The Indiana Legislature's budget writers are nearing final decisions on the state's new two-year spending plan that will include a contentious plan for shifting money from many urban and rural school districts with shrinking enrollments.

A bill that would allow employers to give veterans preference when hiring for jobs passed the House and Senate on Monday.

The bill is a response to ethical issues surrounding former Rep. Eric Turner and former state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett.

Pence will leave on May 9 for a weeklong trip and will visit Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province, Indiana's Chinese sister-state.

No one was killed or severely injured during the Thursday night stage collapse at Westfield High School.

The session adjournment deadline is April 29.

The bill received final legislative approval Tuesday and heads to Gov. Pence for consideration.

For the fourth session in a row, legislative language creating a program to drug test welfare recipients appears dead. The author of this year's version has changed his mind about passing the measure in its current form.

Indiana is one of six states that received a second round of federal funding in 2013. It is using $75 million from the U.S. Treasury's Hardest Hit Fund to demolish vacant properties.

The Hoosier unemployment rate fell one tenth of a percent to 5.8 percent in March, the second month in a row the rate went down. But that drop may not be good news: the state's private sector lost 800 jobs last month, fueled by huge losses - more than 5,000 - in the professional and business services sector.