Here are headlines from the Munster Times today:
"High Court orders new E.C. election: Challenger prevails after taking election fraud case to Indiana Supreme Court." Access it here.
"Ex-Pastrick assistant charged with tax fraud: U.S. attorney alleges longtime aide and his wife filed false returns. Access it here.
Some residents hail Supreme Court ruling: Many welcome new election, fresh chance for East Chicago to change its politics. Access it here.
Pastrick detractors ready for a fight: Beleaguered mayor's supporters worry longtime pol may not feel up to another campaign. Access it here.
Indictment says Riga ruled over crime ring from court. Some quotes from this story:
SCHERERVILLE -- A federal grand jury charged former Town Court Judge Deborah Riga with dispensing fraud and extortion rather than justice. U.S. Attorney Joseph Van Bokkelen said Friday Riga shook down more than 1,175 minor offenders who appeared in her court, ordering them into counseling following their arrests on traffic, substance abuse and domestic problems. "She deprived the town of honest services," Van Bokkelen said.Posted by Marcia Oddi at August 7, 2004 10:28 AMA task force of state police and FBI agents collected evidence they said will prove Riga pocketed more than $30,000 in fees she ordered offenders to pay to a counseling service she owned in the name of a family friend -- in violation of state law and the canons of judicial ethics. * * *
[Riga, 47] graduated from Valparaiso University's Law School and became a lawyer in 1993. She served as a deputy county prosecutor, a public defender and a law professor at Indiana University Northwest.
She was elected in 1999 to preside over the fourth busiest municipal court in Lake County and a rich source of revenue for the town and state from the fines and fees offenders pay the court.