Indiana General Assembly 8 results

Parents working multiple jobs, college students struggling financially, elderly veterans with serious health conditions, people living in rural areas with limited food options. … These are just some of the folks who experience food insecurity. The people working to fight hunger in Monroe County say they can’t keep up with the demand. Above, a storage trailer outside of Hoosier Hills Food Bank. | Photo by Olivia Bianco

One Emergency from Catastrophe: Who Struggles with Food Insecurity? Deep Dive: WFHB & Limestone Post Investigate Food Insecurity

Christina Avery and Haley Miller

Parents working multiple jobs, college students struggling financially, elderly veterans with health conditions. These are just some of the folks who experience food insecurity in our community. People working to fight hunger in Monroe County say they can’t keep up with the demand. This first article in a two-part series will look at the problem. Click here for a Deep Dive into food insecurity.

December 18, 2023

[Photo Gallery: 20 photos]: Legislation recently introduced by Sen. Mike Braun would double the size of the Charles C. Deam Wilderness Area by Lake Monroe and convert another 29,000 acres of Hoosier National Forest into the Benjamin Harrison National Recreation Area. This photo was taken from the Hickory Ridge Lookout Tower, which stands 133 steps above the Deam’s Terrill Ridge, a thousand feet above sea level. Built in 1939 to identify forest fires, the tower is a popular destination due to its magnificent 360-degree view of the Southern Indiana forest. | All photography in the gallery above by Steven Higgs

On Saving the Deam Wilderness and Hoosier National Forest | Photo Essay Deep Dive: WFHB & Limestone Post Investigate the Hoosier National Forest

Steven Higgs

“In wildness is the preservation of the world,” wrote Henry David Thoreau in Walden in 1854. Now, in this photo essay, journalist and photographer Steven Higgs considers Thoreau’s declaration vis à vis the Deam Wilderness Area in the Hoosier National Forest, especially in light of proposed legislation that would double the Deam’s size. Click here for a Deep Dive into “the Hoosier.”

October 18, 2023

Sponsorship

Parents, educators, and advocates say the Indiana General Assembly passed harmful and unnecessary laws that are taking effect this school year. They say public schools, including those in the Monroe County Community School Corp., face a “slate of hate” — laws that underfund mandates, intimidate vulnerable students, and even create a “chilling effect” on librarians. Above, students are greeted on the first day of school at Fairview Elementary School by members of the city of Bloomington’s Commission on the Status of Black Males. | Photo by Garrett Ann Walters

Local Parents, Educators Face ‘Attack’ on Public Schools from Indiana Lawmakers

Steve Hinnefeld, Garrett Ann Walters

Parents, educators, and advocates say the Indiana General Assembly passed harmful and unnecessary laws that are taking effect this school year. Laws that prioritize private over public schools, underfund mandates, intimidate vulnerable students, and even create a “chilling effect” on librarians, they say, amount to a “slate of hate.” | Click here for an education deep dive by Steve Hinnefeld.

September 13, 2023

Members of the Indiana House of Representatives and Indiana Senate meet during legislative sessions to pass laws at the Indiana Statehouse (above). Many of those lawmakers have economic interests in the industries that stand to benefit from the laws those lawmakers author and vote on. | Limestone Post

Lax Ethics Rules Could Create Conflicts of Interest for Indiana Lawmakers

Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism The Indiana Environmental Reporter

The Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism and the Indiana Environmental Reporter reviewed statements of economic interest filed in 2022 by Indiana’s state lawmakers. They found more than 100 bills enacted from 2019 to 2022 that benefit industries the authors have ties to, creating at least the appearance of a conflict of interest. Click here to read their findings.

July 28, 2023

The U.S. electrical grid is a complicated network of wires that traverse the continent and connect with regional private operators who then transmit and distribute power. Some call it “a patchwork of operators with competing interests,” writes Rebecca Hill. Indiana’s electricity comes primarily from coal, natural gas, and a growing renewables market, but the transition to renewables is not without problems. | Photo by Benedict Jones

The Power Struggle in Indiana’s Changing Energy Landscape Deep Dive: WFHB & Limestone Post Investigate

Rebecca Hill, Benedict Jones

Indiana’s electricity comes primarily from coal, natural gas, and a growing renewables market. The transition to renewables, though, is not without problems, and the grid operators, regulators, and Indiana legislators are at odds with how to handle it. Rebecca Hill takes an in-depth look at Indiana’s power structure, as part of Deep Dive: WFHB & Limestone Post Investigate. Click here to read about the transition of Indiana's energy landscape.

June 21, 2023

Sponsorship

Bloomington and Monroe County have already received their first payments from the first opioid settlement, but none of it has been spent. Many health service providers wonder where the money will go. NaloxBoxes, like the one above at the IU Health Center, are among the uses approved by the state as part of the settlement documents. | Photo by Benedict Jones

How Will Opioid Settlement Monies Be Spent — and Who Decides? Deep Dive: WFHB & Limestone Post Investigate

Rebecca Hill, Benedict Jones

Bloomington and Monroe County have already received their first payments from the first opioid settlement, and health providers wonder where the money will go. In this article for the series “Deep Dive: WFHB & Limestone Post Investigate,” Rebecca Hill interviewed state and local officials to report on the issue and its possible solutions. Click here for the article.

April 12, 2023

Supreme Court Could Do Even More Damage

Julia Vaughn

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case that could upend how elections are conducted, writes Julia Vaughn, executive director of Common Cause Indiana. The court’s decision could make it easier “to gerrymander, suppress the vote, and challenge election results.” First published by Indiana Capital Chronicle, this article is part of Limestone Post’s coverage for Democracy Day. Click here to read more.

September 15, 2022

In 2016, a survivor of sexual assault had a physical evidentiary exam, known as getting a rape kit, at IU Health Bloomington Hospital. While she says this process itself was consistently clear and well explained, the process of tracking the whereabouts of her kit afterward was less-so. A new law seeks to improve this process, with a system that allows survivors to track the status of their rape kits themselves, rather than having to go though detectives. | Photo by Nicole McPheeters

New Law Will Help Survivors of Sexual Assault Track Rape Kits

Hayley Miller, Nicole McPheeters

Rape kits contain evidence collected during hospital exams of the survivors of sexual assault. Nearly half of the more than 5,000 untested rape kits collected in Indiana are considered “backlog,” but a new Indiana law could make tracking easier — especially for survivors. Writer Haley Miller and photographer Nicole McPheeters take a look at the process. Click here to read the full story.