A final hearing over disputed ballots in a recount of the Indiana Senate District 23 Republican primary – including 11 Trump-backed candidate Paula Copenhaver says were cast to tamper with the election and that she wants the Indiana Recount Commission to wipe out – will start Monday morning in Indianapolis, based on details laid out last week in an order by Evan Norris, a Zionsville-based attorney overseeing the recount.

After an Indiana Recount Commission hearing July 28, state Sen. Spencer Deery, a West Lafayette Republican, maintained a three-vote victory over Copenhaver, a former Fountain County clerk and chair of the Fountain County Republican Party, in the May Republican primary.

Deery’s margin stands at 6,337-6,334, the same as it was after six county election boards certified results in May.

Not settled, yet, are votes Copenhaver disputes for various reasons.

Last week, a split Indiana Recount Commission voted 2-1 against Copenhaver’s demand to subpoena 11 voters – including nine from Tippecanoe County – she accused of crossing over to pull a Republican ballot to vote against her despite “boasting” on social media or in news articles that they typically vote for Democrats. Even without sworn testimony by the 11 voters accused of tampering, though, Copenhaver’s attorney, Bill Bock, is arguing that the Indiana Recount Commission has broad powers to wipe any of those from Deery’s totals if they’re shown to come from independents or liberally-leaning voters who technically shouldn’t have been allowed to vote in the Republican primary – even if voters didn’t understand they were going against a little-used provision in election law.

Those 11 votes are among roughly 275 flagged in June by Copenhaver’s campaign during the recount process. Bock said last week that the campaign disputed all ballots cast for Deery in those 11 voters’ precincts to make sure they were included in the Indiana Recount Commission’s final review.

Deery’s attorney, Samantha DeWester, has argued that Copenhaver’s claims are not only unprecedented, but also that the threat against guarantees of ballot secrecy is “disgusting.”

The Indiana Recount Commission also is scheduled to consider a pair of votes in Tippecanoe and Parke counties that Bock argued weren’t handled properly by county election officials. (Tippecanoe County Clerk Julie Roush fought back against that allegation a day later.)

The Indiana Recount Commission will meet at 9 a.m. Monday, Aug. 10, in Conference Room C of Government Center South, 302 W. Washington St. in Indianapolis, just across from the Statehouse.

The public hearing also will be available live at www.youtube.com/@SOSDiegoMorales.

Ballots across the state, including in Senate District 23, are scheduled to be finalized by Aug. 21.

The Republican winner of the recount in Senate District 23 will face Democrat David Sanders and independent candidate Joshua Brant in a district that includes parts of Tippecanoe, Montgomery, Fountain, Warren, Parke and Vermillion counties.

For more coverage

Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.

Attorneys for Thomas Moss, a Lafayette man accused of being at the center of a plot that led to the attempted murder of Tippecanoe County Superior Court 2 Judge Steve Meyer, on Friday persuaded the special judge overseeing his case to postpone a trial that had been set to start in just over four weeks until April 2027.

The move came during a sometimes contentious hearing that, at one point, had Moss standing at the defense table and asking bailiffs to take him back to his cell, muttering that the hearing was “bullshit.”

With Moss settled back in his seat by bailiffs who ringed the Tippecanoe Circuit courtroom, his attorneys sparred with Cass County Superior Court 2 Judge Lisa Swaim – assigned to his case and those of others accused of being co-conspirators – over how much time was enough before putting the high-profile case before a jury.

Read more

Trustee Gary Lehman said the goal was to get 3,000 responses, especially more from faculty and students, as trustees look at a search that he said would take some time, while Purdue leans on the return of former President Mitch Daniels in the interim.

“Mitch reminds me just about daily that he doesn’t intend on doing this job forever, even though some of us would like him to do that, and so we are going to be moving on it,” Lehman said during a trustees meeting Friday.

“We really want everybody’s input,” Lehman said. “That will help us a lot to give us an idea of what we’re looking for.”

Mung Chiang, Purdue’s 13^th president, left the university on June 30 after 3½ years in the job for a similar post at Northwestern University.

Lehman did not give a firm deadline to name the next president, saying the trustees intend “to be very selective.”

“Sitting presidents that have a great track record, you don’t find them very willing to move,” Lehman said. “If they’re very comfortable where they’re at, with the challenges that higher ed has now, if they’re getting along with their board, they’re getting along with their regents or governors, if they’re getting along with their faculty, if they’re getting along with their alumni, if they’re getting along with their legislators, if they’re getting along with the federal, if they’re getting along with the governors of their states, they’re saying, ‘I think I’ll sit still.’ I understand that. So, it is a challenge.”

Lehman said the initial responses to the survey showed a few trends in what the campus and alumni say they want the next president:

• Financial fluency. “With the challenges that we have in higher ed, they realize that we need a leader that is strong in that area,” Lehman said.

• Leadership and communication skills. “Obviously,” Lehman said.

• A grasp on artificial intelligence and the impact of AI on teaching.

• An ability to deal with changes in college athletics.

The survey asks a series of questions, including one that takes names of those participants would like to nominate for the position. Other survey questions include:

• What professional experiences are most important for Purdue’s next president?

• What specific skills are most important for Purdue’s next president?

• What challenges or opportunities will Purdue’s next president need to tackle in their first three years?

• If, as many believe, technology and social changes will transform the entire higher education system, what must Purdue do to respond and succeed in a radically different environment?

• What specific questions should the board ask candidates for Purdue’s next president?

“The survey will help,” Lehman said. “It’ll help not only us select a president, but will also help that president coming in to have an idea of what the community is looking for and give them some orientation to begin with.”

TRIAL DATE SET IN FORMER TRUSTEE’S CONSPIRACY CLAIMS AGAINST WABASH TOWNSHIP

With fresh allegations of what Jennifer Rae Teising said is an ongoing conspiracy among Wabash Township officials, firefighters and media to defame her, a judge on Thursday set a 2027 trial date on a backpay and defamation case the former township trustee’s first filed in June 2025.

Thursday morning, Tippecanoe Circuit Court Judge Sean Persin said he planned to rule in 30 days on Wabash Township’s efforts to dismiss parts of an updated set of allegations, saying they came beyond the statute of limitations – just as he had ruled last year on claims Teising laid out in her original complaint.

Until then, Persin pinned down Teising and attorneys for Wabash Township to commit to a three-day trial, now set to start June 22, 2027, to settle a lingering dispute the includes backpay due after she was forced from office in early 2022.

Teising is pursuing a civil lawsuit against Wabash Township, a number of current and past township elected officials and fire department personnel over nearly a year of salary and benefits she lost when she was convicted in January 2022 of theft connected to questions about her residency during her time as township trustee.

In that criminal case heard in 2021, a judge ruled that when Teising – a Democrat elected as township trustee in 2018 – sold her West Lafayette home in June 2020, tried to recruit a replacement as trustee and told people she planned to move to Florida, her pursuit of “a nomadic RV lifestyle” for the rest of 2020 and parts of 2021 was the same as forfeiting the position. Teising argued during the trial that she’d been doing what others had done during the pandemic lockdown by working remotely. The court, though, ruled that forfeiting the position while collecting a paycheck was the same as theft, as she’d been charged.

Those criminal charges were later overturned by the Indiana Court of Appeals and vacated in February 2024 by the Indiana Supreme Court, which found she shouldn’t have faced criminal charges of theft.

Teising’s civil lawsuit claims past and present township officials conspired on a narrative that led to criminal charges and her ouster from office. She contended, among other things, that they’d kept tabs on her whereabouts through tracking her phone’s location without her permission or knowing and then sharing that information with local media, which sent a photographer to get a front-page picture of her staying at an RV park in Florida.

In a December 2025 ruling, Persin agreed with Wabash Township that her defamation claims were based on allegations that came beyond the statute of limitations.

In that ruling, Persin had given Teising and the township time to resolve remaining claims about backpay, which are due according to state law to public officials forced from office for convictions that are later dismissed. The Wabash Township Board voted in November 2025 to reauthorize a $39,992 payment it had offered to Teising a year earlier to comply with the state law, filing it with the county clerk until the matter was settled.

Not long after, Teising told the judge that the two sides were “galaxies” apart on negotiations to settle what she believed she was owed beyond the salary. Teising also argued at the time that she was asking for the court to return the money to the township and let it run that salary and benefits through normal payroll. She said that’s what the township had done when it settled a lawsuit with Fire Chief Ed Ward in April 2022, after she’d fired him while still trustee.

Teising demanded a jury trial to decide the issue, along with allegations of civil conspiracy, invasion of privacy, libel and slander, and intentional infliction of emotional distress in an amended complaint filed this spring. Teising argues that the people named in her civil lawsuit continued their behavior into 2023, 2024 and 2025, which should have refreshed the timetable on the statute of limitations on her defamation claims. Her initial lawsuit had been seeking as much as $820,000 in damages connected backpay, legal expenses from her criminal case and hits to her reputation and job prospects since her time as trustee.

On Thursday, Persin noted that Teising updated claims included allegations against members of the media and others not named in the lawsuit against Wabash Township. He pressed her on how the new claims showed actions that were fresh enough to qualify under the statute of limitations.

Persin asked how she was defining the conspiracy and whether it still existed if the initial intent was to get her out of office.

“Once you’re removed, that conspiracy is done – it doesn’t continue,” Persin said Thursday.

Teising argued that even if the motivation of those she said were targeting her had changed, “the behavior hasn’t.”

“They’re all still communicating with each other,” Teising said. “They’re all still trying to paint me in a light that is untruthful. They are still making comments that are untruthful. They are still misrepresenting the Supreme Court’s decision.”

Persin said Thursday that he hadn’t ruled on the merits of Teising’s allegations, only on whether they were timely.

In early January, Teising filed another civil lawsuit targeting the Journal & Courier, arguing that reporting in the Lafayette paper during Teising’s time as trustee and leading up to a criminal conviction that resulted in her ouster in 2022, followed by ongoing coverage later, was part of a coordinated attempt with township officials “to create a misleading and highly offensive public narrative.” That case is pending in Tippecanoe Circuit Court, with no hearing dates set as of this week.

THIS AND THAT/OTHER READS …

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT PURDUE’S NEXT ATHLETIC DIRECTOR

Rice AD Tommy McClelland was introduced Thursday at Purdue’s next athletic director, replacing Mike Bobinski, who is retiring after being in that position for the past decade. McClelland is expected to start Aug. 17, with Bobinski remaining in an advisory role through the end of 2026.

Purdue trustees signed off on a contract through 2032 that will pay McClelland a base salary of $1 million a year, with incentives of up to $300,000 based on incentives surrounding Big Ten and NCAA championships, NCAA tournament success, graduation success rates, grade point averages and other metrics. The contract includes $250,000 each year in deferred compensation, a vehicle, Lafayette Country Club membership, relocation expenses and travel to university sporting events. Purdue also agreed to pay Rice up to $980,000 to buy out McClelland’s contract there.

Among the coverage from McClelland’s introduction:

• J&C reporter Sam King tracked McClelland’s trajectory that led him to Purdue: “Why Purdue picked Tommy McClelland for the top job.”

• Mike Carmin, writing for his Greater Lafayette Sports Report on Substack, had more from Purdue interim President Mitch Daniels on how this AD search was different than the one that landed Bobinski a decade ago and what McClelland brings in an NIL revenue era of college sports: “Different type of search, IU comment, crawfish, relentless pursuit of NIL.”

• In an interview with Brian Neubert at Gold and Black, McClelland talked about how he was anxious to get started: “I have to make sure that I become as much Purdue as possible quickly.” Here’s more: “Q&A: Incoming Purdue athletic director Tommy McClelland discusses football, revenue, long-term planning and more.”

• McClelland went viral during his Thursday morning introductory press conference when he took a swipe at in-state rival IU, the reigning NCAA football champ: “New Purdue AD’s message: ‘If you don’t want to win championships, go to Indiana.’”

• Here’s more from that press conference, via IndyStar’s Nathan Baird and Aaron Ferguson: “Purdue athletic director Tommy McClelland sets championship vision at press conference.”

WORK DELAYED AGAIN ON HISTORIC ONE-LANE INDIANA 225 BRIDGE

Work started this spring on the long-delayed repairs to a historic one-lane bridge on Indiana 225, between Battle Ground and Old Indiana 25, are on hold again, Indiana Department of Transportation officials confirmed this week.

According to INDOT, crews discovered issues with the bridge’s conditions that wouldn’t allow repairs until additional work was done under the four-span, 664-foot bridge built in 1912.

The project also hit a snag by the discovery of a federally protected mussel species near the bridge that led to a required environmental study to be sure that construction of a temporary causeway crews planned to build wouldn’t cause harm.

“INDOT and the contractor are currently waiting for the environmental team to finish their review, and no work can be done until this review is complete,” state Sen. Ron Alting, a Lafayette Republican, said this week. “INDOT is also waiting on a permit to install a temporary causeway. They expect to have a better timeline for work on the bridge by the end of August or at the start of October. … Like you, I am frustrated by this delay and will work diligently to find out what the state can do about this issue so that construction can get underway as soon as possible.”

The historic bridge has been closed since summer 2022, due to structural problems. Twice, Indiana Department of Transportation failed to get acceptable bids for a project to repair decking, curbs, approach slabs, railing and trusses on the bridge. That left the bridge blocked at either end by barricades.

When worked started in April, the bridge was expected to reopen by the end of 2027, with additional work at the site continuing into 2028. INDOT officials say that schedule is on hold.

Correction

An edition out Thursday night misstated the square footage parameters in the definition of a “large data center” in proposed zoning regulations being considered in Tippecanoe County. It should have read: “A ‘large data center’ would be anything bigger than 20,000 square feet and using more than 2 megawatts of power, including ‘hyperscale’ projects being proposed and built by proposed by Meta, Google, Microsoft and others.” That has been corrected in Thursday’s edition, which you can catch here if you missed it:

STILL IN PLAY: CHIP IN FOR CASAs FOR KIDS FUND, I’LL ADD A MONTH TO YOUR BASED IN LAFAYETTE SUBSCRIPTION

The 2026 edition of the Subaru CASA Cycling Challenge, a 24-hour at the two-mile Subaru of Indiana Automotive test track in Lafayette, rolls out Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 8-9. We’ll have a handful of riders on the Bangert Brothers team again this year in support of the CASAs for Kids Fund here in Tippecanoe County. Just like last year, I’ll add a free month to your full-access Based in Lafayette subscription for a donation of any amount to the Bangert Brothers team or team members. To donate and to learn more, here’s the link.

Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.

By Tim Brouk / For Based in Lafayette

Spot Patio Friday, 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7, The Spot Tavern, 409 S. Fourth St., Lafayette — The August edition of the Spot Patio Friday DJ series will feature an impressive seven beat makers, all ready to get the party people moving. Grimey Kids will serve as hosts and the Indianapolis DJ collective booked a fine assortment of Lafayette and beyond DJs of varied styles. Lafayette’s own Karabella, Chef Sully and Machine_Aura will be joined by Chicago hip-hop artist Coldy Styles, Hajimari from Indianapolis and fellow Indy DJ RinTin, who spins righteous drum and bass for the dancing public. $10.

Sacred Dollar at Downtown Lafayette Live, 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7, 11^th and Main streets, downtown Lafayette — Local singer-songwriter Francois Dior’s new band, Sacred Dollar, has been hitting the Lafayette bar circuit and Purdue University, but the trio will break out in a big way as part of the Downtown Lafayette Live! free live music series. While Dior’s recent projects have boasted rock and blues sounds, Sacred Dollar has a rootsier, more acoustic Americana style and Friday evening’s performance should earn the new band many new fans. It’s free.

Pet Parade & Pageant, 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 8, Columbian Park Memorial Island Amphitheater — Pride Lafayette is ramping up for its biggest event of the year — OUTFest, Aug. 15 in downtown Lafayette. But before then, the organization will salute prideful pet owners and their pooches at the first Pet Parade & Pageant. Awards will be given for Best Dressed, Most Creative Costume and Best in Show after all the furry contestants strut their stuff to much fanfare. The $20 contestant registration includes an exclusive Pride pet bandana and other swag, and proceeds will go to Pride Lafayette and Almost Home Humane Society.

Doom Room Field Day Celebration, 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 8, Wea Rec Center, 2000 Wea School Road, Lafayette — Lafayette’s southside must gird its loins for an impending heavy metal explosion. The 11^th annual all-ages Doom Room Field Day Celebration featuring six local and regional bands will make its Wea Rec Center debut this weekend. The grounds will feature sets throughout the day while heavy music enthusiasts form teams and compete in outdoor games you played in gym class or your last house party — cornhole, dodgeball, flip cup and many more. The teams that perform the best earn prizes and glorious glory. Music highlights include the return of Thorr-Axe, a stoner metal Doom Room favorite from Bloomington. Other acts on the bill include MAELSTROM BLVCK, Kokomo’s Graygarden, Indianapolis punks Safety Off, and Lafayette bands Strands of Serenity and Cicada. $15, children under 10 are free.

Mosey Down Main Street, 6-11 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 8, downtown Lafayette — The August edition of the free Mosey Down Main Street festival will feature beer, belly dancing, bands and the best people watching around. Here’s the entertainment lineup:

Main Street Stage, Sixth and Main

• 6 p.m.: The Black Sea Vallachs

• 7:20 p.m.: Star City Rhythm Revival

• 8:40 p.m.: DivineMartyr

• 10 p.m.: Sonic Union

Side Stage, Eight and Main

• 7:20 p.m.: The Propagation

• 8:40 p.m.: The Scratch Thing

• 10 p.m.: Max Hendricks Band

Ninth and Main

• 7-9 p.m.: Oasis Belly Dancing Troupe

Second Stage, 11th and Main

• 6 p.m.: Sheeza

• 7:20 p.m.: One Frame Cartoon

• 8:40 p.m.: Rowan Wilson

• 10 p.m.: Manitou Monster

Here’s a map of the stages, vendors, food and drink:

Tim Brouk is a longtime arts and entertainment reporter. He writes here (almost) weekly, tracking things to do for Based in Lafayette.

BONUS CUTS

Float Jam 2026, Saturday, Aug. 8: The free floating concert hosted by Wabash River Enhancement Corp. returns for a second year on Saturday, Aug. 8. Paddlers will launch from Davis Ferry, north of Lafayette, and paddle 4½ miles downstream to Tapawingo Park in West Lafayette, as local singer-songwriters Annie Hatke and Rosie Inman play. Participants can sign up for a spot in a raft, 10-person voyageur canoe, two-person canoe or kayak, or they can bring their own boat. The music starts at 5 p.m. and is expected to end at 8 p.m. Registration is required to get a spot on a boat and on shuttles carrying paddlers from Tapawingo Park to Davis Ferry. For more information and to register, go to wabashriver.net/floatjam.

TAF Art Fair, Friday, Aug. 7: The Arts Federation will host an art fair on the front lawn of its home at the Wells Community Center, 638 North St. in Lafayette, from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7. The fair will feature pop-up galleries of paintings, jewelry, prints, pottery and more by artists Antoni Domoni, Eliza Gellis, JannetDraws, Lory Lewis, Lori Brubaker, Lilwen Jones, MASTERPEACE, Nikkie Ingalls, Prickly Peach Goods and Stellacious Art. Music from The Last of the Apples. Inside at the same time, TAF will host opening receptions for exhibits by Katia Vi, Kristi Yapp and Lesley Wysong. More information on the event and the artists here.

Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.

PROPOSED DATA CENTER REGULATIONS FOR TIPPECANOE COUNTY: ‘DIFFICULT AS POSSIBLE, WITHOUT BANNING’

Planners who spent the past year drawing up a proposed set of tight zoning regulations for hyperscale data centers development in Tippecanoe County said Wednesday that if the restrictions seemed tough, that was intentional.

So, why not go all in on a ban, as other Indiana counties have done?

“Not knowing what the state might do in terms of pre-empting bans (on large-scale data centers), we wanted to make this as difficult as possible, without banning it,” Amanda Esposito, Area Plan Commission assistant director, told the APC’s Ordinance Committee as she presented the proposal for the first time Wednesday.

The APC Ordinance Committee, the first step in rewriting the county’s zoning code, held off on sending the proposed rules to the full Area Plan Commission, opting to give the staff a month to make some changes suggested during an hourlong discussion Wednesday. Those are expected to return to the committee Sept. 2.

The county is working against the clock on this one.

Current zoning code definitions for data centers, installed in November 2025 as a stopgap measure to temporarily gum up the works of energy- and water-eating data center development, is set to expire in November.

That measure include a section that restricts large data center development to a single, rarely used I2/industrial designation.

Among the highlights from the proposal posted with the Area Plan Commission’s Ordinance Committee’s meeting agenda for next week:

Data center definitions: The code would differentiate between a “data center” and a “large data center.”

The regular version would include those that had gross floor area of 20,000 square feet or less and used less than 2 megawatts of energy. In the 2025 code, the county made room for smaller, less-intensive data centers, including ones already operated by local internet providers and firms providing internal data security for banks and other businesses. Those would be allowed to go into the commercial and industrial zones already in the county’s codes. The new proposal bumps up the size to quality as a smaller data center from a current 10,000-square-foot limit.

A “large data center” would be anything bigger than 20,000 square feet and using more than 2 megawatts of power, including “hyperscale” projects being proposed and built by proposed by Meta, Google, Microsoft and others. According to the proposed updated code, large data centers would continue to be restricted to the county’s I2/industrial classification. That was an intentional hurdle specified in the 2025 version, given that so little land is already zoned I2 in Tippecanoe County. That, planners said at the time, would force a developer to go through a minimum of three public hearings – one before the APC for a recommendation; a second with the county, a city or town board for a final approval; followed by a review by the Board of Zoning Appeals for special zoning exceptions required for large data centers – to get the proper zoning before construction could start.

Other requirements: Large data centers would face a host of expectations, even before getting to necessary votes, according to the new proposal.

Among them:

• New large data centers would need to be separated by at least 20 miles from any other large data center. That would leave room, conceivably, for one large-scale data center in Tippecanoe County, if it could get zoning and other approvals.

• Buildings at a data center site would require a 1,320-foot setback from all property lines. That’s a quarter-mile.

• Large data center applications would need to include projections for energy usage and water consumption.

• At least 80% of the energy consumed on a large data center site would have to come from renewable sources, such as wind or solar power.

• Large data centers would have to use a closed-loop cooling system, which would cut back on the amount of water they’d require.

• Developers would be required to host a public information session before submitting a special zoning exception application to the Board of Zoning Appeals. Those would have to include public notifications of nearby landowners and the news media.

• The maximum allowed noise level outside a large data center would 45 decibels.

• Large data center projects would require a decommissioning plan, similar to ones required for gas stations, car washes and oil change businesses in Lafayette and West Lafayette. According to the proposal, that would include removing all buildings, equipment and signage on the property.

During Wednesday’s hearing, several residents who were central to the zoning fight that scuttled plans for a 120-megawatt, 1,700-acre utility-scale solar project in western Tippecanoe County suggested making the data center rules even stricter than they were.

Among the suggestions:

• Add stronger rules about lighting during construction, given concerns about work being done at a $10 billion data center Meta is building in the LEAP District in Lebanon.

• Build in remedies for noise violations at data center sites.

• Allow longer times for the county to check into an application to develop a data center and build in ways to make developers pay the bill for third-party reviews.

Katherine Sobieralski, a neighbor who lives near the proposed Rainbow Trout project and was part of a committee that studied the county’s recently approved solar regulations, encouraged the county to still consider a ban on data centers. She said the county was growing and doing well enough on the economic development front that it could afford to sit out this data center phase.

“It’s all over the national news, large data centers going here, there, and everywhere, and I don’t think I’ve seen a single news story about it that’s positive,” Sobieralski told the APC Ordinance Committee. “I don’t think that communities are welcoming these things with open arms. I don’t think that anybody sitting in front of me would necessarily want to live next to one. … You felt the pain in the last 18 months of controversial land uses with SK hynix and with solar, but I think the pain is going to be 10 times worse if you’re talking about somebody applying for a data center.”

Tom Murtaugh, a county commissioner who would have a say in the final data center regulations, agreed with Esposito, though, about offering a path to zoning approval, even if it was purposely difficult.

“What makes me nervous about a complete ban, is that as counties do that, it’s very likely the state will remove the ability for that decision to be made at the local level,” Murtaugh said.

What’s next: If moved along by the APC Ordinance Committee Sept. 2, the full Area Plan Commission could consider the proposal at its Sept. 16 hearing. An APC recommendation would go then to the Lafayette and West Lafayette city councils, Tippecanoe County commissioners and town boards in Battle Ground, Dayton and Clarks Hill.

THIS AND THAT/OTHER READS …

PURDUE’S NEW AD: Purdue on Wednesday named Tommy McClelland, former AD at Rice University, to replace Purdue AD Mike Bobinski, who plans to retire at the end of 2026 after 10 years in West Lafayette. McClelland’s expected to be introduced at 11 a.m. Thursday press conference. You can watch a livestream here. Indianapolis Star reporter Nathan Baird had this look at McClelland: “What Tommy McClelland’s career shows Purdue is getting in next athletic director.” Veteran reporter Mike Carmin, writing at his Greater Lafayette Sports Report on Substack, had this: “10 questions facing Purdue, new athletic director Tommy McClelland.”

GAS TAX HOLIDAY ROLLS INTO ANOTHER MONTH: All those dire warnings to fill your tank before Friday? You can ignore them. Gov. Mike Braun issued a new executive order Wednesday that will continue to suspend state gas taxes that work out to be about 58.9 cents a gallon through Sept. 5. Braun first suspended gas taxes by executive order in May, under authority that appeared to be nearing its end. Braun had to come up with new reasons to keep the tax holiday going, outlined here by Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter Tom Davies: “Braun announces new energy emergency, continues Indiana’s gas tax suspension.”

CHIP IN FOR CASAs FOR KIDS FUND, I’LL ADD A MONTH TO YOUR BASED IN LAFAYETTE SUBSCRIPTION

The 2026 edition of the Subaru CASA Cycling Challenge, a 24-hour at the two-mile Subaru of Indiana Automotive test track in Lafayette, rolls out Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 8-9. We’ll have a handful of riders on the Bangert Brothers team again this year in support of the CASAs for Kids Fund here in Tippecanoe County. Just like last year, I’ll add a free month to your full-access Based in Lafayette subscription for a donation of any amount to the Bangert Brothers team or team members. To donate and to learn more, here’s the link.

Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.

With protest growing amid calls for local police to ditch automated license plate readers over civil rights concerns about surveillance on Greater Lafayette roads and how mass AI-driven data collected and managed by a company supplying the cameras could be misused, Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski on Monday said the city stood by Flock Safety cameras first deployed in 2022.

“They’re one of the least invasive ways that we do to gather information,” Roswarski, who was with the Lafayette Police Department before being elected mayor in 2003, said in response to a round of pleas to the city council in recent months to end a contract with Georgia-based Flock Safety.

“I can assure you, the city of Lafayette and the Lafayette Police Department has no desire to be involved with mass surveillance in any way,” Roswarski told city council members. “We’re trying to do this to keep our community safe and make it a great place to live, work and raise your family.”

On the West Side, where the city council faced similar requests Monday to dump the city’s share of cameras in Flock’s nationwide network, Council President Larry Leverenz said the city’s police and information technology departments were reviewing the system in light of recent concerns.

West Lafayette Deputy Chief Dave VanVactor said this week that meetings were being arranged between police, city council members and the city’s IT department with Flock Safety to see whether assurances given when WLPD first installed the license-plate reading technology were still good or needed to be adjusted. VanVactor, who said the city’s four automated license-plate readers have played a big part in solving crimes in West Lafayette, said he hoped to be able to report back to the council in September.

“Some of the things that have been talked about on social media and other places, Flock has told us basically the opposite of what’s being put out there,” VanVactor said. “But this is worth revisiting because it has been several years since we’ve had a lot of communication on that end of things. But I’m hopeful that we get some good answers that we’re able to present to the public that will help ease some of the concern. … This will be a good opportunity for us to hold their feet to the fire, to give us honest answers.”

Flock’s array of cameras deployed in and around Lafayette, West Lafayette and Purdue have spurred “Deflock” campaigns and a new petition to get rid of them.

Among the concerns are skepticism that the tracking ability of the cameras will be limited to times when police are trying to solve crimes, instead offering easy access to abuse privacy and civil rights, including tracking people in certain parts of the community or those involved in constitutionally protected dissent. They said they worried that technology designed to capture make, model and plate information from passing cars too easily could be expanded into face recognition, voice recordings and more as technology and police desire grew.

Residents this week also said the city should be as wary as they are about whether data collected locally is truly under the cities’ control or whether, as the petition states, “accumulation of this data can be used for indefinite tracking, creating a climate of fear and oppression instead of one of safety and protection.”

“It seems like ‘1984,’” Quinnell Gutwein, a Lafayette resident, told the Lafayette City Council Monday, referencing the novel by George Orwell.

West Lafayette resident Erin Moon-Walker told the West Lafayette City Council the same night that she could take personal steps with her tech usage not to support companies she suspected were backed by those who might abuse personal data.

“But I can’t remove the Flock camera at the end of my street that records my family’s movements in a database, where information is supposed to be deleted by the company according to what reads like a ‘Trust Me, Bro’ clause in the contract, even in light of the resolution that was passed and through no fault of our police department,” Moon-Walker said.

Read more

BACKYARD CHICKENS OK’D PERMANENTLY AFTER INITIAL TEST IN LAFAYETTE

Fans of backyard chickens in Lafayette will be allowed to keep their flocks, after the city council agreed Monday to renew an ordinance approved a year earlier that cleared the way for coops for hens in residential neighborhoods.

Council members had plenty of questions about how the first year of permits for backyard chickens had gone, but the controversy that led to a narrow approval in 2025 was stripped away Monday night when the council faced a self-imposed one-year sunset provision.

The council, which passed the initial ordinances on a 5-4 vote, voted 7-0 Monday to make the ordinance permanent. (Council member Lauren Ahlersmeyer was absent; the council president, Melissa Weast-Williamson, typically does not vote other than to break ties. They were among the no votes for the initial proposal in 2025.)

Monday night, Sarah Goans, the city’s chief animal control officer, vouched for continuing to allow chickens, give the experience during the first year.

Read more

Moss’ attorneys argued that given the complexity of the case and several unresolved issues leading up to his trial set to start Sept. 9 that one year to 18 months of prep time to get through it all was “a more realistic timeframe for trial lawyers to prepare this matter for jury.”

Meanwhile, Moss and two of his three alleged co-conspirators – Blake Smith of Dayton and Raylen Ferguson, a Lexington, Kentucky, man accused of pulling the trigger – asked for a stay in their cases until a higher court could hear an appeal on a judge’s denial to appoint a special prosecutor who didn’t have such a close working relationship with Judge Meyer.

As of Monday afternoon, the prosecution hadn’t filed a response, according to court records. Neither had Cass County Superior Court 2 Judge Lisa Swaim, who was appointed in January to handle cases related to the Meyers’ shooting and a larger alleged scheme intended to sidetrack a separate trial Moss faced in Meyer’s court.

Moss, Ferguson and Smith – along with Nevaeh Bell, 23, of Lafayette, who prosecutors say helped with details of the plan to keep Moss from going to trial and potentially to prison – face more than a dozen charges tied to the attempted murders of the Meyers and the victim in Moss’ initial domestic violence case.

They were arrested in the weeks after the shootings at the front door of the Meyers’ Lafayette home and since then have been held on bonds well into the millions of dollars, with conditions that keep them isolated from anyone other than their lawyers.

Moss’ trial is currently scheduled to be the first of the four, with the other three pushed out months later.

But the cases of Moss, Ferguson and Smith were scheduled for a test jury set to be called Sept. 2 to gauge how difficult it might be to find impartial jurors in Tippecanoe County.

Attorneys for Thomas Moss, Raylen Ferguson and Blake Smith have argued that it could be impossible to pick a local jury for a crime that garnered high-profile media coverage and where the victims were well-known in the community. Swaim said during a hearing earlier in July that the test jury would help her decide whether to move trials away or bring jurors from another county for a trial at the Tippecanoe County Courthouse.

In Monday’s motion to delay Moss’ trial, attorneys Mike Cunningham and Andrew Baldwin argued that with the other cases “inextricably intertwined with the facts” in Moss’ case, that “the fact that multiple defendants are accused of participating in a common scheme or plan adds complexity to the case, even for lawyers with vast experience.”

Cunningham and Baldwin wrote in Monday’s motion that they’d initially been reluctant to take the case “due to the additional time commitment that a high-profile and complex case like Moss’ would require.” But now, they argued, they needed more time to get through deposition and reams of evidence to defend Moss’ case.

They also contended that initial digital evidence received from the prosecution was corrupted, causing delays. And they argued that Swaim had been slow to rule on defense pre-trial motions, causing more delays.

They said Moss’ original trial, initially set to start two days after the Meyers were shot, should be held first. It also is scheduled to start Sept. 9, according to court records.

Then, Moss’ attorneys argued, there was a fresh motion filed Monday by Moss, Ferguson and Smith asking to appeal Swaim’s decision in July that rejected a request for a special prosecutor in the case.

In March, Baldwin argued in court that the prosecutor’s had a conflict of interest, due to its “close-knit” working relationship with Meyer and his court. Baldwin had argued that Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington had set precedents when he asked for special prosecutors in other cases, including one involving a Lafayette man charged in October 2025 of battering a public defender and another in which a defendant threatened to kill a Tippecanoe County judge and his family. Moss’ attorneys argued that prosecutors might pursue the case differently knowing they’d have to work with Meyer as a victim in this case and when he was on the bench in other cases.

In her order July 10, Swaim said that whether the prosecutor had a history of asking for special prosecutors in other cases “does not support or refute an inference that he acted improperly in this case by not asking for such an appointment.” She wrote that state law gave the prosecutor “significant discretion to analyze and decide and does not make them reveal the internal process.”

In Monday’s motion, attorneys for Moss, Smith and Ferguson asked for a review of Swaim’s decision by the Indiana Court of Appeals or the Indiana Supreme Court.

They asked to hold off on any other matters in the case until that is done.

They argued in the new motion that waiting until after a trial for an appeal about a special prosecutor “is inadequate.” They argued that settling that matter now could save time and effort later.

“They have already been arrested, detained and held in solitary confinement, and if convicted face over 300 years,” the attorneys wrote. “A post-judgment appeal cannot restore the fairness of a pretrial process already compromised by a conflicted prosecutor’s charging decision, discovery determinations and plea negotiation posture. Once those decisions are made, no appellate remedy can recreate what an unconflicted prosecutor’s independent judgment would have produced at each of those junctures.”

INDIANA RECOUNT COMMISSION SETS FINAL HEARING ON DISPUTED BALLOTS IN SENATE DISTRICT 23

A final hearing in the recount in the disputed Indiana Senate District 23 race will be Aug. 10 in Indianapolis, according to an order issued Monday by Evan Norris, a Zionsville-based attorney overseeing the recount.

After an Indiana Recount Commission hearing last week, state Sen. Spencer Deery, a West Lafayette Republican, maintained a three-vote victory over his Trump-endorsed challenger Paula Copenhaver in the May Republican primary. Deery’s margin stood at 6,337-6,334, the same as it was after six county election boards certified results in May.

Not settled, yet, are votes Copenhaver, a former Fountain County clerk, disputes for various reasons.

Last week, a split Indiana Recount Commission voted 2-1 against Copenhaver’s demand to subpoena 11 voters – including nine from Tippecanoe County – she accused of crossing over to pull a Republican ballot to vote against her despite “boasting” on social media or in news articles that they typically vote for Democrats. Even without sworn testimony by the 11 voters accused of tampering, though, Copenhaver’s attorney, Bill Bock, is arguing that the Indiana Recount Commission has broad powers to wipe any of those from Deery’s totals if they’re shown to come from independents or liberally-leaning voters who technically shouldn’t have been allowed to vote in the Republican primary – even if voters didn’t understand they were going against a little-used provision in election law.

Those 11 votes are among roughly 275 flagged in June by Copenhaver’s campaign during the recount process. Bock said last week that the campaign disputed all ballots cast for Deery in those 11 voters’ precincts to make sure they were included in the Indiana Recount Commission’s final review.

Deery’s attorney, Samantha DeWester, has argued that Copenhaver’s claims are not only unprecedented, but also that the threat against guarantees of ballot secrecy is “disgusting.”

The Indiana Recount Commission also is scheduled to consider a pair of votes in Tippecanoe and Parke counties that Bock argued weren’t handled properly by county election officials. (Tippecanoe County Clerk Julie Roush fought back against that allegation a day later.)

The Indiana Recount Commission last week hinted that it would hold a final session Aug. 18 in Tippecanoe County to handle the disputed ballots. That changed, Norris said in his order, after consulting with Deery and Copenhaver’s attorneys and settling on a central location already set up for livestreaming and easier access for state staff.

That meeting now will be 9 a.m. Monday, Aug. 10, in Conference Room B of Government Center South, 302 W. Washington St. in Indianapolis, just across from the Statehouse.

For more coverage:

CITY COUNCIL NIGHT: FULL PLATES TONIGHT

City councils on both sides of the river face fairly meaty agendas for tonight’s round of monthly meetings. Here’s some of what they’ll be discussing and deciding – along with some of what they won’t be talking about, yet.

Lafayette City Council

False alarm fines: Lafayette, which already has a fine structure for false alarms on police calls, is looking to add similar fines for false alarms on fire department runs. According to a proposed ordinance up for a first of two votes Monday by the city council, the idea is to provide incentive to cut down on the number of false alarms that bring the sirens from the Lafayette Fire Department.

The proposal would offer ways for alarm businesses time to make a case that corrective action had happened to prevent ongoing false alarms, that the alarm was activated “based upon a reasonable good faith believe that an emergency existed” or that the alarm was triggered by “severe atmospheric conditions or other circumstances not reasonably under the control” of the alarm provider.

The proposed fine structure is set up on the number of false alarms in a calendar year. The first violation would warrant a written warning. After that, the fines would be $50 for a second violation, $100 for a third, $150 for a fourth and $200 for fifth violations and beyond.

The ordinance, if approved, would give property owners and alarm companies 45 days to appeal the situation and the fine before the city’s board of works.

Backyard chickens, up for a one-year ‘sunset’ review: When the Lafayette City Council narrowly agreed to allow residents to keep chickens in their backyards, the 5-4 vote came with a caveat of a one-year sunset clause to make sure it was working out and wasn’t a source of irritation for the city or for neighborhoods. That second-year confirmation is scheduled to go to the city council Monday evening.

Read more

A year after installing a stopgap measure into the county’s zoning code meant to temporarily put large-scale data center development in check, Tippecanoe County planners this week rolled out a proposal that wouldn’t ban massive warehouses of computer servers but would add a series of conditions companies would need to meet to build in and around Greater Lafayette.

That would include restrictions that would keep them at least 20 miles away from any other large data center.

The county’s current zoning code definition for data centers is set to expire in November, including a part that restricts large data center development to a single, rarely used I2/industrial designation, according to a memo from Amanda Esposito, Area Plan Commission’s assistant director.

The proposed zoning codes released this week have been in the works since the stopgap measure was approved in 2025, along with a one-year sunset provision.

According to a July report by WFYI, Tippecanoe County is among nearly a third of Indiana’s counties that have passed their own restrictions or moratoriums on data centers as public skepticism grows over the amount of energy and water the facilities’ rows of computer networks require. Data center proposals have sparked protest at local government meetings across the state in the past year.

According to a report by Citizens Action Coalition, a nonprofit watchdog organization, roughly 60 large, hyperscale data centers have been proposed in Indiana over the past two years as the AI market grows. Citizens Action Coalition called them some of the most energy-intensive facilities in the world and highlighted indications from the utility providers in Indiana “that they will need enormous amounts of power to serve these prospective data centers.” The report included a forecast from I&M, a subsidiary of American Electric Power, “that just a handful of AI data centers coming to Northern Indiana will use more electricity by 2030 than all 6.8 million Hoosiers use in their homes today.” The nonprofit organization predicted that would lead to higher energy bills for all customers.

The county’s Area Plan Commission Ordinance Committee is scheduled to get its first look at the new proposed regulations Wednesday, Aug. 5. If approved there, the zoning code changes would need to go to the full Area Plan Commission for a recommendation and then to the Tippecanoe County commissioners and city councils for final votes.

Expect more context as this rolls out, but among the highlights from the proposal posted with the Area Plan Commission’s Ordinance Committee’s meeting agenda for next week:

Data center definitions: The code would differentiate between a “data center” and a “large data center.”

The smaller version would include those that had gross floor area of 20,000 square feet or less and used less than 2 megawatts of energy. In the 2025 code, the county made room for smaller, less-intensive data centers, including ones already operated by local internet providers and firms providing internal data security for banks and other businesses. Those would be allowed to go into the commercial and industrial zones already in the county’s codes. The new proposal bumps up the size to quality as a smaller data center from a current 10,000-square-foot limit.

A “large data center” would be anything bigger than 20,000 square feet and using more than 2 megawatts of power, including “hyperscale” projects being proposed and built by Meta, Google, Microsoft and others. According to the proposed updated code, large data centers would continue to be restricted to the county’s I2/industrial classification. That was an intentional hurdle specified in the 2025 version, given that so little land is already zoned I2 in Tippecanoe County. That, planners said at the time, would force a developer to go through a minimum of three public hearings – one before the APC for a recommendation; a second with the county, a city or town board for a final approval; followed by a review by the Board of Zoning Appeals for special zoning exceptions required for large data centers – to get the proper zoning before construction could start.

Other requirements: Large data centers would face a host of expectations, even before getting to necessary votes, according to the new proposal.

Among them:

• New large data centers would need to be separated by at least 20 miles from any other large data center. (Tippecanoe County is roughly 21 miles wide and 24 miles tall.)

• Large data center applications would need to include projections for energy usage and water consumption.

• At least 80% of the energy consumed on a large data center site would have to come from renewable sources, such as wind or solar power.

• Large data centers would have to use a closed-loop cooling system, which would cut back on the amount of water they’d require.

• Developers would be required to host a public information session before submitting a special zoning exception application to the Board of Zoning Appeals. Those would have to include public notifications of nearby landowners and the news media.

• The maximum allowed noise level outside a large data center would 45 decibels.

• Large data center projects would require a decommissioning plan, similar to ones required for gas stations, car washes and oil change businesses in Lafayette and West Lafayette. According to the proposal, that would include removing all buildings, equipment and signage on the property.

What’s next: The data center regulations proposal will go to the Area Plan Commission’s Ordinance Committee at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 5, at the County Office Building, 20 N. Third St. in Lafayette.

For more

TIP FROM A BUS RIDER HELPS THWART SUSPECTED KIDNAPPING IN WEST LAFAYETTE

West Lafayette police, working from a tip from a bus rider, were able track a 22-year-old woman accused of taking a six-month-old girl Thursday evening, leading to her arrest and the recovery of the infant in Louisville, Kentucky, that night, police reported.

Jasmine O’Sullivan, 22, of Lawrenceville, Georgia, was arrested by police in Louisville, who were able to reach her on the bus. Police reported Friday that O’Sullivan was arrested without incident and that the infant, identified by West Lafayette Police as Baby Adalyn, was reunited with her family five hours after she was reported missing.

“This successful outcome was made possible because an observant citizen recognized the child after seeing our social media posts and immediately contacted the West Lafayette Police Department,” West Lafayette Police Chief Adam Ferguson said in a social media post Friday. “Within moments, WLPD investigators, working alongside the FBI and local law enforcement agencies, coordinated efforts that led to the bus being intercepted and the child being found safely.”

Police say they received a report of the suspected kidnapping at 5:47 p.m. Thursday. According the police account, O’Sullivan was suspected of using someone else’s identity “to gain the mother’s trust and facilitate the kidnapping.” Police said the woman who identity was used was not suspected of being involved. In WLPD posts Thursday, police said detectives determined that the suspect likely had left the Country Villa Apartments in West Lafayette at approximately 4:30 p.m. in a gray SUV.

Police said the investigation continued for local and federal agencies.

THIS AND THAT …

BECKWITH’S OUTBURST ABOUT PURDUE, STATE’S ‘WOKE’ CAMPUSES: Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith took a swipe at Purdue Thursday, relaying a comment he said he relayed from a parent who was offended by a campus tour led by a student who mentioned belonging to the Muslim Student Association and who referenced a campus landmark known as “the Diversity Tree” – a spot traditionally painted by Greek organizations during the school year. The “potential Purdue University parent” also took issue with a university video that touted the campus’ LGBTQ Center. His upshot: “Why are state schools in Indiana the worst?? Do yourself a favor, send your kids to Hillsdale College where woke indoctrination won’t happen.” Hillsdale College is a private Christian liberal arts college in his hometown in Hillsdale, Michigan.

Here’s what he wrote.

Cherise Hall, Purdue’s vice provost for enrollment management, said in a statement issued by the university: “The statement attributed to the student tour guide is not a part of any standard script, but rather reflect a positive personal experience the student had on campus with the MSA.”

Purdue officials didn’t touch other aspects of the lieutenant governor’s statement, including about the university’s LGBTQ Center or the implication that the Muslim Student Association was at the center of “violence and hate on campuses everywhere.”

Beckwith has been calling out Islam in recent months, calling the religion evil at saying he’d “100% want to ban mosques in America from blaring the Muslim call to prayer through loudspeakers 5 times a day across our cities.”

PURDUE’S BACK ON TIKTOK: Three years after Purdue ditched its TikTok accounts and restricted access on campus WiFi networks – a February 2023 decision “prompted by concerns about cybersecurity risks to user data privacy, algorithmic censorship of free speech and threats to national security” – the university hopped back into the social media platform this week.

In a note delivered to those who deal with university branding, the Purdue Brand Studio announced that it had re-launched a feed at @purdueuniversity.

“Purdue University will begin a phased return to TikTok to re-establish our presence on a platform we know prospective and current students increasingly use to discover information,” the announcement read. “Following significant changes to TikTok’s U.S. operations and data governance, including the transition to U.S.-based servers under government oversight, Purdue leadership is confident TikTok’s risk profile has shifted.”

OTHER READS …

• As the recount continues in Indiana Senate District 23 – see this out of Indianapolis this week: “Recount Commission rejects Copenhaver’s demand to subpoena voters” – another related shoe dropped Friday in developments revolving around President Donald Trump’s attempt to get Indiana to join in mid-decade redistricting. Sen. Rod Bray, a Martinsville Republican who faced the wrath of Trump and his allies when the Indiana Senate declined to go along, said Friday he won’t seek to re-elected state Senate leader going into the 2027 General Assembly session. From an account from Marissa Meador at the Indianapolis Star: “It’s a departure from Bray’s previous statements about his plans to stay in leadership. In a statement, a spokesperson for Bray attributed the decision to Bray’s duty to protect his fellow senators from further political retribution.” (Sen. Spencer Deery, a West Lafayette Republican currently holding a three-vote margin in Senate District 23, was among seven targeted by millions in dark money spent during the May primary for his stance against the redistricting plan.) It was an announcement that prompted Trump to roast Bray on social media again as a “fool.” Here’s more from Meador: “Sen. Bray won’t seek re-election to leadership amid fallout from Trump’s redistricting push.”

• Gov. Mike Braun said this week he plans to deploy more help to the Indiana Public Access Counselor’s office after an Indianapolis Star investigation confirmed rumblings that the agency was falling behind on dealing with public requests to weigh in on questions about public records and public meetings complaints. The move also followed pressure from a media coalition to get to the reasons why. Indiana Capital Chronicle editor Niki Kelly had this: “Governor diverts staff to address public access counselor office backlog.” Starting it all, Indianapolis Star reporters Cate Charron and Grace Randolph analyzed the performance by Jennifer Ruby, Gov. Mike Braun’s appointee: “During her 16-month tenure, her office took an average of nearly 250 days, or about eight months, to issue an opinion, a first-of-its-kind IndyStar analysis found. That is far outside the public access law’s requirement and more than three times longer than that of her predecessor, Luke Britt, during his final two years in office. Ruby is also far more likely to favor the government when it denies access to citizens. The analysis, which examined published opinions, found that Ruby favored the government two-thirds of the time. Britt was the exact inverse. He found in two-thirds of the cases that the government violated state law or could act differently to improve transparency.” Read it all here: “Under Braun’s watchdog, government secrecy grows harder to challenge.”

• IndyStar reporter Nathan Baird had a fun look at some likely, Purdue-centric candidates if the Boilermakers join the trend of adding sponsor logos to basketball and football uniforms. As Baird wrote, “Purdue athletics is in active negotiations with multiple potential partners for jersey patch and playing surface sponsorships. Some could begin showing up as early as this fall.” Wisconsin has home-based Culver’s. Baird’s speculation ranges from Orville Redenbacher popcorn (a famous alum) to NASA (Cradle of Astronauts) to the state ties to Eli Lilly and Company. Read it here: “Purdue basketball, football seeking jersey patch sponsors. Who makes sense?”

• With simmering questions, whether on social media or during public comment times at the Lafayette City Council, about local contracts with Flock Safety for license plate scanning and traffic monitoring cameras, here’s one out of Bloomington. The Monroe County commissioners last week reeled in its contract with Flock Safety, saying that, despite liking the crime investigation capabilities of the cameras, they’d grown uncomfortable with the privacy concerns raised by the technology. Here’s more from WFIU reporter George Hale: “Monroe County cancels contract with Flock Safety.”

Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.

In the days leading up July 31, Wade’s last day after 46 years with the nonprofit agency, most everything was off the walls and her desk, save for a few odd bits, like a random complaint about a local hotel nearly two decades old and a program for a local roast from ages ago.

“And someone needs to explain this one …,” Wade said, laughing during an exit interview last week.

The can of Scottish Haggis with Drambuie liqueur remained a mystery.

“I can’t for the life of me remember who gave that to me and why,” Wade said. “But there was always something going around here, that’s for sure.”

Here are excerpts from a BiL exit interview with Wade, whose career was built around promoting local tourism and everything going on in the community.

Question: How is the packing going?

Jo Wade: I’m getting there. I have a pile of stuff at home. Books have gone to the West Lafayette Public Library. Other stuff has gone here and there. You know, for 46 years and not being somebody that throws things out very well, it’s going fine.

Question: How did you, 46 years ago, wind up here?

Jo Wade: I left when I graduated from college, and went up to Madison, Wisconsin, to work in an ad agency with two of my brothers. I didn’t last long up there. Purdue called, from where I had been in photographic services while I was in school, and said they had the job I had been doing when I was a student. I came back for that job. When I got there, there was an issue about hiring without looking at others inside the university, so when I got back it wasn’t available. The folks at the Convention and Visitors Bureau at the time came to my old boss at Purdue looking for someone who might be able to do presentations and put stuff together. It was good timing. I also had worked at The Pub for a long time, and that’s where I was working when I came back. I wound up here Dec. 1 of 1980. When I started, my first title was convention services coordinator, and I did photography and presentations and whatever else needed to get done. … It was in 1984 when I was put in charge.

Question: What was it like in 1984 selling Greater Lafayette as a destination or a place to visit?

Jo Wade: Weird.

Question: How do you mean?

Jo Wade: I mean, doing a lot of brochures. Gathering a lot of information by hand. With technology in tourism, we’re usually one of the first to use it – the first places where they’re using their phone to book business and all of that sort of stuff. Back then, there was none of that. We were printing brochures and trying to figure out where to place ads in magazines and trying to figure out how to get the information out, pushing very hard at conventions. It was probably several years before we figured out sports was easier to do than conventions. And we didn’t really have, other than at Purdue, big facilities for that. Still, we were going to religious conference managers and youth events and sometimes with Purdue, setting up booths and that sort of thing to spread the word. It was very different.

We now we realize that the locals, the citizens of this community, are as important as the visitor.

Question: How did you come to that?

Jo Wade: Well, we’ve always said we were heavily about friends and relatives coming to the area. But our international association has constantly been encouraging us to realize that our customer is as much the citizens of the community as it is the visitor. And in Lafayette and West Lafayette, we’ve grown, so we very much have more customers to reach around here.

Question: How’s that changed your messaging, selling the community to people who live here?

Jo Wade: For one, what we always called our “visitor guide” we now call an “experience guide.” It cracked me up that I would have people not pick one up. Local people would tell me, “That’s for visitors. That’s not for me.” Out here, we were like, No, it’s for everybody. If you don’t know and aren’t proud of your community, we’ll never be able to get the community promoted well.

Tourism, I would say, is more into research than just about any other. We look at where every request is coming from and who we’re working with and all of those sorts of numbers. We’re getting as many requests from the citizens who help us get conventions and events to come here as anything else. We’re not the sort of location for conferences or even a sports tournament, that people are necessarily looking to bring it here just because we’re so well known for softball or soccer or anything else. It’s heavily based on people in the community that help promote the community and bring those conferences and all of that here. … Those groups and businesses learn (Visit Lafayette-West Lafayette) has the best library of photos, which we’ll freely give out, and a calendar of things going on. They’re not going to dig up every hotel or every attraction or that sort of thing. So, even if they do their own things, our having the information in depth can help get them going.

Question: From what you’ve seen, what have been the major changes in the community that have been visitor-related?

Jo Wade: We have we have a lot more hotels than we used to have. We have more wedding venues, more people excited to bring sports events here.

We have, I think, a positive view about the community. For such a long time, when I said what I do, people would laugh. You promote tourism here? Tourism is the international word that means every visiting person. But for a long time, I think our community viewed that as resorts and oceans and mountains and Disneyland. We couldn’t get away with using our destination in any of our wording. People would say, We’re not a destination. It was like, Did you know there’s a Purdue University here? We’re not necessarily a two-week vacation location. It doesn’t really matter. Lots of people are coming here for football games, for the Feast of the Hunters’ Moon, for music, for whatever. We’ve always worked to be ready for all that.

We were very event-driven, because we had a lot of festivals, and we’re still event driven. But we have a strong restaurant community. We have strong music venues. There are more things for people to do. Like it’s Greater Lafayette Commerce’s responsibility for workforce development, it’s our responsibility to make those people coming into the community excited about all the things they can see and do. We’re just that one portion of workforce development that is telling you that you could have a good time here and it would be comfortable to live here, and you can make contact with your people while you’re in the community.

Question: If you have somebody coming to town to visit, give me a day you’d plan to show them around?

Jo Wade: I love walking around the community, showing people the public art. So walking downtown – we have a lovely downtown, which surprises a lot of visitors coming into the community. Walking through the campus or even driving around the campus. Then it’s asking them what sort of food they like, and we could do about any kind of ethnic food in town. … A lot of walking around and seeing stuff. Great local coffee shops, so we can start out there with coffee. You know, when you talk about that, it’s not exactly what Jo wants to do. People walk in and go, “What’s there to do today?” Well, what do you like to do? Are you a golfer? We have great golf courses. There are things that wouldn’t necessarily come to mind right away, like maybe renting a canoe or something like that. But if they’re real into something, we can do that because it’s probably going on.

Question: What’s your plan at this point in retirement?

Jo Wade: It’s just time. And I have three grandchildren. I’m going to visit my sister and family in Missoula, Montana. I have a ton of projects at home. I’ll continue with Rotary. And I’ll continue with the Feast. I’ll stay busy, that’s for sure.

Question: When you go somewhere, say to Missoula, do you look a place’s visitors bureau and judge how good it does?

Jo Wade: How good people are at directing you to what’s the best restaurant and what to do? Of course. With this, you’re never really totally on vacation.

THIS AND THAT …

WEST LAFAYETTE SCHOOL REFERENDUM OFFICIALLY PLACED ON NOVEMBER BALLOT: There was more to Wednesday’s Tippecanoe County Election Board meeting than the bristling reaction by members to accusations lodged in the Indiana Senate District 23 recount about how ballots were handled in the May 5 primary. (For a replay of that: “Tippecanoe County clerk, accused by Trump-backed candidate Paula Copenhaver of mishandling Senate District 23 ballot, fights back.”)

The Election Board also officially made room on the Nov. 3 ballot for West Lafayette Community School Corp.’s request to renew its property tax referendum.

The West Lafayette school board, looking to make up a projected $1.6 million annual decrease in revenues by 2031 under Indiana’s new property tax reforms, in June agreed to go back to voters in November, asking them to update an eight-year property tax referendum passed just three years ago.

A proposed property tax rate of up to 57.06 cents per $100 in assessed valuation – with a stated purpose for “teacher compensation for managing class sizes and academic programming” and “operations fund expenditures (maintenance, personnel and student transportation related expenses)” – is being touted by West Side as a measure meant keep revenue steady rather than to bring in additional money.

The new rate would be higher than the current 37 cents per $100 in assessed valuation. But school board members have pledged to set the tax rate each year so projected revenues would remain steady with the roughly $8.7 million the current referendum generates.

In a scenario shown to the school board this spring, the referendum’s tax rate on an owner-occupied home with an assessed value of $350,000 – once all deductions were applied – would bring a bill of $670 under the current 37-cent rate. As new property tax reforms play out next year, the same house would have a referendum tax impact of $708 under a new 42.32-cent rate in 2027. The owner of the same house in 2031 would pay $665 under the maximum 57.06-cent rate, after factoring in changes brought by property tax reform.

For more background …

LAFAYETTE CHICKENS, ROUND 2: When the Lafayette City Council narrowly agreed to allow residents to keep chickens in their backyards, the 5-4 vote came with a caveat of a one-year sunset clause to make sure it was working out and wasn’t a source of irritation for the city or for neighborhoods. That second-year confirmation is scheduled to go to the city council Monday evening.

The ordinance approved in 2025 allows homeowners to keep up to five hens under a series of restrictions on coop and pen sizes, distance from lot lines and neighboring residences and a permitting system would have owners band their chickens. Until a year ago, chickens were listed among livestock not allowed to be kept and raised in the city.

According to a proposed ordinance calling for a second year, the city has issued 45 permits to raise chickens.

“During the evaluation period, (the Animal Control Department’s) experience has primarily involved routine permit enforcement, occasional animal-at-large calls and other matters not unique to keeping chickens,” the proposed ordinance says. “The city has not experienced recurring complaints regarding odor, noise, sanitation or similar neighborhood impacts that were identified as concerns during the consideration of the ordinance.”

The new proposal would extend the backyard chicken permit process indefinitely.

The Lafayette City Council meets at 6 p.m. Monday, Aug. 3, at city hall, 20 N. Sixth St.

This was the conversation, and the vote, in 2025:

IN LIEU OF A TIM’S PICKS BREAK: Tim Brouk, the guy behind BiL’s Tim’s Picks, is off this week. Until he’s back, here are few things coming up soon.

• Free Spirited Festival: The second annual event, touted as the Midwest’s first fully nonalcoholic festival, will be 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1, at Wea Creek Orchard, 5618 S. County Road 200 East, just south of Lafayette. Hosted by Generation NA, a nonalcoholic and functional beverage bottle shop in downtown Lafayette, the Free Spirited Festival will feature representatives from 40 brands bringing nonalcoholic spirits, functional sodas and adaptogenic drinks. The event also will have yoga sessions, panel discussions and mixology demonstrations. Tickets are $30, available at freespiritedfestival.com or at Generation NA, 504 Main St. in Lafayette.

• Summer movie night: “The Sandlot” will be on the ballpark screen at 8 p.m. tonight/Thursday, July 30, at the West Lafayette Youth Baseball & Softball Complex, 3069 Benton St. Food trucks will be there, too, in an event hosted by West Lafayette Youth Baseball & Softball and SK hynix. Bring blankets or lawn chairs.

• LPD’s National Night Out: The Lafayette Police Department will host its annual National Night Out from 4-7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1, at Columbian Park. Here’s a schedule of the events and demonstrations. It’s free.

• West Lafayette Community Night: The West Lafayette Police Department and West Lafayette Fire Department will host West Lafayette Community Night, their version of National Night Out, from 5-8 p.m. Aug. 11 at Cason Family Park, 2500 Cumberland Ave. Ice cream, fishing, games and mingling with police officers and firefighters – and their vehicles – is on the schedule. It’s free.

• Concert and Candlelight Tribute for Mental Health Awareness: Ankit Foundation will host its fourth annual event Saturday, Aug. 1., at Riehle Plaza, at Second and Main streets in Lafayette. Spontaneous Hopeful Monster will play from 7-9 p.m. with a candlelight tribute to follow in an event dedicated to raising awareness about mental health, particularly among youth and young adults, in memory of Ankit Toppo and all individuals who lost their lives due to mental health struggles. For more details: ankitfoundationcorp.org.

• Float Jam 2026: The free floating concert hosted by Wabash River Enhancement Corp. returns for a second year on Saturday, Aug. 8. Paddlers will launch from Davis Ferry, north of Lafayette, and paddle 4½ miles downstream to Tapawingo Park in West Lafayette, as local singer-songwriters Annie Hatke and Rosie Inman play. Participants can sign up for a spot in a raft, 10-person voyageur canoe, two-person canoe or kayak, or they can bring their own boat. The music starts at 5 p.m. and is expected to end at 8 p.m. Registration is required to get a spot on a boat and on shuttles carrying paddlers from Tapawingo Park to Davis Ferry. For more information and to register, go to wabashriver.net/floatjam. Here’s a snippet from the inaugural floating concert in 2025:

EXTEND YOUR BASED IN LAFAYETTE SUBSCRIPTION BY CHIPPING FOR CASAs FOR KIDS FUND

The 2026 edition of the Subaru CASA Cycling Challenge, a 24-hour event held Aug. 8-9 at the two-mile Subaru of Indiana Automotive test track in Lafayette, is a little over a week away. A Bangert Brothers team will be there again this year in support of the CASAs for Kids Fund here in Tippecanoe County. The CASAs for Kids Fund is set up for abused or neglected kids who wind up in the court system and in foster care, offering funding for clothing, bedding, school band instruments, field trip or summer camp fees, dance class, equipment to join sports teams and other things the system can’t provide. The CASAs for Kids Fund gets them that stuff and gets them that much closer to a normal life as a kid. And fundraising tied to the 24-hour ride gets the CASAs for Kids Fund geared up for the next year.

Just like last year, I’ll add a free month to your full-access Based in Lafayette subscription for a donation of any amount to the Bangert Brothers team or team members. In 2025, Based in Lafayette readers kicked in more than $5,400 to CASAs for Kids Fund, via the Bangert Brothers team.

If you’re up for it this year, here’s the link.

Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.

After four weeks in the temporary role – rubber hit road July 1 for his return to Hovde Hall – Daniels said he’s serious about doing more than simply being a caretaker on the West Lafayette campus while trustees search for the university’s 14^th president.

“You know me,” Daniels said in an interview this week with Based in Lafayette. “I’m here to do the job.”

Here are excerpts from that interview, covering his priorities as an interim, his marching orders from trustees and the pace he says the Purdue community can expect in what he insists he hopes will be a short, second tenure as president.

Question: So, what would you be doing right now, today, if you weren’t at Hovde Hall – if Purdue hadn’t called you back?

Mitch Daniels: Let me think. Well, it might have been a pleasant day at home. I have a whole lot of things going on, with companies that have meetings. I spend some time supporting and working with the Liberty Fund. But, you know, there are those days, which I was never familiar with before, when I could actually plan my own schedule. This might have been one.

Question: Is there something, now that you’re back, that you found you missed about being at Purdue?

Mitch Daniels: People for one thing. Most of the folks that are here were here. It’s great to see them, or see them more often than I did. I’m sure I’m going to feel that way as the students come back. I miss that, just the interaction with them. Mainly, I found doing it out of a sense of duty and devotion to the place.

Question: Did you get any marching orders from the trustees? What were their instructions? Or were there instructions that said: You know what’s going on, get it done?

Mitch Daniels: I would think more the latter. I will say that I’m very conscious of the fact it’s a temporary assignment. It’s not a time to be initiating. We’re constantly looking for the next reform or the next bold new program, that sort of thing, which was the way I understood the assignment all those 10 years. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t things – and I think I’ve seen a few – that we can accelerate or slightly better organize. I think it’s a time to maybe lead some evaluation of things that are projects that have been attempted and where it might be a natural point at which to assess their success and either find ways, better ways, to go forward, or decide to redeploy assets in other places.

Question: Have the trustees given you a sense of free rein that you had before? Or as much free rein as you’ve had before going into this temporary role?

Mitch Daniels: I would say yes. I mean, if they want to prescribe some limits or rule certain things out of bounds, I would gladly and immediately comply. But we haven’t had any such suggestion, yet.

Question: Anything that you’ve seen already that you’ve said, OK, this is one thing we can do and to really get going on right now?

Mitch Daniels: I’ve identified the Indianapolis (campus) extension, as one of those. I think it has so much promise for the university as a whole and certainly for Indianapolis and for many of our students, that I’ve already said that I’m going to spend some meaningful time on that. Some really good progress has occurred, but I think a lot more is possible, and we’re going to try to speed it up, if we can.

Question: What specifically with the Indianapolis campus is lacking or was slow from the time of the breakup of IUPUI?

Mitch Daniels: I would start by being complimentary. I mean, they got a couple of very tough jobs done in what I consider a reasonably short period of time. The arranging to, as they say, “teach out” the students who were there. Making new arrangements for the faculty who were there – some of whom are staying, but many who were not. That, I thought, has been very well done. What we want to do is see equally swift progress on moving more programs, making more programs available there, so that more students find this an attractive option for at least a part of their Purdue experience. That’s what we’re concentrating on right now.

Question: Do you see that you can get something done like that in less than a year? Or is this mainly setting up a runway?

Mitch Daniels: Yeah, not done, but maybe on a faster track. The goal is to put some things in motion if we can that will ramp up the growth in student interest. My goal is to create a problem for the facilities people. We have to move even faster on that front to have attractive residential and Purdue-class teaching facilities there.

Question: How about on the West Lafayette campus? I know that Indianapolis was one of the pillars, as they called it, under you and under President Chiang. What do you see as the other priorities on the main campus and systemwide while you’re back?

Mitch Daniels: I don’t have an answer to that right now. To me, things are in strong shape. I mean, I’ve had one official month. I started spending time here before it was the official start date. But from these first weeks, I think friends of Purdue can feel very good about it, about the overall health and state of this university – financially, reputationally, in terms of a strong attractiveness to the students, measured in applications and enrollment. You’re always looking for ways to get better, but the starting point is a strong one.

Question: Do you find this this role is going to take your full time?

Mitch Daniels: Yes. I had, and still have, a couple of obligations that were on the calendar for this summer, before this all came up. I told the board, I can get out of one or two, but not all of them. As soon as school starts, though, yeah, it’ll be all the time. And right now, I’ve had to do a little bit of it from some remote location, but that that’ll wind up, too, quickly.

Question: I read where (Greater Lafayette Sports Report’s) Mike Carmin made the pitch that you should stick around for about three years to help the new AD get settled in as Mike Bobinski prepares to retire. What’s your take on that? (Carm’s case: “Why Mitch Daniels should stay beyond ‘the shortest time possible’ as Purdue’s president to help athletics shift to next phase.”)

Mitch Daniels: Yeah, thanks a lot, Mike. I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t think that’s either a good idea or anything that’s likely to happen. A part of this assignment, frankly, is to help the board think about and possibly recruit a great new president for the place. We’re already working on that. And I’ve had some ideas. I have a few contacts that I was able to make on behalf of the board. I keep saying that my top priority is get out of the darn job fast as I can. And that’s not entirely a facetious comment.

Question: I was going to ask you about hiring on some other positions, but do you find that you’re going to be in the middle of the presidential search? And were you going to be anyway, given your role at Purdue Research Foundation and as president emeritus and all those things?

Read more

TIPPECANOE COUNTY CLERK, ACCUSED BY COPENHAVER OF MISHANDLING SENATE DIST. 23 BALLOT, FIGHTS BACK

Tippecanoe County election officials pushed back Wednesday morning against allegations by Paula Copenhaver – who is contesting the results of her three-vote loss to incumbent Sen. Spencer Deery in Indiana Senate District 23 – that they mishandled a ballot counted in Deery’s favor the day after the May 5 Republican primary.

Tippecanoe County Clerk Julie Roush refuted Copenhaver’s claims made in the past week, including during a four-hour Indiana Recount Commission on Tuesday, that questioned the validity of the ballot and about how it was handled and tallied.

“It is deeply disappointing that a candidate for public office would make allegations that misrepresent our election process and undermine public confidence in the integrity of our elections,” Roush, a Republican in her second term as county clerk, said Wednesday morning during a Tippecanoe County Election Board meeting. “The public deserves facts, not misinformation.”

Roush’s comments came a day after the Indiana Recount Commission rejected an effort by Copenhaver’s attorneys to subpoena Roush and members of the election board to testify under oath about the ballot.

The vote is one of at least 13 in play across the six-county district – including one for the way it was handled during the certification process by the Parke County clerk and 11 by voters Copenhaver accuses of being crossovers who tampered with the election by not adhering to strict reading of state primary laws – that will be disputed and argued during an Indiana Recount Commission hearing Aug. 18.

Aside from the disputed ballots, a State Board of Accounts recount in the race found Deery’s victory stood at 6,337-6,334, the same as it was after six county election boards certified results in May.

The race was among those targeted by President Donald Trump and his allies after Deery and other state senators balked at his push for mid-decade redistricting in a bid to pick up more Republican seats in the U.S. House. Copenhaver, a former Fountain County clerk and staffer in Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s office, received Trump’s endorsement and the backing of at least $2 million in dark money attacks on Deery during the campaign.

In a filing July 24 with recount officials and alleged again during Tuesday’s Recount Commission hearing in Indianapolis, Bill Bock, Copenhaver’s attorney, argued that they’d heard during the recount process in June that Roush had counted the ballot on her own, outside the confines of state law.

Bock wrote that Copenhaver’s side believed Roush had opened an “absentee ballot envelope that had been contained in the bag found in a corner of the Tippecanoe County Courthouse on May 6 and saw the absentee ballot was marked for (Deery) and then she ‘cast’ or ‘voted’ the ballot by asking the county election machine vendor to add the votes” to the Indiana Senate District 23 totals.

Bock, in the July 24 filing, that “this apparently unsecured and improperly transmitted mailed absentee ballot allegedly came about at the sole direction of the Tippecanoe County Clerk, who apparently personally opened the ballot envelope and ordered the voting technician to add the votes marked on the mailed absentee ballot to the County’s vote totals without the active involvement of other county election officials.”

The allegation doesn’t name who gave Copenhaver’s team that account of how the ballot was delivered to one of the county’s vote centers on May 5 and counted on May 6. But on Tuesday, Copenhaver and Bock stood by their contention that it wasn’t valid and shouldn’t be counted – essentially bringing the results to a two-vote margin.

“That’s not a legal way to return a ballot,” Bock said. “Which probably indicates that it was brought by somebody other than the voter themselves to the vote center. Because if it was the voter, they could have voted at the vote center. … The staff would have known, should have known, that you can’t do that.”

In Indianapolis on Tuesday, Deery’s attorney, Samantha DeWester, chided Copenhaver’s attempt to get Roush to testify under oath to get the full story on the ballot, asking whether Bock had bothered to pick up the phone and call Tippecanoe County to learn firsthand what had happened.

Back in Tippecanoe County, on Wednesday, Roush said Copenhaver and her attorneys had it wrong.

Roush acknowledged there were four absentee ballots dropped off at a vote center site on the day of the primary that were delivered to the County Office Building that evening, where votes were being tabulated. Roush said state law allows the Tippecanoe County Election Board to authorize poll workers supervising vote centers to transport absentee ballots received by 6 p.m. on Election Day, when polls close.

Roush said the ballots in question weren’t counted until the following morning but were handled with the same chain of custody other ballots had, kept under lock and video surveillance and had “remained under the supervision of a bipartisan team following established Indiana law and the procedures adopted by the Tippecanoe County Election Board.”

“First and foremost, I did not personally open or count any ballots,” Roush said.

Roush, who was on the Republican primary ballot for Tippecanoe County commissioner, said it was her standard practice not to open or count ballots when she’s running in an election “to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.”

She said members of the election staff, represented by Republican and Democratic appointees, worked with MicroVote, the county’s ballot machine vendor, to go through the four ballots the morning after the election. (Only one of the four ballots came from Indiana Senate District 23.)

County election staff members Germany Harris and Mike Smith on Wednesday confirmed Roush’s account.

“At no point was any ballot delivered to the courthouse,” Roush said, refuting Copenhaver’s filing with the Indiana Recount Commission. “In fact, no absentee ballot is ever transported or handled outside the safeguards established by law and our bipartisan procedures.”

Roush continued during Wednesday morning’s Election Board meeting:

“Election officials and poll workers from both political parties dedicate countless hours to administering elections that are secure, transparent and conducted according to the law. They deserve the public’s trust and respect. Our office remains committed to counting every legitimate ballot received by the statutory 6 p.m. Election Day deadline. We also recognize that concerns about mail delivery sometimes lead voters to have a trusted family or household member deliver their absentee ballot in person. Indiana law is clear. Anyone delivering an absentee ballot on behalf of a voter must complete the required affidavit certifying that they are a family member or member of the voter’s household. Our office does not accept absentee ballots delivered by individuals who do not meet those legal requirements, nor do we accept ballots that are abandoned or left unattended, including those placed in locations such as the (county) treasurer’s drop box.

“Our bipartisan co-coordinators take the responsibility seriously. They faithfully follow Indiana law, adhere to established procedures and carry out their duties with professionalism, impartiality and integrity. The integrity of our elections depends on these safeguards, and the citizens of Tippecanoe County can remain confident that those safeguards are consistently followed.”

Other members of the three-member Tippecanoe County Election Board stood by Roush Wednesday.

“People are challenging the election integrity, and it’s unfortunate because it does undermine the public’s confidence in the process,” Randy Vonderheide, a Republican representative on the board, said.

Kent Moore, a Democratic representative on the board, called out Copenhaver’s accusations, particularly those she leveled at voters who chose Republican ballots. Moore said that while Copenhaver labeled them as illegal voters – those “boasting” on social media or in news accounts about how the Senate District 23 race motivated their voting decisions – he contended they were “unchallenged voters” and that she had missed her chance under state law to flag them as they asked for a ballot.

“This is my frustration,” Moore said. “I do not understand how you can say if I win the election, it was fair and honest and everything like that. But if I lose the election – the exact same election – well, then the other side cheated. That seems to me to be exactly what is going on here. And to be frank, I think it’s an insult to the hundreds of R’s and D’s that have come in and worked to make sure that our elections are fair and honest.”

Copenhaver lost her attempt to confront 11 voters under oath, when the Indiana Recount Commission rejected her motion to issue subpoenas to have them testify. The Recount Commission also rejected a motion from Copenhaver’s attorney to force those 11 – nine from Tippecanoe County, one from Fountain County and another from Warren County – to be at the next hearing on Aug. 18 to answer questions about the ballot they chose.

Even without the subpoenas, Bock is arguing that the Indiana Recount Commission has broad powers to wipe any of those 11 votes from Deery’s totals if they’re shown to come from independents or liberally-leaning voters who technically shouldn’t have been allowed to pull a Republican ballot.

DeWester argued Tuesday that Copenhaver’s claims were “disgusting,” based on hearsay, crossed the bounds of protections of a secret ballot and could set a precedent for future elections to drag in innocent people to explain their votes.

The Recount Commission has not set a time or location for the Aug. 18 hearing, though Evan Norris, the recount director, said it likely would be in Tippecanoe County.

Ballots across the state, including in Senate District 23, are scheduled to be finalized by Aug. 21.

The Republican winner of the recount in Senate District 23 will face Democrat David Sanders and independent candidate Joshua Brant in a district that includes parts of Tippecanoe, Montgomery, Fountain, Warren, Parke and Vermillion counties.

• For more, including reaction from some of the 11 voters in question, here’s an account of Tuesday’s Indiana Recount Commission decisions:

Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.

Zucchini’s sweet side

By Carol Bangert/For Based in Lafayette

I mentioned in a Market Report last summer that I’ve had a soft spot for zucchini and other squashes dating back to my grad school days when I studied archeology in Arizona. In a cultural anthropology class I learned about the beautiful relationship between corn, beans and squash – The Three Sisters. Indigenous peoples use this companion planting method because the three plants are mutually beneficial and provide a complete protein when eaten together. Pretty cool. It works something like this:

The corn serves as the support structure for the beans as they grow and wind around the stalk. The beans provide nitrogen to the soil, which fortifies the corn and squash; and the squash spreads over the ground, covering the soil to retain moisture and stop weed growth around all three plants. I find this botanical teamwork astonishing.

The zucchini invasion is here again, and farmers markets and farm stands are overflowing with squashes of all shapes, sizes and colors. We all have recipes and strategies to deal with the glut, and there’s no point in rehashing the recipes we fall back on every time zucchini lands on our kitchen counters.

But take heart! I took a few laps around the farmers market last week and overheard – OK, eavesdropped on – some surprising conversations about using zucchini in dessert recipes. Sure, we’ve all tried zucchini muffins and bread, and I have a great zucchini chocolate chip cookie recipe that I use when the squash is in season.

But how about zucchini cream pie? Hello!

A woman at the market described a pie her grandmother made, so I tracked down a recipe for an old-fashioned zucchini pie and, rising above all the objections at my house, I made one. OMG. I’ve mentioned before that I will inflict bodily harm to get the last slice of sugar cream pie. Well, this recipe would elicit the same response. Creamy and sweet and comforting. No one would ever know this pie was chockful of squash, and, honestly, I think I could serve this at Thanksgiving, and no one would know. (When I mentioned this to our daughter, she announced that she was swearing off pie this holiday season. Go figure.) If you like cream pies, I highly recommend tracking down a recipe and giving this a try. Here’s the one I used.

Next, I’ve got my eye on zucchini brownies.

However, I never will forsake my favorite savory zuke recipes. All squashes are great on the grill with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper; diced, roasted and added to a pasta salad; sautéed with onions. I like zucchini sliced lengthwise and stuffed with diced tomatoes, onions, garlic and cheese and baked until golden. That’s a meal, folks. I even cut up a golden zucchini and made some great oven fries. Husband-approved. Well, he ate them.

If “friends” or neighbors do a drive-by, sneaking zucchini on your front porch, welcome the possibilities. Now is not the time to turn your back on this in-season workhorse. Take time this summer to get to know this lovely, adaptable sister.

Store your market haul on the counter if you’re eating it the same day. Otherwise, store zucchini unwashed in the fridge in a ventilated bag for one to two weeks. If you see the skin starting to wrinkle, it’s time to get cooking!

Next week: Sweet and hot peppers

Other late-July fruits and vegetables at the market include:

• Cabbage

• Bok choy

• Broccoli

• Baby carrots

• Cucamelons and other cucumbers

• Beets

• Red, white and green onions

• Bell peppers

• Chile peppers

• Garlic and a few garlic scapes

• Radishes

• Turnips and salad turnips

• Greens (kale, mustard, arugula, lettuce varieties, microgreens, Swiss chard)

• Herbs: Mint, oregano, basil, cilantro, sage, lavender, thyme, chives, parsley and more

• Mushrooms

• Potatoes

• Green beans

• Eggplant

• Tomatoes

• Zucchini, yellow and pattypan squash, squash blossoms

• Blueberries, cherries and peaches

DAYS/HOURS FOR THE MARKETS

West Lafayette Farmers Market: 3:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, through October. The market is held at Cumberland Park in West Lafayette with more than 50 vendors.

Lafayette Farmers Market: 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturdays, through October, on Fifth Street between Columbia Street and mid-block to Ferry Street, and Main Street between Fourth and Sixth streets.

Purdue Farmers Market: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursdays, through October. The Purdue Farmers Market is held on the Memorial Mall on Purdue’s campus. This market is a concession-heavy market that allows students, faculty and staff to have lunch options in a unique outdoor setting.

Carol Bangert, editor of Greater Lafayette Magazine, has been a regular at Greater Lafayette farmers markets for more than 20 years. From May through October, she’ll scout out in-season produce at the markets and report back on fresh finds and how to use them.

Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.

Eleven voters across three counties will not be forced to testify under oath about how they voted in the Indiana Senate District 23 race.

The three-member Indiana Recount Commission on Tuesday rejected Trump-endorsed Republican challenger Paula Copenhaver’s demand to subpoena those she accuses of crossing over in the May primary and tampering in what stands as a three-vote loss to state Sen. Spencer Deery.

Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales cast the deciding vote in a 2-1 decision that was a blow to Copenhaver’s attempt to contest the election by proving that voters she found boasting on social media and in news reports cast illegal ballots – even if unwittingly – that she claims tipped the nomination process.

“I don’t think that’s the right thing to do,” Morales said. “I believe everybody has the right to vote, but they need to do it the right way. And the right way is, again, I encourage the General Assembly next session to close our primaries so we can avoid all of this.”

While getting 11 voters off the hook – nine in Tippecanoe County and one each in Fountain and Warren counties – the decision didn’t end Copenhaver’s election challenge.

The Indiana Recount Commission will meet again Aug. 18 and 20 – just before the Aug. 21 deadline to certify candidates for the November ballot – to consider a pair of votes in Tippecanoe and Parke counties that Copenhaver’s attorney Bill Bock argued weren’t handled properly by county election officials. Those could tighten Deery’s 6,337-6,334 victory.

Also in play: Even without sworn testimony by the 11 voters accused of tampering by Copenhaver, Bock is arguing that the Indiana Recount Commission has broad powers to wipe any of those from Deery’s totals if they’re shown to come from independents or liberally-leaning voters who technically shouldn’t have been allowed to pull a Republican ballot.

“I wouldn’t say I was surprised – nothing surprises me,” Copenhaver, Fountain County Republican Party chair and a staffer in Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s office, said after Tuesday’s hearing in Indianapolis.

“I think we made a convincing argument,” Copenhaver said. “It should concern every single Republican that voted in the Republican primary that we have allowed Democrats to participate in our Republican primary. That’s the issue. … But this is a process. There’s still a lot at stake. The ballots still need to be gone through. So, we’ll go through the process.”

Back in Senate District 23, some of the voters who had been singled out by Copenhaver in the weeks after the May 5 primary were keeping up tabs on Tuesday’s hearing.

“I do believe it was a win for democracy today, in a small way,” Jes Johnson, one of the 14 voters initially named in a portion of Copenhaver’s challenge that has since been sealed, said.

Johnson, a West Lafayette resident, was singled out by Copenhaver’s campaign for talking on social media and in a Based in Lafayette article in May about pulling a Republican ballot to vote in Senate District 23. She said then, and reiterated Tuesday, that she voted for Deery for standing up against a mid-decade redistricting plan pushed by President Donald Trump and backed by Copenhaver. She said she’d been turned off by Trump-aligned groups who poured millions into races to defeat Republican state senators, Deery included, who voted against redistricting. She said she didn’t plan to vote for Deery in the general election.

“They’re just opening a can of worms,” Johnson said Tuesday. “I would have fought a subpoena, for the principle of it. Your vote is still sacred, isn’t it? … It’s the whole precedent setting thing. We’re just going to allow some mad politician to be like, I lost so now I’m going to subpoena everyone?”

The arguments by Bock and Deery’s attorney, Samantha DeWester, about the demand for voter subpoenas followed a similar track.

Indiana election law allows voters to request either Republican or Democratic ballots at a polling site during a primary. With an open primary system, there is no requirement for formally registering with a party. A provision in state election law sets parameters that allow someone to pick a primary ballot if they voted for a majority of that party’s candidates in the last general election or intend to in the upcoming election.

Bock argued that the fact that few people know about that provision didn’t mean it can be ignored.

Bock showed the commission a series of comments posted on social media or reported in the press, sharing stories about being typically left-leaning voters who bragged about crossing over, asking for a Republican ballot so they could vote for Deery. Or, in this case, against Copenhaver.

Bock argued that those 11 voters forfeited their right to ballot secrecy when they indicated they’d asked for a Republican ballot when they either hadn’t voted for GOP candidates in the most recent general election or didn’t intend to vote for a majority of the Republican slate in the November election. He also argued they didn’t qualify as Republicans as the party selected its nominees.

“There’s not a freedom under state law to do that,” Bock argued during Tuesday’s hearing. “That statute says you’re not free to do that. Now, they may be misinformed. They may not have intended to violate the law. That doesn’t change the impact on the integrity of the election. … If they’re not entitled to vote, they shouldn’t have cast that ballot.”

Bock argued that being asked about their ballots is something those voters should have expected would happen.

DeWester called that notion “disgusting.”

DeWester picked at Copenhaver’s attempts to identify voters by the names projected on social media profiles. How could Copenhaver’s attorneys be sure, given the nature of social media, whether they were tracking the correct person, she asked. DeWester highlighted that Copenhaver’s initial demand had been sloppy enough that it had to be scaled back from 14 to 11 voters, after realizing that three people commenting on social media did not live in Senate District 23 and didn’t vote in that race.

DeWester also shared a note in a post addressed to Copenhaver during the campaign from someone who professed to be staunch Democrat who pulled a Republican ballot to back her.

“Should we track down that person and maybe subject them to a deposition?” DeWester asked. “No, that’s ridiculous. We’re better than that. We don’t do that kind of stuff.”

DeWester said Indiana election law provides a way to challenge an accused crossover voter at the polls, but not afterward. She argued that Copenhaver was grasping at anything she could just to win an election, coming after voters’ right to ballot secrecy and free speech in the process.

“I mean, when will this stop?” DeWester asked. “This is unprecedented. It would set the precedent for future elections to drag in innocent people.”

Paul Mullin, a Republican member of the Indiana Recount Commission, was the lone vote in favor of Copenhaver’s request to have voters testify. Mullin said he found the request, “in this very narrow factual situation,” to be fair game.

Michael Claytor, a Democratic member, said Indiana’s system was a hybrid one “that statutorily closes the primary based on political party but does not clearly communicate that fact to potential voters.”

“Compliance is measured by a state of mind,” Claytor said. “It is at best a backdoor closed primary.”

Claytor said that was something the General Assembly would have to deal with. For now, he said, Copenhaver missed her chance to challenge voters at the polling place. Claytor also said the legislature could have defined crossover voters’ actions as a crime, “but it chose not to.”

After the decision, Bock asked the Recount Commission to consider subpoenas that would force the 11 voters to appear at the Aug. 18 and 20 hearings. DeWester challenged that, saying it was an attempt to reopen a question they’d just got done arguing and to force people into a room where they could be called to testify about their votes in Senate District 23.

The Recount Commission voted 2-1 against that request.

Sam Cody, a Warren County voter and one called out in Copenhaver’s election challenge, said Tuesday afternoon that he’d been prepared to tell how he’d pulled a Republican ballot for the first time in his life, voted for Deery and left the rest of the ballot blank. He said he’d been motivated by the redistricting debate, too.

“I think I would have welcomed the opportunity to defend myself, but I’m glad they didn’t, just for the precedent that would have set,” Cody said, after a friend kept him apprised about how the hearing was going Tuesday.

“That and, you know, potential intimidation of other independent voters who want to choose,” Cody said. “But part of me was interested if it did happen to be able to say my piece. … For me, I think it came down to, realistically, in my area, it’s probably going to be whoever the Republican is. And between those two choices, one was standing up for protecting the speech and rights of other people in the state by voting against redistricting, and the other one was kind of going just word for word, whatever her handlers were saying. And that’s what I’d rather not have representing me.”

If the Senate District 23 recount leads to the General Assembly going with a completely closed primary system, Cody said he was ready for that, too.

“I would probably register as a Republican just because I live out in Warren County, and that’s how my voice would matter out here,” Cody said.

Deery did not attend Tuesday’s hearing in Indianapolis. Tuesday evening he told Based in Lafayette:

“I’m grateful to the public servants who put in a lot of hours over the last few weeks, and I am very pleased that the Recount Commission listened to the arguments and made a just decision.

“With that said, if I am being completely honest, I have not personally obsessed over details of the proceedings. That’s because the facts are that I had the most votes on election night. I had the most votes after the provisional ballots were counted, and I had the most votes after every ballot was counted again. Those facts, combined with the excellent work by my attorney to make sure that the law and the will of the voters were respected, have allowed me to focus on what I need to focus on most: uniting primary voters, talking to general election voters, and preparing legislation for the next session that will strengthen our state and be a blessing to Hoosiers. That has been, and continues to be, my focus.”

The winner of after the recount in Senate District 23 will face Democrat David Sanders and independent candidate Joshua Brant in a district that includes parts of Tippecanoe, Montgomery, Fountain, Warren, Parke and Vermillion counties.

On Tuesday, the Recount Commission also:

• Rejected an effort by Deery to dismiss Copenhaver’s effort to contest the election.

• Rejected a request from Copenhaver to issue subpoenas for Tippecanoe County Clerk Julie Roush and the Tippecanoe County Election Board to testify about a ballot counted in Tippecanoe County for Deery the morning after the May 5 primary. Bock argued that the move was made “without an official meeting of the Election Board having been convened or noticed.” The morning after initial results were counted, election officials in Tippecanoe County recorded votes from five absentee ballots that had been dropped off at vote centers before polls closed at 6 p.m. May 5. They said at the time that those ballots should have been counted along with the rest that night. Among those five was one Republican ballot from Senate District 23, Roush said May 6, the day after the primary.

• Held off until August on an objection about the election certification process in Parke County, where Deery picked up one additional vote from provisional ballots counted in the 10 days after the May 5 primary. In question is how that vote was ultimately added to official totals May 21, days after the deadline and after ballots and election equipment were impounded by Indiana State Police for the recount, when Parke County Clerk Nicole Collins emailed the Indiana Election Division after discovering the vote “didn’t get saved when we added it to our totals and the election was certified.” Bock argued that the move, dubbed a “re-certification,” wasn’t covered by state law and that the hard deadline for election certification should apply and invalidate the updated results. In a response last week, DeWester argued that “a clerical, administrative, or transmission error does not change the underlying vote. Nor should such an error be transformed into a mechanism for excluding a lawful vote that the election records establish was cast and counted.”

• Rejected a request by Copenhaver’s campaign to use federal Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE) data to check whether voters had proof of citizenship and were eligible to vote. Deery opposed that motion, saying that Copenhaver offered no evidence that noncitizens voted in the election. “As (Copenhaver) desperately scrambles for votes, she attempts yet another fishing expedition,” Deery’s attorney wrote in a mid-July response.

• Rejected a request from Deery’s campaign to subpoena Copenhaver to back up her “claims to have personal knowledge” about “unlawful” or ‘invalid’ votes in the primary.

More coverage

Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.

With the Indiana Recount Commission set Tuesday to review results of a two-week, six-county hand count of state Sen. Spencer Deery’s three-vote victory over Paula Copenhaver in the May GOP primary, the challenger’s attorneys doubled down in their demands to subpoena 11 voters she suspected tampered in the Indiana Senate District 23 race by illegally crossing over to pull Republican ballots.

Even without precedent in the state election history or a specific law pointing that way, Copenhaver’s attorneys argued in a 67-page, Friday night filing that the Indiana Recount Commission has power broad enough to fill in the gaps of state law and remove those votes for Deery and hand the victory to Copenhaver.

“The fact that the precise remedy that the Commission should afford (Copenhaver) in this case is not spelled out in the contest statutes is not a problem and does not prevent the Commission from shaping the appropriate remedy,” William Bock, attorney for Copenhaver as she contests the election, wrote in a filing sent to the recount director Friday.

Bock’s upshot: If the three-member Indiana Recount Commission is persuaded that enough of those 11 voters singled out and accused by Copenhaver did not adhere to a little-known provision of primary election law, she would have “received the most legal votes in the primary election, which would eliminate any need to conduct a special election in this case.”

An attorney for Deery’s side already called out that tactic, calling Copenhaver’s attempt to salvage a campaign backed by President Donald Trump by ordering a handful of voters about what they did at the ballot box unprecedented and egregious. Deery’s attorney called it an excuse “to abuse the process or conduct an open-ended fishing expedition to harass non-party voters.”

The Indiana Recount Commission is expected to consider the voter subpoena request for the first time Tuesday morning in Indianapolis.

That morning, Evan Norris, a Zionsville-based attorney assigned to oversee the recount process, is expected to deliver a report to the commission of the precincts with ballots disputed during State Board of Accounts reviews in June.

According to a filing Friday, that includes more than 250 disputed ballots in a race that stood at 6,337-6,334 in Deery’s favor across Tippecanoe, Fountain, Warren, Parke, Vermillion and Montgomery counties.

The Recount Commission also is expected to consider questions about single ballots that went Deery’s way and how they were handled by election officials in Tippecanoe and Parke counties.

A key, though, will be how the Indiana Recount Commission – including Secretary of State Diego Morales and members Paul Mullin and Michael Claytor – deal with subpoenas for the voters first called out in May in Copenhaver’s motion to contest the election.

At the center of Copenhaver’s complaint are voters who posted on social media or commented in news accounts – specifically, in a Based in Lafayette article after the primary – that they pulled Republican ballots despite typically voting for Democratic candidates.

In Indiana primaries, where residents aren’t required to register with a political party, voters are allowed to ask for either a Republican or Democratic ballot at the polling place. At issue here is a state election law that sets parameters allowing someone to pick a primary ballot if they voted for a majority of that party’s candidates in the last general election or, if they didn’t vote in the most recent general election, that they intend to in the upcoming election. That state law provides a way to challenge someone at the polling place looking to pull a crossover ballot. Copenhaver’s filing contends there are ways to challenge a crossover voter after the polls close, too.

In Copenhaver’s petition, Bock argued that “as with most constitutional rights, however, ballot secrecy is not absolute,” that voters gave up that privacy when they “boasted” about their choices publicly and that statements harvested by Copenhaver’s side after the primary “are indicative of a purposeful effort by one or more individuals to personally cast and/or to encourage other to cast invalid votes for candidate Deery.”

Samantha DeWester, at attorney arguing the case for Deery’s campaign, wrote in filing earlier this month that “the (Recount Commission)’s power should not be used to harass or intimidate voters in an attempt to overturn an election.”

“There is no crime,” DeWester wrote, arguing to dismiss Copenhaver’s demand to contest the election. “There is no fraud. (Indiana Code) outlines who is eligible to vote in a particular party’s primary election. It is based upon past voting tendencies and future intentions. There is nothing illegal or ‘invalid’ about changing a party primary preference at any time.”

In his response Friday, ahead of the Recount Commission hearing, Bock contended that equating subpoenas to harassment was “self-evidently ludicrous.” He argued that it was an “unsubstantiated and shameful attempt to sully Paula Copenhaver’s public reputation and to inflame and incite the Commission and voters against her.”

Bock disputed Deery’s claim that Copenhaver had gone after “random, unknown voters,” saying that the campaign had the campaign had “unequivocally” validated that they were voters who said in the press or on social media that they’ve voted for Deery “although they were not eligible Republican electors qualified to vote in the Republican Primary.”

(Copenhaver’s initial request included 14 voters, scaled back to 11 after realizing that three people commenting on social media did not live in Senate District 23 and didn’t vote in that race.)

Bock argued in Friday’s filing:

“A voter cannot, consistent with the Indiana Election Code, vote for most of the Democrat Party’s candidates in the prior general election and then be a valid, eligible voter in the next Republican Primary. A person might wish they could change their party affiliation, or they might intend to vote for a majority of Democrat candidates in the upcoming general election but still want to pull a Republican ballot in the primary to try to influence weaker Republican candidates being nominated. However, under the Indiana Election Code an individual cannot legally do so. … Such illegal voting illegally dilutes the votes of eligible primary election voters and it disenfranchises the eligible voters if a sufficient number of illegal votes prevent a candidate with the highest number of legal Republican votes from being elected.”

Bock argued that while solutions offered by the legislature are vague, if voter are proved to have been cast illegally, state law gives the Recount Commission broad power to consider discounting those votes.

Bock also argued that “although lawful voters may invoke ballot secrecy, voters who cast votes illegally can be compelled to disclose how they voted.”

His filing also anticipated voters who, if called, decline to testify under oath.

Several of the voters named in Copenhaver’s motions – since sealed by the Recount Commission – recently told Based in Lafayette they were weighing how they would respond, including the weight of knowing that what they did might set a precedent for voter challenges in future elections.

Bock argued in his filing that criminal and civil hearings have different implications regarding Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination.

“Those subpoenaed in this civil proceeding should understand that if they refuse to answer questions, the Commission is entitled to consider the circumstances and determine whether it would be appropriate to apply an adverse inference based on their refusal to testify and surrounding circumstances,” Bock argued.

On Tuesday, the Indiana Recount Commission also is scheduled to consider several other motions by the campaigns, including:

• A recent filing in which Bock pressed the Indiana Recount Commission to issue a subpoena for Tippecanoe County Clerk Julie Roush to testify about a ballot counted in Tippecanoe County for Deery the morning after the May 5 primary. Bock argued that the move was made “without an official meeting of the Election Board having been convened or noticed.” The morning after initial results were counted, election officials in Tippecanoe County recorded votes from five absentee ballots that had been dropped off at vote centers before polls closed at 6 p.m. May 5. They said at the time that those ballots should have been counted along with the rest that night. Among those five was one Republican ballot from Senate District 23, Roush said May 6, the day after the primary.

• A request by Copenhaver’s campaign to use federal Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE) data to check whether voters had proof of citizenship and were eligible to vote. Deery opposed that motion, saying that Copenhaver offered no evidence that noncitizens voted in the election. “As (Copenhaver) desperately scrambles for votes, she attempts yet another fishing expedition,” Deery’s attorney wrote in a mid-July response.

• An objection about the election certification process in Parke County, where Deery picked up one additional vote from provisional ballots counted in the 10 days after the May 5 primary. In question is how that vote was ultimately added to official totals May 21, days after the deadline and after ballots and election equipment were impounded by Indiana State Police for the recount, when Parke County Clerk Nicole Collins emailed the Indiana Election Division after discovering the vote “didn’t get saved when we added it to our totals and the election was certified.” Bock argued that the move, dubbed a “re-certification,” wasn’t covered by state law and that the hard deadline for election certification should apply and invalidate the updated results. In a response last week, DeWester argued that “a clerical, administrative, or transmission error does not change the underlying vote. Nor should such an error be transformed into a mechanism for excluding a lawful vote that the election records establish was cast and counted.”

• A request from Deery’s campaign to subpoena Copenhaver to back up her “claims to have personal knowledge” about “unlawful” or ‘invalid’ votes in the primary. Copenhaver had not filed a response to that, as of this weekend.

The Indiana Senate District 23 race is the last remnant of an effort by Trump and White House allies to get revenge against Indiana Senate incumbents who did not back a push to redraw Indiana’s congressional maps to boost Republican chances to pick up seats in the U.S. House. Deery had been particularly outspoken in his opposition to mid-decade redistricting. Copenhaver picked up a Trump endorsement and had the support of more than $2 million in estimated dark money advertising the campaigning trying to upend Deery.

Five of the seven state Senate incumbents targeted by Trump allies already lost in the primary.

The winner of after the recount in Senate District 23 will face Democrat David Sanders and independent candidate Joshua Brant in a district that includes parts of Tippecanoe, Montgomery, Fountain, Warren, Parke and Vermillion counties.

• What’s next: The Indiana Recount Commission will meet about the Senate District 23 recount at 9 a.m. Tuesday, July 28, in Conference Room B at Government Center South, 302 W. Washington St. in Indianapolis. The public hearing also will be available at www.youtube.com/@SOSDiegoMorales.

SECRETARY OF STATE CANDIDATES: WOULD THEY BACK VOTER SUBPOENAS?

Indiana’s Secretary of State is one of three members of the Indiana Recount Commission.

With the Indiana Recount Commission set to consider issued tied to the Indiana Senate District 23 recount, along with Republican challenger Paula Copenhaver’s effort to contest the election, how would candidates on the November ballot for Secretary of State approach things?

In particular, would they agree to subpoena voters to have them testify under oath about the ballot selections?

Based in Lafayette asked the the candidates where they stood.

Read more

FORT WAYNE-BASED PARKVIEW HEALTH BREAKS GROUND ON LATEST IN WEST LAFAYETTE’S SURGE IN HOSPITALS

Construction of the second of two hospitals going up along Yeager Road started in earnest Monday with a groundbreaking that drew congressional and state officials for Fort Wayne-based Parkview Health’s $200 million project in the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette.

Parkview officials deflected any concerns about whether the construction schedule just north of Kalberer Road was designed to beat the opening of IU Health Arnett’s hospital under construction about a mile north, at Yeager and County Road 500 North, with a similar 2028 expected opening date.

“We have a very clear timeline of opening in June 2028, and we have every intention to follow that timeline,” John Bowen, chief growth market officer for Parkview Health, said Monday after shovels of ceremonial dirt were tossed.

“As we’ve looked at this community, we look at the market data and we see the needs,” Bowen said. “We really have been looking at the community West Lafayette for over three years. This process took a long time in planning. When you look at the community, it’s very clear there’s a need. … This site became available, and we couldn’t be more excited with this location.”

Monday’s event was the latest in a series for a West Lafayette market that hasn’t had a hospital, relying instead on those in Lafayette. Beside Parkview and IU Health, Franciscan Health is building an emergency care facility along U.S. 231, aiming to open in 2027.

“The Parkview announcement today is an important step in the continued growth of the city of West Lafayette and shows our commitment to increasing the services needed to have a successful community,” West Lafayette Mayor Erin Easter said during ceremonies.

Recruited by Purdue Research Foundation, Parkview Health plans to build a 153,000-square-foot facility, with entrances from Kalberer Road to the south and Endeavour Drive to the north. That’s across Yeager Road from ongoing construction of a $3.87 billion SK hynix high-bandwidth memory facility, also aiming for a 2028 opening.

Read more

Before we get started, I’ve extended this deal for another day. New subscribers get 20% off their first year of full access Based in Lafayette. Click this link to get there.

Get 20% off for 1 year

THIS AND THAT/OTHER READS …

• Wabash Avenue in Lafayette will be closed near the Cargill plant, starting Monday, July 27, to make way for cranes used in a construction project at the facility, the city announced this week. Wabash Avenue will be closed north of the Lafayette Wastewater Treatment Plant and approximately 100 feet south of Manford Street from 6:30 a.m. July 27 through 8 p.m. Aug. 1. It will be closed again from Aug 10-12.

• J&C reporter Ron Wilkins had the initial details of the Thursday night shooting death of Dallas Winger-Gant, a Lafayette teen, and the arrest of Kwanta Crawford, 18, of Lafayette, on suspicion of criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon at a Carroll County house along the Tippecanoe River. The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office had not released many details, but here’s the first set: “Lafayette teen shot and killed and another jailed in Carroll County.”

• The state’s Public Access Counselor office was bound to slip after some in the General Assembly and at the Statehouse took issue with opinions issued by Luke Britt, eventually pushing the former PAC out two years ago. Just how much the drop off has been is a bit clearer after Indianapolis Star reporters Cate Charron and Grace Randolph analyzed the performance by Jennifer Ruby, Gov. Mike Braun’s appointee. The upshot, from a report this week: “During her 16-month tenure, her office took an average of nearly 250 days, or about eight months, to issue an opinion, a first-of-its-kind IndyStar analysis found. That is far outside the public access law’s requirement and more than three times longer than that of her predecessor, Luke Britt, during his final two years in office. Ruby is also far more likely to favor the government when it denies access to citizens. The analysis, which examined published opinions, found that Ruby favored the government two-thirds of the time. Britt was the exact inverse. He found in two-thirds of the cases that the government violated state law or could act differently to improve transparency.” The reporting confirmed the rumblings across the state, not just from media but also from citizens who turn to the Public Access Counselor for help to sort out what is or isn’t a public record and how to deal with it. As West Lafayette resident Zach Baiel, president of the Indiana Coalition for Open Government, put it, there’s a greater temptation to stonewall at a local government level: “Slow down, don’t release, roll the dice with the PAC.” This is definitely worth a read: “Under Braun’s watchdog, government secrecy grows harder to challenge.”

• Here’s one that could be playing soon at a university in your backyard. Via Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter Mackenzi Klemann: “The Indiana Commission for Higher Education is seeking to restore outcomes-based performance funding for the state’s public colleges and universities in the next biennial budget. The formula rewards additional funding to colleges and universities for positive outcomes like on-time degree completion and graduate retention.” Read the rest here: “Higher education commission looks to revive college performance funding. Commission OKs formula; final decision rests with lawmakers.”

• This is good heads up, via Indiana Capital Chronicle editor Niki Kelly, who sent this reminder that Gov. Mike Braun’s gas tax holiday is set to run out a week into August. Be ready to plug about 61 cents a gallon back into pump prices: “Gas tax holiday coming to end at terrible time.”

• This development came Friday evening, via IndyStar reporter Kristine Phillips: “Gov. Mike Braun has directed the Indiana Department of Correction to “fully review” claims of massive medical backlogs and severe staffing shortages at Miami Correctional Facility, where the Trump administration is housing hundreds of immigration detainees. … The move follows an IndyStar investigation that found the state and its for-profit prison health care provider, Centurion Health, were woefully unprepared for the influx of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees under a deal Braun’s administration struck with the federal government last year.” Here’s a way into Phillips’ initial investigation into conditions at Miami Correctional Facility: “Deaths, delays, ‘fake’ data: How Braun’s ICE prison deal fueled a medical crisis.” And here’s the word from Braun’s reaction: “Braun orders review at Indiana ICE prison after IndyStar investigation.”

• The chairman of SK Group, the South Korean conglomerate that includes the $3.87 billion SK hynix semiconductor facility incoming in West Lafayette, was in the news Friday, after an appeals court there awarded his ex-wife the equivalent of $644 million. The New York Times had this to lead off the story of Chey Tae-won and the original demand by Roh Soh-yeong for half his $5.3 billion wealth: “The spectacular rise and fall of their marriage has played out like the best of K-dramas. When they wed, they personified the infamous collusion between politics and big business that long plagued South Korea’s economy. By last year, they were officially exes, their split branded by local media as the ‘divorce of the century.’ On Friday, a Seoul court ruled on their bitter, yearslong war over the ex-husband’s personal assets — a fortune that has ballooned, supercharged by the global artificial intelligence boom.” Read more here: “Tech Titan’s Ex-Wife Wins Big Divorce Payout but Misses Out on A.I. Riches.”

• The Downtown Blues & Jazz Festival runs from 4-11 p.m. today/Saturday, July 25, on Fifth Street, between Main and Columbia streets. Indy-based Queen Delphine and The Crown Jewels will the festival’s headliner. For details and more going on around town, here’s a replay of this week’s Tim’s Picks:

• The animals and exhibits are closed and packing out at the Tippecanoe County 4-H Fair, wrapping up today at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds, 1406 Teal Road. But the rides are still open, starting at 5 p.m. Here’s the schedule to line up one last shot at Fair week. As a bonus, check these photo galleries collected by BiL correspondent Vincent Walter:

Jump Start Coffee: Coffee, Bites & Classic Car Charm

Dining Divas and Dudes is a team that has been reporting and rating new restaurants, hidden gems, international fare and updated menus from old favorites for years now via Visit Lafayette-West Lafayette at homeofpurdue.com. Here at Based in Lafayette, we feature some of Dining Divas and Dudes’ latest finds.

The latest edition: The crew went to Jump Start Coffee, 1020 Union St. in Lafayette, recently opened by owner Sandy Briggs in what had been space for the neighboring auto repair shop.

One take from the visit: “Upon entering, the car-themed coffee shop charmed the quartet with its decor — especially the up-cycled booth made from the same model of the owner, Sandy’s, first car. Originally intended as a waiting area for the neighboring Autotorium garage, Sandy’s interior design expertise has transformed the space into a cozy, chic coffeehouse with a lovely variety of drink and dining options. … Its playful touches like jumper cables attached to the menu board or golden monkey lamp hanging from the ceiling curate an environment of palpable mirth.”

For a full taste, here’s the whole review: Jump Start: Coffee, Bites & Classic Car Charm

Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.

PURDUE-BACKED EXPEDITION TO FIND AMELIA EARHART’S PLANE BACK ON

A Purdue-backed expedition to uncover whether an object seen in satellite images of a small Pacific island might be remnants of the Lockheed Electra 10-E aviator Amelia Earhart was attempting to fly around the world in 1937 is back on track, set to go in October, university officials said Friday.

Initially planned for October 2025, Steve Schultz, Purdue’s general counsel, said approval came in the past few days for the necessary permits from the Kiribati government to explore a lagoon of Nikumaroro Island, where researchers believe they’ve spotted evidence of Earhart’s plane.

Schultz said Friday that efforts to clear the way for the expedition – one the Purdue Research Foundation is backing with a $500,000 stake and that will include three people with university ties playing roles in the search – took several visits to the Pacific nation and help with introductions to Kiribati lawmakers via contacts in the U.S. embassy in Fiji.

With that secured, some members the 16-member crew will leave for Tarawa, Kiribati, from the Amelia Earhart Terminal at Purdue Airport on Oct. 3. From there, the crew of archaeologists, filmmakers and others will travel six days by ship to Nikumaroro, roughly midway between Hawaii and Australia, to check on what has become known as the Taraia Object.

“At its core, this is a scientific endeavor that has a simple premise: the Taraia Object is either the lost Electra or it’s not,” Schultz said Friday. “We think somebody has to go there and look at it, and it might as well be us at Purdue. We owe it to her legacy to do that. And if we don’t do it, the world might never know.”

Initially announced in July 2025, the expedition was instigated by Rick Pettigrew, executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute, and leans heavily into Purdue funding and the university’s ties to Earhart.

Get 20% off for 1 year

Read more

Lafayette puts 605 Main St. up for sale … and other notes

Lafayette is looking to offload one of two Main Street buildings the city bought in 2024, saying it’s no longer part of long-term plans for expansion space next to the Long Center for the Performing Arts and for the nearby Lafayette Theater.

The Lafayette Redevelopment Commission agreed Thursday morning to put 605 Main St. on the market, with a list price of $315,000. Offers for the building, which is being rented to the Vegan Cheese Lady restaurant, will be considered at the commission’s next meeting, Aug. 27, Dennis Carson, the city’s economic development director, said.

Carson said the deal won’t include a building at 601 Main St., on the southeast corner of Sixth and Main, which the city picked up in a package deal two years ago for a total price of $625,000. At the time, city officials said the property could eventually be used to expand the Long Center’s St. John Pavilion and lobby space as well as green rooms, artist and storage space.

“We purchased that for a long-term investment, particularly for the Long Center,” Carson said. “If we do any kind of expansions or anything with that, we could be just looking at 601 Main St. We really don’t need 605 Main.”

Carson said there are no immediate plans for that corner, which had housed a series of restaurants and bars, most recently the G.O.A.T. Pub, when the city bought it. The corner now is a micro-retail spot managed by MatchBOX Coworking Studios.

The $315,000 offering price for 605 Main St. came from the lowest of two appraisals, Carson said. The city’s economic development office will take offers on the 5,184-square-foot, three-story building until 10 a.m. Aug. 27, according to documents approved Thursday by the redevelopment commission.

The city bought the former Mars Theater in the 1980s, converting it into the Long Center, a 1,150-seat venue at 111 N. Sixth St. The city bought the Lafayette Theater, an art-deco movie house built in 1938, in 2019 and took over management in 2020.

Get 20% off for 1 year

In other moves …

RENOVATIONS STARTING ON LAFAYETTE THEATER: A $19.4 million rehab of the Lafayette Theater intended to bolster the former movie house at 600 Main St. into a downtown entertainment venue is expected to start in the coming weeks.

Read more