Faith leaders and a bipartisan group of lawmakers gathered Monday at the Statehouse to rally support for a measure to repeal Indiana’s death penalty.

Indiana law classifies tools that test the “strength, effectiveness, or purity of a controlled substance” as paraphernalia. This created a “gray area” for fentanyl test strips. The Senate passed legislation to clarify tools that check for the presence of a substance would no longer be considered paraphernalia.

Lawmakers in the Indiana House of Representatives advanced a sweeping bill Monday that will reduce education regulations. House Bill 1002 passed by a wide margin, but some lawmakers are still concerned about changes to the requirements for the secretary of education.

Health care facilities are barred from hiring employees who have been convicted of certain criminal offenses, including felony convictions within the last five years related to “controlled substances.” The House passed legislation that would allow an exception for peer recovery coaches.

Sediment, debris, bacteria and chemicals can wash off a construction site and pollute streams and lakes nearby.

Hoosiers would be forced to register with a major political party to be allowed to participate in partisan primary elections under a bill headed to the Senate floor.

The Indiana House advanced a bill ensuring homeschool diplomas are recognized equally.

“This legislation is not student-focused and fails to reflect the community's input on how they envision their public schools thriving,” the IPS Board said.

Major gambling expansion takes its first steps. Municipal elections move to presidential election years in a Senate bill. And a bill decriminalizing fentanyl test strips clears a significant hurdle.

Indiana’s reading crisis captured the attention of state education leaders and lawmakers now the state could soon begin pursuing new interventions for another troubled subject – math.