Daniels and death penalty. Given his usual (and much vaunted) decisiveness, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette finds Governor Daniels ambivalence about the death penalty to be odd and something of a cop out.

“I honestly would say on different days I can feel differently about that, but that’s because this is a values issue – one that every citizen has to search his or her own heart on,” Daniels said. “And the people of Indiana very clearly believe that at least in the worst of cases, the option of the penalty is appropriate, and I agree.”

That’s all well and good for the ordinary Hoosier, says the Journal Gazette, but Daniels is the only one other than a judge who can do something about the death penalty. (To quote the Spiderman cliche, “With great power, comes great responsibility.”)

If all goes according to schedule, Daniels will preside over 7 executions this year — more by any non-Southern governor since Missouri’s 9 in 1999. According to the Journal Gazette, “If Daniels is open enough to say he’s conflicted on this subject, he has both the obligation and opportunity to open debate on the death penalty’s merits.”

For myself, the fact of executing a person for a horrible crime doesn’t bother me. What does bother me is the imperfection of the fact finding process. Our legal system is a good one, but it’s imperfect too often for something as important as the death penalty. The stories a couple of years back about Illinois’ investigation into its death penalty system and the people it had on death row was eye opening to me. It led to former Illinois Gov. George Ryan to commute the death sentences of the state’s death row inmates. Given Daniels’ ambivalence, perhaps he should open an investigation into Indiana’s death row inmates to make sure we don’t have innocent people (or people convicted on shaky evidence) on our own death row.

The Muncie Star Press has an article entitled “New Law Aids Births Outside Hospital. Specifically, the law in question is SEA 568 which requires birthing centers and abortion clinics to be licensed by the state department of health.

The law defines “birthing center” as “”a free-standing entity that has the sole purpose of delivering a normal or uncomplicated pregnancy.” According to the article, because such centers were unregulated, Medicaid paid only half of the cost. At the center they looked at, the cost was about $4,100, including pre-natal care, delivery, and follow up. Besides the one in Muncie, the only such center is in Indianapolis.

According to the article, about 20% of the patients end up having to be transferred to a normal hospital, usually for non-emergency reasons such as weak contractions requiring Pitocin.

I guess it’s like a fair number of other conditions. It’s nice to have an alternative that doesn’t require the medical expertise and associated expense of a doctor. But when you need a doctor, you really need a doctor.

An AP story in the Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette: BMV Commissioner Joel Silverman says that an additional 20 to 70 BMV branches could be closed on top of the 12 already scheduled.

The Indy Star has an article entitled Analysis finds other little-used BMV sites. The paper reports finding 30 branches that do as little business as the 12 already scheduled to close per the order of BMV Commissioner Joel Silverman. The Star also found a wide discrepancy between the efficiency of various branches. “For example, the average number of transactions handled per employee last year was 2,966 at the Virginia Avenue branch in Indianapolis, compared with an average of 9,777 at the Plainfield branch.”

I did a quick Plogress scan for Rep. Michael Sodrel of Indiana’s 9th Congressional District. I came across this gem (2005-05-26)

Co-Sponsor of H.R.2679:
To amend the Revised Statutes of the United States to eliminate the
chilling effect on the constitutionally protected expression of
religion by State and local officials that results from the threat that
potential litigants may seek damages and attorney’s fees.

The text of the bill wasn’t currently available, but it sounds like a bill that will satisfy a desperate need. Certainly we can all agree that we never, ever hear politicians embrace religion. And that has to change.

According to the AP — Daniels: BMV closings will be altered Let me guess, the license branch in Senator Garton’s district will remain open. More on the BMV closings in this prior entry.

The Lafayete Journal & Courier has an article on Gov. Daniels remarks to a Purdue University summit on manufacturing. Gov. Daniels says that advanced manufacturing is important to Indiana’s future. It’s not a surprising statement, given his audience, but it’s nice to hear the Daniels administration endorsing manufacturing and technology rather than agriculture as important to the state’s future.

“We’d better find ways to advance manufacturing. We don’t have an economy without it,” Daniels said during a keynote speech at Purdue University to 400 people attending Manufacturing Summit IV: Advancing Manufacturing in Indiana.

“To the extent that public policy can advance manufacturing, we’re willing to do it. Yes, we are more dependent on manufacturing than any other state. But we must never lose sight that it is the backbone of our economy and had better stay that way.”

The article also mentions that Sen. Bayh has announced $1.5 million worth of pork allocated to Purdue’s Center for Advanced Manufacturing. The money is appropriated in a Defense Bill which has not yet been approved by the Senate or signed by Pres. Bush.

The article also has a snapshot of manufacturing in Indiana:

A look at manufacturing in Indiana

* Employment: Accounted for 573,039 direct jobs in 2003, which is 20 percent of the state’s total work force, but represents a 6 percent decline from the 609,000 direct jobs in 1990.

* Wages: Provided an annual salary-per-job of $45,459, which is 36 percent greater than the state’s non-farm average salary of $33,379.

* Economy: Contributed $53.7 billion to Indiana’s gross state product, which represented 30 percent of the state’s 2001gross state product.

* Tax base: Supported more than $2.5 billion in state and local income tax payments by individuals, which represented 53 percent of all state and local income taxes paid in calendar year 2002.

* Source: Report released in January titled “What Indiana Makes, Makes Indiana.” Contributors were Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, Indiana Manufacturers Association and the Indiana Department of Commerce.

The Pharos Tribune has a good article on the possibility of property taxes going up because of, among other reasons, fading revenues from gambling. It includes extensive quotations from everybody’s favorite economist, Larry DeBoer.

Doctor says legislators ill-advised on abortion.

I don’t have time at the moment to analyze the article, but the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has today’s installment of Enacted legislation, everyday lives: Fewer cases, more work for caseworker

They take a look at Division of Family & Children caseworker Julia McIntosh. My guess is that the article reveals that social work is labor intensive, difficult, and underfunded.