The Indianapolis Star
ENERGY COSTS HIT HOME
Sophie Hartley and Karl Schneider Lindsay Trameri spent a good chunk of Thanksgiving weekend hauling fiberglass insulation pads into the attic of her small home in Irvington. After a couple of trips to Menards and some tight squeezes through a small...
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The biggest events coming to Indianapolis in 2026
With several attendance records broken and new hotel rooms added to the city, Indianapolis continues to pride itself on being one of the top destinations for conventions. At this point, Indy runs like a well-oiled machine for large events, drawing in...
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A CLEAN SLATE
First came Kyle Walker. Then J.D. Ford. Now Andrea Hunley. That makes for three state senators from the Indianapolis area all deciding not to run for reelection to the Indiana General Assembly in 2026, meaning three open seats with no incumbents that...
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Area, state leaders at odds over housing affordability solution
Local and state leaders are at odds over how to mitigate Indiana’s housing affordability problems, as Gov. Mike Braun and lawmakers push legislation that would limit cities’ ability to restrict duplexes and other dense development in residential...
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IU-phoric
The confetti flying around Hard Rock Stadium is crimson and cream, and so is the 2025 college football national champion as the pro-Indiana football crowd celebrates the Hoosiers’ 2721 victory over Miami in the College Football Playoff championship...
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What Indianapolis police, activists want in new chief
Whoever takes the helm of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department will be coming in on years of steadily reduced violent crime, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be significant challenges. IndyStar spoke with dozens of people with close ties...
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‘Dad would be so jacked’
Pat Knight can see his dad with that proud smirk on his face, giving a firm handshake to coach Curt Cignetti, telling him what an incredible job he’s done leading Indiana University football to an undefeated season and a chance at a national title. ●...
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Braun lays out an agenda for his 2nd year in office
Gov. Mike Braun is putting on record the key issues he wants to address in 2026, his second year in office. Many of these pillars he touched on in his second State of the State address on Jan. 14. A number of them reflect his support for what the...
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‘The last straw for IPS’
An effort to transform Indianapolis public education brewing in the Indiana Statehouse would weaken the Indianapolis Public School Board and transfer significant power to an independent entity controlled by the Indianapolis mayor. To many of the...
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Police chief: Safety key to new city post
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Chris Bailey says he didn’t see his new job coming. He expected to remain police chief through the rest of Mayor Joe Hogsett’s third term, digging into IMPD’s core issues as part of a new five-year...
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Indy crowd rallies against ICE after Good shot, killed
One night after a federal agent fatally shot a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis, hundreds gathered in Monument Circle both to mourn her death and to call for an end to the presidential administration’s aggressive anti-immigration tactics. The...
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Judge rejects sentence reduction for Pender
A Marion County judge rejected a request from Sarah Jo Pender, a woman once likened to a murderous cult leader from the 1960s, to modify her 110year prison sentence so that she can be released. The ruling by Marion Superior Court Judge Kevin Snyder...
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‘We’re stepping backwards’
The Trump administration has steered the federal agency tasked with protecting human health and the environment in an unusual direction over the last 12 months: The Environmental Protection Agency has deregulated and delayed swaths of industrial rules...
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Marijuana, future of IPS likely topics for lawmakers
After mid-decade redistricting sucked up considerable oxygen, it sounds like there will be less breathing room for other issues during the 2026 legislative session, which restarts Jan. 5. The meat of the session began early, as lawmakers met for two...
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A STATEHOUSE DIVIDED
Of the wide swath of business the Indiana legislature tackles each session, only a small percentage is controversial. An even smaller slice will sow divisions in the Republican party, like over abortion or gaming. But the lifecycles of these rifts are...
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Indiana residents fight to feel heard against data centers
Andrew Filler first learned about a data center proposed for the cornfield directly across the street from his home when he opened his mail. That was February. Since then, Filler quickly became a local activist who corralled hundreds to oppose and...
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No taxes on servers’ tips could be costly for Indiana
Madison Potts, a 26-year-old server at The District Tap in downtown Indianapolis, often dreads the approaching tax filing deadline each April. It’s in some ways a game of roulette: Will she owe $1,000 in taxes on her tips, or $6,000? And if it’s more...
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IN MEMORIAM
Over the past year, Indiana lost a number of Hoosiers who broke boundaries, made waves and contributed to the state’s identity. Among them were philanthropists who changed the cityscape, star athletes and coaches who passed along their wisdom,...
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‘We still craft our own destiny’
Gov. Mike Braun is about to wrap his first year in office coming off a redistricting push that ultimately fell apart in the Senate and made Indiana the only Republican-led state to defy President Donald Trump’s wishes. ● Redistricting is the issue that...
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Changes under Braun law leave all sides unhappy
There’s a saying in public policy that you’ve done something right if you make everyone a little mad. That’s the definition of compromise. That’s by and large how Gov. Mike Braun assesses the end result of his property tax relief bill, his first major...
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If 2025 seemed like a lot, IndyStar has receipts to prove it
What a year. Who could have imagined at this time last year the Pacers going to the NBA finals or Indiana Republicans defying President Donald Trump? Roundups of the year’s top stories are a longstanding tradition in newspapers — one created, no...
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‘Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ Preparing for the Rose Bowl parade
TThe 230-member Sound of Brownsburg will step into that turn on New Year’s Day as the only Indiana high school band participating in the 137th Rose Parade. The group will join the Indiana University Marching Hundred, whose football team scored a Rose...
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‘Sometimes it’s really hard’
It’s not uncommon for Stephanie Jackson to lose work hours to get her kids to school. It’s a 20-minute drive from Greenwood to the Riverside neighborhood northwest of downtown Indianapolis to get her youngest daughter to school each day. And her older...
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Neighbors help with ‘something magical’
The Christmas lights outside Lorie Graves’ home went up in August this year. The 50-year-old mother and grandmother was known for setting up at least three Christmas trees inside her Waterstone of Carmel house, baking sweet treats for her neighbors...
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Finding ‘the right path’
As Brian Wagaman drives his tow truck around Indianapolis, strangers shout in recognition. Wagaman — who goes by Wags — is hard to miss with his electric green beard. The Martinsville native told his TikTok audience in 2021 that he’d dye his facial...
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Data center boom stirs opposition to big tech
Three years ago, the St. Joseph County Council welcomed an Amazon hyperscale data center to Northern Indiana with open arms, capitalizing on a company that wanted to spend $11 billion and create high-paying jobs in Northern Indiana. But the welcome...
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DATA CENTRAL
Alec Willis moved to Monrovia, Indiana, weeks before learning he would soon have a new neighbor: a 390-acre Google data center campus that will require twice the electricity of all Indianapolis households combined when operational, according to a...
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Citizenship delays escalate once again
Eighty-three people slowly shuffled along the walls of the Indiana War Memorial and Museum, waiting for an assistant of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to confirm their eligibility to take the oath of allegiance to the United...
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Indianapolis home built in 1820 could be yours
When Katherine Martin, 31 and Devon Ross, 32, moved into 1020 Palmer St. in 2018, they were the first residents to call the house a home in several years. They felt a huge responsibility; they were moving into the oldest house in Indianapolis, built in...
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Kids offer ‘beautiful’ climate fix solutions
Some of the kids who attend Earth Charter Indiana’s summer camps do so because they want to learn more about animals, sustainability or the environment. More than a few are also anxious about the changing climate. Others arrive on the first day because...
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A weak La Niña could linger through January
The La Niña conditions remain weak, according to federal forecasters, but the phenomenon still has a say in what kind of weather Hoosiers will see this winter. The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center issued an advisory Dec. 11...
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Indiana was the only red state to defy Trump on redistricting. Why?
In the wake of Indiana Republicans’ resounding rebuke of President Donald Trump’s redistricting plea, two very distinct philosophies of the reasons why are emerging. Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith articulated one in a lengthy X post the morning after: In...
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Indiana’s redistricting debate was unlike any I’ve ever covered
I’ve covered Indiana politics for almost a decade and can usually predict how a vote is going to turn out. But this past week, as I holed up in the IndyStar’s press “shack” in the Statehouse basement waiting for the redistricting fight to unfold, I...
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Monumental rebuke of Trump administration Indiana lawmakers reject mid-decade redistricting push
In a monumental rebuke of President Donald Trump’s wishes, Indiana’s supermajority Republican state legislature became the first to formally reject his push for mid-decade redistricting. The Senate’s 19-31 vote caps months of anticipation and pressure...
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Convicted killer receives support from victim’s son
There were six bodies, but Tracy Pace remembers seeing only four caskets. One for the woman and one for her husband. The couple had four young children; two shared one casket and another two shared the other. Pace does not remember much else about...
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