IS IT TRUE last week the Clinton Foundation confirmed it accepted a $1 million gift from Qatar while Hillary Clinton was U.S. Secretary of State ?   …this happened without informing the State Department? … this also happened after Hillary Clinton promised to let the State Department review new or significantly increased support from foreign governments?

WHATS ON YOUR MIND TODAY?

Todays “READERS POLL” question is: How are you going to vote in this election?

Please take time and read our newest feature articles entitled “IU WOMEN’S-MENS SWIM AND DIVING TEAMS”.

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For more than 30 years, the Vanderburgh Humane Society has offered Pet Pictures with Santa.

Through this event, VHS raises money while also doing something fun out in the community.

Organizers say it is a unique way for families to get the pets on the Christmas cards.

Santa will be at Washington Square Mall until 7 Friday night to take pet pictures.

Saturday the event is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from Noon to 4 p.m.

State Ends Fiscal Year 2016 With a $50.6 Million Surplus; Reserves At Highest Amount Ever

Indianapolis – Lieutenant Governor Eric Holcomb joined State Auditor Suzanne Crouch today to discuss the state’s fiscal condition following the close of Fiscal Year 2016 (FY 2016). They released the state’s 2016 Closeout Report, which highlights Indiana’s accomplishments in the last year and demonstrates Indiana’s sound fiscal health.

The report shows that the state ended FY 2016 with a structural surplus of $50.6 million, despite revenues that were below forecast, primarily because of low gas prices. Reserves are at the highest amount ever in Indiana, at more than $2.24 billion. This was achieved in spite of the fact that Indiana’s total revenue growth in FY 2016 is $111.3 million below the most recent, downward revised forecast and $78.5 million below actual revenue collected in FY 2015.

“Hoosiers should be encouraged that Indiana’s financial record remains strong and their tax dollars are being used wisely,” said Governor Mike Pence. “In the last year, we provided additional funding to strengthen Indiana’s roads and bridges, prioritized education, and bolstered regional collaboration and economic development by investing in our Regional Cities Initiative. We are able to cut taxes while still funding our priorities and maintaining our highest reserve level yet because of our prudent fiscal management and commonsense policies.”

“Hoosiers deserve to know their hard-earned dollars are being spent in a responsible manner,” said Lieutenant Governor Eric Holcomb. “In Indiana, every tax dollar is spent with serious consideration and respect for the individuals who earned those dollars. By keeping prudent reserves and identifying areas of potential growth, we can continue to make Indiana a fiscal leader.”

Indiana remains fiscally strong and is one of only 12 states in the nation to maintain a AAA credit rating with all three major credit rating agencies. Standard and Poor’s reaffirmed Indiana’s AAA credit rating in April, and Fitch Ratings reaffirmed the state’s AAA credit rating in June.

“Serving as Indiana’s Chief Financial Officer, my office accounts for and reports on our state’s income and expenditures,” said State Auditor Suzanne Crouch. “By operating with a balanced budget and living within our means, Indiana has maintained strong reserves as well as our AAA credit rating. Focusing on maximizing efficiency and ensuring every dollar is spent in a transparent and accountable manner, I’m proud to report back to hard-working Hoosiers that once again, Indiana remains a model of fiscal integrity.”

The Governor signed into law the biennial budget for fiscal years 2016-2017 on May 7, 2015. The budget is honestly balanced, holds the line on spending, reduces state debt, and maintains reserves while also making historic investments in education, innovation, and reform.

The FY 2016 Closeout Report is available at http://www.in.gov/sba/2362.htm. FY 16 Closeout infographics can be found attached.

CRIMINAL-IN-CHIEF HILLARY

Making Sense by Michael Reagan

As I’ve said:

He’s embarrassing.

He’s a narcissist.

He’s running the worst presidential campaign I’ve seen in my lifetime.

But Donald Trump is not a criminal.

He’s not a professional liar.

He’s not an untrustworthy politician.

Hillary Clinton is all three —- and much worse.

Thanks to Wikileaks (and no thanks to the mainstream news media), we’re getting new details every day about the Clinton Foundation, the global private-public racket Hillary and Bill set up to enrich themselves.

Given her 30-year track record of criminality, we’ll find out new dirt on her the next time Wikileaks dumps a couple thousand more John Podesta emails.

But we already know what Hillary is. She is a crook. She is a liar. She is untrustworthy. She is corrupt. She is incompetent.

Her judgment in and out of office has been shockingly bad, whether she’s enabling the insatiable sexual and financial greed of her pretend husband, ignoring government rules about having a private email server, defying a congressional subpoena, cheerleading the toppling of Libya or using a charitable foundation as a front to rake in millions of dollars in global graft for her crime family.

Until now, Hillary virtually has been given a free pass to the White House by two of the most important mainstream media places — the front pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post.

But Wikileaks’ data dumps are finally forcing both of the journalists of those institutions to put aside their liberal biases and dig deeper into the oily workings of the Clinton Foundation —- aka, “Bill Clinton, Inc.”

Now the Post has given us the new phrase “Circle of Enrichment” to describe how the foundation’s operatives have filled Bill’s pockets with millions of corporate dollars for doing little more than being Hillary’s political husband.

Hillary Clinton has already proved, again and again, that she can not be trusted with even a little power.

As bad as Trump is, if she and her liberal cronies get their grubby hands on the White House they will make hundreds of appointments to the Defense Department, the IRS, the EPA and a thousand other federal places.

Unless a Republican Congress exists to stop her, President Hillary will give America more of everything it doesn’t need —- more taxes, more spending, more deficits, more regulations on business, more government health care, more gun laws, more illegal immigrants, more liberals on the Supreme Court.

Anyone who’s been reading this column for the last 15 months, or following my tweets @ReaganWorld, knows how I feel about Trump and how the inept GOP leadership allowed him to slime the Republican brand.

But as I said in my first tweet after the Republican Convention, I don’t want Donald Trump to lose because I didn’t show up at the voting booth.

No matter how bad he is, there is no doubt a president Trump will make better appointments, push better laws and be more honest than a president Hillary.

Trump has verbalized his positions terribly, run a terrible campaign and proves ten times a day that he’s not a politician.

But he’s not a criminal.

And if I have a choice between a narcissist and a criminal for president, I’m going to vote against the crook every time.

Cities Argue For Dismissal Of Suit Against Human Rights Ordinances

Olivia Covington for www.theindianalawyer.com

During a nearly 4 ½-hour hearing in Hamilton Superior Court Wednesday, attorneys for the cities of Carmel, Indianapolis, Bloomington and Columbus argued before Judge Steven Nation that the lawsuit brought against their human rights ordinances should be dismissed because the case is not ripe for judgment and because the plaintiffs have no legal standing to bring the action.

Those plaintiffs, the Indiana Family Institute, its advocacy arm, Indiana Family Action Inc., and American Family Association, are conservative nonprofits that advocate for traditional marriage and family values. The three plaintiffs are suing the four cities after they passed protections in their human rights ordinances that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity with limited or no exceptions.

Jim Bopp of the Bopp Law Firm, Terre Haute, based his argument on behalf of the plaintiffs on the “fix” to the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act that was signed into law in the spring of 2015.

Under the original legislation, Bopp said RFRA was written as a defense for private individuals who believe the government was substantially burdening their right to religious freedom. But after widespread backlash about the law, Indiana legislators created a “fix,” which states that an employer or service provider cannot not discriminate against a potential customer or employee on the basis of sexual or gender identity, unless the service provider or employer is affiliated with a church or is a member of the clergy.

Bopp argued that the RFRA fix is unconstitutional and would substantially burden the three plaintiffs if they wanted to host an event centered in one of the four defendant cities. Further, Bopp told Nation that the family values organizations want to offer their programs in the four cities, but intentionally are not doing so because of fear of legal retribution, a fact Bopp said proved the cities were unconstitutionally chilling the nonprofits from doing their desired work.

But counsel for each of the defendants brought the same argument before the judge: that Bopp and the plaintiffs had based their case around hypothetical situations and not actual facts and, thus, did not present a case that was ripe for consideration. Additionally, because Bopp’s argument relied on hypotheticals and not an actual injury, the attorneys also said the plaintiffs had no legal standing to bring the case.

Libby Goodknight, counsel for the city of Carmel, took aim at IFI and IFA’s claims against the city. AFA did not bring a complaint against Carmel.

IFI’s claim, Goodknight said, was that it could not provide programs to the general public in Carmel because they would be required to include same-sex marriage advocates in their programming, which would substantially burden their desire to share their views of Biblically based family values.

But the two programs the plaintiffs want to offer in Carmel – Hoosier Commitment and the Hoosier Leadership Series – are not open to the public but instead are tailored at low-income families and burgeoning conservative leaders, Goodknight said, so the “general public” argument could not apply.

IFA argued that it would like to increase its staff to at least six people, but doing so would trigger the anti-discrimination protections under the Carmel ordinance. Because of that, IFA has intentionally not increased its staff, which Bopp said also constitutes a chill. But Goodknight told the judge that there was no indication that IFA had ever had or would likely need six employees in the future.

On behalf of Indianapolis, Pam Schneeman told Nation that IFI and AFA had brought no actual factual claims against the city, only hypothetical situations, so the case should be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

Thomas Cameron, assistant city attorney for Bloomington, and Alan Whitted, Columbus city attorney, each told the court that they did not believe their city ordinances applied to the work the plaintiffs want to do in their cities because the ordinances provide protections based on sexual orientation, not beliefs about sexual orientation. Further, the southern Indiana lawyers also pointed out that the plaintiffs had never held events in Bloomington or Columbus.

But just because the cities’ governments believe the ordinance does not apply to the plaintiffs now does not mean they can’t change their mind in the future, Bopp said.

Nation made no comment about his thoughts on the case during the hearing and did not provide a timeframe for when his decision would be made.