WASHINGTON, DC — With its primary on May 6, Indiana’s 2007 population of about 6.3 million includes a higher percentage of the non-Hispanic white-alone population and a lower percentage of Hispanics than the nation as a whole, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics. About 59 percent of Indiana’s voting-age citizens cast a ballot in the 2004 general election. The national rate was 64 percent.

These and other statistics about Indiana’s population on topics ranging from language spoken to commute times can be found in the American FactFinder section of the Census Bureau Web site http://factfinder.census.gov/. More information about the nation’s voting record can be found in Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2004 at http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting.html.

Highlights include the following:

Source: U.S. Census Bureau Total Population Estimates (2007), State Population Estimates by Characteristics (2006), American Community Survey (2006).

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A campaign visit from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton will close Riehle Plaza in downtown Lafayette, Indiana on Wednesday afternoon (4/30). To accommodate the Secret Service and the Lafayette Police Department, CityBus is adjusting bus services as follows:

• The CityBus customer service office at Riehle Plaza will close at 11:00AM. Customers who need May bus passes will not be able to buy them after the office closes. Therefore, CityBus will honor an April
  bus pass as valid fare on Thursday, May 1st. As always, May bus passes are available from the CityBus office at 1250 Canal Rd., Lafayette, and at local Chase Bank and Lafayette Bank & Trust locations.

• Beginning with the 11:15AM transfer, buses will hold on the west side of Third St. between Cincinnati and Ferry streets. This location is one block east and one block north of Riehle Plaza. Eastbound buses will hold between Ferry and Brown and westbound buses will park between Brown and Cincinnati. Evening service will resume at Riehle Plaza after 8:00PM.

WASHINGTON, DC — The Internal Revenue Service has begun to transfer economic stimulus payments to millions of Americans, some of whom will see payments in their bank accounts as early as today.

The IRS will issue payments of up to $600 ($1,200 for married couples) plus $300 for eligible children younger than 17, throughout the spring and summer. The first wave of payments will go to people who opted for direct deposit on their 2007 income tax returns.

“People who chose direct deposit will receive their economic stimulus payments the quickest,” IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said. “We know there are many people who are eligible for an economic stimulus payment who have not filed a tax return. If you think you may be eligible, even if you don’t normally file a tax return, please check it out. And, use direct deposit to get your payment faster.”

Whether a taxpayer opted for direct deposit determines how soon the payment will arrive. The first cycle of paper checks will be mailed starting May 9.

Even people who normally do not have a filing requirement may be eligible for the stimulus payment. People who have no filing requirement must have at least $3,000 in qualifying income. Qualifying income includes any combination of earned income, nontaxable combat pay they elect to include in earned income and certain payments from Social Security, Veterans Affairs and Railroad Retirement.

People with at least $3,000 in qualifying income may qualify for an economic stimulus payment of $300 ($600 for married couples) plus the $300 per qualifying child payment. However, they must file a 2007 income tax return by Oct. 15 , 2008, to receive a stimulus payment. They can use the simple Form 1040A and provide basic information. Form 1040A is available on IRS.gov, the official IRS Web site.

The payment schedule announced earlier this year is for people who filed early enough to have their tax returns processed by April 15. People who did not submit a return in time for it to be processed by April 15 may see their stimulus payments later than the scheduled dates.

Below are the schedules for economic stimulus payments related to tax returns processed by April 15, 2008:

Direct Deposit Payments

Electronic economic stimulus payment deposits should be transmitted to your bank account by the dates below, based on the last two digits of your social security number:

• 00-20: May 2
• 21–75: May 9
• 76–99: May 16

Paper Check

If you opted to receive your economic stimulus check by mail, match the last two digits of your social security number to the dates below to see when your check will be in the mail.

• 00–09: May 16
• 10–18: May 23
• 19–25: May 30
• 26–38: June 6
• 39–51: June 13
• 52–63: June 20
• 64–75: June 27
• 76–87: July 4
• 88–99: July 11

Some taxpayers may receive smaller economic stimulus payments than they anticipated. By law, the stimulus payments are offset to satisfy past-due taxes, student loans, child support and certain other debts.

The IRS will send notices to taxpayers who have already filed a 2007 tax return and who are eligible for an economic stimulus payment. This notice will serve as an important record keeping document and should be retained by taxpayers. By keeping people informed, the IRS hopes to reduce calls to customer service representatives who are still busy helping taxpayers complete tax returns.

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Tippecanoe Arts Federation and various volunteer artists in collaboration with the City of Lafayette are working on a Mural Art Project.

In December 2007 the City of Lafayette approved a proposal submitted by artist and TAF Business Manager, David Raymer, to produce a mural on city owned property which has experienced a high concentration of “graffiti tagging”.

The project involves direct art education of Cary Home Youth who will help produce the artwork on the mural with other volunteers. The site location is the wall under the Twikingham overpass along the City of Lafayette Parks Department’s walking trail between South 9th and 18th Streets. Because of the specifics of the surface at the site, the Mural Project will be composed of multiple themes in various monochromatic colors.

Sponsors of the project are Purdue Employee Federal Credit Union and ICI/Glidden Paints-MarJean Village.

The artists and youth volunteers will be at the site this Thursday, May 1st beginning at 4:15pm painting the base primer on the surface.

Interested individuals who wish to volunteer may contact Mr. Raymer at Tippecanoe Arts Federation, 423-2787 or by e-mail draymer@tippecanoearts.org

WASHINGTON, DC — The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law issued a statement today expressing disappointment that the Supreme Court rejected a facial, constitutional challenge to Indiana’s voter identification law in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board. However, the Lawyers’ Committee notes that the Supreme Court left the door open for future constitutional challenges to voter identification laws.

“We remain committed to ensuring that laws which restrict the ballot to traditionally disfranchised voters without any evidence of in-person voter fraud will not go unchallenged,” stated Jon Greenbaum, director of the Lawyers’ Committee’s Voting Rights Project. “This is not the end of our fight to ensure that elections are open to all eligible citizens.”

The Supreme Court found that a voter identification law may place such a burden on groups of disadvantaged voters that the law would be unconstitutional, but that the plaintiffs fell short in developing their evidence of how the Indiana law burdened voters. Greenbaum cautioned that “state legislatures considering voting restrictions must consider the effect of those restrictions on minority, elderly, poor, disabled and homeless voters before enacting them.”

Unfortunately, during this primary season in its administration of the Election Protection program, the Lawyers’ Committee has already seen instances of the purpose of voter identification requirements being misunderstood by poll workers or applied in a discriminatory manner.

As part of its mission to protect and uphold the rights of traditionally disenfranchised voters, the Lawyers’ Committee will continue to combat unnecessarily restrictive voting laws, including photo identification and proof of citizenship requirements.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (LCCRUL), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination. The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice under law, particularly in the areas of housing, community development, employment, voting, education and environmental justice. For more information about the LCCRUL, visit www.lawyerscommittee.org.