By Tom Davies | Deputy Editor
“Most of the time, though, if you really try to put yourself in their shoes, you realize that’s just people just like you but trying to survive. Trying to find a better way to live.” — Obenson Jean Gilles
Many of the thousands of Haitians living in Indiana are facing possible deportation. We traveled to Logansport and talked with some worried about themselves or their friends and family.
Another story takes a look at how changes pushed by President Donald Trump to a federal food assistance program threaten whether high-poverty school districts can offer free breakfast and lunch to all students.
Other stories explain the governor’s move to end a decades-old program for recruiting minority and female contractors — and how a food truck’s suggestive slogan led to officials kicking it out of a weekly market at the Indiana Statehouse.
A Haitian flag hangs in front of a store in Logansport, Indiana, on July 7, 2026. (Photo by Jack Forrest/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Haitians who made Indiana home prepare for end of legal protections for thousands
By Jack Forrest
His given name is Obensley.
But during the process of immigrating to the United States from Haiti, he became Obenson. Obenson Jean Gilles.
A 26-year-old whose work includes rideshare driving and operating a Haitian food truck and translation company, Jean Gilles, now living in Logansport, says the perception of immigrants as taking resources isn’t true.
Federal changes to SNAP and Medicaid could impact free school lunch program. (Photo by Marcus Constantino for West Virginia Watch)
Cuts to SNAP, Medicaid could impact free school meals at high-poverty schools
By Mackenzi Klemann
Federal changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid could affect an unexpected population — students receiving free meals through school.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture relies on eligibility for means-tested programs like SNAP as a benchmark for the Community Eligibility Provision, which is a waiver for high-poverty school districts to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students.
A new report from left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress raises an emerging concern: Schools could lose Community Eligibility Provision status as fewer Hoosiers participate in SNAP and Medicaid, which the group attributes to eligibility rules attached to President Donald Trump's tax and spending law enacted last year.
COMMENTARY
Schools around the nation are trying out a four-day school week. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)
4-day school week? It has potential — if lawmakers let it
By Niki Kelly
I love that I can still learn new things about state government and public policy, which I have covered for more than 25 years. And that’s what happened when I read our reporter Mackenzi Klemann’s story on four-day school weeks.
It’s a fascinating option that I had not considered before. And I see both pros and cons. My worry, though, is that lawmakers have set such severe guidelines going forward that they've essentially stopped the fledgling program in its tracks.
NATIONAL NEWS
A dispensary in St. Louis advertises to passersby. Nearly 34% of adolescents seeking treatment for cannabis use disorder in 2022 experienced an admission delay, according to a new study. (Photo by Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent)
More teens with cannabis use disorder are facing treatment delays, study finds
By Amanda Watford
As federal officials consider whether to reclassify marijuana under federal drug law, a new study has found that more American teenagers seeking treatment for cannabis use disorder, known as CUD, are facing longer wait times before receiving care.
While overall adolescent cannabis use has leveled off or declined slightly over the past decade, some young people who use cannabis regularly develop CUD that requires treatment.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Indiana regulators to investigate utility profits, bill charges | Leslie Bonilla Muñiz
Indiana to end race, gender preferences in state contracts | Mackenzi Klemann
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