Indianapolis, IN
2024 NBA All-Star weekend in Indianapolis updates – Indianapolis Recorder
With one of the world’s biggest spectacles coming to Indianapolis in less than two months, fans near and far are anticipating new experiences, A-list celebrities and a boom in the city’s economy. Here is what you need to know about the 2024 NBA All-Star weekend.
“I got the deluxe tour of all of the improvements of Downtown here [Indianapolis], quite remarkable,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in October 2023.
One of those improvements is the Bicentennial Unity Plaza, located near the north end of Gainbridge Fieldhouse, which officially opened in the summer of 2023. Nearly $30 million went into the construction of the Unity Plaza. The city also poured a couple of million dollars into renovating Downtown Indianapolis hotspots, such as Georgia Street, Monument Circle and the Indiana Convention Center, ahead of the festivities.
One of the biggest announcements Silver made to Hoosiers and NBA All-Star fans during his visit to Gainbridge Fieldhouse last summer is the return to the fan-favorite format of “Eastern Conference versus Western Conference” in the 2024 NBA All-Star Game.
“We thought it was time that since we are coming back to a traditional market, as Indianapolis is, as Indiana and all it means for basketball, that we are going to return to the classic format for our All-Star Game,” Silver said. “It will be East versus West, with the return to the four quarters, that we are all used to for a basketball game.”
Mayor of Indianapolis Joe Hogsett spoke about what the NBA All-Star festivities mean to the city. ” Nobody hosts like Indianapolis, nobody,” Mayor Hogsett said. “The NBA is a global game, and NBA All-Star is unique because it allows us to put our city on display for a truly international audience. With a projected impact of more than $320 million, the ripple effects of hosting this incredible event will be felt well into the future.”
Mayor Hogsett also said that “approximately 3,100 jobs will be created, supported or expanded to support this event.”
The last time Indianapolis hosted an NBA All-Star weekend was in 1985. The merriments took place at Market Square Arena and the Hoosier Dome, which have both since been decimated. The All-Star took place Feb. 10, which was also the day that Indianapolis received the most snow in 1985, recording approximately 5 inches.
Current Pacers Sports & Entertainment President Rick Fuson was a part of the 1985 All-Star Committee during the emphatic “White Christmas-styled” weekend almost 40 years ago. Fuson jokingly begged the powers that be for the city to avoid another snow-filled NBA All-Star Game.
“I think Commissioner Silver and the All-Star Game being here would be really good for the city,” Pacers fan Will Castetter said. “I think All-Star will bring a lot of publicity. People not from Indy will get to see that Indianapolis is a really great place to be and get to experience a bit of the great things going on in the city.”
Pacers Board of Directors member Stephen “Steve” Simon spoke about the beauty of All-Star weekend returning to Indianapolis. “There is so much to be excited about,” Simon said.
For more updates on NBA All-Star 2024 in Indianapolis, visit NBAevents.
“It is getting real; it [2024 NBA All-Star] is coming,” Simon said. Fuson piggybacked off Simon’s comment, stating, “Our city is ready.”
Contact multi-media staff writer Noral Parham III at 317-762-7846. Follow him on Twitter @3Noral. For more 2024 NBA All-Star weekend updates, visit our sports page here.
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission on June 17 gave AES the nod to raise electricity rates enough to earn an additional $71 million each year, a decision that drew reproof from Indiana lawmakers who called it another blow to cost-burdened consumers.
The approved rate represents less than half of the $192 million increase that AES initially requested. It’s also less than the $91 million increase proposed in an October settlement agreement between AES, the city of Indianapolis and major electricity consumers like Kroger and Walmart.
But the new rate is still significantly more than what the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, the state agency representing ratepayers in the case, recommended in September. The OUCC’s proposal would have capped AES’s annual operating revenue at $21 million less than the current level.
The rate increase authorizes AES to earn a total of nearly $2 billion each year, or an estimated $384 million in profit.
The higher base rate comes as a double whammy for Indianapolis-area households, who are already paying more for electricity this summer after AES temporarily raised rates to account for higher-than-anticipated fuel costs during last winter’s storms. The increase also arrives against the backdrop of inflation, which rose to a three-year high last month, and surging gas prices due to the war in Iran.
Gov. Mike Braun wrote in a Wednesday post to X that he was “deeply disappointed” by the IURC’s approval of the rate increase.
“Hoosiers have spent years tightening their belts and making tough financial decisions,” Braun wrote. “It’s time for utility companies to do the same.”
The IURC’s decision also drew fire from the other side of the aisle. In a June 17 news release, five Democrats representing Indianapolis in the state Senate – J.D. Ford, Andrea Hunley, La Keisha Jackson, Fady Qaddoura, and Greg Taylor – chastised Indiana’s Republican supermajority for failing to rein in rising utility costs.
“Hoosiers pay more. Monopoly utilities collect more. And the leaders in the super-majority who promise affordability over and over again show those are just empty words,” the news release said. “Instead, they continue to defend a system that takes more and more out of our paychecks.”
The consumer advocacy group Citizens Action Coalition also slammed the rate increase. Ben Inskeep, CAC’s program director, said the decision left him “less optimistic that this commission is willing to do things differently and to actually hold utilities accountable.”
He said the IURC should have penalized AES for issues that plagued customers after the utility updated its billing system in 2023, including duplicated withdrawals for the same monthly bill.
The rate increase will take effect in two phases, with rates going up in July 2026 and January 2027. AES officials anticipate the hikes “will be less than $5 per month per phase” for a household that uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per month, according to a Wednesday news release from the utility.
“The IURC’s decision reflects a thorough, transparent process and balances the need for continued investment in the electric system with a focus on customer affordability,” the news release stated.
Under a state law that Braun signed in February, AES cannot ask for another increase to its base rate until January 2030 — though electricity bills could still go up for other reasons, like the fuel adjustment charge hitting consumers this month.
Three members of the five-member IURC signed off on the rate increase: Andy Zay, David Veleta, and David Ziegner. Commissioner Bob Deig dissented. Commissioner Anthony Swinger recused himself from the decision because he worked on the AES rate case for the OUCC before he was appointed to the IURC by Braun in January.
“None of this was taken lightly,” Zay, the IURC’s chair, said at the Wednesday hearing, adding that the commission and its staff had carefully weighed concerns about affordability. The commissioners did not go into further detail at the hearing.
But the commission’s order shows some of the debates that played out during the rate case. One point of contention was AES’s authorized return on equity — that is, how much the utility can earn each year in profits. Other disputes hinged on how AES forecasts its operating expenses.
The OUCC accused AES of including more than 100 “phantom hires,” vacant positions it did not necessarily intend to fill in its calculations. Last year, AES said that the rising costs of vegetation management, or trimming trees around power lines, also drove the need to raise rates. The OUCC recommended keeping vegetation management costs flat.
One factor that’s not driving higher prices? Data centers.
AES does not currently provide service to any data centers and did not include them in its calculations, AES president Brandi Davis-Handy said in testimony before the IURC.
Tilly Robinson is a Pulliam fellow for the Indianapolis Star. She can be reached at tilly.robinson@indystar.com.
Interactive radar | Weather alerts by county
WATCH LIVE COVERAGE
(WRTV) — A tornado watch has been issued through 1 a.m. EDT Thursday for much of Indiana, the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center said.
The watch area covers 47 of Indiana’s 92 counties, and includes Indianapolis and its surrounding counties.
Counties in the watch area are Bartholomew, Blackford, Boone, Brown, Carroll, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Daviess, Decatur, Delaware, Fountain, Grant, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Huntington, Jackson, Jay, Jennings, Johnson, Knox, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Martin, Miami, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Owen, Parke, Putnam, Randolph, Rush, Shelby, Sullivan, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Vermillion, Vigo, Wabash, Warren, and White.
WRTV Meteorologist Ryan Morse says Wednesday afternoon’s rain was the first of two rounds coming to the Hoosier state. A line of supercells were expected to form in Illinois and travel into central Indiana.
In neighboring Illinois, dozens of counties are under a tornado watch until 10 p.m. CDT/11 p.m. EST.
All threats of severe weather were on the table: damaging wind, strong tornadoes, large hail, and flooding.
Severe storms should exit Indiana in the early morning hours.
WISH-TV Meteorologist Keith Gibson says people should have multiple ways of getting alerts and have electronic devices fully charged in case they lose power.
The next chance for rain after these storms could be on Saturday.
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