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Indiana News
ESPN: Indiana takes down Ohio State for Big Ten football title
Hoosiers defeat Buckeyes 13-10
First win over OSU since 1988
First Big Ten title since 1967
First outright conference title since 1945
WFYI: Final arguments in abortion case.
“A Marion County court heard final arguments Tuesday in a case alleging the state’s near-total abortion ban violates the religious freedom of Hoosiers whose faith compels them to terminate pregnancies that endanger the life of the mother.
ACLU Indiana represented the plaintiff class, while the Attorney General’s Office defended the state’s medical licensing board and other defendants.
The underlying lawsuit, filed in September 2022, claims that Indiana’s abortion ban imposes a substantial burden on the religious practice of a particular group of plaintiffs whose faiths permit or even require abortion under circumstances broader than those allowed by the statute.
The ACLU asked the court to convert a preliminary injunction into a permanent injunction protecting the remaining individual plaintiffs — currently two anonymous women of different faiths — and the certified class, Hoosier Jews for Choice, ensuring that the state cannot enforce the abortion ban against them in ways that conflict with their sincerely held religious beliefs.”
FOX59: Newly released footage shows IMPD shoot unarmed man in October incident.
36-year old Cartonieo McBride was wanted on multiple warrants and has since been charged with over 10 counts of child sexual abuse.
Footage shows McBride following officers’ instructions to walk toward them, his hands up the whole time. Then, when told he was about to be tazed, McBride turns to run while holding onto his pants.
A detective issued a directive to taze the suspect and a stun gun was deployed - but another officer fired a bullet. While on the ground, McBride appeared to be pulling up his pants, when police fired five more shots.
Investigation determined the suspect was unarmed and all three officers that fired shots have been placed on administrative leave as per IMPD policy.
ICC: Indiana officials say review found 21 noncitizens voting in state
Wednesday Attorney General Todd Rokita and Secretary of State Diego Morales announced they - along with GOP officials in three other states - had settled a lawsuit which forced the US Department of Homeland Security to verify the citizenship of 585K+ Hoosier voters.
As a part of this announcement, the pair announced the review had found 165 noncitizens registered to vote and 21 cases of noncitizens having cast ballots in “recent” elections - they did not specify.
“From day one, many individuals dismissed our work as a ‘witch hunt’ — but the facts speak for themselves: non-citizen voting is real here in our state, and even one illegal ballot undermines the trust we are told to have in our election processes and even the Republic itself,” Rokita said.
Under the agreement, which also included Florida, Iowa and Ohio, DHS is required to continue its development of a program capable of scanning millions of state voter records for instances of noncitizen registered voters.
Indiana Childcare Crisis
The Owen News: Additional Closure Deepens Crisis
Tiny Town Learning Academy closes, marking another reduction in the available spots for childcare in Owen County, with YMCA’s childcare facility closing over the summer. Meaning that since July, Owen County has lost 175 childcare spots.
Tiny Town proprietor Stephanie Freeman estimates that approximately 60 percent of childcare facilities in the state have closed over the last three months.
This is a downstream effect of cuts to Indiana’s childcare voucher program, which now has a waitlist exceeding 30,000 kids, with no new vouchers being unit AT LEAST 2027.
ICC: Braun announces pilot program allowing state workers to bring newborns to the office
The “Family First Workplace” initiative has already launched for staff in the governor’s office, the Indiana Department of Health and the State Personnel Department
The governor’s announcement followed an executive order issued earlier this year that expanded paid childbirth leave and parental leave, as well as paid leave for state employees who experience a stillbirth or infant loss.
Limited to infants less than six months old
Participating employees must
submit a written request at least 10 business days in advance
complete a series of documents, including a participation agreement and waiver, a pediatrician clearance form, and a supervisor sign-off confirming the details of participation.
Obtain signatures from coworkers who agree to serve as “alternate care providers”
War on Public Education
ICC: School Leaders Warn SB1 Destabilizing Budgets
Statewide survey released Thursday by Indiana Coalition for Public Education, highlighting negative effects of Braun’s property tax overhaul.
99% of districts expect law to negatively affect funding beyond 2025.
Superintendents cite staff cuts, delayed maintenance, likelihood of other reductions.
Suburban districts worry about “ability to accommodate growth without operational dollars.”
Rural districts face “existential threats.”
Urban districts note structural disadvantages
Dense populations
Aging infrastructure
High concentration of high-needs students
Chalkbeat Indiana: Indianapolis Local Education Alliance advances proposals diluting power of elected IPS school board
In a 7-2 Wednesday vote (at 4pm when many parents/educators could not participate), ILEA whittled four proposals down to the two least democratic.
Republican supermajority mandated creation of ILEA in 2025 session.
“Collaborative Compact Advisory Board” consists of appointees from IPS, mayor’s office, and charter schools. IPS and charters would report to this board, which would levy taxes and authorize charters.
“Indianapolis Education Authority” model would give mayor’s office more power. Mayor would appoint a secretary of education and nine-member board (of which four would be elected IPS board members).
IPS Superintendent Alessia Johnson voted against and blasted proposal.
ILEA makes final recommendation to state after 12/17 meeting, though state could disregard.
Central Indiana DSA: The People’s Proposal for a Unified Public School System
This Week in Redistricting
New Map Unveiled
WFYI: Republicans’ proposed congressional map would split Marion County into four districts
House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers) claims California pushed him over the edge, saying, “that had an impact on me, seeing what California did, and overwhelmingly voting for new maps there,” Huston said. [emphasis mine]
IndyStar: Indy residents fear redistricting would mean ‘erasure’ of their voices
“Many residents and Democrats say the proposed map seems blatantly designed to strip power from communities of color that line the major east-west thoroughfare. The new map would fracture the voting bloc that since 2008 has backed Democratic U.S. Rep. André Carson, drowning out diverse Marion County neighborhoods with heavily White suburbs and far-flung rural areas extending to Indiana’s borders with three other states.”
Capital B Gary: NWI voters diluted by vast rural district
District 1 currently contains the entirety of Lake and Porter Counties, along with a portion of LaPorte County.
The new map would group Lake County Chicagoland voters with those in rural counties like Pulaski, Starke, Marshall, Fulton, and Wabash, which Democratic lawmakers said could affect all districts.
Elkhart, Muncie, Lafayette areas also divided
IndyStar: GOP Author Insists Maps Drawn for “Political Performance”
“That’s because a Supreme Court case from 2018 established that the federal courts cannot police partisan gerrymandering. A lawsuit on this basis would go nowhere. A lawsuit on the basis of racial gerrymandering, however, could go somewhere. So the word from Republicans is: Politics is the only basis we have.”
At least for now. SCOTUSblog: Court appears ready to curtail major provision of the Voting Rights Act
ICC: Indiana House GOP soundly defeats Democratic amendments to bill
“Dems offered a pair of amendments to reimburse county clerks for costs, like updating election processes and materials.
Democrats unsuccessfully offered several other amendments designed to track spending.
One would’ve required the Secretary of State’s Office to tally the total amount of money and staff hours spent to implement the redistricting and list projects “delayed or abandoned … as a result of redirecting resources” to those efforts.
Another would have urged lawmakers to study the costs following the 2026 legislative session.
One amendment would’ve required public hearings in each congressional district.
Another amendment would’ve mandated that the people or groups involved in drawing the maps be identified.
A proposed amendment to ban mid-census redistricting — which also deleted the bill’s redistricting language — received support from two Republicans”
ICC: Turning Point Holds Pro-Redistricting Rally, vows to “throw so much money” at primarying defectors
House Passes Maps Friday 57-41
12 Republicans join Dems in voting NO
Rep. Stephen Bartels, Eckerty
Rep. Becky Cash, Zionsville
Rep. Ed Clere, New Albany
Rep. Mark Genda, Frankfort
Rep. Dave Hall, Norman
Rep. Mike Karickhoff, Kokomo
Rep. Matt Lehman, Berne
Rep. Danny Lopez, Carmel
Rep. Peggy Mayfield, Martinsville
Rep. Jennifer Meltzer, Shelbyville
Rep. Greg Steuerwald, Avon
Rep. Tim Yocum, Clinton
Bill moves to State Senate Monday
FOX59: Sen. Qaddoura files bill that would “prohibit, upon its passage, the Indiana General Assembly from conducting redistricting efforts at any other time than the first regular session following the United States decennial census.”
IndyStar: More Threats & Intimidation
Since we last checked in, three MORE lawmakers have been targeted.
Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores. On Nov. 28, Bohacek announced that he would vote against redistricting after Trump used a slur in a Thanksgiving social media post. On Dec. 1, he said his family’s home was the subject of a bomb threat shortly after the statement was posted.
Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg. “Unfortunately, my house was the target of a pipe bomb threat on Saturday evening,” Leising wrote on X.
Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette. The Tippecanoe County Bomb Squad was called out to Alting’s former residence after receiving an anonymous email claiming that two pipe bombs had been planted there.
ICC: Walker will NOT seek reelection
GOP State Senator Kyle Walker announced Wednesday that he would complete his Senate term through the November 2026 election, but will not seek reelection.
“Walker’s Senate District 31 is one of the state’s few politically close Senate districts, covering the northeastern corner of Indianapolis and the Fishers area in Hamilton County. He won the 2022 election with 55% of the vote.”
Other filings as legislative session opens
State Senator Mike Young (R-Indpls) introduced a bill that would legalize the use of firing squads to carry out Indiana’s death penalty.
Representative Craig Snow (R-Warsaw) introduced a bill that would add a 14th casino license in the state in an effort to place a gaming establishment in the Fort Wayne market.
Rep. Alex Burton (D-Evansville) introduced a bill requiring new data centers to apply for a consumption permit for their water usage, subject to approval by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
State Rep Danny Lopez (R-Carmel) filed a bill that would require a gubernatorial candidate to certify the name of a lieutenant governor candidate to run “jointly with” the candidate for governor.
US/World News
HooCares (US/Intl Briefs)
Lev Parnas: Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner spent five hours in Moscow Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, negotiations which the Kremlin said produced “no compromise.” Accounts detail a business meeting rather than peace negotiations.
Reuters: Witkoff then hosted Ukrainian negotiators in Miami beginning Thursday. Still, no deal has been announced.
NBC News: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats will force a vote next week on a three-year extension to extend expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits and prevent health insurance premiums from skyrocketing for millions of Americans. The gambit is likely to fail, leaving Senate Dems empty-handed after forcing a government shutdown over this very issue in October.
NPR: At the White House on Wednesday, surrounded by the executives from several major car companies, President Trump announced his administration is rolling back fuel efficiency standards set during the Biden era.
Colorado Newsline:Trump demands the release of Tina Peters, a former Mesa county election clerk serving nine years in prison for her role in breaching the county’s election system.
AP: “The Trump administration has renamed the U.S. Institute of Peace after President Donald Trump and has planted the president’s name on its headquarters despite an ongoing fight over control of the institute.”
Al Jazeera: At the drawing ceremony for next year’s joint US/Mexico/Canada World Cup, held at the Kennedy Center, FIFA President Gianni Infantino awarded President Trump the newly-created FIFA Peace Prize.
CBS News: Federal grand jurors in Virginia declined to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, after a judge tossed out the DOJ’s trumped-up bank fraud charges last week.
The Hill: The FBI announced an arrest had been made in the nearly five-year-long investigation of pipe bombs planted outside of the DNC and RNC officers the evening before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.Following his arrest on, Brian Cole Jr., 30, a Northern Virginia resident, confessed to that he planted the bombs outside the offices and that he believed controversies around the 2020 presidential election.
SCOTUSblog: “The Supreme Court on Thursday gave the green light to Texas’ efforts to be able to use a new congressional map favorable to Republicans in the 2026 elections despite a lower court’s ruling that the map unconstitutionally sorts voters based on race.”
US Economy Teetering
MSN: Delayed numbers show inflation still growing
In September, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rose 3%, continuing its climb since April, when it was 2.3% before most tariffs took effect.
“America remains heavily reliant on imports, particularly from retailers, and tariffs have significantly impacted import prices. According to Yale Budget Lab, the effective tariff rate is 16.8%, the highest since 1935.”
Transport Topics: Manufacturing Slump Deepens
“U.S. factory activity shrank in November by the most in four months as orders weakened, indicating manufacturers are struggling to break free from an extended period of malaise.”
The survey suggests the nation’s manufacturing base remains bogged down by trade policy uncertainty and elevated production costs. The ISM index of prices paid for materials picked up for the first time in five months and is about 8 points higher than a year ago.
NBC News: Small businesses cut 120,000 jobs in November, ADP says
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting to see an increase of 40,000.
The Main Street Alliance, which consists of 30,000 small-business owners, Trump and Republicans for the difficult conditions citing trade wars, healthcare cuts, and tax breaks for big corporations.
CBS News: “Employers have cut more than 1.1 million jobs through November, the most since 2020, when companies laid off 2.2 million workers as the pandemic was slamming the U.S. economy, according to a new report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.”
AI leading to loss of tech jobs
DOGE cuts gut government payroll
Retail expecting weak holiday season
CBS News: Seasonal work lowest in 15 years
CBS Moneywatch: And yet, record holiday spending over the Black Friday-Cyber Monday period.
Why the discrepancy? The K-shaped Christmas: wealthy few drive holiday spending splurge (The Guardian)
ICE raids in NOLA, MPLS
BBC: Trump says he does not want Somalis in US as ICE plans Minnesota operation
Trump began railing against Somali immigrants after a CIA-trained Afghan immigrant shot two National Guard members in Washington.
The president pivoted to criticizing Somalis in Minnesota and used a slur to refer to MN Governor Tim Walz for welcoming them.
The Twin Cities are home to one of the largest Somali communities in the world and the largest in the US.
AP: Immigration crackdown in New Orleans has a target of 5,000 arrests
Operation “Catahoula Crunch” is aiming to make 5,000 arrests, a target that would require detaining more than just “the worst of the worst,” as DHS Secretary Kristi Noem says.
That would surpass the number of arrests during a two-month enforcement blitz this fall around Chicago, a region with a much bigger immigrant population.
Only 15% of those arrested in Chicago had a criminal record.
Meanwhile in Florida: Video shows federal agents pulling woman from car as she screams “I’m a U.S. citizen” (CBS News)
Daily Mail: Kristi Noem’s ICE hiring chaos laid bare as fat, illiterate and violent misfits ‘not ready to tie their own laces’ are recruited
“The Trump administration’s frantic push to hire 10,000 new deportation officers by year’s end has spiraled into what insiders describe as a national embarrassment - with lax vetting and a signing bonus of up to $50,000 luring in a wave of woefully unfit recruits.”
Applicant age is both older and younger than ever before, after ICE decided to widen the range to meet this year’s hiring goals. The minimum age has been lowered from 21 to 18 and capped at 65 from 40.
‘We have people failing open-book tests and we have folks that can barely read or write English,’ one Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official told the Daily Mail
recruits were even discovered to have tattoos associated with gangs and white supremacists when they stripped off their shirts during workouts.
Reports include incidents of violence, disruptive behavior, and allegations of sexual misconduct on campus, most handled internally DURING DHS training.
The Hill: Sabrina Carpenter speaks out, ICE doubles down
The White House on Friday posted a video of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests spliced with an altered clip of pop musician Sabrina Carpenter on “Saturday Night Live,” days after using one of her songs in a similar video.
The new post comes days after the White House released a similar montage of ICE arrests set to Carpenter’s song “Juno.” The video repeats the lyric “have you ever tried this one?” a reference to different sexual positions.
“This video is evil and disgusting,” the musician replied to the White House’s now-deleted post. “Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.””
Hegseth Under Fire at DoD
Illegal strikes on Caribbean boats
Mediaite: Hegseth Throws Admiral Under the Bus, Says Navy Leader Ordered Boat Survivors Killed
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made clear that he believes Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley is the man responsible for a U.S. attack on the survivors of a boat bombing in the Caribbean.
On Sept. 2, the U.S. bombed an alleged drug boat off the coast of Trinidad. According to The Washington Post, Hegseth ordered everyone aboard killed, according to sources familiar with the situation. After the first strike, which was conducted by the Navy, two survivors remained, clinging to the wreckage. Heeding Hegseth’s directive, the Post said Bradly deemed the survivors valid targets and ordered that Hegseth’s directive be carried out. The Navy conducted a second strike and killed the survivors.
WSJ: Survivors of Boat Strike Were Actively Continuing Drug Mission, Admiral to Tell Lawmakers
Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley plans to say he and his legal adviser concluded the two survivors were attempting to continue their drug run, making them and the already-damaged vessel legitimate targets for another attack, two defense officials said.
NBC News Hegseth says he ‘would have made the same call’ on second Sept. 2 boat strike
“From what I understood then and what I understand now, I fully support that strike,” Hegseth told Tomlinson. “I would have made the same call myself. Those who were involved in 20 years of conflict, Iraq and Afghanistan or elsewhere, know that reattacks and restrikes of combatants on the battlefield happen often.”
ABC News: Pentagon IG finds Hegseth could have endangered troops with Signal chat
A Pentagon watchdog concluded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked exposing sensitive information that could have endangered U.S. troops when he relayed information about a planned military strike in Yemen using the Signal commercial messaging app, according to a person who read the classified investigative report and another source with knowledge of the findings.
The Defense Department’s inspector general concluded that the information Hegseth put in Signal had been properly classified by US Central Command prior to the secretary sharing the information with his colleagues and his wife, two sources said. But because the information was so sensitive and risked putting troops in danger if it fell into enemy hands, the IG concluded it should not have been relayed using the commercial app, the people familiar with the details said.
The sources said that, according to the report, Hegseth refused to sit down for an interview as part of the investigation.
Tough on drug traffickers?
CNN: Former Honduran Prez Pardoned
Honduras’ former President Juan Orlando Hernández thanked US President Donald Trump for pardoning his US drug trafficking conviction amid criticism from lawmakers that the pardon undermines the White House’s efforts to stop drug trafficking.
President of Honduras from 2014 until 2022, Hernández was convicted and sentenced last year to 45 years in prison and given an $8 million fine by a US judge for drug trafficking offenses. Hernández insisted he was innocent, claiming his trial was “rigged” and that it relied on the accusations of criminals who sought revenge against him.
Both Republican and Democratic members of Congress have criticized Trump’s decision to pardon someone with a drug trafficking conviction when his administration has been so focused on disrupting drug trafficking in Latin America, ramping up military activity and launching controversial strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.
Congress Eyes Limiting Pardon Power
The Guardian: New York Times Sues Pentagon Over Press Access
The New York Times said on Thursday it is suing the US defense department and the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, after the Trump administration imposed restrictions for the press on access privileges and source-based reporting at the Pentagon.
Journalists assigned to cover the Pentagon were asked in October to agree to new rules telling them not to solicit information that had not been approved by Hegseth. The extra restrictions were also designed to limit their movements around the military command headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington DC. As a result, many leading outlets turned in their credentials in protest.
Pearl Harbor Anniversary
National Park Service: National Pearl Harbor Rememberance Day
National Museum of the Pacific War: The Unforeseen Legacy of Doris Miller
NBC5 DFW: TX Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson Instrumental in Honors for War Hero Doris Miller
New York Times: Trump’s NATO Threat Reflects a Wider Shift on America’s Place in the World
