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How much cash reserves are enough? That’s the question Tippecanoe County officials are trying to determine. Members of the county council and commission are working out a five year financial plan before they begin crafting next year’s budget.

While the county has close to $20 million in its general and rainy day funds, a financial consultant wants there to be significant reserves in other funds too.

Commissioner Tom Murtaugh says they’ll have to find the right balance between maintaining steady revenue and increasing costs.

The Indiana Supreme Court ruled Tuesday it should not get involved in a lawsuit challenging the collection of fines handed down to House Democrats during their walkouts in the 2011 and 2012 sessions. 

In a three to two decision, Chief Justice Brent Dickson wrote for the majority, ruling the fines imposed by House Republicans were internal matters of the legislature and not subject to judicial review.

Purdue has confirmed its lead in the field of supercomputing by unveiling Conte (CAHN-tee), the nation's fastest university-owned supercomputer.

The machine is highest-ranking campus supercomputer on the June 2013 Top500.org list of international supercomputers.

It surpasses the nation's previous fastest university-owned machine, Carter, which was built in 2011 and is still in operation at Purdue.

Conte is able to process a problem 15,000 times faster than a typical desktop or laptop computer.

Indiana will have a new high school equivalency test in 2014.

The director of the Lafayette Adult Resource Academy (LARA) says that means people in the midst of completing the GED exam need to act before December 31st. Trish Maxwell says if they don’t, they’ll have to start all over again.

She says LARA offers free preparation help and childcare for those who need it.

Hand-me-downs can cause delight or dread, depending on what the item is.

Scott Hutcheson has had a range of emotions accepting some of his parent's possessions. One in particular was excepted with open arms and caused culinary creativity.

Coffee and Doughnut Ice Cream

Frankfort came up short in its quest to be an Indiana Stellar Community. This year’s designations went to Bedford and Richmond, instead.

The two cities put forth proposals totaling nearly $20 million each. The state will fund part of those initiatives with a variety of federal and state grants. Private partnerships also are part of the financing.

Frankfort Mayor Chris McBarnes said even if the city did not receive the funding package from the state, it would still move forward with its projects. Those include:

For the fourth straight year, Purdue is sending a group of students to the Marine Advanced Technology Education Center International R-O-V Competition.

The event challenges teams to design and build an underwater robot to complete specific tasks.

This year’s mission revolves around deploying and repairing equipment for regional ocean observing systems.

Team captain Michael Hayashi believes the Purdue ROV will complete the tasks in the shortest amount of time.

The Indiana Emergency Solution Grant, federal money aimed at helping the state’s homeless population, is facing a 23% cut due to the sequester.

The grant provides money to homeless shelters across Indiana.  The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority expected a 5% cut in federal funding, similar to other sequester reductions.  But instead the state will receive $700,000 less for the upcoming fiscal year.

In the wake of ISTEP testing disruptions that have called into question the validity of this year’s tests, the General Assembly this week will hold the first of two hearings investigating the issue.

Legislators initially hoped to have one comprehensive study committee hearing on ISTEP in June.  But with results of the tests and a third-party validation of those results not expected until July, Commission on Education co-chairs Representative Bob Behning (R-Indianapolis) and Senator Dennis Kruse (R-Auburn) will hold two meetings on the topic.

Crowd funding is allowing an entrepreneur from the Lafayette area to sell his invention.

Sean Connell created “A Tool of Multipurpose” (ATOM). He used the crowd funding website Kickstarter for people to pre-order it. That money will allow him to produce the key-shaped tool.

Connell has surpassed his goal by more than $30,000. He says the website he used does have some restrictions, but the screening is done by potential funders who read about the investment or product and the project’s creator.