Indiana
An Indiana Republican Who Has Been Dead for Months Just Won Her Primary Race
(Permanent Musical Accompaniment to This Post)
Presenting our semi-regular weekly survey of what’s goin’ down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin’ gets done, and where the post office has been stolen and the mailbox is locked.
We begin in Indiana, where a woman named Jennifer Pace won a Republican primary election to run against incumbent Rep. Andre Carson in the state’s Seventh Congressional District. And this was a remarkable victory because Ms. Pace had become not merely dead, but really most sincerely dead, two months before she won the primary. From Fox59 in Indianapolis:
The leader in the Republican race for Indiana’s seventh district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives has been dead since March. According to results from Tuesday’s primary election, Jennifer Pace is leading the race with 31.2% of the vote, or 7,704 votes, as of Wednesday morning. Pace reportedly died of a heart attack in March after she qualified to be on the ballot.
Naturally, Ms. Pace’s victory raises a number of questions, the biggest one of which is how the hell this happened two freaking months after her death. Was every GOP voter in the district simply not paying attention? Did nobody notice that the leading Republican candidate mysteriously stopped campaigning in March, or did we have a Weekend at Bernie’s thing going on here? Not that any of this matters; Carson’s going to win re-election from here to there, but it does seem to indicate that somebody in the Indiana GOP has to start noticing whether their candidates have joined the choir invisible.
We move north to Wisconsin, where the president made a very shrewd move on Wednesday. He showed up in Racine to announce that Microsoft was going to invest $3.3 billion in developing an AI data center there. The really nifty political move was to announce that the new plant was going to be built on the proposed site of the Foxconn debacle, the site of the monumental bait-and-switch pulled on saps like the former president* and the former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, the goggle-eyed homunculus hired by Koch Industries to manage its midwest subsidiary formerly known as the state of Wisconsin. From The New York Times:
The Microsoft data center will be built on grounds where Mr. Trump, as president, announced in 2017 that Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, would build a $10 billion factory for making LCD panels. Mr. Trump promised that it would be the “eighth wonder of the world,” and visited the site with elected officials and golden shovels. But the project never materialized as expected. On Wednesday, Mr. Biden took direct aim at the failed promise. “Look what happened—they dug a hole with those golden shovels, and then they fell into it,” Mr. Biden told the crowd. “During the previous administration, my predecessor made promises, which he broke more than kept, left a lot of people behind in communities like Racine,” Mr. Biden said. “On my watch, we make promises and we keep promises.”
It’s always nice when you can feed yourself a layup.
We move along to West Virginia, where there are massive costs looming regarding the cleanup of abandoned coal mines. The state has a fund to finance this monumental job, but as Ken Ward Jr. of the Mountain State Spotlight reports, that fund is one corporate bankruptcy away from being tapped out—and the people of West Virginia are one corporate bankruptcy away from holding the bag.
The bankruptcy of just one significant mining company could wipe out the fund, according to the state’s top regulatory official. And auditors for the Republican-controlled Legislature said at least five major companies were “at risk” of dumping cleanup costs on the state. At $15 million, the state’s fund for restoring land is at its lowest level in more than 20 years. The program’s latest published actuarial report in 2022 warned that a related water cleanup trust fund will lose half its balance over the next 10 years. These are costs the coal industry was supposed to cover. Unreclaimed mine sites can not only damage the environment but also endanger coalfield residents who live nearby. Coal waste dams sometimes leak or break, flooding downstream communities. Cliffs of rock and debris left behind after mining can collapse. Runoff that isn’t contained or treated often poisons fish or water supplies.
Working with the good people at ProPublica—and nice job, Pulitzer Committee—Ward points out that this is not a problem that suddenly cropped up.
State and federal officials have been warned repeatedly over the past 40 years that this reckoning was coming but have failed to prepare for it. Again and again, the review found, auditors questioned whether West Virginia’s reclamation program would have adequate funding. But neither state lawmakers nor regulators required coal companies to have enough reclamation bonds as insurance should they go belly up. Nor did legislators raise the tax on coal production enough to make up the difference. Federal officials in both Republican and Democratic administrations who were supposed to oversee the state program cautioned there were problems but didn’t step in.
Just two years ago, West Virginia’s legislative leaders ignored recommendations from their own auditors to bolster the fund. Instead, they called for an $8 billion bailout from the federal government. And last month, Gov. Jim Justice’s administration removed a key critic from an advisory panel that monitors the fund, just as the group was about to review a new study on the fund’s future health. The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Taking care of the public’s money is undeniably part of the government’s job. But decades of anti-tax nihilism have resulted in governments that act out of reflexive fear and not out of reasoned caution. Problems go unresolved until they evolve into crises. Then the public gets angry at the emergency remedial costs anyway.
And we conclude, as is our custom, in the great state of Oklahoma, whence Blog Official Gully Spelunker Friedman of the Plains brings us a tale of local dogs hungry for homework. From KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City:
U.S. News and World Report says the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) did not grant them access to schools’ AP testing data, causing numerous Oklahoma schools to plummet in U.S. News’ rankings the past two years. OSDE claims they sent the data, but it must’ve been lost in the mail.
There is nothing worse than imaginative bureaucrats, and Oklahoma seems to be plagued by a number of them. I mean, seriously—lost in the mail??? This kind of obvious f*ck-up calls for multisyllabic words in dependent clauses in insanely complicated sentences, a kind of government-speak that’s halfway between Harvard Business School and Finnegans Wake. Of course, you can still say it got lost in the mail, but the point is to say it in such a way as to wear out your superiors so that they’re too exhausted to notice that your uncle, the county commissioner, put you into a job you’re too dumb or lazy to handle. That’s the American way.
This is your democracy, America. Cherish it.
Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston and has three children.
Angel Reese #5 of the Chicago Sky looks on against the Indiana Fever during the first quarter in the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on June 1, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
CHICAGO – The Chicago Sky and rookie Angel Reese were fined after Saturday’s loss to the Indiana Fever.
Reese was fined $1,000 for failing to make herself available for interviews after the team’s 71-70 loss.
Reese recorded 8 points and 13 rebounds in her first professional game against the top overall pick, Caitlin Clark. Clark had 11 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
Clark was on the receiving end of a hard hip-check from the Sky’s Chennedy Carter in the third quarter. As the whistle blew, the ESPN broadcast caught Reese getting up off the bench and appearing to cheer on Carter. She was also the first one to greet the veteran player as the quarter ended.
The Sky fell to 3-4 with the loss and the organization was fined $5,000 for failing to adhere to the WNBA’s media availability policies.
The Fever (2-8) recorded their first home win of the season. The Sky will host the New York Liberty Tuesday at Wintrust Arena.
Fox News contributed to this report.
FOX 32’s Cassie Carlson talks a WNBA debut and part-owning a soccer team with Angel Reese
On Tuesday, it was announced Angel Reese became a part-time owner of the DC Power Football Club. Reese talked about that and her WNBA debut with FOX 32’s Cassie Carlson.
Indiana
Indiana serial killer's 18-acre property littered with 10,000 human remains still hides secrets
An Indiana serial killer’s property was littered with 10,000 “burnt and crushed” skeletal remains that kept many of his victims faceless for decades.
Herb Baumeister, a successful businessman who was a married father with three children, is believed to have killed at least 25 victims from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.
He hunted mostly gay men in the Indianapolis suburb of Westfield, Indiana, where he lived on an 18-acre property known as Fox Hollow Farm.
Four decades later, authorities are still uncovering secrets buried under the vast property. Jeffrey A. Jones, who was reported missing in 1993, became the latest victim identified by the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office.
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Jeffrey A. Jones, who was reported missing out of Fillmore, Indiana in 1993, was identified as the latest victim of serial killer Herb Baumeister. (Hamilton County Coroner’s Office)
Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison renewed the investigation into the thousands of human remains that law enforcement recovered from Baumeister’s property after his death in 1996.
Investigators have four more DNA profiles that haven’t been identified yet, which brings Baumeister’s body count up to 12, according to Jellison.
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“Because many of the remains were found burnt and crushed, this investigation is extremely challenging,” the county coroner said in a statement. “However, the team of law enforcement and forensic specialists working the case remain committed.”
Jones became Baumeister’s third victim whom the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office identified in the last six months.
Herb Baumeister is suspected of killing at least 25 victims. So far, 12 victims have been connected to Baumeister. (Indianapolis Police Department)
In December 2023, the coroner’s office identified Allen Livingston, who was 27 when he went missing in August 1993, and Manuel Resendez in January. Resendez was 34 when he seemingly vanished in 1996.
Baumeister and his family moved into the now-infamous, $1 million Indiana home in May 1988.
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He used the vast area and adjacent trail to hide thousands of decomposed remains, charred bone fragments and the human skull that was unearthed by Baumeister’s teenage son, who showed his mom (Baumeister’s wife).
That was the beginning of the end of Baumeister’s reign of terror.
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Manuel Resendez, who was 34 when he seemingly vanished in 1996, was identified as one of Herb Baumeister’s victims in January 2024. (Hamilton County Coroner’s Office)
Baumeister’s wife, who initially blocked law enforcement from searching their property, ultimately divorced Herb as it became clearer that he was a wanted killer.
Authorities searched the property while Baumeister wasn’t home, and dug up the remains of several victims.
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By 1996, there was a warrant out for his arrest, so he fled to Ontario, where he shot himself. He was 49 when he died.
He was never charged with the murders, and he didn’t admit to any crimes in his suicide note.
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About 10,000 remains of Indiana serial killer Herb Baumeister were found on the 18-acre Westfield, Indiana, property. (Google Street View)
While he was alive, Baumeister lived a double life, a common trait among serial killers, according to a 2005 report by the FBI.
In one life, he was a seemingly ordinary husband and dad. He went to work and came home.
In his secret life, law enforcement has said Baumeister went by the fake name of “Brian Smart” and mostly targeted young, gay men whom he met in bars.
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“The majority of serial killers are not reclusive, social misfits who live alone,” the 2005 FBI report says. “They are not monsters and may not appear strange. Many serial killers hide in plain sight within their communities.
“Serial murderers often have families and homes, are gainfully employed and appear to be normal members of the community. Because many serial murderers can blend in so effortlessly, they are oftentimes overlooked by law enforcement and the public,” the report continues.
About 10,000 remains of Indiana serial killer Herb Baumeister were found on the 18-acre Westfield, Indiana, property. (Google Street View)
The Hamilton County coroner’s office is still sifting through the remains.
The FBI, Indiana State Police Laboratory, Dr. Krista Latham of the Biology & Anthropology Department at the University of Indianapolis and DNA experts from Texas-based Othram Lab were all instrumental in helping to identify the remains.
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Othram, which is the largest forensic genetic genealogy lab in the country, partnered with the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office last year to bring closure to Baumeister’s victims.
“Othram scientists developed a comprehensive DNA profile for the unknown man using Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing.” Othram said in a statement. “After successfully completing the process, the DNA profile was delivered to the FBI’s forensic genetic genealogy team and the FBI team performed the necessary genealogical research to generate new investigative leads in the case.”
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee is ranked No. 1 in the country for a lot of very viable reasons. They can thump you just fine without any help, thank you very much.
And when you start doling out gifts to the Vols left and right, well, it’s a recipe for disaster. That was certainly the case for Indiana Saturday night in the NCAA Tournament baseball regional in Knoxville. They got boat-raced 12-6 by the Vols, who took advantage of 11 walks and two hit batters in the rout.
The Volunteers, who lead the nation in home runs, slugged four more on Saturday. That’s never a good thing, but when you consider that six of their other runs came with walks or hit batters just ahead of the homers, that was a big problem
Indiana made it too easy. Far too easy.
“Tennessee is a great team and they are No. 1 for a reason. But the difference really was the free bases on our part,” Indiana coach Jeff Mercer said. “Give them credit, they forced the issue and forced our hand in that regard. They didn’t expand, didn’t chase. They got into good counts and they did a lot of damage when they got there.
The loss forces Indiana to win out on Sunday now. Their day will start with a rematch against Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles, who lost 10-4 to Indiana on Friday, beat Northern Kentucky 6-0 on Saturday afternoon to stay alive. The game will start at Noon ET and will be available only on the ESPN-Plus streaming app. If they win, they’ll have to come back and beat Tennessee at 6 p.m. ET.
It was a rough night for Indiana starting pitcher Connor Foley. He has a high-90s fastball and can be overpowering at times, but he’s also just a sophomore and has dealt with wildness all season, walking 42 watchers in 60 innings before Saturday.
He walked seven and hit a batter in just 2 1/3 innings of work. He threw 91 pitches — just 44 for strikes — and allowed eight runs, all earned. Tennessee scored four runs in the second and five in the third to race out to a 9-0 lead.
“Connor is a terrific talent, but it’s an issue he’s battled throughout the year,” Mercer said of Foley. “I thought he held his composure fine and he competed, he just to continue to develop more skill. He’s still fairly new to pitching, and this is something he has to continue to battle. All the credit to them. They have an excellent offense, and they can make you pay when you’re running through an offense like that.
“Solo home runs won’t normally get you beat, but the free bases hurt, and they. took advantage of it.”
The Hoosiers got a three-run homer from designated hitter Devin Taylor in the third inning, and scored another run in the fourth after Tyler Cerny was hit by a pitch and scored on a double by Carter Mathison.
They threatened to get back in the game, but left the bases loaded in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth. They scored twice in the eighth with RBIs from Josh Pyne and Morgan Colopy.
Tennessee is now 52-11 on the season and 36-3 at home. They’ve won five straight regionals that they’ve hosted, and seem headed for another one. Indiana fell to 33-25-1.
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