Indiana
Bill to expand Indiana college credit and degree options heads to governor's desk • Indiana Capital Chronicle
On its way to the Indiana governor is a broad higher education bill that seeks to make college credits and degrees easier for students to earn.
Senate Bill 8, authored by Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, will require Indiana College Core courses to be more accessible to high schoolers across the state.
It also compels Hoosier colleges and universities, except Ivy Tech Community College and Vincennes University, to offer three-year degree programs by July 2025.
The final version of the bill advanced unanimously from both the House and Senate chambers on Thursday.
Not included in the legislation, however, is a since-deleted provision to allow Indiana’s attorney general to sue state higher education institutions that fail to report any contracts of value with or gifts from foreign “sources” located in foreign adversaries, like China, Iran, North Korea or Russia. That language was moved to another bill.
Another requirement for the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) to offer all College Core courses online by 2027 was also removed in backdoor negotiations. Instead, the final draft of the bill softened the ask, allowing the state education department to partner with at least one higher education institution to provide online access to those courses by 2025.
The Indiana College Core, a block of 30 general education credits that can be transferred to and accepted at colleges across the state, is one way for students to seamlessly transfer. Through dual credit, roughly 1,800 high schoolers currently earn the Indiana College Core annually.
All Indiana high schools — public and private — are expected to offer the College Core by the 2024-2025 academic year, or submit a report to the Commission for Higher Education (CHE) by Oct. 1 of this year detailing a plan to do so by the 2026-2027 school year.
Any schools that do not plan to offer the College Core will be required to submit a feasibility report to the commission, though it’s not yet clear what details CHE will request in that report.
Among other provisions in the bill is also the establishment of a statewide reverse transfer policy for Ivy Tech and Vincennes to award associate degrees to eligible current and former students.
Reverse transfer is a relatively recent but increasingly popular policy that gives students a second chance to earn their first college degree.
The process sees associate degrees awarded to students who transfer from a two-year to a four-year institution prior to completing their associate degree requirements at the two-year institution. Students are able to combine the credits they earn at their four-year school with those they’d previously earned at community college or through dual credit and retroactively be awarded a degree by the two-year college.
Republican lawmakers previously pointed to thousands of community college students who transfer each year to four-year colleges before finishing their associate degree. But many of those students ultimately drop out of college — degree-less and with debt.
To help more Hoosier students earn credentials — and inch the state closer to Gov. Eric Holcomb’s goal of having at least 60% of adult Hoosiers with a quality degree or credential beyond high school by 2025 — Senate Bill 8 mandates reverse transfer.
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Indiana
Remembering blizzard of 1978: WISH-TV staff recount storm in central Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Hoosiers of a certain age will never forget it, the winter weather phenomena that swept through central Indiana and brought life to a freeze.
The story was so memorable that tales have been passed down generations about the blizzard of 1978.
As WISH-TV continues to celebrate its 70th anniversary, this week’s WISH-story retells the tale of the 1978 storm.
People at the station recall over 72 hours of being stuck at work, and getting to know each other very well.
Video with this story aired Dec. 23 on News 8.
Indiana
Light showers are likely for Christmas | Dec. 25, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Merry Christmas! Gray skies and showers will be the main story in central Indiana today with warmer weather and more rain chances this weekend.
TODAY: Light on/off showers are likely for Christmas. There are some patchy spots of fog this morning. High temperatures in the mid-40s which is slightly above average.
TONIGHT: On/off rain likely early on. Rainfall totals from Wednesday morning through early Wednesday night will generally be between 0.1″ and 0.5″. Cloudy skies remain. Low temperatures in the low 40s.
TOMORROW: Another gloomy day with mostly cloudy to cloudy skies and the chance of drizzle. High temperatures in the low 50s.
7-DAY FORECAST: Our next system is on the way late Friday into the weekend bringing waves of rain chances and warmer weather. Above-average temperatures will continue all the way through the end of 2024.
Indiana
Todd’s Take: Wishes For Peace In The World Of Indiana Athletics
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Christmas songs. You know ‘em. You love some of ‘em. You dislike some of ‘em, too.
I’m no different. I have a soft spot for “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” – a sort of touchstone for people my age. (I’m bending over backward to avoid using the term “Gen X,” a generational generalization I detest with a passion, but I digress.)
The lyrics to “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” are condescending and paternalistic in hindsight, but the purpose and sentiment of the song was genuine, and it represented a time for people my age (I was 13 when it was released) where the world seemed to be striving to be a better place.
And where else are you going to hear Simon Le Bon, Bono and Sting sing together on the same record?
On the other hand? As much as I like Paul McCartney, if I never heard “Wonderful Christmastime” and its world’s most annoying synths ever again, I would be a happy man.
Then there’s some songs where you can separate the lyrics from the song itself. “Let There Be Peace On Earth” falls into that category.
Despite what the internet may tell you – no, Vince Gill did not originate the song – when I’ve heard “Let There Be Peace On Earth” over the years, I’ve always been left cold. It fits into that sappy category I tend to avoid. It also seemed to be a favorite of music classes when I was in school, so I automatically think of it as being sung by a high-pitched children’s choir – not my thing.
However, I do like the message in the chorus. “Let there be peace on Earth … and let it begin with me.” Sappy or not, that’s a fine way to live.
And also a good way to create a theme for this column. The internet is filled with so much negativity, so I thought I’d give the criticism a break and try to find peace for the people in the world I populate – Indiana and Big Ten athletics.
No snark, no surprise attacks, honest wishes on a day where people should set the acrimony aside. So here goes.
• Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti – Now is not the right time with rosters being rebuilt and such, but when things slow down, I wish you the peace of a sense of accomplishment. Sit down in that recliner of yours and appreciate that you coached the greatest season in Indiana history.
• Indiana football fans – Find the recliner – real or metaphorical – of your own choice and find peace in how satisfying the ride was in 2024. The impossible became possible in 2024. It was a helluva journey, wasn’t it?
• Indiana men’s basketball coach Mike Woodson – The peace that comes from consistency. The peace that would come from a win over a ranked team. The peace that would come from winning a road game in Big Ten play. The peace that would come from anything that takes away the perception that the Hoosiers are spinning their wheels.
• Indiana men’s basketball fans – Peace in the form of a team that can demonstrate it can hang with the best of the Big Ten Conference. That’s an achievable goal given that the Big Ten doesn’t have a dominant team, but something the Hoosiers haven’t proven they can consistently provide yet. Until they can, that peace is hard to come by.
• Indiana women’s basketball coach Teri Moren – The peace that comes from good health – in every respect. The Hoosiers should be as close to full strength as they have been in nearly a month when Big Ten action resumes Saturday when Wisconsin visits.
• Indiana season ticket holders – The peace of a nice Christmas bonus. The price of success in football is quite literal, as I’m sure your bills have already told you. The days of cheap tickets and parking for football disappeared mid-season. Supporting the Hoosiers has never been harder on the bottom line.
• Indiana crazies – I just want you to have peace … period, that’s it, just peace, if only just for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The seemingly bottomless desire for a segment of fans to top themselves in the self-flagellating “we suck” or “so-and-so sucks” department is depressing, irritating and droningly repetitive. Much like the soldiers in the first year of World War I who stopped shooting at each other to meet in no man’s land to express Christmas wishes, all I ask is to give it a rest in the spirit of Christmas. Then resume fire afterward if you must.
• Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson – I wish Dolson the peace of a college athletics landscape that stabilizes in the near future. The House settlement should create some ground rules to help make this happen – assuming the settlement is approved by the courts. Dolson is well-paid to sort these matters out, but instability isn’t good for anyone.
• Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti – Same wish of peace that was expressed for Dolson, but also, the peace of having a Big Ten team crowned a football national champion in mid-January. It would be the second in a row for the league, and I’ll admit selfishness here as I just want it for the purposes of silly, tribalistic regional pride.
• Big Ten Network – The peace of some good games during basketball season. Maybe? Just a few? It’s looking as if it might take a low win total to contend in the Big Ten as no team is dominant. Mediocre league? Your mileage may vary, but then again, the Big Ten Network always grants itself the peace of spinning it to make it look good regardless. So perhaps the wish for peace is better placed with us, not them.
I wish you and your loved ones peace as well. Merry Christmas everyone!
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