How to Get Involved
Join us for updates & discussion. We’ll hear about the status of public education funding too! If you can, help us give back by donating items to Raindrops Rising, an organization that advocates for, raises awareness of and provides resources for survivors of sexual violence. Please register here–& bring a friend!
Rally With Us
We rally every Saturday, 12-1, at the Highway of Flags Veterans Memorial on the SE corner of Ridge and 41.
Click here to learn more and to register.
Please note: Sat., Oct. 18, the time will change to 3pm for our NO KINGS rally!
Sat. Oct 18, at 3pm, join us, along with veterans groups and the Highland and Munster Democratic organizations and be part of the 2nd nationwide No Kings rally. We’ll have a few speakers at the Highway of Flags Veterans Memorial on the SE corner of Ridge and 41 in Highland. Parking is limited, so we expect protesters will also gather on the NW corners of Ridge and 41, just like during our last No Kings event. Bring your passion and your signs. Across the nation we will show this administration that we want our freedoms back and this chaos to end.
Please let us know you’re coming and sign up here.
Sat., Oct. 11, 1-3:30pm at East Chicago City Hall. Bring your passion, signs, & ID.
Keep calling!
Your phone calls are working–the decision to call a special session has not yet been made. Governor Braun may be leaving the decision to call a special session to House Speaker Huston and Senate Pro Tempore Bray. Call them–and your state rep and senator:
Speaker Huston: Phone: 317-232-9677; Senator Bray: Phone: 317-232-9400
Contact your state representative and senator: https://iga.in.gov/information/find-legislators
Check out our web page for more info and a script: https://indivisiblenwi.org/2025/08/take-action-against-redistricting/
Let’s keep up the pressure!
The truth matters
“Government healthcare has never and will not be available to undocumented people. And, needless to say, Democrats’ concerns (Medicaid cuts, subsidies for the Affordable Care Act exchanges, and an end to illegal rescissions) have nothing to do with any transgender issue.” (The Contrarian)
Read more at Marketplace and USA Today.
Congress
H.R. 5371 (A bill making continuing appropriations and extensions for fiscal year 2026, and for other purposes
Failed in the Senate 55-45 (requires 60 votes to pass in the Senate) View the vote. The government ran out of money at midnight Sept. 30 and shut down.
The shutdown
“About 60% of federal funding is unaffected by this, and of the rest some functions are deemed essential and continue anyway…
Trump made sweeping changes to the federal government’s revenues and spending this year: A major increase in spending on immigration enforcement. A near total cut to foreign aid. Major cuts to student loans and food and medical benefits for the poor. Workforce reductions throughout much of the federal government. New across-the-board taxes on imports. Extensions of tax cuts primarily benefiting the wealthy.
Republicans are trying to spin this as Democrats making excessive demands. What Democrats actually asked for is pretty underwhelming — a continuation of some health insurance subsidies for the poorest Americans.”
(GovTrack)
“Trump has seized on the government shutdown as an opportunity to reshape the federal workforce and punish detractors by threatening mass firings of workers and suggesting “irreversible” cuts to programs important to Democrats. Read more.
The Office of Management and Budget announced it was putting on hold roughly $18 billion of infrastructure funds for New York’s subway and Hudson Tunnel projects — in the hometown of the Democratic leaders of the U.S. House and Senate.” (AP News)
“It will be Democrats’ task over the ensuing days and weeks to lay out the stakes clearly to the American people. Do millions want to lose healthcare insurance? Do they want Trump to keep ripping up government no matter what Congress decides?
If Democrats do their job, Republicans may regret forcing through an agenda Americans detest and abdicating their role as the first branch of government.” (The Contrarian)
Congress does get paid during a shutdown. Lawmakers have repeatedly proposed bills that would stop that practice, but those measures have not become law.
Members of Congress are not subject to furlough because of their constitutional responsibilities.
Employees are not paid during a shutdown, including those who are deemed essential and must report to work. These include many immigration enforcement workers and Transportation Security Administration agents at airports.
A 2019 federal law says employees furloughed as a result of a lapse in appropriations as well as those required to work without pay receive back pay. But the law makes no mention of contractors.
(Politifact)
To find and contact your Members of Congress: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
In Other News
Google has settled the lawsuit Trump filed for being banned from YouTube after Jan. 6. “The settlement of the more than four-year-old case earmarks $22 million for Trump to contribute to the Trust for the National Mall and a construction of a White House ballroom. The remaining $2.5 million will be paid to other parties involved in the case…” Similar lawsuits were filed against Meta and Twitter, and similarly settled.
“When the lawsuits against Meta. Twitter and YouTube were filed, legal experts predicted Trump had little chance of prevailing.” (AP News)
Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed a gathering of hundreds of military leaders on Tuesday. Hegseth announced a series of changes to the armed forces on Tuesday that he claimed will raise the standards of America’s combat troops and unburden commanders from fear of violating internal military rules.” (The Hill)
“Trump told the gathering of military leaders they should use American cities as “training grounds” and described a federal crackdown on crime in major cities as necessary due to “a war.” (The Hill)
“Trump made numerous false claims in his rambling speech…Some of his false claims were about the military itself.” (CNN)
“Journalists who cover the Pentagon and the Trump administration are in a standoff about new rules that limit the access of the media to most areas within the Pentagon and appear to condition overall entry to the building on an agreement to restrictions in reporting.” (AP News)
The Trump administration is ending the federal government’s annual report on hunger in America…
Fred Glass, president and CEO of Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, said the cancellation of the report will deny the American public information that would benefit society as a whole. “While cancelling the Hunger Report will make it harder to fight hunger, it won’t change the fact that the federal government’s policies are driving more Americans into worse hunger,” Glass said in a statement released Wednesday. “Hunger isn’t a them problem; it’s an us problem…”
One million people, including over 300,000 children, are hungry in Indiana, according to Gleaners.” WFYI)
Read Trump’s 20 point proposal to end the war in Gaza here.
“Soybean farmers feel betrayed as Argentina blows a hole in rural America’s $47 billion soybean bonanza. The American Soybean Association (ASA) President Caleb Ragland said in a statement, “U.S. soybean prices are falling, harvest is underway, and farmers read headlines not about securing a trade agreement with China, but that the U.S. government is extending $200 billion in economic support to Argentina while that country drops its soybean export taxes to sell 20 shiploads of Argentine soybeans to China in just two days.”” (Fortune)
Courts
“Citing the 9/11 attacks and other threats, a U.S. judge on Wednesday blocked the federal government from diverting or withdrawing $34 million in funding to protect New York’s transportation system from terrorist attacks.” (AP News)
“A federal judge agreed Monday to temporarily suspend the Trump administration’s plan to eliminate hundreds of jobs at the agency that oversees Voice of America, the government-funded broadcaster founded to counter Nazi propaganda during World War II.” (AP News)
SCOTUS
“The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Lisa Cook to remain as a Federal Reserve governor for now, declining to act on the Trump administration’s effort to immediately remove her from the central bank.” (AP News)
Election rigging
“Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed the state’s new congressional map into law Sunday, splitting up the Kansas City-area district currently held by one of the state’s two Democratic House members…The advocacy organization People not Politicians Missouri has started a ballot initiative process to override the new map under the state’s constitution. The group has until December to collect signatures for the initiative.
Voters have also challenged the map in state court, arguing that it would violate the state constitution, which only allows redistricting once per decade. (RollCall)
Tariffs
“Trump said…he will be imposing a 100% tariff “on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States.”
Trump did not specify when or how the tariff could be enacted. If Trump follows through with his threat, it would mark the first time he’s essentially imposed a tariff on a service rather than a raw good.” (CNN)
State of Indiana
“Voters in the Lake Central School Corp. will decide later this year whether to extend the district’s operating referendum at a higher rate…
Superintendent Larry Veracco said the changes to property taxes enacted in Senate Enrolled Act 1, signed into law by Gov. Mike Braun earlier this year, would significantly reduce the amount of revenue the district collected in property taxes…
According to the non-partisan Indiana Legislative Services Agency, Lake Central schools are projected to lose approximately $12.3 million in property tax revenue over a three-year period starting in 2026…
Veracco said that while the proposed rate was higher, a majority of homeowners would not pay more in taxes [and could pay less] due to the deductions and tax credits in the property tax relief bill…
In addition to Lake Central schools, the Hanover Community School Corp. and Duneland School Corp. will be seeking referendum renewals this fall.” (Indiana Economic Digest)
Early voting in Lake County starts Tuesday, Oct. 7. Click here for times and places in Lake County.
Early voting in Porter County starts Oct. 20. Click here for times and places in Porter County.
Over a dozen people spoke to the state’s Interim Study Committee on Public Health, Behavioral Health and Human Services Thursday, speaking about the need to improve access to mental health services for new mothers and ways to reduce mortality rates.
- Hoosiers have long had one of the worst mortality rates in the wealthy world for all new mothers, but especially for Black moms. Similar racial disparities exist for newborn children.
- The state has made strides when it comes to infant health — reporting the lowest mortality rate since the state started gathering data 100 hundred years ago.
- But the state has deeply cut funding for programs with local public health departments that were working to improve infant and maternal health outcomes. Using $225 million under Health First Indiana, counties reported more than 352,000 services to moms and infants — the second-most common use for funding following school-based health programming.
- Facing a budget crunch, Republicans chose to cut funding for the program after just two years, disrupting the biggest investment in public health in decades.
- Nippon Steel to invest in Gary
- Now, Nippon has announced plans to spend about $300 million to revamp the largest of four blast furnaces that still operate at the Gary Works steel mill in 2026.
- Nippon has promised to spend $3.1 billion on the plant in Gary as part of an $11 billion dollar investment promise on all U.S Steel plants still operating in the United States.
- The pushback is on the choice of investment in Gary. The furnace Nippon is renovating is a coal-fueled furnace.
(HoosLeft)
To find and contact your Indiana legislators: http://iga.in.gov/legislative/find-legislators/
