Free Republic

Two people treated for burning throats, cramping and diarrhea; Indiana State Department of Health says preliminary tests showed Skittles packages sold at Richmond store had chemical substances

Opposition to the Common Core education reform efforts of the Obama Administration has crossed political lines to a remarkable degree. For example, rarely are Accuracy in Academia and the American Association of University Professors united in opposing anything. “The implementation of these changes has been a train wreck in far too many districts,” Betty Weller, of the Maryland State Teachers Association said on WBAL-TV. Nevertheless, although CC is still in its embryonic stages, the program has already become entrenched. “If the Indiana experience is any indication, dropping or modifying Common Core in states that adopted it is easier said than...

The University of Notre Dame must provide birth control to employees and students after a federal appeals court ruled Friday, a move the school says will force it to violate its religious beliefs. In a blow to religious colleges and universities across the country, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago denied Notre Dame's request for an injunction to the ObamaCare birth control mandate that requires the school to provide coverage for contraception. The injunction would have given Notre Dame a temporary reprieve from the birth control mandate, as the Roman Catholic school challenges the rule in court....

INDIANAPOLIS (Feb. 21, 2014) – Indianapolis leaders responded Friday to a span of violence that left eight people dead in less about 12 hours. The violent spree began around around 9:30 a.m. Thursday at a home in the 2100 block of N. Kenyon Street where a man was found dead. His death was ruled a homicide. At 5 p.m. Thursday, 16-year-old Quinton Nance was shot and killed in the 600 block of E. 23rd Street. Hours later, four people–later identified as Hayley Navarra, Kristy Mae Sanchez, Jacob Rodemich and Walter Burnell–were found shot to death inside a home in the...

INDIANAPOLIS, IN, February 14, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Roman Catholic former Planned Parenthood worker has opened up to her diocesan newspaper in a gripping tell-all interview, saying she was shocked at the horrors she witnessed during the two years she worked in Indiana’s largest abortion facility. Marianne Anderson is a nurse who assisted Planned Parenthood abortionists by partially sedating women who paid extra for that luxury. She told The Criterion newspaper that she saw many women pressured into abortions they did not want, including minor girls. “One young girl came in with her mom,” Anderson told the paper. “She was...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/02/15/president-election-2016-hillary-clinton-column/5340999/

Feb. 14, 2014 (MonicaKelsey) - When someone says, "I am pro-life except in the case of rape or incest," they are using an oxymoron to describe themselves. This is in essence describing themselves as pro-choice and shows they have a lack of understanding of what being pro-life is truly about. Glenn Beck, who my husband listens to almost daily, is a good example of someone who is highly intelligent, but lacks the understanding of what it means to be pro-life with no exceptions. Let me explain. First of all, let me tell you about who I am. I am a...

NEW ALBANY, Ind. —Investigators announced charges against three more teenagers in connection to a deadly New Albany fire that killed three children and seriously hurt a fourth. Cody Cashion is already behind bars, charged with felony murder, but police said three teenage girls were in a car with him when he shot a flare gun into a home, intentionally starting the fire.

From the bridge of the Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw, northern Lake Huron looks like a vast, snow-covered field dotted with ice slabs as big as boulders - a battleground for the icebreaker's 58-member crew during one of the roughest winters in memory... As of Thursday, ice cover extended across 88 percent,... At Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin, the rock-solid cover has allowed around 35,000 visitors to trudge miles over Lake Superior to explore caves featuring dazzling ice formations. It's the first time in five years the lake surface has been firm enough to allow passage.... Coast Guard icebreaker teams,...

Opponents of an effort to place Indiana’s gay marriage ban in the state constitution won a surprising victory Thursday as the Senate effectively pushed off a statewide vote on the issue for at least two years, and possibly longer. In a parliamentary move that spared state senators a tough vote on the measure, the Senate advanced the marriage ban without the “second sentence” ban on civil unions. The House stripped that language from the amendment before passing it last month, and the Senate’s decision not to restore the language before voting Thursday means the effort to amend the constitution must...

Recently the New York Times reported on the Senior Senator of Kansas, Pat Roberts, who has been in Washington for 47 years in both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. The article in question alleged that Senator Roberts does not live in Kansas, the Senator released a statement that did not contend that point but mentioned how he had visited every county in Kansas and during that time lived with friends and donor while paying them for the use of their homes. In other words he doesn’t live in Kansas. Richard Lugar the recently retired Senior Senator of...

For an undocumented couple, the fear of deportation is worth it for the hope of reform. Behind the steering wheel, Sandra is cautious. She doesn’t know what will happen if she makes one wrong move. Driving without a license would earn her enough trouble with the police, but her secret is more serious — Sandra is an undocumented immigrant. Flashing red and blue lights in the rearview mirror could mean deportation, the end of her family’s life in Bloomington. “We feel so frustrated that one of these days some police or something asks for my driver’s license, and I don’t...

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Bill Bruton spent Super Bowl Sunday delivering pizzas all over Indianapolis for Aunt Polly’s Pizza. But when Bruton hits the road to make a delivery, he’s carrying more than a pizza. He’s also carrying a gun. “I’ve got a lifetime permit and I carry,” he said. The manager at Aunt Polly’s said their drivers have carried for years. “As long as they have gun permits,” said manager Jeff White. Not everyone allows their employees to carry weapons. But restaurants are reviewing their safety policies after two pizza delivery drivers were shot and killed in Indianapolis in two...

<p>INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana House of Representatives approved a proposal Tuesday that would place the state's gay marriage ban in the state constitution, while leaving the door open to eventual approval of civil unions.</p> <p>The proposed ban, which cleared the chamber on 57-40 vote, now heads to the Indiana Senate, where members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are set to take up the issue.</p>

A Gary, Ind., mother of three claims demons caused her 12-year-old daughter to levitate and her 9-year-old son to walk on a hospital ceiling — accounts supported by medical personnel and police officials, according to a shocking report. For Latoya Ammons, the late night footsteps, the creaking of a door and wet footprints left by a shadowy male figure through her living room were merely child's play when that was all her family had to endure. But then things turned violent.

A nine-year-old boy walked backwards up a wall and ceiling as startled medical staff looked on after his mother claimed he and his two siblings had been possessed by demons, according to official reports. The unlikely-sounding event was detailed in official documents after a child services case worker and a nurse both said they saw the boy 'glide' backwards on the floor, wall and ceiling. Both were shocked to see the boy apparently float after their mother had been subject to months of scepticism when she claimed her home in Gary, Indiana, was haunted and all three of her children...

A terrified mother claims she watched in horror as her demon-possessed 9-year-old son walked backwards up a wall and ceiling. Her claims would be easy to dismiss if a child services case worker and a nurse weren’t reportedly there to witness it all. Latoya Ammons claims all three of her children showed signs of being possessed, including “evil” smiles and strangely deep voices, the Indianapolis Star reports. The mother says she also witnessed her 12-year-old daughter levitating in their Gary, Ind., home. Strangely enough, the scary-sounding incident is outlined in official documents. Further, Gary police Capt. Charles Austin told the Star...

HAMMOND, Ind. (Sun-Times Media Wire) - A Gary, Ind. woman admitted this week that she sold a baby eight times to a Gary man for sex and was in the room for all the meetings except for the last one. Natisha Hillard, 25, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Hammond to one count of selling a child for sex and two counts of allowing a child to take part in child pornography, the Post-Tribune is reporting.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Video: Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has concluded that the state's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional and he will no longer defend it in federal lawsuits.Public opinion on same-sex marriage has shifted so dramatically in recent years that Democratic groups now see the issue as a critical way to mobilize voters in a slew of races up and down the ballot. Just a decade ago, widespread opposition to gay marriage did just the opposite, allowing Karl Rove to mobilize conservatives in 13 states and help reelect George W. Bush as president. The changing political dynamics were on full display...

I missed this until late yesterday, but the New York Times offered space on Thursday to Notre Dame philosophy professor Gary Gutting on the topic of abortion. Gutting, who also edits the Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews for the Catholic university in Indiana, argued that Pope Francis really should get with modern times and show love to women by allowing for abortion. According to Professor Gutting, the lack of “an all-out effort to prevent spontaneous abortions” and the “purely biological” humanity of the fetus means that the Catholic Church shouldn’t really care whether babies get aborted or not. Small wonder the...

Senator Jim Tomes, R - Wadesville, has introduced a bill in the Indiana Legislature that prevents further waste in gun turn in events, so called "buy backs".   The guns were never owned by the people purchasing them, so "buy back" is a loaded misnomer.  Kentucky appears to be the first state to pass such reform legislation, in 1998.  The Indiana bill seems loosely based on a similar Arizona reform passed last year.   North Carolina is the latest in a number of states that have passed the money saving measure, passing its bill last August.   On the proposed Indiana...

Police Chief David Counceller's 40-caliber Glock handgun accidentally discharged last Saturday while he was at Wulff's gun shop examining a handgun similar to the one he carries - he shot himself in the leg. Counceller, 60, who was off duty at the time, said: 'I need to pay more attention. I know what the dangers are. It was pure carelessness on my part.' -snip- But he said he sees the accident as an opportunity in his run ahead of May's primary. He said: 'If anyone says this could never happen to them, they’re mistaken.' 'You have to keep your guard...

Lansing woman shot at in road-rage incident on I-80/94 11 hours ago • Times Staff GARY | A Lansing woman was shot at in a road-rage incident Sunday on I-80/94, with one bullet hitting the back of her car, Indiana State Police said in a news release. The 33-year-old woman told police she was on 25th Avenue in Gary driving her Chrysler 300 slowly because of potholes. She said a car behind her was following too closely, so she braked to get the car to back off. The braking apparently angered the other driver. The woman said the driver got...

A dog named Peanut in Jasper, Indiana, is expected to make a full recovery after sheriff's deputies found him frozen to the ground in sub-zero temperatures. "He has some sores on his feet where he was pulled from the frozen snow," said Mary Saalman, executive director of the Dubois County Humane Society, which has been caring for the dog. "Other than being underweight, he seems very happy."

CINCINNATI (AP) — A man being held Wednesday on $1 million bond in central Ohio after police say they found bombs and other weapons in his vehicle is a specialist in the Indiana National Guard, trained as an intelligence analyst, a Guard official said.

People are always interested to know, when I tell them I write about health care, what I think of Obamacare. My answer usually is this: “The Affordable Care Act is so massive, it's just about impossible, if you know what’s in the law, to entirely love it or hate it." I could just as easily say this: "No one is happy with this law." We all know conservatives don’t like Obamacare. Republicans have been warning about Obamacare-induced death panels, death spirals and the death of America as we know it since before the law was passed. And after it was...

An Indiana groom was fatally struck by a car Saturday after he pulled over to help a stranded motorist hours after his wedding. The Chicago Sun Times reports 49-year-old William Knight was driving with his bride Nikki to a hotel after their 5:00 p.m. ceremony when he spotted a vehicle in a ditch. Nikki Knight told the paper Sunday her husband told her “we've got to stop, it's late and they need help.” She says she stayed inside the car while her husband went out to the other vehicle.

The small town of Superior, Wisconsin may emerge as an unlikely American maritime hub for Canadian crude if plans to transport Alberta oil sands oil across the Great Lakes come to pass. There are many hurdles to cross. The first is a proposal to repair a shipping dock on Lake Superior that would set the stage for the construction of an oil terminal feeding refineries in and around the Great Lakes. Superior-based Elkhorn Industries has applied for a permit to reconstruct 700 feet of dockwall with the Wisconsin Natural Resources Department, and the move has pricked the ears of those...

Heavy snow and travel disruptions will spread from the Midwest and into the Northeast as the day progresses on Saturday. The snowstorm will span more than 1,000 miles. Snow will fall on and impact every major city and rural area from St. Louis to Boston, including Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York City. The area encompasses about 110 million people.

NDIANAPOLIS, December 9, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Medical authorities in Indiana have asked an abortionist who violated a state law designed to catch child molesters to appear in person before renewing his license to practice. Dr. Ulrich George Klopfer must explain to the Indiana Medical Licensing Board why he failed to report performing two abortions on girls under the age of 14 in a timely manner, as required by law. Having sex with a minor 13 or younger is prosecuted as a felony, and abortionists must report performing abortions on young girls to the Department of Child Services and the Indiana...

The A Christmas Story House and Museum is not the only way fans can celebrate the film's legacy in Cleveland. Read on for a guide to all things "A Christmas Story"– just don't shoot your eye out. A Christmas Story House and Museum: Open seven days a week, year-round, at 3159 West 11th St. in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood. Call 216-298-4919 or email info@achristmasstoryhouse.com. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Tours of the house run every 30 minutes. Regular admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, $6 for children (ages 7 to 12) and free...

INDIANAPOLIS, IN, November 26, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – For Live Action, a newly released report that found Indiana abortionists are not complying with a state law designed to catch pedophiles may have brought on a sense of deja vu. The group caught one of the locations on tape covering up statutory rape five years ago. Under Indiana state law, a child 13 or younger cannot give consent for sex, and having sex with a minor that age is a felony. Abortionists must report any client under 14 to state authorities within three days, so they can promptly investigate potential child molestation....

At least four Indiana doctors have waited weeks or even months to report abortions provided to girls under 14 despite a law requiring them to do so within three days, according to state records. The law, intended to speed up reporting of statutory rape and sexual abuse, is part of a larger requirement for all Indiana abortions to be reported every six months. The law requires doctors to report within three days any abortions provided to girls 13 and younger to both the Department of Child Services and the Indiana State Department of Health. Breaking the law is a Class...

If you live in Indiana and had your health insurance plan canceled because of new federal health care requirements, the state's insurance commissioner says your policy will remain canceled. (AUDIO-AT-LINK) Insurance Commissioner Steven Robertson will not go along with a request from President Obama to ask insurance companies to reinstate canceled policies for one year. Obama announced the request last week after facing heavy criticism from both political parties over what appeared to be his broken promise that the Affordable Care Act would allow people to keep their health plans if they wanted. "The White House's statement last Thursday was...

A Texas Republican plans to introduce a resolution of Articles of Impeachment for Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday. Rep. Pete Olson’s (R-Texas) office said this morning that “this was not a decision made lightly,” but comes with Holder’s “pattern of disregard for the rule of law and refusal to be forthright with Congress and the American people” since being held in contempt in June 2012. That 255-67 vote on criminal contempt, which included 17 Democrats, was tied to the Fast and Furious scandal and marked the first time Congress has found an attorney general in contempt. A measure of...

Joe Thallemer has been dreading the decision since July. But that didn’t stop the official word from being handed down this week. PolyOne Designed Structures and Solutions will close a Warsaw plastics factory next year, putting 110 people out of work. As Warsaw’s mayor, Thallemer knew the Kosciusko County operation at 3454 N. Detroit St. could be affected by the Cleveland-based company’s announced consolidation. The plan eliminates 250 jobs and closes six factories. But the document he received this week from the company extinguished his last hope of escaping the cuts. “I’d like to think we’d be able to absorb...

Duties of Article V convention delegates. Describes the duties of delegates and alternate delegates to a convention called under Article V of the Constitution of the United States.Provides that a vote cast by a delegate or an alternate delegate that is outside the scope of the instructions given by the general assembly is void. Provides that a delegate or alternate delegate who votes or attempts to vote outside the scope of the instructions given by the general assembly forfeits the delegate's appointment by virtue of that vote or attempt to vote. Provides that the call by the general assembly for...

"Regulars say goodbye to Bloomington's second oldest restaurant....That Wednesday in September, the owner didn’t know what to do with himself. The smell of frying oil, the same greasy perfume that had greeted customers for 46 years, wafted into his nose as he wandered past the vinyl booths. He sat down, then stood up again. Bud — everyone called him Bud — checked on the dwindling supply of breakfast sausage, peered into the nearly empty freezers, tried to explain to his regulars why it had to be this way........"

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Tim Bowers loved the outdoors. Hunting gave him the quiet time during which he could reflect on a busy life that included a new wife, a successful business and a baby on the way...

In rare political remarks since becoming president of Purdue University, former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has voiced sharp disagreement with many fellow Republicans over whether the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration should continue. Daniels, once director of the Office of Management and Budget under George W. Bush, dubbed sequestration a "bad idea" during a press breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. In so doing, the 64-year-old Daniels put himself on the opposite side of such national conservative leaders as Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, who recently told Newsmax "in the short term, it's important to...

Philadelphia city council members have approved a resolution that calls for socialist historian Howard Zinn’s book “A People’s History of the United States” to be taught in public high schools. The resolution was backed by council members Jim Kenny and Jannie Blackwell, who believe that Zinn’s far-left socialist vision of American history is currently missing from high school textbooks. “Howard Zinn’s ‘A People’s History of the United States’ emphasizes the role of working people, women, people of color, and organized social movements in shaping history; not simply the version retold by those powerful enough to ensure history remembers their actions...

An iconic Michiana company is closing. Tuesday, FOX28 talked with owners of the Bonnie Doon plant and downtown Mishawaka location. They tell us there are many reasons for the shutdown such as the declining economy and the rise in production costs. But the number one factor? The anticipated cost of the Affordable Care Act.

FORT WAYNE, IN, October 14, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An abortionist who did not report a 13-year-old girl's abortion in accordance with state law is facing almost 500 new complaints of abortion reporting errors. Indiana Right to Life and Allen County Right to Life filed 487 complaints with Indiana's state attorney general against Dr. Ulrich George Klopfer of Crete, Illinois.

A video uploaded to YouTube by a pro-life organization appears to show a university student verbally attacking a campus pro-life group on Thursday. Students For Life said in an email that the video, which has garnered a little over 2k views since it was posted Thursday, captures “one of the most disturbing ones our team has yet to take on a college campus.” The 26-second clip appears to show an unidentified student at Indiana University approaching the pro-life college group, allegedly upset with a display they had erected on the campus. “You’re in conflict with the world that I want...

FORT WAYNE, IN, September 18, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Indiana abortionist failed to report performing an abortion on a 13-year-old girl, as required by Indiana law, possibly allowing her abuser to go free, a new complaint says. Dr. Ulrich George Klopfer performed a suction curettage abortion on a young black girl at Fort Wayne Women's Health Organization on February 7. The baby was at 11 weeks gestation. The girl had not yet reached the eighth grade.

The modern-day tulip tree, state tree of Indiana as well as Kentucky and Tennessee, can trace its lineage back to the time of the dinosaurs, according to newly published research by an Indiana University paleobotanist and a Russian botanist. The tulip tree, Liriodendron tulipfera, has been considered part of the magnolia family. But David Dilcher of Indiana University Bloomington and Mikhail S. Romanov of the N.V. Tsitsin Main Botanical Garden in Moscow show that it is closely related to fossil plant specimens from the Lower Cretaceous period. Their findings suggest the tulip tree line diverged from magnolias more than 100...

The first eight-plus months of 2013 have convinced us of one thing: Rand Paul acts and the rest of the potential 2016 Republican presidential field reacts. On drones, Paul led a 13-hour-long filibuster that drew Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (among others) to the floor in support. On Syria, Paul was out front in his opposition to a military strike — a position that 30 of his Senate Republican colleagues shared as of this writing. Those 30 include both Rubio,who voted against the use-of-force resolution in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. ... Below are our rankings...

Indiana University is firing 50 maintenance and custodial workers and shifting them to a temp agency to avoid incurring Obamacare costs. WRTV Indiana says Indiana University already spends $215 million on healthcare annually.

The federal government granted Indiana a year-long Obamacare waiver on Tuesday, allowing the state to continue to run its own Medicaid pilot program, The Washington Post reports. Indiana, along with Iowa and Arkansas, requested major exemptions from the law, and is the first state to receive one. “Securing a waiver to continue the Healthy Indiana Plan is a victory for Hoosiers enrolled in this innovative program and will ensure that Indiana remains at the forefront of consumer-driven healthcare in the United States,” Republican Gov. Mike Pence said in a statement. Pence will now consider expanding Medicaid under the state’s “Healthy...

A Lake County judge has ruled Indiana’s so-called “right to work” law unconstitutional. During a legal challenge launched by Local 150, Judge John Sedia took issue with the part of the law requiring unions to represent workers while making illegal for them to require membership dues. “The right to work law here is unsafe, unfair and an unnecessary law and now it’s been ruled unconstitutional, so we couldn’t be more pleased,” said Jeff Harris, spokesman for the Indiana AFL/CIO. “The court in Lake County has said (to the legislature), you’re requiring this statute, you’re requiring citizens and organizations in this...