HoosLeft This Week 8/3/25

Indiana Stories * Around the Corn (Quick Headlines) * Task Force One, an elite team of Hoosier first responders, back in Indiana after aiding Texas flood response * Indiana’s Higher Education Commissioner Chris Lowery to step down in October * Indiana State Fair Kicked Off Friday * Former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke to Hold Indiana Town Hall * Indiana’s state police, prisons and more ink immigration enforcement agreements with ICE * If U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement approves the agreements, the Indiana State Police, Department of Homeland Security and Department of Correction would join four local Hoosier agencies — and nearly 900 others from across the nation — that have inked similar deals. * The formal partnerships are authorized in Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and let ICE delegate certain immigration enforcement powers to state or local officers. * There are three active program models: task force, warrant service officer and jail enforcement. * The Indiana State Police has submitted a memorandum of agreement for the task force model, according to an ICE list of pending deals that was updated Friday morning. So did the Department of Homeland Security. * The Department of Correction asked for a warrant service officer deal. The agency is “working with ICE to make available up to 1,000 beds at Miami Correctional Facility,” the news release said. * Indiana immigration arrests surge * Nearly 1,400 people in Indiana have been subject to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement administrative arrest since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, as of June 26. That’s almost an 80% increase over the same period last year, according to ICE records obtained by the Deportation Data Project and published July 15. * State Senator Liz Brown to Face Primary Fight * Texts accusing “Liberal Liz” Brown of betraying her conservative values on the Second Amendment and transgender issues have been flying in northeast Indiana— funded by a dark-money “social welfare” nonprofit that no one knows about or isn’t willing to divulge. * Brown — a staunch pro-lifer — has been a fixture in the Senate Republican caucus since 2014. But now high-profile GOP Hoosiers like U.S. Sen. Jim Banks and Attorney General Todd Rokita have put her in the crosshairs for 2026. * The focus started when Rokita called out Brown for not hearing a stringent immigration bill during the legislative session. As the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, she has the power to choose which bills get heard. Ultimately, the legislation died. * Brown, who is also an attorney, ultimately filed a disciplinary action against Rokita. * One of the [text] ads takes Brown to task for her role in hearing a constitutional carry bill in 2021. She declined to give the legislation a hearing and instead the Senate removed permit fees. * Brown also voted against a bill to ban transgender Hoosiers from high school sports in 2022. She did support a college ban this year. * Browns’s conservative credentials have dipped recently, according to two GOP rankings. * The Conservative Political Action Conference issues annual rankings of lawmakers. In 2019, Brown’s score was 85% and has since dropped to 61% in 2023. * GOP-aligned Americans for Prosperity also issues scorecards. Her ranking in 2022 was 100 and dropped to 86 and 78 in the next two years. * They are paid for by Hoosier Leadership for America — a nonprofit that was established in 2024. * The group has a Huntertown P.O. Box. The incorporator is a man out of Virginia that the ICC could not locate. * Donors behind the Hoosier Leadership for America nonprofit are shielded under law [it’s a 501(c)(4)] — but if it were organized as a political action committee, they would be public. * On Thursday afternoon, Darren Vogt, who previously served on Allen County Council and currently holds a seat on the board of Northwest Allen County Schools, announced his candidacy. * He served 12 years on the Allen County Council, including six as president. It’s interesting to note that Vogt ran for the same senate seat in 2014. * Currently, he serves as Field Operations and Special Assistant to U.S. Senator Jim Banks. * EPA launches emission deregulation proposal from Indiana trucking facility * The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday released a proposal to scrap the 15-year-old regulation that empowers the agency to curb greenhouse gas emissions — a move EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin billed as the “largest deregulatory action” in the nation’s history. * On December 7, 2009, the Administrator signed two distinct findings regarding greenhouse gases under section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act: * Endangerment Finding: The Administrator finds that the current and projected concentrations of the six key well-mixed greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)—in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations. * Cause or Contribute Finding: The Administrator finds that the combined emissions of these well-mixed greenhouse gases from new motor vehicles and new motor vehicle engines contribute to the greenhouse gas pollution that threatens public health and welfare. * These findings do not themselves impose any requirements on industry or other entities. However, this action was a prerequisite for implementing greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles and other sectors. * If finalized, his proposal would strip the EPA’s authority to set standards for greenhouse gas emission regulations on motor vehicles and engines. * “Do not listen to those haters. The sky will not fall,” Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said. “We have the cleanest air, the cleanest water.” * Fact Check: * Indiana has the most dirty waterways in U.S. * Indianapolis metro among worst in air quality US/World News * Quick Headlines * Epstein Story Follows Trump to Scotland and Back * It comes as the legal team for Epstein's conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, indicated she would only testify before Congress on what she knows about the case if she is granted strict legal protections. * Amid public pressure for more disclosures in the Epstein case, a House of Representatives committee subpoenaed Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence, to testify before lawmakers on 11 August. * Questions about Trump's relationship with Epstein followed him on to Air Force One on Tuesday, where he was asked to expand on comments he made the previous day in Scotland where he said: "He [Epstein] stole people that worked for me." * Maxwell Transferred to Texas “Club Fed” * A Bureau of Prisons source told the New York Sun that Maxwell’s transfer was “unusual” as it was handled by bureau officials themselves, rather than by the US Marshals Service, which typically oversees the interstate transportation of inmates. * On Friday victims of Epstein said they were “horrified” by her prison transfer. * Senate votes against resolutions to block arms sales to Israel even as it continues to starve Gaza * 27 Democratic Senators – a majority of the caucus – voted for the measure. * Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader from New York, and Cory Booker, a Democratic senator of New Jersey, voted against the measure, but progressives like Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, were joined by moderates including Jon Ossoff of Georgia, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine of Virginia, and Dick Durbin of Illinois, in supporting the effort to cut off arms supplies to Israel. * Twelve of the Democrats who voted for the measure previously voted in April against a similar resolution, NBC reports. * Trump administration is launching a new private health tracking system with Big Tech’s help * More than 60 companies, including major tech companies like Google, Amazon and Apple as well as health care giants like UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health, have agreed to share patient data in the system. The initiative will focus on diabetes and weight management, conversational artificial intelligence that helps pa… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.projectnextindiana.com