| Give back to the community, too. If you can, please bring items to donate to City Life Center in Gary an organization that works with families and children and needs help. Please register here–& bring a friend! |
| Election Info: Important dates: April 7, 2026: First day to vote absentee in-person for the 2026 Primary Election April 23, 2026: Deadline for absentee-by-mail applications to be received for the 2026 Primary Election May 5, 2026: Primary Election Day Check your voter registration or polling place by visiting www.IndianaVoters.com or call the Hoosier Voter Hotline at 1-866-IN-1-VOTE (866-461-8683). Dates and times for early voting: Early voting in Lake County Early voting in LaPorte County Early voting in Porter County Make a Change Take action with Indivisible:On Sat., April 25, join in the next national day of action–“Communities Not Cages” The Trump regime is purchasing and converting warehouses all over the nation to serve as concentration-camps for those disappeared by ICE and Border Patrol — but local communities are already fighting back. We’ll be at the Highway of Flags Veterans Memorial on the SE corner of 41 & Ridge Road in Highland, 12-1.Tell your Members of Congress: Say NO to reauthorizing a highly controversial law that lets the government spy on US citizens by sidestepping the Constitution. Section 702 of the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is set to expire on April 19 — but in the past, it’s been routinely reauthorized with bipartisan votes. Let your Members of Congress know that they have a choice: Will they greenlight warrantless mass surveillance of American citizens super-charged by AI? Or uphold the Constitution and demand actual guardrails to reject authoritarian access to our private data?Plan your participation in a day of economic disruption on May Day: No work. No school. No shopping. We’re flexing our economic power on May 1, sending a message to Trump and his oligarch enablers: We refuse to do business as usual as you trample our rights, terrorize our communities, and conduct your war. This will be a day of mass refusal to engage with the American economic engine. Not everyone will be able to refuse work, school, or spending entirely, but it’s vital that each of us does whatever we can do to show the regime that we don’t just have numbers — we have economic leverage.Tell Congress to stop dragging its feet on the Iran War! This weekend, Trump once again failed to achieve a (real) ceasefire in the bloody war that he and Israel launched on Iran. Democrats have repeatedly tried to bring an end to the carnage by forcing a War Powers Resolution and Republicans continue to stand in their way. There are more votes this week to end the war. Tell your Members of Congress, no matter their party: Americans never wanted this war and Congress must do all it can to bring it to an end — and if they don’t, we’ll hold them accountable for the blood on their hands.Join us every Saturday, 12-1. at the Highway of Flags Veterans Memorial on the SE corner of Ridge & 41. Let us know you’re coming & sign up here. April 25 is a National Day of Action to stop ICE warehouse detention centers. On that day we’ll focus on saying no to immigrant concentration camps and yes to welcoming and protecting immigrants. |
| And there’s more… Sat., April 29, starting at 9am: Court House Rock! Civics for Students. Lake County Govt Center Auditorium (Door S2). Learn how government & elections work, cast an early ballot, register to vote, apply to be a pollworker, take part in a speed round to meet elected officials and learn what they do, & more. RSVP elections@lakecountyin.org Porter County residents interested in learning more about how their property taxes are calculated have opportunities this month to hear directly from the county officials responsible for managing the property tax assessment and payment process. Meeting dates and times include:4:30-5:30 p.m., April 14, Kouts Library.4:30-5:30 p.m., April 16, South Haven Library.5:30-6:30 p.m., April 20, Portage Library.6-7 p.m., April 21, Chesterton Library (Main).6-7 p.m., April 28, Valparaiso Library.Time also will be set aside at each meeting to answer questions from the audience about property tax changes recently enacted by the Indiana General Assembly. (NWI Times) |
| Congress House As Congress returns from recess, Democrats in both the House and Senate plan to force votes regarding the U.S. military’s campaign against Iran this week (War Powers Resolution), just as President Donald Trump is announcing a new naval blockade amid a two-week ceasefire. (RollCall) The focus on the congressional response to the military action comes as the Department of Homeland Security remains partially shut down. The ball is currently in the House’s court after the Senate passed the most recent version of the fiscal 2026 funding bill on April 2. . (RollCall) The bill funds all of DHS except ICE and Border Security. (RollCall) Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) resigned from Congress,preempting threats of expulsion over sexual assault, abuse and misconduct allegations. (Axios) To find and contact your Members of Congress: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials |
| Two immigration judges who ruled against the Trump administration in the deportation cases of pro-Palestinian university students have been fired by the Department of Justice. (The Guardian) Cassidy Hutchinson, who in 2022 testified before the House select January 6 committee and implicated President Donald Trump in instigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol that day, is being investigated by the federal government for allegedly lying to Congress. The Justice Department assigned its civil rights division to oversee the investigation of Hutchinson, a former special assistant to the president who served as a principal aide to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and testified against Trump following the riots. The New York Times reported that some lawyers in the department did not believe that there was a criminal case against Hutchinson. The DOJ’s civil rights division, which ordinarily focuses on discrimination and systemic rights abuses, is headed by Harmeet Dhillon, a Trump appointee who has built a reputation for aggressively pursuing the White House’s enemies. (The Dispatch) Elections “Republicans in state legislatures are wasting no time in passing copycat SAVE America Act legislation, making sure voter suppression moves forward even with Congress in gridlock,” Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Heather Williams wrote in a statement April 3. Ten states have laws – four of which passed in the second Trump administration – that require proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Florida, Mississippi, South Dakota and Utah all enacted proof of citizenship voting bills in the past two weeks. In 12 other states, bills are moving through state legislatures, with lawsuits following. (Democracy Docket) Kansas just overrode the governor’s veto to enact their SAVE Act. (Democracy Docket) |
| State of IndianaThe United Steelworkers union and management of the BP Whiting Refinery have been at odds over how bargaining talks will resume during the ongoing lockout of union employees. BP said it has invited USW Local 7-1 back to the bargaining table. The union has asked that workers be allowed to return to work under a rolling 24-hour extension of the old contract, a common practice during labor negotiations that BP had been observing until it locked workers out on March 19. USW Local 7-1 Director Eric Schultz said the company has been rejecting every union proposal in short order and insisting its own proposals be accepted without any compromise. He said the company has not provided any clear explanation for the rationale behind asking for concessions. “It’s a package that’s terrible for workers and terrible for the local community, but it saves them a lot of money, and they’re trying to put a spin on it,” Schultz said. “They can’t claim to be broke. They can’t say they’re hemorrhaging money and need help to stay afloat. That would be a whole different conversation. They made over $7 billion last year. So they say they need to be more competitive.” (NWI Times) NIPSCO and United Steelworkers leadership have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract. According to NIPSCO, the agreement is not official because it still has to be ratified by union employees of the company. A two week lockout of 1,600 employees will remain in effect unless the deal is ratified. Contract negotiations have been ongoing since January 20. The prior contract expired March 31. Details of the tentative settlement have not been disclosed. Among the major issues in the contract negotiations were the union’s request for double-time pay for hours beyond a regular work shift and settling on the number of continuous hours employees could be expected to work. (Hometown News) NIPSCO has said that offer included a 4% pay hike, plus additional increases for lineworkers, two weeks of paid parental leave, expanded bereavement leave and increased safety equipment allowances. They would also have reduced the number of continuous hours worked from 32 to 16. (CBS) The administration will ask the State Budget Committee to let it divert $200 million from the General Fund to another account — created to cover underfunding in other agencies — and use the money to reopen admissions for a key child care program. The Child Care and Development Fund is a state-administered federal program that serves about 43,000 children in Indiana. Families must meet income and work requirements to qualify for the assistance. (Indiana Capital Chronicle) To find and contact your Indiana legislators: http://iga.in.gov/legislative/find-legislators/ |
