Longtime Hamilton County councilman loses seat
Mark Hall defeated five-term incumbent Hamilton County Councilman Steve Schwartz in the District 3 election. District 3 includes Noblesville, Jackson and White River Townships.
County Government
-
Basic updates for repurposing of City-County Building would cost more than $35M
City officials on Monday released a long-anticipated request for developers to submit ideas for reuse of the 28-story Indianapolis City-County Building, along with studies that show it would take more than $35 million in basic upgrades to repurpose the structure.
Read More -
Economic study: IndyParks’ green impact goes well beyond plants, trees
Each dollar spent on Indianapolis Parks and Recreation generated about $3.13 in the local economy in 2019, with an economic impact of $106.8 million that year, researchers at IU’s Public Policy Institute estimated.
Read More -
UPDATE: St. Elmo reopens as officials say no customers were at risk of COVID exposure
On Monday, St. Elmo reported a COVID-related death to the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Read More -
State not releasing detailed COVID outbreak data
Other than tracking schools and long-term-care facilities, the state doesn’t post any identifying data on a website or dashboard where people can identify COVID hot spots and track their spread.
Read More
Articles
UPDATE: Garrison defeats incumbent Hamilton County prosecutor
Hamilton County will likely have a new prosecutor next year as well-funded former radio talk show host Greg Garrison appeared headed to victory against a three-term incumbent in Tuesday’s Republican primary election.
UPDATE: Tributes pour in upon the death of Frank Anderson, Marion County’s first Black sheriff
Anderson served two terms as Marion County sheriff from 2003 to 2011. He also was U.S. marshal for the Southern District of Indiana from 1977 to 1981 and 1994 to 2001.
Legislators vote to ban some officeholders from being Marion County party chair—but not themselves
A Democrat-authored amendment aimed at ousting Marion County Democratic Party Chair Kate Sweeney Bell made it a step further this week when the Indiana House approved the elections bill it’s tacked onto. And the bill leaves the door open for state legislators to pursue her job.
Indiana lawmakers eye returning to more prison sentences
A big jump in Indiana county jail overcrowding has state lawmakers looking to partially roll back a nearly decade-old criminal sentencing overhaul.
City planning $10.1M initiative in Mars Hill to remove 650 parcels from flood zone
Indianapolis’ Department of Public Works is proposing a list of strategies to shrink federal floodplain boundaries, as well as to decrease the severity of water damage in the flood-prone neighborhood.
Marion County renters can now apply for a full year’s worth of rent help
Marion County’s IndyRent program has begun accepting applications for up to 12 months of rental assistance, Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration announced Wednesday. The long-awaited move adds nine months of help to the program, which previously maxed out at three months.
City-County Council panel clears way for nearly $150M in new public buildings
The Administration and Finance Committee advanced $10.5 million for a new solid waste facility and $7.5 million for a new firehouse—in addition to letting Indy borrow $126.7 million in bonds for a range of new buildings on the Community Justice Campus and other facilities.
Mayor unveils $166M anti-violence plan as part of city financial proposal
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett’s plan, funded largely with federal coronavirus relief, gives $33 million to traditional law enforcement efforts, $82 million toward community-led programming and $51.5 million toward “root cause” services like mental health care, hunger relief and workforce development.
Indianapolis to lift most remaining COVID-19 restrictions on July 1
Marion County is dropping almost all remaining pandemic safety measures, officials said Tuesday, including rules regarding capacity limits, social distancing and masks. Federal restrictions will still apply.
Hamilton County plans domestic violence shelter
Plans to build the county’s first shelter are taking shape, but questions remain about the project’s location and funding, which could put its eventual construction in jeopardy.
Marion County to offer second multilingual COVID vaccine registration hotline
Bilingual volunteers will staff the nine-language hotline starting Saturday, as health disparities by race and ethnicity linger in local case counts and inoculation rates.
IBJ Podcast: Indy’s top doc on the COVID response, masks, contact tracing, second wave
Dr. Virginia Caine, one of the key interpreters of data and shapers of policy in Marion County, discusses the frustrations and challenges of combatting a pandemic and shares her blunt message for those who won’t follow the recommendations.
Q&A: Terry Gallagher, Marion County mosquito control supervisor
For more than three decades, Gallagher, 61, has supervised mosquito control programs for Marion County, overseeing a small army of technicians who spray ditches and collect mosquitoes from traps around the county to track the variety and size of the mosquito population.
Contact tracing is state’s new weapon in COVID war
Across Indiana, local health departments have been scrambling to keep up with the job of tracking, one patient at a time, the spread of the virus that has already claimed the lives of more than 900 Hoosiers.
Indiana counties battle cyber attackers with help from state, feds
To fight cyberattacks, state and local government officials are taking a page from the enemy’s playbook by expanding protections against attacks from one entry point to thousands.
911 tax hike means Hamilton County has cash to spend
An income tax hike going into effect next year will generate millions of dollars more than needed—a windfall government officials are eyeing to help pay for other public safety initiatives.
Hamilton County Jail program aims to connect inmates with jobs, mentors
With a low unemployment rate in Hamilton County—2.5% last month—some employers see the inmates as an untapped workforce and are more than willing to give them a chance, helping inmates overcome one of the biggest hurdles they immediately face upon release
Indianapolis to get boost in road funding, but other cities, towns face decrease
The city of Indianapolis is about to get a boost in road funding from the state—at the expense of other cities and towns—after a discrepancy was found in how the formulas for certain taxes had been applied for years.
Hogsett proposes ambitious, 9-county plan to fund infrastructure improvements
The mayor’s office says the strategy is a way to meet the city’s growing infrastructure needs—which amount to $160 million per year—without raising taxes. But the proposal would create winners and losers among area counties, even as it addresses what’s considered a regional problem.