Indiana
Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, Christie Sides vent frustration after Fever fall to 1-7
INDIANAPOLIS – Christie Sides, her voice hoarse, was short and to the point after the Indiana Fever lost 88-82 to the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday.
She was frustrated about her squad’s 3-point defense in the second half. She was frustrated about the Fever’s 26 personal fouls. She was frustrated about some Indiana players spending “too much” time talking to game officials.
More: Opponents guard Caitlin Clark between free throws. She still scored 30 points.
Takeaways: Caitlin Clark scores career-high 30 points, but Fever lose to LA, fall to 1-7
Most of all, she was frustrated about the Fever’s seventh loss out of eight games this season.
“It’s really hard to feel good about the performance at all right now,” Sides said. “This is a home game, this is a game we were supposed to win.”
Although Sides got what she wanted in terms of forced turnovers (19 to 14), offensive rebounds (9 to 4) and points off turnovers (24 to 20), it wasn’t good enough to secure a second victory in five days against Los Angeles, and that’s what mattered to her.
For a near six-minute stretch between the end of the second quarter and the start of the third, the Fever went on a 14-0 run to gain a 43-37 advantage against the Sparks. Gainbridge Fieldhouse was rocking, and Indiana looked perhaps more cohesive than it had all season.
However, Los Angeles went on to hit 10 of its 14 3-pointers in the following 14-plus minutes of play.
“You don’t give yourself a chance … You can’t do something right for two and a half quarters and then just stop doing it,” Sides said. “ … We were going under some of the screens that were supposed to be going over. We were gambling and getting out of position.
“ … Instead of us stepping over and stopping them (and) having our teammates’ back, we’re reaching. That’s just a lack of discipline.”
Caitlin Clark sat behind the same press room table less than 10 minutes earlier with her forehead pressed against her microphone. Despite recording a WNBA career-high 30 points, she too was more concerned about the loss.
Clark said she felt like Indiana shot themselves in the foot on defense in the fourth quarter, mostly agreeing with Sides’ assessment of the late-game run by the Sparks. But Clark does feel her defense has improved through the first eight games of the season, acknowledging the criticism she has faced about that aspect of her game since joining the WNBA.
“It’s been a crazy journey,” Clark said. “ … The biggest adjustment and transition for myself is (that) you got to learn from every single game and then try to go and implement it the next day in a walkthrough and then you play the next game the day after that.”
Aliyah Boston felt the Fever did a solid job defending the 3-pointer aside from the fourth quarter, but she did acknowledge the broken coverage due to screens set by the Sparks. However, she seemed to hint at feeling like the game’s officials were not giving each team equal treatment when it came to foul calls.
“Sometimes I get certain calls on my positioning, and I was trying to ask some questions about (Los Angeles),” Boston said. “They were doing the same thing, and I was trying to figure out how sometimes I get those calls and we don’t. You’re battling, and it gets frustrating when there’s certain things for you.”
Clark was called for a technical foul late in the first quarter, and while the reasoning was initially unclear for those not on the court, Sides said after the game it came down to the Fever’s excessive chatter toward the officials. She offered up herself as the one who should be talking to the officials — the one who should be in a position to earn a technical foul.
Sparks guard Aari McDonald was awarded free throws after the foul, and between the two shots, she initially appeared to get in Clark’s face to offer a retort for the technical. However, Clark disputed this, saying McDonald had just accidentally forgotten about her second free throw and was attempting to return to her defensive assignment.
“Kind person, honestly,” Clark said about McDonald, who finished with a season-best 21 points.
Clark was later fouled by McDonald on a 3-point attempt, a call that was ultimately ruled a flagrant. By the time the final buzzer sounded, Clark went 13-of-15 from the free throw line.
Although Clark was insistent she expected the physicality that comes with professional basketball, she suggested she should have been awarded more attempts from the charity stripe against Los Angeles.
“I think everybody’s physical with me,” Clark said. “They get away with things that probably other people don’t get away with. It’s tough, but the fact of the matter is this is a very physical game.”
While the Fever ultimately fell to the one team they have beaten this season, they’ll stay in Gainbridge Fieldhouse for what could be a more challenging matchup Thursday. Indiana is set to face the Seattle Storm (4-3), a squad that previously topped the Fever 85-83 out west.
Clark feels the key to future victories for the Fever must come in the form of preventing long scoring runs, such as the crucial 28-8 second half stretch that may have cost them against the Sparks.
“That seems to be an issue for us, we can never really stop the bleeding,” Clark said, “and it’s just too much to come back from.”
Contact Kyle Smedley via email at KSmedley@Gannett.com or via X @KyleSmedley_.
Gov. Mike Braun asked state regulators to reconsider their decision to greenlight a $71 million rate increase for AES Indiana, doubling down on his condemnation of a move that could leave Indianapolis residents with higher electrical bills for years.
Braun wrote in a June 18 news release that he had asked Indiana Utility Counselor Abby Gray, who heads the office representing ratepayers in proceedings before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, to petition for a rehearing of the AES rate case.
Gray indicated in the release that her office would submit the petition shortly. No petition had been posted on the IURC’s online docket as of this story’s publication.
The rate increase, which was approved by the IURC on June 17, was substantially less than the $192 million increase that AES initially requested. It was also less than the amount proposed in a settlement last October between AES and major electricity consumers.
But the Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, which Gray leads, came out strongly against any increase to AES’s base rates. In September, the OUCC called for a $21 million reduction instead.
As the Republican Party grapples with rising discontent over affordability, Braun has used opposition to rising utility rates to telegraph that he’s committed to keeping costs down for Indiana residents. He signed a law in February that allows the state to make rate-setting decisions that reward or penalize utilities based on metrics including affordability.
In March, he told reporters that he would take on Indiana’s five investor-owned utilities, describing himself as the “new sheriff in town.”
And after the IURC voted 3-1 to approve the AES rate increase, he wrote in a post to X that he was “deeply disappointed.”
Braun wrote in the June 18 news release that he had appointed Gray, a longtime OUCC lawyer and judge, to her current post because he knew she “would help me fight for Hoosiers.”
According to AES’s estimates, the rate increase will cost households an additional $5 per month for every 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity they use, beginning in July. A second hike will take effect in January.
Tilly Robinson is a Pulliam fellow for the Indianapolis Star. She can be reached at tilly.robinson@indystar.com.
The Protect College Sports Act, legislation meant to introduce and codify sweeping reforms related to college athletics, passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday morning.
It now heads to the Senate floor.
The bill passed out of committee by a 19-9 vote. Indiana Republican Sen. Todd Young voted no, his decision reflecting Big Ten concerns over the bill.
A spokesman for Sen. Young told IndyStar, “Senator Young hopes that additional changes can be made to the bill to address concerns raised by the Big Ten.”
Co-sponsored by Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), the Protect College Sports Act represents Congress’ most substantial success so far in a yearslong effort to bring legislative reform to college athletics. Since before the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders in college sports — including the NCAA, member conferences and schools, and other major players — have lobbied for national solutions to what have become state and regional problems.
Several pieces of legislation have been introduced across the last several years, only to fizzle long before reaching the floor of either chamber. The SCORE Act, introduced last year in the House of Representatives, gained some traction and passed out of committee, but was never brought to the floor.
Which makes Thursday’s news meaningful. Moving the Protect College Sports Act to the Senate floor, while not a guarantee of any outcome, potentially takes the bill past a threshold no other such piece of reformative legislation has yet been able to cross.
Cruz told Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger on Thursday that Cruz believes Sen. Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is committed to introducing the bill to the Senate floor soon.
The bill provides a legal framework for a host of potential reforms and protections for college sports. It grants limited antitrust protection to the NCAA, places limits on certain things including potential conference realignment, builds safeguards meant to protect non-revenue and Olympic sports, addresses potential broadcast rights reforms, and more.
It enjoys significant backing, and not just among leaders in college sports. This week, the NFL, its players’ association, the National Basketball Players Association and Major League Baseball all voiced their support for the bill.
Two key constituencies not in lockstep on the bill voiced their own concerns Thursday.
In a joint statement issued just after 10 a.m. Thursday, the Big Ten and SEC — far and away the two most powerful conferences and arguably two greatest power centers, full stop, in college athletics — suggested they still hold significant reservations over the bill.
“From the outset, we identified a set of essential revisions to the PCSA necessary for the long-term sustainability of college athletics,” the statement read. “We have worked with both majority and minority staff to advance those revisions, which focus on better supporting student-athletes and stabilizing the college sports environment. We continue to believe revisions are needed to secure our support for the bill.
“Despite our sustained engagement and good faith efforts, these critical revisions have not been accepted.”
The statement went on to note the “several Commerce Committee members that share our concerns and support these recommendations.”
Young is one of several members of the committee representing a Big Ten state, including one of three Republicans. He is the only Republican member of the committee whose state contains multiple schools in the conference.
Allowing for those reservations, Thursday’s news is still significant. It marks the first time a bipartisan bill on the subject has reached this point in the Senate and, should it be brought to the floor, it would be the first such legislation to reach that stage, in either chamber.
The bill could be brought to the Senate floor as early as July, though that timeline remains fluid.
(INDIANA CAPITAL CHRONICLE) – The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission voted 3-1 Wednesday to approve a $71 million electricity rate increase for AES Indiana customers.
That is about 37% of what the utility initially requested and lower than a settlement agreement proposed in October.
Neither Gov. Mike Braun nor consumer advocates are happy with the outcome.
“My top priority is affordability, which is why I am deeply disappointed by the IURC’s approval of another AES rate increase,” he said. “Hoosiers have spent years tightening their belts and making tough financial decisions. It’s time for utility companies to do the same.”
Members of the commission didn’t explain their votes Wednesday. IURC Chair Andy Zay focused his remarks on the process.
“There’s a lot of eyes on this order and what we’re doing today,” he said. “What is before you on the floor is a nearly a year’s worth of work, evidence, deliberations, and considerations that bring us to this moment in this decision. None of this was taken lightly. I want to thank my colleagues for the patience and working through this amongst the auspice of affordability, which is certainly a hot topic now, as well as the resiliency, reliability that we see in this increased demand in electricity.”
The Office of Utility Consumer Counselor last year recommended that state regulators deny AES Indiana’s request for a $193 million base rate increase — instead proposing a $21 million reduction in current rates.
“The AES rate order issued today is an outrage and Hoosiers deserve better!” Counselor Abby Gray said in a statement Wednesday. “Governor Braun has made it clear that ratepayer affordability is a priority, far more than just a ‘hot topic’ as described by the chairman of the IURC today. This order fails the governor’s call to overhaul how utilities are regulated in order to lower bills for ratepayers.”
Gray’s office represents Hoosier ratepayers in regulatory cases.
“The order approves a substantial profit margin for shareholders in addition to a rate increase for customers,” she continued. “It even requires ratepayers to pay approximately $3 million to AES lawyers and experts.”
AES Indiana provides electricity service to about 490,000 homes and businesses in Indianapolis and some nearby areas.
The utility originally sought $193 million in rate increases. The previously proposed settlement agreement dropped that to $91 million, while the final, approved settlement agreement lands at $71 million.
Three IURC members supported the increase: Zay, David Veleta and David Ziegner.
Commissioner Bob Deig voted no. A fifth member, Anthony Swinger, recused himself because he worked on the case previously when he was on the consumer counselor’s office staff.
Ben Inskeep, program director for ratepayer advocacy group Citizens Action Coalition, said utilities across the country often ask for a larger increase than they need, knowing that regulators will disallow “roughly half” of it.
“The latest AES Indiana fuel adjustment clause proceeding shows AES Indiana is actually not only earning all of their allowed profit but over-earning by $19 million their return amount,” he said. “They’re already extremely financially successful at this moment in time, so it’s rather bizarre to even get an extra $71 million dollars approved here.”
Inskeep also noted that the increases will fall disproportionately on residential customers over commercial and industrial users.
Brandi Davis-Handy, president of AES Indiana, said the company has maintained some of the lowest rates in the state for more than a decade “through disciplined planning and a focus on efficiency. We applied the same approach here by working closely with stakeholders to make balanced decisions that keep the system reliable, limit customer impact, and align with the state’s energy pillars.”
AES said for a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month, the increase will be less than $5 per month per phase. Phase one rates will be implemented in July 2026 and phase two rates will be implemented in January 2027.
The final order says the utility “will not seek to implement a change in basic rates and charges as a result of its next base rate case before January 1, 2030.”
A new law, however, requires all utilities to file a multi-year rate case in 2029, though implementation wouldn’t happen until 2030.
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