IndyStar wins Indiana journalism awards: Check out some of our best work of 2024
Last year, IndyStar reporters reported on sexual misconduct allegations on three different elected or appointed officials in state and local government: state Rep. David Niezgodski, state Sen. Greg Taylor and Thomas Cook, former chief of staff to Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett. Taylor was removed from his position as the Senate Minority Leader, and in December, the Indiana Democratic Party created an ethics committee and adopted a new code of conduct.
Hayleigh Colombo, James Briggs, Tony Cook and Kayla Dwyer took home second place for A-Mark Investigative Story of the Year at the state's Society of Professional Journalists ceremony on May 2.
IndyStar also took home nine first-place awards in categories including sports reporting, environmental reporting and news photography:
Coverage of government or politics, for statehouse reporter Kayla Dwyer's work, including stories about cuts to a family caregiver program and the gubernatorial race.
Coverage of children's issues, for reporting on failures in child welfare by Tony Cook and Caroline Beck.
Sports reporting, for Dana Hunsinger Benbow's coverage including stories about a dying 22-year-old's experience of watching the Final Four from the hospital and an FBI investigation at a racing facility.
Multiple picture group, for Mykal McEldowney's gallery of Avon High School's mascot.
Environmental reporting, for Karl Schneider's coverage of the beat, including stories about a new fish and wildlife area and the history of Indiana's buffalo.
News photography, for Christine Tannous' pictures showing the aftermath of a car crash that injured six children and two adults.
Newsletter, for the politics team's Checks and Balances.
Non-deadline story or series, for a story by politics editor Kaitlin Lange and Mirror Indy deputy managing editor Ryan Martin on a gubernatorial candidate's failure to repay $69 million of a development loan from the city of Indianapolis.
First Amendment award, for 20 media outlets including IndyStar that worked together to cover the trial of Richard Allen despite strict restrictions from the court.
Other top awards included:
Story of the year: Mirror Indy's Out of Options, by Mary Claire Malloy and Jenna Watson, which described firsthand accounts of widespread abuse and neglect at a mental health facility in Lawrence.
Journalist of the year: Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter Casey Smith, whose coverage of state politics and courts in 2024 included stories about Indiana's first execution in years and the felony arrest of congressional candidate Gabe Whitley.
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Indianapolis Star
26 minutes ago
- Indianapolis Star
Is Rep. Baird using taxpayer funds to prep his son for a congressional seat? An opponent thinks so
A July mailer sent by Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Baird's congressional office to Hoosiers in Warren County includes an image of not one, but two elected Bairds. In the photo, Congressman Baird and his son, Greencastle Republican state Rep. Beau Baird, stand alongside a boy and a cow. Bold text on the mailer reads 'Congressman Baird champions the One Big Beautiful Bill to support Hoosier farmers.' For years, Beau Baird has been rumored as a future candidate for the 4th Congressional District, which contains the counties immediately to the west of Marion County, should his father choose not to run for another term in Congress. Recently, the elder Baird has used pictures of his son in taxpayer-funded mailers and has started omitting his first name in some materials when identifying himself in prominent spots, referring to himself instead as simply "Congressman Baird." Congressman Baird hasn't yet said if he's running for reelection, and legally he isn't doing anything wrong, experts say. But if his son runs instead, he'll get the perk of already-built-in name recognition from years of the last name being on the ballot and on official office material. At least one 2026 Republican candidate for the 4th Congressional District, stretching from Morgan County north to Jasper and Newton counties, said it's wrong for Jim Baird to include photos of his son in his congressional communication materials. 'The perception is, and I believe it to be true, that there's a little bit of nepotism going on,' said state Rep. Craig Haggard, R-Mooresville. "And he's trying to use taxpayer money to enhance his son's chance of winning his seat.' It's not unusual for members of Indiana's U.S. House delegation to share photos of their family members in taxpayer-funded communication materials from their congressional office. U.S. Rep. Jefferson Shreve in March, for example, shared a photo in an email newsletter to constituents of him and his wife, Mary, as he took the oath of office with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson by his side. But Congressman Jim Baird's use of franking, a congressional privilege that lets elected officials use taxpayer-funded member allowances to communicate with constituents, has included at least seven photos of Beau Baird in mailers since 2023. Of Indiana's U.S. House delegation, Baird spent more on franking by mail in 2024 than all other members but U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz at nearly $174,000. Those materials were approved by a bipartisan group of lawmakers known as the House Communications Standards Commission. Additionally, ethics experts that spoke with IndyStar said Jim Baird's materials with his son pictured are likely not a violation of any franking rules. A spokesperson for Baird's office in a statement to IndyStar reiterated that all mass communications are reviewed by the congressman's office and the bipartisan House commission. 'Photos in official mass communications are selected from events the Congressman attends across the district,' the spokesperson said. 'While other individuals may appear, only the Congressman is identified in these materials. Every mass communication is reviewed and approved to ensure compliance with Franking guidelines before distribution.' But name recognition does give candidates for elected office a boost. Hoosier elected officials that have used the family last name have seen successes in past elections. Current Democratic U.S. Rep. André Carson, who is in his ninth term in Congress, took over his grandmother Julia Carson's congressional seat after she died in 2007. Evan Bayh, the former Indiana governor, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1998, a seat his father Birch Bayh held from 1963 to 1981. "That name recognition is worth a lot," said Mike Wolf, the chair of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at Purdue University Fort Wayne. "It's not a surprise that they would also slip in somebody who would doesn't have the federal franking privilege, but gets the benefit of it." House franking guidelines allow members to share photos of their family members in materials if the image is still related to the official business of the office and if they don't explicitly introduce or endorse their relative. None of the materials sent by Jim Baird's office that included photos of Beau Baird identify him by name, nor do they label Baird as the congressman's son or as a state representative. "Do I think that there's probably a line that maybe is being towed a little bit here, yes," said Danielle Caputo, senior legal counsel with the Campaign Legal Center who viewed some of the mailers with Baird and his son. "But he's not being referenced. I saw some of the photos. They're very small. It's not like he's front and center. It's not very clear that he is anyone." Redistricting push: How much more red can Indiana's U.S. House delegation get? Donald Sherman, the executive vice president and chief counsel for Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington, D.C., said he personally had not seen a member of Congress include family members in franked materials, but elected officials across party lines often want to keep a seat in their family. 'I wouldn't be shocked if it had happened before,' Sherman said. 'But it doesn't fall within any technical restrictions in the rules.' Two years ago, Haggard announced a plan to run for Congress if Jim Baird stepped away from another term representing the 4th Congressional District. But Haggard said he's done waiting: he filed his paperwork Aug. 8 to run for the seat in 2026. 'I believe I'll be running against a Baird,' Haggard said of next year's 4th District Republican primary. 'Which Baird? I don't know.' Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@ or follow her on X@kayla_dwyer17.
an hour ago
Supreme Court formally asked to overturn landmark same-sex marriage ruling
Ten years after the Supreme Court extended marriage rights to same-sex couples nationwide, the justices this fall will consider for the first time whether to take up a case that explicitly asks them to overturn that decision. Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for six days in 2015 after refusing to issue marriage licenses to a gay couple on religious grounds, is appealing a $100,000 jury verdict for emotional damages plus $260,000 for attorneys fees. In a petition for writ of certiorari filed last month, Davis argues First Amendment protection for free exercise of religion immunizes her from personal liability for the denial of marriage licenses. More fundamentally, she claims the high court's decision in Obergefell v Hodges -- extending marriage rights for same-sex couples under the 14th Amendment's due process protections -- was "egregiously wrong." "The mistake must be corrected," wrote Davis' attorney Mathew Staver in the petition. He calls Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion in Obergefell "legal fiction." The petition appears to mark the first time since 2015 that the court has been formally asked to overturn the landmark marriage decision. Davis is seen as one of the only Americans currently with legal standing to bring a challenge to the precedent. "If there ever was a case of exceptional importance," Staver wrote, "the first individual in the Republic's history who was jailed for following her religious convictions regarding the historic definition of marriage, this should be it." Lower courts have dismissed Davis' claims and most legal experts consider her bid a long shot. A federal appeals court panel concluded earlier this year that the former clerk "cannot raise the First Amendment as a defense because she is being held liable for state action, which the First Amendment does not protect." Davis, as the Rowan County Clerk in 2015, was the sole authority tasked with issuing marriage licenses on behalf of the government under state law. "Not a single judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals showed any interest in Davis's rehearing petition, and we are confident the Supreme Court will likewise agree that Davis's arguments do not merit further attention," said William Powell, attorney for David Ermold and David Moore, the now-married Kentucky couple that sued Davis for damages, in a statement to ABC News. A renewed campaign to reverse legal precedent Davis' appeal to the Supreme Court comes as conservative opponents of marriage rights for same-sex couples pursue a renewed campaign to reverse legal precedent and allow each state to set its own policy. At the time Obergefell was decided in 2015, 35 states had statutory or constitutional bans on same-sex marriages, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Only eight states had enacted laws explicitly allowing the unions. So far in 2025, at least nine states have either introduced legislation aimed at blocking new marriage licenses for LGBTQ people or passed resolutions urging the Supreme Court to reverse Obergefell at the earliest opportunity, according to the advocacy group Lambda Legal. In June, the Southern Baptist Convention -- the nation's largest Protestant Christian denomination -- overwhelmingly voted to make "overturning of laws and court rulings, including Obergefell v. Hodges, that defy God's design for marriage and family" a top priority. Support for equal marriage rights softening While a strong majority of Americans favor equal marriage rights, support appears to have softened in recent years, according to Gallup -- 60% of Americans supported same-sex marriages in 2015, rising to 70% support in 2025, but that level has plateaued since 2020. Among Republicans, support has notably dipped over the past decade, down from 55% in 2021 to 41% this year, Gallup found. Davis' petition argues the issue of marriage should be treated the same way the court handled the issue of abortion in its 2022 decision to overturn Roe v Wade. She zeroes in on Justice Clarence Thomas' concurrence in that case, in which he explicitly called for revisiting Obergefell. The justices "should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell," Thomas wrote at the time, referring to the landmark decisions dealing with a fundamental right to privacy, due process and equal protection rights. "It is hard to say where things will go, but this will be a long slog considering how popular same-sex marriage is now," said Josh Blackman, a prominent conservative constitutional scholar and professor at South Texas College of Law. Blackman predicts many members of the Supreme Court's conservative majority would want prospective challenges to Obergefell to percolate in lower courts before revisiting the debate. The court is expected to formally consider Davis' petition this fall during a private conference when the justices discuss which cases to add to their docket. If the case is accepted, it would likely be scheduled for oral argument next spring and decided by the end of June 2026. The court could also decline the case, allowing a lower court ruling to stand and avoid entirely the request to revisit Obergefell. "Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett seem wildly uninterested. Maybe Justice Neil Gorsuch, too," said Sarah Isgur, an ABC News legal analyst and host of the legal podcast Advisory Opinions. "There is no world in which the court takes the case as a straight gay marriage case," Isgur added. "It would have to come up as a lower court holding that Obergefell binds judges to accept some other kind of non-traditional marital arrangement." Ruling wouldn't invalidate existing marriages If the ruling were to be overturned at some point in the future, it would not invalidate marriages already performed, legal experts have pointed out. The 2022 Respect for Marriage Act requires the federal government and all states to recognize legal marriages of same-sex and interracial couples performed in any state -- even if there is a future change in the law. Davis first appealed the Supreme Court in 2019 seeking to have the damages suit against her tossed out, but her petition was rejected. Conservative Justices Thomas and Samuel Alito concurred with the decision at the time. "This petition implicates important questions about the scope of our decision in Obergefell, but it does not cleanly present them," Thomas wrote in a statement. Many LGBTQ advocates say they are apprehensive about the shifting legal and political landscape around marriage rights. There are an estimated 823,000 married same-sex couples in the U.S., including 591,000 that wed after the Supreme Court decision in June 2015, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School. Nearly one in five of those married couples is parenting a child under 18. Since the Obergefell decision, the makeup of the Supreme Court has shifted rightward, now including three appointees of President Donald Trump and a 6-justice conservative supermajority. Chief Justice John Roberts, among the current members of the court who dissented in Obergefell a decade ago, sharply criticized the ruling at the time as "an act of will, not legal judgment" with "no basis in the Constitution." He also warned then that it "creates serious questions about religious liberty." Davis invoked Roberts' words in her petition to the high court, hopeful that at least four justices will vote to accept her case and hear arguments next year.
Politico
2 hours ago
- Politico
The mysteries of megabill 2.0
IN TODAY'S EDITION:— A Senate buzzkill for megabill 2.0— California Dems prep new congressional map— Murphy looks to revive doctor pay revamp Republicans are going through the motions on the road to megabill 2.0. But a growing number of GOP lawmakers are skeptical about what's to come. Despite Speaker Mike Johnson's push for second and third budget reconciliation bills, it's becoming clear that Senate Republicans aren't so sure what the party can deliver after a grueling battle over the 'big, beautiful' tax and spending plan that became law last month. Mia, Jordain Carney and Cassandra Dumay are out this morning with a look at the big reasons why GOP skepticism abounds. No direction — A White House official tells Mia that President Donald Trump really does want Congress to craft another domestic policy bill using the party-line budget reconciliation process. But Republicans say they're still waiting for the administration to provide specific instructions about what they should consider. Among those in the dark are committee leaders including Budget Chair Lindsey Graham and Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker. Commerce Chair Ted Cruz says he doesn't even know what the administration's broader legislative priorities are heading into the fall. 'You have to have a reason to do it,' Sen. Mike Rounds says. 'It's not easy to do, so you have to have a purpose for doing it in the first place.' Some Senate Republicans are working to fill in the gaps. Sen. Ron Johnson, a deficit hawk, is looking to cut spending. Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo says he'll sort through roughly 200 tax proposals that were left out of the first reconciliation bill. No deadlines — Even if the White House floats some policy asks, it's not likely Republicans will feel as much pressure to advance a bill. With megabill 1.0, they had to avert a year-end expiration of Trump's 2017 tax cuts and head off a debt ceiling crisis. 'Without the pressure, I don't see how you get it done,' says one Republican senator granted anonymity. 'I don't think I see what the pressure is here.' GOOD MONDAY MORNING. Mia's out for the week. Email us: crazor@ and bguggenheim@ THE LEADERSHIP SUITE The latest on redistricting Democratic state lawmakers in California are expected to unveil a new congressional map this week. One draft that's circulating would give Democrats five new seats, potentially offsetting a GOP redistricting effort underway in Texas. Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to put the redistricting effort on the ballot in November. 'We discovered that we indeed could, consistent with the Voting Rights Act, put five Republican seats in play,' Rep. Zoe Lofgren, chair of the California Democratic congressional delegation, told CNN Sunday. 'We're unanimous in wanting to move forward.' As the White House ramps up pressure on red states to pursue redistricting, Vice President JD Vance said in a Fox News interview that he told Indiana state officials last week 'we want a unified Republican team.' Vance also said a new census sought by Trump could add 10 GOP seats and lead to 9 fewer Democratic seats. POLICY RUNDOWN COURT AFFIRMS CONGRESS' POWER OF THE PURSE — The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is giving the Trump administration until Friday to put back online a public database that tracks federal spending, Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report. The three-judge panel's unanimous decision over the weekend comes after the administration decided in March to shut the database down, claiming it threatened Trump's ability to manage federal spending. The judges declared that action was an affront to Congress' authority over government spending. MURPHY PREPS DOC PAY REVAMP — Rep. Greg Murphy, a House Ways and Means member and co-chair of the GOP Doctors Caucus, is looking to revive legislation aimed at shielding doctors from recurring cuts to their Medicare payments. It's a potential menu item for a year-end health care deal that lawmakers are beginning to sketch out. Doctors have seen declines in their Medicare payments for decades even as the cost of health care has steadily increased. The tax law that Trump enacted last month included a 2.5 percent bump for 2026, after Senate Republicans scrapped a House-backed provision that would have permanently tied the doctor fee scale to an index that tracks rising medical costs. Murphy wants a second shot. 'I cannot overemphasize how much damage these persistent cuts to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule have done,' Murphy tells Benjamin. Best of POLITICO Pro and E&E: THE BEST OF THE REST Affairs, fraud and attack ads: The dirty fight for the Texas Senate, from Benedict Smith at The Telegraph Bernie Sanders thinks Democrats have turned on their base. Now it's time to fight back, from Veronica Stracqualursi at CNN THE CARRYOUT Welcome back to your Inside Congress hosts' favorite recess activity: sharing lawmakers' Capitol Hill food recommendations. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said her go-to is a ham and swiss sandwich on rye from Capitol Hill Supermarket. What's your regular order in the neighborhood? Email crazor@ CAMPAIGN STOP CHIP ROY FOR AG? — Rep. Chip Roy is eyeing a bid for Texas attorney general as current AG Ken Paxton campaigns to oust Sen. John Cornyn, reports Mychael Schnell in The Hill. IOWA WATCH — Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego attended the Iowa State Fair over the weekend. Asked by a reporter about a potential 2028 bid for president, the Arizona Democrat said he's 'focused on 2026' for now. TUNNEL TALK NEW EATERIES ON CAMPUS — The renovated Rayburn Cafeteria is scheduled to open this morning. It features the new CHA Street Food, which is available today, and Java House, which is expected to open Tuesday. Also opening today is the Starbucks Kiosk and Longworth Convenience Store, as well as the Common Grounds coffee shop in the Cannon basement. The Longworth and Ford cafeterias are closed for renovations. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Former Rep. Dan Kildee … former Sen. Tim Hutchinson … Billy Long (7-0) … NYT's David Brooks and Lyndsey Layton … Charles Blow … POLITICO's Toby Eckert, Michael Roberts and Danielle Bello … Lauren Maddox of Holland & Knight … Jesse Barba of Cengage Group … Kedrin Simms Brachman … former USTR Charlene Barshefsky … Marissa Secreto … Colin Cunliff … Thad Huguley … Greg Michaelidis … Ilana Drimmer … Sam Myers Jr. … National Journal's Emily Akhtarzandi TRIVIA FRIDAY'S ANSWER: Jim Wholey correctly answered that Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. TODAY'S QUESTION, from Calen: Name the current senators who have cast more than 10,000 votes. The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@
