Indiana
Should DCS, schools be able to keep information from parents? Indiana Senate bill says no
Indiana is housing children in DCS offices. One stayed over a month.
More than 160 abused and neglected children spent at least one night in a DCS office from Jan. 1 to June 30. One office housed 8 children at once.
The Indiana Senate passed a bill Monday that aims to keep government entities like the Indiana Department of Child Services and school districts from interfering in parents’ rights, despite concerns that it could end up hurting the privacy rights of LGBTQ youth.
Approved by a 44-5 vote, Senate Bill 143 would forbid government entities from denying parents access to certain information about their children, and from “advising, directing or coercing” a child to withhold that information from parents.
Bill author Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, said the bill “gives parents the rights in Indiana which most of us thought we already had.”
“We’re just making sure that government does not constrain or in any way restrict a parent’s right to direct the upbringing, religious instruction, or health of their child,” Brown said. “You need a compelling governmental interest to interfere with that relationship.”
The bill makes an exception for protecting the health and safety of a child, and for active criminal law enforcement investigations involving a parent.
It also wouldn’t allow parents to decide that their children could access procedures that are banned in Indiana, such as abortion, gender-affirming care or female genital mutilation.
“A parent can’t say they now have that right,” Brown said. “We’re not going to allow a parent to supersede us on mutilating their child or (abortion).”
The bill now moves on to the House for consideration and it still has a lengthy process to becoming law. A similar legislative effort to enshrine parental rights died in the past, though this year’s bill has support from both Republicans and Democrats.
However, there is also some bipartisan opposition, with three Republicans and two Democrats voting against it in the Senate on Monday.
Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, said he worried about the bill’s unintended consequences, though he “strongly agrees” with its goals. Just five years ago, he said, the state decided at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic that it had a compelling interest to close businesses and restrict travel. He doesn’t want the government to create more hurdles for parents in the future.
“It was a compelling government interest back then,” Freeman said. “I don’t want to make it easier for government to say, well, because it’s a compelling government interest, you have to get your children vaccinated. I don’t want to make it easier for the government to act against parents.”
Youth privacy rights vs. ‘the long arm of the state’
Some advocates have raised concerns about how the bill would impact transgender children and their families.
Christopher Daley, executive director of the Indiana ACLU, said the legislation “encroaches on the privacy rights of minors throughout the state.” The organization opposed a similar bill in the past, stating then that the legislation “could have been used to force a teacher to ‘out’ an LGBTQ student to their parents.”
But Brown, the bill’s author, said that wasn’t a concern.
“I do not believe that minors have any significant privacy rights,” Brown said, “particularly that are being invaded by this bill.”
Sen. Mike Gaskill, R-Pendleton, also was motivated by the issue of transgender youth, but supported the bill. The legislation “really hits home” where here’s from, he said.
His constituents lost custody of their child because of a disagreement over the child’s transgender identity, Gaskill said, in a case that made national news as the parents sought a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court. But the high court ultimately declined to hear the case.
“They lost it to the long arm of the state,” Gaskill said. “This is long overdue.”
‘Parents need these kinds of protections’
Still, much of the testimony surrounding the bill related to alleged failures by DCS.
Indiana parents Grant and Myranda Phillips, for example, testified that they temporarily lost custody of their two children for nearly a year, and were kept from their children’s medical records, after they said DCS incorrectly alleged abuse of a two-month-old infant.
It turned out instead that the child was suffering with an undiagnosed connective tissue disorder and DCS eventually dismissed the case, the family said. They have since filed a lawsuit.
“We’ve been healing as a family since getting our children home, and we’re trying to use this horrible situation to bring attention to the things that are going on here in Indiana,” Grant Phillips said. “The parents going ahead of us into these situations needs these kinds of protections that we did not have.”
Though he had concerns about the bill, Freeman said its passage was a signal to DCS that the legislature wants the agency to “stay in their lane.”
A DCS spokesperson said “the Braun administration values parents’ rights and their access to information about their children.”
“DCS has had productive conversations with the bill’s author to develop language that complies with disclosure laws and court orders related to the department’s ability to release such information,” spokesperson Brian Heinemann told IndyStar.
“While we cannot comment specifically on open cases involving children or their information due to confidentiality laws,” Heinemann said, “we take all allegations of non-compliance seriously and review those for corrective action when substantiated.”
Contact senior government accountability reporter Hayleigh Colombo at hcolombo@indystar.com.
Indiana
DoorDash driver accused of pepper-spraying customer’s Arby’s order, resulting in wife falling ill
Caught red (pepper) handed.
A DoorDash driver has been banned from the app after being accused of dousing an order with pepper spray and causing an unsuspecting customer to fall ill after eating the tainted food.
The sick act was caught on a doorbell camera outside an Evansville, Indiana, home just after midnight on Sunday.
The driver, who hasn’t been charged with any crime, was dropping off an Arby’s delivery to Mark Cardin and his wife, Mandy, when she snapped a confirmation photo before suddenly producing an object from her pocket and spraying the order.
The blue-haired worker placed the spray back into her jacket pocket before walking away, all in front of the camera.
The couple brought the order inside, unaware that something was wrong with it and began chowing down.
Moments later, Mandy began struggling to breathe.
“I noticed my wife had starting eating and she started choking and gasping, and after she had a couple bites of her food she actually threw up,” he told WFIE.
The horrified customer began investigating the cause of his wife’s sudden illness when he examined the order.
“I had a look at the bag and seen that there was some kind of spray or something,” Cardin said. “The bag had been tampered with. So I pulled up my doorbell camera and seen that the lady who dropped the food off had actually tampered with it on purpose for some reason.”
Cardin shared the photos and videos of the driver to Facebook asking for help in identifying the driver.
He attempted to contact her but found she already blocked him on the app.
Cardin reported the food runner’s stunt to DoorDash and the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office is looking to get the driver fired and charged.
“I definitely want to see her prosecuted,” Cardin told WFIE, adding that they had never met her before and had left a tip before the incident.
The driver has been banned from the app after footage surfaced of the late-night delivery.
“We have zero tolerance for this type of appalling behavior. The Dasher in question has been permanently removed from the platform, and our team is standing by to support law enforcement with any investigation,” a DoorDash spokesperson told The Post.
Cardin doesn’t know exactly what was sprayed on the food, fearing it could’ve been worse than it was.
“It’s horrific,” Cardin said. “We assume it’s pepper spray, that’s more than likely what it is, but now in this day and age it could’ve been anything. It could’ve been rat poison, it could’ve been fentanyl. I mean, my wife could’ve been dead.”
The Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office has opened an investigation into the driver and could charge her with consumer product tampering, a level 6 felony, according to WFIE.
If the foreign spray resulted in harm the charge could be increased to a level 5 felony.
“We live in a terrible world right now,” Mark said. “Horrific. People are mean for no reason. There was no reason to do what she done,” Cardin said, encouraging other food delivery app users to be cautious with their future orders.
“I would say to anybody, if you order food on any kind of delivery service, make sure you have a doorbell,” Mark said.
“This is making me second guess ever ordering food from anywhere ever again,” he said.
Indiana
Several northeast Indiana cities, counties awarded grants for infrastructure projects
NORTHEAST INDIANA (WPTA) – The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) has announced the list of cities and counties selected to receive funds through its Community Crossings Matching Grant Program.
The Community Crossings program, created in 2016, gives funding to towns, cities, and counties in the Hoosier State that are used for infrastructure improvement projects.
Projects eligible for funding through the program include road and bridge preservation projects that comply with Americans with Disabilities Act standards, along with chip sealing and crack-filling operations.
On Tuesday, the following recipients were announced:
Allen County, Bluffton, DeKalb County, and LaGrange County were among those that received the largest grants, at $1 million.
You can view the full list of recipients here.
INDOT says the next call for project submissions will open in July. For more information about the program, visit INDOT’s website.
Copyright 2025 WPTA. All rights reserved.
Indiana
Indiana, Curt Cignetti emerging in race for elite transfer QB
Curt Cignetti and the Indiana Hoosiers head into the College Football Playoff as the No. 1 seed in the field after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes by a final score of 13-10 in the Big Ten championship game.
Knocking off Ohio State was the biggest statement that Indiana could have sent. Not only did the Hoosiers beat the Buckeyes, they completely shut down the former No. 1 team in the nation offensively.
Led by star quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who many believe could be the top overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Hoosiers are a legitimate national championship contender. However, there are some who are looking ahead at next season with questions.
Read more: Texas, Arch Manning Dealt More Bad News After Missing CFP
Being a long-term championship contender is no easy task. Losing Mendoza to the NFL, assuming he makes that decision, will be difficult to recover from. That being said, there is an intriguing transfer portal option that Indiana could become a favorite to land.
Joe Cox of College Football HQ on SI has named the Hoosiers as potential team to watch when it comes to star Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt in the transfer portal.
“Who would have thought that Indiana would be a QB destination? But if Kurtis Rourke can lead IU to the Playoff and Fernando Mendoza can lead them to No. 1, what could Leavitt do in Bloomington?” Cox wrote. “Assuming Mendoza does go to the NFL (which seems like a foregone conclusion), the spot is open for an immediate splash.”
Leavitt made the decision to enter the transfer portal back on Monday. He has shown elite talent during his time with the Sun Devils.
During the 2025 college football season at Arizona State, Leavitt completed 60.7 percent of his passes for 1,628 yards, 10 touchdowns, and three interceptions, while also running for 306 yards and five scores. He produced those numbers in just seven games.
Read more: Alabama Named in Paul Finebaum’s Head-Turning CFP Prediction
Last year, Leavitt posted bigger numbers. He threw for 2,885 yards, 24 touchdowns, and six interceptions, while completing 61.7 percent of his passes. He chipped in with 443 yards and five touchdowns on the ground.
Adding Leavitt would undoubtedly keep Cignetti and Indiana in the national championship picture. There will be plenty of other teams with interest in adding him, but the Hoosiers would make a ton of sense.
For more on the Indiana Hoosiers and college football news, head to Newsweek Sports.
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