SOUTH MILWUAKEE — South Milwaukee artist Briana Hibbs is celebrating the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a pari of earrings she made herself — and she will be selling them in person at the city’s second World Cup block party Friday afternoon outside Moran’s on Milwaukee St. in South Milwaukee.

“This has got me pumped and excited and to learn more about the World Cup. So we have some official 2026 balls that I made for earrings so you can celebrate and honor this year’s World Cup,” Briana said.

Briana gave up the corporate world a few years ago to focus on her passion for making jewelry. Her business grew out of a Friendsgiving gathering where she wore her first handmade pair to test the reaction.

Watch: South Milwaukee artist makes soccer-inspired earrings:

Celebrating the World Cup with jewelry

“I wore my first pair of earrings that I made to see if my friends liked them. And I was like, well, I’ll just wear these, see if anybody says anything or wants a pair. And then my friends were like, ‘Wait, you made those? Can I have a pair?’ So it kind of started out like that, and then people kept seeing them and then asking where to get their own pair, and it kind of just blew up from there,” Briana said.

Briana Hibbs

Made by the Lake has since grown into more than a business — it has become a community. Briana runs a Facebook group by the same name where customers share photos of themselves wearing her earrings, which fans have nicknamed “ear-fees.”

“People share their selfies, which people call them their ear-fees, you know, so you share your ears, what earrings you’re wearing, and then people also recognize each other that way too, which is really fun that they share the stories with me that they go to like the doctor’s office for instance, and their nurse is wearing my earrings and they’re like Made by the Lake, and they’re like, yeah, Made by the Lake. So it’s like we’re like a little community too, which is fun,” Briana said.

Briana Hibbs

Briana, who was born and raised in South Milwaukee and still lives there with her husband — her middle school sweetheart — said she is looking forward to setting up as a vendor at the block party.

“The block party is awesome. Any excuse to get out and be outside and celebrating with the community, which is really fun.” Briana said.

Her jewelry is available through her Facebook group and Instagram. She will also be on-site as a vendor Friday afternoon during Moran’s Pub second World Cup Block Party, you can learn more by clicking here

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When students in Decatur Township head back to class this August, they’ll start and end their days at new times.

The changes, which come with benefits for students and staff such as more sleep for middle school students and time for teacher professional development, are also in part, due to financial pressures schools face.

Changing start and end times means going from six different schedules to three, allowing for fewer bus routes and more savings to the district. School leaders said they are still implementing changes, but expect “impactful savings” to the district’s roughly $6.7 million transportation budget for this calendar year.

The priority is always how to best support students, said Scott Collins, superintendent of the Metropolitan School District of Decatur Township. Additional benefits to the time changes are for high schoolers to end their day earlier and to align schedules for grade levels.

Yet, Collins also acknowledged that the money aspect can’t be untangled from those decisions.

Decatur Township schools are not alone in responding to less property tax funding due to changes at the state level and wanting to show fiscal responsibility to voters ahead of a potential tax increase, known as a referendum, vote in November.

School leaders in Decatur anticipate $3 million less in property taxes this year due to property tax reform. And additional state changes also mean the district is considering putting a tax measure on the ballot a year earlier than planned.

“We’re trying to save dollars now so we don’t have to ask for as much money in the future,” Collins said. “We want to be good stewards.”

And a big part of that for Decatur is busing – a key service that more than 70% of students in the district use daily during the school year. Plus, more than 1,100 of the district’s roughly 6,500 students use the bus each week for after-school activities like athletics, band, and clubs, Collins said. He added that buses are crucial for Decatur schools due to limited access to public transportation and limited ability to have walk zones for students.

Currently, the district uses a portion of its referendum dollars to pay for transportation costs, including salary and benefits for bus drivers, monitors, and mechanics. Without referendum funds, Collins said the district would have to consider additional busing changes such as walk zones and cutting after-school buses.

The district is considering a tax measure rate of roughly 27 cents per $100 of assessed value that would replace the current rate of roughly 29 cents starting in January if approved by voters.

In order to be on the ballot in November, the school board must approve and send the ballot question to the state Department of Local Government Finance no later than July 22.

MJ Slaby oversees Chalkbeat Indiana’s coverage as bureau chief. Contact MJ at mslaby@chalkbeat.org

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.