This and some redistricted That
Redistricting bill advances from Indiana Senate committee. Extension granted for a Delphi murders appeal that promises to be lengthy. ‘Degas Days’ at Purdue Galleries. And a BiL Holiday Playlist grows
Support for this edition comes from French Knot, presenting its annual warehouse sale on back-to-back Saturdays, Dec. 6 and Dec. 13, at 525 Wabash Ave. in Lafayette. Learn more here.
REDISTRICTING BILL CLEARS INDIANA SENATE COMMITTEE: This is from Indiana Capital Chronicle reporters Casey Smith and Tom Davies, after close to 100 people testified before the Senate Elections Committee Monday:
Indiana senators advanced a controversial congressional redistricting bill in a 6-3 vote Monday — but multiple Republican lawmakers signaled they remain open to voting no when it reaches the chamber floor.
The Senate Elections Committee approved the measure, with both Democrats opposed and joined by one Republican, Sen. Greg Walker of Columbus. The bill now heads to the full Senate for a vote expected Thursday.
Committee Chair Sen. Mike Gaskill, R-Pendleton, sponsored the bill — and briefly spoke in defense of President Donald Trump — but said he would save most of his arguments for the Senate floor. …
Walker delivered more than 20 minutes of emotional remarks — at one point moved to tears — explaining why he could not support the mid-cycle redistricting effort.
“I fear for this institution … if we allow intimidation and threats to be the norm,” he said. “I refuse to be intimidated. I will not normalize that kind of behavior.” ..
Senators are expected to meet again on Wednesday to consider other possible amendments to the proposal in House Bill 1032, with a full Senate vote expected Thursday. But the Indiana Senate’s Republican leader (Rodric Bray) wasn’t making predictions Monday about the fate of the proposal that’s become a test of loyalty to Trump.”
For more from the Indiana Capital Chronicle’s report: “Indiana Senate committee pushes redistricting bill forward though future still unknown.”
Kayla Dwyer, reporting for the Indianapolis Star, had an account that included testimony from Mike Morris, who is part of the Lafayette-based Citizens in Action, who encouraged the Senate to get on board to ward off Democrats looking to use a majority in Congress to try to impeach Trump: “I urge you not to just merely be in office, but to be in power, and use that power to save our federal republic,” Morris said, via the IndyStar account. For more from the IndyStar: “Redistricting bill clears first hurdle in Indiana Senate as it passes out of committee.”
Adam Wren, reporting for Politico, noted some cracks in an Indiana Senate line, repeated in recent weeks, that the votes aren’t there, leading his account Monday: “Indiana Senate Republican leader Rodric Bray reiterated his opposition to redrawing the state’s congressional lines as his legislative body began to consider a new, state House-passed map Monday. But he would not say whether his caucus had enough votes to pass the measure being pushed by President Donald Trump, as he aims to keep Republicans’ slim control over Congress next year.” Read the rest here: “Trump’s near-death redistricting push in Indiana appears to have a lifeline.”
DEADLINE EXTENDED FOR FINAL TIME FOR DELPHI MURDER APPEAL, JUDGES RULE: Attorneys working with Richard Allen on an appeal of his conviction in the 2017 murders of Delphi teens Abby Williams and Libby German face a new deadline of Dec. 17 to file their arguments, the court said in a ruling posted Monday. They also will get 24,000 words – or 10,000 more than a standard limit – to lay out their case, the court ruled.
In filings last week, Allen’s attorneys, Mark Leeman and Stacy Uliana, asked for additional time and the extra space, writing that they had “identified at least 10 possible issues for appeal, nine of which involve federal and Indiana constitutional claims.”
They wrote that they would land on issues surrounding “the right to present a defense including alternative explanations of the scene and other suspects and impeachment of the quality of the investigation; the right to present a defense undermining the reliability of Allen’s incriminating statements; the constitutionality of those statements made while Allen was gravely disability in prolonged pretrial solitary confinement; the constitutionality of the search of Allen’s home; (and) other impactful erroneous evidentiary rulings.”
Allen’s attorneys already have been granted a series of extensions to file a brief, including one that came after they compelled the trial court to compile volumes of evidence that had been prepare for the trial – dealing with third-party theories in the case – that had not been allowed to be presented to the jury.
The order Monday said the Dec. 17 deadline would be the final one.
Allen, 52, a former clerk at a CVS pharmacy, filed a notice to appeal in March. He is serving a 130-year prison sentence given in December 2024, after being convicted in November 2024 at the end of a four-week trial.
Allen was arrested and charged in 2022. Abby and Libby were found dead, with slashed necks, in the woods near Delphi’s Monon High Bridge Trail on Feb. 14, 2017, a day after they’d been dropped off to spend an afternoon hiking to the Monon High Bridge. Allen was arrested in October 2022, 5½ years after the murders – tied to the scene through a revisited case file related to his self-reported information to investigators in the days after the murders that he’d been on the Monon High Bridge Trail the day the girls went missing. The case against him was built around his admission about being on the bridge that day; an unspent round found at the crime scene that state police technicians determined came from a handgun Allen owned; a video of a man – dubbed “Bridge Guy” – found on Libby’s phone; and what prosecutors detailed as more than 60 confessions while Allen was awaiting trial.
PURDUE GALLERIES MARK ‘DEGAS DAYS:’ Purdue Galleries will host two days of lectures and art this week during an event dubbed “Degas Days,” centered on the Degas Collection exhibit opened in the Purdue Memorial Union in 2024.
The collection of 74 bronzes donated in 2022 came from Avrum Gray, a 1956 Purdue mechanical engineering alum and art collector from Glencoe, Illinois. The centerpiece is a casting of “La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans (The Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen),” a signature sculpture among impressionist Degas’ work that’s placed prominently near the entrance of the new gallery.
Here’s more from the exhibit’s opening in 2024:
Here’s the schedule, with all the events are the Degas Gallery, Room 231, Purdue Memorial Union.
Wednesday, Dec. 10
Noon-1 p.m.: Cello quartet concert with professor Kristen Yeon and her students
12:30-2 p.m.: Sculpture making workshop with Tyler McCoy, art education intern with Purdue Galleries, leading through making clay-and-wire sculptures similar to those in the Degas collection.
2-3 p.m.: Drawing Degas with professor Jong-un Choi.
4 p.m.: Curator Kirstin Gotway and Kathleen Hickey discuss “The Beauty and the Beast: Women in the Performing Arts through the Lens of Degas.”
Thursday, Dec. 11
11 a.m.-noon: Meet the donor with Avrum Gray, interviewed by biographer Michael Shelden.
Noon- 1 p.m.: Behind the Book with author Michael Shelden and Purdue Galleries Director Erika Kvam.
1-2 p.m.: Drawing Degas with Aaron Ilyas Lewis.
2:30-3:30 p.m.: Facets of Exhibition Design, with Purdue Galleries Director Erika Kvam.
BUILDING BiL HOLIDAY PLAYLIST: WHAT’S ON YOURS?
Through Christmas, BiL will curate three songs a day from readers. The assignment isn’t necessarily about the best or most iconic songs of the season. Just songs that you’d want in the mix and why they belong. Enjoy.
Erin Charpentier
Indiana rural associate with United Solar Neighbors.
“O Holy Night,” Tracy Chapman’s cover – Tracy Chapman is a vocal powerhouse. This is the best, most underrated version of the song. It’s soulful and haunting with a thread of hope.
“Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24,” Trans-Siberian Orchestra – I remember the first time I heard this, as a high schooler driving home from work. I had the radio turned all the way up and was so moved by the message of hope and the power of music amidst human conflict.
“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings,” Barenaked Ladies with Sarah McLachlan – This is a really fun arrangement. BNL puts their own twist on the song, while Sarah McLachlan’s more traditional lyricism amplifies it a notch.
Your turn
What three songs are going into your holiday/seasonal playlist this year? If you’re game share, here’s all we need:
Three songs and the artists.
One or two sentences about why you chose each one – could be a memory or a short history or review about why that track belongs in your mix and why you’d recommend it to others.
A little bit about you to let readers know who’s making the picks.
Send to: davebangert1@gmail.com
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Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.