Midwest

Indiana looks to repeal driver's license law for Ukrainian immigrants after discrimination ruling

Published

2 years ago

February 6, 2024

One year after passing a law that allows Ukrainian immigrants on humanitarian parole to receive driver’s licenses, Indiana lawmakers are trying to repeal it after a federal judge recently ruled that the law must extend to all parolees.

The bill that passed the House on Monday with bipartisan support would eliminate a statute that allowed people legally in the U.S. on a narrow parole definition to receive a driver’s license, but only if they are from Ukraine. A group of Haitian immigrants living in Indiana under the same federal designation sued the state over the law, saying it was discriminatory and unconstitutional.

In mid-January, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction striking the Ukrainian provision of the law, allowing all immigrants on humanitarian parole to receive temporary licenses in the state.

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The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and the National Immigration Law Center are representing the Haitian immigrants in the ongoing lawsuit, which seeks to permanently undo the Ukrainian stipulation.

Gavin Rose, senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Indiana, told The Associated Press it’s not clear how the suit would be affected if the bill, House Bill 1162, becomes law.

Republican Indiana Rep. Jim Pressel stumps for House Bill 1162 at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis, Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Isabella Volmert)

“It would obviously be extremely concerning if the legislature removed the ability of Ukrainians to obtain credentials simply because Indiana has been required to also extend these credentials to persons from countries such as Haiti, who, like Ukrainians, have been allowed to enter and work in the United States because of dire humanitarian crises in their own countries,” Rose said in an email.

Republicans have said extending the privilege to all people on parole makes the state vulnerable to federal immigration classifications out of their control.

Rep. Jim Pressel, Republican author of the bill, told lawmakers Thursday that the lawsuit has made the situation a “mess” and took issue with the federal definition of parole that includes people from several countries. He said he wants a conversation in the Senate about how to secure the intent of last year’s law.

Rep. Matt Lehman, Republican floor leader in the House, said allowing all people on parole to get a license opens the door to the “coveted status” to “dishonest” people.

“I just don’t have faith in our immigration policy on a national level that that status is coveted,” he told lawmakers Thursday. “I think that status is being granted to people that we would have problems with.”

The bill passed 89-8 in the Republican-controlled state House without debate and now advances to the state Senate.

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Detroit, MI

K-9 sniffs out undeclared fruit trees in arriving luggage at Detroit Metro Airport

Published

5 hours ago

April 8, 2026

Press Room

K-9 sniffs out undeclared fruit trees in arriving luggage at Detroit Metro Airport

A K-9 assigned to work at Detroit Metro Airport with U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists was credited with two recent instances of detecting undeclared trees among incoming luggage.

One of those circumstances involved an undeclared, suspected fruit tree from Moldova.

The CBP Director of Field Operations Marty C. Raybon shared a video of K-9 Baylee, wearing a CBP identification vest, sniffing out the small, undeclared tree on March 3 while checking arriving luggage at the airport.

“Trees like this can carry exotic plant pests and plant pathogens. Please leave the trees behind and don’t pack a pest!” the agency said in a social media video shared Monday on Instagram.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Detroit Field Office K-9 Baylee has been finding undeclared small trees amid arriving luggage at Detroit Metro Airport.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Detroit Field Office

The same K-9 also found small, undeclared plum trees inside luggage that had arrived with a passenger from Albania on Feb. 20.

“These trees could have carried plum pox virus, a serious disease that harms stone fruit,” Raybon said in that social media post shared Sunday on Instagram. “The U.S. recently got rid of this virus, so it’s important to keep it out.”

A list of prohibited and restricted items for airline travel into the U.S. can be found on the CBP website.

Previous reports of unwelcome agricultural pests intercepted at Detroit Metro have included a medfly amid damaged fruit with a passenger from Albania, caper fruit fly larvae amid fresh flowers from Italy, and remains of an invasive khapra beetle found amid luggage arriving from Lebanon.

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Milwaukee, WI

This Milwaukee Bar Is a Total “Mullet” Experience

Published

6 hours ago

April 8, 2026

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This Milwaukee Bar Is a Total “Mullet” Experience

Have you ever been to the 4th Base Bar and Grill in Milwaukee, Wisconsin? I just learned about this place today, and it’s definitely a place I need to experience this summer!

Milwaukee’s Mullet Bar

As a lifelong Illinois girl who comes from a family of Chicago Cubs fans, I feel legally obligated to side-eye anything related to Milwaukee and baseball. However, for 4th Base Bar and Grill, I am willing to make an exception.

Google Street View

From the outside, the 4th Base Bar and Grill may look like your average sports/dive bar, but a truly unique dining experience awaits you inside.

4th Base Bar and Grill is often referred to as Milwaukee’s mullet bar, because it’s the best way to describe it: Sports bar in the front, fancy steakhouse in the back.

Please allow me to explain.

What Makes 4th Base Bar and Grill Unique

At 4th Base Bar and Grill, there is no menu.

Instead, there is a full deli case in the back where you walk up and choose what you want to eat, and then the chef whips up a fabulous meal with it.

We’re talking filet mignon, king crab, scallops… the kind of dinner you’d expect somewhere with white tablecloths and waiters wearing bowties… not next to a guy in a Brewers jersey yelling at the TV.

Fun Fact About 4th Base Bar and Grill

Another thing that makes 4th Base stand out is this:

Not only has it been around since the late 1970s, but the bar also had a cameo in the baseball movie Major League released in 1989!

Does this look familiar?

The next time you venture north to Milwaukee, be sure to give 4th Base a try… and maybe leave your Cubs jersey at home.

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2026 Wisconsin State Fair Main Stage Performers

Here is the schedule of all of the performing acts that have been announced to play at the Bank Five Nine Main Stage at the 2026 Wisconsin State Fair. As more acts are announced, we’ll update this schedule.

Gallery Credit: Nick Cooper – TSM Duluth

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Minneapolis, MN

March Madness Could Run Through Minneapolis on Both Sides in 2027

Published

6 hours ago

April 8, 2026

Press Room

March Madness Could Run Through Minneapolis on Both Sides in 2027

In March 2027, the eyes of the college basketball world could be focused on Minneapolis as both the men’s and women’s national tournaments could be played in Minnesota.

We already know for certain that the Target Center will host the first two rounds of the 2027 men’s NCAA Tournament, which is officially set to take place March 19-22, 2027.

Meanwhile, the women’s tournament will be taking place at the same time. And if next year is anything like this year, then Dawn Plitzuweit’s Gophers will be heading into the tournament with a top-16 seed, meaning Williams Arena would once again be hosting first- and second-round games for four teams.

Williams was home to three games in the Round of 64 and the Round of 32 this year, as the Gophers landed a top-16 seed and a No. 4 seed in the tournament. They used the home-court advantage to defeat Green Bay 75-58 in the first round, and then No. 5 Ole Miss 65-63 in the second round. The Barn was also the site for a first-round game between Ole Miss and Gonzaga.

With several key players returning and several highly-rated high school recruits incoming, there’s a decent chance that Minnesota will again be good enough to land a top-16 seed in the tourney and host games on the opening weekend next March.

In fact, Minnesota Star Tribune is reporting that the University of Minnesota has already reserved Williams Arena for the weekend of the first two rounds, currently scheduled from March 19-22.

While hosting games would be great for Minnesota, it would put the Minnesota State High School League in a bit of a pinch since the MSHSL is planning to host the annual girls’ basketball tournament March 17-20.

This year’s girls’ hoops tourney was played at Williams Arena and Maturi Pavilion, so if the Gophers wind up hosting the NCAAs again, it would force the MSHSL to find a different venue or change the dates.

The likeliest candidate if a venue change is required is the University of St. Thomas’ Lee & Penny Anderson Arena in St. Paul. However, the Wild’s Grand Casino Arena could also be an option, though the Minnesota Wild are already pushed out of town every year for a stretch as the arena serves as the site for the boys’ and girls’ state hockey tournaments, as well as the state high school wrestling tournament.

Grand Casino Arena has hosted basketball in the past, when the Minnesota Lynx played the 2016 playoffs and the 2017 season at the arena while Target Center was being renovated.

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