By Niki Kelly | Editor-in-Chief
“Fifty extra line workers would have provided an extra 800 man hours per day of experts on our system efficiently and safely restoring power.” — United Steelworkers Local 12775 President Ryan Baker
I enjoyed a great drive up to Warsaw yesterday, where Hoosiers got a peek at a new property tax plan being pushed by key lawmakers.
NIPSCO officials had a lot of explaining to do in a legislative panel about utility service and costs.
Indiana retailers are apparently following the state’s new rules on pop and candy sales for SNAP recipients.
Plus, a diesel plea and the Hyde Amendment.
A crowd of about 300 Hoosiers attended a meeting to hear a plan to eliminate property taxes for owner-occupied homes. The event was Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026, in Warsaw. (Photo by Niki Kelly/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Key lawmakers suggest income taxes cover homestead property tax credit
By Niki Kelly
WARSAW, Ind. — About 300 Hoosiers showed up Tuesday night in Warsaw to hear a pitch headlined by three high-ranking legislators about ending “property taxes on the home you live in.”
Another dozen lawmakers also attended, and the room also had local government officials worried about revenue cuts and homeowners worried about keeping their homes.
NIPSCO President and Chief Operating Officer Vince Parisi speaks during an interim committee hearing focused on the utility’s storm response, on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (Photo by Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Local officials knock NIPSCO storm outage response
By Leslie Bonilla Muñiz
Northwest Indiana residents and officials on Tuesday panned the Northern Indiana Public Service Co.’s response to devastating storms last month, calling for a slate of changes in the upcoming legislative session.
Strong winds from Aug. 11 storms inflicted the worst damage in NIPSCO’s history, knocking out power to 375,000 customers — largely in Lake and Porter counties. Some homes and businesses didn’t regain electricity for two weeks.
“There seemed to be a failure in communication,” Griffith Police Chief Albert Tharp told lawmakers during an interim legislative committee meeting repurposed into a storm hearing.
The federal government hasn't issued any enforcement actions related to its pop and candy ban against Indian retailers (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)
No fines against Indiana retailers so far for SNAP violations
By Mackenzi Klemann
No Indiana retailers have been fined since the state banned the purchase of candy or soda using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Administration said the agency has taken action 61 times this year against Indiana retailers for either criminal or administrative violations, but none have been related to the state's SNAP restrictions pop and junk food.
COMMENTARY
WTHR anchor Jalea Brooks had to get permission to change her hairstyle for her on-air look early on in her career while working in a different market. (Courtesy WTHR)
What do braids, cornrows and Bantu knots have to do with the news?
By Tracey Compton
Black journalists on TV have had to think about their appearance on air in ways that other journalists do not. In August 2020, broadcast journalist Jalea Brooks knew she needed to have an uncomfortable conversation with her news director about her hair. She had been working in Montgomery, Ala. for nearly four years and wanted to wear a new style on air: braids.
Previously, a white manager in Montgomery pulled Brooks aside and told her that if she wanted to continue anchoring, she would need a consistent look. She could choose her hairstyle, they said, but would need to stick with it. At the time, she was between looks and had her natural Black hair pulled back into a bun.
NATIONAL NEWS
Volunteer clinic escorts stand in a line before a kneeling anti-abortion demonstrator at a clinic in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2021. Advocates from each side of the abortion issue have pushed for Congress to either codify the Hyde Amendment into law or codify its repeal, but neither side has been successful. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
Anti-abortion groups worry Hyde Amendment’s 50-year run could end with new congressional majority
By Kelcie Moseley-Morris
The Hyde Amendment was first passed Sept. 30, 1976, three years after the Roe decision. The clause — which isn’t a constitutional amendment — is named for Republican U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois. It marked one of the first legislative victories for anti-abortion groups after Roe v. Wade guaranteed abortion access up to fetal viability.
In the decades since, it has been added to every appropriations bill passed by Congress, restricting federal Medicaid dollars from paying for abortion care except in limited cases of rape, incest and to prevent a pregnant patient’s death.
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