This and that: A Saturday edition
Catching up on a few things.
Thanks today for ongoing support from Based in Lafayette sponsor Long Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Lafayette. For tickets and details on all the shows and events, go to longpac.org.
This and that on a Saturday morning …
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE DELPHI MURDER CASE: A week after Richard Allen was moved to a prison in Oklahoma, the Delphi man convicted in 2024 of the 2017 murders of Delphi eighth-graders Libby German and Abby Williams asked a court for an addition 30 days to file his appeal. In a filing this week, Allen’s attorneys requested a Sept. 5 deadline to file, citing the sheer bulk of the transcripts and evidence connected to a trial that spanned more than four weeks in Carroll Circuit Court. According to the filing, “the transcripts consist of 22 volumes and have approximately 5,076 pages. The exhibits consist of 15 volumes and have approximately 3,581 pages. Additionally, there are two (2) supplemental exhibit volumes that contain approximately 198 media files and 40 document files.” The initial deadline had been set for Aug. 6.
Allen, a former pharmacy tech at the Delphi CVS, was convicted in November 2024 of girls’ 2017 murders near the town’s Monon High Bridge Trail. Judge Fran Gull, an Allen County Superior Court judge assigned to the Carroll County case, sentenced him in December 2024 to 130 years in prison.
Meanwhile, Hulu is set to air a three-night docuseries, starting Tuesday, Aug. 5, “Capturing Their Killer: The Girls on the High Bridge.” Here’s the trailer, including a tip to an interview with Kathy Allen, Richard Allen’s wife.
UPDATE, FORMER TRUSTEE’S BACKPAY, DEFAMATION LAWSUIT AGAINST WABASH TOWNSHIP: Earlier this week, BiL reported that the attorney representing Jennifer Rae Teising, former Wabash Township trustee, had withdrawn from her lawsuit looking to get some $800,000 from the township over backpay and defamation claims.
The lawsuit is still on, though. On Thursday, a new attorney, Indianapolis-based Ryan Sterling, filed an appearance with Tippecanoe Circuit Court.
Teising was forced from office as Wabash Township trustee in 2022 when she was convicted on 21 felony counts of theft tied to questions about her residency. In a January 2022 ruling, a judge decided that when Teising sold her West Lafayette home in June 2020, tried to recruit a replacement as trustee and told people she planned to move to Florida, Teising’s pursuit of “a nomadic RV lifestyle” for the rest of 2020 and parts of 2021 was the same as forfeiting the position. The judge ruled that forfeiting the position while collecting a paycheck was the same as theft, as she’d been charged. The Indiana Court of Appeals later overturned that ruling. In a complaint filed in June in Tippecanoe Circuit Court, Teising detailed what she characterized as deliberate attempts to track her movements, sharing those with media and conspiring to get rid of her in ways that drew protesters to an address she had in West Lafayette and other moments in “a malicious effort to humiliate” her.
Circuit Judge Sean Persin has set an Aug. 18 preliminary hearing in the case.
Here's more background on Teising’s complaint and what led up to it:
GOVERNOR PUTS STATE PRISON SPACE, ISP SUPPORT FOR FEDERAL IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN: Gov. Mike Braun went all in Friday on his administration’s support for federal immigration enforcement, offering 1,000 beds at the Miami Correctional Facility and promising state support, including Indiana State Police troopers, to arrest and detain people for immigration violations. Indianapolis Star reporters Kristine Phillips and Alexandra Burris had more details here: “Indiana Department of Corrections prison to house up to 1,000 immigrant detainees as part of effort to ramp up arrests.”
BAIRD’S 5-STAR TRAVEL IN THE SPOTLIGHT: This is via an account published in the Indiana Capital Chronicle: “Indiana’s representatives saw little expense spared during international trips paid for with special interest groups’ money. Members of Indiana’s U.S. House of Representatives delegation and their staffers have accepted roughly $640,000 in privately sponsored international travel since 2020, an Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism analysis of travel disclosures found. Six current and former representatives took 26 international trips in those five years, according to congressional travel disclosures, and sent staff members on nine global getaways. Representatives and their staffers took over 138 domestic and international trips sponsored by private organizations for a total cost of over $760,000.”
Among them, this accounting for U.S. Rep. Jim Baird, the Greencastle Republican who represents Tippecanoe County and the rest of Indiana’s 4th District: “U.S. Rep. Jim Baird, R-4th, and his wife enjoyed a five-day retreat on Lake Como in Bellagio, Italy, in April 2023. … Baird traveled the most internationally among Indiana’s representatives, taking 10 trips in five years to Israel, United Kingdom, Kenya, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Colombia, Ireland, Spain and Italy, costing $201,133.”
For mor of the story by journalists at the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism at Indiana University: “Five-star stays and Michelin-starred meals: Interest groups foot the bill for congressional travel.”
NATIONAL NIGHT OUT, DAYLIGHT VERSION: The Lafayette Police Department will host its annual National Night Out from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 2, at Columbian Park. The day features bounce houses, a DJ, games for kids, police dog demonstration, food trucks and free boat rides at the park. The event is free.
CHARGES FILED AGAINST FORMER CHURCH EMPLOYEE: J&C reporter Ron Wilkins had the details about criminal charges unsealed this week against Julia Wonnacott, a former administrative assistant accused of draining bank accounts of Heartland Community Church. She already had been the target of a civil suit filed by the church. Here’s more from the J&C: “Ex-church employee accused of using church money as her own, spending hundreds of thousands.”
ON TRACK TODAY: EXTEND YOUR BASED IN LAFAYETTE SUBSCRIPTION BY CHIPPING IN FOR THE CASAs FOR KIDS FUND: This morning we roll on the 2025 edition of the Subaru CASA Cycling Challenge, a 24-hour event held Saturday and Sunday at the two-mile Subaru of Indiana Automotive test track in Lafayette. A version of Bangert Brothers team will be there to put in some laps in support to 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. So far, Based in Lafayette subscribers have contributed more than $4,000. Thanks for stepping in.
Thanks, again, for ongoing support from Based in Lafayette sponsor Long Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Lafayette. For tickets and details on all the shows and events, go to longpac.org.
Thank you for supporting Based in Lafayette, an independent, local reporting project. Free and full-ride subscription options are ready for you here.
Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.
OK, fans of transparency, government efficiency, responsible Congressional representation., read how Congressman Jim Baird and his wife are taking advantage of the office a majority of poorly informed voters helped put before them. Here is a selection from the Indiana Capital Chronicle about the extensive travel Congressman Baird and Mrs. Baird have done "ostensibly for the benefit of who exactly?"
1. 5 days in Bellagio, Italy.
2. Congressman Baird has taken ten trips in five years including all of the following:
Israel, United Kingdom, Kenya, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Colombia, Ireland, Spain and now Italy.
BAIRD’S 5-STAR TRAVEL IN THE SPOTLIGHT: This is via an account published in the Indiana Capital Chronicle: “Indiana’s representatives saw little expense spared during international trips paid for with special interest groups’ money. Members of Indiana’s U.S. House of Representatives delegation and their staffers have accepted roughly $640,000 in privately sponsored international travel since 2020, an Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism analysis of travel disclosures found. Six current and former representatives took 26 international trips in those five years, according to congressional travel disclosures, and sent staff members on nine global getaways. Representatives and their staffers took over 138 domestic and international trips sponsored by private organizations for a total cost of over $760,000.”
Among them, this accounting for U.S. Rep. Jim Baird, the Greencastle Republican who represents Tippecanoe County and the rest of Indiana’s 4th District: “U.S. Rep. Jim Baird, R-4th, and his wife enjoyed a five-day retreat on Lake Como in Bellagio, Italy, in April 2023. … Baird traveled the most internationally among Indiana’s representatives, taking 10 trips in five years to Israel, United Kingdom, Kenya, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Colombia, Ireland, Spain and Italy, costing $201,133.”
Re: MAGAt Mike and Agra-Welfare Queen Baird.
Since MAGAt Mike is such a successful businessman, hopefully,
he's charging the same fees for the 1,000 prison beds that Mad King Darn'old Drumpf of Dementia-Felonia charges the Secret Service at Mar-A-Lago.
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It seems MAGAt Baird is not satisfied setting his Agra-Welfare entitlement along with his fellow ReTrumplican't sychophants.
So, he had to do his own fact finding in the world-reknown Italian farming district of Lake Como.
Amazing that such a "man of the people" can travel the world, but not make it to constituent forums in his district.