News Around the State

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EVANSVILLE – An Evansville man involved in an elaborate car crash scheme has been sentenced. 58-year-old Michael Burris, Sr. was sentenced in U.S. Federal Court to 9 and a half years behind bars. Burris pleaded guilty in the case back in April and faced up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Josh Minkler says Between 2008 and 2014, and others, planned a series of automobile crashes in and around Evansville. Minkler says they recruited persons to participate in the staged crashes, made false police reports about the crashes, and then filed claims with insurance providers for “injuries” suffered in the crash which were self-inflicted or fabricated. 36 other people were arrested in the fraud scheme of more than $600,000 in insurance claims. 

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Republican Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s office says he is disappointed with a federal judge’s decision to block a state law banning abortions sought because of a fetus’ genetic abnormalities. Pence spokeswoman Kara Brooks says the governor “remains steadfast in his support for the unborn, especially those with disabilities.”

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A judge says Indiana must list both spouses in lesbian marriages as parents on their children’s birth certificates and end what she calls its “discriminatory” practice of listing only the birth mother. U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt ruled Thursday in favor of eight lesbian couples who sued the state and county health departments. Pratt says the state’s conduct was unconstitutional. The state hasn’t determined whether it will appeal.

HENDERSON, Ky. (AP) — The governors of Kentucky and Indiana have signed an agreement to begin preliminary work to build a new Ohio River bridge linking the two states along Interstate 69. Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said Thursday their states will split the approximately $17 million cost for preliminary design work and an environmental review for the proposed crossing.