Pride Lafayette demands Rokita apology for April Fools post, gets none
Plus, the emergence of West Lafayette’s ‘Riverfront District.’ Check out the sweet ride Lt. Gov. Beckwith picked up. And next up in the portal: Cam Heide
Support for this edition comes from Purdue’s Presidential Lecture Series. Purdue University invites you to a special evening with Thomas Rosenbaum, president of Caltech and a pioneering physicist in the field of quantum technology, on April 10 at 6:30 p.m. in Stewart Center’s Fowler Hall. As an expert in the quantum mechanical nature of materials and a leader in American higher education, Rosenbaum has made significant contributions to both scientific research and university innovation. This Presidential Lecture Series event is free and open to the public. Reserve your seat today: https://www.purdue.edu/president/lecture-series/a-conversation-with-thomas-rosenbaum/
A few notes to end the day …
PRIDE LAFAYETTE DEMANDS APOLOGY FROM ROKITA OVER APRIL FOOLS POST: Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita got landed a plodding social media April Fools’ Day gag when he posted a picture of himself tucked tightly into a progress pride flag, a symbol of LGBTQ and other marginalized communities, photoshopped over a 19th century flag dating to the resistance during the Texas Revolution that hangs outside his Statehouse office.
The setup and the delivery, posted on his official X account and Facebook page, went this way: “The Left wins ... They have finally brainwashed me. I am taking down our ‘Come And Take It’ flag and replacing it with this one. April Fools!”
On Wednesday, the executive director of Pride Lafayette, sent a letter to Rokita, asking him to apologize for using his official capacity to mock the LGBTQ community.
“Attorney General Rokita owes an apology to the tens of thousands of LGBTQ+ Hoosiers who call Indiana home,” Derrick Jones, executive director of Pride Lafayette, said. “The Pride Flag is not a punchline or a joke. It is a symbol of hope, a symbol of equality and a symbol of remembrance for those who have died from the AIDS epidemic. For the state’s chief law enforcement officer to use an official communications channel to mock the Pride Flag and the LGBTQ+ community is as disgraceful as it is insulting. Whether he likes it or not, LGBTQ+ Hoosiers live here, pay taxes here, raise families here and are entitled to the same rights and representation as other Hoosiers.”
As of Wednesday evening, Rokita and his office had not responded to questions about the social media post or about whether they planned to reach out to Pride Lafayette.
Jones said Wednesday night no word had come from Rokita, either.
In the letter, Jones wrote: “While there is room in our political discourse for legitimate debate on how state government can best serve all Hoosiers, there is no room for a constitutional officer to use the trappings of their office to mock, belittle, marginalize or demean any resident (or group of residents) with whom that officer might disagree on policy matters. It is disrespectful, unbecoming and beneath the office of Attorney General. … To mock (the Pride Flag) is to mock the LGBTQ+ community, our decades-long fight for equal civil rights, and dishonors those in our community who lost their lives because of our country’s early indifference toward HIV and AIDS.”
Read the full letter here.
ABOUT WEST LAFAYETTE’S EMERGING ‘RIVERFRONT DISTRICT:’ West Lafayette Mayor Erin Easter spoke at some length during a Wednesday ceremonial groundbreaking for Rambler, a $250 million mixed-use development already under construction near the northeast corner of State Street, about the project being part of what the city was calling its Riverfront District.
For ages, that area – think of ground where Bruno’s, Campus Inn and a handful of other local businesses stood until late in 2024 – was lumped in as part of the Levee area. Rambler, in fact, during the planning stages went by the Levee Landmark project. The site sits in part of a West Lafayette downtown master plan that spreads from the Wabash River to the edge of campus at the top of State Street hill.
“We’re thinking about what great identifiers are,” Easter said after Wednesday’s ceremony by Landmark Properties, LV Collective and others involved in Rambler.
“And the Levee, as a name, is specifically identified with the building or a place, but we don't have any naturally occurring levees. So, as we think about what's the best thing to orient people toward this part of town in this district, it's obviously the river.”
Is the city still calling it downtown?
“I mean, it’s all kind of downtown, right?” Easter said. “But, yeah, it’s a little bit of differentiation. It’s easy to look up there and, in many ways, it’s still Chauncey Hill. And this is the Riverfront.”
Demolition started in December 2024, after the motel, Bruno’s, Rubia Flowers, Puccini’s, La Hacienda and China One had all left. (Nine Irish Brothers restaurant, where the groundbreaking crew took the party inside Wednesday afternoon, is operating as usual.)
The development was approved with a mix of 590 apartment units, up to 1,350 beds and 21,700 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Part of the plan includes the city getting Landmark to incorporate the downtown-style grid street layout contemplated by the city’s downtown plan between River Road and Tapawingo Drive. A new street layout will have Brown Street ending near the current intersection with Howard Avenue. A new street – which will be called Poplar Street – is being built straight north from there, rather than angling toward River Road, as Howard Avenue does now. Howard Avenue would cut across the northern edge of the property from North River Road, stopping at the edge of the Levee Plaza property.
Beau Pahud, one of the developers with Landmark Properties, said work is expected to be done by July 2027.
SPEAKING OF GROUNDBREAKINGS … PURDUE IN INDY: Purdue officials, along with Gov. Mike Braun and other Statehouse leaders, ceremonially broke ground Wednesday on the university’s Academic Success Building at its Indianapolis campus. The 15-floor, 248,000-square-foot red brick building at West and Michigan streets in Indianapolis is expected to be done in May 2027 and would a first for Purdue on the Indianapolis campus since the IUPUI split with Indiana University. Purdue trustees signed off on the project in June 2024, expecting to spend $187 million on the combination residence hall and classroom space. As presented, the project was expected to have roughly 500 beds and a dining facility with 400 seats. The Indiana General Assembly approved $60 million toward construction of initial academic facilities on the Indianapolis campus. The site, now a surface parking lot, is part of the 28 acres Purdue has from the IUPUI split with Indiana University.
DO (MORE WITH LESS) AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO?: Indianapolis Star reporter Hayleigh Colombo had a look at some interesting, tony vehicle choices made by Secretary of State Diego Morales and Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith. For the lieutenant governor – who has built his push for dramatic cuts in property taxes, saying local government could use a lesson in doing more with less, it played out this way in Colombo’s reporting: “Beckwith drives to the Indiana Statehouse in a 2025 Chevy Tahoe High Country SUV, which cost taxpayers just under $88,000 when the state bought it in February. The High Country is the top trim level of the SUV.” (For Morales: A $90,000 GMC Yukon Denali, tricked out.) This was Beckwith explaining his rationale, before issuing a press release later in the day outlining $164,000 in cuts at his office: “We needed a car that was big enough for the guys on my team, because the previous lieutenant governor had a smaller car, because she had a bunch of women that would travel with her, and we got some big guys that go with us. … And so I said, 'Hey, I've got to have something that's good for three or four guys.'”
Kayla Dwyer, also reporting for the Indianapolis Star, had this aside Wednesday afternoon, via former Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch’s team:
Here’s more from Colombo’s initial story and the follow-up the same day: “New $90K taxpayer-funded SUVs for Diego Morales, Micah Beckwith raise eyebrows at the Statehouse.” And … “Beckwith says he's cutting spending in his office after facing criticism over $88K SUV.”
NEW DIPLOMAS AND ADMISSION TO PURDUE, IU: WFYI’s Rachel Fradette reported that a new plan outlined Wednesday by state officials will automatically admit high school students who complete one of the state’s new diploma paths. The idea is to encourage more graduating Indiana high school students to enroll in college and remain in Indiana after they graduate. Purdue reported that students who are on track to earn the state’s new Honors Plus diploma and satisfy other basic requirements, such as standardized test scores, will be prompted to apply to Purdue in September of their senior year, and will then gain admission as they complete their diplomas. Fradette had more details and reactions here: “IU, Purdue to automatically enroll students who meet new high school diploma rule.”
MORE TRANSFER PORTAL NEWS FOR PURDUE: The latest into the college basketball transfer portal from Purdue was Cam Heide, a forward who played key roles through the past two seasons off the bench for the Boilers. IndyStar’s Nathan Baird and J&C’s Sam King had this: “4th Purdue basketball player enters transfer portal, leaving a hole in the rotation.”
Thanks, again, for support from Purdue’s Presidential Lecture Series, presenting an evening with Thomas Rosenbaum, president of Caltech and a pioneering physicist in the field of quantum technology, on April 10 at 6:30 p.m. in Stewart Center’s Fowler Hall. Reserve your seat today: https://www.purdue.edu/president/lecture-series/a-conversation-with-thomas-rosenbaum/
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Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.
At the end of each working day, every politician needs to ask "Did I do everything I could do today to uplift every citizen and protect all citizens equally?" If the answer is yes, a good night's sleep is earned.
Derrick Jones’ professional communication stands in sharp contrast to Rokita’s juvenile, mocking post.
Almost as disappointing as the post from an elected official: Some of the community responses, who see this as “just a joke”.
This was shameful behavior from someone who is supposed to be the Attorney General for all Hoosiers.