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(07/26/07 4:00am)
I don't know what's harder to believe -- Adam Sandler being a ladies man or Kevin James "pretending" to be gay. But if you can get past those issues and a few other minor flaws, "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" is a hilarious Sandler-type comedy.\nEver since Sandler founded Happy Madison productions, the quality of his work slowly has devolved into less funny comedies that only appealed to the stoned and stupid (see "Grandma's Boy"). This movie goes back to the quality of pre-"Happy Madison" days and even pays homage to his past films. Sandler at one point reads "The Puppy Who Lost His Way," a book read to Billy Madison, as a bedtime story to Larry's children.\nThe movie opens with sweaty firemen playing a friendly game of basketball. One player, Larry Valentine (James), has a pension plan that neglects to cover his children. He convinces Chuck Levine (Sandler) to join him in a domestic partnership and beat the legal system. The city starts questioning the relationship and, to prevent fraud, Chuck and Larry have to eat, sleep and live as a gay couple to stay out of jail.\nThis movie goes back to the foolproof Sandler plan of taking one stereotype and making every joke possible about it. It covers every single gay joke you can imagine, including a long shower scene with the straight guys dropping the soap.\nBut what set this movie apart from the last few Sandler films were the cameos. Apart from the usual Sandler crew, e.g., Rob Schneider and Steve Buscemi, other familiar faces appear, including Dave Matthews, Dan Patrick, Rob Corddry and Lance Bass. Matthews plays a gay shop worker, Patrick plays a homophobic policeman, Corddry an anti-gay protestor and Bass ... well, Bass plays himself.\nAnother small subplot that gained a lot of laughs was Larry's son who, instead of playing sports like his father wanted, tap danced and sang his way through the whole movie. His tap dancing even proved beneficial when he used it as a fighting technique against a bully. \nBut all the jokes came at a hypocritical cost. The homophobia is excessive given that the story's main moral is the promotion of gay rights. It's wrong to have characters go shopping for stereotypical gay items one minute and then defend the entire gay community the next.\nAlso, Jessica Biel's character would have been much better if she didn't talk. Her acting was terrible; it was her body that got her the job. \nHer only useful contribution to the film was her underwear scene in the trailer. But her asininity was not completely her fault. Her character was lost in a small love story that was forced in between all the gay jokes. \nFans of Adam Sandler will love seeing him go back to his roots to make a movie worth seeing.
(07/26/07 4:00am)
At Uncle Fester's late Saturday night, The Besnard Lakes opened their set by unleashing a booming collective drone and a blast of mist from a strategically-placed fog machine. It was quite an introduction, but it nevertheless fit perfectly with the band's sound: big, brash, theatrical, hazy, dream-like, mysterious. \nHailing from Montreal, The Besnard Lakes are the latest in this decade's seemingly endless run of excellent Canadian indie rock. Like co-nationals Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene, they are a somewhat-large band (six members, although only five were present at Fester's) that seasons their traditional rock elements (electric guitars, drums, etc.) with baroque flourishes (violins, horns, flutes, saxophones). But that's where the similarities end. The Besnard Lakes have crafted their own unique sound, with the sweet, Pet Sounds-like male-female vocal harmonies of married duo Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas overrun by massive power chords and squalling space rock. And, fortunately, this crossing of Brian Wilson and Spiritualized goes together like peanut butter and jelly.\nPerhaps the clearest example of this is "Disaster," the first track on The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse, the band's second and newest album. Opening with Lasek's falsetto croon and easygoing acoustic strumming, a peaceful bit of horn, violin and rhythm guitar are added -- then, just before the two minute mark, a buzzing electric guitar descends on the proceedings like killer bees attacking a picnic, and things fall into a loping sing-along with two overlapping choruses ("c'mon, baby, c'mon" and "you've got disaster on your mind"). Throughout Dark Horse, honeyed voices drip lyrics vaguely hinting at apocalypse, disillusion and betrayal (espionage and war appear as major themes) and are accompanied by complex chamber pop orchestrations that, in turn, give way to sweeping guitars, drums and choruses. This gets a little monotonous after a while, making the latter half of the album a little less striking than the first -- but hey, its hard to complain about lovely melodies and crunching guitars.\nBy they way, a bonus bit of info from Saturday: The Besnard Lakes do an on-target cover of Fleetwood Mac's "You Make Loving Fun." Who knew?
(07/25/07 11:59pm)
INDIANAPOLIS – Gov. Mitch Daniels ordered new property reassessments Wednesday in Gibson, Posey and Delaware counties, saying there is evidence that commercial and industrial properties were undervalued and therefore shifted more of the tax burden onto homeowners.\nDaniels had already ordered that property be re-valued for tax purposes in Marion County because commercial and industrial properties were not reassessed properly or in some cases at all, causing homeowners’ tax bills to be higher than they should be.\nThe governor ruled out a new statewide reassessment, saying it appeared that many counties have done adequate jobs in valuing properties. But he said he was sure that as more tax data on parcels comes in and is analyzed he would order more counties to do reassessments.\n“We can solve this problem, but we are a far way from home,” Daniels said.\nAs he did with Marion County, he has frozen property tax bills in Gibson, Posey and Delaware counties at 2006 levels. Gibson and Posey counties are located in far southwestern Indiana and Delaware County is in central Indiana, northeast of Indianapolis.\nThe reassessments in the three counties are expected to take months, and new bills will be issued after they are complete by reconciling any differences in what property owners should actually have paid in 2007.
(07/19/07 12:58am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson recently predicted that skyrocketing property tax increases in Marion County and other parts of Indiana would kick off a blame game.\n"There is one thing I can guarantee you that you're going to see over the next few days and the next few weeks, and that is the ultimate finger-pointing fest," Peterson said in urging Gov. Mitch Daniels to call a special session on property tax relief.\nWell, there are some who are talking about additional ways of softening the blow of what many call a "property tax crisis." The catch phrase has worn thin, since it's spouted almost yearly by so many lawmakers and others.\nLawmakers earmarked $300 million for property tax relief to homeowners this year, to be mailed out in rebate checks after fall tax bills have been sent. The money is to be allocated to all those eligible for homestead tax credits this year.\nDaniels has proposed a couple of twists to speed up the relief and change how it's distributed.\nBut fingers are still wagging at who's to blame for homestead tax increases projected to average 24 percent this year.\nBut a variety of factors are driving up bills.\nIt's also the first year of so-called "trending," a system that's essentially updating the assessed value of residential property for the first time in years.\nDaniels, lawmakers and local officials acknowledge those factors, but the blame game is still on.\nDaniels is largely blaming high property taxes on excessive local spending, including that for costly school building and renovation projects. In a statement last week, he said that his administration would reject upcoming local budget requests exceeding the rate of inflation, which is now about 2.9 percent in the Midwest.\nHe also said pending and future bond issuances would be held up by the state in "problem counties," although he has not defined what problem counties are.\nMatt Greller, executive director of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, said the proposed inflation-rate cap on local governments was "really just a \nfinger-pointing exercise."\nIACT says during the past seven years, spending in cities and towns has increased at an average rate of only 2.9 percent, while increases for other local governments ranged on average from 3.57 percent to 4.36 percent.\nGreller said getting rid of the inventory tax, capping state property tax relief credits and deciding to start trending assessments this year were state decisions.\nThen there's the partisan part of the blame game.\nDemocratic House Speaker Patrick Bauer of South Bend said the last two-year budget, approved by a legislature then controlled entirely by Republicans, increased local property taxes dramatically so Republicans could claim they had eliminated the state's \nbudget deficit.\nBauer also notes that all 49 House Republicans now in the minority voted against a new budget approved by a Democrat-controlled House and GOP-ruled Senate – and signed by the Republican governor – that provides $550 million in property tax relief over the next two years.\nThe $300 million in relief this year is projected to reduce a statewide average increase in homeowner tax increases from 24 percent to about 7.7 percent.\nHouse Republicans insisted on $750 million in property tax relief in this new budget, which they say would have held average statewide homestead increases to "the normal 5 percent growth due to \nlocal spending."\nThey held a news conference last week, again blaming House Democrats for not backing more property tax relief even though Republicans who rule the Senate were on the same page as House Democrats.\nBut House Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said his caucus was proposing them not "just for political gain," but because homeowners were hurting and House Republicans were trying to help them.
(07/17/07 9:46pm)
INDIANAPOLIS – Gov. Mitch Daniels gave lawmakers some new options on how to provide quicker and different forms of property tax relief for homeowners this year, floating a series of proposals Saturday that would require a special legislative session.\nThe administration said Daniels was not saying he would call a special session. He was simply putting new ideas on the table for consideration in a year in which property taxes for homeowners statewide are projected to increase an average of 24 percent.\nDaniels’ proposals included giving counties flexibility in how to distribute $300 million in tax relief the General Assembly approved this year and provide tax breaks to homeowners sooner – as credits on their fall bills – instead of getting rebate checks later in the year or early next year.\n“He wants to keep the ball rolling with options that may be available,” said Daniels spokeswoman Jane Jankowski.\nIn a letter to legislative leaders, Daniels said some Hoosiers “have received property tax bills that are simply unacceptable,” and that he had taken some actions on his own to ease the crunch. Those have included allowing counties to postpone payment due dates and permitting taxpayers to pay their bills in installments.\nBut on Saturday he offered new ideas that would require legislative approval, including some that would give counties various options they could use to target tax breaks to homeowners hardest hit this year.\nOne option would be a so-called “circuit breaker” that limits tax hikes. Marion County, where the average increase in homeowner tax bills is 34 percent, could use its $45 million share of tax relief to cap tax hikes at 1.6 percent of a home’s assessed value. If you owned a home assessed at $100,000, for instance, you would pay no more than $1,600.\nHoward County could use its estimated $4.4 million in state tax relief to limit bills to 1.1 percent of assessed value.\nUnder the law enacted this past legislative session, $300 million in projected slot-machine licensing revenue is to be allocated to all homeowners eligible for the state homestead credit for taxes payable this year, and is to come in the form of rebate checks sometime after fall tax bills are sent out.\nThe amount of the refund would vary by county and even by taxing district. The refund for a typical Indiana home with an assessed value of $151,000 and a tax bill of $1,817 would see a refund of $236. However, those with higher-valued homes or those paying higher-than-average tax rates would see more.\nHouse Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-Indianapolis, and some Republicans – who rule the Senate – favored the rebate plan. That was in part because they wanted local taxpayers to know, through a notice with their rebate checks, that the General Assembly had done something to lower their bills.\nDemocrats who control the House and Republicans that rule the Senate agreed on that approach, and the day after the session ended, Daniels did not indicate he had a problem with it. He said he was proud the Legislature had provided relief, and the way in which lawmakers were doing it was OK with him.\nBut as property tax bills have gone out, the increases in homeowner tax bills in some counties – or just those within taxing districts in counties – have exceeded 30 percent.\nReactions to the governor’s proposals were mixed.\nSenate Tax Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, questioned the idea of targeted tax relief and how it would work, and whether Daniels was committed to steering all the relief to homeowners as the Legislature intended. Kenley, as chairman of an interim panel of lawmakers on tax policy, said more study and consensus-building is needed in order to act.\nHe said he was pleased that Daniels was trying to seek solutions, but without consensus and support from Democrats who control the House, a special session would be a waste of time.\nKenley’s committee will begin hearings on the issue on July 23, and Daniels said in his letter that he wanted to add his ideas into the mix.\nBauer said the governor’s proposals were “tweaking” and did not warrant a special session.\n“If you want a special session you need to have a serious, substantive plan,” Bauer said. “Now he’s just coming up with a few ideas.”\nRep. Jeff Espich of Uniondale, the fiscal leader for House Republicans, said tax credits on fall bills instead of rebate checks later would help people “sooner rather than later.”\nIf there was a special session, Espich said, he hoped it would go beyond temporary property tax relief and result in long-lasting reform.
(06/24/07 11:15pm)
INDIANAPOLIS – Smokers will pay more to puff and almost everyone will be required to wear seat belts under dozens of new state laws that take effect Sunday.\nLawmakers raised the cigarette tax for the second time in five years, this time from 55.5 cents per pack to 99.5 cents. Smokers might not like the hike, but Gov. Mitch Daniels does. The state plans to use the extra money – and hopefully matching federal dollars – to provide health insurance to more than 100,000 low-income Hoosiers and fund other health initiatives.\n"Today we are taking a long step toward the dream of a healthier Indiana," Daniels said when he signed the bill. "We are taking the longest single step Indiana has ever taken in this direction."\nMore people will have to buckle up under a law that some legislators spent years trying to enact.\nCurrent law doesn't require back-seat passengers age 16 or older or occupants in vehicles plated as trucks, which can include pickups, SUVs and minivans, to be restrained. That will change July 1, but the new law will no longer allow police to use check points to enforce seat-belt compliance.\nDemocratic Rep. Peggy Welch of Bloomington said federal experts believe the new law will prevent 20 deaths, 330 hospitalizations and more than $65 million in injury-related costs each year.\n"Those cold numbers don't tell the real story of the hundreds of Hoosiers who have lost friends and family members because seat belts were not used," she said.\nThe change will leave Georgia as the only state with a primary seat belt law that does not apply to vehicles with truck plates.\nStudents and some parents will notice new laws when school starts in a couple of months.\nAll high schools will be required to include a study of the Holocaust in each U.S. history course. Schools must give parents of girls entering the sixth grade information about the link between human papillomavirus and cervical cancer and the availability of an immunization.\nAnd all schools must hold a tornado drill and manmade disaster drill once a semester.\nThose who install mobile homes after June 30 must equip them with special radios that alert people to pending dangerous weather.\nThe bill stems from a Nov. 6, 2005, tornado that wiped out a mobile home park in Evansville and killed 25 people in Southwestern Indiana. It was initiated by Kathryn Martin, whose 2-year-old son, C.J, and two other family members died in the tornado. Daniels phoned Martin as he signed the bill so she would know it was law.\nCongressman Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind., who led storm-relief efforts after the tornado as Vanderburgh County sheriff, introduced a national version of the bill on Thursday.\nA case of mistaken identity led to a new law that requires coroners to use one of four methods to identify a dead person: fingerprints, DNA analysis, dental records or positive identification by an immediate family member.\nNone of those methods were used after a crash in April 2006 that killed four students and a staff member from Taylor University. After the wreck, the Grant County coroner's office said Whitney Cerak had died and that classmate Laura VanRyn was severely injured. VanRyn's parents sat by the injured woman's hospital bed for five weeks, only realizing that she was not their daughter when Cerak emerged from her coma.\nRenters tired of landlords letting themselves in unannounced also will get some relief. A new law will now require landlords to give tenants reasonable notice before entering a rental unit, except \nin emergencies.\n"There is a tendency to think that renters deserve to have the same kind of rights that property owners have, but the old saying about your home being a castle should be true whether you write a monthly check to a mortgage company or a landlord," said Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington.\nIn all, the Indiana General Assembly enacted more than 230 laws during the session that ended April 29.
(06/17/07 11:44pm)
INDIANAPOLIS – Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels told hundreds of people gathered in a carnival-like scene Saturday that he will seek a second term, pledging to pursue more progressive changes even if they are unpopular.\n"This meeting of the movement for Indiana change will please come to order," Daniels said in opening remarks outside of Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler University.\nIt was the same place where he began a months-long RV tour of the state in 2003 on his way to defeating Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan the next year. He pulled up to the speaker's stage in the same "RV 1" he traveled Indiana in his first campaign, although the hundreds of black-marker signatures of the past had been painted over.\nAfter a short speech that drew both cheers and laughter, people surrounded the RV to scroll new signatures on it in support of another run.\nPeople braved the heat and packed the big Hinkle parking lot, many wearing green shirts and sporting stickers with the "My Man Mitch" motto that was Daniels' campaign slogan the last time.\nSeveral tent booths were set up, including ones to gather signatures to get Daniels on the ballot, hand out Mitch T-shirts, and serve hot dogs, hamburgers and other eats. Some folks spent time tossing bean bags into holes in wooden planks, and played other games.\nThere was even a "Mutts for Mitch" booth where people could get green bandanas for their dogs, and there were a lot of pooches wearing them.\nSue Uhl of Lizton, Ind., brought her two dachshunds along to back Daniels.\n"We came here because we believe Mitch Daniels is doing the right things for the state," she said. "He's out throughout the whole state and he's listening to everybody in the state."\nDaniels talked briefly about what he considered accomplishments so far, including erasing a big budget deficit, imposing higher ethical standards in state government, creating more jobs and paving the way for many new highway projects.\nThe latter was through his controversial leasing of the Indianan Toll Road to a private venture for an up-front payment of $3.8 billion. He acknowledged that he had pushed for some contentious proposals, and said he would not waver from more if he was re-elected.\n"You will hear straight talk," he said. "If our problems are severe, we will not sugarcoat them. If the solutions we believe are best for Indiana are controversial, we will not flinch in proposing them."\nDaniels said many Democrats had embraced his agenda of change, but Jennifer Wagner, spokeswoman for the state Democratic Party, said many had not.\nShe acknowledged that Indiana was a Republican-leaning state and it would take a lot of money for a Democrat to beat Daniels. But she said it was possible.\n"This governor is vulnerable, he's done things that are unpopular, and that's why you see him starting now. He's 18 months out now and he has to rebuild his reputation."\nThere were few signs of opponents, but Bill Boyd of Indianapolis stood along the street to Hinkle Fieldhouse waving one that said "Ditch Mitch." He said he voted for Daniels in 2004 and now regrets it – in part because Daniels successfully won statewide observance of daylight saving time and leased the Indiana Toll Road to a foreign, private venture.\n"He gave us the old Hoosier drawl, I'm a good-old boy kind of deal, and as soon as he got elected he turned his back on the people," he said.
(06/14/07 1:08am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Democrats have been shooting arrows at Republican Mitch Daniels since the day he became governor, and they think he has wounds that could make him vulnerable if he runs again as expected.\nThey also know they face a formidable challenge in trying to reclaim an office they held for 16 years until Daniels took the helm in early 2005.\n“Mitch Daniels can be beaten, but he’s not going to be easy to beat,” said state Democratic Chairman Dan Parker. “He has all of the advantages in his corner: money, the bully pulpit and a presidential election year.”\nDaniels is expected to formally announce his bid for a second term on Saturday at Butler University, where he began a months-long RV tour of Indiana in 2003 on his way to defeating incumbent Gov. Joe Kernan the next year. The two raised a state record $33 million in that race, with Daniels outpacing Kernan by about $3 million.\nFormer state Democratic Chairman Robin Winston predicts a Democrat would need at least $20 million to mount a credible campaign against Daniels, who began this year with $2.6 million.\nRepublicans don’t expect Daniels to have a primary challenger, but the picture isn’t as clear for Democrats.\nState Senate Minority Leader Richard Young, D-Milltown, and Jim Schellinger, a Democratic activist and president of an Indianapolis architecture firm, already are seeking the party’s nomination. Former U.S. Rep. Jill Long Thompson plans to announce her bid next month.\nParker hopes Democrats coalesce around one candidate to avoid a costly primary.\nBrian Vargus, a political scientist at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, does not believe any of the three Democrats can beat Daniels.\nVargus said Daniels can tout a number of accomplishments: expanding full-day kindergarten, helping erase a big budget deficit, using much of the $3.8 billion payment for the toll lease for road projects and landing a new $550 million Honda plant in southeastern Indiana.\nBut Democrats say they have plenty of ammunition against Daniels, including his decision to lease the Indiana Toll Road to a foreign consortium, his push to move Indiana to statewide daylight-saving time, economic progress that has lagged behind the rest of the nations the nation and a 2005 budget the party says was balanced on the backs of property tax payers and schools.\nThen there’s Daniels himself.\n“When he stands in a room full of people – whether they’re CEOs, farmers or workers on an assembly line – he assumes he’s the smartest guy there,” Parker said.\nYoung, Schellinger and Long Thompson have spent recent weeks traveling the state, talking with party officials and activists.\nYoung acknowledges that he lacks widespread name recognition, so he has traveled to 40 counties so far, primarily meeting with Democratic organizers. Like Schellinger and Long Thompson, he has not detailed a specific agenda, but he says Daniels has been a polarizing figure and there is a need to “reduce partisanship and bring people together.”\nThe favorite among many top Democrats is Schellinger, in part because of his personality, business credentials and fundraising experience. He has never run for public office but believes that’s a plus because he’s a fresh face – an advantage also cited by his supporters. \nIndianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, U.S. Rep. Julia Carson and former Indiana House Speaker John Gregg have endorsed him. Campaign adviser Mike Edmondson said it is too early to roll out a detailed platform.\n“Jim has been focused on traveling the state, listening to Hoosiers and trying to find commonsense solutions for problems in our state,” Edmondson said. Schellinger cannot lead by consensus, Edmondson said, “and come out and say, ‘Here is what I’ll do as governor,’ before listening to the people.”\nLong Thompson, who represented the Fort Wayne area in Congress from 1989 to early 1995, said she would quit her job at an agriculture think tank in Washington, D.C., on June 30 and announce her bid in July. She ran an unsuccessful congressional race against Chris Chocola in northern Indiana’s 2nd District in 2002.\nShe has been a vocal opponent of some of Daniels’ privatization efforts, saying they can result in poorer service and security to residents.\nState GOP Chairman Murray Clark said Daniels spent his first 2 1/2 years pushing a progressive agenda that is paying off for Indiana, and in part will run on that record.\n“As the days and weeks evolve, you will see more and more tangible evidence of those changes that involved difficult political decisions,” Clark said.\nDemocrats think it’s a record that could be to their advantage. Regardless, their candidates know a run against Daniels will be a major challenge.\n“I expect he will be a very tenacious campaigner,” Young said.
(05/29/07 3:08pm)
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Supreme Court has again set an execution date for Michael Allen Lambert, who was convicted in the shooting death of a Muncie police officer more than 16 years ago.\nThe state’s high court also issued two rulings Tuesday denying death penalty appeals of Frederick Michael Baer, condemned for the murders of a woman and her 4-year-old daughter at their home near Lapel; and of Wayne D. Kubsch, who had been tried twice in St. Joseph County and sentenced to die for a triple murder.\nIn a ruling dated Monday, the state Supreme Court denied Lambert’s latest appeal and ordered a new execution date of June 15.\nShortly before Lambert was to be executed in June 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to lift an order by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocking his execution. The federal appeals court ultimately lifted the stay, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined for a fourth time to review his case.\nHe then filed another appeal with the Indiana Supreme Court, which it denied on Monday. Lambert again argued that his death sentence should be overturned because the state’s high court had held that the jury in his case was improperly exposed to victim impact evidence.\nHe also argued that the state Supreme Court through the course of his litigation – via separate rulings – a majority of the five justices had dissented on the propriety of his death sentence. But the 4-1 ruling this week said in each of the individual decisions, a majority of justices had voted to deny him relief.\nLambert was condemned for shooting Muncie officer Gregg Winters in December 1990. It occurred after officers arrested Lambert, who was then 20 years old, for public intoxication. They briefly patted him down and put him in the back seat of Winter’s cruiser, and a few minutes later, Winters was shot five times in the back of his head and neck. He died 11 days later.\nA message seeking comment was left Tuesday at the office of Alan Freedman, who has served as Lambert’s appeals attorney.\nLambert is still a party in a federal lawsuit challenging the legality of Indiana’s lethal injection process, contending it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. But that did not stop the execution this month of David Leon Woods, who also was a party in the case. The case is scheduled to go to trial Sept. 17.\nIn one of the state Supreme Court rulings Tuesday, justices rejected arguments by Kubsch that a special prosecutor should have been appointed because St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak had previously represented a lifelong friend of Kubsch’s – Brad Hardy – whom Kubsch tried to blame for the triple murders.\nThe bodies of Beth Kubsch, 31; her ex-husband, Rick Milewski, 35; and their son, Aaron Milewski, were found with multiple stab wounds in the basement of Kubsch’s home in 1998.\nProsecutors said Kubsch, who was heavily in debt, killed Beth to cash in on a $575,000 life insurance policy he had taken out on her three months earlier.\nKubsch was first sentenced to death in 2000, but in 2003, the state Supreme Court ordered a new trial because the jury had improperly viewed Kubsch’s videotaped statement.\nKubsch contended among other things that his second trial was tainted because Dvorak’s previous relationship with Hardy made it impossible for him to treat Kubsch impartially. But the Supreme Court said there was no sign of conflict.\nKubsch’s attorney, Eric Koselke, said Tuesday he could not comment because he had not yet seen the ruling. Dvorak said he was pleased with the ruling “and confident that this decision will withstand further judicial scrutiny” if Kubsch seeks further appeals.\nThe court also denied the appeal of Baer, who had argued that he did not get a fair trial and that his death sentence was inappropriate. Justices said they were not going to second guess the Madison County Circuit Court jury that recommended the death penalty in 2005.\n“In light of the nature of the offense shown by the defendant’s brutal and savage slaying of a 4-year-old girl and her young mother, and the lack of demonstrated virtuous character in the defendant, we decline to intervene in the jury’s determination that the death sentence is appropriate,” the court wrote.\nBaer was convicted of murdering Cory Clark, 26, and her daughter, Jenna, on Feb. 25, 2004, in their home near Lapel. Prosecutors said Baer robbed and sexually assaulted Cory Clark to feed a drug habit and a deviant sexual appetite, then slashed the throats of both mother and daughter.\nDefense attorney Mark Maynard said he was disappointed with the ruling, and that he was considering filing a petition for another hearing before the Supreme Court.\n“It appears on first blush that there may be grounds to file such a petition,” he said.
(04/17/07 4:00am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana’s secretary of state asked forgiveness Monday for evoking images of slavery in describing black voting trends during a Republican event in southern Indiana last week.\nDuring a Thursday speech at the Daviess County annual Lincoln Day Dinner, Republican Secretary of State Todd Rokita said 90 percent of blacks vote Democrat and questioned why.\n“How can that be?” Rokita was quoted as saying by the Washington Times-Herald. “Ninety to 10. Who’s the master and who’s the slave in that relationship? How can that be healthy?”\nSeveral black lawmakers expressed anger over the remarks.\nState Rep. William Crawford, D-Indianapolis, who is black, said Rokita’s statement suggested blacks as being ignorant, uninformed and compelled to vote Democratic.\n“What compulsion? We don’t intimidate,” said Crawford, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. “We don’t buy votes. He needs to apologize to the people he offended, the people that he called ignorant and uninformed, and that is 90 percent of those African-Americans who choose to vote their level of interest as they define it for Democrats.”\nRokita said his message about the black vote was meant to encourage the Republican Party to continue its efforts to diversify, in part by reaching out to blacks.\nBut, he said, “The word choice that I used in one part of those remarks was poor, and if I offended anyone then I ask their forgiveness for what was an insensitive metaphor.”\nRokita said he had called some members of the black community to ask their forgiveness and explain his overall message. He said friends in the black community told him they knew what he meant.\n“I was empathizing with African-Americans of my generation who face political pressure – pressure from inside their community and outside their community – anytime they show any kind of individualism,” said Rokita, who is white. “My point was that that’s unhealthy. It diminishes us as a people and it’s something that the Republican Party has a strong history of fighting against.”\nBut some black lawmakers were still upset.\n“I can’t even begin to fathom what could have been going through Rokita’s mind, to let those words come out of his mouth, especially this close on the heels of the Imus debacle,” said Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary.\nBrown was referring to 66-year-old radio legend Don Imus, who was recently fired after calling the Rutgers University women’s basketball team “nappy-headed hos.”\nIndiana has had just one black Republican state representative in the past 25 years, Brown said. James Vanleer of Muncie served one term in 1995 and 1996, which Brown said showed the Republican Party was not reaching out to blacks.\nBrown also questioned how many blacks worked in Rokita’s office. The office provided figures showing that there were 50 white employees, two blacks, one Latino, one Indian and one Asian.\nDemocratic state Rep. Vernon Smith of Gary, Ind., chairman of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus, said Rokita’s comment showed a lack of sensitivity.\n“It bothers me that he did not understand some words that excite emotional response, and that is what has happened,” Smith said.
(04/16/07 4:00am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana soldiers, veterans and their families are getting a boost from state lawmakers, who’ve set aside partisan wrangling over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to help those serving the nation.\nBills have advanced that would give new tax breaks to active-duty soldiers, members of the Indiana National Guard and reservists; provide money to help military families struggling because a member has been mobilized; and allow parents, spouses and siblings of Guard members and reservists who are being deployed to take some unpaid leave from their jobs to be with their families.\n“Of all the stuff we are doing right now, I’d rather see us pass something to help the kids who are busting their butts for us over there,” said Republican Sen. Thomas Wyss of Fort Wayne, chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, Transportation and Veterans Affairs.\nIt is not yet clear how many bills to benefit soldiers will pass, or in what form, but Gov. Mitch Daniels recently expressed optimism that several would reach his desk with bipartisan support.\n“I’m looking forward to signing them,” said Daniels, who proposed a package of benefits for soldiers and veterans before the session. Many are in a bill that passed the Senate and House, although differences in the versions must be reconciled in a House-Senate conference committee.\nOne bill already bears his signature.\nThat new law, which takes effect July 1, will give National Guard members returning from active duty priority for placement in employment and training programs provided by the state. Spouses of Guard members also are eligible.\n“We want to make sure that the transition back into our work force is as easy as possible,” said Sen. Sue Errington, D-Muncie, the bill’s author.\nNearly 12,000 people are members of the Indiana Army National Guard and more than 1,900 serve with the Indiana Air National Guard, said Staff Sgt. Les Newport of the Indiana Army National Guard. Of those, about 9,800 have served on active duty since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks – many of them in Iraq or Afghanistan. Thousands of reservists from Indiana also have served in those countries.\nThe Guard’s 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, based in Indianapolis, has been ordered to prepare for possible deployment late this year or in 2008. Since November 2002, various elements of the 3,400-member unit have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.\nThe lengthy deployments can pose both emotional and financial hardships for the soldiers and their families.\nTraining typically lasts six to eight weeks and deployments to the Mideast one year, although some units have served longer, Newport said. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced last week that the Army was adding three months to the standard yearlong tour for all active-duty soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, a step aimed at maintaining the troop buildup in Baghdad.\nLawmakers created a new state-run Military Family Relief Fund last year that will be used to help such families during a spouse’s deployment. Money for the fund is coming from donations and sales of a new Support Our Troops license plate and an existing veterans plate.\nThe fund allows grants of up to $2,000 to pay for such things as food, housing, utilities, medical services, transportation costs or other essentials.\nSen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, a reservist, said lawmakers’ efforts send a message to those serving that “we know you are fighting for our freedom, we support you and we will do everything in our power to help you.”
(04/10/07 4:00am)
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana House of Representatives approved legislation Monday that would establish a statewide ban on smoking in most enclosed public places.\nThe bill passed on an unrecorded vote but at least 60 lawmakers voted for it. The legislation was attached as an amendment to a major health care bill that may eventually include a cigarette tax.\nThe amendment by Rep. Eric Turner, R-Gas City, would prohibit smoking in enclosed public places, sports arenas and indoor places of employment. It would not apply to retail tobacco stores, bars, public areas that are leased for private functions or businesses that have no employees other than the owner.\nTurner said the restrictions were modest compared with those in some states, and city ordinances in Indiana could be stronger than the provision if it becomes law.\n“I think this is a beginning,” said Turner, who has supported some anti-smoking legislation in the past.\nRep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, said that Bloomington has a city ordinance restricting smoking in public places and that it has not hurt the economy.\n“People eat, people drink, people enjoy themselves,” Pierce said. “People breathe clean air. I think we should do anything that promotes clean air in Indiana.”\nHouse Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, did not vote because he was one of two lawmakers counting other votes. He said he believed the provision probably went too far, especially in its regulation of businesses, but said passage of the amendment was a “substantial statement” and was bipartisan.\n“It’s a huge thing to do without public testimony,” Bosma said.\nThe bill, which includes major health incentives that could be funded by a cigarette tax increase, still has a long way to go before it becomes law. The overall bill was eligible for passage in the House on Tuesday and was likely headed to a joint House-Senate conference committee where compromises will be sought.
(04/06/07 4:00am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana’s minimum wage would be tied to the federal rate under legislation that cleared a Senate committee Wednesday.\nThe House Pensions and Labor Committee included the link in a House bill that originally sought to raise Indiana’s current minimum wage of $5.15 per hour – which is the same as the current federal rate – to $7.50 per hour by 2008.\nBut state law does not require the amounts to be the same. When federal and state minimum wage laws differ, the higher wage applies to most workers.\nA bill pending before the U.S. Congress would raise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour in increments over the next two years. If that occurs and the Indiana bill passes in its amended form, Indiana’s rate would increase to the same level and match any future federal increases.\nRep. John Day, D-Indianapolis, said he wanted to increase the state rate to $7.50 per hour, but several Republicans and a few businesses told him they would not support anything higher than the federal level. But he said the amended bill was still a step toward improvement.\nThe proposed federal minimum-wage increase is included in congressional legislation that would provide more money to sustain military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. But that legislation also sets deadlines for withdrawing troops from Iraq, and President Bush has threatened to veto it.\nDay said he was confident that Congress would increase the federal minimum wage this year, perhaps by putting the provision in other legislation.\nThe real gamble with the Indiana House bill as it now stands is if Congress does not increase the federal minimum wage, Day said, and “we are still stuck at $5.15.”\n“The good news is that any time the federal goes up, we go up,” Day said.
(03/20/07 4:00am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Statehouse rallies are a common occurrence during legislative sessions, often drawing large crowds cheering or jeering contentious proposals before the General Assembly.\nCause leaders fire up supporters with passionate and sometimes fist-pounding speeches. Folks wave handmade signs with catchy slogans. Shouts ring throughout the wide-open spaces of the people’s house.\nSuch spectacles often make big splashes in the media, sometimes landing on front pages of newspapers and leading television and radio news broadcasts.\nBut do the rallies and the media coverage they generate make a big splash with lawmakers who make final decisions on the causes at hand? Do they sway legislators’ minds on weighty issues? Do they deliver powerful, political punches?\nThe answer, it seems, is rarely.\n“One can probably count the fingers on one hand the kind of meaningful Statehouse rallies in the past quarter century,” said Robert Dion, a professor of American politics at the University of Evansville. “They come and go. It’s here for a minute and then it’s gone.”\nState employees have held rallies opposing Gov. Mitch Daniels’ moves to privatize parts of state government, including a plan to outsource the application process for some welfare benefits. But that plan went forward, and there is no indication that Daniels’ zeal for outsourcing opportunities has waned.\nTeachers held two huge rallies in 2005, in part to protest budget plans by Republicans that would result in dozens of school districts getting less money than before. The groups railed at Daniels for proposing that school funding be frozen at current levels to help balance the budget.\nThe budget drafted by the GOP-controlled Legislature that year – and signed by Daniels – slightly increased overall funding for schools, but dozens of districts still got cuts. And Daniels was unfazed by the rallies.\nHe said after one that those who attended were “entitled to state their point and make a lot of noise.” But he also said, “I thought it was rather sad that folks came and demanded more, more, more of the same, same, same.”\nSometimes rallies don’t produce the kind of media coverage organizers envisioned.\nWhen the late Democrat Frank O’Bannon was governor in 1999, he held a large rally in the Statehouse rotunda to tout his proposal for statewide, full-day kindergarten.\nRepublicans who ruled the Senate wanted to take the money O’Bannon was seeking for kindergarten and give schools options on how to spend it. Under their so-called “cafeteria plan,” schools could pay for kindergarten, remediation, reading initiatives or other programs.\nO’Bannon didn’t like that approach, so his rally was strictly for full-day kindergarten. The media showed, but Senate Republicans stole most of the coverage by showing up in the atrium next to the rotunda in chefs’ aprons and hats, manning food trays with labels such as remediation, reading, kindergarten and teacher training.\nIt was a clever approach to promote their cafeteria plan. In the end, however, neither proposal passed.\nFormer longtime Senate Finance Chairman Larry Borst, a Republican, and current House Speaker Patrick Bauer, a Democrat, each said that most rallies by themselves rarely have a meaningful effect on the fate of legislation. But there are exceptions.\nBoth recalled 1995, when Republicans who controlled both chambers moved to eliminate the state’s decades-old prevailing wage law. It essentially resulted in wages for public construction projects being set at union levels.\nThe move outraged labor unions, who first staged a rally that drew about 5,000 workers. Later in the session, about 20,000 came – handing out voter registration forms and packing at least two blocks of space between the government center buildings by the Statehouse.\nBorst and Bauer said the bigger rally not only resulted in the wage legislation being watered down, it also galvanized labor support for Democrats for several years.\n“That had a lasting effect,” Borst said. “Republicans were in charge of the House, and two years later they were not in charge of the House.”\nDion said that rally “sticks in the mind as being one that shook the roof off the place and got some results.”\nBut, he said, it was an \nexception.\n“That is catching lightning in a bottle,” Dion said.
(03/19/07 4:00am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Indianapolis architect James Schellinger said Friday that he expects to decide next week whether he will seek the Democratic nomination for governor in 2008.\nThe South Bend native, who has been president of the architectural firm CSO Schenkel Shultz for 10 years, has never run for public office. But he has been active in state Democratic politics for several years by, among other things, helping numerous candidates at the city, state and national level raise money.\n“I think it’s important that people in my case be supportive of public officials that we believe in because they are people that provide leadership and are ultimately responsible for the quality of life we have in all our communities,” said Schellinger, 46.\n“Most of them are not doing it for the fancy title and they’re not doing it for the pay. The fame, I’m sure that fades fairly quickly. They’re doing it because of a sense of social responsibility and a call to public service, which is a call I’ve been hearing myself lately.”\nIf he decides to run, he said he would file paperwork with the state to form a committee to raise and spend campaign contributions. He has spent many days of late traveling the state to meet with party officials and others to discuss his possible run.\nState Senate Minority Leader Richard Young, D-Milltown, already is seeking the nomination, and former U.S. Rep. Jill Long Thompson has said she is considering a run and expects to make a decision by this summer.\nRepublican Gov. Mitch Daniels has maintained an active campaign committee but said he will wait until the legislative session is over to announce whether he will seek a second term. The regular session is scheduled to end April 29.\nState Democratic Chairman Dan Parker said the party leadership is taking a neutral stand among the Democratic candidates and potential candidates for governor.\n“But we would love to see the party coalesce behind a single candidate so we can avoid a primary,” he said. “My hope is that candidate is one who can put together a broad base of support, raise a significant amount of money and have a very compelling message.”\nParker said Schellinger would be a good candidate, in part because of his skills as a successful businessman and the fact that he is a fresh face.\n“He brings a lot to the table for Democrats to look at,” Parker said.\nAfter graduating in 1978 from St. Joseph’s High School in South Bend, Schellinger spent a year at Butler University before transferring to the University of Notre Dame, where he earned his degree in architecture. He graduated in 1984, spent more than two years at one Indianapolis architectural firm, then joined his current one.\nHe became a partner in the firm in 1991 and president in 1996. The firm employs about 100 people. Schellinger and his wife, Laura, have three sons.\nHe said he was considering a run for governor because, “I believe that we can do better and I believe that Indiana deserves better leadership.”\nHe said that to win the office would take “incredible effort and time” and then it would come down to message, money and media. But he said he was hesitant to say how much money he thought it would take to win.\n“At the end of the day I don’t think it will take out-raising to beat somebody,” he said. “I think it will take making sure your message gets out, and whatever it takes from a financial resources point of view, I’m committed to doing that.”
(02/28/07 5:00am)
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana House rejected legislation Tuesday that would have increased cigarette taxes to fund health care initiatives, something Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels has advocated as a top priority.\nThe House voted 52-44 against the bill on a deadline day for advancing bills to the Senate. It would raise the state’s current cigarette tax of 55.5 cents per back by 25 cents, with the new revenue used to provide health insurance to low-income Hoosiers – primarily children.\nDemocrats control the House 51-49 and got the proposed tax increase through committee and to the floor, but the bill’s author, Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, had said that he wanted at least 25 Republican votes to make it a truly bipartisan bill. That would make it hard for either party to solely blame the other in the next campaign for supporting a tax increase.\nBut only 19 Republicans joined 25 Democrats in voting for the bill. Brown blamed Daniels for not lobbying House Republicans enough to get the bill passed on a truly bipartisan basis.\n“If he can’t produce 25 votes over here (among Republicans), is he worthy of being on the second floor?” Brown said.\nDaniels has asked lawmakers to increase cigarette taxes by at least 25 cents per pack to reduce smoking and generate an estimated $130 million a year in new money. That would be leveraged with federal funds and participant costs to raise $480 million and among other things provide health coverage for about 120,000 people earning less than double the federal poverty level for their households.\nA version of his plan passed the Senate, but it did not include a way to pay for it.\nProposed tax increases are supposed to begin in the House, and a Democrat-controlled committee unanimously approved an initial Brown plan that would raise cigarette taxes by 54.5 cents per pack. The increase was lowered to 25 cents in another committee and many provisions, such as allowing local units of government and small businesses to join the state’s health insurance plan, were removed from the bill.\nBrown said House Democrat leaders wanted it lowered in hopes of getting it through the House and to the Senate. But the reduction did not win the day.\nSenate Tax Chairman Luke Kenley said the Republican-ruled Senate could put a cigarette-tax increase in a bill to keep the issue alive, but said he was unsure whether that would occur.\n“I don’t know if we will if the House cannot pass this,” said Kenley, R-Noblesville. “That may be a signal that there is a lack of willingness to do that. We wouldn’t rule it out now,” he said.\nHouse Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, said at noon Tuesday that the House would probably pass a cigarette tax that day.\n“I think it’s probable, but nothing is certain,” he said.\nBrown seemed optimistic at that point, too.
(02/28/07 5:00am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Motorists would get a tax break on gasoline in Indiana if the pump price exceeds $2.25 per gallon under a bill passed by the Indiana House on Monday.\nHouse Democrats had campaigned on a proposal to eliminate the state sales tax on gasoline. They did regain control of the chamber and have a 51-49 majority.\nBut they abandoned that proposal earlier this session, saying it would have cost the state too much in lost revenue to eliminate the tax. The original proposal would have cost the state between $328 million to $362 million, according to the Legislative Services Agency.\nUnder the current bill, the state’s 6 percent sales tax would apply up to a total pump price of $2.25. If prices are higher than that, motorists would not have to pay sales tax on the difference between the higher price and $2.25.\nThe agency estimates that this bill could cost the state between $37 million and $45 million.\nAlthough many Republicans voted for the bill, they accused Democrats of scaling back their campaign pledge so drastically after the election.\nRep. Jeff Espich, R-Uniondale, said the campaign proposal was fiscally irresponsible. But, he said, “A promise made should be a promise kept, and this is only 10 percent of what was promised.”\nRep. Dennie Oxley, D-Milltown, said it would still help protect motorists in Indiana from the volatility of gas prices.\nThe bill now goes to the Republican-ruled Senate.
(02/16/07 3:35am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Public schools would get spending increases of about 4 percent in each of the next two years under a budget drafted by Democrats, who now control the Indiana House of Representatives. It would also provide money to begin a phase-in of statewide, full-day kindergarten, party leaders said Thursday.\nThe phase-in of full-day kindergarten is a top priority fof Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, but the Democratic budget would block another of his key initiatives by prohibiting the Hoosier Lottery from being outsourced to a private entity.\nDaniels wants lawmakers to give him the authority to do that, hoping someone would agree to take over operations of the lottery for an upfront payment of at least $1 billion and yearly payments of $200 million. Daniels wants to spend the $1 billion or more on college scholarships and professorships.\nRepublicans, who control the Senate, presented a different version of Daniels' plan on Thursday, but it would still allow the lottery to be leased for 30 years to a private company.\nMost Democrats have opposed Daniels' major privatization moves and proposals, saying key services and assets -- such as the Indiana Toll Road -- should not be turned over to for-profit companies. Republicans controlled the House two years ago, and House Democrats were unable to stop legislation that allowed Daniels to lease the toll road to a private consortium.\nBut Democrats have a 51-49 advantage now, and can block the lottery proposal and perhaps refuse to provide funding for some privatization deals that already have been struck. Their budget includes language that would give the General Assembly greater oversight of outsourcing.\nThe budget bill, to be formally presented in the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday, would increase spending for higher education by about 5 percent in each of the next two years, with some of the new money going for operations and some for capital projects.\nDemocratic Rep. William Crawford of Indianapolis, chairman of the Ways and Means panel, said he did not know precisely how much the two-year budget spent but said it was less than the $25.9 billion total in the budget proposed by the Daniels administration.\nCrawford and House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, said the Democratic plan included no general tax increase and spent less in part because there would be no new money for the state prison system or Medicaid, the state and federal health care program for the poor, disabled and elderly.\nExpenses in Medicaid are expected to grow over the next two years, and Daniels had proposed spending about $220 million more to cover at least a portion of the projected increased costs. Daniels also wants to spend $72 million more on prisons, with some of the money used to increase pay for guards.\nDaniels had asked lawmakers to hold overall spending increases to less than 4 percent in each of the next two years, and Crawford said the House Democratic budget did that.
(02/15/07 2:40am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Gov. Mitch Daniels would have been barred from signing a $1.16 billion contract to outsource some human services work without legislative approval if a bill now before the full Indiana House of Representatives had been law at the time.\nThe House Interstate and International Cooperation Committee unanimously endorsed the privatization review legislation Wednesday. The bill largely stems from the Republican governor's moves to contract services that have historically been run by the state.\nThe bill's author, Democratic Rep. Joe Micon of West Lafayette, said the state constitution gave great deference to the power of the legislative branch. He noted that Indiana is among few states in which lawmakers can override a governor's veto by a simple majority.\n"There are checks and balances no matter who sits in the governor's office," Micon said. "I do believe this bill is about reasonable checks and balances."\nState Budget Director Chuck Schalliol said oversight is appropriate and already exists in various forms, but Micon's bill went too far.\nUnder the bill, any government privatization contract worth more than $10 million would have to be reviewed by a panel of 12 lawmakers and three other members appointed by legislative leaders. One of the three would represent labor, one for business and the other for universities.\nThey would have 60 days before the anticipated signing date of such contracts to examine them, and agencies involved would have to detail how current services are run and how the potential deals would affect operations, costs and state employees.\nAt least one public meeting would have to be held, and ultimately the committee would submit a recommendation to the governor on whether the plan should move forward, rejected or changed. The recommendation would not be binding on the governor.
(02/13/07 3:58am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana House Democrats plan to introduce a health-insurance plan Wednesday that might include a proposed cigarette tax increase of 4.5 cents per pack -- far less than that sought by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels -- to provide health coverage to more Hoosiers.\nDemocratic Rep. Charlie Brown of Gary, chairman of the House Public Health Committee, said Monday that the 4.5-cent increase was "very fluid" and the amount could change by the time his committee takes up a comprehensive health-care coverage plan and cigarette tax increase on Wednesday.\nDaniels wants lawmakers to increase the tax by at least 25 cents per pack, which could help provide health care for about 120,000 low-income residents. Brown has said he would prefer an increase of at least $1 per pack.\nBrown said a 4.5-cent increase would provide little new money to help those without health insurance. But he acknowledged that his strategy was to start off with a low number and then see how far Republicans who rule the Senate will go to bat for their own party's governor by raising the tax higher.\n"It (4.5 cents) will not make a dent, but we'll get some help from our Senate colleagues," Brown said.\nHis plan would address wellness and include a state insurance pool but would not provide specifics, he said.\nThe Daniels administration has said a 25-cent increase to the state's current rate of 55.5 cents per pack would generate an estimated $130 million a year for the state. Under the governor's plan, that money would be leveraged with federal funds and participants to raise $480 million in health care coverage for 120,000 adults earning less than double the poverty level for their households.\nMoney also would be spent on vaccinations for children and smoking prevention and cessation programs.\nA Senate committee has endorsed a version of the governor's plan, but it does not include money to pay for the program.\nThe plan would be available to people without employer-provided health insurance who earn less than double the federal poverty level, a sliding scale that is $9,800 for a single person and $20,000 for a family of four.\nDaniels and lawmakers have said that it will take bipartisan support to raise cigarette taxes. Democrats control the House 51-49, while Republicans have a 33-17 majority in the Senate.\nLongtime Rep. Jeff Espich, R-Uniondale, said Brown's strategy of proposing a minimal cigarette tax increase and then punting the issue to Senate Republicans was a "political game."\nHe said he was not convinced that a health-care plan would really help a lot of uninsured people, "nor am I convinced that only cigarette smokers should pay for it."\n"Maybe it ought to be potato-chip eaters or drinkers," he said.\nHe said many House Republicans were very lukewarm about the idea of state government trying to provide health care for more people.\n"We already provide health care through Medicaid for a sixth of Hoosiers," he said. "I think many of us begin to wonder at what point should government stop trying to be big daddy to everybody"