Salem Leader - Featured Government News

Home
Featured Government

By: Becky Killian, Staff Writer

Officials have agreed to pay a stipend to the county clerk for handling the extra work associated with general elections. The decision was made during the Monday, Aug. 5, meeting of the Washington County Council.

Clerk Stephanie Rockey will receive $2,000 during general elections.

At the council’s July meeting, Rockey explained a new Indiana law that allows a stipend of up to $2,500 for circuit court clerks who serve as voter registration officers.

Rockey said that Washington County’s population is too small to require a separate voter registration officer, so the work remains her responsibility.

The stipend won’t be paid during municipal election years or during special elections. The law was effective as of July 1.

Rockey said the state assigned more responsibilities to clerks, so the stipend is meant to compensate them for the extra work.

Prior to Monday’s vote, Rockey said a record number of county clerks have resigned due to the additional election work being assigned to them.

In addition to that work, clerks are combatting efforts by hackers to access voter rolls. Rockey said Monroe and Clay counties have been affected by hacking efforts.

In other business, the Council also approved a 10-year real estate property tax abatement for Sullivan’s Concrete Coating. The business bought property at the J.F. Helsel Commerce Park and are operating out of a 10,000 square foot facility. Officials hope the purchase will lead to more businesses locating at the park.

Last week, Senator Mike Braun introduced legislation to repeal a Biden administration Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) mandate for new housing construction that would add significant costs to the purchase of new homes. Senators Marsha Blackburn, John Barrasso, Cynthia Lummis, Shelley Moore Capito, Roger Marshall, Pete Ricketts, Eric Schmitt, and Todd Young cosponsored the legislation.

“Buying a home is more expensive than ever for Americans. We shouldn’t be making them even more expensive with government mandates that could add as much as $31,000 to the price of a new home. My bill will repeal this new Biden administration mandate so we can lower the cost of housing for American families.”—Sen. Braun

The HOUSE Act would:

Repeals the HUD/USDA Final Determination, and requires the agencies to revert to the 2009 standards already in effect;
Prohibits VA from implementing a similar mandate for VA mortgages;
Clarifies that FHFA has no statutory authority to impose similar mandates;
And reforms the underlying law by prohibiting HUD and USDA from adopted new efficiency mandates unless 26 states have already adopted similar standards.

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Erin Houchin (IN-09) issued the following statement in response to the Education Department's announcement on Wednesday that it will delay the release of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA):

“The Department of Education has once again announced a delay in the rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). It is another blunder of the Biden-Harris Administration, and a gut punch to students, families, and universities across the country.

Originally scheduled for release on October 1st, the application will now be available as late as December 1st for some. This delay comes on the four-year anniversary of the passage of the bipartisan FAFSA Simplification Act, a timeframe during which the Department had ample time to perfect the system. Instead, the Department was and continues to be hyper-focused on the illegal student loan bailout.

This situation underscores the urgent need for legislative action, which is why I introduced the FAFSA Deadline Act earlier this Summer. This act would prevent such delays in the future, ensuring that students and families are not subjected to unnecessary burdens and uncertainty. It is imperative that the Department of Education fulfills its obligations in a timely and efficient manner, and be held accountable when they don’t.” – Rep. Erin Houchin

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita continues successful partnership with the longest running TV horror host in the world, Sammy Terry, to treat Hoosiers with more than funnel cakes during this year's Indiana State Fair.  

“Visiting the State Fair and watching Sammy Terry are family traditions for so many Hoosiers,” Attorney General Todd Rokita said. “That’s why I'm proud to continue our successful partnership with Sammy Terry to reunite Hoosiers with their hard-earned unclaimed funds.”   

Fairgoers can meet Sammy Terry at the Attorney General’s booth on Saturday, August 17th from 1:00pm ET – 6:00pm ET in the Mercantile Building. Team members will be available to assistHoosiers with unclaimed property searches. Staff will also have information and tips to help consumers protect themselves from identity theft and other scams.  

“The only thing more horribly fun than bringing family friendly horror movies to Hoosiers each week is helping Indiana Unclaimed return millions of dollars to my Horror-able fellow Hoosiers,” said Sammy Terry.

AG Rokita’s team reunited one Hoosier family with $160,000 at the State Fair last year. The Attorney General’s Office has returned over $48,000,000 so far this year and much more is just waiting to be claimed. Don’t miss your chance to claim what is rightfully yours!

Representatives from the Attorney General’s Office will be at the Indiana State Fair every day from 9:00am ET – 8:00pm ET. The State Fair runs through Sunday, August 18th and is closed on Mondays.

Recovering your unclaimed property is safe, secure and simple. Attorney General Rokita recommends Hoosiers text “SAMMY” to “46220” or visit indianaunclaimed.gov and check for these types of property that might go unclaimed:     

Unclaimed wages or commissions

Money orders

Safety deposit box contents

Savings and checking accounts

Refunds

Overpayments such as:

Credit card balances

Cell phone bills

DMV payments

You may also like and/or follow the Unclaimed Property Division on  Facebook. Make sure you keep an eye out for Sammy Terry’s reminders. Even he knows it’s ghoulishly fun to search for unclaimed property.   

“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.”

Thus declared a U.S. district court this week as it ruled in favor of plaintiffs — Indiana, 51 other states and territories, and the U.S. Department of Justice — who sued the Big Tech giant over its illegal monopolistic misconduct in connection with its search function and search text advertising.

In Indiana, Attorney General Todd Rokita and his team played a leading role in coordinating the efforts of the plaintiff states litigating with the U.S. Justice Department’s Antitrust Division against Google in this case.

“From day one, I have made clear that my office would not tolerate Big Tech riding roughshod over the rights and interests of everyday Hoosiers,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Once again, we are making good on this commitment. We are holding Google accountable for its illegal and unacceptable practices.”

The court’s decision finds that Google has used exclusive distribution agreements to limit competition for online search services, depriving users of innovative alternatives and enabling Google to charge supracompetitive prices for general search text ads relied upon by many businesses in Indiana and beyond.

Under Attorney General Rokita’s leadership, Indiana — which was one of 11 plaintiff states to join the federal government’s initial monopolization case against Google — continued its efforts to litigate this groundbreaking case from start to finish for the benefit of consumers.

“These companies are not permitted to preserve their market dominance through exclusionary tactics,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Rather, they must compete in the free market to maintain the favor of their customers.”