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John Mellencamp slammed the music business — with the exception of Taylor Swift — during a 25-minute rant Wednesday at a UJA-Federation of New York luncheon honoring Republic Records co-founders Monte and Avery Lipman. SNIP Another source said, “He was saying that Swift’s the only one doing anything to save the business, and, ‘I applaud that young lady, she stands up for our rights. A bunch of us stand on the sidelines.’” Swift just pressured Apple into changing its policy regarding royalties for its new streaming music service. Mellencamp even called out major artists, including, seemingly, Bruce Springsteen, by asking,...

FULL TITLE: Indiana Medical Board Rules Revocation Proceedings Will Continue Against Abortionist Klopfer for Thousands of Violations Indianapolis, IN –The Medical Licensing Board of Indiana met this morning and promptly dismissed a motion filed by abortionist Ulrich Klopfer, 73, seeking to dismiss the disciplinary case against him. A full disciplinary hearing will now take place at a later date and could result in the revocation of his medical license. “In a better world, it would have been great to see a suspension of Klopfer’s license pending revocation proceedings, but for now, we are pleased that the disciplinary case against him...

Just days after he gave up his license to do abortions at one of his Indiana-based abortion clinics, abortion practitioner Ulrich Klopfer faces a medical board hearing on 1,833 alleged abortion violations, including cases of rapes of teen girls he failed to properly report. On Thursday,the Indiana Medical Licensing Board will consider Klopfer’s motion for summary judgment. Klopfer faces an administrative licensing complaint by Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller’s office. He does abortions in Gary, South Bend and Fort Wayne, Indiana but recently stopped doing them in Gary and previously stopped doing them in Fort Wayne. According to information Indiana...

<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tensions are building inside and outside the white marble facade of the U.S. Supreme Court building as the nine justices prepare to issue major rulings on gay marriage and President Barack Obama's healthcare law by the end of the month.</p>

The Republican field is crowded, which implies that primary voters have little information about where some of the candidates stand. That is particularly the case this season, with a few relatively unknown contenders who lack legislative experience or a long history of campaign contributions that would allow researchers to precisely identify where they stand on the liberal-to-conservative political dimension.However, one characteristic all candidates share is that they have active and popular Twitter accounts. And as I showed in an article published earlier this year in the journal Political Analysis — now freely available online as an Editors’ Choice article —...

Two brothers now sit behind bars, convicted of robbery and murder in connection with a Craigslist posting that turned deadly. Iraq War veteran James Vester died after brothers Tyshaune and Tryon Kincade targeted him in a robbery scheme. "It has been one of the hardest things," said Walter Vester outside of Courtroom 3. Twice, he sat across from the men who admitted to robbing, shooting, and killing his son, Jim, after Jim responded to a Craigslist ad for an iPad in 2013. Jim Vester had planned the iPad as a gift to his dad. "He was just a wonderful person...

KOKOMO, Ind. - Police in Kokomo are investigating the fatal shooting of a robbery suspect by a police officer at a gas station southeast of the city. Police say a ten-year veteran of the Kokomo Police Department responded to the report of an armed robbery at the Casey's General Store at Dixon Road and Defenbaugh Street around 5:30 p.m. Friday. The officer got to the scene to find a female suspect pointing a handgun at the store clerk. The officer ordered the suspect to drop the weapon, at which point, the woman pointed the gun at the officer. The officer...

A measure allowing some court officials to refuse to perform gay marriage responsibilities because of their religious beliefs became law in North Carolina on Thursday, with the state House voting to override the governor's veto of the bill. The Senate had voted to do the same with Republican Gov. Pat McCrory's veto a week ago. Thursday's House vote of 69-41 was just over the three-fifths majority needed. Ten House members were absent and didn't vote. The law, taking effect immediately, means some register of deeds workers who assemble licenses and magistrates to solemnize civil marriages can decide to stop performing...

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Court documents allege that a fatal chase all began when a man attempted to steal women’s pants from Wal-Mart. 21-year-old Matthew Edmonds faces multiple felony charges related to the case. He is accused of leading officers on a chase and crashing into a vehicle driven by 63-year-old Donna Niblock, resulting in her death. Court documents state that the whole ordeal began Monday morning after Edmonds was seen placing women’s pants into Wal-Mart bags that he pulled out of his pockets, then trying to leave the store. Beech Grove officers began pursuing Edmonds but the chase was called...

<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The founder of the First Church of Cannabis in Indianapolis says he has found a home for the new church where plans call for members to smoke marijuana at the first ceremony.</p> <p>The Indianapolis Star reports founder Bill Levin is set to announce the purchase Wednesday morning. He says the church building on the city’s Eastside would hold 150 to 200 worshippers.</p>

BEECH GROVE, Ind. (WISH) — A fight between two shoppers in the beauty aisle at a Wal-Mart in Marion County is caught on camera. The video was first posted to YouTube last week and has since gone viral. The Beech Grove Police Department said a report was filed at the time of the incident. Officers were called to the scene last Thursday night for a disturbance. Police told 24-Hour News 8 it will be up to the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office to decide whether charges will be filed against the two seen fighting on camera. Some customers shopping in the...

Shock video posted online shows two women engage in a brutal fight at an Indiana Walmart Thursday, but how one of the women’s sons reacted might be the most alarming. It wasn’t clear what prompted the brawl, but video captured by an onlooker shows the two women fighting and wrestling each other to the ground at a Beech Grove store. Shortly into the video, a boy emerges and his mother, who was atop the other woman, instructed him to punch her opponent in the face. The boy obliged and was seen throughout the two videos repeatedly striking the woman on...

WASHINGTON -- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said Sunday that he supports a constitutional amendment that would bar the Supreme Court from granting marriage equality rights nationwide. The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision this month that could grant, for once and for all, same-sex couples the right to wed across the country. But Walker said on ABC's "This Week" that he would support amending the constitution to protect states that still want to ban same-sex marriage. "I personally believe that marriage is between one man and one woman," Walker, a prospective GOP presidential candidate, said. "If the...

Every other day we hear from Common Core proponents about how wonderful these standards are, how teachers really (really!) love them, and how impossible it would be to do any better.Just the other day, Education Week gloated how the new South Carolina standards are “89 percent in alignment with the common core for English/language arts, and 92 percent in alignment with the common core for math.” It reminded us that the new post-Common Core Indiana standards are also “a set of benchmarks not so different from the Common Core.”The underlying message is that Common Core standards are so excellent and...

Former Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind.) on Wednesday became the first Democrat to enter the race to replace retiring Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) in Indiana.

 In a statement posted on Medium, Hill played up his blue-collar roots and deep ties to the Hoosier State. He struck a populist tone in vowing to be a fighter for the Middle Class against the moneyed interests he said control Washington. 

“We can either put our heads in the sand, or we can fight to restore the American Dream, the middle class, and what’s great about Indiana,” Hill said. “I know we can do better,...

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami (AP Photo/Alan Diaz) (CNSNews.com) - Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, who serves as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, has delivered a sermon warning that religious liberty is under attack in the United States and that American Christians “are being increasingly subject to a soft despotism.” A transcript of the archbishop’s sermon--which was delivered at a special mass for Catholic lawyers in Broward County, Fla.--is now linked to a page on the USCCB’s website that is dedicated to the issue of religious liberty. “While atrocities are...

Politics today seems to be dominated by an “either you’re in or you’re out mentality.” If you’re a good Republican, a good Christian, and a good conservative, then you really can’t support gay marriage—at least, that’s what I’m constantly being told. “We can’t redefine an institution that’s been around for thousands of years,” opponents of marriage equality say. “To do so would be to radically transform the way society has always understood marriage. That’s just not what conservatism is all about.” But is that really true? It seems to me the heroes of the modern conservative movement— individuals such as...

An Indiana-based church that worships marijuana has been granted tax-exempt status. First Church of Cannabis founder Bill Levin said it took 30 days for the IRS to grant his group tax-exempt status. “Somebody at the IRS loves us,” he added. […] Marijuana is still illegal in Indiana. …

<p>HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) — A Hobart school district faces a lawsuit over prayers that are said before athletic events, graduations and school board meetings from parents who say the prayers violate the First Amendment.</p> <p>Jim and Nichole Bellar filed the lawsuit over the prayers at events in the River Forest Community School Corp. after they say their son was ostracized after raising objections.</p>

I'm not among those Republicans who have “evolved” on the issue of gay rights. I didn’t need to. I’ve always been attracted to the GOP message of more freedom and less government, but thought it hypocritical and counter to the core of our philosophy that Republicans would not apply those tenets to gay rights. But of course I was often the black sheep in campaign meetings during the 1990s and 2000s. There goes McKinnon again. Taking up for the gays. Although “gay” wasn’t the word that was used back the