IMPD Claims It Accidentally Destroyed Cocaine Evidence For Drug Dealer's Trial, Along With Evidence In 20 Other Cases

IMPD Chief Rick Hite has confirmed to Fox59 News' Russ McQuaid that clerks in the department's property control room inadvertently destroyed cocaine being held for the pending trial of an accused drug dealer, Marlon Long, last October while clerks were supposedly shuffling evidence during a conversion to a new computer system. About one kilo of cocaine with a street value of approximately $30,000 was destroyed, along with 149 other pieces of evidence affecting about 20 cases. “We’ve identified 149 pieces of which 89 pieces were salvaged so that means there were about 20 cases that were impacted by that,” said IMPD Chief Rick Hite. Despite the loss of the primary evidence in Long's case, McQuaid reports that he was nonetheless convicted during his jury trial last week using photographs and lab test results. This comes just two years after the department's public embarrassment from the mishandling of blood alcohol evidence for the trial of former IMPD Officer David Bisard, who killed one motorcyclist and injured two others critically while driving his police cruiser on duty drunk.

Purdue Shooting Anomalies

We're being hit with these school shootings "fast and furious" nowadays, making it difficult to separate them. Today was Purdue University's turn. We're told that around noon today a 23-year old teaching assistant in the electrical engineering department, Cody Cousins of Centerville, Ohio, walked into Room EE067 in the basement of the Electrical Engineering Building, a lab classroom that holds approximately 25 students, and shot at point blank range another teaching assistant, 21-year old Andrew Boldt of West Bend, Wisconsin. Purdue Police Chief John Cox told reporters that Cousins fired about 4 or 5 shots in what he described as a targeted, intentional shooting. A student in the adjacent classroom, Nick Wieland, told the Journal & Courier that he heard about two shots ring out before hearing a man scream.

Cox told reporters that nearly a dozen police officers were on the scene within minutes, and Cousins walked out of the building unarmed and surrendered to police without resisting. The Journal & Courier has a video on its website showing Cousins' peaceful arrest out front of the building after he laid face down before being placed in handcuffs. According to West Lafayette police, Cousins has been preliminarily charged with murder and is being held at the Tippecanoe County Jail. The following text message alert went out to all Purdue students on campus within minutes of the shooting.

Purdue spokesperson Liz Evans spoke to CNN's Wolf Blitzer nearly 90 minutes after the shooting had occurred but could still not identify whether anyone had been injured or killed in the shooting, only that one person had been taken into custody. At 1:50 p.m., the Purdue Exponent reported that  Prof. David Meyer, the professor of the classroom where the shooting occurred, sent out the following e-mail message: "IMPORTANT: Any student that witnessed the incident today (Tuesday, January 21) in room EE 067 please contact the Purdue police department as soon as possible." News reports haven't identified what kind of gun Cousins allegedly used in the shooting. West Lafayette police told reporters that a search warrant had been issued this afternoon following the shooting for Cousins' residence, but he could not confirm whether any weapons had been recovered from his residence. Cousins made no statement to police at the time of his arrest.

Acquaintances of  Cousins tells WTHR-TV that they didn't view him as being a violent person, let alone capable of committing murder. "That's the thing. He never showed us a gun, talked about a gun, was violent. He was always...there was no indication that he would ever, like, snap or do anything physical," said neighbor Tom Novak. "I've seen him intoxicated, too, and he was never violent, you know."He had one prior arrest during his years at Purdue for public intoxication. Cousins' landlord described him as clean-cut guy who was well-organized.

Alleged Shooter Cody Cousins

Shooting victim Andrew Boldt

Classes at Purdue were cancelled this afternoon and have been suspended for Wednesday as well. Purdue President Mitch Daniels was outside the country on a week-long trip to Columbia when he learned of the shooting. University officials say that he is cutting short his trip and expects to return to the campus tomorrow afternoon.


The conspiratorial website, NoDisInfo.com, quickly dismissed the Purdue shooting, like other recent school shootings, as nothing more than a hoax, although it presents no evidence to back up the claim.
 

Former Republican Virginia Governor And Wife Indicted For Illegally Accepting Gifts, Vacations and A Loan

I would say this should serve as a warning to Indiana elected officials who do the same thing, but our federal prosecutors refuse to prosecute elected official who regularly engage in these practices without consequences. Former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, have been indicted by federal prosecutors in Virginia for multiple counts of illegally accepting gifts, vacations and a loan from a prominent Richmond businessman, Jonnie Williams, Sr. McDonnell supposedly granted preferential treatment to Williams in exchange for the things of value that he and his wife received from him. This is a common practice in Indiana as I've discussed ad hominem on this blog that is never prosecuted in this state.

Bosma Reassigns Marriage Amendment From Judiciary Committee To Elections Committee In Last Ditch Effort To Save It

House Speaker Brian Bosma has apparently opted to reassign HJR-3, the proposed constitutional amendment to add Indiana's statutory ban on same-sex marriages to Indiana's Bill of Rights, from the Judiciary Committee to the Elections Committee to ensure its safe passage to the full House. As first reported on this blog, Bosma threatened to remove several Republican members of the Judiciary Committee who were leaning against voting for the amendment, enough votes to sink it in committee when combined with the four Democratic no votes on the committee.

Some Republican insiders believe that Bosma may be setting himself up or other Republican lawmakers who are supporting the marriage amendment for inopportune public disclosure of political career-ending scandals in his overzealous pursuit of enshrining discrimination against the state's gay and lesbian citizens in the state's constitution. A growing number of Republican lawmakers are incensed with Bosma for pushing this hot button social issue in light of shifting public opinion, particular among younger voters, on the acceptance of same-sex marriages.

Many Republicans want to end this madness now before it further erodes the party's image through such public displays of intolerance, noting that legally the amendment is completely unnecessary given Indiana's current defense of marriage law banning same-sex marriages. If the state law is eventually overturned as unconstitutional by the federal courts, as many now believe it will be, the enactment of a state constitutional amendment will make no difference as has already happened in other states like Utah and Oklahoma. Some Republican leaders and candidates fear that placing the issue on the ballot will drive voters to the polls who might not otherwise turn out in an off-year election to stop the poorly-conceived amendment to the detriment of the party's candidates by distracting from far more important issues on which a majority of  voters side with the party.

UPDATE: Freedom Indiana's Megan Robertson, a lesbian and Republican political consultant, issued a statement late this afternoon reacting negatively to Bosma's latest move:

"Thousands of opponents of HJR-3 have called, written and come in person to the Statehouse to explain to lawmakers how this divisive amendment will harm our families, friends and loved ones. We've explained the very real problems with this amendment through our personal stories. We've followed the legislative process with an earnest expectation that legislators truly seek to represent their constituents.    

"We found that to be the case with the legislators serving on the House Judiciary Committee, but House Speaker Brian Bosma broke his commitment to Hoosiers to uphold the traditional legislative process. Speaker Bosma repeatedly promised to treat this issue like any other bill and that no one person would not make this decision. We are proud of the way we have conducted ourselves and disappointed that Speaker Bosma did not live up to his word.  

"Would we change our actions had we known all along that one man planned to change the rules to push this divisive amendment through? Absolutely not. And this power play only spurs us to fight harder. Today is a dark day for democracy in the state of Indiana, but we are more committed than ever to defeat this amendment for the good of our state, our economy and our future together."

Chicago Using $21.5 Million In Surplus TIF Revenues To Hire Extra Teachers

Surplus TIF revenues in Indianapolis are passed out by the tens of millions of dollars to politically-connected developers like Flaherty & Collins, which stuffs a lot of money in Mayor Greg Ballard's campaign war chest. In Chicago, surplus TIF funds are being allocated to the City's financially-pressed schools. The Chicago public schools announced that it will use $21.5 million in surplus TIF revenues allocated to the school district in November to hire more teachers according to the Chicago Tribune.

A proposal is pending before the Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee that would allocate up to $23 million in surplus TIF funds from the downtown TIF district to fund a 28-story luxury high-rise apartment building that Flaherty & Collins plans to build on the former Market Square Arena site that is outside the TIF district. Mayor Ballard is gifting the valuable land to the developer that should be used to build a new criminal justice center. The City-County Council is expected to approve the give-away once council members have cut their deals with the developer to get their "fair share" of the project. When it's all done and said, taxpayers will wind up paying at least 45% of the $81 million cost of building the high-rise luxury living apartments to provide subsidize housing for the top 1%.

Another Day Of Chemtrail Bombardment

It's like clockwork. Whenever there is an approaching frontal system, the skies over Indianapolis as indicated by the photo at the top taken at 38th and Fall Creek early this morning are bombarded with chemtrails, ionized aerosols which are sprayed from jet aircraft flying about 30 miles above ground level and which contain aluminum and barium oxides, among other forms of ionized metal aerosols. An approaching weather system is predicted to lay down another 1 to 3 inches of snow tonight. The spraying is part of the government's HAARP weather modification program that the lamestream media wants you to believe really doesn't exist. Anyone who goes through life with their eyes open can see the dramatic changes these artificially-created clouds are having on our weather, not to mention human health, as opposed to the CO2 emissions the loony environmentalists want you to believe is causing global warming. God only knows what negative harm this chemical spraying has on the Earth's environment as the toxic metals pollute our soil and water sources and enter our food chain. Upper respiratory afflictions in humans flare up every day this spraying occurs. Wake up, people. Who gave the government a license to play God?

Below is a rare example of a local TV weatherman providing his viewers an honest explanation of describing what a chemtrail is versus normal contrails emitted by jet aircraft.

NBA Deal Will Save Pacers Millions But Don't Expect Indianapolis Taxpayers To Get A Break

A new collective bargaining agreement in the NBA more than two years ago shifted at least $200 million to the pockets of the NBA franchise owners, a move that netted millions annually in savings to the billionaire owner of the Pacers, Herb Simon. Despite that windfall, Simon continues to receive $10 million annual subsidies courtesy of the Capital Improvement Board. Now comes word that a new NBA deal that is expected to save the Pacers about $5 million as revenues from ticket sales climb during the franchise's most successful season in many years. Nonetheless, don't expect the greedy billionaire to show any charity when it comes to Indianapolis taxpayers, who have subsidized his business endeavors to the tune of more than $250 million over the years.

The latest deal stems from a 1976 agreement the NBA made with the owners of the St. Louis ABA franchise when it absorbed other ABA teams but cut the St. Louis franchise out of the merger. The teams absorbed by the NBA were required to indefinitely share one-seventh of their national television revenue according to the IBJ. In 2011, the former owners of the St. Louis franchise took the NBA to court seeking a larger share of the television revenues. According to the IBJ, the Pacers' share of payments to the St. Louis owners, Ozzie and Daniel Silna, amounted to approximately $5 million a year. An upfront payment of about $500 million may be part of a settlement agreement between the NBA and the Silna brothers to extricate the other former ABA teams from the revenue sharing agreement. The IBJ expects the deal to save the Pacers millions in annual payments.

Barnes & Thornburg Returns $35,000 To Fair Finance Trustee

Last November, I mentioned the belated issuance of subpoenas to two Indianapolis law firms that had performed legal work for convicted Ponzi schemer Tim Durham, including Barnes & Thornburg and Bingham Greenebaum Doll, the law firm at which U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett was a partner immediately before his appointment by President Barack Obama. A status report filed by the Fair Finance bankruptcy trustee for a January 21, 2014 status conference states that the trustee has recovered $35,000 from Barnes & Thornburg since the last status conference in December. A motion approving a settlement with the law firm has not yet been filed with the Court.

Barnes & Thornburg's role in assisting Durham has always been a bit of a mystery. When the former acting U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison surprised legal observers by dismissing a civil forfeiture action his office filed only a week after it was filed contemporaneously with the FBI's raid on Durham's offices on November 24, 2009, rumors circulated that Barnes & Thornburg's Larry Mackey, a former federal prosecutor, had intervened on behalf of Durham to get the civil forfeiture action dismissed, a move that greatly hampered the recovery of the more than $200 million out of which Durham and his business associates had defrauded small investors in Ohio. Defrauded investors were compelled to file an involuntary bankruptcy petition against Fair Finance, a time-consuming legal process that led to the appointment of Brian Bash as bankruptcy trustee. Bash has successfully collected only a fraction of the investors' lost money, virtually all of which has been consumed to date by bankruptcy trustee fees and expenses.

Indianapolis Airport Cop Caught By TSA Trying To Board Plane Without Going Through Security

A woman described as a "high-ranking" member of the Indianapolis International Airport was nabbed by TSA agents for attempting to board a Southwest Airlines on January 4 without going through the security checkpoint required of all passengers boarding flights at the airport. According to WRTV's Rafael Sanchez, Lt. Angela Lee used her airport credentials to bypass security not once but twice to avoid missing her flight. After being stopped the first time and turned away, she found another way around security and boarded the flight. Upon learning of the breach, TSA agents boarded the flight and escorted Lee from the flight.

Lee will not lose her job as a result of her transgression. Airport Executive Director Robert Duncan tells WRTV that Lee was suspended without pay for two weeks. "We had a police officer that used incredibly bad judgment in bypassing security so that the officer wouldn't miss a flight that was actually pretty important to the officer, because it was designed for her to hook up with her mother and sister for a cruise," said Duncan. "Unfortunately she used incredibly bad judgment in trying to expedite the flight, and because of our layered security, she got caught and there was a consequence." No police report was filed because the TSA chose not to charge Lee since it was satisfied with the punishment meted out to her by the airport authority, although the TSA acknowledged that it's up to airport police whether to charge someone who violated security rules.