Indiana

Indiana’s congressional delegation is getting a much-needed shakeup – Indiana Capital Chronicle

Published

2 years ago

January 23, 2024

Indiana’s congressional delegation is getting a much-needed shakeup – Indiana Capital Chronicle

Representative government in Indiana will look drastically different next year. Or will it?

Four of the state’s nine U.S. House members from Indiana will not seek reelection this year. Districts currently represented by Reps. Larry Bucshon, Jim Banks, Greg Pence, and Victoria Spartz will all get new House members next year. The question is: How will that matter?

Congressman Jim Banks (Official portrait)

None of these departing members spent any time, to quote “Hamilton,” in “The Room Where It Happens.” None chaired a committee or were on track to do so. I consume an abundance of national media on Washington politics, and only in the rarest of circumstances would any of these soon-to-be retirees appear there.

Now, media appearance frequency is no way to measure value, but extended periods of radio silence should cause people back home to wonder: Is my representative representing me?

The one exception here is Banks. He had been viewed as a reliably conservative voice from the beginning of his time in the House, and the state Senate before that. But his overt and abrupt decision to join the sycophancy of former President Donald Trump, was his strategy for brand growth. And it worked, sort of.

Banks chaired the hyper-partisan Republican Study Committee, and then ran for the position of Majority Whip shortly after the GOP won control in the 2022 election. But he was narrowly defeated by Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota in his quest to get into “The Room.”

U.S. Rep. Greg Pence, of Columbus. (Official portrait)

Talk about dodging a bullet! In the history of the U.S. House, there has never been a more inept example of leadership. All kinds of embarrassing “firsts” have occurred since the Kevin McCarthy era began. Banks’ presence would not have changed that. Leading this group is an impossible task. So, losing his quest allowed him to keep much of the slop from that pigsty off of his brand.

But the slop that is now the feature of the Banks brand is grievance, particularly any Trump grievance. This is all he is now. He doesn’t have any other platform.

GOP advantage

All four of these “open” seats in Congress are in districts with maps that have been drawn to advantage Republican candidates. The most ethnically diverse district among them is the 5th, where merely 82% of the district is white. In that district, Republicans have an eleven-point advantage, before candidates even file to run.

And this is the most competitive district among them.

Spartz currently holds this seat. She announced last February that she would not run for reelection, though reports as recently as December indicate she is reconsidering, something she often does. But because of her announcement a year ago, there are nine Republican candidates and one Democrat who are campaigning for the seat. Good.

Congresswoman Victoria Spartz (Official portrait)

There is similar competition for Indiana’s 3rd District, the district Banks currently represents. There are nine Republicans and three Democrats running there. Good.

But in Indiana’s 8th District, left open by Bucshon’s retirement, no Republican has filed to run yet. In Indiana’s 6th, being left open by Pence’s retirement, one Republican has filed, though it is hard to see that an actual campaign has begun. There are Democrat candidates in both districts, but again, these districts are near 20-point advantages for Republicans.

The primary is what matters most in all four of these districts, three months from now. And in two of them, voters have no idea who is running in them. But again, I ask: How will it matter?

Primary matters

My position is that it won’t.

It has been a long time since Indiana sent someone to Congress who excelled at driving an important agenda. We have a school at Indiana University named after them: Rep. Lee Hamilton and Sen. Richard Lugar. Both chaired their chamber’s committees on foreign affairs, Hamilton in the 1990’s and Lugar in the 2000’s. Both were looked to for guidance on those issues before then and for long afterward.

U.S. Rep. Larry Bucshon (Official Congressional Portrait)

In the 1970’s, Indiana Senator Birch Bayh became the first person since James Madison to author more than one amendment to the U.S. Constitution, authoring both the 25th and 26th Amendments.

Hoosier members of Congress don’t have to rise to prominence like these three statesmen did to “matter.” However, our members have been comfortably seated in the back row of the House for a long time now, and that is getting old.

When the contest for representation only exists during a primary, the seat will only attract the most partisan candidates. It reduces campaigns to the foundational choice of being partisan or not. And in today’s congress that choice is synonymous with being either deranged or unelectable.

Enjoy the May primaries in these four districts, Indiana. They are certain to be much ado about nothing.

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Related Topics:Banks bucshon Congress democrat districts Featured gop House open seats Pence republican spartz

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Indiana

Central Indiana schools announce closures, delays planned for Tuesday

Published

3 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Central Indiana schools announce closures, delays planned for Tuesday

INDIANAPOLIS — Some schools in central Indiana are planning to close or delay the start of their classes on Tuesday.

The closures and delays come in the wake of a difficult weekend of severe winter weather in the Hoosier State. On Saturday, a wintry system dumped more than six inches of snow in some portions of the state.

Points north of Indianapolis like Lafayette received between three and four inches of snow. Towns south of the Circle City like Seymour saw similar snowfall totals. As for Indianapolis itself, more than five inches of snow were recorded in some portions of the city.

After Saturday’s snow, frigid temperatures took hold in the area. A Cold Weather Advisory was issued for much of the state as wind chill values dipped well below zero.

The cold and snow triggered a bevy of school closings and delays for Monday. Schools began to announce delays and closures for Tuesday late Monday night as snow removal crews across the state continued to try to keep roadways clear.

Though some schools plan to close or delay the start of classes on Tuesday, temperature improvements are forecasted. High temperatures are anticipated to exceed the 32-degree freezing threshold and hit 36 degrees. The warming trend is expected to continue on both Wednesday and Thursday, with high temperatures forecasted to reach 40 and 50 degrees, respectively.

Precipitation is forecasted for Thursday, though temperatures are expected to remain warm enough for Indiana to get rain instead of snow.

FOX59/CBS4 is tracking the closures and delays schools plan to implement on Tuesday. Check out the latest available list of closings below:

Jump To: A–Z

A

Area 30 Career Center

Putnam

Charles A Beard Mem School Corp

Henry

School

Delayed 2 hours

Cloverdale Community Schools

Putnam

School

2-Hour Delay, No AM Preschool

D

Decatur County Community Schools

Decatur

School

Delayed 2 hours

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Indiana

AwardsWatch – Indiana Film Journalists Association (IFJA) Awards: ‘Sinners’ Named Best Picture

Published

15 hours ago

December 15, 2025

Press Room

AwardsWatch – Indiana Film Journalists Association (IFJA) Awards: ‘Sinners’ Named Best Picture

The Indiana Film Journalists Association (IFJA) has named Sinners the best film of 2025, also awarding the film original screenplay, score, cinematography, editing and ensemble.

Paul Thomas Anderson was named best director for One Battle After Another, which also picked up acting wins for Benicio Del Toro (supporting performance) and Chase Infiniti (breakout of the year).

Here is the complete list of winners and runners-up.

Best Picture
Winner: Sinners
Runner-up: One Battle After Another

Best Director
Winner: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Runner-up: Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Best Lead Performance
Winner: Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme
Runner-up: Jessie Buckley, Hamnet

Best Supporting Performance
Winner: Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another
Runner-up: Amy Madigan, Weapons

Best Vocal / Motion-Capture Performance
Winner: Will Patton, Train Dreams
Runner-up: Ebon Moss-Bachrach, The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Best Ensemble Acting
Winner: Sinners
Runner-up: One Battle After Another

Best Animated Film
Winner: K-Pop Demon Hunters
Runner-up: The Legend of Hei 2

Best Foreign Language Film
Winner: No Other Choice
Runner-up: Sentimental Value

Best Documentary Film
Winner: The Tenderness Tour
Runner-up: Orwell: 2+2=5

Best Original Screenplay
Winner: Ryan Coogler, Sinners
Runner-up: Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme

Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another
Runner-up: Mike Flanagan, The Life of Chuck

Best Musical Score
Winner: Ludwig Göransson, Sinners
Runner-up: Jonny Greenwood, One Battle After Another

Breakout of the Year
Winner: Chase Infiniti (performer), One Battle After Another
Runner-up: Miles Caton (performer), Sinners

Best Cinematography
Winner: Autumn Donald Arkapaw, Sinners
Runner-up: Michael Bauman, One Battle After Another

Best Editing
Winner: Michael P. Shawver, Sinners
Runner-up: Andy Jurgensen, One Battle After Another

Best Stunt / Movement Choreography
Winner: Wade Eastwood (second-unit director / stunt coordinator), Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning
Runner-up: Brian Machleit (stunt coordinator), One Battle After Another

Best Special Effects
Winner: Dennis Berardi, Ayo Burgess and Ivan Busquets (visual effects supervisors) and José Granell (miniatures / models supervisor), Frankenstein
Runner-up: Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl and Guido Wolter (visual effects supervisors) and Donnie Dean (special effects coordinator), Sinners

Original Vision Award
Winner: Good Boy
Runner-up: The Testament of Ann Lee

The Edward Johnson-Ott Hoosier Award
Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

Indiana

Police shoots man armed with knife in Gary, Indiana, officials say

Published

1 day ago

December 15, 2025

Press Room

Police shoots man armed with knife in Gary, Indiana, officials say

Updated on: December 15, 2025 / 12:07 AM CST
/ CBS Chicago

A man wielding a knife was shot by a police officer on Sunday in Gary, Indiana.

A spokesperson for the city said officers responded to the 2100 block of Tennessee Street for a call of a suicidal man who was armed with a knife in his hand. The man had already stabbed himself a couple of times before they arrived.

Officers found the man in the east alley of 22nd and Ohio. At this time, he was standing in the alley still with the knife in his hand and refused to drop it as ordered by officers. The man then started to advance toward the officer, who shot the man three times in the arm, the spokesperson said.

The officer notified the department that shots were fired, and the man was down. The condition of the man is unknown as of Sunday night.

Other officers responded to the scene to set up a perimeter around the area. The Gary Fire Department and Lake County Crime Scene Investigation personnel were also contacted.

No further information was immediately available.

If you or someone you know is in emotional distress, get help from the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. Trained crisis counselors are available 24 hours a day to talk about anything.