This and that: A first Monday in June edition

Braun talks water, LEAP, what's next. West Lafayette reviewing Attorney General Rokita’s threat to sue. Meanwhile, how Rokita made the governor disappear. St. E plans garden where garage is. And more.

• Thanks to Stuart & Branigin for continued support of the Based in Lafayette reporting project.

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This and that on a Monday, opening with …

BRAUN ON WATER, LEAP AND WHAT’S NEXT, IF HE’S ELECTED GOVERNOR

Any candidate for governor who swings through Lafayette is going to get the question about water and how to protect, given the Indiana Economic Development Corp.’s hopes for a pipeline from the aquifer near the Wabash River in western Tippecanoe County to feed massive, water-intensive developments at the 9,000-acre LEAP district two counties away in Lebanon. U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, Republican candidate for governor, addressed the issue Friday, as he stopped at American Legion Post 11 to persuade GOP delegates to ratify his choice for lieutenant governor, state Rep. Julie McGuire.

U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, right, talks with Zach Beasley, county surveyor, and county commissioner Tracy Brown during a stop in Lafayette Friday. (Photo: Dave Bangert)

Braun said that, given a state study gauging groundwater supplies in more than a dozen counties and an ongoing Tippecanoe County moratorium on high-capacity wells, the solutions “will land squarely in my lap” if elected in November.

“That's a classic case of a lack of transparency and a certain momentum within one of the most important ways we do, economic development, that got ahead of its skis,” Braun said.