Indiana
Mysterious “Protect Patients Indiana” group drops $50K on vague health care ads • Indiana Capital Chronicle
A vague television commercial streaming across Hoosiers’ screens during the airing of the Olympic Games seems to call for increased patient protections and less government regulation over health care. But details about “Protect Patients Indiana” are scarce, and the mysterious group — which has so far funneled more than $54,000 in ads — appears to be based out of state, in Ohio.
The 30-second ad features generic clips of doctors and patients inside hospitals. An off-camera narrator says Protect Patients Indiana “is committed to safeguarding our health care” by “reducing red tape, supporting local hospitals and their staff” and “ensuring access for all Hoosiers.”
A “join us” callout at the end of the video points viewers to a website under the same name.
Absent from the ad and website, however, is any information about Protect Patients Indiana, its financial supporters, or any other details about the group.
Though it’s not made clear in the campaign materials, the ad appears to be the work of Protect Patients Indiana, a limited liability company registered in Ohio in June.
It’s one of 83 LLCs or nonprofits created since 2023 by Cincinnati-based Langdon Law, according to Ohio’s Secretary of State.
The firm is run by David Langdon, described as a behind-the-scenes conservative lawyer, who over the last decade has quietly helped nonprofits and super-PACs pour millions of dollars into elections. Langdon did not return the Indiana Capital Chronicle’s request for comment.
Few details exist about Protect Patients Indiana
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) records indicate that Protect Patients Indiana purchased 39 ad spots to air between July 15 and Aug. 25 on WTHR, the Indianapolis NBC-affiliate.
Another 23 ad spots were purchased to air between July 15 and Aug. 31 on Indianapolis WXIN’s FOX 59.
The commercials are scheduled to run during local news hours, as well as throughout primetime evening shows like NBC Nightly News, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy and coverage of the 2024 Olympic Games.
FCC records show the ads were purchased in early July by Denver-based M2 Placements LLC. Representatives from the group did not respond to the Capital Chronicle’s requests for comment.
Tim Phelps, vice president of Hathaway Strategies in Indianapolis, is listed as a contact for Protect Patients Indiana on the WXIN form. He is also listed as chairman of the group.
Reached via email Phelps didn’t provide additional details and only said in a statement that “Protect Patients Indiana is an organization that advocates for minimal government intervention, trust in healthcare providers and access to a range of healthcare options in every Indiana community.”
Story continues below.
Protect Patients Indiana
The wording mirrors the group’s website, which says its mission is to “advocate for minimal government intervention, trust in healthcare providers, and support for community hospitals.” That includes “safeguard(ing)” local health care services, addressing “workforce challenges,” and promoting policies that “protect and enhance access to care for all individuals across the state.”
A video of the TV ad is the first to pop up when visiting the website:
“When your life’s on the line, you shouldn’t have to worry if the local hospital is open, if there’s enough staff, or if government regulations will affect your care,” the narrator said in the video. “Four in 10 Hoosiers will need hospitalization this year. That’s why Protect Patients Indiana is committed to safeguarding our health care; by reducing red tape, supporting local hospitals and their staff, ensuring access for all Hoosiers. Protect Patients Indiana. Prioritizing health in every community, Join us.”
The hospitalization statistic is more than four times the state’s current hospitalization rate. According to the American Hospital Directory, there were roughly 653,000 hospital patient discharges in 2022, equal to about one in 10 Hoosiers.
An “issues” page on the website further highlights “staff shortages and workforce concerns” in Indiana’s health care system; concerns over rural hospital closures; Hoosiers’ “minimal appetite” for increased government regulation in health care; the “vital role” of community hospitals that provide essential services and preventive to low-income patients; and advocacy for “for policies prioritizing patient-provider relationships, fostering trust in healthcare institutions, and minimizing government interference in medical decisions.”
Both the Indiana Hospital Association and Hoosiers for Affordable Healthcare said they are not affiliated with the effort.
Website users are asked to sign an inconspicuous online petition to “secure the future of community healthcare in Indiana.” The form asks for a name, email, zip code and phone number.
No agents or contacts are mentioned anywhere on the advertisement or website. An inquiry into the website’s domain shows it was additionally registered anonymously.
What — who — is Langdon Law?
Currently, 72 of the LLCs or nonprofits created by Langdon are active, per Ohio records. Most were registered in 2023.
Protect Patients Indiana, along with the Nevada Jobs and Growth PAC LLC became effective June 5. Two other LLCs — the Ohio Christian Education Network LLC and the United States Christian Education Network LLC — were registered with Ohio’s Secretary of State during the last week of July.
Other organizations formed by Langdon since 2023 include: Working Ohioans Against Recreational Marijuana, Coalition to Restore American Values, Conservative Alliance of Republicans, Cambridge Digital Bible Research, and both an LLC and a PAC with the name Parents Against Stupid Stuff.
A 2015 report from Politico described Langdon as the “Suburban Ohio Lawyer Behind the Right’s Dark Money Machine,” and found that at least 11 groups connected to Langdon or his firm collectively spent at least $22 million on federal and state elections and ballot initiatives around the country between 2010 and 2015.
A Columbus Dispatch report, also from 2015, further described Langdon as “an unswerving legal warrior for conservative, often Christian, nonprofit organizations that together spend millions more to influence public policy and wield great influence among evangelical voters.”
Langdon was a lead author of a proposed amendment to Ohio’s constitution defining marriage as between a man and a woman, which voters passed in 2004. He’s also donated thousands of work hours to the Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit Christian legal ministry that specializes in religious freedom cases.
While Langdon Law has donated thousands to political campaigns and committees in other states, no such donations appear in Indiana campaign finance records — though Langdon or the new LLC could still choose to do so ahead of the November election.
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Indiana
Police shoots man armed with knife in Gary, Indiana, officials say
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.
Indiana
50+ Indiana counties under travel advisories after snow storm. See map
Safety and preparation are the keys to staying safe this winter
Officials talk about winter preparedness, safety, tips. Safety and preparation are the keys. Here are some tips.
At least 50 Indiana counties are under a travel advisory, and 20 counties were issued a travel watch for Dec. 14, following an overnight snow storm.
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) travel advisory map has each county shaded in red for a travel warning, orange for a travel watch, yellow for a travel advisory and gray for a county without an elevated status report on it’s current travel conditions.
Here’s how you can check your county to see where it lands on the map.
Travel advisory
According to DHS, a travel advisory is the lowest level of a related advisory.
“Routine travel or activities may be restricted in areas because of a hazardous situation, and individuals should use caution or avoid those areas,” the department says on its website.
Watch advisory
According to DHS, a watch advisory is issued when conditions are threatening to a county’s safety.
“Only essential travel, such as to and from work or in emergency situations, is recommended, and emergency action plans should be implemented by businesses, schools, government agencies and other organizations,” the department’s website states.
Warning advisory
According to DHS, a warning advisory is the highest level of a related advisory, where people may be told not to travel at all.
“Travel may be restricted to emergency management workers only,” the department’s website states.
Here’s the winter weather info you need
🚨 Indiana Weather Alerts: Warnings, Watches and Advisories.
⚡ Indiana power outage map: How to check your status.
💻 Internet outages: How to track them.
🚫 What you should and shouldn’t do when the power is out.
🐶 Your neighbor left their pet outside. Who you should call.
Indianapolis weather radar
Jade Jackson is a public safety reporter for the Indianapolis Star. You can email her at Jade.Jackson@IndyStar.com and follow her on X, formerly Twitter @IAMJADEJACKSON.
Indiana
What Darian DeVries, Tucker DeVries Said After Indiana Basketball’s Loss at Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries and senior forward Tucker DeVries met with reporters after the Hoosiers’ 72-60 loss to Kentucky on Saturday night at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
Here’s what the DeVries duo said during their near-seven-minute press conference.
Q: I guess, Darian, it’s sort of another night where it feels like it just kind of gets difficult to really break down an opponent off the dribble, kind of get that inside-out sort of paint touch to three looks you want, just like what, I guess, are you guys, what’s not happening there, what’s just kind of sort of failing at the source offensively when that’s not working?
DD: Yeah, I thought the first half, you know, we got some pretty good action, pretty good movement, I thought the second half, Kentucky certainly turned up the pressure and was able to get into us and we didn’t respond well enough and we turned the ball over too much and live ball turnovers against them are really hard because now they’re out in transition playing in space, so the turnovers and the offensive rebounding, I mean, that flipped the game around that second half.
Q: On Kentucky’s long run, what was the problem there?
Yeah, I thought the turnovers, it was a combination of things, I thought, you know, we left our feet a few times, I thought we just, you know, got on our heels a little bit and didn’t play as disciplined as we needed to, you know, as that, you know, the crowd got cranked up and things, that’s the time where you got to really dig in a little bit more, your screen’s got to be better, you got to play off of two feet more, and then the offensive rebounds, you know, they just went and got them and, you know, we didn’t do a good enough job of creating space and getting bodies and going and securing the ball.
Q: What do you think you need to improve on, the team needs to improve on against ball pressure at the point of attack?
DD: Yeah, the number one thing when you get at ball pressure is everything from an execution standpoint and a movement standpoint, it’s just got to be done with more force, you can’t continue just to get pushed out and everybody stands, so you have to find ways to give yourself up with a back hook, give yourself up with a screen, set up those screens with more force, you know, and get some movement to, you know, even as, you know, they had gotten ahead and we started to break it off a little bit, once we got movement again, we were able to get those clean looks or better looks, so it’s something we got to get better at, there’s no question.
Q: Tucker, your individual line tonight was really great, I mean, your effort was fantastic, 15 points, 7 rebounds, a lot of the three point shots tonight didn’t go down like they normally do for the Hoosiers, what do you think that is, was it just not seeing the basket as well, was it the defense, was it not in the offense where you were getting clean looks?
TUCKER DEVRIES: To be honest, making and missing shots, I thought tonight, honestly, wasn’t a problem, I know, certainly, I did not shoot it great, as a team we didn’t shoot that great either from three, but, you know, even with that being said, I think there were certainly areas that we needed to be a lot better at, as a group, and if we were able to, you know, especially in the second half, execute in those areas, I think that would have made up for some of those, you know, shooting habits and miscues, but, you know, making them missing shots sometimes is basketball, but I thought in the other areas, if we could just, you know, execute there a little bit.
Q: On that, if shots maybe weren’t the problem, what kind of was, do you think?
TUCKER: I mean, he hit on it pretty good, the turnovers and obviously the offensive rebounds they had, especially in the second half. I mean, I take full responsibility for both of those areas. Obviously, four turnovers is far too many. As a group, I think when they pick up the pressure, I think we just need to really focus on our execution a little bit more on every possession. But good thing is we get a good week here before we play again to really dial in on some of those areas that we’ve maybe lacked in the beginning.
Q: When Lamar picked up his fourth foul and missed nearly nine minutes, what went wrong offensively?
DD: Yeah, I don’t remember the exact sequences there, but, you know, not having Lamar out there is certainly a big part of our offense, and, you know, his foul trouble tonight certainly limited him with only the 21 minutes because he was, again, he’s, you know, a big focal piece of what we try to run our offense through, so, you know, I believe during that little stretch that he wasn’t out there, that’s when the turnovers started to happen and
we weren’t able to get into, you know, maybe some of our actions the way we needed to.
Q: Darian, you mentioned Kentucky’s offensive rebound and kind of flipping that game. Was that just their physicality, their effort out beating you guys or something else that you saw going on?
DD: Yeah, I thought their effort, their physicality in the second half was, you know, really good. I mean, they certainly cranked it up a notch in that second half and we needed to respond to it, but, you know, I thought their aggressiveness defensively, their aggressiveness in the offensive glass, you know, was ultimately the factor.
Q: Darian, you mentioned Lamar, but how much did the foul trouble for not just him, but other guys, affect you tonight?
DD: I mean, foul trouble is foul trouble. You have it every night, so you’ve got to figure out a way to deal with it and, you know, we just didn’t do a good enough job with that.
Q: Just to follow up on that, with this team, and you’ve talked about sort of where you are with the two bigs and things like that, like does foul trouble become sort of a compounding problem when it disrupts rotations? It felt tonight like maybe guys were just not either on the floor long enough to find the rhythm or maybe had to be on the floor too long because other guys were in foul trouble.
DD: Again, our guys, you know, their numbers are called, they’re ready to go. You know, certainly, you know, a guy like Lamar, you want him out there, but when he’s not out there, I feel very confident that the guys that are coming in are going to do their part and do their job and, you know, we certainly have a lot of faith in them, so, you know, unfortunately it just didn’t work out the way we wanted it to tonight.
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