By Niki Kelly | Editor-in-Chief
“I think there’s actually a negligible percentile of Porter County residents that support creating a food-and-beverage tax in our county and putting that money in an envelope and sending it off to Hammond.” — Porter County Commissioner Jim Biggs
The Chicago Bears are evaluating Hammond sites for a new stadium. But the financial package is far from final as all local governments in the area might not be on board for tax increases.
Rural Indiana families are left out of the state’s school choice program.
As teens wait longer to drive, it could also be impacting their voting.
Plus, commentary and more.
A giant flag for the Chicago Bears is seen during pregame festivities at Soldier Field in Chicago. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
Porter County splitting on planned taxes for Bears stadium in Hammond
By Tom Davies
The united front of northwest Indiana support for luring the Chicago Bears across the state line has some cracks.
While Bears officials say they are focused on Hammond as the site for the team’s planned new domed stadium, support is shaky for some of the local tax increases underpinning Indiana’s incentive package.
The impact of school choice on the state’s rural education has raised alarm not only among supporters of public schools but supporters of school choice as well, including the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. (Getty Images)
Rural areas of the state have few school options
By Jim DeBrosse
Indiana’s school choice program leaves its nearly 300,000 rural public school students with fewer options and fewer resources while funding the private education of others. More than one in four Indiana school students, or 28%, reside in rural areas.
A recent analysis of each of Indiana’s 82 rural counties found that only eight, or fewer than 10%, have a charter or non-religious private school to attend. Families in other rural counties — such as Brown, Crawford, Newton, Ohio and Union – have no alternatives at all.
COMMENTARY
Is anyone listening to middle America? (Getty Images)
Realignment in middle America: not left or right but local
By Kate Hess Pace
I’ve been in a lot of rooms recently in small towns and rural areas that are reeling from stacked crises.
People are animated against the forces that dropped down data centers and ripped out local hospitals. But, feeling unrepresented by either major party, they often have nowhere to go.
NATIONAL NEWS
Open Democracy, a New Hampshire voting rights group, has spent several years working to improve the registration rate among 18-year-olds. Shown are New Hampshire voters. (Photo by Will Steinfeld/New Hampshire Bulletin)
When teens drive less, they don’t register to vote. Here’s how civic groups are adapting.
By Jonathan Shorman
American teens are driving less than in previous decades, prompting civic advocates to warn that fewer young people may register to vote.
Yet at least one state — New Hampshire — offers insight into how civic groups can work around a lack of registration opportunities to ensure young people can register, as well as the challenges that remain.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
‘It’s a crisis’: Indiana residents urge Mrvan to protect Medicaid, expand access | Times of Northwest Indiana (Paywall)
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