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Statehouse basement renovations approach $600k
Indiana paid nearly $600,000 to remodel and reconfigure several committee rooms on the state capitol building’s first floor. The renovations took place after last year’s legislative session. Statehouse Room 156 was previously sectioned into four smaller rooms and a connecting lobby-like area. After months-long renovations costing $583,000 — to date — it’s a snazzy set […]
Judge grants RFRA-based preliminary injunction against abortion ban
A Marion Superior Court judge on Friday evening granted a second preliminary injunction against Indiana’s abortion ban in a lawsuit wielding a controversial religious freedom law. The remedy preserves the pre-ban status quo while the matter continues playing out in court. “Many Hoosiers have sincere religious beliefs that they must be able to obtain an […]
Opioid settlement cash to be in local hands within a week
Months after Indiana’s attorney general said he’d send about 660 local governments their shares of the state’s $507 million opioid crisis settlement with drug manufacturers and distributers, none have received the money. But the state agencies coordinating the effort now say the cash will go out within a week. “Representatives from the [Attorney General’s] Office, […]
Lawmaker readies second take on Hoosier renters protections
Legislation allowing renters to withhold rent from landlords who don’t make critical habitability repairs, and expanding tax credits for renters, holds potential in Indiana, according to a report released Wednesday as lawmakers ready bills for the 2023 legislative session. Housing constitutes the “civic fabrics of our communities,” said Indiana Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, who spoke […]
Hoosiers on WIC allowed more fruits and vegetables in proposed rule changes
More than 150,000 low-income Hoosier women — along with their infants and young children — enrolled in a nationally-funded nutritional program could see a pandemic-era allotment increase for fruits and vegetables made permanent under program rule changes proposed this month. “If these benefits are made permanent, Hoosier families will continue to have increased access to […]
Indiana pension system lost $200 million-plus in Russia-Ukraine fallout
Indiana’s pension system lost $200 million in two months after Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, according to its chief investment officer — but that’s loose change for a system with $45.8 billion in assets invested all over the world. The bulk of the Indiana Public Retirement Fund System’s assets are invested in the United […]
Legislative leaders could trim governor’s public health request
Indiana’s top lawmakers on Monday indicated that Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb’s Public Health recommendations — including additional health care spending of $243 million annually — will face a tough crowd in the General Assembly. They spoke at an Indiana Chamber of Commerce legislative preview, ahead of a January session that will include crafting the state’s […]
Morales, next elections chief, faces vote fraud reports. Could legal action follow?
Diego Morales might have easily clinched the Secretary of State race, but his future is clouded by allegations of 2018 voting improprieties reminiscent of another Indiana elections chief convicted of voter fraud. Lawyers and election experts — including the special prosecutor who handled former Secretary of State Charlie White’s case in 2012 — expressed doubt […]
Indiana hospital prices named fourth-most transparent
The Indiana Hospital Association on Monday celebrated the Hoosier state’s designation as the country’s fourth-most transparent state for hospital prices by health-care-transparency startup Turquoise Health. Only Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont had higher scores. “I’m extremely proud of my home state for being a national leader in making hospital prices accessible and easy to understand […]
Abortion-rights ballot initiatives in neighboring states unlikely to impact Indiana
Voters in neighboring states Michigan and Kentucky chose to protect abortion in ballot initiatives last week, joining Kansas, which made similar headlines in August. But those shows of Midwest popular will won’t make a difference in Indiana, some say. Indiana’s Republican-dominated legislature passed an abortion ban with several narrowly defined exceptions in a summertime special […]
Giving Attorney General power over prosecutors “least preferred” route in dispute
A bipartisan group of lawmakers and justice system leaders that assembled on Thursday to consider how best to address county prosecutors with “blanket” non-prosecution policies agreed that handing authority to Indiana’s Attorney General isn’t the route to go. But the Prosecutorial Oversight Task Force didn’t come up with any solutions or recommendations. “Everybody needs to […]
Morales claims overwhelming victory for secretary of state
Embattled Republican Diego Morales claimed an easy victory in Indiana’s Secretary of State race Tuesday night — overcoming a slate of controversies in a race that was less competitive than expected. “My commitment to you is that I will work as hard as I have been doing to make you all be proud, and take […]