Indiana

Education, Medicaid highlight fast-paced legislative session

Published

2 years ago

March 9, 2024

Education, Medicaid highlight fast-paced legislative session

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — In the span of barely two months, lawmakers sent Gov. Eric Holcomb a flurry of bills dealing with issues from literacy and absenteeism to birth control access and a partial fix for a troubled Medicaid program.

Literacy, absenteeism top education concerns

State education officials in August revealed nearly 1 in 5 Indiana third-graders can’t read at grade level. Around the same time, they found a similar number are chronically absent from school. State lawmakers and Holcomb said in the months leading up to the session those issues would be their top priorities.

Lawmakers’ plan for literacy carried the designation Senate Bill 1, indicating it was that chamber’s top legislative priority. The final version of the bill moves the IREAD exam from third grade to second grade, and requires reading interventions for any student who fails the test. Students would be held back for one year if they fail the test three times. Students would not be retained if they are English language learners, have an intellectual disability or demonstrate math proficiency.

On the absenteeism front, a bill approved on the last day of session requires schools to hold attendance conferences with parents of habitually absent students and come up with plans to provide services that ensure the student is able to get to class on time.

Higher education drew lawmakers’ attention as well. Legislation on the governor’s desk would require Indiana’s four-year institutions to investigate the feasibility of offering three-year bachelor’s degrees. The bill also codifies into state law Ivy Tech Community College’s reverse credit transfer program, under which students who complete at least 75 credit hours at a four-year institution can transfer the credits to Ivy Tech in order to receive an associate’s degree.

Attendant care program draws tougher scrutiny

December’s revelation of a projected billion-dollar Medicaid funding shortfall overshadowed the 2024 legislative session. The following month’s revelation the Family and Social Services Administration would begin removing families from the attendant care program led to weekly protests by parents of children with severe medical conditions. Lawmakers in the closing hours of session approved legislation to require new transparency and oversight rules of FSSA and to require a full accounting of what led to the forecasting issue. The legislation also requires the FSSA to set a minimum reimbursement level for families transitioned away from the attendant care program to another program, structured family caregiving. Lawmakers at one point floated setting their own minimum but ultimately chose to leave the decision up to the agency.

Child care, birth control and more

Legislation now on the governor’s desk will make child care workers eligible for the On My Way Pre-K program and Child Care Development Fund vouchers if they make up to 85% of the state’s median income. The bill also lowers the minimum age to be a child care worker from 21 to 18.

A Democratic-backed bill requires doctors to offer long-acting, reversible contraception to new mothers who are Medicaid recipients. The bill’s backers said doing so is one way to prevent unwanted pregnancy, especially among the most vulnerable of the state’s residents.

Holcomb will have to decide whether to sign a bill that ends restrictions on the hours 16- and 17-year-olds can work and to make it easier for 14 and 15-year-olds to be excused from school to work. There is also a bill to prohibit foreign adversaries from buying any new agricultural land in Indiana or from buying land within 10 miles of a military installation. A House priority bill codifies into state law the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, declares antisemitism a form of religious discrimination and prohibits it in educational settings.

The governor will have seven days to act on legislation from the time it is officially presented to him.

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Indiana

Mother and boyfriend accused in death of 4-year-old boy found in closet

Published

10 hours ago

March 28, 2026

Press Room

Mother and boyfriend accused in death of 4-year-old boy found in closet

This story contains descriptions of distressing circumstances involving children.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – A mother and her boyfriend were accused of causing the death of a 4-year-old-boy found dead in a basement closet on Monday.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department arrested Angel Lovely, 37, and Nicholas Bergdoll, 36, on preliminary charges of neglect of a dependent causing death. The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office by Friday had not filed formal charges.

A sibling found the 4-year-old dead on Monday, according to investigators. Lovely and Bergdoll were in the home at the time but told police they were asleep when he died.

Born premature with cerebral palsy, the 4-year old couldn’t walk, was nonverbal, and ate through a feeding tube. Lovely claimed she would rarely put the child in the closet, only “when he won’t stop screaming” or when she “needed a break.”

But when investigators interviewed Lovely’s three other children, they said that the boy “stays in the closet all day,” and that “mom locks him in the closet” and “does not pay attention to him.”

An exact cause of death hasn’t been determined, but the child was found with blood in his mouth. Lovely said he’d been aspirating.

One of Lovely’s children told investigators they heard the 4-year-old gagging but didn’t say anything because it wasn’t unusual.

A neighbor living on Monticello Drive, Michelle Johnson, told News 8, “It’s horrible. It breaks my heart.”

Johnson had seen the other children outside the home but never knew there was a boy in a wheelchair living there. She said if she suspected they were being neglected, she would have called police or the Indiana Department of Child Services.

“We’re supposed to be a village and raise kids together,” Johnson said. “That’s really heartbreaking.”

Bergdoll told police, according to the investigators’ report, that he didn’t agree with putting the child in the closet: “I am not going to tell her how to f****** raise her kids.”

“I’m sickened,” IMPD Public Information Officer Tommy Thompson told News 8 in an interview.
“Think about putting yourself in that situation. Every day, do you want to be in a closet? Locked up, no light?”

Court records show the Department of Child Services had removed the boy from Lovely’s care because of medical neglect, but she regained custody last year against DCS recommendations.

Thompson, the neighbor, hopes the tragedy can be an opportunity for others to speak up when they see a child who can’t speak up for themselves. “Maybe you’ve got to make that tough phone call. Reach out. The city has resources.”

Johnson wishes she would have known what was happening so she could have said something. “Children don’t have a voice and we’re supposed to be their voice.”

Help is available for victims of domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault. Below is a list of suggested resources, both national and local:

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Indiana

Police arrest suspect in Westfield homicide

Published

22 hours ago

March 27, 2026

Press Room

Police arrest suspect in Westfield homicide

WESTFIELD, Ind. (WISH) — Police have arrested someone in connection to a homicide earlier this month in the Hamilton County city.

In a Friday night social media post, the Westfield Police Department announced the arrest but gave no details, including who was arrested or what preliminary charges the person may face.

“Due to the active nature of this case, limited details are available for release at this time,” the post said.

As WISHTV.com previously reported, James “Matt” Lushin, 47, was found dead shortly after 7:25 p.m. March 12 with trauma at his home in the 3900 block of Westfield Road, also known as State Road 32.

Social media posts from the scene showed police tape and emergency vehicles at a red brick house between Shady Nook Road and Gray Road.

Lushin’s obituary said the Kokomo native was a key partner with the real estate investment company, FLF Property. The obituary also said, “Matt was also a respected and accomplished member of the international poker community. He traveled the world competing in tournaments and built an impressive and successful career.”

Police have previously said the death was believed to be isolated, posing no ongoing threat.

Officials have not released a specific cause or manner of death.

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Indiana

Retro Indy: Five years ago Covid confined March Madness to Indiana

Published

1 day ago

March 27, 2026

Press Room

Retro Indy: Five years ago Covid confined March Madness to Indiana

Just three days before Selection Sunday in March of 2020, the NCAA announced that March Madness, like so many other events that spring, would be cancelled due to the new virus upending life. The decision marked the first time in tournament history that the final weeks of the college basketball season would not be played, squashing Atlanta’s plans to host the Final Four.

When the following year rolled around, the NCAA decided that March Madness would not succumb to the virus once more.

With a vaccine only on the horizon and hundreds of Americans still dying each day, the organization announced in November of 2020 that while the tournament would go on, it would certainly not be business as usual. All 67 games, NCAA officials said, would be held in one location. Central Indiana was the first choice as Indianapolis had been on tap to host the Final Four April 3-5.

The plan, said NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt in a November 2020 IndyStar article was to present “a safe, responsible and fantastic March Madness tournament unlike any other we’ve experienced.”

In January the NCAA made it official: All games would be played in and around Indianapolis in a modified version of a bubble.

Holding the tournament in one place just made sense, NCAA officials told IndyStar. Unlike in a typical year when a winning team would travel multiple times before the championship, this system would minimize travel, which could inadvertently expose players and coaches to the virus.

Two months later when the tournament kicked off on March 18, 55 of the 67 games were scheduled to be played in Indianapolis venues, such as Gainbridge (then Bankers Life) Fieldhouse, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indiana Farmers Coliseum and Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse. Purdue’s Mackey Arena and IU’s Assembly Hall also hosted games.

While the first Covid vaccine had arrived a few months earlier, few people outside of first responders and the most vulnerable had been immunized, so in an effort to avoid large crowds, the Indianapolis sites all capped tickets at 25% capacity. That meant only 17,500 people could attend games at the largest venue, Lucas Oil Stadium. The college arenas allowed far smaller audiences, with IU limiting attendance to 500 people.

A week before the tournament began Marion County Public Health Department officials and Mayor Joe Hogsett asked attendees to make smart public health choices, such as social distancing and obeying the face masks mandate. Referees donned masks as much as possible as did coaches and players on the bench.

The NCAA regularly tested athletes, administering 28,311 tests Covid tests during the tournament, 15 of which came back positive.

Post-mortems after the tournament asked whether the NCAA had made the right call. Two high profile deaths occurred in the aftermath of the tournament — one a University of Alabama superfan who had traveled to Indy for the games and the other a St. Elmo bartender. But proving a direct link between their deaths and the tournament would prove impossible, and some public health experts said the NCAA had done everything it could to protect athletes and fans short of canceling the event.

A study conducted by IU, Regenstrief researchers and others that appeared in August 2021 in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that while mask wearing had theoretically been compulsory, about a quarter of attendees at the games were either not wearing masks or doing so inappropriately. Still, in an IndyStar article about the study Indiana Sports Corps president Ryan Vaughn termed the event “a resounding success.”

The following year, with a vaccine widely available and far fewer daily deaths from the virus, the tournament returned to a typical schedule, concluding in New Orleans’ Ceasars Superdome. More than 69,00 fans attended the final games, according to the NCAA. Local authorities had lifted the mask requirement by this point.

“Last year was about survival. Just having championships in any way, single site, keep everybody safe and be successful,” Gavitt said in an NCAA news release in late April 2022. “I think this year was about advancing.”

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