By Niki Kelly | Editor-in-Chief
“I've always been about good governance, and that has to be the top priority, even above a party. It has to be about good people who will do the right thing for Hoosiers.” — former Republican Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann
A new assessment tool that has threatened disability services for Hoosiers was under review by the Family and Social Services Administration.
Blackout plates are in! Tens of thousands of Hoosiers have bought the sleek license plates, giving a windfall of revenue to the state.
A Hoosier Republican who served in statewide office is backing the Lincoln Party candidate for secretary of state.
Plus, mail-in voting and more.
Concerns continue over a new assessment tool that is impacting disabled Hoosiers. (Getty Images)
Indiana reviews Medicaid waiver assessments amid scrutiny of new tool
By Mackenzi Klemann
The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration quietly paused determinations for disability Medicaid waivers in August to review how case managers were implementing the agency's new interRAI assessment system, as advocates raised alarm about the tool's accuracy.
But after a break, the system is already back in place.
The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles began offering the "blackout" plate in August 2025. (Photo by Casey Smith/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Indiana tallies $13M boost off ‘blackout’ license plate sales, invests in BMV modernization
By Leslie Bonilla Muñiz
Indiana’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles has sold more than 380,000 “blackout” license plates in the year since the minimalist design launched — generating $12.9 million toward a five-year modernization plan for the agency, the governor’s office announced Monday.
The blackout plates feature white numerals and letters on an all-black background.
NATIONAL NEWS
President Donald Trump speaks at the Mitchell Center at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama on Oct. 2, 2026, as he campaigns in GOP-leaning states ahead of the midterms. (Photo by Dan Anderson/Alabama Reflector)
Trump drops longtime aversion to mail-in voting with GOP trailing in polls
By Jonathan Shorman
President Donald Trump wants to sharply curtail mail ballots. He’s called them “inherently corrupt” and baselessly condemned them as a major source of fraud.
But with Republicans falling behind in the polls, the president is now urging his supporters to vote in the midterm elections any way they can, including by mail.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
(Tenor)
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