Here are the top stories in Indiana in 2017

The highs and lows of the news cycle — human achievement and tragedy, community transition, political comings, goings and shenanigans — all dominated headlines across Indiana in 2017. Here's a look at those issues and events — some of which will follow Hoosiers into the new year. 

Opioid epidemic worsens 

Indiana continued to be ravaged by the effects of an opioid epidemic. The state is trying to manage the strain the epidemic is putting on its health, law enforcement and child services systems. The state has seen a surge in drug poisoning deaths, overdose ambulance runs, hepatitis C cases and the number of children being removed from their homes because of parental substance abuse.  

Indiana is one of four states where the overdose death rate has more than quadrupled since 1999. The state ranks 15th in the country in overdose fatalities.

Nor is Indiana alone. Opioid overdoses kill more Americans each year now than died in the Vietnam War. 

Gov. Eric Holcomb he said he would make reversing the rising tide of the opioid epidemic one of his top priorities. In 2017, he said, Indiana has expanded the number of treatment centers, given local governments authority to initiate needle exchange programs, and most recently launched a website Next Level Recovery Indiana that serves as a repository of information on the opioid crisis.

To tackle the crisis, Indiana University announced it would devote $50 million over the next five years and more than 70 researchers to the problem.

State of Addiction: Confronting Indiana's Opioid Crisis

Pence becomes vice president

Mike Pence, the former Indiana governor and congressman, took office in January after a wild political ride as President Donald Trump's running mate.

Since becoming the nation's 48th vice president, Pence has acted as the administration's liaison to Capitol Hill on a number of high-profile issues, including tax reform and failed efforts to repeal Obamacare.

But Pence also has been forced to navigate a number of controversies, including the revelation that he used a personal AOL account for sensitive state business and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. 

Pence emails: Pence used personal email for state business — and was hacked

Russia investigation: What does Flynn's guilty plea mean for Vice President Pence?

Holcomb becomes governor

Republican Eric Holcomb became Indiana's 51st governor after replacing Pence in the governor's race. In his first year, he moved quickly to reverse several of Pence's policies, declaring an emergency in East Chicago over lead contamination, pardoning wrongly convicted Keith Cooper and canceling a plan to lease the state's cell phone towers. 

Unlike Pence, Holcomb has largely avoided controversial social issues, focusing instead on fiscal and economic issues. He worked with lawmakers to approve a gas tax hike to fund road repairs, landed a new 2,000-job InfoSys technology hub and wants to require schools to offer computer science classes. 

But the upcoming legislative session could prove challenging. A number of divisive, hot-button issues are likely to figure heavily, including hate crime legislation and efforts to legalize Sunday alcohol and cold beer sales.

More: Worker training, opioid fight top Gov. Holcomb's agenda for 2018

Delphi killings attract nationwide attention

Headlines of 2017 will blur and fade as people move on with life, but as the years roll on, Hoosiers will recall the horrific killings of teenagers Libby German and Abby Williams in Delphi.

Their Feb. 13 deaths marked an end of innocence for teens in this small city of 2,900.

Searchers found the girls' bodies late in the morning on Feb. 14 along the banks of Deer Creek about a half-mile east of the Monon High Bridge. The next day, police described the girls' killings as a double homicide.

The killings remain unsolved.

Police released a photo of the suspect and an audio recording of a man ordering the girls "down the hill." Both the photo and recording were from German's cellphone. 

Police also released a sketch of what they believe the killer looks like. It was drawn from witnesses who had a face-to-face encounter with the man, police said.

U.S. Senate race gets nasty

Indiana's U.S. Senate race already has been deemed one of the nation's nastiest — and the election is still nearly a year away. 

Democrat Sen. Joe Donnelly was expected to be a top Republican target, but a heated GOP primary has made the race even more divisive.

Congressmen Todd Rokita and Luke Messer have relentlessly attacked one another for months, taking swipes over everything from Messer's residency to Rokita's airplane. The fight even spilled over onto Wikipedia after changes were made to Messer's page that closely aligned with Rokita’s campaign attacks.

More recently, self-funded businessman and former state Rep. Mike Braun has jumped into the fray, adding yet another wildcard to the race.

Slugfest: 14 punches in Indiana's bare-knuckle U.S. Senate race

FBI raids Muncie city offices 

As 2017 drew to a close, Muncie was waiting to see the outcome – or even the next raid or criminal charge – in an ongoing FBI investigation of allegations of criminal wrongdoing in Mayor Dennis Tyler’s administration.

The probe, which began in early 2016, has resulted, so far,  in 34 federal charges of money laundering, wire fraud and theft of government funds filed against Muncie Building Commissioner Craig Nichols, appointed by Tyler and the son of a longtime Democratic Party chairman. Nichols is awaiting a spring 2018 trial.

FBI agents raided Nichols’ Muncie City Hall office and home in January 2017 and Muncie Sanitary District offices in May 2017. The Department of Justice has said the probe is ongoing and people interviewed have told The Star Press they were questioned in the last few months of 2017.

State takes control of Muncie Schools

The turning point to Muncie Community Schools’ financial crisis in 2017 essentially started and ended on the fourth floor of the Indiana statehouse.

It was there that the state's "hostile takeover" of Muncie schools was publicly launched, on April 3, by the House Ways and Means Committee, resulting in the state’s Distressed Unit Appeal Board sending an emergency manager to help, but not take over, the struggling district between July 1 and Dec. 31.

And it was there, on Dec. 13, that DUAB voted 5-0 for the state-appointed emergency manager to assume full control over the school district’s finances and academics as of Jan. 1, 2018 designating it a "distressed political subdivision."  Earlier, Gary Community Schools received the same designation..

Vaping, marijuana and CBD controversies erupt

An IndyStar investigation revealed that a secretive investment group worked for years to cash in on the potential legalization of marijuana in Indiana. The investors included some of the most influential lobbyists and political operatives in the state. 

Those with an interest in the company advocated for the state’s controversial 2016 vaping law in hopes that the regulatory framework it established could eventually be used if marijuana and give the company a competitive advantage, according to several of the investors. 

But the law drove scores of vaping companies out of Indiana's market and dramatically increased the cost of vaping products. Lawmakers scrapped much of the law during the 2017 legislat.

Meanwhile, lawmakers legalized CBD products for people with incurable epilepsy. CBD is a non-psychoactive substance found in cannabis plants. The new law, however, was silent on if and how the products could be sold, creating a chaotic enforcement atmosphere that resulted in products being confiscated from dozens of stores across the state. 

Now, lawmakers are looking at clarifying or expanding the law, with at least one Republican lawmaker planning to introduce a long-shot bill that would legalize full-blown medical marijuana. 

More: Secretive investment group sought Indiana marijuana business

More: Did Indiana legalize cannabis? Yes. Kind of. Maybe.

More: Medical marijuana bill on its way to Indiana legislature — and a Republican is behind it

Content coach Jennifer Morlan, reporters Tony Cook, Ron Wilkins and Seth Slabaugh contributed.