http://www.indianabarrister.com Indiana Barrister is the source for local Indianapolis and Indiana news, politics and commentary. Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:31:07 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This week marked the first week of school for students at IPS' John Marshall Middle School on the city's east side. Unfortunately some parents forgot; about half of them. Out of about 800 students, nearly half of them have not shown up for class.  Lawrence Township Trustee ... http://www.indianabarrister.com/archives/2008/07/this_is_why_we_have_a_crime_problem.html Marion County Public Safety Director tells me the city does have a comprehensive plan to fighting crime and it is showing results, despite the sharp increase in homicides.  Scott Newman made his comments this morning as law enforcement officials were dealing with a murder-suicide that began in the 5700 block of ... http://www.indianabarrister.com/archives/2008/07/crime_beat.html Although the headlines have been pretty full lately, there are some things that have been under the surface that I think are worth mentioning. If you were wondering how a prominent pastor's daughter ended up being a victim of violent crime, my police sources say her husband was allegedly mixed up ... http://www.indianabarrister.com/archives/2008/07/in_case_you_were_wondering.html I now have a new tradition. The second Saturday night of Indiana Black Expo, I work the door at Nicki Blaine's Cigar and Martini bar. I do it to get a feel for the atmosphere and to see what problems occur when thousands of teenagers are unleashed on downtown Indianapolis and ... http://www.indianabarrister.com/archives/2008/07/saturday_night_special.html Marion County Public Safety Director Scott Newman has unveiled a plan to clean up IMPD.  Those measures include... More intensive supervision of officers in the field Tighter accounting and inventory controls of search warrants and seizures of drugs and money Bringing back the previous practice of polygraph tests for officers assigned to narcotics ... http://www.indianabarrister.com/archives/2008/07/fixing_franks_follies.html According to my colleague Jack Rinehart at RTV 6, City-County Councilor Paul Bateman is under investigation for his role in a charitable foundation that is missing more than $1.5 million. Marion County Grand Jurors served a search warrant last week on the headquarters of the Russel Foundation seizing computers, IRS records ... http://www.indianabarrister.com/archives/2008/07/this_cant_be_good.html I've gotten a preview of the next budget for Indianapolis, I'll have more details as they become available, but from what I can gather, things are not as bad we thought they were, they are much worse! So brace yourself for the disaster of almost Biblical proportions that ... http://www.indianabarrister.com/archives/2008/07/brace_yourself-2.html Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today! http://www.indianabarrister.com/archives/2008/07/take_a_moment_to_laugh.html Barack Obama is in Indiana today talking National Security at Purdue University.  That motivated me to look at some polling data between Barack and John McCain. Although the national polls show a virtual tie, when you look at the state polling data (which I argue is a more accurate measure) ... http://www.indianabarrister.com/archives/2008/07/pol_watching-2.html The numbers are in for Mitch Daniels and Jill Long Thompson.  In the interest of trying to keep this as consistent as possible I'm including what they started with, raised this year, spent and how much is in the bank.   That way you can draw your own conclusions. Daniels $6.7 million at ... http://www.indianabarrister.com/archives/2008/07/mo_money_mo_money_mo_money.html