Indiana Legislative Panel Plans Stage Collapse Review

An oversight panel of state lawmakers will tour the Indiana State Fairgrounds for the first time since August’s deadly stage collapse.

Members of the General Assembly’s State Fair Advisory Committee plan to meet Tuesday morning at the fairgrounds, where strong winds blew the grandstand stage onto fans and killed seven people.

Democratic member Rep. David Niezgodski of South Bend says he hopes to learn more about the chronology of the collapse and the multiple investigations into it.

Payouts to victims and adjustments to the state’s legal liability could be debated by lawmakers when their next session begins in January. Democratic Rep. Ed DeLaney of Indianapolis has said he would like the state to raise its current $5 million lawsuit liability cap.