This and that: Caught in a federal freeze edition

Plus, Lafayette lines up the final, $51M phase of its 20-year project to keep raw sewage out of the Wabash during heavy rains. People’s Brewing can use your vote. And Mosey sets dates for this summer

• Today’s edition comes with support from A Pinch of Pepper, as the tea and spicery prepares to move around the corner to its new downtown Lafayette location this Saturday. Visit A Pinch of Pepper at 101 N. Sixth St. Or shop online here.

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A few notes for a Wednesday morning …

ON TRUMP’S FREEZE ON FEDERAL FUNDS

President Donald Trump’s order to abruptly pause federal funding while the new White House administration looks to pluck out diversity efforts and other things that cross his flurry of executive orders in the past week had everyone from nonprofits to cities, K-12 school districts to universities scrambling to sort out what it all meant. Even pieces of federal spending the White House said wouldn’t be included had some glitches Tuesday, as reports of Medicaid portals going down sent some waves of panic.

A few reads from a chaotic Tuesday:

• From the Associated Press, on U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan’s ruling, just ahead of a 5 p.m. Tuesday implementation, that questioned the president’s ability to pull it off. The ruling, coming from a lawsuit filed by a group of nonprofit agencies is good only until Monday: “Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump administration freeze on federal grants and loans.”

• From the Washington Post: “Here’s what we know — and don’t know — about the Trump funding freeze. The Trump administration’s freeze on federal grants and loans set off confusion nationwide. Some states had trouble accessing funds that were not put on hold.”

• Also from the Washington Post, on education funding: “Federal freeze won’t affect student loans, but preschool may be in peril.”

• Indiana Gov. Mike Braun was on board with Trump’s move to freeze federal spending. Here’s his statement from Tuesday afternoon: “I applaud President Trump’s direction to pause government spending, fulfilling his campaign promise to rein in out of control government. This level of fiscal discipline is exactly the kind of leadership we need in Washington, DC and is in line with the values of Hoosiers and the American people who elected him. We are releasing guidance to Indiana’s government agencies for compliance and next steps. I am confident we will continue to deliver needed services to Hoosiers with efficiency, doing more with less."

• Meanwhile, the Trump administration played its next card against the pushback on an executive order calling federal workers back to offices, instead of working remotely. From the Wall Street Journal: “White House to Push Out Federal Workers Through Buyout Offer. Staffers would be paid for eight months if they resign rather than return to the office full time.”

Does the federal fund situation have your organization scrambling? Send me a note at davebangert1@gmail.com.

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FINAL PHASE OF WORK TO PREVENT COMBINED-SEWER OVERFLOWS STARTS IN LAFAYETTE

A $51 million contract signed Tuesday signaled the final stretch in Lafayette’s state-mandated project started in 2009 to cut down on combined-sewer overflow events that sent raw sewage into the Wabash River whenever heavy rains inundated the city’s system.

“It’s been a long process,” Brad Talley, superintendent of Lafayette Renew, the city department that deals with wastewater and stormwater, said Tuesday. “We’re almost there.”

The city’s board of works approved the contract with Bowen Engineering to build a high-rate treatment facility next to the Lafayette wastewater treatment plant on Wabash Avenue that will be designed to handle 73 million gallons a day. The project also will include a wet weather expansion of lift stations and new force main leading to the plant.

Work is expected to be done by June 30, 2027. Two years of monitoring will follow that, according to the contract.

Before the overall project started, rains would overload the city’s treatment plant, leaving a flow of stormwater, household sewage and industrial output collected in shared sewers to go untreated into the river. The first three phases of the CSO project have included assorted ways to divert rainwater from storm sewers to give the city’s wastewater treatment plant its best shot at treating water before sending it to the Wabash. That ranged from massive storage tunnels dug just south of the downtown bridges and near Greenbush Street, sewer separation on Earl Avenue, wastewater treatment plant expansion, the stormwater park at Lafayette Jefferson High School and porous pavers installed on Brown Street.

Talley said the projects done since 2009 have been designed in ways that have allowed designs of the final phase to be reduced from 119 million gallons a day to 73 million gallons a day, cutting down on costs of the final project.

“Our total expense number is going to be considerably less than what that original estimate was that it might take to get all of these done,” Mayor Tony Roswarski said about a long-term plan approved by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. “With that two years of monitoring, we'll be right on schedule to complete it within that 20 year window.”

The initial price in 2009 was expected to be in the $180 million range.

With the work already done, Talley said overflow events have dropped from an average of 96 a year to four a year. He said that accounted for an average annual volume of 952 million gallons to 56 million gallons going into the Wabash during heavy rains.

West Lafayette is in the final stages of projects meant to prevent combined-sewer overflows, too. The city recently authorized a $37.5 million bond issue to finance construction of a 2.5 million-gallon tank near the city’s wastewater treatment facility, where storm water could be held until it could be treated before being released to the river. The project also would include administrative and chemical handling buildings at the wastewater treatment facility. The proposed project follows two other phases of the state-mandated project, including construction of a River Road tunnel that stretched 1,000 feet from just north of Happy Hollow Road to just south of DeHart Street, 17 feet wide by 17 feet tall, all 30 feet below the surface. That tunnel was finished int November 2023 and can store 1.7 million gallons of sewage and stormwater. That work is scheduled to be done by a July 2027 deadline set by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

NOW’S THE TIME, THIS IS THE PLACE: SUBSCRIBE TO THE BASED IN LAFAYETTE REPORTING PROJECT.

THIS AND THAT/OTHER READS …

BRAUN’S EXECUTIVE ORDER ON IMMIGRATION: Gov. Mike Braun committed the state to President Donald Trump’s sweep of undocumented immigrants, calling on state law enforcement and others to cooperate with federal officials through an executive order issued Tuesday. “The focus of this executive order is very clear … Indiana’s going to be a state that is going to be helping the (Trump) administration find these folks that are described as the worst first,” Braun said during a Tuesday afternoon press conference. Here’s more, via Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter Casey Smith: “Braun promises Indiana law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration efforts. Braun said he also plans to keep 50 Indiana National Guard members deployed to the southern border, for now.”

PEOPLE’S BREWING CO. UP FOR USA TODAY’S TOP BREWERY TOUR: Here’s a chance to drink local, vote local with People’s Brewing Co., 2006 N. Ninth St. in Lafayette, among 20 breweries listed from across the country in USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice 2025 balloting. Voting continues through Feb. 24, with the Top 10 announced March 5, according to USA Today. As of Tuesday evening, People’s was running in fifth place. (Just ahead of the brewery run by Chris and Jessica Johnson: The Anheuser-Busch Brewery Experiences, St. Louis; Burial Beer Co. Forestry Camp, Asheville, North Carolina; and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, Delaware.) For details on the contest, check the Best Brewery Tour 2025 page – or go straight to the spot to vote for People’s.

MOSEY DOWN MAIN STREET DATES SET: Dates for the 2025 edition of Mosey Down Main Street – Saturday evening free festivals of food, music and vendors between Sixth and 11^th streets in downtown Lafayette – were set Tuesday, approved by the city’s board of works. The first will be May 10. The rest: June 14, July 12, Aug. 9 and Aug. 30.

Thanks for sponsorship help today from A Pinch of Pepper, as the tea and spicery prepares to move around the corner to its new downtown Lafayette location this Saturday. Visit A Pinch of Pepper at 101 N. Sixth St. Or shop online here.

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