined and simplified navigation and a cleaner, less cluttered design.\nIn redesigning OneStart, University Information Technology Services hopes to increase the site’s usability and make the services and utilities that students and employees rely on easier to find, McGough, a development team leader, said. \n“It gives you a lot more intuitive way of navigating,” he said.\nOne of the biggest new additions to OneStart is the capability to accept active content from various departments across the University, McGough said. When it goes live, OneStart 2.0 will feature a list of the most clicked-on services students, faculty and staff members are using. This means that during class registration, for example, the “add classes” link will be prominently displayed, but during the rest of the semester, when it isn’t needed, other services will take center stage, he said.\nMcGough also hopes other services will eventually add their own active content. IU Libraries could add a utility that tells students which books they have checked out and their due dates every time they log in to OneStart, or the Bursar department could build and easily install a live-updated report on how much users owe on their bursar bills, he said.\nBut the most obvious change that students will notice this fall is site navigation. The preliminary design features five color-coded tabs, each giving users access to a different set of services and links.\n“All this is aimed at getting people to the services they need,” McGough said.\nA standard set of notifications will pop up to help users find their way around the site, he said.\nThe 11-month development of OneStart 2.0 came after responses to a UITS usability study of the original OneStart suggested that it was cluttered and sometimes difficult to use. Regular satisfaction surveys and user comments also indicated that many students and employees wanted changes made to the Web portal, McGough said.\nSince UITS is just updating the OneStart portal and not tinkering with PeopleSoft, the student information systems program that actually manages student and employee records and services, the updates are relatively minor, he said.\nWhen IU rolled out PeopleSoft and OneStart in the fall of 2004, the University lost $6.6 million in tuition because of a glitch that prevented financial aid letters from being sent. Other glitches with registration and class schedules frustrated students.\nOne of the lessons the University learned from that fiasco is that it is now making updates gradually. UITS hopes to have OneStart 2.0 off the ground and running this fall in time to make a smooth transition to the new version of PeopleSoft that is due out in February, McGough said.
(05/24/07 1:48pm)
The IU School of Law already has an impressive faculty lineup. \nFrom former law clerks for U.S. Supreme Court justices to nationally recognized experts on cybersecurity and international securities law, students learn from distinguished professors with a wide range of experience.\nBut a new addition to the faculty this fall will bring Bloomington a lawyer with a truly unique background. \nStarting in August, Feisal Istrabadi, the principal drafter of the Iraqi interim constitution and currently the deputy Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations, will teach classes and conduct research at IU.\n“We have people on our faculty who are working closely with other governments on constitutional issues, but I don’t think any faculty in this country has anybody like Ambassador Istrabadi,” said Law School Dean Lauren Robel.\nIstrabadi will work primarily at the Law School, teaching classes on transitional justice in Iraq and the trials of top members of Saddam Hussein’s regime, but he will also work with the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the Center for World Change and Global Peace.\nIstrabadi said his time at IU will be mutually beneficial to himself and to the institution. He hopes to learn about different ways of looking at rebuilding Iraq from IU’s researchers in SPEA, the political science department and the School of Law, while providing IU with the knowledge he has gained from his practical experience in the country.\nBut more than anything, Istrabadi’s position at the Law School is a homecoming. Istrabadi spent much of his childhood in Bloomington and graduated from IU in 1988. His sister, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures professor Zaineb Istrabadi, and mother both live in town.\n“I grew up in Bloomington,” he said. “I’ve always regarded it as home.”\nIstrabadi is unsure whether he will resign, retire or simply take a leave of absence from his government post, but he said he feels the time is right to step away from politics, at least for now.\nIstrabadi said that because he was a high-level political appointee, he feels it is important to rotate out of his position and let someone new take over. The job at IU will also give him an opportunity to take a break from the demanding and stressful situation in Iraq, Robel said.