The Indiana capitol at night.

April 22: Indianapolis, Ind.
Tonight, I was honored to attend a dinner with Indiana Congressman Mike Pence, sponsor of the Free Flow of Information Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. I found him a thoughtful and committed man, and I offered any assistance SPJ can provide in helping pass this legislation, which would help shield journalists from testifying in federal court.

The dinner was sponsored by the National Freedom of Information Coalition and organized by Kyle Niederpruem, one of my predecessors as SPJ president. Also at my table were two University of Florida journalism grads, Chuck Tobin of Holland & Knight in Washington and Pam Fine, managing editor of the Indianapolis Star. Pam and Chuck are shown in the photo doing the "Gator Chomp."

I made it to Indianapolis courtesy of my old pal Mac McKerral, another past president of SPJ. He gave me a ride from Western Kentucky University to Indy for the weekend's SPJ and SDX board meetings. We arrived shortly after 1 p.m., and I spent the afternoon meeting with Terry Harper and the SPJ Finance Committee over the fiscal 2007 budget.

Tomorrow (Saturday), is an all-day meeting of the 23-member SPJ board of directors and Sunday is a meeting of the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation board. Hopefully, I'll be home again Sunday night.