From Hoosier Political Report:

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From The Herald Bulletin:

Nestlé USA announced Tuesday that it would expand its 880,000-square-foot facility in Anderson to more than 1,000,000 square feet, adding 135 jobs to the 300 at the facility in the process. Gov. Mitch Daniels, U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Indiana, state Rep. Terri Austin, D-36, and state Rep. Scott Reske, D-37, joined Nestlé representatives and Mayor Kris Ockomon for a small conference Tuesday morning at the Anderson factory. Read more...

From Greene Count, IN:

Rick Marshall, Democrat candidate for State Representative in Indiana House District 45, has announced his plan to help curb the current foreclosure crisis that has forced thousands of Hoosier families from their homes and driven property values down.

"Hoosiers are struggling to cope with high gas and food prices, rising healthcare costs and continuing job losses. As a result, thousands of families are failing to keep up with their mortgage payments and are losing their homes," Marshall said. "Our neighborhoods are becoming overrun with homes that have been boarded up and left empty. We can no longer stand by and watch as whole sections of our communities get auctioned off at sheriff's sales and become hotbeds for criminal activity." Read more...

From The Herald Bulletin:

State Rep. Scott E. Reske, D-Pendleton, announced his plan Wednesday to help stem the tide of foreclosures that has forced thousands of Hoosier families from their homes and decreased property values. The announcement comes as state officials announced that 360 mortgage lenders in Indiana failed to comply with a 2007 state law designed to increase safeguards and help prevent foreclosures. The law, supported by Reske, requires each licensed mortgage office in Indiana to employ a principal manager who has completed the Principal Manager Assessment.

“Madison County families are losing their homes because they cannot make mortgage payments and pay for increasing gas, utilities, and food costs,” Reske said. “Indiana currently ranks 11th in foreclosure fillings. As state officials, we must take action.”

For the past decade, Indiana has ranked above the national average in mortgage foreclosures. A recent study by the Center for Responsible Lending projected that more than 48,000 homes in Indiana will be foreclosed this year alone, and that Indiana homes have seen their property values drop by nearly $1 billion due to foreclosures. The average Indiana home has lost $1,760 in property value. Read more...

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From Winchester News-Gazette:

Andy Schemenaur, Democratic candidate for Indiana House District 33, Friday expressed concern regarding the recent manure spill that resulted in the death of thousands of fish in the Mississinewa River near Union City.Indiana Department of Natural Resources has counted about 10,000 dead fish and expects the number to possibly reach 40,000. The spill was caused by heavy rains that washed manure from a hog operation into a drainage tile into the river. The farm had recently applied 27,000 gallons of manure to a field near the river.

“I am saddened by this news and it sheds light on the need for us to review our efforts to ensure our rivers, streams, and water sources are safe," he said. As a fourth-generation farmer, Schemenaur said he believes in protecting the quality of life for Hoosier families. He supports common-sense regulations on Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) such as setback requirements that prohibit CAFOs from being built too close to places such as child care centers, schools, health facilities, neighborhoods or water sources. Read more...

From The Journal & Courier:

Two area Democratic candidates for state office released party platform plans earlier this week on ways to stem Indiana's foreclosure rate through new legislation. John Polles, candidate for House District 26, and Myron Sutton, candidate for House District 15, said foreclosures cause problems for the home-owner, the neighborhood and the entire community.

THE PLAN
Polles and Sutton are among the Democrats proposing a three-pronged legislative agenda:
One, banning prepayment penalties on all subprime loans.
Two, requiring lenders to include taxes and insurance cost in subprime mortgage payments and review whether borrowers can repay their loans. Both measures are imposed in 10 other states.
And, third, look for gaps or duplicative efforts in state assistance programs and the Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act recently passed by Congress. Read more...

From Indianapolis, NWI Times:

Democrat Myron Sutton announced plans to seek greater protection against mortgage foreclosure Monday as part of his bid for Indiana House District 15.Sutton, a former Newton County sheriff, said lenders should be required to consider insurance costs and property taxes when determining whether a prospective borrower can afford a home loan. He also wants Indiana to prohibit penalties that make it difficult for home buyers to refinance risky subprime mortgages."As Newton County's sheriff, it was my job to conduct sheriff's sales," Sutton said, referring to auctions of foreclosed homes. "I've seen the pains of foreclosures: court orders evicting people from their homes, families losing their farms, the stress placed on those trying to save their home. Plus, the foreclosure's effect spills over to the entire neighborhood and community. Surrounding homes suffer a decrease in price because nobody wants a boarded up home on their street." Read more...

From My Wabash Valley:

Nancy Michael, a Democratic candidate for the House in District 44, said the state government is not doing enough to invest in diversifying energy resources. Michael says she believes that the state government is failing to be leaders in the charge to find new sources of energy. "I want to talk about long term solutions,” Michael said. “Obviously I believe as leaders, as someone who is running for office, that the state really needs to step up and put more of an investment and more efforts to the incentives we're putting forth to creating alternative energy sources." Recently, Michael proposed to permanently eliminate gasoline sales tax. At the current price, that tax cut would reduce the average price of gas by 24 cents per gallon.

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From Pendleton, IN: The Herald Bulletin

A Pendleton family mourns today, five days after one of its members was killed in Iraq. Sgt. Brian K. Miller, who was killed in Abd Allah in central Iraq Saturday, left behind a wife, Becky, and two children, a daughter, 13, and son, 10. “He was a wonderful father, wonderful husband, wonderful soldier,” said April Miller, a fellow military wife and friend of the family who is not related to Brian Miller.

State Rep. Scott Reske, D-Pendleton, expressed sadness at Miller’s death. “It’s frustrating to lose people over there, and it’s doubly frustrating when it’s so close to home,” said Reske, who served the war effort in Iraq in 2004 with the Marine Corps Reserve. “We’ve had a high number of people killed in Iraq from this area. You do have a brother-sister kinship with all your fellow servicemen. It’s a shared loss.” Reske’s brother, Clifford, was a battalion surgeon in Iraq. “I just can’t imagine what it’s like to be a family member and lose someone over there,” Scott Reske said. “I know the stress because my brother and I were over there at the same time.”

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From The Winchester News Gazette, IN:

House District 33 candidate Andy Schemenaur Tuesday announced his support for increasing our states investment in alternative energy sources to cut energy costs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Schemenaur says we need to do more to find longer term solutions to our energy crisis. "Our state government must set an example for utilizing alternative energy sources," Schemenaur said. "We can make a bold statement that Indiana is committed to the future, by investing in alternative energy and biofuels. We can raise the bar for generations to come, while saving tax payer dollars at the same time."

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From WLFI,

A Democratic candidate for State Representative is calling for more state investment in alternative energy. John Polles says Indiana lags behind other Midwestern states in moving government to be more energy efficient. Polles is seeking the District 26 seat in the Indiana House. He said one step would be to improve incentives for the production of alternative energy. "These incentives are available but they're not very streamlined, they're not very well known, not publicized," Polles said. "And, where we don't have enough incentives to encourage the use of wind, solar, and the bio-fuels, and eventually hydrogen, then we should make an effort to build those incentives into the code, and then publicize them."

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