Government

Bill would help schools to develop policies and provide education concerning dating violence

INDIANAPOLIS - Legislation authored by State Senator Earline S. Rogers (D-Gary) that would require school corporations to enact policies and educate young people about dating violence was amended and approved by the Senate Education and Career Development Committee by a vote of 8 to 1 today.

Indiana Senate passes redistricting reform legislation; bills move to Indiana House

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita praised the Indiana Senate for passing redistricting reform legislation that would establish guidelines for the legislative redistricting process following the census in 2011. The Senate also passed legislation that would establish a redistricting study committee to examine best practices from other states, including the practice of an independent commission to draw the maps.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Early this week the Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy committee unanimously approved Senate Bill (SB) 335 authored by State Senator John Broden (D-South Bend) that would protect purchasers of tax sale properties from excessive fees by a third party assisting in the sale.

SB 335 would establish that the money attained from a tax sale bid would first be applied to the taxes and other costs owed on the property, and then to other delinquent property taxes with the remainder to be added to a separate tax sale surplus fund.

Grant to Address Country's Most Delay-Prone Intercity Passenger Rail Line

GARY, IN - Indiana today received a $71.4 million grant for High-Speed Rail under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  The Midwest received $2.6 billion of the $8 billion distributed nationwide under this program.

WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Department of State has launched the first Information Technology Intern Exchange program. The Iraq Information Technology (IT) Intern Program is the first IT exchange program bringing six Iraqi information technology professionals to work and study in the U.S. from January 24 to April 27.

The six Iraqi technology interns will spend 12 weeks working with some of the leading technology firms in the country, acquiring critical IT and entrepreneurial skills that they will use to help develop the technology industry in Iraq.