Fort Wayne, Indiana accidentally banned eating and driving, as well as drinking non-alcoholic beverages and driving, thanks to poor draftsmanship in its open-container ordinance. Heh.

LaPorte, IN resident Jeff Ake, the owner of Equipment Express in Rolling Prairie, has been abducted by terrorists in Iraq, putting “the war right in our front yard.”

Ake was in Iraq to “construct integrated systems that will provide water bottles to be sold in Baghdad as part of the rebuilding effort,” according to the LaPorte Herald-Argus. His company also “made a system that filled containers with cooking oil that would be used by Iraqis,” according to the South Bend Tribune.

Members of the local community are keeping Jeff and his family in their thoughts and prayers. There will be a candlelight vigil today (Friday) at 7:00 PM at Fox Memorial Park in LaPorte (map).

I thought I’d blown my streak this morning — I arrived at the bus stop a minute or two late, and after five minutes of waiting, I was about to give up. But then the bus showed up — eight minutes late — and, thanks to the inefficiency of the South Bend Transpo, I made it to class! Woohoo! Now I just have to make it to Property and CivPro tomorrow…

P.S. Note re: “inefficiency”… in the Phoenix metro area, which is obviously much larger geographically than South Bend (and thus you’d think it would be more difficult to keep buses on schedule), the buses are virtually always within a range between one minute early and three minutes late. The only time my bus to work in the morning was more than five minutes late, it was because the driver had mysteriously not shown up for work that morning… and even then, it was only seven minutes late!! Here in SB, I have to plan on the bus being, on a regular basis, anywhere from three minutes early to ten minutes late. It’s kind of pathetic, really. (Though admittedly, not as bad as L.A.)

The state House of Representatives approved a bill yesterday that would put Indiana on Daylight Savings Time starting next year. The measure now goes to the Senate.

At 2:00 AM, Daylight Savings Time begins throughout the Eastern Time Zone — except for the vast majority of Indiana, which does not observe DST.

But because there are five rogue counties in southeastern Indiana that do observe Eastern Daylight Time, and ten western counties that observe Central Daylight Time, something truly remarkable will happen in the state of Indiana between 2:00 and 3:00 AM South Bend time: our state will be split, ever-so-briefly, into three distinct time zones.

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Today is one of those days when being indoors feels like torture because it’s just so beautiful outside. It’s 73° in South Bend, with low humidity and a pleasant southerly wind. It’s going to get nasty later tonight — we’re under a Tornado Watch — but for now, it’s just gorgeous.

I took a few pictures while walking with Becky this afternoon at lunchtime:

More here.

Wondering why the American flag in front of the law school is at half-staff? Here’s why:

Gov. Mitch Daniels is asking that flags in Indiana be flown at half-staff until dusk Friday to honor the four Indiana National Guard soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan Saturday.

The men were members of Combined Joint Task Force Phoenix, 76th Infantry Brigade. They died when their vehicle hit a landmine about 50 kilometers south of Kabul, Afghanistan.

A 23-year-old Phoenix resident was arrested in Hartford, Michigan, a town roughly 50 miles north of South Bend, for smuggling 13 undocumented Mexican immigrants, apparently traveling from Nogales to New York via Michiana.

A pet shop owner in Indiana claims to see an image of Satan in the shell of a turtle which was the sole survivor of a fire in his pet store.

Okay, okay, I admit it: my headline is sensationalistic. :) Gov. “My Man” Mitch Daniels didn’t actually call anyone a terrorist. He did, however, choose a figure of speech that was rather over-the-top, IMHO, to describe Tuesday’s legislative meltdown:

Indiana’s drive for growth and reform was car-bombed yesterday by the Indiana House minority.

I get the reference — “drive… car-bombed” — and I realize it’s just a figure of speech, like I said. But it was a poorly chosen one, especially in this time of terrorism and war, when real car-bombings are far too common, and especially given that it came from a prepared statement, not an off-the-cuff remark or something.

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According to WNDU, Air Force One will touch down at South Bend Airport at 2:25 PM Friday; President Bush’s speech will be at 4:45 PM at the Joyce Center; and he will depart South Bend at 6:20 PM.

Joyce Center doors will reportedly open at 2:00 PM. Tickets are hard to come by, but thanks to Patrick’s connections and Ryan Bradel’s flight schedule, I have one! Or at least, I will. I think. :)

(Patrick originally gave Ryan one of his three tickets, but it turns out Ryan can’t go because of his spring-break flight schedule, so he’s giving his ticket to me… though I have to do all this security crap first. Stay tuned!)

An eleventh-hour Democratic walkout last night scuttled a bill to institute Daylight Saving Time in Indiana, probably dooming the measure for this legislative session.

The Indiana student who claimed she was raped in a stadium bathroom during an IU basketball game now says she made it all up.

The president will speak at the Joyce Center next Friday!

President George W. Bush is expected to promote Social Security reform during a visit to the Joyce Center on the University of Notre Dame campus next Friday.

Although the White House has not released any details of the president’s itinerary and a University of Notre Dame spokesman declined to confirm or deny the stop here, the visit appears to be one in a series of Bush visits to “red” states represented by a U.S. Senate Democrat as part of an effort to woo Democratic support for his proposals.

It will be Dubya’s sixth visit to Michiana.

The Indiana House of Representatives has delayed a vote until next week on a bill to adopt Daylight Savings Time.

It’s expected to be a close vote. Proponents hope the bill will become a law prior to the beginning of DST on April 3.

Indiana is currently one of three states that do not observe DST, the others being Arizona and Hawaii.