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(01/30/03 5:25am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indiana House committee on Wednesday endorsed legislation pushed by SBC Communications, despite warnings by the state's top utility regulator that it would stifle local phone competition and erode his agency's authority.\n"You will turn your back on competition. You will see companies dry up and go away," William McCarty, chairman of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, told the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee.\nOther companies said SBC was trying to free itself of state regulation so it could crush competition early and retain a monopoly on local service.\nSBC said the bill would level the playing field for local service and protect company jobs, in part by allowing it to charge higher prices for leasing its network lines to competitors. The Texas-based telecom giant employs about 6,000 in Indiana.\n"We are for competition but we are not for subsidizing our competition," said SBC Indiana President George Fleetwood.\nThe committee endorsed the bill on an 11-3 vote and sent it to the full House, which Democrats control 51-49. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Ed Mahern, D-Indianapolis, promised ample time to consider proposed changes on the House floor.\nThe bill would dictate a new method for setting the wholesale rates that former monopoly providers such as SBC, Verizon and Sprint charge competitors for leasing their access lines. Lobbyists for Verizon and Sprint did not testify on the bill Wednesday.\nThe bill also would eliminate the IURC's ability to regulate the deployment of broadband services such as high-speed Internet and restrict its ability to regulate activities that companies use to attract back customers who have switched service.\nSBC has complained that under existing IURC orders, it has to rent out its local access lines to competitors at discounted prices, which it claims are 40 percent below costs. The rate is $12.19 per line now, and SBC said the actual cost of maintaining each line is close to $22.\nFleetwood said the rate is the lowest in the nation, and since it was set by the IURC last March, the company has lost about 10,000 customers per month.\n"It is driving jobs and investments out of Indiana," Fleetwood told lawmakers.\nSBC has eliminated nearly 20,000 positions, or 10 percent of its work force, since late 2001. It laid off about 270 employees in Indiana last year, and cited regulations in the state as part of the reason.\nMahern said current regulations favor out-of-state providers that employ few people in Indiana, and have forced incumbent providers such as SBC to scale-back deployment of broadband DSL technology that many communities are still clamoring to have.\nThe bill also is being backed by the Communications Workers of America, a union that represents about 4,000 SBC workers in Indiana, as well as the AFL-CIO. Many labor unions historically have been big financial supporters of Democrats.\nSeveral companies testified against the bill, saying it would result in higher phone prices by ending the small but growing competition for telephone customers. The IURC expects the current prices will spur competition.\nMcCarty said the IURC was not biased against any company, and had spent months poring over data and testimony before it set the current wholesale prices. To make his point, he brought in stacks and stacks of documents and records the commission considered.\nHe also said the bill would erode IURC authority and effectively sign some of its oversight powers to the Federal Communications Commission.\n"Are you willing to concede states' rights to the federal government, because that's what you're doing," he said. "I've never known an Indiana Legislature willing to do that"
(01/30/03 5:24am)
FORT WAYNE -- The City Council has unanimously approved a resolution calling for the adoption of daylight-saving time statewide.\nResistance to changing clocks leaves Indiana looking outdated, said council member Tom Henry, who sponsored the resolution.\n"Things have changed," Henry said. "The arguments people have put before us to keep things the way they are just do not hold water anymore."\nLegislators have rejected numerous attempts in the past 30 years to bring Indiana in line with the 47 states that observe daylight-saving time. Of Indiana's 92 counties, 77 are on Eastern Standard Time all year.\nBills on daylight-saving time are pending before the House Public Policy Committee.\nA group of businesses and other supporters of the change staged an intense lobbying campaign in 2001, saying the existing system made it more difficult to do business with companies elsewhere. But the proposal did not pass either chamber of the Legislature.\nAlthough the entire Fort Wayne council supported the resolution, council member Tim Pape said he was not sure a time switch would preserve or attract the thousands of jobs that some advocates estimate.\n"I don't really think this is going to be a huge business advantage for Indiana," he said
(01/16/03 6:11pm)
Local residents don't have to worry about missing out on "Blue Light Specials."\nThe two Bloomington Kmart stores were not among the 326 stores -- including 12 in Indiana -- that will be closed as part of the store's Chapter 11 reorganization.\nThe eastside store depends on students for much of its business, according to an employee.\n"We do a lot more business the first week of classes," said Jim Vogel, who has worked at the store for two years. "The last week we've been selling a lot of office equipment. After Christmas time, when students are gone, there is a lull."\nBloomington resident Tammy Fitzpatrick said the eastside store is also more convenient.\n"This side of town doesn't have a a lot of discount stores," Fitzpatrick said. "Wal-Mart is way on the other side of town. I'd rather swing over here to pick things up." \nThe westside store may not be as convenient for students, but it has a base of shoppers as well.\n"The other store gets traffic through 37," Vogel said.\nIf the bankruptcy court approves the store closings, Troy, Mich.-based Kmart will have about 1,500 stores, a third less than when it declared bankruptcy Jan. 22, 2002.\nA year ago Kmart closed seven other Indiana stores, so the announcement was not shocking to most shoppers and employees. Which stores would make the cut this time, however, was not easy to guess.\n"The people here expected more stores to close," Vogel said. "We didn't know how they were going to determine what stores were closing." \nKmart did not say how many Indiana jobs might be cut, but the March 2002 closings cost about 540 jobs in the state and 22,000 nationwide. Some of the stores in Indiana that will be closed employ as many as 100 workers.\nAnalysts said that Kmart, which once dominated the discount marketplace, suffered as competitors like Wal-Mart and Target divided the market into niches of their own.\n"They want to have a store like Wal-Mart because they believe that's the only way for them to succeed," said Arun K. Jain, marketing professor at the University at Buffalo School of Management. "They have to adopt a more selective strategy…Everybody's going after these mega stores.\n"Wal-Mart and Target are going to rip them up," he said.\nThe Associated Press contributed to this story.
(01/16/03 3:54pm)
Some reserve military units in Indiana have been called to active duty for the global war on terrorism and are preparing to deploy.\nAbout 140 members of the Marines' 6th Engineer Support Battalion in South Bend began getting their things in order after receiving notification of the activation on Saturday.\nJeffrey Coney of Elkhart changed plans to get married in Jamaica in June and instead was married in snowy Goshen on Monday after receiving the activation notice.\nConey has no idea how long he will be apart from his new wife.\n"It all depends on how long they need us for," he said. "It kind of eats at you, not knowing where or when you'll be going."\nOfficers with Company B don't know when the deployment call will come, but have to be ready to ship out Camp Pendleton in California on short notice, 1st Sgt. Samuel Almeda said.\nUnit members were kept busy over the weekend notifying family and friends of the activation and with letting their employers know they could ship out at any moment.\n"We're going to hit the ground running," Maj. Leon Bertchy said.\nAbout 100 members of a Marine reserve unit based at Grissom Air Reserve base near Peru also were notified over the weekend of their activation. That unit, which provides radio, wire and computer communications support, also has not been told when it might be deployed.\nAmong other activations, Orland Town Marshal Charlie Smith is being deployed with the Army's 12th Special Forces, a select group from the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. He left his northeastern Indiana home on Wednesday for Chicago, then his group will go to Fort Bragg in North Carolina.\nSmith, who served with the Marines during the Vietnam War, has been to Bosnia three times on peacekeeping missions and spent seven months in Kosovo. Despite all his experience, he said he was nervous about being deployed.\n"Anybody that doesn't fear the unknown going into something like this is stupid," Smith said.\nThe number of National Guard and Reserve members called to active duty nationwide stands at 58,894, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
(01/16/03 3:53pm)
INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indiana Senate committee on Wednesday delayed a decision on a bill requiring the state Supreme Court to consider newly discovered evidence in death penalty cases.\nInstead, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to refer the bill to a subcommittee for further study, after concerns were raised that the bill as written would open the door for frivolous appeals.\nSen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said the bill could allow death row inmates to postpone their executions indefinitely.\n"If you're in favor of eliminating the death penalty, this is obvious," Kenley said.\nGary Secrest of the state attorney general's office agreed.\n"We're looking at generating years of litigation, as well as outrageous expense," Secrest said. "And it sends a declaration that we don't have confidence in our system."\nIndiana has 38 people under death sentences, including a woman being held in Ohio. The state is challenging decisions to overturn the death penalties of three others who officially remain on death row.\nThe bill would require the state Supreme Court to consider previously undisclosed evidence as part of its automatic review of death penalty cases.\nThe court currently reviews only the legal aspects of a case. The trial judge rules on evidence.\nAny evidence that is discovered after a death penalty is imposed must be heard to prevent an innocent person from being executed, said Sen. Anita Bowser, the bill's sponsor.\n"Sometimes the rules themselves can preclude, they get in the way of justice," said Bowser, D-Michigan City. "We have to make sure."\nMembers of Amnesty International and the Sisters of St. Francis and several attorneys spoke in favor of the bill.\nLarry Landis of the Indiana Public Defenders Council agreed there were problems with the bill as written, but he offered to work with lawmakers to draft a bill that better serves its purpose.\n"I don't think we have thousands of people who are innocent. I think there could be some. We can make mistakes," Landis said. "I think we can do it in a way that provides fair review."\nNine people have been put to death in Indiana since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976. Two others sentenced to death in Indiana were executed elsewhere.
(01/16/03 3:52pm)
EVANSVILLE -- Members of an anti-war group who have been holding weekly rallies in Evansville plan on traveling to Washington for a mass protest against a possible war with Iraq.\nAbout 15 members from the June 1st Peace Coalition, which was founded in June 2002 by Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky residents, will board a bus on Friday for Washington, where thousands from across the country are expected to participate in the march Saturday.\n"Our clear intent is to do anything and everything to get people more educated, more involved and to try and do something to stop this war," said coalition member Chuck Meny of Evansville. "I'm not a pacifist, but I think there's hardly any war that's justifiable."\nMembers of the coalition, known for its rush-hour marches along U.S. 41 in Evansville, plan to meet about 15 people from Terre Haute in Indianapolis for the trip to Washington.\nMembers from the group made a similar trip in October for a Washington rally that was attended by several thousand people.\nMore anti-war events are needed as a demonstration of opposition to military action before it is too late, said Clark Field, another protester.\n"I feel like we're making a difference, but I don't know that we're doing it in time," he said.
(01/15/03 5:45am)
DETROIT -- Kmart Corp. announced its biggest round of cutbacks yet Tuesday, saying it will close 326 more stores and eliminate 37,000 more jobs in hopes of getting out of bankruptcy by the end of April.\nThe discount chain that pioneered the blue-light special and introduced Martha Stewart styles to the masses will still have some 1,500 stores and 168,000 employees if the cutbacks are approved by a federal bankruptcy judge. But it will emerge from bankruptcy one-third smaller than it was when it went in.\n"We don't want to remain in bankruptcy a day longer than necessary," chief executive James Adamson said.\nKmart filed for Chapter 11 protection from its creditors a year ago after failing to compete with WalMart's low prices and Target's hipper merchandise. In its first round of cutbacks, it closed 283 stores and cut 22,000 jobs last year but still lost more than $2 billion.\nThis second round of closings affects stores in 44 states and Puerto Rico. Texas will lose 54 stores and a distribution center. Florida will lose 24 stores, California 19, North Carolina 18 and Georgia 16.\n"We're all upset. I've been here since 1998. I helped build this store up," employee Sharon Knight said after learning her Detroit Kmart was one of 13 in Michigan that will be closed. "It's kind of a tremendous loss to me."\nKnight, who works behind the jewelry counter, said employees were told the store will close in 60 to 70 days.\nExperts said the latest cutbacks may not be enough.\n"I think they've got to get beyond lean and mean. They've got to get small, real small," said Anthony Sabino, associate professor of business at St. John's University.\nArun Jain, a marketing professor at the University at Buffalo School of Management, suggested Kmart needs to find some way of distinguishing itself from the competition.\n"WalMart and Target are going to rip them up," Jain said.\nSince filing for bankruptcy, Kmart has seen declines in sales at stores open at least a year. Sales in November were down 17.2 percent from a year earlier, and December sales were off 5.7 percent.\nKmart is closing underperforming stores and those facing tough competition, and is also looking to shed unprofitable leases.\nKmart stock lost 9 cents, closing at 17 cents a share Tuesday.\nCustomer Ron Johnson, 51, said Kmart has no one but itself to blame.\n"Kmart just got fat and lazy, that's all I can say," Johnson said as he shopped at a Detroit-area Kmart. "They had this town, they had this state and I think due to taking it for granted, they lost it."\nKmart has troubles beyond its business plan.\nJust before its bankruptcy filing, Kmart began receiving letters, purporting to be from employees, that suggested wrongdoing at the company. The letters led to an investigation by the FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission into the way Kmart was run under its former management.
(01/15/03 5:10am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- U.S. Rep. Baron Hill said Tuesday that he would not run for governor in 2004, becoming the sixth big-name Democrat to decline a bid in the past six weeks.\nState Democratic Party Chairman Peter Manous and other leading Indiana Democrats had been encouraging Hill to run.\nScott Downes, a spokesman in Hill's Washington office, said Tuesday that Hill had decided against a bid.\nHill was elected in November to his second two-year term representing southeastern Indiana in the U.S. House. He is a former state legislator and was the Democrats' candidate for U.S. Senate in 1990, losing to then-Sen. Dan Coats.\nThe announcement leaves former state and national Democratic Party Chairman Joe Andrew and state Sen. Vi Simpson of Bloomington as the party's most-likely candidates.\nAndrew has said he is considering a run but has not yet announced a decision. Simpson announced last week that she was forming an exploratory committee, which will allow her to begin raising campaign money.\nThe Democratic bid to succeed two-term Gov. Frank O'Bannon was thrown off balance when Lt. Gov. Joe Kernan, the presumptive candidate, announced Dec. 9 he would not run.\nU.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, a former two-term governor, Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, former U.S. Rep. Tim Roemer and former House Speaker John Gregg already had ruled out bids.
(01/15/03 4:55am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- A city-county councilwoman wants to ban smoking in restaurants and bars in the state's largest city.\nIf her idea is approved, Indianapolis would join more than 60 other cities nationwide, including Fort Wayne, with similar ordinances.\n"If we consider ourselves an up-and-coming city, we should be a leader in this area," said GOP Councilwoman Beulah Coughenour, who planned to introduce a proposal based on Fort Wayne's law next month.\nBloomington already prohibits smoking in public buildings, city buses, restaurants and theatres. But, the city does permit smoking in designated smoking areas.\nFort Wayne, the state's second-largest city with a population of 205,000, passed its smoking ban in 1999.\nIndianapolis, with a population of more than 780,000, would join cities in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon and West Virginia with similar bans, according to the California-based American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation.\nMayor Bart Peterson has not taken sides, and council members have expressed mixed emotions.\nSupporters cited the unhealthy impact of secondhand smoke on employees and patrons, while opponents said smokers' rights should be safe from government intrusion.\nShannon Rogers, marketing manager of The Rathskeller, was uncertain how a ban would affect the restaurant. The main dining room is smoke-free, but smoking is allowed in the bar.\n"One side of me is OK if they pass the law. But on the other side, I don't know how the customers would feel," Rogers said.
(01/15/03 4:54am)
EVANSVILLE -- A federal judge has thrown out the death sentence for a man convicted of fatally stabbing a woman more than 17 years ago.\nKeith B. Canaan had been paroled from prison about a month before 22-year-old Lori Ann Bullock was attacked inside her apartment and stabbed more than 20 times.\nThe ruling by U.S. District Judge David F. Hamilton, which lets stand Canaan's murder conviction, overturned Canaan's conviction for attempted criminal deviate conduct -- a conviction that was needed for a death sentence.\nVanderburgh County Prosecutor Stan Levco said Monday he was frustrated with the judge's decision and was consulting with the Indiana attorney general's office about an appeal.\n"This is the problem with the death penalty. It drags on for over 15 years and then," said Levco as he began discussing specifics of the ruling.\nDefense attorney Thomas Schornhorst said if the ruling was upheld a new sentencing would need to be held for Canaan, who has continued to deny he attacked Bullock.\nCanaan originally was charged with criminal deviate conduct because one of Bullock's stab wounds was to her groin. That indicated a sexual assault, the prosecution argued.\nThe jury convicted Canaan, instead, of attempted criminal deviate conduct. Hamilton ruled the trial evidence indicated the stab wounds were indiscriminate and failed to show Canaan intended to stab Bullock in a sex organ.\nBullock had just moved out on her own to attend beauty school when she was stabbed at the apartment she shared with two other students.
(01/14/03 10:23pm)
DETROIT - Kmart Corp. announced Tuesday that it is closing 326 more stores and eliminating 30,000 to 35,000 more jobs as part of a plan to get out of bankruptcy by the end of April.\nThe discount chain that pioneered the blue-light special and introduced Martha Stewart styles to the masses will still have some 1,500 stores and nearly 200,000 employees if the cutbacks are approved by a federal bankruptcy judge. But it will emerge from bankruptcy one-third smaller than it was when it went in.\n"We don't want to remain in bankruptcy a day longer than necessary," chief executive James Adamson said.\nKmart filed for Chapter 11 protection from its creditors a year ago after failing to compete with Wal-Mart's low prices and Target's hipper merchandise. It closed 283 stores and cut 22,000 jobs last year but still lost more than $2 billion.\nThe latest round of closings affects stores in 44 states and Puerto Rico. Texas will lose 54 stores and a distribution center. Florida will lose 24 stores, California 19, North Carolina 18 and Georgia 16.\n"We're all upset. I've been here since 1998. I helped build this store up," employee Sharon Knight said after learning her Detroit Kmart was one of 13 in Michigan that will be closed. "It's kind of a tremendous loss to me."\nKnight, who works behind the jewelry counter, said employees were told the store will close in 60 to 70 days.\nExperts said the latest cutbacks may not be enough.\n"I think they've got to get beyond lean and mean. They've got to get small, real small," said Anthony Sabino, associate professor of business at St. John's University.\nArun Jain, a marketing professor at the University at Buffalo School of Management, suggested Kmart needs to find some way of distinguishing itself from the competition.\n"Wal-Mart and Target are going to rip them up," Jain said.\nSince filing for bankruptcy, Kmart has seen declines in sales at stores open at least a year. Sales in November were down 17.2 percent from a year earlier, and December sales were off 5.7 percent.\nKmart is closing underperforming stores and those facing tough competition, and is also looking to shed unprofitable leases.\nKmart stock lost 9 cents, closing at 17 cents a share Tuesday.\nCustomer Ron Johnson, 51, said Kmart has no one but itself to blame.\n"Kmart just got fat and lazy, that's all I can say," Johnson said as he shopped at a Detroit-area Kmart. "They had this town, they had this state and I think due to taking it for granted, they lost it."\nKmart has troubles beyond its business plan.\nJust before its bankruptcy filing, Kmart began receiving letters, purporting to be from employees, that suggested wrongdoing at the company. The letters led to an investigation by the FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission into the way Kmart was run under its former management.
(01/10/03 7:08pm)
The number of Indiana retailers who sell alcohol could be reduced if a liquor bill is enacted. \nIndiana Senator Thomas J. Wyss and Representative Robert K. Alderman, both Republicans, and Representative Bob Kuzman and Senator Billie Breaux, both Democrats, are attempting to pass a bill that would more clearly define what constitutes a grocery store under Indiana's alcohol laws. \nThe representatives claim the current "grocery store" definition allows too many retailers, from gas stations to home-furnishing stores, to sell alcohol. They say alcohol's pervasiveness allows for easy access to minors. \n"The more locations you have selling alcohol, the more chance you have of alcohol getting into the wrong hands," Wyss said. \nWyss cites a wedding shop in Allen county that was given a permit to sell beer and wine. \n"That has to be stretching any definition of a grocery store," he said.\nWyss said he is not trying to limit competition, as critics argue, but to be realistic about how many stores should be able to sell alcohol. He says the bill's authors are responding to county neighborhood associations and alcohol and beverage commissions who wish to see the number of retailers who can sell alcohol reduced. \nJohn Livengood, president of Indiana Association of Beverage Retailers, said the association favors the bill.\n"We're extremely supportive. We think it's long overdue and very needed," he said. \nLivengood said a "huge, gaping loophole" currently exits in Indiana law that allows what he believes are illegitimate grocery stores to sell alcohol.\nHe and Wyss both say a 16-year-old convenience store worker can sell alcohol under the current law, creating a situation in which teenagers sell alcohol to their friends. \n"Because there's no definition of a grocery store in the law, people are getting permits who shouldn't be allowed to have them," Livengood said. \nWyss wants a more practical definition in which retailers receive alcohol licenses based upon the amount of food sales versus other products they sell. He does not aim to prevent actual grocery stores from selling alcohol. \n"I'm not saying grocery stores should not be able to sell alcohol," he said. "I'm saying you should have a specific amount of food sales before you can be called a grocery store." \nGrant Monahan, president of the Indiana Retail Council, said the council opposes the legislation. \n"We believe that under current law, convenience stores are grocery stores and have every right to sell alcoholic beverages," he said.\nMonahan said the proposed law would only limit competition and benefit liquor stores. He said liquor stores -- not grocery stores -- receive a large number Alcohol and Tobacco Commission violations.\nHe said the majority of underage drinkers purchase beer. The most logical solution legislators could take to reduce underage drinking would be to prohibit the sale of cold beer in liquor stores, he said.\nBut the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission's Web site shows violators distributed evenly across the spectrum of establishments who sell alcohol, from restaurants to pubs. \nWyss said 22 of the 29 Indianapolis City Council members, who will request a state definition, support asking the General Assembly to define grocery store. \nIf the General Assembly passes the proposed legislation, Livengood said it could issue an emergency clause, in which the bill could take effect immediately.
(01/10/03 7:06pm)
CHICAGO -- The leader of a white supremacist group linked to a deadly 1999 shooting rampage in Illinois and Indiana was arrested on charges he tried to arrange for the murder of a federal judge.\nMatt Hale, 31, head of the World Church of the Creator, pleaded innocent during a short hearing and was ordered held Wednesday pending a hearing on Monday.\nHe was taken into custody by agents of an FBI-led terrorism task force when he came to Chicago's federal courthouse for a contempt of court hearing in a trademark infringement lawsuit.\nU.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said at a news conference that Hale represents a danger to the community and should not be released on bond.\n"Freedom of speech does not include the freedom to solicit murder," he said. He declined to provide details of the case.\nAs Hale was led into the courtroom, youthful supporters, some with short-cropped hair and wearing black military garb, stood and gave a Hitler-style salute.\nA former member of the World Church of the Creator, Benjamin Smith, went on a deadly shooting rampage against minorities in Illinois and Bloomington, Ind., in 1999. Smith killed two people -- Won-Joon Yoon, an IU graduate student from Korea, and former Northwestern University basketball coach Ricky Byrdsong -- and wounded several others before killing himself.\nHale, of East Peoria, was indicted on charges he tried between Nov. 29 and Dec. 17 to get someone to kill U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow.\nLefkow has been presiding over the trademark case involving Hale's use of the name World Church of the Creator. She had recently ordered the organization to stop using the name and turn over all printed materials reading "World Church of the Creator" because the name infringed on the rights of an Oregon group, the TE-TA-MA Truth Foundation. But Hale refused to comply.\n"No tyrant's paws will ensnare our Holy Scriptures!…I am planning many surprises for our enemies both inside the courtroom and out," he said in early December.\nOn Dec. 13, the judge ordered Hale to show why he should not be held in contempt.\nFitzgerald said the "conduct alleged in this indictment is disturbing on many levels, but particularly so because it targeted a judge, whose sworn duty is to apply the law equally and fairly to all who appear before her."\nIf convicted, Hale faces up to 30 years in federal prison.\nPublic defender Matthew Madden, who entered the plea on behalf of Hale, declined any further comment.\nHale earned a law degree and passed the bar exam but was denied a license in 1999 by an Illinois committee that rules on the "character and fitness" of prospective lawyers. He unsuccessfully appealed the decision all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.\nPanel members argued that Hale's racist views would prevent him from fulfilling a lawyer's duty not to discriminate against participants in court cases.
(01/10/03 1:48pm)
Gov. Frank O'Bannon approved an I-69 route that travels through Bloomington Thursday, bringing the $1.7 billion project to build an interstate between Indianapolis and Evansville one step closer to reality.\nO'Bannon's decision, announced in Evansville, was encouraging to Bloomington Mayor John Fernandez but riled many environmentalists and local activists.\nThe route awaits approval by the Federal Highway Administration.\nO'Bannon said in a prepared statement that the state would work "to ensure the Bloomington way of life is preserved and that the city's economic footing is strengthened -- just as Columbus and Seymour's characteristics were preserved but their economies improved when Interstate 65 was built."\nFrom Evansville, the route follows Ind. 57 north through Washington, Ind. and Daviess County, proceeds to the Monroe-Greene County line, then heads due east to Ind. 37, where it will follow the road north to Indianapolis.\nProponents of the expansion said they were happy the decision was final after three years, including Bloomington Mayor John Fernandez, who held a news conference to applaud the decision immediately following O'Bannon's announcement. \nHe said the route will be beneficial to Bloomington and the southern-Indiana area. \n"Southwest Indiana has needed a major transportation route," Fernandez said. "It was long overdue."\nBut opponents weren't so lively.\nAndy Knott, of the Hoosier Environmental Council, said he was surprised by O'Bannon's choice. "He's choosing a route that will never be built, because it's the most controversial," he said. "It's the same thing that he's proposed in the past, and he's gotten so much opposition about it before."\nKnott said he also didn't understand why O'Bannon made his decision before all the studies for the project were completed. He said the Tier 1 study, which adresses planning issues -- like purpose and need, build versus no build and a preferred corridor -- is not competed yet. "Why have the announcement before you finish the study?" Knott said. "It seems like they have the cart before the horse."\nHe said his group is going to push the finalization of the I-69 studies, including a Tier 2 study for more detailed analysis.\nBill Oliver, the owner of Oliver Winery, located on Ind. 37 along the interstate route, said he was disappointed with the decision, because it will impact him and his business significantly. \nHe said he preferred the route to go another way, since the initial Tier 1 study recommended the state buy the winery property from Oliver, but he said the idea is not a done deal.\n"From what I understand, it might be a decade before they get to construction in our area," he said. "So waiting for the Tier 2 study, whether it be a year or 18 months, to plan out the rest of my life is not that long in the whole scheme of things."\nFor other businesses along the interstate route, Fernandez said he thinks this will be a great step for economic development. \nAlong with increased economic access, Fernandez listed other positive impacts the interstate will bring to Bloomington, including increased access to Indianapolis and its airport. \nHe also said this plan provides safer transportation in Bloomington by reducing access points to the road, citing the number of deaths caused by accidents on the Ind. 37 route. "It's not about just saving minutes, it's about saving lives," he said.\nKnott said the environmental issues issues should outweigh any economic or physical impact this project may have. He said O'Bannon's decision would take out close to 5,000 acres of forest land, run through the Patoka Wildlife Refuge and would cause damage to the caves and water supply in the Bloomington area.\nFernandez said the opposers have legitimate issues and concerns, but he said Bloomington must still plan for the construction of the interstate through the city. \nHe said the first step is to communicate with J. Bryan Nicol, commissioner of the state Transportation Department, to discuss construction plans and a timeline. Fernandez said no meeting has been planned yet.\nStill, he said Bloomington has been ready for this decision, and the city will continue planned construction in the area to prepare for the coming interstate. He said the overall corridor through Bloomington is good, but the southern part needs some expansion and changes.\nHe said the city is in the process of finalizing plans for a 12 to 13 month widening of West Third Street. He also said Second Street and Ind. 45 are in the works for construction.\n"The long-term planning for this project is already in place," Fernandez said.\nHe said the city will now focus focus its energy on mitigation and strategic long-term planning.\nAnd Sandra Tokarski, co-founder of the Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads organization, said she is planning, too, but for a different cause. \nShe said her group will continue to fight O'Bannon's decision. "We are disappointed that Gov. O'Bannon has turned his back on the people of southwest Indiana," Tokarski said. "We're not going away. We will continue. We're going to fight this every step of the way."\nIf everything goes as expected, O'Bannon said the project could take from eight to 14 years to complete.
(01/10/03 1:48pm)
INDIANAPOLIS -- State Sen. Vi Simpson took the first step Thursday toward a possible run for Indiana governor in 2004 by forming an exploratory committee that will allow her to begin raising campaign funds.\nWith her announcement, Simpson became the first Democrat to enter the fray since Democratic Lt. Gov. Joe Kernan announced Dec. 9 that he would not run.\n"I do not do so for personal ambition. My life has already been more than blessed," Simpson said. "Nor am I interested in making history. I'm taking this step today because I owe Indiana much more, much more than it will ever owe me."\nIf she officially files her candidacy, Simpson would become the first woman from either major party to seek the state's top office.\nSimpson, who has represented the Bloomington area in the Senate since 1984, is the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee and is chairwoman of the State Budget Committee.\nBill Blomquist, a political science professor at IUPUI, said he was not surprised by Simpson's announcement.\n"Senator Simpson has been among the most active members of the General Assembly in terms of leadership on state budget matters and other public policy," Blomquist said. "I am hard-pressed to think of another Democrat in a better position and experienced to do it."\nThe Democratic bid to succeed two-term Gov. Frank O'Bannon was thrown off balance when Kernan, the presumptive candidate, announced he would not run.\nIndianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, former U.S. Rep. Tim Roemer and former House Speaker John R. Gregg already announced they would not run.\nU.S. Rep. Baron Hill also was considering running for governor next year but had not yet announced a decision. A spokesman in his congressional office in Washington said Hill could make a decision as early as Friday.\nFormer state and national Democratic Party Chairman Joe Andrew also said he was considering a campaign.\nSimpson said it was too early to speculate on the Democratic ticket, but she also said she was fully prepared to vie for the position in a Democratic primary.\nPeter Manous, state Democratic Party chairman, said Simpson would make a fine candidate for any statewide office, but that it was too soon to say who the Democratic candidate would be.\nManous repeatedly has said Hill would make a great candidate, in part because he has a proven record of being able to raise money.\n"The real barometer on this is to not only gauge the support, but also the ability to raise the money," Manous said.\nThe field of Republican candidates already is crowded. Already in the race are former U.S. Rep. David McIntosh, the party's nominee in 2000; state Sens. Luke Kenley of Noblesville and Murray Clark of Indianapolis; conservative activist Eric Miller; and Petersburg Mayor Randy Harris.\nMany Republicans, however, hope that White House Budget Director Mitch Daniels seeks the GOP nomination for governor in 2004.
(12/16/02 4:54pm)
INDIANAPOLIS - It appeared as if the IU men's basketball team had the game under control. After scary moments of lost leads, waning offensive moments and blown game plans, the Hoosiers seemed to be in the clear against Purdue. \nBut the theme of Saturday's "Duel in the Dome" was fighting, and the Boilermakers intended to do that to the final buzzer.\nLuck was on IU's side, though, and the Hoosiers avoided an upset by beating the Boilermakers 66-63 at the RCA Dome.\n"We knew they weren't going to give up," freshman guard Bracey Wright said. "They weren't going to quit. This is a big rivalry game for them, and would have been a big win for them, so we just had to stay on our A-game and slide them off every time."\nBut Purdue (4-2) kept pressuring the undefeated Hoosiers (8-0).\nThe Hoosiers had a five-point lead with 10 seconds left in the game when freshman guard Marshall Strickland took the ball down the court, and attempted to end the game with a little flash by alley-ooping the ball to Wright.\nThe ball landed out-of-bounds, giving the Boilers a slim chance. But that chance widened when Purdue's freshman guard David Teague drained a three-point shot with four seconds left, making the score 65-63.\n"It was just a freshman mistake," assistant coach John Treloar said of Strickland's late-game turnover. "It was a time when he should have run the clock down, but it won't happen again."\nFollowing Teague's three-point basket, Purdue immediately called a timeout. When play resumed, the Boilermakers fouled Wright, giving him a chance to give the Hoosiers a comfortable four-point lead.\nBut in an uncharacteristic fashion, Wright's first free throw bounced around the rim, and then out. Looking at the Hoosier bench and shaking his head, Wright, who finished with 13 points, stepped back to the line, and made his second shot.\nWith one second left on the clock, Purdue had one last shot at a tie. But on the in-bound toss to half court, senior forward Jeff Newton snatched the ball out of the air, securing the win for the Hoosiers.\n"Yeah man, you know I like that feeling," Newton said smiling after the game about having the ball. \nNewton's steal was the grande finale for the forward. After a disappointing first half in which Newton had a mere two rebounds and zero points, he regrouped in the second. Using the lack of Purdue pressure, which focused on the IU backcourt, Newton had all of his 16 points in the last 14 minutes of the game.\nComplimented by going 10-for-12 from the free throw line, Newton also grabbed 10 additional rebounds in the second half, making the Purdue game the fifth consecutive double-double for him. The Hoosiers' other big man, junior center George Leach, also had a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds in 24 minutes of play.\n"I just wasn't taking advantage of how they were pressuring me in the first half," Newton said. "In the second half, they were pressuring me the same way, so I just went around them and went to the basket."\nDespite bouncing back in the second, IU experienced a weak first half, letting Purdue have the upper-hand in the beginning. After jumping out to a quick lead, the Hoosiers let the Boilermakers go on a 10-0 scoring run which gave them a lead that they didn't relinquish in the first half.\nThe game, viewed live by over 32,000 fans split evenly between Purdue and IU, was an aggressive battle between the two teams. The Hoosiers and Boilermakers combined for 43 total fouls, including a flagrant foul by senior guard Tom Coverdale, and the fouling out by Purdue's junior forward Chris Booker.\n"The whole game, it was just a fight," junior guard/forward A.J. Moye said. "We were prepared, but they really brought it. In the past couple years, we'd beat them and they'd lay down, but they brought it tonight"
(12/16/02 4:52pm)
CHICAGO -- It's impossible to kill all the exotic species sloshing between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basin, so some scientists suggest killing the river that links the two watersheds.\nIt's a radical long shot of an idea that bucks the federal Clean Water Act. But the fact that some wildlife advocates would even think of returning the Chicago River to its former, sludgy self underscores the ecological and economic disaster wrought when Asian carp, zebra mussels and other undesirables emigrate.\n"Take the oxygen out of the water," suggests Jerry Rasmussen, a river biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "We've done marvelous things with the Clean Water Act, and nobody wants to undo that."\nBut shutting down the river's aeration system would effectively halt migration until scientists come up with a better answer, he said.\nZebra mussels, now drifting from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi 300 miles away, already have cost an estimated $5 billion in clogged water intakes and damage to fisheries, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Now officials fear a repeat in the other direction, as giant carp work their way from the Mississippi toward the lakes.\nThe Chicago River flows backward, away from Lake Michigan, because 19th century Chicagoans engineered it to carry pollution away from their beaches and into a canal. The canal flows to the Illinois River, a tributary of the Mississippi, creating a link unintended by nature.\nBefore aerators, in the 1970s, Chicago's waste choked the river and canal so that no fish could swim through and live. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District has since brought the manmade waterway into federal compliance.\nThe new urgency comes with the Asian bighead carp, a potential 100-pound home wrecker. Imported to clean Mississippi Valley fish farm ponds, the plankton-straining fish escaped in floods and now are within 25 miles of Lake Michigan. Rasmussen and others fear bigheads could destroy the lakes' food chain.\nAs large river operations coordinator at the wildlife agency's Rock Island, Ill., field office, Rasmussen made the river-killing suggestion as one of several options in an analysis he wrote for cooperating agencies.\nOther state and federal biologists agree it could be effective, but politically difficult.\nStates routinely use fish kills to remove nonnative or "trash" fish. In September, Maryland sprayed poison on a 4-acre pond to kill it and the more than 1,000 rapacious Asian snakehead fish in it.\nMark Pegg and his crew at the Illinois Natural History Survey are working on something prettier. The carp reached their lab on the Illinois River at Havana in the mid-1990s, 150 miles upstream from the Mississippi. Bigheads now dominate the river there.\n"We'll catch easily 100 before we even get the net set," Pegg said. Many are about 8 pounds: 2-year-olds that could grow tenfold.\nFor science, at least, the abundance is good. Last month the researchers needed a steady supply to test gadgets aimed at blocking their migration.\nThey had already tested two sets of four electrodes across an eight-foot-wide raceway trough at a nearby state fish hatchery. In unblocked troughs, fish patrolled from one end to the next. But at the 56- and 118-volt electrodes, 98 percent turned tail.\nEffective, but not failsafe.\nOn a cold November day, aquatic ecologist Ron Taylor drew on coveralls, a vest and knit cap to sit in a lawn chair above the raceway for six hours. The gimmick this time: a wall of compressed-air bubbles bombarded with a mechanical whooping sound from underwater speakers.\nEach time a carp approached and turned away, he marked a success on his clipboard. Then two made a run and jumped over.\n"They might have been agitated by the sound," he said.\nThe bubble-and-noise barricade so far has a success rate of about two-thirds.\nNext up is a test of the bubbles, bleeps and electrodes all together.\nPegg also plans tests of heated water and a nitrogen plume that would suffocate the channel as Chicago's waste once did.\nOne experimental electronic barrier was planted across the canal at Romeoville southwest of Chicago last spring. In November the federal government, International Joint Commission and Great Lakes Fishery Commission paid $300,000 for the Army Corps of Engineers to install a backup generator. The Corps is considering a larger, second electronic barrier.\nSome supplemental suggestions are as low-tech as the channel catfish. Phil Moy, invasive species specialist with the Wisconsin Sea Grant Program, suggests loosing an army of predators between two bubble or electronic barriers, to eat wayward juveniles.\n"It's kind of neat to think that maybe you could even have some kind of trophy fishery in there," Moy said.\nMoy used to work for the Corps of Engineers and championed the electronic barrier at Chicago. He's intrigued by the idea of killing the river for a stretch. But both he and Rasmussen acknowledge that's a tough sell because it sets an ugly example.\nIndeed, the city of Chicago wants to help, but not in that way. \nCity Environment Commissioner Marcia Jimenez said she worries about damage to other plants and animals, and wouldn't endorse shutting off aerators "without a great deal of research."\nMayor Richard Daley is lobbying Congress and agencies for more barrier funding, Jimenez said.\nBut even building a new Hoover Dam wouldn't guarantee protection.\n"Asian carp may get into the Great Lakes even with the barriers in place," said Sarah Whitney, program manager with the Great Lakes Commission in Ann Arbor, Mich. "Someone may like to eat them and decide it's a good idea to release them."\nStill, she said the Great Lakes Commission backs the research and potential new barriers. No sense giving up.\n"Otherwise I'd just go home and cry," she said.
(12/16/02 4:50pm)
INDIANAPOLIS -- White House budget director Mitch Daniels said Saturday he was "seriously thinking" about running for Indiana governor in 2004 and would devote his full time to a candidacy if he runs.\nAs he has for months, Daniels remained noncommittal and asked for patience from Republican backers who are urging the former Eli Lilly & Co. executive to run.\nBut Daniels sounded almost like a candidate at times as he spoke to reporters before delivering a speech at the Indiana Farm Bureau convention. Daniels discussed his hopes to revive Indiana's lagging economy and rural areas, saying "these things don't have to be."\nHe said his duties as budget director command virtually all his attention, leaving him little time to consider a run for governor.\n"But I am seriously thinking about it in my spare time," he said. "And I'll say this: If I should become a candidate -- which I've never been, for public office -- it also will get all my time. We'll earn the job, we'll win the nomination and the election, and we'll work just as hard to make Indiana the place it ought to be."\nAsked when he would decide on a candidacy, Daniels said he felt an obligation to keep his supporters from waiting too long.\n"I really want to balance that against the need to do my duty, my full duty, in my current job. And where those two lines cross I'm not sure," he said. "But it's not that many months from now" before he expects to decide on a candidacy.\nDaniels, a former political adviser to President Reagan and a former aide to U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., now splits his time between homes in Washington and suburban Indianapolis.\nDaniels declined to say whether his decision would be affected by Lt. Gov. Joe Kernan's surprise announcement last week that he would not run for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.\nHowever, he added, "If I ever should run for public office, I probably wouldn't want to start in a race against Joe Kernan just because I consider him a friend and a really good man."\nTerm limits prevent current Gov. Frank O'Bannon from running for a third term. The governor's office has been in Democratic hands since 1989, the first year of U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh's eight years as governor.\nBayh has not ruled out another run for governor. On Friday, he told reporters it was "unlikely" he would abandon his Senate career for another term as governor. However, he said a decision would come "sooner, rather than later."\nOn Thursday, David McIntosh announced he will seek the GOP nomination for governor. McIntosh is a former congressman who won the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2000, but lost to O'Bannon by 15 percentage points.\nAt least four others also are expected to seek the GOP nomination: State Sens. Luke Kenley of Noblesville and Murray Clark of Indianapolis; conservative activist Eric Miller; and Petersburg Mayor Randy Harris.
(12/16/02 4:49pm)
Lori Crum glides across the ice rink, gracefully completing spins and jumps, her ivory skates slicing across the slick, smooth ice. There are usually 10 skaters whizzing around the rink during this time. But this Monday, she is the only one.\nCrum, a child therapist in Bloomington and a member of the Frank Southern Ice Arena's figure skating club, said she uses her lunch hour to skate during the rink's noon to 1:30 p.m. weekday sessions. \n"Skating is a huge stress relief," she said after finishing. "Other worries and things on my mind just go away. It's a nice mental break."\nThe arena, 1965 S. Henderson Street, located behind Bloomington High School South, is the city's sole ice rink, making it a beloved spot where Crum and fellow skating and hockey enthusiasts can perfect their skills. For many, it's a solace where cares slip away with completed laps and worries are lost in the music that streams from the rink's speakers. \nPublic skating at the rink costs $5.50, a price that includes skate rental. The rink offers a 10-session, $35 public pass and a $45 freestyle skating pass, which allows figure skaters to sharpen their skills during set-aside times. \nThe rink is a constant buzz of activity, offering more than just ice skating. \nSeven days a week, morning through evening, the rink holds skating and hockey lessons. Frank Southern is home to both the Bloomington Blades, an area hockey team for high school students, and the IU Hockey Team. A figure skating club meets twice a week to practice at the 36-year old rink, as do a myriad of youth hockey leagues.\nPublic skating sessions run Monday through Friday from noon to 1:30 p.m., September through the first week of March, the rink's operating months. The rink holds public skating Friday and Saturday nights from 7 to 10 p.m. when the IU Hockey Team isn't competing on the ice. There are also 10 p.m. to midnight sessions after games when the team isn't playing a double-header, Mark Sterner, the rink's manager, said.\nChildren hoping to hone their hockey skills can meet with instructors, many of which are IU Hockey Team members. \nThe rink boasts a plethora of ice skating lessons for all ages and abilities -- from Snowplow Sam 1, in which 3 to 6-year-olds learn how to stand and fall correctly on the ice, to Basic 8, where advanced skaters perfect jumps, spins and combination steps. The rink also offers beginning adult classes for anyone age 14 and up.\n"It's never too late to learn to skate," said Chris Truelock, the rink's program director. "We've got senior citizens out here learning."\nThe rink's upcoming winter session for skating lessons runs from Jan. 15 to Feb. 22. Lessons cost $40 for Bloomington residents. The classes can contain between five to 20 learners depending on the ability level. The concept, Truelock said, is that newer skaters need more attention. \n"The more beginning of a student you are, the more individual instruction you're going to get," he said.\nPeople who want to learn to skate but don't wish to wobble and wipe out in front of others can opt for private lessons. Lessons range from $10 to $60 per half hour depending on the learner's instruction level.\nGroups can rent the rink when public skating sessions, lessons and hockey games aren't taking place. The rink costs $120 an hour to rent mornings or late nights. The cost shoots up to $225 from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights, the rink's prime hours. \nBroomball is an enjoyable activity for groups to play when renting the rink, which provides the sport's special equipment for no additional charge. Broomball is similar to ice hockey, except it is played in broomball shoes -- a type of soft, tennis shoe, and with rubber paddles instead of conventional hockey sticks. \n"It's a lot easier than hockey and skating," Truelock said. "It's a good introductory sport to bring you into ice sports."\nSterner said that although broomball is a popular sport at Miami University (Ohio), it has generated little interest among IU students. He said the rink hasn't mustered enough enthusiasm to create a league for it. He said the rink's past managers failed to exhaust IU as a resource, and he and Truelock, both new managers, have been handed the results. \n"They basically left alone an untapped market" Sterner said. "It's definitely an area we're looking to have more interest in. I'm always amazed at how many IU students don't know we have a rink here in town."\nThey plan to hold promotional events between periods at IU hockey games to generate an interest in ice sports among IU students, he said. Truelock said the rink's 10 p.m. to midnight skating sessions after IU Hockey games were implemented to attract IU students.\nHe said he hopes that as the number of students coming to the rink boosts, word of mouth about it will spread, also. But Truelock said his ultimate goal is to have a busing system to and from Frank Southern.\n"What I would like to see in the future is a bus that would go to the dorms and drop kids off here and then back off at the dorms," he said. \nSterner and Truelock said they would like to operate year-round, but the rink's business must increase to cover operational costs before this goal can be realized.\n"We're having to compete with southern Indiana basketball during our youth hockey season and that's a big challenge," Sterner said.\nCrum said she would like the arena to stay open year round as well. She and other figure skating club members must trek to Columbus, Ind., or Indianapolis to practice during the summer.\n"It makes it harder for figure skating to take off here," she said. "It sets you back if you can't skate during the summer." \nStarting this September, the rink will hold lunar ice skating, an activity in which patrons skate in the dark to laser lighting, a disco ball and a DJ's energy-infused beats. Truelock said he thinks the activity will appeal to both Bloomington residents and IU students for one reason. \n"It's just what you'd see at a dance club, but out on a rink," he said. \nFor updated public skating times call the Frank Southern's Skating Hotline at 349-3741.
(12/13/02 5:35am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- With little fanfare and few supporters on hand, Republican David McIntosh formally announced Thursday that he would run for governor again in 2004.\nMcIntosh raised and spent more than $8 million as the GOP nominee in 2000, only to lose by 15 percentage points to Democratic Gov. Frank O'Bannon. He said Thursday that times had changed, but his core messages of fiscal restraint and job-creation have not.\n"We ran three years ago on a vision for this state of conservative fiscal policy, strong family values, getting jobs created in high-tech and other sectors, and I feel called on to run again on that same platform," McIntosh said in his announcement in the Statehouse Rotunda.\nMcIntosh formally joined a crowded field of Republicans who are running or exploring a run. But unlike the announcement of his 2000 bid, there was no crowd on hand Thursday.\nReporters appeared to outnumber backers, and McIntosh was repeatedly interrupted by the sounds of renovation work being done on the third floor of the Statehouse.\nMcIntosh promised to cut property taxes by 25 percent during his last bid and made the "guarantee" the centerpiece of his campaign. He later acknowledged that falling revenues and other state budget problems would have forced his plan to be delayed or diluted.\nThe 44-year-old former congressman did not make the same pledge again on Thursday. But he did say that he would run a more grassroots campaign, and suggested that name identity built up during the last campaign could give him an advantage over other GOP hopefuls.\nBrian Vargus, a political pollster at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, put the chances of McIntosh getting the nomination at "little to none."\n"Basically, David McIntosh has tattooed on his forehead the scarlet 'L' for loser," Vargus said. "It's a combination of the property tax promise, and, quite frankly, he lost. His name has been around for a long time, but it's attached to a losing race that everyone thought was eminently winnable. Even most Republicans didn't like what he did in the last race."\nHistory, too, is not on McIntosh's side.\nNot since Democrat Thomas Hedricks was elected in 1872 has a major party gubernatorial nominee lost an election for governor and subsequently come back to win the job.\nMcIntosh said he intended on waiting until after the holidays to announce his bid, but moved it up after Democratic Lt. Gov. Joe Kernan dropped out of the race Monday.\nTwo other Democrats who had been mentioned as possible candidates -- Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson and retiring U.S. Rep. Tim Roember -- also said they would not run. U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, a former two-term governor, has said another run for governor is unlikely.\nRepublicans already had four people seeking their party's nomination: State Senators Luke Kenley of Noblesville and Murray Clark of Indianapolis; conservative activist Eric Miller; and Petersburg Mayor Randy Harris.\nHowever, the person most touted by Republicans has been White House Budget Director Mitch Daniels.\n"David is a great guy with a great record, but I am not sure there will be any real action until Mitch Daniels makes a decision," state GOP Executive Director Luke Messer, a former McIntosh congressional aide, told The Star Press of Muncie.\nMiller said Thursday he was in the race for the duration.\n"The more candidates that are involved, I think the better off it is for me because if you split 400,000 or 500,000 votes five or six different ways, it takes fewer votes to win the primary," Miller said.\nDaniels, Messer said, was "the 800-pound gorilla" in the 2004 Republican field.\nMcIntosh said he would run a different campaign this time. That would include talking more about his record in Congress and taking a more grassroots approach.\n"I'm thinking of it as 92 different sheriff's campaigns, where we do county-by-county efforts," he said.