Rick has been a member of the WFPL News team since 2001 and has covered numerous beats and events over the years. Most recently he’s been tracking the Indiana General Assembly and the region’s passion for sports, especially college basketball.
Nine companies are promising to bring more than 2,500 new jobs to Indiana within the next six years by locating or expanding operations in the state.
Gov. Mitch Daniels joined executives from the companies for Tuesday's announcement at his Statehouse office. He says the companies, ranging from Indianapolis-based Angie's List to an Arizona-based food maker, expect to hire 2,550 new workers by the end of 2018.
A Lexington lawmaker says she will apologize for making a disparaging comment about another legislator that appeared on Facebook.
Democratic state Sen. Kathy Stein told the Lexington Herald-Leader that she made the comment on an old blog and thought it would be private, but the commenting system was powered by Facebook and so her post also appeared on her Facebook account.
Western Kentucky University has introduced Bobby Petrino as the school’s 18th football coach.
Petrino returns to the college game eight months after his firing from Arkansas for lying about an extramarital affair he had with a woman on his staff.
"I'm honored to sit in front of you as the head coach of Western Kentucky University," Petrino said at a late afternoon news conference.
A Japanese company is said to be considering making an offer to buy Beam, Incorporated.
An official with Suntory Holdings tells Bloomberg News that the Osaka-based whiskey and beer maker could make a solo bid for the American distiller or a joint offer with Diageo, the global spirits company headquartered in Britain.
Western has been looking to replace Willie Taggart, who’s leaving the school to take the head coaching job at the University of South Florida. Taggart led the team to a 7-5 record and a berth in the Little Caesar’s Bowl December 26 in Detroit.
A new study concludes the state's decision to lease the Indiana Toll Road to a private operator was a bad deal for taxpayers.
Indiana received $3.8 billion for leasing the toll road to a private consortium for 75 years. That money helps pay for major work on state highways.
But a public policy expert from the College of William and Mary says taxpayers will pay the price for the 2006 deal in lost toll road revenue that otherwise would have gone into the state treasury.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer has appointed Greg Heitzman to be the permanent executive director of the Metropolitan Sewer District.
Heitzman, who’s also president of Louisville Water, has been MSD’s interim executive director since a leadership shakeup at the agency over the past year.
Fischer says Heitzman will oversee the potential merger of MSD and Louisville Water.
U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana will continue wielding influence in Washington after he leaves office, but with a much younger audience.
Lugar is starting an internship program with the University of Indianapolis that will operate out of Washington. He has also agreed to deliver a handful of lectures each year as a distinguished professor at the private university.
The 80 year old Lugar will split his time between Washington and Indianapolis in the new job.
Indiana Governor-elect Mike Pence has announced three cabinet appointments.
All three appointees work in the current administration of Governor Mitch Daniels.
Pence announced today that Ron Wynkoop will continue as commissioner of the Department of Administration and Mike Alley will stay on as commissioner of the Department of Revenue.
Anita Samuel, who has been serving as Daniels’ general counsel, will become director of the Department of Personnel in the Pence Administration.
Pence will be publicly sworn in as Indiana’s next governor on January 14.
