CROWN POINT

Deputy prosecutor will be assistant supervisor

Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Armando Salinas was promoted to assistant supervisor of the county court division, according to the prosecutor's office.

The Highland resident has been with the prosecutor's office for four years. He will work with Robert Persin, supervisor of county courts.

Salinas received his law degree from Valparaiso University, and his undergraduate degree is from Purdue University in West Lafayette, where he majored in psychology and minored in sociology. He also graduated from Bishop Noll High School in Hammond.

INDIANAPOLIS

Democrat joins union for gas price protest

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson joined members of the Indiana AFL-CIO on Monday at a Statehouse rally protesting high gas prices.

The former congresswoman from northeast Indiana promoted her plan to provide relief at the pump. She suggests capping the gasoline sales tax at $2.75 a gallon so that any portion of the sale above that price would not be subject to sales tax.

"As I have said many times, as governor I would not only work with the members of the General Assembly to put in place my plan to cap the sales tax on fuel, I would also immediately use my executive authority to declare an energy emergency and suspend the sales tax on fuel until the legislature could meet and pass my proposal into law," Long Thompson said in a statement.

With gas prices currently hovering around $4, the proposed cap on Indiana's 7 percent sales tax would save motorists about 9 cents a gallon while costing state coffers roughly $200 million a year.

Long Thompson is challenging Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, who has rejected past calls to temporarily suspend the gas tax. The late Gov. Frank O'Bannon, a Democrat, did so for three months when gas prices approached $2 a gallon in 2000.