On this week's edition of HoosLeft This Week, host Scott Aaron Rogers is joined by Indiana State Senate candidates Gabrianna Gratzol (District 11, South Bend/Elkhart area) and Ethan Sweetland-May (District 47, southern Indiana) for a wide-ranging discussion of a week that somehow managed to be even more chaotic than usual. The conversation covers the on-again-off-again US-Iran ceasefire collapse and its cascading global energy crisis, Indiana's financial and institutional entanglement with Israel's war machine through the Iron Nation initiative and the Applied Research Institute's role in Palantir's Maven targeting system, Trump's escalating feud with Pope Leo and what it means for Catholic voters, ICE abusing French grandmothers in nightgowns to First Amendment wins for a Brown County app developer, the Epstein network's tentacles through New Mexico Democratic politics into the Trump orbit, the DOJ's systematic dismantling of judicial independence, Clarence Thomas's corruption-soaked speech at the University of Texas, the class rage simmering beneath a string of attacks on tech and corporate targets, the ISTA union's betrayal of its own staff, Viktor Orbán's landslide defeat in Hungary and what it might portend for MAGA-aligned populism, the New Jersey special election victory of progressive Analilia Mejia, Eric Swalwell's disgraceful exit from Congress, Indiana's primary intrigue including the student ID ruling and Governor Braun's contradictory endorsement strategy, the Diego Morales implosion at the Secretary of State's office, and the state's deepening crises in child care, healthcare, and housing.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

00:00:35 Introduction and Support HoosLeft

00:02:32 Meet the Guests: Gabrianna Gratzol and Ethan Sweetland-May

00:04:16 The Iran-Israel-U.S. Ceasefire Collapse

00:09:16 Operation Economic Fury and the Global Energy Crisis

00:11:47 Indiana’s Stake in the War: Iron Nation and Applied Research Institute

00:23:09 Trump vs. the Pope: Christian Nationalism on Trial

00:31:07 ICE Roundup: French Grannies, Road Rage, and State Accountability

00:37:59 The ICE Tracker App and a First Amendment Win for a Hoosier

00:40:12 Tech Giants Roll Over: Regulation and Working-Class Accountability

00:42:39 Pam Bondi, the Epstein Files, and the Epstein Class

00:50:04 DOJ Under Blanche: Purging Judges, Protecting Insurrectionists

00:58:41 The Courts: Small Wins and Big Losses

01:05:55 Clarence Thomas, Harlan Crow, and the Speech No One Covered

01:11:26 Elite Rage, Class Violence, and the Breaking Social Contract

01:19:33 Indiana: ISTA Union Scandal and the Fight for Organized Labor

01:24:53 Hungary’s Election and the Fall of Orbán

01:30:52 New Jersey Special Election and the California Governor’s Race

01:39:43 Indiana Primary: Student ID Ruling, Braun’s Endorsements, and Bopp’s Ballot Gambit

01:46:03 Diego Morales and the Secretary of State Race

01:50:15 Indiana Roundup: Child Care Vouchers, Eli Lilly, and the Hospital Crisis

01:57:34 Closing: Support the Campaigns, Upcoming PIN Events

IN DEPTH:

• Middle East War

  • Allies try to puzzle out US blockade of Iran (Politico)

    • The U.S. began a naval blockade of Iranian ports Monday, targeting ships that have visited or paid tolls to Iran — including in the critical Strait of Hormuz.

    • The blockade’s biggest risk is confrontation with China or Russia, whose ships may simply ignore it and dare the U.S. Navy to stop them.

    • Logistics are murky — commanders don’t yet know how to verify toll payments, handle detained crews, or whether they have enough assets to enforce it.

    • American allies are sitting this one out, with Britain flatly refusing to participate and Spain calling the broader war a senseless downward spiral.

    • The White House is betting the blockade forces Iran to reopen the strait, but the strategy’s endgame remains publicly undefined.

  • Israeli strikes on Lebanon continue as U.S. hosts historic diplomatic talks (PBS)

    • The U.S. hosted the first direct Israel-Lebanon talks in over 30 years, with Rubio framing the goal as a permanent end to Hezbollah’s influence — not just a ceasefire.

    • Israeli strikes continued in Southern Lebanon throughout the day, including smoke visible on the horizon, even as the talks were underway in Washington.

    • Hezbollah was excluded from the talks and said it wouldn’t abide by any resulting agreement, including demands to disarm.

    • Israel’s ambassador called the most significant takeaway that both countries see themselves united against a common enemy in Hezbollah.

    • Italy announced it would suspend its defense cooperation agreement with Israel as consequences mount over the ongoing campaign.

  • 10-day Lebanon-Israel ceasefire begins after weeks of conflict (France24)

    • A ten-day Israel-Lebanon ceasefire took effect Friday, with Israel striking over 380 targets in southern Lebanon in the hours before it began and killing at least seven people in a strike on Ghazieh shortly beforehand.

    • The ceasefire’s fine print is already contested — Trump says Hezbollah is included, but the State Department says Lebanon itself is committed to dismantling Hezbollah, a condition Netanyahu is also insisting on.

    • A Hezbollah lawmaker credited Iran’s pressure for making the ceasefire happen, framing it as Iran’s leverage — not a concession — tied directly to the Strait of Hormuz standoff.

    • Trump called a broader Iran deal “very close” and floated traveling to Pakistan to sign it, while over a million Lebanese remain displaced and 2,000 are already dead.

  • Iran says strait of Hormuz ‘completely open’ but sounds warning on US blockade (Guardian)

    • Iran’s foreign minister declared the Strait of Hormuz open Friday, but the IRGC gave only qualified support and Iran’s parliamentary speaker warned it would close again if the U.S. blockade continues — making the opening conditional at best.

    • Oil dropped below $90 a barrel on the news, but analysts warn few vessels will risk passage in such uncertain circumstances and any return to normality remains distant.

    • Trump claimed Iran agreed to never close the strait again, indefinitely suspend its nuclear program, and surrender enriched uranium — Iran has publicly rejected all three claims.

    • The Lebanon ceasefire is fraying before it’s a day old: Netanyahu posted a video saying Israel “has not finished the job” with Hezbollah minutes after Trump said Israel was “prohibited” from striking Lebanon, and an Israeli drone killed someone in southern Lebanon shortly after.

  • Iran closes Strait of Hormuz once again, fires on tankers (Axios)

    • Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again Saturday, citing the ongoing U.S. blockade as “maritime piracy” — a direct reversal of the brief opening that had oil markets cautiously optimistic.

    • Iranian forces fired on at least three commercial ships in the strait, including two Indian vessels, with one ship hit after being given clearance to enter and then attacked anyway.

    • The escalation came hours after Trump declared a deal was “a day or two” away and claimed Iran had agreed to stop enriching uranium “forever” — claims Iran had already publicly rejected.

    • Trump’s response was to accuse Iran of getting “a little cute” — suggesting he’s still trying to project control over a situation that is visibly deteriorating.

  • US planning to seize Iran-linked ships in coming days (Jerusalem Post)

    • The U.S. is planning to board and seize Iran-linked oil tankers in international waters in the coming days — expanding “Operation Economic Fury” beyond the Middle East under the authority of the Indo-Pacific Command.

    • The target includes “dark fleet” vessels evading sanctions and insurance requirements, giving the U.S. broad latitude to interdict ships well outside the Persian Gulf.

    • Iran responded by reasserting military control over the Strait of Hormuz, attacking several ships Saturday, and with Supreme Leader Khamenei warning of “new bitter defeats” for its enemies.

    • The White House is framing the escalation as leverage toward a peace deal — but the gap between Trump’s optimism and conditions on the water grows wider by the hour.

  • Europe has ‘maybe 6 weeks of jet fuel left,’ energy agency head warns (AP)

    • Europe has roughly six weeks of jet fuel remaining, and the head of the International Energy Agency is warning of flight cancellations “soon” if the Strait of Hormuz stays blocked — KLM is already cutting 160 flights citing rising fuel costs.

    • The IEA chief called this the largest energy crisis ever faced, warning that failure to reopen the strait by end of May could push weaker economies from high inflation into outright recession.

    • Even a peace deal won’t quickly fix it — over 80 regional energy facilities have been damaged, more than a third severely, and the IEA estimates it could take up to two years to restore prewar production levels.

    • The people who will suffer most are the ones with the least say: developing nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, while the powers whose decisions caused the crisis insulate themselves from the worst of it.

  • Braun: Iron Nation-Indiana to create ‘strategic bridge’ between Indiana, Israel (FOX59)

    • Gov. Mike Braun announced Iron Nation-Indiana, a $60+ million initiative to attract Israeli tech companies to set up U.S. operations in Indiana.

    • The state is putting in $15 million; the private Iron Nation venture fund is committing more than $30 million.

    • The program targets connections between Israeli startups and Indiana’s corporate, healthcare, university, and industrial sectors.

  • Did the State of Indiana help strike an Iranian girls’ school? (Big Money)

    • According to this investigative piece, Indiana’s Applied Research Institute — a state-funded public-private partnership with Purdue and IU presidents on its board — helped fast-track Palantir’s AI targeting software into military use through a program called Tradewinds, which reduced contract timelines from two years to a few weeks.

    • Palantir’s Maven Smart System, which the piece links to a February strike on an Iranian elementary school that killed 156 girls, consolidated surveillance and targeting into a single platform where hundreds of targets can be selected in minutes.

    • The piece raises the broader warning that the same surveillance infrastructure being built for overseas targeting — with Indiana institutions’ fingerprints on it — is already collecting data on American civilians domestically.

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• Religion

  • Trump says he won’t apologize to Pope Leo and explains his reason for posting much-criticized meme (AP)

    • Trump publicly attacked Pope Leo XIV — the first American pope — for opposing the Iran war, calling him weak on crime and bad on foreign policy, and refused to apologize.

    • Leo fired back from the papal plane, saying he doesn’t fear the Trump administration and will keep speaking out for peace and dialogue.

    • A Trump social media post depicting himself in a Jesus-like healing pose was deleted Monday after backlash; Trump claimed he thought it showed him as a doctor.

    • Trump went further, claiming Leo was only elected pope because the Vatican thought an American could manage Trump — a claim with no basis offered.

    • Even the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops pushed back, with its president reminding Trump that the pope “is not his rival” but “the Vicar of Christ.”

  • U.S. Bishops Committee Hits Back After Vance Tells Pope To ‘Be Careful’ Discussing Theology (HuffPost)

    • The head of the U.S. bishops’ doctrinal committee publicly rebuked JD Vance, clarifying that Pope Leo wasn’t freelancing on theology but invoking over a thousand years of Catholic just war doctrine.

    • Bishop Massa’s pointed rejoinder: just war theory requires defense against an active aggressor after all peace efforts have failed — which is precisely what Leo said, not a personal opinion.

    • Vance, a 2019 convert, lectured the pope about theological carefulness while misreading the doctrine he was defending — just war theory already accounts for WWII; it’s the framework Leo was applying, not contradicting.

    • The episode puts Vance in the remarkable position of a six-year Catholic telling the Vicar of Christ to stay in his lane on a doctrine the Church has held since Augustine.

• ICE/DHS

  • French widow, 86, flies home after ICE detention ordeal (Guardian)

    • Marie-Thérèse Ross-Mahé, 86, was released from federal immigration detention and flown back to France after the French government intervened, more than two weeks after being arrested in her nightgown at her late husband’s Alabama home.

    • She had moved 4,000 miles from Brittany to Alabama to reunite with and marry William “Billy” Ross, a former U.S. Army captain she had fallen in love with in the 1950s when she worked as a secretary at the French military base where he was stationed.

    • The circumstances reek of weaponized immigration enforcement: a probate judge overseeing the inheritance dispute believes her late husband’s son, a retired state trooper, tipped off ICE about her visa overstay two days after a court order froze the estate’s assets — which she’s entitled to half of under Alabama law.

  • ICE agent faces felony charges in February road rage incident in Minnesota (MPR)

    • A Hennepin County prosecutor charged an ICE agent with felony assault after he allegedly pointed his service weapon into another vehicle during a road rage incident on a Minneapolis highway — in an unmarked rental SUV with no indication it was law enforcement.

    • The agent admitted drawing his firearm after the other vehicle had already rejoined normal traffic, corroborating the victims’ account and undermining any self-defense argument.

    • The county attorney is separately investigating 17 other use-of-force incidents involving ICE and Border Patrol agents, including the killings of two protesters — but those cases are moving slower because federal agents have stonewalled evidence requests.

    • If convicted, Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. would not be eligible for a presidential pardon because the charges are state, not federal — a detail that matters enormously given the current occupant of the White House.

  • Judge rules in favor of Indiana ICE-monitoring app creator (IndyStar)

    • A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from pressuring Apple and Facebook to suppress Brown County, Indiana man Mark Hodges’ ICE-tracking app and a Chicagoland ICE sightings page, ruling the government likely violated the First Amendment.

    • The First Amendment explicitly protects the right to observe and record law enforcement in public — the government’s argument that these apps interfere with ICE operations and endanger agents is the same logic used to justify suppressing any accountability journalism.

    • The judge found that former AG Pam Bondi and former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem didn’t request removal — they demanded it, and used “thinly veiled threats” of prosecution to coerce the platforms into censoring constitutionally protected speech.

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• DOJ

  • Bondi skips House deposition on Epstein files, faces contempt threat (Scripps)

    • Pam Bondi no-showed a congressional subpoena Tuesday, with the Justice Department arguing she can’t be compelled to testify because she’s no longer attorney general — a legal theory Democrats flatly reject.

    • The subpoena stems from Bondi’s handling of the Epstein files release, where victims’ names were left exposed while powerful figures’ names were redacted — the opposite of what the transparency law was supposed to accomplish.

    • Trump fired Bondi on April 2, conveniently rendering her a private citizen just as congressional pressure over the Epstein files was peaking.

    • House Oversight Democrats say contempt proceedings are next if she continues to ignore the subpoena — but with Republicans holding the majority, whether that goes anywhere is another question.

  • Epstein Was Never Properly Investigated in New Mexico Despite Reports to FBI. Follow the Money Far Enough and It Leads to Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, DJT, and a Trillion-Dollar Nuclear Deal. (Alisa Writes)

    • New Mexico Governor Bruce King sold Epstein Zorro Ranch in 1993 and introduced him to the attorney who became his Power of Attorney — who was then appointed U.S. Attorney for New Mexico; Bruce’s son Gary later served as state AG, took Epstein money for two decades through shell companies, and never opened an investigation.

    • Governor Bill Richardson signed half a billion in public financing for Forest City Enterprises — whose founding Ratner family maintained documented Epstein ties through 2016 — while visiting Epstein’s island and being named by survivors as an abuser.

    • Ivanka Trump worked at Forest City Ratner before joining the Trump Organization; Brookfield later acquired Forest City, bailed out Kushner’s 666 Fifth Avenue using Qatari money while Kushner held Middle East policy authority, and is now Trump’s partner in building American nuclear infrastructure.

    • The author’s thesis: it’s not a conspiracy, it’s a self-reinforcing network where everyone who took the money became a node — and nodes protect the network because the network protects them.

  • Judges fired after blocking deportation of pro-Palestinian students (Guardian)

    • The DOJ fired six immigration judges, including two who ruled against the Trump administration in deportation cases involving pro-Palestinian students.

    • The dismissed judges had both been Biden appointees with backgrounds in immigration defense — a pattern an NPR analysis found the administration is deliberately targeting.

    • Judge Patel learned she was fired by email mid-hearing on Friday and had to notify her courtroom before being walked out.

    • The DOJ framed the firings as impartiality enforcement; Patel called it a broader effort to reshape the immigration bench to match the administration’s political agenda.

    • Patel warned the purge creates dangerous conditions — less experienced judges, faster case pressure, and shrinking room for due process.

  • Key prosecutor in John Brennan investigation has been removed from case (AP)

    • The lead prosecutor in the DOJ’s investigation of former CIA Director John Brennan was removed after telling Justice Department officials she didn’t think the evidence supported criminal charges — the DOJ called it routine reassignment.

    • The case stems from a Jim Jordan referral accusing Brennan of lying about the 2017 intelligence assessment on Russian election interference — a claim Brennan denies — and is part of Trump’s broader campaign to criminally prosecute political enemies.

    • The removal follows a clear pattern: Trump fired Pam Bondi for insufficient progress on prosecuting his foes, and previously forced out a Virginia U.S. attorney who declined to charge Comey and James — his replacement secured indictments that a judge then threw out for being unlawfully appointed.

    • Acting AG Todd Blanche has said Trump has “the right and duty” to be involved in directing investigations against people he has issues with — a statement that would have ended careers in any prior administration.

  • DOJ moves to erase seditious conspiracy convictions of Oath Keepers, Proud Boys in Jan. 6 cases (PBS)

    • The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to erase the seditious conspiracy convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders who organized the January 6 Capitol attack.

    • This goes beyond Trump’s January 2025 clemency, which commuted sentences — vacating convictions would wipe the criminal records entirely.

    • The motion was signed by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who framed it as a routine prosecutorial discretion call in the interests of justice.

    • Juries had convicted the leaders, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, of orchestrating violent plots to stop the transfer of power after Trump’s 2020 election loss.

• Courts

  • LGBTQ+ groups score legal victory over Trump, restoring Pride flag at Stonewall National Monument (Advocate)

    • The Pride flag will return permanently to the Stonewall National Monument after the federal government settled a lawsuit over its February removal.

    • Under the agreement, the National Park Service must reinstall the flag within seven days and cannot remove it except for maintenance.

    • Plaintiffs included the Gilbert Baker Foundation and Lambda Legal, who argued the flag qualified as a historically relevant exception to federal flag rules — a position the settlement effectively concedes.

    • The case is dismissed with prejudice, meaning the government can’t relitigate the removal policy at Stonewall.

  • Judge dismisses Trump’s $10B Wall Street Journal lawsuit over Epstein birthday letter story (Independent)

    • A federal judge dismissed Trump’s $10 billion defamation suit against the Wall Street Journal over its reporting on an alleged birthday letter Trump sent Jeffrey Epstein, ruling Trump fell nowhere near the “actual malice” standard.

    • The dismissal is without prejudice — Trump’s team says it will refile an amended complaint.

    • The WSJ’s defense is straightforward: the letter is real, publicly available, and subsequently confirmed by documents Trump himself signed into law releasing.

    • It’s the second major defamation suit Trump has lost at the dismissal stage, following a judge’s scathing rejection of his $15 billion suit against the New York Times.

  • Appeals court again blocks Boasberg contempt probe into Alien Enemies Act deportations (AP)

    • A divided D.C. Circuit panel blocked Judge James Boasberg’s criminal contempt inquiry into Trump officials — including Kristi Noem — for defying his order to halt deportation flights to El Salvador.

    • The 2-1 majority, both Trump appointees, ruled Boasberg overstepped by probing executive branch national security deliberations; the Biden-appointed dissenter warned the ruling could undermine federal court authority for generations.

    • The majority also accepted the administration’s argument that Boasberg’s written order technically didn’t apply to planes already outside U.S. airspace when it was issued.

    • The ACLU said it will ask the full D.C. Circuit to take up the case, calling it beyond dispute that the administration willfully violated the court’s order.

  • Clarence Thomas Can’t Get American History Right (TNR)

    • Clarence Thomas delivered an hour-long speech at UT Austin this week ostensibly honoring the Declaration of Independence’s 250th anniversary — and used it to declare that progressivism and American founding ideals cannot coexist, in what one legal scholar called “close to theology on the bench.”

    • Thomas opened with a genuinely moving tribute to the Declaration’s ideals and his grandparents’ sacrifices — then pivoted to 50 minutes of historical fabrication, blaming progressivism for Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, and Mao with no supporting evidence and considerable contrary evidence.

    • Blaming Segregationist Woodrow Wilson for introducing progressivism to America, Thomas selectively quotes Wilson’s 1887 academic paper on public administration to make Wilson sound like he was importing German authoritarianism — but the full passage argues the opposite, that European administrative models were a poor fit for America and needed to be Americanized.

    • Thomas also conveniently ignores that Wilson went to war with Prussian autocracy in 1917, that fascism was explicitly anti-socialist, that Hitler drew inspiration from American Jim Crow and Native American removal policies, and that Theodore Roosevelt — not Wilson — was progressivism’s first presidential champion.

    • The speech was introduced by Harlan Crow, the billionaire megadonor who spent two decades lavishing Thomas with undisclosed luxury gifts — making Thomas’s warning about officials who succumb to “the enchanting siren songs of flattery” a remarkable exercise in self-unawareness.

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• Pitchforks

  • Sam Altman’s home targeted in second attack; two suspects arrested (SF Standard)

    • Sam Altman’s San Francisco home was targeted twice in one weekend — a Molotov cocktail Friday morning and an apparent gunshot Sunday at 1:40 a.m.

    • Two suspects were arrested Sunday after surveillance cameras captured their license plate; police found three firearms at their residence.

    • The Friday suspect, a Texas man, was booked on attempted murder and arson charges after also making threats at OpenAI’s headquarters.

    • Altman responded to the first attack by acknowledging that fear and anxiety about AI is “justified,” given the scale of societal change underway.

  • Worker who allegedly set fire to California warehouse compares self to Luigi Mangione (Guardian)

    • A Kimberly-Clark warehouse employee allegedly set a fire that caused over $600 million in damage, then texted a co-worker comparing himself to Luigi Mangione — framing the act as class-based grievance.

    • Video posted to social media shows the suspect igniting toilet paper inside the warehouse while saying he doesn’t make enough money to live on.

    • Chamel Abdulkarim wasn’t initially suspected — co-workers were blaming the robots until the video surfaced.

    • He faces up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted on arson charges.

  • Amazon worker dies on warehouse floor; colleagues continue working around his body – ‘Let’s get back to work’ (Mint)

    • An Amazon warehouse worker in Troutdale, Oregon died on the job April 6, and employees allege his body went unattended for over an hour while operations continued around him.

    • A supervisor allegedly told workers to “just turn around and not look” and get back to work.

    • Amazon disputes the characterization, saying CPR was administered immediately by on-site staff and the area was cordoned off while EMS responded.

    • Employees raised separate concerns about dangerously hot conditions in the building, with some speculating heat may have been a factor — though the cause of death remains unknown.

  • Newly unsealed records reveal Amazon’s price-fixing tactics, California attorney general claims (Guardian)

    • Newly unredacted court documents reveal Amazon systematically punished independent sellers who dared charge a penny less on competitor sites like Walmart and Target — suppressing their sales by stripping access to the Buy Box, which can crater revenue by 80%.

    • The mechanism is straightforward monopoly behavior: Amazon charges sellers high fees, then uses its market dominance to force those same sellers to raise prices everywhere else so Amazon always looks cheapest — meaning consumers pay more across the entire internet, not just on Amazon.

    • Internal emails show Amazon employees celebrating when the scheme pushed sellers off Temu, and tracking an Indiana furniture seller’s price hikes on other sites in real time.

    • Amazon now controls 56% of U.S. online retail spending — up from 47% in 2022 — while the company that built its brand on “everything store” low prices is accused of being the reason your prices are high everywhere else too.

  • Someone Has to Be Happy. Why Not Lauren Sánchez Bezos? (NYT)

    • The Times handed Lauren Sánchez Bezos thousands of fawning words while her husband laid off a third of the Washington Post newsroom, paid $40 million to flatter Melania Trump, and his warehouse workers are dying on the clock — and the piece treats all of it as charming texture in a love story.

    • The article’s own reporting undercuts its tone: Bezos promised to give away most of his $124 billion fortune in 2022, has since more than doubled it, and has distributed $2.4 billion — which a philanthropy expert quoted in the piece notes lags badly relative to his wealth.

    • Sánchez Bezos deflects every hard question — the Post layoffs, Trump’s influence, the Amazon layoffs — with breezy pivots the Times repeatedly lets her walk away from.

    • The piece inadvertently makes the strongest case against itself: a woman going to space with Katy Perry, co-chairing the Met Gala, and wearing lace bras at inaugurations is not a story about joy — it’s a story about what obscene wealth looks like when it stops apologizing.

  • Union for ISTA staff files unfair labor charges (WFYI)

    • The union representing Indiana State Teachers Association staff has filed NLRB charges alleging ISTA management retaliated against union leaders who objected to an opaque internal restructuring plan.

    • Three Professional Staff Organization officers — including its president and vice president — were placed on administrative leave and two face termination, all while seeking information about the restructuring.

    • The core irony: a teachers union is accused of doing to its own staff exactly what PSO members spend their careers fighting against on behalf of educators.

    • PSO says the dispute goes beyond retaliation, pointing to broader concerns about ISTA leadership, transparency, and organizational direction.

• Elections

  • Viktor Orbán’s Loss Was Also a Defeat for MAGA (Atlantic)

    • Orbán’s 16-year rule ended Sunday in a landslide, with opposition leader Péter Magyar’s Tisza party projected to win a supermajority in parliament.

    • The defeat is equally Trump’s and Vance’s — both invested extraordinary public political capital in Orbán’s reelection and got nothing for it.

    • Magyar ran as a conservative who defected from Orbán’s inner circle, not a leftist, and his victory crowds waved EU flags alongside Hungarian ones.

    • The article argues Orbán’s real export was the illiberal governing model now being replicated in Washington — making his fall more than a local story.

    • Upcoming elections in France, Italy, Poland, and Spain become the next test of whether MAGA-aligned populism can survive without its flagship example.

  • Peter Magyar vows to end corruption that thrived under Orban (Times of London)

    • Magyar held his first press conference vowing to dismantle Orbán’s “criminal organization,” warning that shredders are already running full time at government ministries — with outgoing Foreign Minister Szijjárto specifically accused of destroying documents related to EU sanctions violations and potentially leaking sensitive EU documents to Russia.

    • Magyar’s agenda includes setting up an asset retrieval office by June to claw back millions lost to Orbán cronyism, unlocking an estimated €20 billion in frozen EU funds, and determining whether Orbán himself should face jail for corruption.

    • JD Vance visited Budapest last week to back Orbán, and spoke at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium — an Orbán-funded institution Magyar says will immediately lose state funding, calling the mixing of party and government financing a criminal offence.

    • Magyar won a two-thirds supermajority, giving him the power to oust Orbán appointees from key state positions — but analysts warn he faces an entrenched “party-state” and a constitutional court stacked with Fidesz loyalists.

  • Reps. Swalwell, Gonzales signal exits from Congress ahead of possible expulsion votes (WaPo)

    • Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Tony Gonzales (R-TX) both announced departures Monday to avoid expulsion votes over separate sexual misconduct allegations.

    • Swalwell denied assault but admitted unspecified “mistakes in judgment”; Gonzales acknowledged an affair with a staffer who later died by self-immolation.

    • The paired exits were timed to keep the House’s partisan balance intact — one Democrat, one Republican.

    • Swalwell also abandoned his California gubernatorial campaign, where he had been a leading contender before the allegations broke Friday.

    • The ethics cleanup may not stop there — Reps. Cherfilus-McCormick and Cory Mills, both of Florida, are facing separate expulsion pressure from their own colleagues.

  • Progressive Analilia Mejía takes New Jersey US House special election, giving Democrats another win (AP)

    • Progressive Analilia Mejia won New Jersey’s 11th District special election Thursday, called minutes after polls closed, on a platform of abolishing ICE, Medicare for All, higher wages, and calling billionaires’ grip on the economy a “stranglehold.”

    • AIPAC’s super PAC tried to kneecap the primary by targeting the more moderate Malinowski for questioning unconditional Israel aid — and ended up elevating Mejia, who goes further and calls Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide.

    • She was backed by Sanders, AOC, and Warren, and defeated the establishment candidate anyway — adding to a Democratic special election winning streak heading into the midterms.

    • The Republican framing of her as a dangerous socialist didn’t move the needle in a district Trump is increasingly losing — Harris carried it by 9 points in 2024, and Sherrill won reelection there by 15. Mejia’s margin was about 20 points.

  • In major win for voters, judge blocks Indiana GOP’s student ID ban (Democracy Docket)

    • A federal judge blocked Indiana’s ban on student IDs for voter identification, restoring access for an estimated 40,000 students in time for the midterm elections.

    • The court found the state eliminated a form of ID that had worked without incident for nearly two decades while producing zero evidence of fraud tied to student IDs.

    • The judge called SB 10 “a solution in search of a problem” and said the state failed to justify singling out student IDs as the only otherwise valid form of identification banned from the polls.

    • The ruling is a preliminary injunction, not a final decision, but the judge indicated plaintiffs are likely to win — a strong signal the law may ultimately be struck down.

  • Judge rejects effort to kick Indiana Senate candidate from GOP primary ballot (ICC)

    • A judge ruled Thursday that Alexandra Wilson stays on the May 5 ballot in the SD-38 race against incumbent Greg Goode, rejecting conservative heavyweight Jim Bopp’s attempt to disqualify her over a 2010 criminal charge that was pleaded down to a misdemeanor.

    • Bopp, a close Braun ally backing Trump-endorsed Brenda Wilson, argued the original felony charge made Alexandra Wilson ineligible — the judge disagreed in three sentences.

    • The stakes: if Alexandra Wilson splits the anti-Goode vote with Brenda Wilson, Goode — who voted against redistricting — survives, which is exactly what Bopp accused her of engineering.

    • Alexandra Wilson denied the scheme and released recordings of Trump staffers offering her political appointments if she’d drop out — suggesting the White House was directly involved in trying to clear the field.

  • Braun issues endorsements for lawmakers, including some who voted against redistricting (WFYI)

    • Gov. Braun endorsed House Reps. Peggy Mayfield, Jennifer Meltzer, and Greg Steuerwald — all three of whom voted against redistricting — directly contradicting his own December threat that opposing redistricting would carry “political consequences.”

    • In the same announcement, Braun fell in line with Trump and endorsed seven primary challengers targeting Senate Republicans who voted against redistricting: Paula Copenhaver vs. Spencer Deery, Michelle Davis vs. Greg Walker, Trevor De Vries vs. Dan Dernulc, Blake Fiechter vs. Travis Holdman, Tracey Powell vs. James Buck, Brenda Wilson vs. Greg Goode, and Brian Schmutzler vs. Linda Rogers.

    • The split approach suggests Braun is trying to have it both ways — rewarding House allies while joining Trump’s purge of Senate opponents — and hoping nobody notices the contradiction.

  • Top GOP election official blasts ‘pattern of negligence’ under Diego Morales (IndyStar)

    • Indiana’s Republican Secretary of State Diego Morales is being torpedoed by members of his own party — including his predecessor Connie Lawson and the GOP’s own election division co-counsel — who accuse him of nepotism, sloppy election administration, and spending public money on a $90,000 luxury SUV from a campaign donor.

    • The indictment is damning on its face: the official responsible for issuing notary licenses couldn’t get his own staff properly notarized, forcing candidates to rush back to Indianapolis to refile paperwork.

    • Both the Republican co-director and co-counsel of the Indiana Election Division are walking out the door immediately after the primary — a mass exodus that speaks louder than any letter.

    • Morales faces a convention fight in June against Knox County Clerk Dave Shelton, while on the Democratic side Beau Bayh and Blythe Potter are competing for their party’s nomination.

• Other Indiana News

  • Governor to pump $200M into child care vouchers, take 14K kids off waitlist (ICC)

    • Gov. Braun’s administration proposed a $200 million investment to reopen Indiana’s child care voucher program, which has been closed to new enrollees for over a year with nearly 35,400 children on the waitlist.

    • The money would bring enrollment from 43,000 back up to 57,000, pulling about 14,000 children off the waitlist as soon as May — with priority for foster, kinship, special needs, and homeless children.

    • The move requires State Budget Committee approval Thursday, enabled by a significantly rosier revenue forecast — Indiana is currently $653 million ahead of its budget plan.

    • About 21,400 children would still remain on the waitlist even if the full investment is approved.

  • Braun, Eli Lilly enter agreement to add nuclear energy to IN grid (IndyStar)

    • Gov. Braun announced a letter of intent with Eli Lilly to explore nuclear energy feasibility in Indiana — a state with no existing nuclear capacity and no clear timeline for building any.

    • The partnership is driven by two converging pressures: Hoosiers facing rising utility bills from investor-owned utilities already under state regulatory scrutiny, and massive power demands from data centers that would otherwise push utilities toward more gas plants.

    • Lilly’s angle is emissions reduction; Braun’s is positioning Indiana as a “nuclear energy leader” — though the technology involved, small modular reactors, remains expensive, complicated, and unproven at scale.

    • A letter of intent to explore feasibility is a long way from a reactor — but it fits a national pattern of corporations and states making nuclear announcements that may take decades to materialize, if ever.

  • Insurers owe Indiana hospitals more than $1 billion, IHA says (FOX59)

    • Indiana hospitals delivered over $717 million in care last year that went unpaid by insurers, with the Indiana Hospital Association estimating total unpaid care statewide likely exceeds $1.6 billion.

    • Greene County General Hospital escalated Tuesday by serving Anthem with a breach of contract notice, accusing the insurer of paying claims far below contractually required rates even after acknowledging the errors.

    • The IHA’s pointed question: premiums keep rising, so where is the money actually going?

    • Rural hospitals are most exposed, operating on razor-thin margins already squeezed by Medicaid reimbursement cuts since Trump took office — the IHA warns Indiana hospitals are approaching a breaking point.

    It takes a lot of work to put together a show of this scope. Please support HoosLeft and PIN with a free or paid subscription.

HoosLeft: https://hoosleft.us

Whetstone for Congress: https://www.whetstoneforcongress.com/

SUMMARY:

Scott Aaron Rogers sits down with John Whetstone, a Crawfordsville native and small business owner running as a progressive Democrat in the crowded primary for Indiana’s 4th Congressional District ahead of the May 5, 2026 primary. Whetstone, who grew up poor in a trailer park, lost his father to the brutalities of the pre-ACA health care system, and once made his living traveling the country playing Magic: The Gathering professionally, makes the case that his working-class background and genuine experience with struggle is what distinguishes him in a field of seven Democratic candidates. The conversation covers his three-pillar platform of health care, economic fairness, and tax justice, and why he believes the fight is top-down rather than left-right.

WHAT’S INSIDE:

00:00:23 Introduction

- Scott introduces the episode and reads from Whetstone’s campaign biography: born and raised in Crawfordsville, attended Southmont High School, lost his father before graduating, pursued business management after graduating in 2015, and traveled the country competing professionally in Magic: The Gathering before returning home during COVID-19 and eventually opening his own small business.

00:03:32 The Easy Dubs: Who, What, When, Where

- Whetstone says his bio tells part of the story but leaves out that he grew up poor in a trailer park surrounded by neighbors dealing with fixed incomes, medical bankruptcy, divorce, and the criminal justice system.

- He says those early experiences gave him a perspective on working-class need that he doesn’t see reflected in most of Washington.

- On the district geography: Whetstone confirms Lafayette and West Lafayette as the largest cities, with Brownsburg and Avon also substantially populated. The district runs from Martinsville in the south to Newton and Jasper counties in the northwest, including communities on Central Time in the Chicago media market.

- Whetstone notes he is centrally located in Crawfordsville — about 90 minutes to Martinsville, two hours to the northern end — giving him a geographic advantage over candidates from the district’s extremes.

- On what’s interesting about the district: Whetstone says it’s the people, not any one place — a consistent, genuine Hoosier kindness that crosses political lines everywhere he’s traveled in the district.

00:07:50 The Why: Why Congress, Why Now

- Whetstone says he started eyeing a state house seat but found that the people he was recruiting to volunteer and donate were frustrated at being locked out of politics — especially young people under 30.

- He decided to run for Congress when he saw no young progressive on the ticket for IN-04.

- He and Scott discuss the extreme gerrymandering of Indiana Statehouse seats, with Whetstone noting that as Montgomery County Democratic secretary, he coordinates with candidates who hold as few as two precincts in the county. He was present at the Statehouse protests when Republicans fast-tracked the redistricting vote in early December.

- Scott notes that some Republican legislators have nonetheless shown conscience and drawn their own lines when it comes to certain actions from the current administration.

00:14:28 Three Big Things: Health Care

- Whetstone grounds the health care discussion in his family’s experience: his father worked multiple jobs simultaneously — factory work, maintenance, moving mobile homes — and ran himself down trying to pay off medical debt, much of it incurred before the Affordable Care Act covered pre-existing conditions. He describes the ACA’s passage as a genuine turning point for his family, particularly for access to insulin and other medications his father needed.

- He says the country needs to keep advancing beyond the ACA and not treat it as a finish line.

- On Medicare for All: Whetstone says he is aligned with the Sanders model — single payer, insurance companies out of the equation except possibly as supplemental coverage — while acknowledging no single model is perfect and all policy should remain open to improvement.

- On dental and vision: He says they should be covered as a matter of course, and notes that he himself just obtained health, dental, and vision coverage for the first time as an adult. He says no one approaching 30 should still be treating a dentist visit as an exciting milestone.

- On the innovation objection to single payer: Whetstone argues that pharmaceutical companies are making two- to three-thousand-percent profit margins and that regulation would not destroy their industry — if they exit, someone else will fill the role at lower margins.

- On insurance company employees: He says a large portion could be absorbed into government administration of the health care system, continuing similar work without serving private insurers like Anthem or Blue Cross.

- On funding: Whetstone says the 1% needs to pay its fair share, corporations need to pay their fair share, and a 300-million-person covered base gives government enormous collective bargaining power to drive down the cost of procedures and prescriptions.

- On rural health care specifically: He and Scott discuss the wave of rural hospital closures and labor and delivery department shutdowns across Indiana, and Whetstone says he is a strong advocate for rural transit expansion to connect patients in underserved areas with specialized care in larger cities.

00:25:43 Three Big Things: Economic Fairness and the Wealth Tax

- Whetstone proposes a wealth tax modeled roughly on Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Ultra-Millionaire Tax: 1% on wealth over $10 million, 2% on wealth over $1 billion, with room to go higher incrementally.

- He argues that working people already pay a wealth tax in the form of property taxes on their homes — their primary asset — and asks why billionaires should be exempt from equivalent accountability on theirs.

- He says the wealth tax would raise revenue to fund health care and rural transit, among other priorities. [Note: Warren’s Ultra-Millionaire Tax proposal has been estimated to raise approximately $3 trillion over 10 years, more than Whetstone’s on-air “couple trillion” estimate.]

- Scott raises the Eisenhower-era top marginal income tax rate of 91% and notes that the current concentration of extreme wealth is partly the consequence of decades of declining tax rates on high earners — that a wealth tax wouldn’t even be necessary if those rates had been maintained.

- Whetstone pivots to the corporate tax rate, correcting himself mid-thought: the One Big Beautiful Bill (signed July 4, 2025) made the 21% corporate rate permanent. [Note: The 21% rate was originally set by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, cutting it from the previous 35%. Whetstone initially misspoke, citing 23%; Scott’s on-air correction to 21% was accurate.] Whetstone says his first target is to roll it back to 35%.

- He supports exit taxes on corporations that attempt to flee U.S. tax obligations, and agrees with Scott’s point about Biden’s effort to establish a global corporate minimum tax.

- Scott and Whetstone discuss Dollar General as a case study: pays around $10/hour, profits in the billions annually, and its employees frequently rely on public assistance — meaning taxpayers are effectively subsidizing the company’s low-wage model.

- On the Democratic Party’s marketing failures: Whetstone says Democrats consistently lose the branding battle to Republicans, who successfully present themselves as the party of small government while massively expanding ICE funding, surveillance infrastructure, and the military.

00:35:17 Three Big Things: Minimum Wage

- Whetstone supports raising the federal minimum wage to $17.25/hour, pegged to the calculation that 30% of income covering a one-bedroom apartment in Indiana’s 4th District works out to approximately $17.24/hour. He rounds up to $17.25 and would tie future increases to inflation.

- He notes that as a working person, he has never experienced a minimum wage increase in his lifetime. The federal minimum has been $7.25/hour since 2009.

- He supports a stepped implementation: large employers (20+ employees) would raise first, followed by small businesses a few months later, to allow consumer spending to percolate through local economies before the mandate hits smaller operators.

- On the small business objection: Whetstone argues from his own management experience that stimulus spending — like minimum wage increases — cycles through local economies quickly. He says the stores he managed achieved three years of planned expansion in six months during COVID stimulus. He also notes that Dollar General’s skeleton staffing leaves no room to cut labor costs in response to a wage increase.

- Scott corroborates from personal experience in Bloomington-area restaurant management: after the last federal minimum wage increase, the following year was a significantly better one — employees and customers alike had more money to spend.

- The NJ/PA study Whetstone references but can’t name is almost certainly the landmark 1994 Card and Krueger study, which compared fast food employment on both sides of the New Jersey/Pennsylvania border after New Jersey raised its minimum wage, and found no negative employment effect.

- Scott raises the 1968 minimum wage peak: at $1.60/hour, it represented the highest purchasing power in U.S. minimum wage history; in inflation-adjusted dollars, that’s approximately $15 today. Had the minimum wage tracked productivity growth rather than inflation alone, it would likely be in the $20s or higher.

00:47:14 Race Dynamics: A Crowded Primary Field

- Whetstone gives a shout-out to Thomas Hall Jr., who recently withdrew from the Democratic primary and endorsed Whetstone, joining his campaign as a data specialist.

- Scott references a recent Progressive Indiana Network debate that featured a full field of Democratic candidates on screen.

- On the Republican side: incumbent Jim Baird faces a serious challenge from Craig Haggard, a former state representative from Mooresville. Whetstone says Haggard will be waiting if Baird doesn’t survive his primary.

00:50:40 Why Whetstone?

- Whetstone argues his biggest advantage is lived experience: he grew up in a trailer park, lived without heat and water while saving to open a small business, and has genuine relationships with the material struggles his platform addresses.

- He says this authenticity is what breaks through partisan lines — that going into a room of Republicans and talking NASCAR before talking policy opens doors that polished messaging doesn’t.

- Scott notes the average net worth of a U.S. congressperson is well north of a million dollars, pointing to Indiana’s 6th District incumbent Jefferson Shreve as an example of the wealth concentrated in Congress.

- Whetstone says he won’t be swayed by money or pressure — he’s used to telling people no.

00:52:25 What We Missed: Magic: The Gathering

- Whetstone describes his years as a professional Magic: The Gathering player: income drawn entirely from tournament winnings and coaching (at $17.50/hour), traveling the country every weekend, observing how different communities lived, and bringing what worked back to Crawfordsville. COVID shut down the circuit; he still plays occasionally, including a recent trip to Atlanta, but his priorities are now his neighbors’ material welfare.

- Scott attempts a Magic: The Gathering reference; Whetstone finishes it for him, citing the card “Balance” — which redistributes all resources equally among players — as the through line.

00:54:07 Where to Find John Whetstone

- Facebook: John Whetstone for Congress

- Website: whetstoneforcongress.com (volunteer and donate)

- Social media hashtag: #VotedWhetstone

00:55:01 Outro and Programming Note

- Scott reminds viewers of the upcoming Progressive Indiana Network virtual town hall on Sunday at 7 p.m. — viewer questions only, submitted via web form or asked live on Facebook, YouTube, and ProgressiveIndiana.net.

- HoosLeft This Week airs Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Eastern on YouTube, Facebook Live, and ProgressiveIndiana.net.

- HoosLeft social handles: @HoosLeft.us (Blue Sky, Instagram, Threads) and @HoosLeft (Facebook, TikTok, YouTube).

- PIN social handles: progressiveindiananetwork (Facebook, Instagram, Threads, YouTube); @PINIndiana (Blue Sky, TikTok).

This week on HoosLeft This Week: the theological and political fault line between Pope Leo and Pete Hegseth's Easter messaging; Trump's escalating threats against Iran, a ceasefire, and its rapid collapse as Israel struck Lebanon; suspicious prediction market trading around the ceasefire announcement and bipartisan calls to regulate it; the 25th Amendment and impeachment talk from an unlikely coalition; Indiana's congressional delegation on the Iran war and Governor Braun's gas tax holiday; the White House's pressure campaign against Alexandra Wilson and Trump's state legislative endorsement blitz ahead of Indiana's May 5 primary; special election results in Georgia and Wisconsin; the Michigan Senate race and the DNC's rejection of an AIPAC resolution; elections in Hungary and Peru; Melania Trump's Epstein statement, FBI notes corroborating survivor allegations, Pam Bondi's refusal to testify, and Bill Gates's upcoming congressional testimony; ICE conditions at Miami Correctional and the Dilley facility in Texas, shootings in California and Minnesota, Monroe County Sheriff Marte's lawsuit against AG Rokita, and the deportation cases of a U.S. soldier's wife and Kilmar Abrego Garcia; Indiana sheriffs charged in public integrity investigations; the Ball State/Rokita free speech settlement; the John Deere right-to-repair settlement; Indiana utility legislation and data center opposition in Shelbyville and Indianapolis; media consolidation and WRTV layoffs; and the successful return of the Artemis II crew. Guests: Marsha Fleming, Knox County Democratic Party chair and co-host of the Left of Midlife podcast, and Isaac Chapman-Whitehead, president of College Democrats at Indiana University.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

00:00:34 Introduction

00:02:41 Guest Introductions: Marsha Fleming & Isaac Chapman-Whitehead

00:05:21 Pope Leo vs. Pete Hegseth: Two Versions of Easter

00:14:17 Trump’s Iran Threats & the Easter Deadline

00:19:01 The Ceasefire: Terms, Collapse, and Lebanon

00:36:00 Pakistan Negotiations & Where Things Stand

00:39:03 25th Amendment & Impeachment Talk

00:44:07 Indiana’s Delegation on Iran & Braun’s Gas Tax Holiday

00:51:12 Indiana Primaries: Alexandra Wilson & White House Pressure

00:58:51 Georgia Special Election & Wisconsin Supreme Court

01:03:22 Michigan Senate Race & the DNC/AIPAC Fight

01:11:13 Hungary & Peru Elections

01:14:22 Melania Trump’s Epstein Statement & Paolo Zampolli

01:19:45 FBI Notes, Pam Bondi’s Subpoena & Bill Gates

01:25:04 ICE in Indiana: Sheriff Marte vs. Rokita & Carson at Miami Correctional

01:31:55 ICE Nationally: Dilley, California & Minneapolis Shootings

01:36:33 ICE Deportations: Soldier’s Wife, Kilmar Abrego Garcia & IU Researcher

01:39:58 Indiana: Two Sheriffs Charged

01:45:49 Ball State Settlement & John Deere Right-to-Repair

01:51:55 Indiana Utilities & Data Center Opposition

01:57:55 Artemis II Splashdown

02:00:26 Sign-off & Upcoming on PIN

IN DEPTH:

• Easter -> Two Different Expressions of Christianity

  • This Easter, an American Pope Confronts an American War (New Yorker)

    • Pope Leo XIV publicly named Trump for the first time, urging him to find “an off-ramp” from the Iran war

    • The new Pope spent his first eleven months quietly assessing the Vatican internally before Trump’s wars thrust him into an unavoidably public, confrontational role

    • Pete Hegseth held a Pentagon prayer service asking God for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy” — framed as a direct contrast to Leo’s Palm Sunday peace message

  • American-born Pope Leo may not visit US while Trump is president after diplomat meeting disaster (Independent)

    • Leo directly rebuked Hegseth’s “pray for victory in Jesus’s name” rhetoric, saying Jesus “rejects the prayers of those who wage war”

    • Pentagon’s Elbridge Colby summoned Vatican diplomat Cardinal Christophe Pierre and warned the U.S. can do “whatever it wants” militarily The Daily Beast

    • A U.S. official invoked the Avignon Papacy — when France militarily dominated the Church in the 1300s — as a threat The Daily Beast

    • Pope Leo declined a White House invitation to celebrate July 4th, choosing instead to spend it on Lampedusa with African refugees

  • Pope Leo XIV denounces the ‘delusion of omnipotence’ he says fuels the US-Israeli war in Iran (AP)

    • Presiding over evening prayer services at St. Peter’s Basilica, Leo called the war a “delusion of omnipotence” and directly challenged leaders using God to justify violence — a clear shot at Hegseth’s Christian-nation framing

    • “Enough of the idolatry of self and money!” Leo said. “Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!”

    • “It is here that we find a bulwark against that delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive,” he said. “Even the holy Name of God, the God of life, is being dragged into discourses of death.”

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• Iran

  • Threats -> Ceasefire -> Negotiations

    • On Easter, threatens ‘hell’ on Iran’s infrastructure if Strait remains blocked (Reuters)

      • On Easter Sunday, Trump posted the following:

        • “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!” Open the F------ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”

      • Trump told ABC News the conflict should end in days, but if not “we’re blowing up the whole country” — with “very little” off the table

      • Targeting power plants and bridges follows earlier threats to hit desalination plants, which international law experts said could violate humanitarian law

    • Trump threatens ‘whole civilization will die tonight’ ahead of Iran deadline (Politico)

      • On Monday, Despite the annihilation rhetoric, U.S. strikes that night hit only military targets on Kharg Island — Vance said civilian infrastructure was still on hold pending Iranian proposals

      • But then Tuesday morning, Trump posted:

        • “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!”

    • U.S. and Iran agree to 2-week ceasefire, suspending Trump’s threat to annihilate Iran (NPR)

      • U.S. and Iran reached a two-week ceasefire less than two hours before Trump’s 8 PM deadline, brokered by Pakistan

      • As part of the agreement, Trump said the U.S. and Israel would suspend bombing Iran for two weeks, subject to Iran following through on its commitment to reopen the Strait of Hormuz for safe passage during the ceasefire period.

      • Both sides claiming victory: Trump says military objectives were met; Iran says the U.S. agreed to the “general framework” of its 10-point proposal

        • According to Iranian officials, the proposal requires the lifting of all sanctions and UN resolutions against Iran, alongside the release of Iranian assets held overseas. Other demands include the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from military bases across the region, compensation in the form of estimated reparations, and Iran’s right to nuclear enrichment.

    • Suspicious Trading Around Ceasefire Announcement

      • Newly created Polymarket accounts bet big on US-Iran ceasefire in hours before Trump’s announcement (Politico)

        • Newly created Polymarket accounts placed hundreds of thousands in “Yes” bets on a ceasefire hours before Trump’s announcement — while his public rhetoric was still threatening to “annihilate a civilization”

        • This mirrors earlier suspicious betting patterns before the capture of Nicolás Maduro and previous Iran military actions — same platforms, same timing, same new-account pattern

        • Both Polymarket and Kalshi have acknowledged the problem; bipartisan legislation is pending to extend insider trading laws to prediction markets

      • Rep. Ritchie Torres calls for probe into futures trades placed ahead of March pause on Iran hostilities (CNBC)

        • Rep. Ritchie Torres called for an SEC/CFTC probe into $500 million in crude oil futures trades made in the 15 minutes before Trump announced a pause in Iran strikes last month— potentially the largest insider trading case in history

        • Torres has legislation pending to bar federal officials and political appointees from trading event contracts based on nonpublic government information — it has 42 Democratic cosponsors but is dead in the Republican House

        • This is the second time Torres has raised the alarm — the first was after a Polymarket account made $400,000 on the Maduro ouster — and a separate group of House Democrats has also written to the CFTC demanding answers

    • Netanyahu: Ceasefire doesn’t cover Lebanon (Times of Israel)

      • Four hours after US President Donald Trump’s announcement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issues a statement welcoming the ceasefire between the US and Iran, while stressing that it does not cover Lebanon.

      • “Israel supports President Trump’s decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks subject to Iran immediately opening the straits and stopping all attacks on the US, Israel and countries in the region,” the PMO says in a statement only issued in English.

    • Lebanese reeling after Israel’s devastating attacks (Al Jazeera)

      • Hours after the ceasefire took effect, Israel launched 100+ airstrikes across Lebanon in under 10 minutes, killing at least 254 and wounding 1,160 — with no warnings given

      • Strikes hit densely populated residential areas of Beirut that had been spared for months, including neighborhoods far from any Hezbollah presence

      • Analysts say Netanyahu is racing to “maximize operational achievements” in Lebanon before a final US-Iran deal forces him to stop

    • Pakistan Reiterates That Lebanon Is Still Part of Ceasefire Despite Israel’s Attacks (Common Dreams)

      • Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who played a key role in brokering the deal announced on Tuesday, said that “Iran and the United States of America, along with their allies, have agreed to an immediate ceasefire everywhere, including Lebanon and elsewhere, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.”

      • Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, said on Wednesday afternoon that this was not the agreement the parties reached on Tuesday

      • Israel’s Lebanon assault is being characterized by some foreign policy analysts as a deliberate attempt to blow up a ceasefire over which Israel had been sidelined, and it worked…

    • Iran clamping down in Strait of Hormuz amid tenuous ceasefire (CBC)

      • Iran re-closed the Strait of Hormuz after Israel’s Lebanon strikes, with just 7 ships passing per day versus a normal 140 — and physical oil prices hit record levels

      • Iran is demanding tolls for safe passage through the Strait — an idea Trump himself had previously floated — prompting Trump to post “They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now”

      • Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei — who hasn’t been seen in public since taking over — vowed retribution and promised to take “management of the Strait into a new phase”

    • Historic U.S. and Iran negotiations in Pakistan continue past midnight (PBS)

      • Vance and Iranian Parliament Speaker Qalibaf — a former Revolutionary Guard commander — held direct face-to-face talks in Islamabad, the most substantive U.S.-Iran contact since the 2015 nuclear deal negotiations

      • The two sides remain far apart: the U.S. wants to restrict Iran’s nuclear program and reopen the Strait; Iran is demanding compensation for strikes, release of frozen assets, and an end to Israeli attacks on Hezbollah

      • The U.S. began mine-clearing operations in the Strait regardless of the outcome — Trump told reporters “whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me”

      • Israel continued striking Lebanon throughout the talks, with the Lebanese death toll surpassing 2,000 — while Iranian state TV noted “serious” differences remained at the table

  • Lawmakers’ Reaction to Trump Threats

    • An eclectic, bipartisan group suddenly calls for removing Trump using the 25th Amendment (CNN)

      • Trump’s “whole civilization will die tonight” post triggered 25th Amendment calls from an unusual coalition: dozens of Democrats, MTG, Alex Jones, Candace Owens, and Anthony Scaramucci

      • Invoking the 25th requires a majority of the Cabinet plus the vice president to declare the president unfit — there’s no sign Vance or any Cabinet member is considering it

      • GOP Sen. Ron Johnson said Trump “loses me if he attacks civilian targets” — signaling even loyal Senate allies saw infrastructure strikes as illegal

      • No removal is imminent — but the public breadth of the coalition calling for it is historically unprecedented

    • House Democrat says he has filed articles of impeachment against Trump (The Hill)

      • 70 Democrats including Nancy Pelosi and Chris Murphy formally called on the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment

      • Rep. John Larson (D-CT) filed impeachment articles against Trump over the Iran war, citing the “whole civilization will die” post as evidence of unfitness for office

      • “Donald Trump has blown past every requirement to be removed from office. And it’s getting worse. His illegal war in Iran is not only driving up prices for American families — it has cost American lives,” said Larson. “He’s becoming more unstable by the day. His profane and sacrilegious Easter Sunday and subsequent threats, including ‘a whole civilization will die’ and ‘open the Strait … or you’ll be living in hell’ not only foreshadow war crimes, but put our security at risk,” he added.

    • House Democrat moves to impeach Hegseth over Iran war (Axios)

      • Rep. Yassamin Ansari filed impeachment articles against Hegseth for “repeatedly violating his oath” — citing the bombing of a girls’ school in southern Iran as evidence of deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure

      • Hegseth is now Democrats’ top Cabinet target following the ousters of Noem and Bondi — and polls show him among the least popular Cabinet members

      • Polls have shown Hegseth is among the least popular members of the Cabinet, with the mounting costs of the Iran conflict placing further strain on his public image.

    • Indiana Angle:

      • Indiana’s congressional delegation reacts to Trump deadline for bombing Iran (WTHR)

        • Todd Young: Trump is applying “maximum leverage” and using escalatory language to force a quick end — not actually planning to commit war crimes

        • André Carson: Trump has “no imminent threat” justification, was “drawn into this war by Netanyahu,” and has shown only “indecision, divisiveness and recklessness”

        • Both agreed rising gas prices are hurting Hoosiers — Young pushed releasing strategic petroleum reserves, Carson noted it’s only a temporary fix

        • Previously: Indiana’s congressional delegation reacts to initial Iran strikes (Axios)

          • Baird, Yakym, and Stutzman applauded Trump’s “decisive” action; Spartz expressed reservations; Carson, Mrvan call for war powers resolution.

      • Gov. Braun signs order to pause tax on gas for 30 days as Indiana prices hit $4 (WFYI)

        • Braun signed an executive order suspending Indiana’s 7-cent-per-gallon gas sales tax for 30 days — no legislative approval needed — as Indiana prices hit $4.13/gallon

        • The suspension covers only the sales tax, not the 36-cent excise tax — and only gasoline, not diesel

        • “I want to be clear: House Democrats support this suspension, but Gov. Braun and Statehouse Republicans are only cleaning up a mess that they helped create,” House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta said in a press release. “Hoosiers are tired of unstrategic and unfocused foreign wars that cost American lives, drive up gas prices and raise the cost of living.”

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• Elections

  • Indiana Angle:

    • Judge kicks dispute over same-last-name candidate back to Indiana Election Commission (ICC)

      • A judge sent back to the Indiana Election Commission a challenge to Alexandra Wilson’s place on the Republican primary ballot for an Indiana Senate seat

      • The fight is politically motivated — Trump-endorsed Brenda Wilson wants Alexandra Wilson removed to clear the path against incumbent Sen. Greg Goode, who voted against Indiana’s congressional redistricting plan

      • The removal effort hinges on a 2010 resisting law enforcement charge from when Alexandra was 19 — since expunged — with Bopp arguing the expungement is irrelevant because she was still convicted at the time she filed

    • How the White House tried — and failed — to push a candidate out of a Republican state Senate primary in Indiana (NBC)

      • Senior White House aides — including deputy chief of staff James Blair and political director Matt Brasseaux — personally called, texted, and pressured Alexandra Wilson to drop out, offering jobs and warning of “ugly” attacks if she stayed in

      • Blair made the calls from a plane to Germany with Marco Rubio — and when Wilson wouldn’t budge, Bopp filed to disqualify her the very next morning

      • The pressure campaign also involved Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, Gov. Braun’s chief of staff, and the Club for Growth — showing how deep the White House’s involvement runs in Indiana’s state Senate primaries

    • Trump dives deeper into Indiana’s Republican primary fights (ICC)

      • Trump has now endorsed challengers to seven of the eight Republican state senators who voted against redistricting — branding incumbents “RINO LOSERS” and challengers “REAL Republicans”

      • Outside dark money groups — Hoosier Leadership for America, American Leadership PAC, and Club for Growth — are running TV, radio, and mail ads tied to Trump’s endorsements against targeted incumbents

      • Trump also endorsed all 10 Indiana House Republicans who voted for redistricting and face primary challengers — while withholding endorsements from three House members who voted against it but whose challengers haven’t gotten his backing either

  • This Week’s Elections

    • Republicans win Georgia race — but Democrats post largest swing yet in special House elections (NBC)

      • Republican Clay Fuller held MTG’s Georgia seat, but won by only 12 points in a district Trump carried by 37 — a 25-point swing toward Democrats, the biggest of any House special election in Trump’s second term

      • Democrats have now improved on Trump’s 2024 margins in every House special election this term, and have flipped 28 total state legislative seats since last year

      • Democrat Shawn Harris outperformed despite being outspent 4-to-1 — Fuller and outside groups spent $4 million to Harris’s $1.1 million

    • Two Democrats and a Republican secure seats in the Georgia Legislature (AJC)

      • Georgia also held three state legislative special election runoffs Tuesday — two safely Democratic seats stayed blue, one deep-red Republican seat stayed red — no partisan flips

    • Liberal judge cruises to victory in Wisconsin Supreme Court race (Politico)

      • Liberal judge Chris Taylor won a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat Tuesday, expanding the liberal majority to 5-2 and locking in liberal control until at least 2030

      • Conservatives haven’t won a Wisconsin Supreme Court race since 2019 — liberal judges have won four straight, including last year’s race where Elon Musk spent millions and still lost

      • The liberal court has already used its majority to end a GOP gerrymander, overturn Wisconsin’s 176-year-old abortion ban, and lock in a 400-year school funding increase

  • Other Elections

    • US

      • How big of a tent do Democrats want? Hasan Piker is testing the limits in Michigan’s Senate primary (Michigan Public)

        • Progressive Abdul El-Sayed is running for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat with Bernie Sanders’ backing, campaigning alongside Twitch streamer Hasan Piker — a move that’s splitting Democrats over how big a tent the party should build

        • El-Sayed is in a three-way primary against Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow; the winner faces former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers in November for Gary Peters’ vacated seat

        • Establishment Democrats and Jewish groups are condemning Piker over controversial statements including “America deserved 9/11,” calling Hamas “a thousand times better” than Israel; McMorrow suggested Piker was analogous to MAGA white nationalist Nick Fuentes

        • Gaza is the fault line: El-Sayed and McMorrow both call it a genocide, but El-Sayed wants to end military aid entirely while Stevens calls herself a “proud pro-Israel Democrat”

        • Piker — who has 3.1 million Twitch followers and has hosted AOC and NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani — argues the backlash is really about suppressing a younger, more populist wing of the party rather than about him personally

      • DNC rejects resolution condemning influence of pro-Israel Aipac lobby (Guardian)

        • The DNC’s resolutions committee voted to kill a measure targeting AIPAC’s dark money influence in Democratic primaries — despite AIPAC spending $221 million in Democratic races since 2022, including $22 million in Illinois alone

        • Two further resolutions — recognizing a Palestinian state and conditioning military aid to Israel — were punted to a “Middle East working group” that critics say exists mainly to avoid difficult decisions

        • DNC Chair Ken Martin defended the outcome by pointing to a separate blanket anti-dark-money resolution — without naming AIPAC specifically

        • AIPAC’s spending has backfired in at least one race: in New Jersey, a $2 million effort to defeat progressive Analilia Mejia failed, and she won the primary anyway

        • Polling consistently shows the Democratic base has shifted sharply away from Israel since Gaza — making the establishment’s posture increasingly at odds with its own voters

    • International

      • Peru faces record field in election, corruption and crime top voter concerns (Reuters)

        • Peru holds elections Sunday with 35 presidential candidates and no one polling above 15% — a runoff on June 7 is almost certain, with right-wing Keiko Fujimori holding a narrow lead

        • Fujimori is the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, who served 16 years in prison for human rights abuses before dying in 2024 — and has herself faced corruption charges tied to the Odebrecht bribery scandal that has implicated four Peruvian ex-presidents

      • MAGA’s global model faces existential test in Hungary (Axios)

        • Vance traveled to Budapest to boost Orbán ahead of Hungary’s April 12 election — the most serious threat to Orbán’s 16-year grip on power, with challenger Péter Magyar channeling voter anger over corruption and a struggling economy

        • The U.S. and Russia are both intervening to keep Orbán in power, while the EU and Ukraine want him gone — Hungary’s foreign minister was caught on leaked audio telling Russia’s foreign minister “I am always at your disposal”

        • Orbán has spent 16 years reshaping Hungary’s courts, media, and electoral maps to entrench his power — what the European Parliament calls “electoral autocracy” — and has never lost under the system he built

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• Epstein/DOJ

  • Melania Trump holds extraordinary White House event to deny ties to Epstein, knowledge of his crimes (AP)

    • Melania made an extraordinary White House statement denying Epstein ties — but her decision to revive the issue herself almost certainly pushes it back into the spotlight after the Iran war had largely buried it

    • She acknowledged being in overlapping social circles with Epstein and Maxwell, but called a 2002 email to Maxwell “trivial casual correspondence” — without elaborating on its contents

    • The West Wing knew she was making a statement but may not have known what she’d say — and the White House press office didn’t respond to requests for comment

    • Melania called for congressional hearings for Epstein survivors — Democrats immediately agreed; Republicans were split, but Thomas Massie turned attention back to the Justice Department, saying it’s the attorney general’s job to bring in survivors for testimony. Massie, who has pressed for more arrests in the Epstein case, ended a social media post with a call to “PROSECUTE!”

    • The statement came months after HarperCollins UK apologized and retracted passages from a book suggesting Epstein introduced her to Trump — the most recent of several retractions she cited

  • The Man Who Links Melania Directly to Epstein (Daily Beast)

    • The man sitting next to JD Vance in Budapest this week helping prop up Viktor Orbán’s reelection campaign is Paolo Zampolli — Trump’s special envoy for global partnerships and the man who introduced Donald and Melania

    • Zampolli appears multiple times in the Epstein documents, discussed buying a modeling agency with Epstein, and was named a partner in Ghislaine Maxwell’s ocean charity

    • Zampolli’s ex-girlfriend, Brazilian model Amanda Ungaro, rode Epstein’s “Lolita Express” at age 17 and is now threatening to “expose everything” — while accusing Zampolli of using his Washington connections to have her arrested by immigration authorities amid a custody dispute

  • FBI records detail potential witnesses of SC Epstein victim. They aren’t public. (Post & Courier)

    • Unreleased FBI handwritten notes from 2019 contain names of potential corroborating witnesses to a South Carolina woman’s allegations that Epstein trafficked her as a teen and that she was forced into a sex act involving Trump

    • Key details in the handwritten notes never made it into the official FBI summaries released by DOJ — and the FBI never appears to have contacted at least one of the witnesses named in those notes

    • Pam Bondi, who was just ousted as AG, is still subpoenaed to testify April 14 about DOJ’s handling of the Epstein files

  • Pam Bondi defies House subpoena over Epstein files (Axios)

    • Bondi is refusing to comply with her congressional subpoena, claiming she was subpoenaed as AG and no longer holds that office — Democrats are threatening contempt

    • The subpoena passed on a bipartisan basis, with Mace, Burchett, Boebert, Cloud, and Perry joining every Democrat — and Mace says Bondi “will still have to appear”

    • Epstein survivors Maria and Annie Farmer are demanding Bondi testify under oath, saying DOJ’s handling of the files “betrayed the trust of survivors”

  • Bill Gates will testify in the Epstein probe; Pam Bondi testimony postponed (NPR)

    • Bill Gates will testify before House Oversight in June — he appears thousands of times in the Epstein files, met with Epstein repeatedly after his 2008 conviction, and flew on his private plane

    • The Epstein files contain claims that Epstein helped Gates obtain medication for an STI from “sex with Russian girls” — and that Gates wanted to secretly give that medication to then-wife Melinda French Gates, who told NPR the revelations filled her with “unbelievable sadness”

    • Also scheduled to testify: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on May 6, and a prison guard on duty the night Epstein died on May 18 — while Maxwell is refusing to testify without immunity or clemency

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• ICE

  • Indiana angle:

    • Monroe County Sheriff sues AG Rokita over ICE compliance law (WRTV)

      • Monroe County Sheriff Ruben Marté has sued AG Rokita over Indiana’s new ICE compliance law, SEA 76, arguing it requires detaining people without a judicial warrant — a violation of the Fourth Amendment rights he swore to protect

      • Marté says complying with the law would expose Monroe County to “significant civil liability” — and notes his office already honors ICE detainer requests when accompanied by a judicial warrant

      • Rokita already has an ongoing lawsuit against Marté over the county’s immigration detention policy — this new suit is Marté firing back

    • Congressman cites ‘heartbreaking’ detainee accounts during Indiana prison visit (ICC)

      • Rep. André Carson toured Miami Correctional Facility and met privately with ICE detainees, just days after a second detainee death at the facility in less than two months

      • Carson says detainees told him at least one death may have been preventable — the person was “screaming” with no functioning intercom system, and personnel failed to respond rapidly

      • Detainees described two-week waits for medical care resulting in “a few Tylenol capsules,” 3:30 a.m. breakfasts, and court documents arriving after filing deadlines had already passed

      • Indiana DOC has received $5 million so far under its ICE detention contract — Carson is calling for an end to ICE detention at the facility entirely, saying the dual-use model is “simply unsustainable”

  • Facilities

    • Democrats says ICE’s notorious Dilley detention center is operating in ‘a new era of secrecy’ under new DHS chief (Independent)

      • Democratic lawmakers visiting ICE’s Dilley family detention center in Texas say staff greeted them with scripted “propaganda” from DHS leadership and refused to answer questions — directing all inquiries in writing to Washington

      • More than 300 people including 77 children are currently detained at Dilley — part of roughly 6,200 children placed in ICE detention since Trump’s second term began

      • Emergency crews have been dispatched to Dilley nearly a dozen times in six months for children with seizures, broken bones, respiratory distress and plunging oxygen levels — a five-year-old has had untreated cavities for months, receiving only Ibuprofen

      • Rep. Joaquin Castro says the facility has grown “more secretive, not less” under new DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin — “there are people there with grave medical conditions that are worsening because they’re not treated as fully human”

  • If they don’t shoot you first

    • California man shot by ICE says officials falsely labeled him a gang member (Guardian)

      • A California man shot by ICE agents during a traffic stop says officers fired on him as he was trying to reverse away from them — he was hit by more than six bullets including one to the face and has undergone three surgeries

      • ICE claimed he’s an 18th Street Gang member wanted for murder in El Salvador — but provided no evidence, and Hernandez was acquitted of that murder charge in 2019; his attorney says he has never been in a gang

      • This follows a pattern: ICE shot Renee Good in Minneapolis in January, claimed she “ran over” an officer, but footage showed otherwise — and in Oregon, DHS called a shooting victim a gang member when she was actually a prior victim of sexual assault

    • Minneapolis ICE shooting: City releases video that undermines feds’ version of events (KMSP)

      • Minneapolis released video of a January ICE shooting that directly contradicts federal agents’ sworn accounts — the DOJ dropped charges against the two men arrested and opened a criminal probe into the ICE officers for making “untruthful statements” under oath

      • The U.S. Attorney’s Office opened a criminal probe into two ICE officers after video evidence revealed their sworn testimony included “untruthful statements” — “lying under oath is a serious federal offense,” an assistant secretary acknowledged

      • The two men originally charged with assaulting a federal agent had those charges dismissed with prejudice after “newly discovered evidence” proved “materially inconsistent” with the original complaint

  • Deportations

    • US soldier’s wife freed from ICE detention as deportation attempt continues (Military Times)

      • ICE detained a U.S. soldier’s wife on a military base in Louisiana while the couple was there to register her as a military spouse — she was brought to the U.S. from Honduras at 20 months old and issued a removal order as a toddler

      • Sgt. Matthew Blank said he “never imagined” doing the right thing — registering his wife for military benefits — would result in her being taken away

      • Annie Ramos has been released with a GPS monitor pending removal proceedings; she says “all I have ever wanted is to live with dignity in the country I have called home since I was a baby”

    • Trump administration reaffirms plans to deport Abrego Garcia to Liberia (Al Jazeera)

      • The Trump administration insists on deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia — not Costa Rica (which has offered to take him) — a destination critics say is purely vindictive

      • Abrego Garcia was wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March 2025 in violation of a protection order, imprisoned at the notorious CECOT facility, and only returned to the U.S. in June after a unanimous Supreme Court ruling

      • Since his return, the administration filed human smuggling charges against him, detained him again when he was released, and proposed deporting him to Uganda before settling on Liberia — an escalating pattern of retaliation against a man with no criminal record

    • Congo says it will receive third-country deportees from the U.S. under new deal (PBS)

      • Congo has agreed to accept U.S. deportees who are not Congolese — joining at least seven other African nations in Trump’s third-country deportation program, which has cost at least $40 million to deport roughly 300 migrants

      • Many of the African nations signing these deals have notoriously repressive governments and poor human rights records — including Eswatini, South Sudan, and Equatorial Guinea

      • A key concern: many deportees being sent to these countries have U.S. court protection orders specifically barring their return to their home countries due to safety concerns — now being shipped to a third country instead

    • IU postdoctoral researcher deported after pleading guilty to smuggling E. coli DNA into the US from China (WTHR)

      • A former IU Bloomington postdoctoral researcher was sentenced to four months in prison and deported to China after pleading guilty to smuggling E. coli DNA into the U.S., mislabeled on a shipping manifest as “women’s underwear”

      • The FBI caught him at O’Hare after he returned from a UK research trip — he initially denied knowledge before admitting he mislabeled the package to circumvent U.S. law

      • The FBI also presented evidence that Xiang was a Chinese Communist Party member who lied about his party ties during his immigration interview

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• Other Indiana News

  • Law & Courts

    • 2 Indiana sheriffs charged in public integrity investigations from Indiana State Police (WTHR)

      • Two Indiana sheriffs and a jail matron face criminal charges in Indiana State Police public integrity investigations announced Thursday by Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears

      • Dubois County Sheriff Thomas Kleinhelter is charged with false informing and official misconduct after allegedly using $78,000 in jail commissary funds for golf rounds, Dubai airline tickets, Blackstone grills, and gift cards — then lying to investigators about it

      • Clinton County Sheriff Richard Kelly and his wife, jail matron Ashley Kelly, are charged with fraud, theft, and official misconduct for allegedly misappropriating ISP pension funds and commissary money — courts have already found them personally liable for more than $329,000 in misappropriated funds

      • Ashley Kelly allegedly collected at least $50,000 in disability payments while “engaging in strenuous physical activities that contradict her claimed medical limitations” — her husband created the jail matron job for her before taking office

      • Clinton County Commissioners are calling for both Kellys to resign immediately, saying “public trust has been broken” — this follows a 2025 court ruling that already found them personally liable for the misappropriation

    • Ball State settles lawsuit over firing of employee for Charlie Kirk online post (IPM)

      • A former Ball State employee fired for a private Facebook post about Charlie Kirk’s death has settled her lawsuit against the university — terms are sealed, but Ball State called it “successful”

      • Suzanne Swierc lost her job after AG Todd Rokita publicly amplified her private post — the ACLU noted it was Rokita, not Swierc, who caused the disruption by disseminating it

      • Rokita was not named in the lawsuit, and Swierc didn’t seek her job back — saying she no longer felt she could work at Ball State

    • Deere & Co agrees to pay $99M to settle ‘right to repair’ lawsuit (Indiana Lawyer)

      • John Deere agreed to a $99 million settlement resolving a class-action lawsuit accusing the company of monopolizing repair services by withholding software and conspiring with dealers to force farmers to use authorized repair shops at inflated prices

      • The settlement covers farmers who paid Deere or authorized dealers for large agriculture equipment repairs between January 2018 and the deal’s approval date — and requires Deere to strengthen access to repair resources going forward

      • Deere still faces a separate FTC lawsuit from the Biden era making similar accusations — and continues to deny any wrongdoing in both cases

  • Data Centers & Utilities

    • Braun celebrates ‘landmark’ utility legislation (ICC)

      • Braun ceremonially signed HEA 1002, which prohibits hot-weather shutoffs for low-income customers, requires utility assistance programs for low-income households, and moves all residential customers to levelized billing by default

      • The law creates a performance-based ratemaking process for utilities — but doesn’t mandate lower rates; any savings for most ratepayers “will take years to materialize, if they materialize at all,” according to consumer advocacy group Citizens Action Coalition

      • Braun has also appointed a new utility consumer counselor and three new “rate-conscious” IURC commissioners — but consumer advocates were notably not invited to the signing ceremony

    • Shelbyville Common Council votes to move forward with data center (WTHR)

      • The tension is hard to ignore: Indiana is signing utility affordability legislation with one hand while approving massive power-hungry data center developments with the other

      • Shelbyville’s Common Council voted 4-2-1 to approve annexation, rezoning, and an economic development agreement for a potential $2 billion, 11-building data center campus on 429 acres near State Road 44

      • Developer Prologis’s project faced repeated delays due to public opposition over unanswered questions about water use, environmental impact, and effects on Shelby County’s agricultural character

    • Shots fired at city councilor’s home over data center approval (Mirror Indy)

      • Indianapolis City-County Councilor Ron Gibson reported his home was shot at 13 times and a “No Data Centers” note was left on his doorstep — just days after he supported rezoning for a data center in the Martindale Brightwood neighborhood over constituent opposition

      • Gibson didn’t call IMPD until roughly 8:30 a.m. — nearly eight hours after he says the shooting occurred at 12:45 a.m. — a detail that has fueled local skepticism about the incident

      • Neighborhood opposition group Protect Martindale Brightwood condemned the violence, but locals are questioning the incident’s authenticity given the conveniently on-message note and the suspicious reporting delay

      • City-County Councilor Ron Gibson stands by data center after shooting (Axios)

        • The Metropolitan Development Commission approved the Metrobloks project last week, sending it to the City-County Council for final approval — Gibson was loudly booed by the crowd at that meeting.

  • Media Consolidation

    • Layoffs at WRTV in Indianapolis exceed 50 staff members as new owner pledges more news (IED)

      • Circle City Broadcasting acquired WRTV Channel 6 for $83 million and immediately laid off more than 50 of roughly 60 employees — a woman in sales with 30 years tenure learned her health insurance was cut 30 minutes before she was fired

      • Fewer than five WRTV staffers were retained; the rest were told to reapply and compete against outside candidates for open positions

      • The consolidation means five Indianapolis TV newsrooms will soon be owned by just two companies — Nexstar and Circle City — raising concerns about editorial homogeneity across the market

    • How will the consolidation of Indy TV stations change Indianapolis? (ICC)

      • Indianapolis TV news has gone from four owners to two in a matter of weeks — Nexstar owns FOX59 and CBS4 and has acquired Tegna (WTHR’s parent), though a federal judge has paused that deal on antitrust grounds and WTHR may be divested; Circle City owns WISH, WNDY, and WRTV

      • IU researchers warn consolidation leads to self-censorship: with only two potential employers in the market, reporters may avoid pitching stories that conflict with ownership interests — not because of memos, but because job survival demands it

      • Experts predict less statehouse coverage, more crime and soft news — while community organizers say Indianapolis Black neighborhoods are already getting “a soundbite of a soundbite” as stories lose context passing through fewer and fewer newsrooms

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• Moon Mission

  • Artemis II crew splashes down, ending historic moon mission (Space)

    • Artemis 2 splashed down April 10 off San Diego, successfully returning four astronauts from the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972 — Victor Glover became the first person of color to leave Earth orbit, Christina Koch the first woman, and Jeremy Hansen the first non-American

    • The crew broke Apollo 13’s 56-year-old distance record, flying 252,756 miles from Earth — and witnessed a 54-minute total solar eclipse from lunar distance that was invisible from Earth

    • NASA had to tweak Artemis 2’s reentry angle after cracks appeared in the heat shield during the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission — the fix worked, but Mission Control held its breath through six minutes of radio silence as the capsule hit the atmosphere at 24,000 mph

    • Artemis 2 was a shakeout mission — the real goal is Artemis 4, which aims to land astronauts near the lunar south pole in late 2028, ahead of China’s own crewed lunar landing target of 2030

00:03:15 Easy W’s: Who, What, When, Where

- Today, April 7, is the first day of early voting in Indiana; primary day is May 5

- HD20 is located in LaPorte and Starke counties in northwest Indiana

- Alicia describes herself as a normal working person: on a W-2 since age 15, former cosmetologist, single mom

- The district sits at the urban/suburban-to-rural cusp of the northwest Indiana “region,” not far from Chicago and South Bend

- Scott notes his own Michigan City roots

00:06:03 Alicia’s Why: Housing, Illness, and the System

- After returning to Indiana from Georgia, Alicia settled in LaPorte near family rather than her hometown of Michigan City due to safety concerns

- She rented a government-subsidized apartment; substandard conditions made her and her daughter sick

- One bad housing experience wiped out two decades of financial stability: if you can’t work, you can’t pay bills

- She began researching and found a loophole in Indiana’s qualified allocation process for affordable housing subsidies

- Indiana is one of only 18 states that still allows developers to walk away from their subsidy obligations; 32 states have closed this loophole

- Developers can take the government loan, neglect the property, and then petition to be released from their original obligations

- She contacted her mayor, code enforcement, state authorities, and the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) -- and got nowhere

- Conclusion: the corruption goes to the top, and she is running to change it

00:14:03 Three Things: Housing

- Alicia’s first policy priority: close the qualified allocation process loophole so affordable housing developers cannot exit their subsidy obligations

- A well-run subsidized housing program should allow low-wage earners to save money because rent isn’t consuming 50-70% of their paycheck -- but only if the properties are properly maintained

- Second housing priority: reform lending barriers to homeownership; Alicia argues that years of on-time rent payments should qualify someone for a first-time homeowner’s loan

- Private equity is inflating property values by selling properties to themselves at inflated prices, driving up assessments and tax bills for everyone

- The medical-debt property seizure bill passed the Senate but was killed in the House this past legislative session

- Scott references House Enrolled Act 1001: aimed to increase housing stock but critics say it reduced zoning standards and bypassed local governments

- Tariffs on imported raw materials are making housing construction even more expensive

- Oversight is Alicia’s through-line: proper agency oversight could have prevented many of the abuses she experienced

00:26:39 Three Things: Healthcare

- Alicia’s second priority: healthcare, which she frames as inseparable from housing -- bad housing is a determinant of health, as is poverty and food insecurity

- She has personally gone to bed hungry to feed her daughter; she survived on neighbors’ dinners four nights a week after her daughter’s father left

- She pushed back on Scott’s framing that single-payer is impossible at the state level: she asked Sen. Rodney Pol directly at a town hall whether Indiana could lead the country on a state-based universal system; he agreed healthcare could be a unifying issue

- The real problem: healthcare monopolies that own the pharmacy, the hospital, and the clinics and set their own prices

- Preventative care is the economic common-sense argument: a $100 dental visit prevents a $6,000 emergency extraction

- Medicaid and Medicare spending keeps rising precisely because preventative care is not being delivered

- The system is backwards: it is more profitable to treat sick people than to keep them well

00:33:00 Three Things: Wages and Workers

- Alicia’s third priority: wages and worker power

- Indiana’s minimum wage is $7.25 and has not moved since 2009

- Her proposal: corporations whose employees need food stamps or Medicaid because they don’t provide living wages or benefits should lose their corporate tax breaks

- Corporations contribute only 3.1% to Indiana’s general fund; workers are carrying the tax burden

- She supports repealing Indiana’s right-to-work law

- Approximately 1,600 NIPSCO utility workers are currently locked out; another 800-1,000 BP oil refinery workers in Whiting are also affected

- She references Zohran Mamdani’s work on the fast food workers union in New York as a model

- Alicia supports organized labor across all industries -- including a tenants union in her area

00:38:10 Threading the Needle: Unions vs. Data Centers

- Data centers are proliferating across northwest Indiana, particularly in LaPorte County and the New Prairie/St. Joe County area

- They consume enormous amounts of power and water; Indiana deregulated environmental protections to fast-track them

- The tension: construction of these massive projects creates good union jobs upfront, but long-term employment is minimal

- Indiana specifically is being targeted for AI data centers, which are even more resource-intensive than standard data centers

- LaPorte County has an annexation meeting coming up to potentially rezone 1,500 acres of agricultural land for data center development

- The Michigan City example: Mayor Angie Nelson Deutsch’s administration fast-tracked approvals, much of it behind closed doors, and labor got cut out; a worker fell through a roof during construction and contaminated soil was hauled off

- Scott also cites Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett’s controversy over siting a data center in a historically Black neighborhood

- Alicia’s framework: not anti-data-center in principle, but communities must require a labor agreement before approving any variance or contract; they should be sited on brownfields or reclaimed industrial land, built with green energy and closed-loop cooling systems

- The Republican-controlled legislature’s strategy: starve municipalities of revenue so they become desperate enough to accept any deal that comes along

00:45:06 Why Alicia Is the Best Candidate in This Primary

- HD-20 has a contested Democratic primary; the incumbent Republican is Rep. Jim Pressel, who also faces a primary challenger

- Alicia was the second Democrat to file for the seat

- Her case: the party needs candidates who have actually lived the struggle -- not politicians who know it theoretically -- to inspire the voters who have been sitting out because nothing ever seems to change

- She is an underdog and knows it, but frames her candidacy as a long-term commitment regardless of the May 5 outcome

- The fault line in this primary mirrors a broader Democratic Party divide: go-along-to-get-along bipartisanship vs. anchoring firmly in progressive values in a supermajority red statehouse

- Alicia’s pitch: she has been forced to engage with Republicans because that’s her entire community and local government -- she knows how to navigate it while not surrendering her principles

- She is motivated by her eight-year-old daughter and the generations that follow

00:54:47 How to Help

- Facebook: Alicia for IN State Representative

- Campaign email: electaliciaHD20@protonmail.com

- Donate on ActBlue

- Volunteers needed for door-knocking and phone banking before May 5

- Name spelling for podcast listeners: A-L-I-C-I-A F-I-R-A-N-E-K

WHAT’S INSIDE:

00:03:16 - What is Equality Indiana?

• New organization, two separate entities

• 501(c)(3) — Equality Indiana Educational Fund: civic engagement, voter education, tax-deductible donations

• 501(c)(4) — Equality Indiana Advocates: lobbying, candidate questionnaires, electoral advocacy

• IRS required questionnaire work to live in the C4; entities maintain separate IDs, bank accounts, fundraising

00:08:16 - Indiana Pacers Pride Night — April 10

• Friday, April 10: Pacers LGBTQ+ Community Night

• Ticket purchases through Equality Indiana’s landing page generate proceeds for the 501(c)(3)

• Indianapolis Men’s Chorus singing national anthem before tip-off

• Indy Pride, Indy Fuel, Indianapolis Indians, and Indiana Fever also hosting or expected to host Pride Nights this season

00:10:10 - The Jaden Ivey Situation and Sports League Tensions

• Chicago Bulls recently waived Jaden Ivey after anti-LGBTQ and anti-Catholic social media posts around Pride Night

• NBA: optional participation, but players held accountable if they actively attack league values

• NHL: backed away from on-ice Pride gear after pushback from Russian Orthodox players; rainbow tape on sticks during warmups only, not games

• Caudill attributes divergence to demographic differences between leagues — NHL less racially diverse in players and fan base, driving more conservative business calculus

00:17:00 - Corporate Allyship: Target, Eli Lilly, and the Chamber Problem

• Scott: is Pride support from corporations just cynical business, not genuine commitment?

• Caudill: businesses can’t please everyone, but LGBTQ community maintains a “good list/bad list” — Target has cycled on and off it

• Without naming Eli Lilly: stop giving to Indiana Chamber of Commerce, which funds the extremists passing anti-LGBTQ legislation

• 365-day support means lobbying and political giving that matches the rainbow imagery on Pride weekend

00:23:25 - The Weimar Warning

• Scott draws parallel to late Weimar Berlin — visible, open LGBTQ life followed by catastrophic rollback

• Caudill: dehumanization of a targeted group is the historical precursor to broader persecution

• Direct line from anti-immigrant rhetoric to current targeting of trans people — once you normalize it for one group, it extends to all

• Caudill is displaying Indiana/trans flag composite behind him in honor of International Trans Day of Visibility

00:27:58 - The “LGB Without the T” Movement

• Movement most prominent in UK; Caudill describes it primarily as a social media phenomenon, limited real organizational depth

• Functions to fracture coalition — exactly what anti-LGBTQ forces want

• Trans people face the highest rates of discrimination and violence; excluding them abandons the most vulnerable

• Points to women’s suffrage [the 19th Amendment was ratified August 18, 1920] and civil rights movement as proof that coalition unity wins

00:33:17 - Self-Loathing Conservatives and Voter Apathy

• Scott: what do you make of Scott Bessent and Bari Weiss — openly gay/queer, doing MAGA’s work?

• Caudill: some gay men are functionally self-loathing; mix in narcissism and they become useful instruments for forces that regard them with contempt

• About 12% of LGBTQ voters supported Trump — roughly 90% didn’t

• The real problem isn’t persuadable LGBTQ Trump voters; it’s LGBTQ non-voters

00:36:15 - Gavin Newsom, Pete Buttigieg, and Democratic Messaging

• Newsom’s “culturally normal” comments: an attempt at internal Democratic strategy, but wrong framing — reinforces a false normal/abnormal binary

• Buttigieg made a similar misstep with the trans community, also had to walk it back

• Both trying to find a “big tent” message; both threw lead balloons

• Caudill: Democrats do stand for things — they’ve just been terrible at messaging since Jimmy Carter, with brief exceptions (Clinton’s “It’s the economy, stupid,” Obama’s “Hope”)

00:44:11 - The Indiana Democratic Party

• State party in structural failure since Frank O’Bannon’s 2000 re-election

• Individual wins (Donnelly 2012) mostly attributable to Republican self-destruction (Mourdock’s rape comments), not Democratic strength

• Caudill refuses to donate to state party or Stonewall Democrats until they answer basic questions about where the money goes

• Still a “diehard Democrat” — gives directly to candidates instead; raised $16 million for a Democratic governor in Missouri in 2008

00:47:48 - Queer the Vote Indiana

• Primary GOTV vehicle: voters sign a pledge to vote and recruit others; Equality Indiana pledges to keep them informed

• Partnership with vote.org for voter registration capture

• Indiana’s primary voter registration deadline: midnight, April 6 (six days from recording)

• Indiana is a closed primary — voters choose Democrat or Republican ballot

• Registration reopens May 19; Equality Indiana plans to attend all 50+ Pride events statewide, late May through October

00:53:45 - GOTV Tactics and Protecting Trans Voters at the Polls

• Plans for GOTV rallies during early voting — drag queen appearances at donut shops/coffee shops in Indy, Muncie, Bloomington; “bring five friends next Saturday” multiplier model

• Trans Hoosiers face compounded barrier: state blocking ID document updates, creating friction at the polls

• Equality Indiana will escort trans voters and advocate for provisional ballots if clerks push back

• Legislature banned college IDs as valid voter ID; Equality Indiana working with campus LGBTQ centers on state ID access, will provide BMV transportation if needed

00:58:37 - How to Get Involved and Show Closing

• equalityindiana.org — volunteer sign-ups, committee work, event tabling

• Hoosier Hysteria Pride Flag fundraising campaign: $100 one-time or $10/month earns choice of one of six pride flags, delivered before Pride Month

• Scott thanks Caudill, PIN subscription pitch, social media handles

• Negotiations & Escalation

  • Monday updates (AP)

  • Tuesday updates (AP)

  • Wednesday updates (AP)

  • Thursday updates (AP)

  • Friday updates (AP)

  • Saturday updates (AP)

  • Trump extends deadline for Iran to reopen oil route or face power plant strikes (PBS)

  • As Pakistan positions itself as a US–Iran broker, it draws on a set of relationships few countries can replicate (ABC Australia)

  • US proposes 15-point plan as Iran opens Strait of Hormuz to ‘non-hostile’ oil vessels (France24)

  • Rejecting Trump Plan, Iran Calls for War Reparations in Ceasefire Counterproposal (Common Dreams)

  • Israel strikes Iranian nuclear development facilities, Tehran vows retaliation (Jerusalem Post)

  • The latest on Iran’s military attacks on Gulf states (NBC)

  • Over a dozen U.S. soldiers injured in attack on Saudi base as Iran-backed Houthis enter war (NPR)

• Israel

  • At Pentagon Worship Service, Hegseth Casts Iran Conflict as Violent Holy War Against God’s Enemies (Public Witness)

  • Lebanon Front

    • Israel announces territorial seizure in Lebanon up to Litani River (Jerusalem Post)

    • Smotrich says Litani River should be Israel’s new border with Lebanon (Times of Israel)

    • Israel Defense Minister Deploys ‘Gaza Model’ in Lebanon, Ordering Destruction of Villages (Common Dreams)

  • West Bank

    • Egypt, Jordan warn Gaza crisis must not be overshadowed by regional escalation (Ahram)

    • Security Council Discuss Situation in Palestine, Settlement Activities in West Bank (QNA)

    • Pro-Israel Democrats decry settler violence in West Bank amid attacks on Palestinians (Guardian)

    • The Israeli cabinet has approved a decision to combat settler violence, prohibiting the establishment of any new settler outposts.

  • War Crimes

    • Judge: Palestinian Minor Who Died in Israeli Prison Was ‘Likely Starved,’ but Case Closed (Haaretz)

    • Three journalists killed in Israeli strike on marked press car in Lebanon (Al Jazeera)

    • Israel used white phosphorus to scorch earth in south Lebanon, researcher says (Guardian)

      • Iran strikes Israeli chemical complex linked to white phosphorus production (Cradle)

  • Jewish volunteer ambulances set on fire outside London synagogue in antisemitic attack (CNN)

• Economic Fallout

  • Mysterious trading patterns follow Trump into war (Axios)

  • Indiana Angle:

    • Rising diesel prices cause financial strain for Michiana farmers (WNDU)

    • How diesel prices over $5 are impacting logistics industry & could eventually impact grocery prices (WRTV)

    • Indiana gas tax set to increase on April 1st, driving prices higher (WSBT)

    • The EPA issues emergency waivers for E15 (FOX59)

Other International News

• Zelenskyy visits Gulf Arab states to talk drone defense and seek strategic ties (AP)

• US security guarantees tied to Ukraine’s withdrawal from Donbas, Zelensky says (Kyiv Independent)

• Inside Marco Rubio’s Cuba gamble as Trump pushes a ‘friendly takeover’ (USA Today)

• U.S. attack on alleged drug boat kills 4 in Caribbean Sea, military says (CBC)

• Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro appears in New York City court (AP)

Affordability

• Trump’s signature to appear on paper currency in a first for a sitting president (NBC)

  • Mike Johnson Announces, ‘We Have Created a New Award’ To Give Trump: ‘This Beautiful Golden Statue’ (Mediaite)

• A Simple Way to Make Housing Cheaper Is Languishing in the GOP House (TNR)

• Indiana angle:

  • It’s official — no pay raise for state employees (ICC)

  • Here’s which Indiana counties face the biggest affordable housing shortages (IndyStar)

  • Utilities explain high energy bills to state regulators (IndyStar)

    • Utilities warn of soaring costs related to Trump order for Indiana coal plants to stay open (ICC)

Climate

• US has caused $10tn worth of climate damage since 1990, research finds (Guardian)

• Here’s what to know as the scope of damage from Hawaii’s floods becomes clearer (AP)

• Indiana angle:

  • Natural Resources Commission chair upset with new rules protocol (ICC)

ICE/DHS

• Markwayne Mullin takes over at a precarious moment for DHS (Politico)

• Airport disruptions abound as senators chase deal to end Homeland Security budget standoff (AP)

  • Senate passes bill to reopen much of DHS after Trump moves to pay TSA officers (WaPo)

• Delta suspends ‘specialty services’ perk for members of Congress, cites DHS shutdown (CNBC)

• What we know about the LaGuardia plane and fire truck crash (NBC)

  • An air traffic controller was juggling extra roles during the LaGuardia plane crash (NPR)

• It Was Always the Plan. Project 2025, DHS, and the Privatization of TSA (Sound the Alarm, Girl)

• DOJ Forced to Admit ICE Lies About Immigration Court Arrests (TNR)

• Minnesota sues to obtain evidence in shootings by federal officers during ICE surge (PBS)

• Why a private company is investigating rapes at an ICE detention center instead of the sheriff (CalMatters)

• Venezuelans deported by US detail fresh claims of torture and abuse at El Salvador mega-prison (Guardian)

• Indiana Angle:

  • IU analysis shows Indiana population grew in 2025, mostly due to migration (IPM)

Elections

• Trump’s approval rating falls to record low following surging fuel prices and war with Iran (Independent)

• Florida Democrats flip two seats in special legislative elections (Florida Phoenix)

• Trump calls voting by mail ‘cheating’ just days after voting by mail (Guardian)

• Court denies California’s bid to halt Riverside sheriff’s recount of 2025 election ballots (CalMatters)

• How Jack Smith connected the dots between GOP lawmakers, Trump aides in 2020 election probe (Politico)

• Indiana Angle:

  • Trump endorses Sen. Liz Brown, other Republicans who supported Indiana redistricting (ICC)

  • Mitch Daniels defends lawmakers facing primary challenges over redistricting vote (WFYI)

Tech

• AI

  • OpenAI Will Shut Down Sora Video App; Disney Drops Plans for $1 Billion Investment (Variety)

  • Anthropic wins preliminary injunction in DOD fight as judge cites ‘First Amendment retaliation’ (CNBC)

  • Melania Trump walks side by side with humanoid robot at White House summit (NBC)

  • Bernie Sanders and AOC Are Pushing a Moratorium on Data Center Construction (Mother Jones)

    • Sen. Warner calls AI data center moratorium championed by AOC “idiocy” (Axios)

  • Indiana Angle:

    • That 1% incentive to encourage data center approvals? Final deal watered it down (ICC)

    • Wells: Tallian says Indiana Democrats the party of data centers (Facebook)

• Social Media

  • New Mexico jury says Meta harms children’s mental health and safety, violating state law (KRQE)

  • Instagram and YouTube found liable in landmark social media addiction trial in California (PBS)

  • Indiana angle:

    • 100+ Indiana schools go after social media giants for ‘harmful’ design (WTHR)

    • Hailey’s Army for Children launches to protect kids, empower families and advocate for online safety (WRTV)

Healthcare

• US measles cases top 1,500 as Texas outbreak grows (CIDRAP)

• Demonstrators gather at NIH headquarters to protest against cuts to medical research (Guardian)

• Indiana angle:

  • Braun highlights ‘major healthcare wins’ in 2026 (WPTA)

  • Report finds Indiana lags nation in primary, preventative care (ICC)

  • After the Trump admin cut funding, two Indianapolis Planned Parenthood clinics will shutter in April (Mirror Indy)

No Kings Protests

• Millions turn out for “No Kings” rallies held worldwide to protest against Trump (CBS)

• Map of every Indiana ‘No Kings’ event happening this weekend (IndyStar)

• Organizers say 12,000 attended ‘No Kings’ Statehouse protest (IndyStar)

WHAT’S INSIDE:

00:00:23 - Show Opening and Guest Introduction

• Broadcasting from Bloomington; HoosLeft Live podcast intro

• Guest bio: BS and JD with honors from IU (1975), managing editor of Indiana Law Review, Indianapolis corporation counsel 1977-1980, Republican congressional candidate 1980, ICLU executive director 1992-1998, IU SPEA faculty through 2020, author of 10 books, daily blogger at SheilaKennedy.net

• Tonight: a long life in Indiana politics, policy, and public service — how we got here and how we might make it through

00:04:09 - Welcome and the Strauss-Howe Framework

• Kennedy: born in Indianapolis, raised in Anderson (”they better not bury me there”), will die in Indiana

• Scott introduces the Strauss-Howe “saeculum” — 80-100 year Anglo-American historical cycles (via Thom Hartmann)

• Arnold Toynbee: “When the last man who remembers the last great crisis dies, the next great crisis becomes inevitable”

• Kennedy’s life neatly situated between the WWII crisis and the current one; invites her to describe post-war Indiana

00:07:18 - Growing Up Post-War: The World MAGA Wants Back

• Raised in Anderson; father fought in WWII; first political memory: House Un-American Activities Committee — scary even for a young child

• MAGA nostalgia targets “a time that never was” — post-war prosperity was real but exclusive: GI Bill only for white men, women expected in the kitchen

• Betty Friedan’s “disease with no name” — going to law school as a woman in the 70s was considered scandalous (”your children will all be on drugs”)

• What MAGA actually wants restored: the era when straight white Christian men ruled the roost — not the economy, the hierarchy

00:16:18 - Nixon, the Southern Strategy, and the Death of the GOP

• Nixon lured white Southern conservatives (Dixiecrats) from the New Deal coalition — they’ve since consumed the entire Republican party

• Kennedy was a Republican for 35 years; served in Hudnut administration, ran for Congress — “Bill Hudnut is rotating in his grave and so is Dick Lugar”

• “The party I belonged to no longer exists” — replaced by “a fascist, racist, anti-Semitic, anti-female cult”

• The opposite of liberal is not conservative — it’s illiberal; today’s MAGA doesn’t give lip service to the founding ideals the way even the worst actors used to

• Democrats now a sprawling tent of everyone from former Republicans to the left — herding cats; incoherent messaging is structural, not a failure of strategy

00:21:26 - Civic Illiteracy and the Collapse of Liberal Democracy

• Kennedy founded the Center for Civic Literacy at IU — “Americans revere the Constitution, have no idea what’s in it”

• The founders were liberal in the classical sense; even the worst actors in American history at least gave lip service to “all men are created equal” — MAGA doesn’t bother

• These people were always there — Kennedy always knew they existed — but she estimated maybe 15%; polling now shows it’s closer to 30%

• Son’s post-2016 assessment: two types of Trump voters — those for whom the racism resonated, and those for whom it was not disqualifying

00:26:25 - Kennedy’s Breaking Point: Leaving the Republican Party

• Left the GOP officially in 2000 over George W. Bush — “I thought this was rock bottom”

• Stonewall Democrats threw her a coming out party, raised $8,000

• Ran for Congress alongside Mike Pence — both lost that year; he’d periodically have her on his call-in show as “good friend Sheila”

• Led the ICLU while still a Republican — alternative paper headline: “ICLU taken over by card-carrying Republican”

• Her political philosophy is the same as it’s always been — the Overton window moved so now Republicans would label her a communist

• Now looks back at George W. “almost fondly” — that’s the measure of how bad things have gotten

00:30:05 - Indiana’s Political Seasons: Birch Bayh → Richard Lugar→ Evan Bayh → Mike Pence

• Birch Bayh as avatar of the New Deal spring; Dick Lugar as bridge figure — “brilliant, thoughtful, ethical” on arms reduction, even if she disagreed with him on choice; Kennedy got her start running Lugar’s mayoral campaign (the “71 Committee for Lugar”)

• Evan Bayh was nothing like his father — finger in the wind, no stable philosophy; Kennedy’s best laugh ever came at Andy Jacobs’ retirement roast: “I apologized for calling him a Democrat — in Indiana, we (GOP) have ours AND yours, like Evan Bayh”

• Evan Bayh as the prototype of politicians who put keeping their own ambition above the common good, their oath, and the public interest — Todd Young is cut from the same cloth; “Young knows better”

• Mike Pence as avatar of the unraveling winter — politely articulated Christian nationalism before it was mainstream; Kennedy credits him for refusing to overturn the election but doubts his successors would show the same restraint

• Fall of Soviet Union (early 90s) as the hinge point — unchecked capitalism, Blue Dog Democrats helping gut New Deal protections

00:38:10 - What Does the Democratic Vision Look Like?

• Scott: Project 2025 is horrific but at least it’s a vision — where’s the Democratic equivalent?

• Kennedy: we don’t have too much capitalism, we have corporatism — capture of government by the wealthy; antitrust unenforced; healthcare should never have been a market

• Need something like Nuremberg trials — an information event so overwhelming it breaks through the self-curated media bubbles people live in

• Structural reforms: end gerrymandering, kill the filibuster, pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act

• Nationally: expects an enormous blue wave in the 2026 midterms; lower courts are still holding and winning cases on vote suppression; cautious optimism

• Wants the national Democratic Party to clear out the old guard and elevate the impressive younger bench that exists

00:43:44 - Indiana Specifically: Non-Competitive, Not Red

• Indiana is not a red state — it’s a non-competitive state, thanks to extreme gerrymandering working as “sophisticated vote suppression”

• Why turn out if there’s no one on the ballot? One of Kennedy’s graduate students lived in Noblesville and found zero competition when he went to check his ballot

• 240 independents ran in the last two cycles across Indiana; 52% won — including mayors of Huntington and Bedford

• Greg Ballard running for Secretary of State as an independent; Independent Indiana believes rural voters will vote independent even if they won’t vote Democrat

• Democrats running someone in all 25 state Senate seats up in 2026 for the first time since 1974; 91+ contested state House races, up from ~70 two years ago

• The rutabaga rule: in rural Indiana, a rutabaga with an R next to its name gets elected — independents give people permission to vote differently

00:51:09 - The System Holds? Corporatism, Fascism, and Whether 2026 Matters

• Scott: political axis is shifting back from culture war to economics — far left and far right now share a critique of corporatism, disagree wildly on the solution

• Kennedy: “The new gilded age has gotten too big to ignore” — economic pain will only increase under Trump, raising the salience of economics further

• Corporatism = merger of corporation and state = Mussolini’s definition of fascism

• The Supreme Court’s corruption is what has upset Kennedy most — a court now “looking for ways around long-settled law”

• Lower courts still functioning; Kennedy believes elections will happen and will mostly hold — but the result will “tell us whether there’s a future for the United States”

• No Kings rallies (nationwide, March 28): Kennedy urges every listener to attend somewhere; Scott plans to catch the Cincinnati rally; her apolitical sister protested outside Todd Young’s office with a walker and a sign: “I may not have a good spine, but I have one”

00:56:36 - Closing and Where to Find Sheila Kennedy

• Israeli Leading?

  • Top counterterrorism official Kent resigns over Trump’s Iran war, says Iran posed no imminent threat (AP)

    • Joe Kent under FBI investigation for alleged leaks (Axios)

    • Tulsi Gabbard walks tightrope to avoid undercutting Trump on Iran (Politico)

  • Oman claims Israel pushed US into Iran war when deal was possible (Guardian)

    • UK security adviser attended US-Iran talks and judged deal was within reach (Guardian)

  • IDF kills Iran’s Ali Larijani, Basij commander in largest targeted strikes since Khamenei (Jerusalem Post)

    • All Iranian officials and commanders killed in the past nine months (EuroNews)

  • US acknowledges gaps with Israel on Iran war objectives (Politico)

    • Trump says US ‘very close’ to meeting objectives in Iran, considering ‘winding down’ military efforts

    • Same page, next story: Israeli-US strikes against Iran will ‘increase significantly,’ Israeli defense minister says (ABC)

• Oil/Infrastructure

  • Iran hits key UAE oil port and Dubai airport (BBC)

  • Drones attack US embassy in Baghdad, Oil Industry Zone in UAE (Jerusalem Post)

  • The attacked South Pars natural gas field is an energy lifeline for Iran (AP)

  • Strike on key Iranian gas field is a new phase of the war. Trump blames Israel. (Politico)

  • Iran tells Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE to evacuate energy facilities after Israel hits gas field (Middle East Eye)

  • Thurs morning: Qatar, Saudi energy sites attacked; Riyadh says trust gone (Al Jazeera)

  • Iran attack wipes out 17% of Qatar’s LNG capacity for up to five years, QatarEnergy CEO says (CNBC)

  • Trump is poised to take Iran’s Kharg Island. Here’s what could unfold next. (Politico)

  • Iran says US and Israel attacked Natanz nuclear facility (Al Jazeera)

  • Trump fumes at NATO for refusing to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, and embraces going it alone (AP)

  • Seven U.S. allies back potential Strait of Hormuz coalition (Axios)

  • Trump ready to put boots on the ground in Iran (Telegraph)

  • Trump waives Jones Act shipping rules for 60 days to steady oil market (CNBC)

• Crossroads: The Indiana Angle

  • Pentagon seeks more than $200 billion in budget request for Iran war (WaPo)

  • Fed meeting recap: Powell says inflation isn’t coming down as much as ‘hoped’ (CNBC)

  • Middle East conflict sends fertilizer prices soaring for Indiana farmers (WRTV)

  • As gas prices surge, Hoosiers are feeling the impact of rising food prices (WRTV)

  • Fort Wayne nonprofit struggling with higher gas prices (WPTA)

  • City councilor backs Big Tech as his neighbors lose data center fight (Mirror Indy)

  • Utility profits rise as household bills soar, new analysis finds (Stateline)

  • Indiana’s foreclosure rate ranks worst in country, according to new data (WFYI)

  • Many speak out at Henderson (KY) public meeting on wind energy ordinance (WFIE)

Education

• High Fuel Prices Pinch School Districts (FOX19 Cincinnati)

  • This is a 2025 article, but watch how prescient it is.

• Indianapolis Public Schools plans to cut millions from school budgets as financial pressures mount (Chalkbeat)

• Gov. Braun considers childcare cost strategies heading into the 2027 budget session (FOX59)

• Braun unveils $1 billion agriculture and life sciences initiative (ICC)

• New Indiana law updates Ivy Tech governance, doubles down on workforce mission (ICC)

• Report: Hoosier boys and young men falling behind (Axios)

DHS/ICE

• Latest federal payment to state for ICE detainees more than triples (ICC)

• Outrage as Afghan asylum seeker who fought alongside US dies in ICE custody (Al Jazeera)

• 19-year-old Mexican immigrant dies in ICE custody this week, agency says (ABC)

• Amid Nashville reporter arrest, do immigrants have free speech rights? (Tennessean)

• Border Patrol official Bovino who led Minnesota operation to retire (Axios)

  • Gregory Bovino left DHS to avoid internal investigations into his deportation tactics, insider reveals (Independent)

• Some DHS contractors told White House officials they were asked to pay Corey Lewandowski (NBC)

• Democrats call for DOJ to investigate if Kristi Noem lied to Congress (USA Today)

• Mullin presents himself as a different kind of DHS secretary during tense confirmation hearing (Politico)

  • Mullin gets rocky reception from Rand Paul at combative DHS confirmation hearing (The Hill)

  • Mullin’s nomination to be DHS chief advances out of committee (Politico)

• More airport disruptions expected as TSA agents quit amid first weekend without full pay (CNN)

Other International News

• Cuba

  • Cuba reports island-wide blackout as country struggles with energy crisis (PBS)

  • Trump says he’ll have the ‘honor of taking Cuba’ and can do ‘anything I want with it’ (Independent)

  • Cuba will allow nationals living abroad to invest in and own businesses on the island (NBC)

  • First international aid convoy arrives in crisis-hit Cuba (France24)

• Venezuela

  • Delcy Rodriguez replaces Venezuela’s Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino (Al Jazeera)

• Colombia

  • DEA names Colombian president ‘priority target’ as US prosecutors probe ties to drug traffickers (AP)

• Asia

  • The Iran war throws Trump’s China trip into doubt, but Beijing doesn’t seem to mind waiting (NBC)

  • Trump compares Iran strikes with Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (Japan Times)

• Behind the word ‘exercise’ in Greenland hid blood, explosives and the most serious situation since April 9, 1940 (DR)

Erosion of Democracy

• ‘Trump is aiming for dictatorship’. That’s the verdict of the world’s most credible democracy watchdog (Guardian)

• The Trump Administration Just Won a Terrifying Victory Over Protesters (TNR)

• Kennedy Center votes to shut down operations for 2 years and names a new president (Politico)

• Judge orders 1,000 Voice of America staffers back to work in rebuke to Kari Lake (NPR)

• Trump Threatens Treason Charges for Reporters Covering Iran War (TNR)

• FCC chair invites bipartisan backlash as MAGA battle with press intensifies (The Hill)

  • Nexstar Says It Has Closed Merger With Tegna After Greenlight From FCC And Justice Departmen (Deadline)

  • Nexstar CEO Thanks Trump as DOJ Approves $3.5 Billion Tegna Deal (Newsweek)

DOJ

• Kash Patel admits under oath FBI is buying location data on Americans (Guardian)

• Comer subpoenas Attorney General Pam Bondi over Epstein files (Politico)

• Furious Dems threaten Bondi impeachment, contempt after briefing (Axios)

• Democrat Reveals Epstein File That Blows Huge Hole in Trump’s Story (TNR)

• Bank of America settles lawsuit from Jeffrey Epstein accusers, scuttling Leon Black deposition (Business Insider)

• DOJ moves to permanently dismiss case against 2 ex-LMPD officers in Breonna Taylor case (WLKY)

• Robert Mueller, former FBI director and special counsel in Trump-Russia probe, dies (CNN)

Courts, Crime & Punishment

• Chief Justice Roberts says personal criticism of judges is dangerous and has ‘got to stop’ (ABC)

• Arizona AG files criminal charges against Kalshi over ‘illegal gambling’ (NPR)

• Woman charged with attempted murder under Georgia abortion law (WABE)

• South Bend Police drone program provides first responders with eyes in the sky (WSBT)

  • AI-Powered Robot Dogs Guarding Reviled Data Centers Is Where We Have Arrived (Common Dreams)

• Another inmate seriously injured in fire at Indiana State Prison (WTHR)

Elections

• Illinois Primary

  • Stratton survives battle. New faces emerge. Illinois primary takeaways (USA Today)

  • Illinois primary candidates win with under 30% of the vote (FairVote)

• Indiana

  • A Marion County judge failed judicial review, will be withheld from November ballot (WFYI)

  • Braun campaign committee sues ex-treasurer (ICC)

  • Court OKs new judge in Indiana GOP state senate primary case (Tribune-Star)

  • Republican primary ads launch in support of Trump’s call for redistricting revenge (WLFI)

Labor

• BP locks out more than 800 union workers at Whiting refinery after contract negotiations fail (Sun-Times)

• Workers in Colorado Have Shut Down One of the Nation’s Biggest Meatpacking Plants (Mother Jones)

• Cesar Chavez abused and raped women and girls, NYT investigation says (NPR)

Finally This Week

• 101st Anniversary of the 1925 Tri-State Tornado, Deadliest Twister in US History (WTHI)

WHAT’S INSIDE:

00:05:20 - Growing Up in Allen County and Military Service

• Born Barksdale AFB Louisiana 1993, dad Air Force, moved to Allen County as toddler

• Grew up Huntertown, Carroll High School, played football and wrestled, got EMT certification at Anthes Career Center

• Enlisted Air Force as Chinese linguist after semester at Ivy Tech, Defense Language Institute 18 months

• 2014-2018 NSA Hawaii naval intelligence tracking Pacific signals, got out 2018, worked Army counterintelligence Fort Meade

00:14:17 - COVID, BLM, January 6th - Why She Left and Came Home

• Took over COVID threat analysis for NSA/SecDef/President - what was reported publicly didn’t reflect reality

• BLM: livestreamed DC protests - different than Fox News narrative and internal intelligence

• January 6th insurrection - couldn’t be part of system misrepresenting factual events for political purposes

• Went through apathy but realized: if we do nothing, they win - came home to reconnect with people she loves

00:19:50 - State Senate District 15 and Working Class Struggles

• Entirely within Allen County, possibly most compact state senate district, gerrymandered to be relatively homogenous

• Works at BAE Systems building engine controls - union worker like people in District 15

• Rising costs (Google data center driving up utility bills), low wages (minimum wage unchanged since 2009)

• Everyone from lifelong Republicans to progressive PFW students realize incumbency not working for people

00:25:09 - Why Electoral Politics Despite Stacked Deck

• Love an underdog - Fort Wayne big defense industry town, union workers have protections but right-to-work makes unionizing hard

• At NSA Hawaii asked supervisor: will people look back and decide what we did was wrong? Crack in thinking about military industrial complex

• Adversaries are just people - we’re all just people

• It takes power to make changes - elected office made most sense given how she sees the world

00:33:42 - Three Priorities for State House

• First: economy - attack from two angles, lower costs AND raise wages to meet in middle

• Second: investing in kids, childcare, schools - make Indiana attractive via quality of life not tax subsidies

• Third: protected rights and freedoms - freedom FROM restriction not freedom TO restrict

00:37:16 - Housing Crisis and Data Centers

• Came back year ago, roomed with friend and daughter in one bedroom Blackhawk apartments, $1000+/month split three ways

• Lived on blow-up mattress, on unemployment from DC - personal experience with affordability crisis

• Data centers straining electrical grid - residents front 80% of infrastructure costs while money goes to shareholders

• Paying to render yourself unemployed and put yourself under surveillance (Palantir, Flock cameras)

00:42:15 - Making Indiana Attractive by Investing in People

• Tax subsidies to attract businesses - what if invested in state instead?

• Funded childcare ROI $7-$12 per dollar (New Mexico doing this) - wouldn’t have to compete for nurses and teachers

• Republican branding as smart business people but short-sighted, only looking at quarterly report not long-term

• Minimum wage $7.25 unchanged since she was sophomore in high school - costs increasing whether you make more or not

00:46:09 - Power of Visibility and Building Coalitions

• Trans at work, people know she’s trans and easy to work with - 70% of people haven’t knowingly met trans person (Guess what? You have!)

• Allen County created Indiana’s first Veterans Caucus - attracts Republicans too, healthy to have friction and different perspectives

• When good people with different life experiences step up, we all learn

• Fight collectively now, discuss tax policy at bar later after we’ve won

00:48:41 - Running as Trans Woman Against Hostile Incumbent

• Liz took announcement videos, stitched with title “meet Mr. Andes” and transphobic bullshit

• When focused on issues, identity kind of irrelevant - trans people will eventually be normalized like all minorities who fought and won

• Some never agree, but others willing to feel it out - takes extending olive branch

• Even left-leaning people sometimes don’t understand how to interact - she’s just a person

00:54:38 - How to Support Campaign

• ChloeforHoosiers.com, handles @ChloeforHoosiers (YouTube: Chloe4Hoosiers)

• Email: Chloe@ChloeforHoosiers.com

• Vote - even if not in District 15, vote for Dem in your district

US/World News

Iran

• Scope of War

  • Sen. John Kennedy apologizes for Iran school strike after Trump suggests enemy misfire (NY Post)

  • Trump says Iran war could be over soon, but oil disruption would trigger harsher US strikes (AP)

  • A ‘little excursion’ or ‘war’? It’s ‘both,’ Trump says (ABC)

  • Trump says he’s willing to accept more US deaths to ‘finish the job’ in Iran (Independent)

  • U.S. military bombs Iran’s main oil export hub, as Mideast war toll mounts (NPR)

  • All 6 crew members on a US refueling plane that crashed in Iraq are dead, US military says (AP)

  • After Secret Briefing, Dem Senators Warn Trump ‘On a Path’ to Ground Invasion of Iran (Common Dreams)

  • US weighs sending forces into Iran to secure nuclear stockpile (Guardian)

  • US deploys B-2 stealth bombers, 2,200 Marines to Middle East amid war with Iran (Jerusalem Post)

  • Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vows vengeance in fiery first statement (NBC)

  • Netanyahu says he doesn’t know if Iranians will oust regime, threatens new supreme leader (Times of Israel)

  • Israel planning massive ground invasion of Lebanon (Axios)

• International Relations

  • Trump and Putin discuss end to Iran and Ukraine wars on call (Axios)

  • Witkoff: “We can take [Russia] at their word.” (CNBC)

  • Europe Outraged as Trump Delivers Russia a Big Win Amid Iran War (TNR)

  • Ukraine’s US air defenses are at risk in Iran war (Politico)

  • U.S. dismissed Ukraine deal for anti-Iran drone tech last year (Axios)

  • Europe’s mixed response to Iran war draws Trump’s fury toward U.S. allies (NBC)

  • America’s Asian allies scramble to address oil crisis with little guidance from Trump (Politico)

  • What to Know About Recent Attacks on U.S. Diplomatic Missions in Norway, Canada (Time)

• Economic Fallout

  • Trump administration underestimated Iran war’s impact on Strait of Hormuz (CNN)

  • Toxic rain fell over Tehran as airstrikes hit oil facilities (NBC)

    • U.S. asks Israel to halt strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure (Axios)

  • US strikes Iranian mine-laying vessels as Middle East war intensifies (France24)

  • Data centers become military targets as Iran war rages on (CNBC)

  • Mideast’s water supply at risk as Bahrain and Iran say their desalination plants were attacked amid expanding war(Fortune)

  • Iran appears to have conducted a significant cyberattack against a U.S. company, a first since the war started (NBC)

  • Iran escalates attacks on infrastructure and transport networks across the Gulf (Guardian)

  • Dozens of countries agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil. But it didn’t bring down prices. (NBC)

  • Energy, food prices surged in February — before Iran fighting started (Politico)

  • It’s not just oil. Here comes Hormuz inflation. (Politico)

• Sectarian Violence at Home

  • Zohran Mamdani Supports Peaceful Protest In Wake Of Attempted Bombing (Mother Jones)

  • Suspect in Michigan synagogue attack lost family in recent airstrike in Lebanon, source says. (CBS)

  • Old Dominion University shooting being investigated as terrorism; gunman was previously convicted for ISIS support (CBS)

  • Rep. Ogles enrages colleagues with anti-Muslim post (Axios)

  • Mike Johnson refuses to condemn anti-Muslim comments by Republican lawmakers (Guardian)

  • Tuberville shares social media post suggesting Muslims are ‘the enemy’ (Politico)

Affordability/Antitrust

• Trump administration sues California over the state’s nation-leading vehicle-emission rules (AP)

• Senate passes housing affordability bill that faces problems in House (Axios)

  • Trump’s silence leaves housing affordability bill in limbo (Politico)

• Justice Department and Live Nation reach settlement over illegal monopoly case (AP)

  • States urged to settle Live Nation claims after US strikes deal (ABC)

  • California billionaires up political action with multimillion-dollar donations (Guardian)

Elections

• Thune says no to filibuster changes even after Trump’s threats about SAVE America Act (ABC)

• Trump cheers FBI subpoena of Arizona 2020 election records (Guardian)

• GOP lawmaker makes formal switch to independent (The Hill)

• Key takeaways from Tuesday’s elections: Georgia, Mississippi, New Hampshire (The Hill)

• Trump-backed Clay Fuller and Democrat Shawn Harris advance to runoff in race to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene (NBC)

• Inside the GOP meeting to save the House (Axios)

• Rep. James Clyburn Announces He Will Seek Reelection (HuffPost)

Epstein/DOJ

• Bombshell investigation verifies key details in 13-year-old Trump accuser’s story (Post & Courier)

• NY Prison Guard Under Scrutiny Over Epstein’s Death: Everything We Know (Forbes)

• Prison guards discussed cover-up of Epstein’s death, inmate tells FBI (Miami Herald)

• New Mexico authorities launch search of ranch previously owned by Epstein (Guardian)

  • Trump ally raises eyebrows with startling admission on Fox News: ‘Cover-up isn’t new’ (RawStory)

• Richard Kahn, Epstein’s accountant, tells Congress he didn’t know about abuse, saw no red flags in spending (CBS)

  • Democrat Spills Epstein Payout to Alleged Trump Victim (Daily Beast)

• Dems call for probe into ‘troubling pattern’ of legal wins for Pam Bondi’s brother (ABC)

ICE/DHS

• Democrats block bill to reopen Homeland Security amid 27-day shutdown (The Hill)

• Immigration detention cases decline amid Trump admin pullback from hardline tactics (Politico)

• Furious MAGA allies lobby Trump to keep deporting migrants (Politico)

• Judge limits crowd control devices at Portland ICE building, says federal officers must identify themselves (OPB)

• Fort Bliss detention center to get new operator after scrutiny (NBC)

Tech

• Musk’s xAI wins permit for datacenter’s makeshift power plant despite backlash (Guardian)

• Anthropic sues Trump administration over Pentagon blacklist (CNBC)

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Indiana News

The Crossroads

• Who Does Indiana Government Work For?

  • Indianapolis NAACP reverses stance on Metrobloks data center (Mirror Indy)

  • Lebanon City Council passes water agreement with LEAP Innovation District despite community opposition (WRTV)

  • State of Indiana cans White River State Park expansion plans (FOX59)

  • TV news station consolidation coming to Indy after FCC waiver (IndyStar)

• Rokita Rampage

  • New Iowa ban on expanded civil rights rolls back local gender identity protections(IPR)

  • Judge rejects attempt to block law that restricts bathroom use, invalidates driver’s licenses (Kansas Reflector)

  • Indiana’s Anti-Trans Attorney General is Preparing to Revoke Trans People’s Documents (Transitics)

  • An Indiana abortion ruling could expand access in red states (IndyStar)

  • Haitians in Indiana fear deportation as TPS status hangs in balance (IndyStar)

    • Trump administration urges Supreme Court to allow it to revoke protected status for Haitian nationals (SCOTUSBlog)

    • Rokita: “It’s called TEMPORARY for a reason” (X)

  • Indiana AG pushes back against court effort to halt student ID voting ban before 2026 election (ICC)

Christian Nationalism in Education

• Parents, staff fear cuts as Rush Co. School District faces mounting financial pressures (FOX59)

• Indiana officials further linking up with conservative group Turning Point USA (ICC)

• Braun gives few details on Turning Point plan for Indiana schools (IndyStar)

• Indiana educators faced firings, resignations after Charlie Kirk posts — but no licenses revoked (ICC)

Braun

• Gov. Braun says energy affordability plan is working. Here’s what’s changed. (WRTV)

• Indiana application details need, plan for I-70 tolls (ICC)

• Gov. Braun chooses not to rule out tax suspension amid gas prices surge (WISH)

• Braun declines to sign needle exchange extension (ICC)

GOP Internal Divisions

• Beckwith calls GOP supermajority ‘a blessing and a curse’ as he touts outside pressure campaign (Indiana Citizen)

• MAGA’s Indiana retribution campaign heats up (Politico)

• Judge tells attorneys to ‘clear calendars’ for hearing in Senate candidacy dispute (Indiana Citizen)

• Ex-Mayor Greg Ballard starts new political party in bid for secretary of state (Indiana Citizen)

Finally This Week

• Ohio State President Ted Carter resigns over ‘inappropriate relationship’ (NBC)

• Ooh! Now do Pam Whitten (We the Hoosiers)

When I asked about her inspiration for running, Sarah pointed to several interconnected motivations. She’s been watching what’s happening in the state capitol with growing frustration and wants to bring her lived experience as both a social worker and a transgender woman to the statehouse. Working for the Family Social Services Administration and DCS, she sees firsthand the struggles families face and wants to make a real difference in people’s lives.

We discussed personal struggles, and Sarah shared powerfully about being abused growing up—part of the reason she’s so passionate about social work and wanting kids to have a better life than she did. As a transgender woman, she wants to provide a voice for transgender individuals in her district and across the state, especially in light of terrible legislation like SB 182 circulating through the statehouse. The fact that lawmakers are debating the very existence of transgender people without any transgender legislators in the chamber is, as Sarah put it, insane and unfair. They haven’t done anything to deserve this marginalization, and the bathroom ban is just the start. There’s no non-invasive way to enforce such legislation, and it won’t just affect transgender people—it will affect cisgender people as well, something lawmakers aren’t even thinking about because the entire piece of legislation is built on hate.

I brought up the principle of “nothing about us without us”—how historically marginalized communities from the Black community to the Jewish community have fought to be represented in spaces where decisions about their lives are being made. Having a transgender legislator in the statehouse might give some lawmakers pause when they realize they’re legislating against their colleague.

When I asked about fictional characters, Sarah chose Wonder Woman without hesitation—fitting for someone who sees herself as fighting for justice and representation.

Our conversation turned to interpersonal relationships in the statehouse, and Sarah acknowledged it’s going to be an uphill battle. Some Republican colleagues may not want to listen or engage with her perspective, but she believes in trying to build those relationships where possible while standing firm on her principles and the needs of her constituents.

When I asked about legacy, Sarah’s answer was both humble and profound: she wants the world to show she made a measurable impact and wants people’s lives to be better. Even if her name is partially forgotten in the future—because nothing stands the test of time fully—she just wants to make sure she’s left the world a better place than it was when she got here. She couldn’t be happier if people are living better lives, safer at work, with their kids being educated in a respectful manner. As she put it, it’s the fact that even if you won’t be remembered for it, you still know that you did it. I compared it to planting a fruit tree you’ll never eat from, and she agreed completely.

This wasn’t a conversation about political ambition or career advancement. It was a discussion with someone who has lived through abuse, works daily with struggling families, and faces legislation targeting her very existence—yet still believes in the power of representation and the possibility of making the world better for the next generation. Sarah Shydale is running because transgender voices deserve to be heard in the room where decisions are made, and because kids deserve better than what she experienced growing up.

Check out Sarah’s interviews with Derrick Holder and Brianna Newhart, and all of our interviews with other candidates from this event at progressiveindiana.net.

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When I asked about his inspiration for running, Carl’s answer was straightforward about timing: if you’re looking for motivation as a Democrat or progressive person in Indiana to actually have the opportunity to make change, now’s it. This is as close as we’ve gotten in the last 20 years to the general public being motivated enough that there’s a real opportunity to pick up votes, raise campaign funds, and make changes.

We discussed personal struggles, and Carl shared a deeply affecting story about growing up in a household with a mom who worked 40-plus hours a week as a physical therapist aid at the hospital for over 30 years, and a father who was a disabled veteran. His dad worked around pest control in the military, which poisoned his kidneys, led to a kidney transplant, and the transplant caused cancer. The family had to work with their local congressional office just to get him the VA care he needed by the time he was dealing with cancer. As a kid, Carl just lived in the environment—everything felt normal. But as an adult, his perspective changed on the sacrifices his father made and the things they went without as a family. Living in a trailer with three kids and only one parent who could work, Carl began to understand not who to blame, but rather who was responsible for creating those circumstances and what systems were failing families like his.

When I asked about fictional characters, Carl chose Spock from Star Trek. He appreciates the false narrative that Vulcans don’t have emotions or feelings—when the truth is those feelings and emotions are so intense, but right on the surface is just that duck swimming on water. You can’t see what’s happening underneath. As a reporter and someone people call when they have questions or things happening in their lives, Carl relates to that ability to hold intense feelings while maintaining composure to help others process their experiences.

Our conversation turned to interpersonal relationships in the statehouse, and Carl emphasized that you have to have positive interpersonal dynamics—or at the very least, if you can’t maintain positive dynamics, you should maintain workable dynamics. That’s the job: being put in a place with individuals representing various corners of the state and cohesively working together to create something that actually works for people. While some representatives deserve to have someone combative with them—someone who holds their feet to the fire asking why they stand for certain things—Carl approaches it differently. As a journalist at heart, he’s more interested in letting other people see who someone is by the actions they take. He doesn’t need to tell people if someone’s not a good representative or isn’t doing their job—he’ll let that person tell them in their own unique way.

When I asked about legacy, Carl wants to be known as authentic and responsible for everything happening in his community—even if things don’t go through him directly, taking responsibility for what’s happening around him.

This wasn’t a conversation with someone seeking personal glory. It was a discussion with a journalist who understands both the power of letting actions speak and the urgency of the current political moment. Carl Stutsman is running because the opportunity is here, the motivation is real, and someone needs to bring authentic representation and collaborative problem-solving to a district that deserves better than the status quo.

Check out Carl’s interviews with Derrick Holder and Brianna Newhart, and all of our interviews with other candidates from this event at progressiveindiana.net.

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Knox County Democrats on Facebook

Knox County Young Dems on Facebook

Host Scott Aaron Rogers welcomes two generations of Democratic Party leadership from Vincennes and the Wabash River Valley to discuss organizing in rural Indiana. Knox County Democratic Party Chair Marsha Fleming and Knox County Young Democrats founder Austin Ray explore the generational divide within the party, the challenge of growing the electorate versus chasing moderate Republicans, and why young voters feel Democrats have strayed from their working-class roots. The conversation covers local struggles including devastating school voucher schemes siphoning money from rural public schools to Indianapolis private schools, hospital closures creating healthcare deserts, fights over solar farms where NIMBYism conflicts with renewable energy needs, and the irony of a "pro-life" party making it nearly impossible to afford raising families. The guests detail their upcoming Evening with Robert Arnold event on March 28th, designed to energize young progressive voters and showcase the historic number of Democratic candidates running for office this year in deep-red rural Indiana.

IN THE INTERVIEW

00:00:23 - Show Opening and Tonight’s Agenda

• Scott introduces HoosLeft from Bloomington with Marsha Fleming (Knox County Dem Chair) and Austin Ray (Knox County Young Dems Chair) joining from Vincennes

• Topics: generational crossroads, Wabash Valley issues, school defunding, hospital closures

• Progressive Indiana Network subscription ask ($5/month or $50/year)

00:06:08 - The Generational Divide in the Democratic Party

• Marsha describes “donut” problem: young and old engaged, missing middle generation - she was often youngest at 61

• Party gatekeeps when young people show up - Marsha committed to opening doors and letting them lead

• Austin’s No Kings protest spiked Young Dems meeting from 4-6 to 22 people

• Young voters feel party strayed from FDR working-class roots - Bernie didn’t have party support

00:11:23 - 30 Years of Democratic Shift and Strategy

• Reagan era: Democrats said “if you can’t beat them, join them” - took corporate money, left labor

• Clinton won but centrism gave us Great Recession; Obama ran progressive, governed centrist - gave us Trump

• Only way to win: grow electorate and motivate non-voters, not chase moderate Republicans

• Scott’s metaphor: house is rotten, need to rebuild not spray Lysol and fresh paint

00:18:28 - Austin’s Activation and Assault on Public Education

• Austin radicalized as passport agent seeing immigrant families get passports for kids out of fear of separation

• Turning Point USA grooming kids, funneling to private schools, taking public school money

• School vouchers: $14 million diverted from Knox County’s 3 systems in 9 years to Indianapolis/Evansville private schools

00:26:00 - Daycare Crisis and Why Young People Aren’t Having Kids

• Austin paying $500/month for preschool as new homeowner (Scott: that’s a bargain, some $500/week)

• Scott asks if folks refraining from kids due to costs, schools, late-stage capitalism, fascism

• Austin (27): That scares people away for sure - valid reason many his age not having kids

00:29:21 - Hospital Closures and Pro-Life Party Hypocrisy

• Johnson/Greene Counties closed labor & delivery, can’t find OBGYNs (don’t want Indiana liability from anti-abortion laws)

• Marsha: Princeton Hospital doesn’t birth babies anymore - if restricting rights, should support contraception, Sun Bucks

• Pro-life party removing child labor laws, proposed death penalty for abortion - pro-forced birth, not pro-life

00:33:43 - Solar Farms Fight: NIMBYism vs. Renewable Energy

• No data centers but big solar panels feud - Austin at planning commission: biggest complaint is people don’t want to look at them

• Marsha: Knox County coal mining county - what happened to strip mine reclamation? Really about property rights

• NIMBYs want all benefits, no risks - conservatism butts heads with capitalism’s business cycle changing everything

00:41:00 - An Evening with Robert Arnold Event

• March 28th, Red Skelton Event Center - Robert Arnold progressive poet/author from Arkansas, big on TikTok, paints pictures with words

• https://www.facebook.com/events/793195793638102

• Free, 5:30pm doors, 6:30pm program - parade of candidates for anyone running in Southern/Central Indiana or Eastern Illinois

• Historic year: all 25 state Senate seats filled (first time since 1974), 91 of 100 House seats

• People excited recognizing Arnold from internet - Scott at No Kings Cincinnati that day

00:50:38 - Down-Ballot Races and Candidate Recruitment

• Marsha: 2022 got shellacked, lost every contested township race (went 7-2 to 3-6)

• This year six people in six townships - township trustee closest office to people

• Social media cesspools make people fear running will hurt business

• When don’t give choices, get Republican coroner stealing medications from dead people who wouldn’t resign until guilty plea

00:55:08 - Final Thoughts and How to Connect

• Filing deadline passed but can caucus candidates after primary until July 3rd

• Marsha and Austin promote Knox County organizations and March 28th event

• Scott thanks guests, subscribe progressiveindiana.net, building radically democratic Indiana

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When I asked about her inspiration for running, Lilliana argued that the solution isn’t just voting out Republicans—we also need to put what she calls “everyman type of people” into the legislature. As a lifelong service worker, she stands in stark contrast to most legislators who are business owners or lawyers with money to fall back on. They’re never really affected by what happens in the state, but Lilliana is affected by everything. She genuinely believes she knows better than anybody in the statehouse how to approach problems affecting the majority of Hoosiers.

We discussed personal struggles, and Lilliana’s answer cut to the heart of working-class life: no matter what she or her wife do, no matter how many raises they get or extra shifts they pick up, there’s just not enough money. Wages are fundamentally too low. Her very first legislative priority is pushing for a $20 an hour minimum wage—and even that might not be sufficient. Research shows a single person working 40 hours a week needs to make over $22 an hour just to afford an apartment, not even a house. The current $7.25 minimum wage is criminal, and because that floor is so low, businesses get away with paying $10, $11, or $12 an hour and calling it “competitive” when anyone living in Indiana who works for a living knows you need at least $18 an hour to pay your bills.

Interestingly, the part-time nature of the Indiana legislature actually works in Lilliana’s favor. The state representative position pays more than anything she’s made in the 10 years she’s lived in Indiana. She’s learned to get by on $15,000-$17,000 a year, so the roughly $30,000 legislative salary would be an improvement.

When I asked about fictional characters, Lilliana chose Kira from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—a woman surrounded by people who want to impose a lot of crap on her that she’s very over with before it even starts. Lilliana relates to that more strongly than she can put into words. She’s done putting up with BS, whether it’s nonsense at her day job or online transphobia or any number of other things.

Our conversation turned to interpersonal relationships in the statehouse, and Lilliana’s answer was unequivocal: she doesn’t believe Republicans would be her colleagues. It’s one of the big things she puts forward in her campaign rhetoric. She doesn’t believe we’re in a place anymore where we can actually work with Republicans in any reasonable way to benefit the state. She’s watched for 30 years—whether in Texas where she’s originally from or in Indiana—and seen the same pattern of Democratic compromise leading nowhere.

When I asked about legacy, Lilliana’s answer was powerful in its simplicity: she wants to be remembered for never letting anything or anyone stop her from doing the right thing. The right thing isn’t always popular—there have been many points in our history where the right thing was unpopular for a long time. But there were people even in those eras who recognized what was right and fought for it anyway, even when it wasn’t popular yet. Lilliana wants to be that person.

This wasn’t a conversation about political strategy or coalition building. It was a straightforward discussion with someone who has lived the struggle, understands exactly what working people need, and refuses to pretend that compromise with those blocking progress is a viable path forward. Lilliana Young is running to bring working-class representation and unapologetic advocacy to a statehouse that desperately needs both.

Check out Lilliana’s interviews with Derrick Holder and Brianna Newhart, and all of our interviews with other candidates from this event at progressiveindiana.net.

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During Progressive Indiana Network's Portraits and Perspectives event, I sat down with Ashley Hammac, candidate for Indiana State House District 16. The district stretches from Brookston, Battleground at the southern edge up north 'round DeMotte, including communities like Rensselaer and Monticello—home to Indiana Beach, where many Hoosiers spent summer weekends. Ashley is still getting familiar with all the little municipalities in his district, but he's finding it fun exploring these lovely farming communities. I mentioned my fondness for Monon as a train enthusiast, joking that I'm still a four-year-old boy who loves trains at heart.

When I asked about his inspiration for running, Ashley's answer was straightforward: his representative, Kendall Culp, wasn't representing him. He'd call trying to get things done, wouldn't hear back, would have to follow up, and nothing ever happened. There was no concern for explaining why or what could be modified to actually accomplish something. The final straw came with the push for redistricting and the outside forces that interfered with local rule—something Ashley sees as fundamentally un-Republican, un-conservative, and un-American. Our country was founded on local rule, and watching similar behavior with bills like HB 1333 (now dead) that aimed to strip local authority made him realize someone needed to step up.

We discussed personal struggles, and Ashley had a perfect example: he currently has a hole in his roof with a tarp over it, trying to get it replaced with a metal roof but having a difficult time finding someone to do the work without tons of money to throw at the problem. But his struggles go deeper than home repairs. As an independent soil science consultant, he's faced professional challenges because he doesn't mind telling the truth—and that'll get you fired. He's taken the lumps but stands behind everything he's done as a scientist. Unlike consultants tied to big companies who push fear tactics to sell more chemical, seed treatment, and fertilizer ("you don't want to leave any money on the table"), Ashley calls out these practices. It gets him in trouble with the power structure, but as I put it, these guys value the sale more than the soil—and that's serious business when we're talking about the soil that grows our food.

For a lighter question about fictional characters, Ashley chose Roy Hobbs from "The Natural"—Robert Redford's baseball all-star character who got the girl, faced some setbacks, but found redemption in the end. Something about those good old days resonated with him.

We explored interpersonal relationships in the statehouse, and Ashley made clear he values working with people who are willing to listen and engage in thoughtful debate rather than just pushing partisan talking points. He emphasized the need to get back to a Walter Cronkite era of shared truth.

When I asked about legacy, Ashley's answer was refreshingly humble: he's not really in it for legacy so much as leaving things better than he found them. He wants his kids to be better off than he is, to see continual progression, and definitely doesn't want to see the fall of the Republic on his watch. If he could make conservation standard policy for crop production and agricultural practices, he'd be happy to die knowing that was accomplished.

This wasn't a conversation with someone seeking glory or building a political career. It was a discussion with a soil scientist who understands the land, values truth over sales, and believes local communities should have the power to govern themselves. Ashley Hammac is running because his representative stopped representing—and he thinks the people of District 16 deserve better.

Check out Ashley’s interviews with Derrick Holder and Brianna Newhart, and all of our interviews with other candidates from this event at progressiveindiana.net.

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When I asked about his motivation for running, Michael pointed to the LEAP District and the IEDC’s commitment of massive amounts of water to corporate interests. As someone who understands that area’s geology, he knew immediately there wasn’t that volume of water available. What drove him to run wasn’t just the bad policy—it was listening to statehouse officials pontificate about things they clearly didn’t understand instead of admitting they relied on experts. Michael never saw politics in the cards for himself, but watching lawmakers spout obvious lies about technical matters he understands professionally was enough to motivate him to step up.

We discussed personal struggles, and Michael opened up about the everyday challenges of parenting—specifically navigating the parent politics of PTA, volleyball clubs, basketball teams, and all the social dynamics that come with raising kids. He’s also had to bounce between jobs to find one compatible with running for office. He started at an international billion-dollar company where he couldn’t speak freely about issues like AES strangling Indianapolis residents because his employer had contracts that could have been jeopardized. He’s now landed at a small Massachusetts company where his coworkers are all Democrats who encourage his campaign.

When I asked about fictional characters, Michael kept it simple: he’d like to fly, so some kind of flying superhero. Superman maybe, though he joked that being made of steel would help with the landing part.

The conversation turned to interpersonal relationships in the statehouse, and Michael’s answer revealed a lot about his approach. He’s always been a team guy—football player, baseball player, coach for both football and semi-pro ultimate Frisbee (the Indianapolis Alleycats). His geology degree was actually aimed at earth science education. Even his environmental work responding to emergencies like train wrecks and pipeline spills requires building teams on the fly and cooperating with competitors when clients demand it. Everything he’s done has been collaborative work. He pushed back on the notion that calling out injustices creates division—doing the injustice creates the division, calling it out is just pointing to what’s already there.

When I asked about legacy, Michael shared that people often tell him “we need more people like you” when they learn he’s running. He hopes that means reasonable, level-headed, protective of neighbors and Indiana’s natural resources. He wants to be remembered for being in it for the right reasons: protecting his family, neighbors, the people of House District 47 and Indiana, and the planet. Whether you believe the land was given to us or evolved, he argues there are both religious and scientific reasons to take care of it—something we’re not doing a good job of right now.

This wasn’t just a conversation about policy positions. It was about bringing technical expertise, collaborative skills, and genuine care for natural resources to a statehouse that desperately needs all three. Michael Potter is making the case that sometimes the best candidates are the ones who never planned to run—they just couldn’t stand by and watch incompetence go unchallenged.

Check out Michael’s interviews with Derrick Holder and Brianna Newhart, and all of our interviews with other candidates from this event at progressiveindiana.net.

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When I asked what inspired her to run for Congress, Tabitha’s answer was direct: “I was tired of it.” She’s watching what she describes as a war on autism—from Trump to RFK Jr. and others who seem to be targeting the autism community. As someone who is autistic herself and the mother of three children with autism, including one who is non-speaking and uses an AAC device, Tabitha believes we need someone with lived experience representing people with disabilities in Congress. Her observation struck me as particularly insightful: disability advocates end up advocating for everybody.

We discussed the broader pattern of how marginalized communities are targeted, and Tabitha immediately brought up the trans community—a cause she’s been a strong advocate for, with friends in that community. She noted how fascists always pick off smaller minorities first, then move up from there. It’s a pattern we’ve seen throughout history, and she recognized it the moment they started targeting trans people.

Our conversation turned to personal struggles, and Tabitha shared what it’s like being a mother of three children with disabilities. She’s the mom constantly filling out paperwork under the stove light, navigating WIC and SNAP, switching jobs, serving as primary caregiver, sometimes as a single mom. Her experience navigating these systems—systems created by lawmakers who often don’t understand what it actually takes to access the benefits they’ve designed—is exactly the kind of perspective Congress needs.

When I asked about fictional characters, Tabitha chose the Lord of the Rings trilogy, specifically identifying with the elves. She sees herself and other advocates as warrior types—not trying to leave anyone behind, driven by a deep vein of social justice. We talked about how the autism community often produces advocates like Greta Thunberg who refuse to sugarcoat things and take on injustice head-on, decorum be damned. As Tabitha put it, “We just need to start telling the truth, and apparently the truth is hard.”

I asked about interpersonal relationships in Washington, and Tabitha made clear she comes from a farming community where you sink or swim together. She expects to align with people who have strong personalities because she doesn’t have time for those who won’t stand up for what’s right. While she’s open to working with Republicans when they’re genuine about shared goals, she won’t shy away from her principles or what she has to say.

When I asked about legacy, Tabitha hopes people will say she always did what she thought was right, always stood with the little guy, and was unapologetically truthful. That word—unapologetically—captures her approach perfectly.

If you want to know who Tabitha Zeigler really is, she encourages you to listen to her podcast, “Staring Down the Storm: Autism Advocacy in America,” where she doesn’t sugarcoat anything and talks about real life stuff affecting Hoosiers and Americans. This is someone who brings authentic lived experience to the fight for disability rights, social justice, and truthful representation in Congress.

Check out Tabitha’s interviews with Derrick Holder and Brianna Newhart, and all of our interviews with other candidates from this event at progressiveindiana.net.

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Iran

• Expanding War

  • Trump’s war with Iran is expanding. Will others join the fight? (The Hill)

  • US Gulf allies including Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Oman, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait have come under attack by Iranian drone & missile strikes.

    • Kuwait shoots down US jets in friendly-fire incident, US CENTCOM says (Reuters)

  • NATO shot down a missile that entered Türkiye’s airspace.

  • Azerbaijan threatened retaliation after Iranian drones struck near the Nakhchivan airport, though Tehran denied responsibility. (Axios)

  • US Sub Sinks Iranian Frigate, First Torpedo Kill Since WWII (Military.com)

    • Ship had been participating in multinational exercises with Indian Navy off the coast of Sri Lanka (including American personnel)

  • Experts raise concerns over ‘war of attrition’ with missile stockpiles (ABC)

    • Hegseth says US has enough munitions to continue Iran war ‘as long as we need to’ (ABC)

    • Iran may be seeking to deplete expensive and time-dependent missiles and interceptors with swarms of cheap drones.

  • Unprepared for Iranian drones, U.S. and partners seek Ukraine’s help (WaPo)

    • Ukraine now has four years of experience combating Iranian-made Shahed drones, used by Russia in their war – “drones that are manufactured on a mass scale by Iran and Russia, evade radar by flying at slow speeds low to the ground and can be launched by the hundreds without need for conspicuous staging platforms”

    • The only lethal strike on US forces so far came in a drone attack on Kuwait.

  • Iran receiving intelligence support from Russia, officials say (PBS)

    • Russia is reportedly sharing real-time satellite data detailing the location and movement of US troops and equipment – the first time they’ve provided such information to Iran.

  • Trump says he must be involved in picking Iran’s next leader (Axios)

    • Even as the Islamic Republic is expected to name Khamanei’s son Mojtaba as the new Supreme Leader imminently…

    • “President Trump told Axios in an interview Thursday that he needs to be personally involved in selecting Iran’s next leader — just as he was in Venezuela.”

  • Trump has privately shown serious interest in U.S. ground troops in Iran (NBC)

    • Have not focused on a large-scale ground invasion, but a small contingent of special forces

    • Trump said in an interview with NY Post, “I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground.”

    • Idea is to replicate the situation in post-Maduro Venezuela and secure nuclear material

  • CIA working to arm Kurdish forces to spark uprising in Iran (CNN)

    • Administration has been in discussions with Iranian opposition and Kurdish leaders about providing support

    • Plan would be for armed Kurds to occupy IRGC, letting Iranian civilians to rise up without getting crushed; or to sow chaos and stretch regime’s resources

    • US has long history with Kurds in Iraq and Syria

• Israel’s Role

  • Hezbollah said to have launched drone that struck UK RAF airbase in Cyprus (Guardian)

    • Israel warns Lebanon of ‘heavy price’ as bombardment pounds Beirut suburbs (CNBC)

      • Israeli strikes have killed more than 200 and displaced 300K people.

  • Graham Brags About How He Manipulated Trump Into War (Daily Beast)

    • Graham made several trips to Israel over the last several weeks, speaking with their intelligence community and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying “they’ll tell me things our own government won’t tell me.”

    • Along with a former Bush speechwriter and a retired general turned Fox News contributor, Graham was perhaps the most prominent voice in Trump’s ear pushing for conflict.

  • Rubio’s war remarks blow open MAGA’s Israel divide (Axios)

    • Remarks by Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Israel walked the US into this war, that they planned on striking first, and the US went along to prevent retaliatory attacks against American assets in the region.

    • “America First” MAGA influencers Matt Walsh, Mike Cernovich, Megyn Kelly, Erik Prince, and Steve Bannon all expressed doubts about the necessity of the conflict.

  • U.S. Troops Were Told Iran War Is for “Armageddon,” Return of Jesus (Jonathan Larsen)

    • According to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, the organization has been “inundated” with messages by concerned members of the armed services complaining of commanding officers injecting apocalyptic Christian theology into their statements to troops.

    • One commander is claimed to have said that President Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.”

  • How the Iran war is underpinned by ‘end times’ religious fervour in Washington and Tehran (Independent)

    • SecDef Pete Hegseth is an ardent Christian fundamentalist, who wrote a book called “American Crusade,” and sports a Jerusalem cross tattoo.

    • US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee supports the “Greater Israel” project (CounterPunch)

    • Iran’s regime believes the Islamic Republic is necessary to bring about the revelation of the Mahdi (messiah).

• Where’s Congress?

  • Senate Republicans vote down legislation to halt Iran war in Congress’ first vote on the conflict (AP)

    • On Wednesday, Senate voted against war powers resolution 47-53 with Rand Paul (R-KY) joining Democrats in voting for the measure while John Fetterman (D-PA) joined Republicans in opposing the measure.

    • Would have demanded congressional approval before any further attacks

  • House rejects Iran war powers measure (Axios)

    • On Thursday, the House ALSO rejected a war powers resolution 212-219.

      • Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Warren Davison (R-OH) voted with Democrats in support.

      • Jared Golden (D-ME), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Greg Landsman (D-OH), and Juan Vargas (D-CA) joined Republicans in opposition

      • Centrist Dems push softer Iran war powers measure (Axios)

        • Alternative resolution would give administration 30 days to end hostilities, with Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) joining the aforementioned four dems in introducing this half-measure

  • ‘We’re in it’: Democrats won’t rule out giving Trump more money for Middle East war (Politico)

    • Pentagon could send a supplemental funding request for as much as $50B to Congress as soon as this week

    • “Good luck. What Democrat is going to vote to fund an illegal war?” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Wednesday.

    • Well, these Democrats, potentially: Jack Reed (RI), Gary Peters (MI), Tim Kaine (VA) and Elissa Slotkin (MI) aren’t ruling out supporting more spending, with Slotking saying “I mean, we’re in it.”

• The Homefront

  • Poll: A majority of Americans opposes U.S. military action in Iran (NPR)

    • The latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll has 56% of Americans in opposition to the war, with 44% in support.

      • 86% of Dems and 61% of independents oppose

      • 84% of Republicans support

    • 36% approve of Trump’s handling of Iran

    • 55% think Iran represents little or no threat to US

    • White men w/o college degrees are most likely to support the war

  • U.S. crude oil sees largest weekly price jump on record (NBC)

    • US crude jumped 12% Friday alone; up 35% this week; 60% for the year

  • Gas prices up 14% this week (The Hill)

  • US stocks slide as stagflation talk emerges (USA Today)

    • Dow posts worst week in almost a year; into negative territory for 2026

    • Economy lost 92,000 jobs in February; unemployment rose

Latin America

• US launches military operations in Ecuador (Politico)

  • Joint operations undertaken against drug gangs “designated terrorist organizations” by the US

  • President Daniel Noboa is a Trump ally

• Cuba hit by widespread blackout; Ecuador expels Havana’s ambassador, staff (Al Jazeera)

  • Ecuador, under pressure from Washington, expelled Cuba’s ambassador from Quito

  • Power outage has struck most of Cuba Wednesday, leaving two thirds of the country – including Havana – without power

  • Existing electricity crisis has been exacerbated since US toppled Maduro in Venezuela, whose regime had supplied half of the island’s fuel

  • Washington has since imposed an oil embargo on Cuba, though it has been eased some in recent days

• Trump vows to ‘take care of Cuba,’ praises Venezuela cooperation at summit (NPR)

  • Trump launched something called the Shield of the Americas Summit at his Doral golf course in South Florida, vowing to “take care of Cuba”

  • Trump says Cuba negotiating deal with him and Rubio (Reuters)

• As Trump says Cuba ‘is going to fall,’ his administration explores criminal charges (NBC)

  • Just as US officials charged Maduro and his wife with drug conspiracy charges, the Trump administration is also working to manufacture criminal cases against members of Cuba’s ruling party

• U.S., Venezuela agree to establish diplomatic relations (AP)

  • Relations had been cut off since 2019

  • This follows a series of visits by Trump cabinet secretaries looking to secure access to Venezuela’s natural resources

• Trump officials broker massive U.S.-Venezuela gold deal (Axios)

  • Acting President Delcy Rodriguez announced a plan to “reform” the country’s mining laws after meeting with US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum Wednesday

  • The state-owned mining company Minerven signed a deal to sell up to 1000 kilograms of gold to a US commodities trader

Elections

• Arkansas, North Carolina, and Texas held the first primaries of the 2026 election season

• Arkansas Democrats just flipped a Republican seat (The Downballot)

  • In Arkansas, Democrat Alex Holladay won a special election to replace Republican Carlton Wing in the state’s 70th House District, defeating businessman Bo Renshaw by a 57-43% margin

  • Wing, who had defeated Holladay by two points in 2024, was appointed head of Arkansas PBS last September

  • Democrats have flipped 9 seats in state legislative special elections (27 if you include 2025’s VA and NJ legislative races) under Trump while Republicans are at zero (NBC)

  • Democrats are running 13 points ahead of 2024 results on average

• Roy Cooper and Michael Whatley clinch US Senate in North Carolina, setting up high-stakes fall fight (AP)

  • In North Carolina, former two-term Democratic governor Roy Cooper won his primary for US Senate, advancing to take on Trump-endorsed former RNC Chairman Michael Whatley in a race to replace the retiring Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who has become an outspoken Trump critic in his lame duck era.

• Talarico wins Texas Senate Democratic nomination while Cornyn and Paxton head to Republican runoff (AP)

  • In the Texas Republican senatorial primary, incumbent John Cornyn has been forced into a runoff against state Attorney General and MAGA extremist Ken Paxton, who was previously impeached (though acquitted) on corruption charges and accused of infidelity by his State Senator wife.

  • On the Democratic side, State Rep. James Talarico defeated Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett outright, securing 52% of the vote in a three-way race

• In Dallas County, frustration and confusion after GOP forces switch to precinct-based voting (Texas Tribune)

  • In Dallas, county Republicans opted to abandon countywide vote centers in favor of precinct-based voting - forcing Democrats to do the same.

  • This caused hundreds of voters to be disenfranchised. Having been turned away and redirected, many voters were unable to meet the 7pm deadline. A court ordered polls to remain open until 9pm, but the Texas Supreme Court stayed the order, rendering those votes cast after 7:00 invalid

• Texas primary voters smash recent midterm turnout records (Texas Tribune)

  • Despite the hiccups in Dallas, the state recorded record-high turnout for a primary.

  • 24% of all registered Texas voters participated this year, compared to 17-18% in 2018 and 2022 midterms.

  • More Democrats turned out than Republicans for the first time since 2020, which is notable since that year Democrats had a presidential primary driving turnout

• GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas ends reelection bid after admitting to affair with aide (NPR)

  • Meet Brandon Hererra, Republicans’ new nominee for Congress. (TNR)

    • Gonzales dropped his bid in Texas 23rd Congressional District Thursday after pressure from leadership after admitting to an affair with one of his staffers, who later killed herself.

    • Gonzales had been forced into a runoff by challenger Brandon Herrera, a gun-nut YouTuber who goes by “The AK Guy”

      • Herrera has bragged about owning a copy of Mein Kampf, filmed himself goose-stepping to a Nazi marching song, expressed sympathy for white Rhodesian colonizers, and referred to the Civil War as “the war of Northern aggression” while wearing a confederate flag shirt.

• Rep. Dan Crenshaw ousted by primary challenger to his right (Politico)

  • The far-right Crenshaw lost by 15 points to the Ted Cruz-backed State Rep. Steve Toth, who claimed the four-term incumbent wasn’t MAGA enough.

  • Crenshaw, a Navy SEAL who lost an eye in Afghanistan, had the temerity to criticize Trump for refusing to admit defeat in 2020. Apparently the guy with the eyepatch wasn’t ‘R’ enough.

• Sen. Steve Daines announces he will not seek reelection (Politico)

  • The two-term Montana Senator announced his decision minutes before the state’s filing deadline Tuesday, endorsing US Attorney Kurt Alme.

• Republican representative Darrell Issa of California says he will not run for re-election (Guardian)

  • Issa’s district was redrawn after the passage of Prop 50, California’s redistricting measure

• Older Dems “pissed off” at talk of generational change (Axios)

  • Back to Texas – one of the reasons Crockett ran for Senate was that her district was essentially drawn away by that state’s Trump-requested gerrymander, the opening gambit in the redistricting arms race.

  • Other Texas Democratic Congress members found themselves lumped into the same district, like Al Green, 78, forced into a primary against 37-year-old Christian Menefee. Tuesday, Menefee bested Green 46-44%, forcing a May runoff.

  • But in more traditional primaries, many older Democratic incumbents are facing younger primary challengers, and several of them are telling the kids to get off their lawn.

  • According to Axios, the anti-incumbency sentiment in the party is “pissing off” the old guard. Given their advanced age, this could have multiple meanings - I suppose it “Depends” on the context.

• These Far-Right Conspiracists Are Pushing Trump to Take Control of Voting (Mother Jones)

  • A 17-page executive order calling for Trump to declare a national emergency and seize vast power over elections is circulating in the MAGA orbit.

    • Based on the false claim China interfered in the 2020 election

    • Seeks to drastically reduce mail-in voting, ban voting machines in favor of hand counting, void state voter rolls and force all Americans to re-register to vote in person, mandate voters re-verify their status before every election, order all absentee ballots be notarized, and require strict voter ID and proof of citizenship

    • The statutes cited in the memo DO NOT give the president over voting, a power granted to the states in the constitution

    • Trump attorney Peter Ticktin – who’s been suspended twice from the Florida bar – and right-wing conspiracist Jerome Corsi are behind the order, with amplification by the likes of Steve Bannon, who has repeatedly called for this scenario on his “War Room” podcast over the last several weeks.

ICE/DHS

• Bodycam video contradicts ICE claims in fatal shooting of U.S. citizen Ruben Ray Martinez in Texas (CBS)

  • Video of a fatal shooting in March 2025 of American citizen Ruben Ray Martinez by an ICE agent contradicts claims that he was shot because he attempted to run over another agent.

  • ICE didn’t even acknowledge one of their agents shot Martinez until this February, weeks after they used the same excuse in killing Minneapolis mother Renee Good.

• Family of detainee who died under ICE custody says he was denied medical care (Guardian)

  • Last month in California, a Mexican man – Alberto Gutierrez Reyes – died in ICE custody after being denied medical treatment.

  • Reyes is the 9th known death in ICE custody this year

• Noem fends off attacks from left and right in heated hearing (The Hill)

  • Tuesday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem faced aggressive questioning from both sides of the aisle in a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee

  • Democrats pressed her on false assertions that Good and fellow Minnesota ICE victim Alex Pretti were “domestic terrorists.”

  • Republican Thom Tillis dragged Noem for a solid 10 minutes while Louisiana GOP Senator John Kennedy questioned her $220M ad budget

  • Both sides questioned the agency’s over-aggressive posture and tactics

• House Dems press Noem on immigration enforcement efforts (ABC)

  • The next day, on the other side of the Capitol, Noem faced grilling from the House Judiciary Committee

  • Rep. Pramila Jayapal highlighted at least 18 instances of US citizens being detained.

• Internal DHS watchdog: Noem is obstructing our work (Politico)

  • Noem also took criticism from within her department, with DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari blaming the agency of “systematically obstructing” investigations by denying access to records and revoking the IG’s access to internal databases.

• Trump fires Kristi Noem as DHS chief, names Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace her (NPR)

  • By Thursday, Noem was out.

  • Trump fired her as DHS Secretary, reassigning her as Special Envoy of the Shield of the Americas, and announced she will be replaced by Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin

  • Mullin, a former MMA fighter with a reputation as one of Congress’ dumbest members, is smart enough to scheme – he has faced scrutiny for insider trading and conflict of interest.

    • He has repeatedly violated disclosure laws and been accused of flagrant conflict of interest, investing in companies that directly relate to his committee assignments. (Newsweek)(FinViz)

DOJ/Epstein

• DOJ says it will keep defending Trump’s attacks on law firms, 24 hours after saying it wouldn’t (Politico)

  • Judges last year struck down Trump executive orders seeking to punish law firms associated with his critics.

  • DOJ appealed those losses and was set deliver opening remarks this week, but declared it intended to withdraw that appeal on Monday.

  • Hours later, they reversed course and told the court they intend to continue the appeal.

• Justice Dept., Under Pressure From Trump, Fails to Build Autopen Case Against Biden (NYT)

  • Trump ordered DOJ to pursue a case against Biden aides regarding the former use of the autopen in signing presidential documents.

  • DOJ failed to build such a case, and it was quietly abandoned by prosecutors at the US Attorney’s office in Washington

  • US Attorney for the District, former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, has failed to obtain indictments in several high-profile cases ver recent months.

• House Oversight Committee votes to subpoena Bondi over handling of Epstein investigation (ABC)

  • A bipartisan group of representatives on the House Oversight committee voted to indict the Attorney General over her handling of the Epstein case.

  • DOJ has STILL failed to release “all relevant material” related to the late convicted child trafficker - about 3 million pages of documents remain outstanding

  • The motion was introduced by Nancy Mace (R-SC) and four other Republicans joined her in voting with Democrats to pursue the subpoena — Boebert-CO, Burchett-TN, Cloud-TX, and Perry-PA

• Howard Lutnick to ‘appear voluntarily’ before House panel probing Epstein (ABC)

  • Commerce Secretary has agreed go appear before the House Oversight committee regarding his relationship with Epstein

  • The men were neighbors for 10+ years

  • Lutnick denied having any relationship with Epstein after 2005, but files released by DOJ have proven that statement to be false

• Justice Department publishes documents with sexual assault allegations against Trump (Politico)

  • DOJ released transcripts of three previously missing interviews with a woman who accuses Donald Trump of having sexually and physically assaulted her as a minor in the early 1980’s

  • The woman was found credible enough for FBI to have interviewed her four times in 2019

  • Independent journalist Roger Sollenberger discovered DOJ had withheld three of the four interviews - confirmed by (NPR)

Artificial Intelligence

• OpenAI goes on defense as Anthropic surges after Pentagon fallout (The Hill)

  • Uninstalls of ChatGPT app rose 295% last week, while Anthropic’s Claude hit #1 on the App Store

  • Anthropic says the Pentagon has declared it a national security risk (NBC)

    • Following up on a threat last week from SecDef Pete Hegseth, Anthropic was labeled a “supply-chain risk to national security”

    • Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to allow their product to be used for autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance

    • OpenAI moved into the void left when Trump declared Claude be removed from government computers

  • OpenAI, Pentagon add more surveillance protections to AI deal (Axios)

    • In response to criticism and user abandonment, Open AI CEO Sam Altman rushed to social media touting amendments to their agreement with DoD limiting domestic surveillance

    • Sam Altman admits OpenAI can’t control Pentagon’s use of AI (Guardian)

      • But Altman also told employees of the company that there isn’t much they can do to limit how the Pentagon uses their tool.

• ChatGPT Health ‘under-triaged’ half of medical emergencies in a new study (NBC)

  • In a study published last week in the journal Nature Medicine, ChatGPT’s health-focused chatbot underestimated the severity of medical emergencies more than half the time.

  • In scenarios where a real doctor recommended an ER visit, the AI recommended seeing a doctor within 24-48 hours.

  • Conversely, the chatbot over-triaged non-urgent cases, recommending doctor’s appointments when at-home care was sufficient.

• Exclusive: Researchers trick a bot that prescribes meds (Axios)

  • In December, the state of Utah began allowing patients to renew medications though an AI system from tech startup Doctronic.

  • Researchers were able to convince Doctronic’s public chatbot to accept COVID misinformation, triple the dose of OxyContin, and reclassify methamphetamine as an “unrestricted therapeutic.”

  • Utah uses a non-public, more strictly-regulated version of the technology

• Schools are using AI counselors to track students’ mental health. Is it safe? (Guardian)

  • AI therapy platform Alongside has been adopted by more than 200 schools nationwide to help students navigate routine emotional problems, alerting counselors to more severe cases

  • Critics worry about accuracy and privacy concerns

• What to Know About Trump’s AI Deal (Politico)

  • Wednesday, the White House announced Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI, and Amazon signed onto the president’s non-binding “ratepayer protection pledge,” agreeing to front the costs for increased energy infrastructure and increasing hiring and training in communities where their data centers are located

  • Trump vowed to speed up approval for power plants, though this is primarily a state issue

  • Increased power demand by data centers is driving up the prices for equipment, raw materials, and labor — costs which are ultimately passed onto consumers

    ---

Indiana News

The Crossroads

• AI

  • Monrovia neighbors near Google data center are skeptical of big tech pledge to pay energy costs (WTHR)

    • Residents of Monrovia – where Google is building a massive new data center campus — are skeptical of the ratepayer pledge, with their utility bills already going through the roof.

  • Google files for IDEM air permit for 179 diesel generators at Monrovia data center. (CAC)

    • And furthermore, what does that power generation look like?

    • Ben Inskeep of Citizens Action Coalition is reporting that Google has filed an application with IDEM for an air permit for 179 diesel generators and an equal number of diesel storage tanks at its Monrovia site.

  • Department of Metropolitan Development Commission approves delay in zoning decision for Metrobloks data center (WRTV)

    • And the data center fight isn’t limited to rural areas. Residents of the historically-Black Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood in Indianapolis have also been trying to fight off a data center – and the diesel generators that could pollute their community.

    • Wednesday, the Department of Metropolitan Development Commission delayed a zoning decision on the proposed development by LA-based Metrobloks.

  • ‘The public isn’t my boss’: Zoning official’s comments don’t sit right with community (Mirror Indy)

    • Last month,Department of Metropolitan Development hearing examiner Judy Weerts Hall recommended approval of the project, telling community members, “the public isn’t my boss.”

    • Though her position is that of an independent contractor, she is paid via taxpayer dollars.

  • Hogsett’s economic development org supports Metrobloks data center (Mirror Indy)

    • One man who can’t say the same thing is Mayor Joe Hogsett – who, at least theoretically - IS directly accountable to the people.

    • Though the mayor has not publicly taken a position on data centers like the one in question, Indianapolis Economic Development Inc – a nonprofit established by his administration, chaired by Hogsett, and helmed by his hand-picked leader – announced their support for the project in an undated, unsigned letter.

  • EPA approves carbon storage project in Randolph County (WTHR)

    • All these data centers spewing CO2 into the atmosphere in the middle of a climate crisis? It’s okay – unproven carbon capture and storage technology will save us, right?

    • The EPA issued a permit for One Carbon Partnership to inject up to 13.5M metric tons of carbon dioxide underground in Randolph County over the next 30 years.

• Immigration

  • Marion County detained over 1,000 immigrants for ICE last year (WFYI)

    • WFYI obtained data from the Marion County Sheriff’s office showing the jail held over 1000 people on behalf of ICE in 2025.

    • Indiana law requires localities to honor ICE detainer requests, which asks jails to hold individuals – who would have otherwise been released – for up to 48 hours.

    • On average, people were held by the sheriff’s office for 22 days

  • Graduate workers demand IU become sanctuary campus (IPM)

    • Students at IU Bloomington are demanding the university refuse to cooperate with ICE, in violation of recently passed SB76, which mandates government entities like IU assist federal authorities.

    • IGWC members are requesting the university maintain communication with international students and establish safety protocols informing them of immigration enforcement activities on campus

  • E-Verify requirements draw business pushback in some Republican states (ICC)

    • It’s not just those liberal college students pushing back on the immigration crackdown.

    • Many businesses are asking GOP-led states to ease off plans requiring all employers to check legal employment status before hiring workers.

    • Industry groups have complained about the cost of compliance and the loss of easily-exploitable, cheap immigrant labor.

AES/Blackrock

• AES Indiana’s parent company to go private in BlackRock-led $33B deal (ICC)

  • AES – the parent company of Central Indiana’s electric provider – has agreed to be purchased for $33B by Blackrock subsidiary Global Infrastructure Partners.

  • The new owners would take the company private, buying out existing shareholders.

  • They say the change would not impact customer rates, but Congressman Andre Carson lambasted the move saying, “private firms having a stake in public utilities – an essential service – will put profits over people.”

• AES Indiana cancels first Indianapolis community open house due to threats (WFYI)

  • AES had planned three community open houses to give customers an opportunity to connect with staff, but canceled Tuesday evening’s event due to what they say were “numerous severe, violent threats across social media.”

  • AES cancels remaining community open houses citing online threats (FOX59)

    • Friday, the canceled the two events planned for next week.

• AES Indiana responds to concerns about high winter electric bills (WTHR)

  • I can’t imagine why people would be pissed. As bills spiked this winter, AES blamed individual customers for increased usage, encouraging them to review their energy usage online and “discover ways to save.”

Christian Nationalism

• Indiana court blocks abortion law in ACLU religious freedom case (IndyStar)

  • Thursday, Marion County Superior Court blocked the state from enforcing its near-total abortion ban

  • The court found the law imposed a “substantial burden” on religious liberty protected by the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act

  • The ACLU filed a class-action lawsuit in 2022 on behalf of two anonymous women and the group Hoosier Jews for Choice, who assert the ban burdens their ability to obtain an abortion in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs

  • Attorney General Todd Rokita has already filed an appeal (WISH)

• Brownsburg schools pays $650,000 to former teacher who refused to use trans students’ preferred names, pronouns (FOX59)

  • On the other end of the spectrum, a big court loss for religious sanity as Brownsburg Community School Corporation has agreed to settle a lawsuit with former music teacher John Kluge.

  • Kluge refused to use students’ preferred pronouns in violation of district protocol, citing his religious freedom to be an asshole, and resigned rather than follow policy.

  • He then sued the district along with Christian Nationalist lawfare organization Alliance Defending Freedom

• Faith leaders, separation of church-state advocates raise concerns about Braun’s faith-based initiative (Indiana Citizen)

  • Gov. Braun issued an executive order last month creating a Faith-Based Institutions Initiative led by LG Micah Beckwith.

  • Many religious leaders and First Amendment advocates are concerned with the program.

• How Micah Beckwith’s legislative agenda fared at the Statehouse (Indiana Citizen)

  • Fortunately, most of Beckwith’s statehouse priorities failed

    • While the virulently anti-immigrant SB 76, as well as bills related to doxxing and child-grooming – ironically, given his associations – pass the legislature, most of the high-profile bills Beckwith supported fell short.

    • This included a bill calling for firing squads, one criminalizing abortion medication, an anti-trans bill, and proposals to display the Ten Commandments in public schools

Law/Policy

• Gov. Mike Braun signs 80 bills into law (IndyStar)

  • IGA recap with MADVoters (PIN)

  • Braun has indicated he will not veto any bills passed by the legislature

  • Only two bills on Braun’s desk remain unsigned at: one extending the state’s syringe exchange program and another banning crypto kiosks

  • New laws include:

    • SEA 1 — makes Medicaid and SNAP enrollment even more difficult than Trump’s OBBA requires

    • SEA 285 — criminalizes homelessness

    • SEA 76 — mandates “cooperation” with ICE by localities and schools under threat of financial penalties

    • SEA 78 — bans cell phones in schools from bell to bell

    • HEA 1443 — gives Indiana National Guard policing powers

• Indiana Supreme Court upholds COVID-19 immunity for hospitals in patient death case (ICC)

  • Court ruled hospitals and other medical providers cannot be held liable for complications that developed while treating COVID during the declared pandemic emergency

  • Even cases of medical negligence, if committed during the emergency, found exempt from liability

  • State and federal laws passed during the pandemic widely shielded providers from lawsuits

• Indiana opens applications for rural health grants in partial offset of federal Medicaid cuts (ICC)

  • State introduced $120M GROW grant program after receiving $200+ million in funding from $50B federal Rural Health Transformation Program

  • Meant to offset some of the Medicaid cuts mandated by OBBA

    • OBBA is expected to reduce Medicaid spending by $900B+ over 10 years

  • Indiana will be split into eight regions which must compete for grant money

Elections

• Trump-backed challengers to Indiana senators make White House trip (ICC)

  • Six State Senate candidates looking to replace redistricting opponents met Trump at the White House Wednesday, accompanied by US Senator Jim Banks

  • This includes Bluffton City Councilman Blake Fiechter, who announced two weeks ago he was ending his campaign, but has since re-entered the race

• Braun ally asks court to remove a same-last name challenger from primary ballot (ICC)

  • Vigo County Council member Brenda Wilson, challenging incumbent Greg Goode, was one of those present in Washington on Wednesday

  • Ultra-conservative Terre Haute attorney Jim Bopp, mastermind behind Citizens United, is asking a judge to remove Alexandra Wilson from the ballot because she plead guilty to resisting law enforcement as a 19-year old in 2010.

  • Bopp considers Alexandra Wilson’s candidacy a ploy by Goode allies to confuse voters.

• Indiana Secretary of State accused of violating campaign law, banned from local election center (IndyStar)

  • In a 2025 video announcing his reelection campaign, Secretary of State Diego Morales was pictured in the Marion County election center.

  • According to the Marion County Election Board, this is a violation of “state ethics law that says a state officer cannot use state materials, money, staff or property for anything other than “official state business.”

  • The board has no authority to prosecute a violation of state code, so they referred the case to investigators, but they did vote to ban Morales from their premises for the rest year to avoid a repeat incident.

• Ballard Poll Tests an Independent Lane in Secretary of State Race (Indy Politics)

  • Former Republican Indianapolis Mayor Gregory Ballard is exploring an independent run for Secretary of State

  • A survey conducted late last year showed Ballard receiving nearly 24% of the vote in a hypothetical three-way race with incumbent Morales and Democratic establishment favorite Beau Bayh

    • Bayh 31.5%

    • Morales 28.5%

    • Ballard 23.8%

    • Undecided 16%

  • The poll shows Ballard leading among voter age 18-34

  • A statewide independent candidate would need to gather roughly 37K signatures from across the state

Other news

• Lou Holtz, legendary Notre Dame football coach, dead at 89 (South Bend Tribune)

  • Holtz led Notre Dame to 1988 college football national championship, coaching in South Bend for 11 seasons

  • Holtz also coached William & Mary (69-71), NC State (72-75), Arkansas (77-83), Minnesota (84-85) and South Carolina (99-04)

  • Holtz was forced out at Arkansas in 1983 after filming two TV commercials supporting notorious racist Republican Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, whom Holtz at befriended while at NC State. (NYT)

  • Holtz’s legacy clouded by support for Donald Trump (FW Star-Telegram)

When I asked what sparked his decision to run for office, Austin’s answer wasn’t what I expected. We explored how he went from having no political involvement just a year ago to taking on an incumbent state representative. His path into politics wasn’t traditional, and his honesty about that journey set the tone for the rest of our discussion.

One of the most powerful moments came when I asked Austin to share something he’s struggled with in his life. Too often, we put politicians on pedestals and develop cults of personality around our leaders. Austin’s willingness to speak openly about personal battles—including a severe heartbreak in 2020 that led to amphetamine addiction and mental health crisis—demonstrated the kind of authenticity rarely seen in political candidates. He’s now a couple years clean and views himself as “a face of change,” taking things one day at a time. That vulnerability and lived experience, he explained, makes him more relatable to constituents who are all struggling with something.

We also talked about legacy and values. When I asked what he wants people to say about Austin Meives when they look back at his life, his answer centered on keeping his word—being someone who follows through on commitments, come hell or high water. We discussed the role of interpersonal relationships in the statehouse, balancing the need for working relationships with the duty to constituents rather than special interests. Austin was clear: legislators are there to represent the little guy, the regular people who show up to vote, not the bankers and industrialists.

The conversation touched on historical figures as well, with Austin expressing admiration for Jimmy Carter—not just for his politics, but for being a decent human being who worked his way up from peanut farmer to president, then used his post-presidency to build homes with Habitat for Humanity.

This wasn’t a typical political interview full of rehearsed talking points. It was a conversation about struggle, redemption, and what it means to serve people who face real challenges every day. Austin Meives brings a perspective to the state house shaped by experiences many politicians would rather hide—and that authenticity might be exactly what District 23 needs.

Check out Austin’s interviews with Derrick Holder and Brianna Newhart, and all of our interviews with other candidates from this event at progressiveindiana.net.

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When I asked about his inspiration for running, Jackson shared multiple experiences that shaped his decision—none more powerful than his work as a paramedic. He’s transported people from hospitals back to their homes to die because they lacked health insurance and refused to burden their families with medical bankruptcy. That radicalizing experience, combined with his decade-long commitment to progressive politics since Bernie Sanders won Indiana and all six counties of the Fifth District, set him on a path of volunteer organizing that eventually led to this congressional run. His motivation is clear: give voice to working class people and fight back against what he calls “the Epstein class”—his term for the wealthy elite who dominate our politics.

We also discussed the personal side of candidacy. Jackson opened up about living with ADHD and how it’s meant working harder to achieve the same outcomes in EMT school, college, and paramedic school. He turned that conversation toward a policy critique, noting how for-profit pharmaceutical companies make necessary medications prohibitively expensive for millions of Americans. It was a powerful example of how personal struggles inform his political vision.

The conversation took a lighter turn when I asked about fictional characters. Jackson, a self-described sci-fi nerd and huge Halo fan, chose Aragorn from Lord of the Rings—the king who fights forces of darkness and leads his people to a golden age. He praised Aragorn as a model of positive masculinity and chivalrous leadership that he believes too many young men today are lacking.

We explored questions about interpersonal relationships in Congress, how to balance civility with principled opposition, and what it means to hold colleagues accountable for votes that harm millions. Jackson made clear that respect is earned and can be lost—especially when legislators vote to fund genocide overseas or strip away healthcare from 18 million people.

When I asked about legacy, Jackson invoked Fred Hampton: “If you dare to struggle, you dare to win.” His hope is to be remembered for fighting for the working class, for giving hope that we can actually affect change, and for organizing people to sustain that fight beyond single protests. He compared the journey to the civil rights movement’s decades-long struggle to desegregate the nation—a reminder that transformative change requires relentless commitment.

This wasn’t just an interview about positions on issues. It was a conversation about what kind of leadership we need—leadership rooted in lived experience, sustained organizing, and an unwavering commitment to working people. Jackson Franklin is making the case that Democrats win when they fight like Democrats are supposed to: for working class values, not corporate compromise.

Check out Jackson’s interviews with Derrick Holder and Brianna Newhart, and all of our interviews with other candidates from this event at progressiveindiana.net.

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