Indiana
Q&A from 'All Indiana Politics Special: The Governor’s Debate'
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The three candidates in November’s election for governor debated in a live broadcast Thursday night at WISH-TV studios.
“All Indiana Politics Special: The Governor’s Debate” featured Republican Mike Braun, Democrat Jennifer McCormick, and Libertarian Donald Rainwater.
Here are the questions they were asked followed with their answers. Answers are paraphrased until in quotation marks. This story will be updated as new questions are added.
Raise your hand if you support cutting or reducing Indiana’s property taxes as governor?
All three raised their hands.
What specifically would you cut, and how would you replace funding for schools and local police and fire services?
BRAUN: People are complaining about property taxes. Circuit breakers put in place by Gov. Mitch Daniels are no longer working. He would reset property taxes to where they were before they went out of control. He wants to assure local governments and school districts have enough to keep going.
McCORMICK: She knows property taxes are weighing on everyone. She put out a property tax plan to give savings to all Hoosiers in a bipartisan way. It’ll be ready on Day 1 and particular help elderly Hoosiers and veterans. The plan would save $660 million; it’s been well-received. She says Braun keeps revising his plan.
RAINWATER: In 2020, he suggested property taxes should be capped at 1% of the value of the property over seven years. He’s done planning — looking at tax-increment finance districts and 10-year tax abatements — on how to fund local government amid a tax cap.
In the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border a crisis, and what should be the role of Indiana government in addressing it?
McCORMICK: Braun, while in Congress as a U.S. senator, has opposed legislation that would have helped. Braun voted against the legislation for political reasons alone. Indiana needs to consider legal immigration’s positive role in helping Indiana’s economy.
RAINWATER: The governor should enforce the rule of law. The federal government has failed to enforce its mandate to manage immigration. Why Braun hasn’t solved the immigration problem while a U.S. senator? Would he do better as Indiana governor?
BRAUN: Former President Donald Trump protected the borders; President Joe Biden has not. He declined to list the crimes that come to Indiana. “I don’t think any Hoosier would be for making it legal that you could have 5,000 illegal immigrants coming across the border daily.”
Do you believe Indiana should add additional restrictions on abortion, repeal the law, or keep things as they are now?
RAINWATER: If changes need to be made to the current law, then the judiciary needs to determine that. Legislators can listen to constituents and make changes. Additional things: Many lifelong Hoosiers are pro-choice; I’ve never seen in the state constitution where Indiana is declared a pro-life state, as Braun has said; many women, lifelong Hoosiers, are pro-live.
BRAUN: Indiana’s abortion has held up through the courts, and Hoosiers have supported it because Indiana as a pro-life state. He says Indiana’s legislature vetted its law carefully, and that held up in the courts, and “it reflects the majority of Hoosiers in the state.”
McCORMICK: I trust women and health care providers. Let’s put the question to the voters in a ballot initiative. Sixty percent of Hoosiers believe in allowing women control the decisions for their health care. Braun says he thinks he got it right, but we need to go back to standards of Roe v. Wade and trust our women. “Hoosiers, I have your back on this.”
Do you believe the school voucher system is helping or hurting the education of Indiana’s children?
BRAUN: Indiana has a leading edge on choice and competition, and also puts the parents as the main stakeholders in their children’s education. “When you have one size fits all, it’s a monopoly.” If you’re not for choice, competition, and vouchers to make it doable, it’s not a zero-sum game. Indiana’s money follows the kids, as was established years ago.
He says Pike County once had mismanagement within a school district, and had to shut down one with the best performance. “If it had not been for the availability of a charter school, you would’ve had to bus those kids 20 to 30 minutes additionally. They are thriving now because they had the option, and the parents went for it.”
Braun says McCormick was in charge for four years as a state schools superintendent and that “results never got any better. I think you’ve got to be held accountable when that’s the one thing you did in state government.”
McCORMICK: I believe in fiscal responsibility. Indiana puts $1.6 billion into private education, and the results haven’t been good. “Make no mistake, this isn’t about parents choosing, this is about a school choosing. The admission policies need to be looked at. If I should up with a child and the school doesn’t like the academy performance, or the color of their skin, or how they identify LGBTQ, or their religious belief, they do not have to take them. … Public dollars need to go to public schools. That whole program needs to be reviewed.” The threshold of eligibility is $220,000 family of four, and how many Hoosier families make that much?
Indiana schools have been under continuously changing standards and test before the exam results are in. Those changes, every time, cost $40 million. We don’t have good data to know what is and isn’t working.
McCormick, when she was a former state schools superintendent, didn’t have control over changing the test.
RAINWATER: I believe in universal school choice. Our public school system is failing; only 63% of children taking statewide tests in math and English. “We are spending almost 60% of our state budget on education.” The state constitution allows for the funding of public and private schools.
McCormick, when she was a former state schools superintendent, changed the test and wasted money.
Do you support Indiana legalizing marijuana use, either medicinal, recreational, or both?
McCORMICK: I’m aware 80% of Hoosiers support it. My cannabis plan calls for a conversation on medical use before a conversation on adult use.
On adult use, Indiana is losing out on $177 million in tax revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs because surrounding states have legalized marijuana.
Indiana needs a commission on cannabis use.
RAINWATER: “We don’t need to expand government. We don’t need a new commission. We don’t need new regulations. We can make cannabis in all forms — medicinal and recreational — legal right now.”
“If legislators are not prepared, that is their fault, and we should probably replace them. We should make this legal now, and, as governor, I would make sure that all nonviolent criminal cannabis-related offenses are expunged.”
BRAUN: Marijuana use medicinally and recreationally is cascading across the county, and Indiana needs to address it seriously. He’d have to think about whether to allow adult use. On medical use, “We’re probably ready for it.” On both counts, he’s going to listen to law enforcement because they will have to enforce it and put up with any issues.
Indiana
Warm, windy with strong storms possible | March 31, 2026
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH-TV) – Warm and windy conditions today. We will see rain chances increase throughout the week. Several rain chances along with even some strongest severe thunderstorms could be possible. Temperatures remain above normal for this time of year through the weekend.
TODAY: Partly to mostly cloudy conditions expected during the day. It will be windy once again. Winds will be out of the south and may gust a little higher than yesterday around 30 to 40 mph.
High temperatures will be right around 81 degrees. The record for today is 85.
There may be a scattered shower that could develop after the lunch hour. But a better chance of showers and storms later this evening
TONIGHT: Showers and thunderstorms could be possible across parts of North Central and northern sections of Indiana. Some of those could be on the stronger side with some gusty winds and heavy rainfall. Low temperatures will fall right around 58.
TOMORROW: More showers and thunderstorms will be possible on Wednesday. A boundary will be set up right across parts of Central Indiana. This will bring us more rain chances on and off throughout the day. Look for temperatures to be right around 65. North of Indianapolis temperatures will be a bit cooler and south of Indy temperatures will be a bit warmer.
7 DAY EXTENDED FORECAST: Much of the day on Thursday will be dry with partly to mostly cloudy skies. It’s going to be warm with high temperatures soaring near 78 degrees. Showers and thunderstorms will develop later in the evening on Thursday as a cold front moves across the state. This will bring us a chance for some strong to maybe even severe thunderstorms late Thursday.
More scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible on Friday. With highs right around 76. Could also see some rain and thunderstorms for the first part of the weekend on Saturday with highs near 73. Easter Sunday does look dry and with some sunshine, but it will be much cooler. Highs will be in near 56.
Indiana
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun to join BP refinery union workers on Tuesday amid lockout
Indiana Governor Mike Braun will join locked-out union members at the BP Whiting refinery on Tuesday morning.
Union leaders said that Braun will meet with workers picketing outside the company’s main offices in the 2800 block of Indianapolis Boulevard.
This comes after hundreds of workers were locked out of the BP refinery on March 19 after contract negotiations failed to produce a deal ahead of a midnight deadline. Since then, workers have been walking the picket lines.
Union leaders said negotiations have stalled for months, and are accusing BP of rejecting their proposals on jobs, pay, and safety. Union members said they are prepared to stay out on the picket lines 24/7 until there is movement at the bargaining table.
BP said it has made a comprehensive offer, and plans to continue operating the refinery with trained staff, adding that it does not expect disruptions to production.
The Whiting refinery is BP’s largest refinery in the world, producing 440,000 barrels a day. It is located less than 20 miles from downtown Chicago.
Braun is expected to join the union members around 9:15 p.m.
The video above is from a previous report.
Indiana
Is ‘The Bachelorette’ happening? This Carmel contestant weighs in
ABC pulls upcoming ‘Bachelorette’ season. Here’s what to know
A Carmel man and former Purdue basketball player was set to compete on this season that won’t air.
Should ABC air the canceled-for-now season of “The Bachelorette”? A Carmel man who was set to compete on it seems to think so.
Matt Carroll, a 43-year-old Purdue basketball alum and Carmel resident, took to social media over the weekend to address the cancelation of season 22 of “The Bachelorette,” on which he appeared. Public opinion on whether the show should see the light of day is split, but the former Boilermaker forward and industrial real estate broker hopes the footage makes it to air.
Disney and ABC pulled season 22 of “The Bachelorette” because its lead, “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star Taylor Frankie Paul, faces an ongoing domestic violence investigations. The network announced the decision March 19 after TMZ leaked a video from a 2023 domestic violence incident involving Paul and her ex Dakota Mortensen.
Neither Carroll nor the show have officially commented on the cancelation, but that doesn’t mean he and other contestants haven’t hinted at their feelings on social media.
Carroll’s Instagram reel — in which he struts through the streets of Carmel, rose in hand, RAYE’s “Where the Hell is My Husband” soundtracking it all — breaks the ice. “So…about that,” he joked, tagging both “The Bachelorette” and Bachelor Nation, the franchise’s official hub for news and content.
The reel has garnered comments from fellow Carmel residents wishing Carroll well, even offering to set him up with local singles. Notably, though, some of Carroll’s followers have called for the season to air — and he agrees.
“Trying to manifest that they still air this,” one comment from model Brittany Mason reads. “America wants it the world wants it!”
“From your lips to God’s ears,” Carroll replied.
Another response from him put it more plainly:
“I’m still hoping they decide to air it.”
Whether “The Bachelorette” will air is unclear. Disney Entertainment Television’s official statement only indicated that it was halting the season “for now,” so it’s possible the network could dust off the footage and air it after all.
Contact IndyStar Pop Culture Reporter Heather Bushman at hbushman@indystar.com. Follow her on X @hmb_1013.
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