INDIANAPOLIS

Daniels to offer more plans to aid taxpayers

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels will go before the Rotary Club of Indianapolis today to deliver the first in a series of re-election policy announcements.

Daniels, who is seeking a second term, plans to announce "proposals to provide further protection for taxpayers," the governor's office said Monday. Cam Savage, a spokesman for the Mitch for Governor campaign, said today's announcement will provide a blueprint for buttressing the property tax overhaul that lawmakers approved this spring.

"He's constantly talking about what the next steps are," Savage said.

The tax plan approved earlier this year, which Daniels played a lead role in shaping, promised to cut homeowners' tax bills in Northwest Indiana by at least 25 percent this year.

Daniels also commissioned a blue-ribbon study that last year issued 27 recommendations for transforming local government and schools, the main drivers of property taxes. But lawmakers have yet to tackle most of those reforms.

Daniels will square off this November against Democrat Jill Long Thompson, a former congresswoman from northeast Indiana. The governor enjoys a nearly 3-1 fundraising advantage and has well outspent his Democratic opponent on television advertising.

CROWN POINT

Prescription fraud leads to a 3-year prison term

A Hobart man was sentenced Monday to three years in prison for obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, according to the Lake County prosecutor's office.

Edward Lynn Berry Jr., 30, pleaded guilty July 9 to the felony charge.

Berry attempted to obtain hydrocodone and Xanax on Jan. 4 with a prescription at a Hobart Walgreens, prosecutors said. Berry offered another man $50 to go to the pharmacy counter and pick up the prescription.

Berry had called in the prescription using another person's name and pretending to be an employee of a local doctor's office, prosecutors said.