Indiana Attorney General hosted office hours at public library
Representatives were available to constituents to answer questions on topics like scams, robocalls, unclaimed property, and recalls. There were also copies of the Attorney General's publications, such as the Parents' Bill of Rights and the Gun Owners' Bill of Rights, available.
The Indiana Attorney General is responsible for providing legal representation to the state as well as protecting consumers from illicit business practices, investigating, and prosecuting Medicaid fraud. The release from the Attorney General's Office claims that the Attorney General reunites Hoosiers with approximately $1,000,000 each week.
The mobile office hours took place at the Vigo County Public Library's Main Branch on Tuesday from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. For those who couldn't attend but wanted to speak with representatives can reach Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita's office at 317-232-6201.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump order on homelessness will undo decades of progress, Kansas service providers warn
A man lies under shading on July 19, 2022, on North Topeka Avenue in Wichita. Service providers say an executive order by President Donald Trump could jeopardize their efforts to help those who are experiencing homelessness. (Lily O'Shea Becker/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — Christine English-Baird spends at least one day a week distributing basic supplies to homeless people in Wichita, home to one of Kansas' largest homeless populations. 'I do that because I can't even fathom anybody else going through what I did,' English-Baird said. 'Feeling invisible. Feeling alone.' But English-Baird, who was homeless in Colorado and housing insecure in Kansas, says the services that once helped her could be jeopardized by President Donald Trump's July 24 executive order, which encourages involuntary institutionalization for people in mental health crises and increased criminal pressure on people experiencing homelessness across the United States. The order makes hefty promises of 'fighting vagrancy,' 'ending support for 'housing first' policies' and 'encouraging civil commitment.' Trump followed the July order with another that deployed National Guard troops to police District of Columbia streets, targeting 'drugged-out maniacs and homeless people,' he said in an Aug. 11 news conference. The Trump administration's approach to homelessness has sparked concern among social service providers, experts and advocates, who say the July order is unspooling decades of progress. They are skeptical that the order's provisions will be within reach, especially as cuts to Medicaid and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development are imminent. Plus, institutionalization and criminalization are some of the most expensive and ineffective ways to address homelessness, said Steve Berg, chief policy officer with the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The threat of being taken into custody 'sets people against each other,' Berg said. 'I know one thing really is true about places that have made progress on homelessness is that people are working together,' he said. 'And if people are at each other's throats over things like this, then there's going to be more homelessness.' Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican who is seeking his party's nomination for governor, said Trump followed through 'on his promise to restore law and order in our Kansas communities.' 'State legislation should focus on mental health and addiction treatment, reducing encampments, and keeping Kansans safe,' he said in a statement. 'I'm committed to working with the White House in any way I can to deliver on the President's agenda.' English-Baird's life was a series of revolving doors, beginning with fleeing a violent partner in Denver. She slept in a domestic violence shelter, a transitional shelter, an apartment paid for by her ex, then a rental, a bus stop, sometimes a jail cell and then the streets for three-and-a-half years. At times, she nearly died, she said. She lost a lot along the way: apartments, her son, sometimes hope. But English-Baird connected with a friend in Kansas who put her up so she could recover from substance use, build savings and regain hope. With a lifetime restraining order against her ex and a new life with her husband and son, she now works to influence policies and practices for how homeless people are treated in Kansas through her role on a statewide board. 'Nobody wants to see anybody homeless, regardless of what that means,' English-Baird said. To her, it means providing people safe, affordable housing, support, a sense of belonging and purpose. To the Trump administration, it means something else entirely. During the first Trump administration, there wasn't much attention on homelessness, Berg said, until the end of Trump's term, when elected officials began promoting the idea of putting homeless people in camps. Since then, Berg said, 'there's been a desire to lock people up, I think. There's no polite way of saying it.' The executive order takes a four-pronged approach with the stated goal of 'protecting public safety.' It cites the most recent national data that estimates how many people were experiencing homelessness on a given night last year in the U.S. — nearly 771,500 people, 274,000 of whom were unsheltered. In Kansas, almost 2,800 people experienced homelessness, which is one of the lowest state totals in the country but is also considered by service providers to be an undercount. The order directs the U.S. Attorney General to broaden the criteria that governments use to involuntarily commit people, which currently is based on whether someone poses an imminent risk to themself or others. It also asks federal agencies to give funding preference to governments that 'enforce prohibitions on open illicit drug use, urban camping and loitering, and urban squatting, and track the location of sex offenders.' It directs funding to be allocated to 'ensure individuals camping on streets and causing public disorder and that are suffering from serious mental illness or addiction are moved into treatment centers, assisted outpatient treatment, or other facilities.' It also deprioritizes Housing First programs, which get people into safe, affordable housing, often in tandem with supportive services. Donald Whitehead Jr., executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, said in a July 24 statement that the executive orders take a punitive approach, which 'has consistently failed to resolve homelessness' while exacerbating the challenges faced by people experiencing homelessness, substance use disorders or mental health issues. 'Everyone deserves a safe place to live,' Whitehead said. 'These executive orders ignore decades of evidence-based housing and support services in practice.' The salient question, according to Randy Callstrom, the CEO of Wyandot Behavioral Health Network in Kansas City, Kansas, is where will people go? In Kansas, he said, there is no place for people to turn. 'Even if you move people from one part of a community, they will go somewhere else,' he said. He added: 'Unless those individuals are moving into housing, they're still going to be living in the community unhoused.' Much depends on how the executive order is actually carried out, he said. Regardless, he said, the order significantly modifies people's civil liberties. And he predicts homelessness will get worse. The order moves 'things back 35-40 years or longer,' Callstrom said, 'and that's concerning.' He worries that if the order is enforced, mental health will be stigmatized and local governments, service organizations, hospitals, jails and law enforcement will be strained. The order misses the mark when it comes to effectively serving people experiencing homelessness, Callstrom said. '(A) longtime misperception around people who are homeless is that it is a moral failure,' he said, 'that these are individuals who are less than, that we just want to push them out of line of sight and wish the problem will go away, when the reality is, you know, in many, many cases, the people who end up living unhoused have experienced many traumas in their life.' He leads a community mental health center, which he said doesn't have enough resources to fulfill the order's demands. At the only public psychiatric hospital in eastern Kansas, Osawatomie State Hospital, a waitlist of 30-50 people has remained constant for the past decade, he said. A publicly available report indicated the waitlist was at 37 people in early August. Kansas must build new facilities or convince current facilities to take on more people, Callstrom said. Kansas has budgeted for roughly 710 beds in public psychiatric facilities, said Cara Sloan-Ramos, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services. More than 660 of them are occupied, according to data from the department. More than 2,500 adults and more than 1,500 children use services at private psychiatric institutions. According to a publicly available database containing regular updates of bed availability at public and private psychiatric facilities across the region, no beds were available at state hospitals. In the order, the White House argues federal and state governments 'have spent tens of billions of dollars on failed programs that address homelessness but not its root causes, leaving other citizens vulnerable to public safety threats.' Agencies at all levels of government across the United States have implemented Housing First policies. Once housed, supportive services address people's mental health, substance use, employment, familial connections and other reintegration efforts. The order mimics the anti-Housing First efforts of the Cicero Institute, a Texas-based conservative think tank, which has pushed states for years to ban homelessness. Kansas Republicans in 2023 entertained the group's proposal at a legislative hearing, where a Cicero Institute fellow was the only proponent. English-Baird said she is 'a firm believer' in Housing First. She has seen it work on both sides — as someone in need of housing and as someone offering aid and crafting policy on a board for the Kansas Statewide Homeless Coalition. When implemented correctly, she said, the approach gains people's trust. 'Without a stable environment, you can't address mental health. You can't address addiction,' she said. Eliminating funding for organizations, especially rural ones, 'literally takes away all the progress we're making,' English-Baird said. Forcing people to be institutionalized, as the order encourages, 'doesn't do anything to get people housed,' she said. Institutional beds are scarce, anyway, she added. The order also bars grant funding from being used for harm reduction efforts, such as safe injection sites. Harm reduction focuses on reducing the adverse outcomes of drug use, which can include distributing naloxone, sterile syringes and fentanyl test kits, along with first aid, treatment resources and educational materials on overdose prevention. Harm reduction offers people supplies to stay alive and as disease-free as possible, said English-Baird, who experienced substance use and addiction. She now offers mutual aid to people experiencing homelessness in the Wichita area. Harm reduction is key, she said, to expanding treatment options and connecting people to needed mental health services. 'But we can't do that if they're dead,' she said. In Kansas, illicit drug possession and distribution carry criminal penalties, as does use or possession of drug paraphernalia. Cities across the state have passed ordinances to restrict unauthorized camping on public or private land, including Lawrence, Leavenworth, Topeka and Wichita. Some also regulate panhandling and loitering. Berg, with the National Alliance to End Homelessness, said he also thinks the order will result in more people experiencing homelessness. If 'the states that want to do the cost-effective solutions to homelessness can't get the money to do it because they're not punitive enough, then that's going to mean more homelessness,' he said. Solve the daily Crossword
USA Today
5 hours ago
- USA Today
If you live in these states, your health care won't be as big or beautiful
Democratic-leaning states will feel more of the impact of sweeping Medicaid cuts included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, according to a new analysis by Oxford Economics. The report, authored by lead economist Barbara Denham, says that millions of Americans – regardless of where they live – will lose access to health insurance because of the tighter eligibility rules and new work requirements. Immigrants will be disproportionately affected, with many losing coverage under Medicaid, Medicare and the Children's Health Insurance Program. States such as California and New York – which have both expanded Medicaid and have large immigrant populations – are expected to be hit hardest. Other vulnerable states with large immigrant populations include Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico and Washington, D.C. 'Federal funding cuts and the expiration of the Marketplace subsidies will have several economic consequences,' Denham wrote. 'The number of newly uninsured will rise significantly, putting more at risk of worse long-term well-being, which will sap productivity growth' States with the highest percentage of residents enrolled in Medicaid Unable to view our graphics? Click here to see them. The new law limits federal matching funds for noncitizens' medical care, shifting the financial burden to state governments and hospitals. That's particularly concerning for states with high percentages of foreign-born residents, many of whom rely on Medicaid. The federal cuts to Medicaid funding come at a time when states are looking to trim their spending, too. The Kaiser Family Foundation recently reported California has paused enrolling new immigrants in its health coverage program while Illinois has stopped state-funded health benefits for all immigrant adults between 42 to 64. States such as Idaho and Tennessee also enacted legislation limiting immigrant access to state health care benefits. States with the highest percentage of foreign-born residents Since 2012, 40 states and the District of Columbia have expanded Medicaid under federal initiatives. But with the expiration of marketplace subsidies and new restrictions on immigrant coverage, a handful of states now face the steepest declines in federal health care funding. Based on Oxford Economics' analysis of Congressional Budget Office and KFF data, more left-leaning states will lose more money per resident as the new law rolls out, but right-leaning Louisiana stands to lose the most ($5,855 per resident) of any state. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Wyoming – states that didn't expand their Medicaid benefits – will see some of the smallest cuts. How much Medicaid funding each state is projected to lose per resident Some states have passed laws to buffer their residents or their budgets against federal cuts. For example: ◾ Their residents: New York, Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Dakota require coverage for adults earning up to 138% of the federal poverty line. ◾ Their budgets: Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah and Virginia tie Medicaid spending to federal funding levels.
Axios
7 hours ago
- Axios
Iowa taxpayers expected to see average of $3,000 in savings
President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" is expected to save Iowans an average of $3,139 on their federal taxes next year, according to an analysis released last week by the Tax Foundation. Why it matters: The savings could free up money for people to spend on other things, potentially giving Iowa's economy a much-needed boost. Catch up fast: The bill also includes new tax breaks for tips and overtime income, a cut for seniors, and an expanded child-care tax cut, all of which expire in 2028. Trump called the bill " the greatest victory yet," signing it at a highly staged White House Independence Day celebration. Friction point: The bill also made steep cuts to social spending on food benefits and Medicaid, outweighing the benefits for many lower-income Americans. And it phases out some energy tax credits, which nonpartisan think tank Energy Innovation estimates will cost Iowans an additional $350 annually by 2035, the Register reports. By the numbers: The bill's passage will give the average American a federal tax cut of $3,752 in 2026 compared with what they would've paid if the 2017 tax cuts had expired, according to nonpartisan research group the Tax Foundation, Axios' Emily Peck and Jason Lalljee report. Wyoming ($5,375) and Washington ($5,372) will experience the biggest breaks. Mississippi ($2,401) and West Virginia ($2,503) will see the smallest. Zoom in: Iowa's average cuts in 2026 range from $2,311 in Appanoose County to $4,330 in Dallas County. What they're saying: Iowa's all-Republican congressional delegation supported the bill. The other side: The bill will kick 100,000 Iowans off Medicaid and put rural hospitals and nursing homes at risk, Iowa Democratic Party Chairperson Rita Hart said in a statement just after the bill passed last month.
