Time for a Change in Indiana

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SCOTT SIMON, host:

And the time is - well, if you're in Indiana, it's always a little hard to say. Indiana has two time zones: Eastern time for 80 counties in the east of the state and Central time for six that are clustered around Chicago and have worked there, and six in the Evansville area that apparently just prefer to be in the same time zone as Oprah Winfrey. But the confusion gets especially bad during the summer when some counties switch to daylight-saving time and some don't.

This week, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that five counties in southwestern Indiana will be permitted to switch to the Eastern Time Zone in November when daylight saving ends.

As Governor Mitch Daniels noted, we now have the highest number of Hoosiers ever on the same time year round. And residents there will get a one-time only bonus when daylight-saving time ends on November 4. They don't need to leap up and reset every clock, TiVo, oven timer and cell phone in the house. All they have to do is go to sleep and get up to the right time.

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