Law of Unintended Consequences

File under "didn't you see this coming?"

Indiana’s First Church of Pot hoves into view.

"Hoosiers, get your Hookahs," writes Jay Michaelson in The Daily Beast.

"In the latest Unintended Consequence of the 'Religious Freedom' laws now sweeping the country, an Indiana church today was granted tax-exempt status by the IRS. But not just any church: The First Church of Cannabis, which proposes to exploit Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) to smoke pot at its services."

Trash Slide This Week

The Indianapolis Department of Public Works would like to remind residents that in observance of Memorial Day there will be no regular trash or heavy trash pick-up today (25 May 2015).

All trash collection services will operate one day behind on a slide schedule. Trash routes will be collected as follows:

• Monday trash collections will be collected Tuesday.
• Tuesday trash collections will be collected Wednesday.
• Wednesday trash collections will be collected Thursday.
• Thursday trash collections will be collected Friday
• Friday trash collections will be collected Saturday.

All trash collection services will return to normal next Monday (1 June, 2015).

At Least the Weather is Good This Weekend

Let's see: the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is littered in car parts from crashes, and Indiana's reputation is still in tatters over Governor Pence's signing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Here's a bit of commentary from a PR professional out East: "Governor Mike Pence continues to draw negative attention, not just for this divisive law but for cutting back food stamps and justifying that with comments about 'ennobling' the poor. The governor then did what many people in crisis situations do - go into major denial. Pence declared the controversy over, and hired Porter Novelli to clean up the mess at taxpayer expense."

Ain't God good to Indiana?

Four Crashes ... and Counting

Disaster looms at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this week. The "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" has indeed become spectacular as car after car "helicopters" down the track with the new aerodynamic bodywork kits, maiming four drivers so far.

"Caution Flag: The Indy 500 is turning into a car-flipping debacle" is just one of the reports of what's happening out at the IMS.

As Ben Smith reports, "The problem, unbelievably, is that no one thought to test the speedway aero kit on an actual speedway before, you know, actually coming to a speedway."

Linda Vaughn and the "500"

This is why The Indianapolis Star needs local, seasoned reporters:
"Linda Vaughn and Me: a coming-of-age story" by third-generation Indy resident Will Higgins remains the best feature on the 500-Mile Race.

Miss Hurst Golden Shifter is as indelible an icon of May as Jim Nabors ever was.

Pence Does Something Right

"Late this afternoon, Governor Mike Pence vetoed Senate Bill 369 which would have allowed government agencies to charge as much as $20 an hour for public records searches," reports Paul K. Ogden.

Bloggers, including your Indianapolis Observer, are relieved.