Indiana Black Legislative Caucus

Today: Barbara Quandt, the state director for NFIB, joins us to talk about how Hoosier businesses are recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.  She highlights some northwest Indiana firms on her comments.  Donna Catalano, the new community development director for the Legacy Foundation, tells us more about her new position and the South Shore Neighborhood Corp.  We also have comments about the impact of COVID-19 from Lake County health director Dr. Chandana Vavilala.  And State Senator Eddie Melton of Gary has the latest on the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus' efforts to promote its stance on police reform -- including some proposals that may come before the 2021 General Assembly.  

Hoosiers who attended the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus’s virtual town hall Thursday expressed concerns about racial justice and COVID-19.

The Indiana Black Legislative Caucus wants Gov. Eric Holcomb to ban the use of chokeholds by police during arrests, one of a series of actions the caucus recommended Friday to address justice reform.

State Representative Earl Harris Jr, Vice Chair of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus recently joined “Regionally Speaking” host Chris Nolte to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the African-American community. Black Hoosiers make up less than 10 percent of the state’s population but account for about 18 percent of COVID cases and more than 20 percent of deaths from the virus.

Today:   State Representative Carolyn Jackson of Hammond tells us about Saturday's Indiana Black Legislative Caucus town hall meeting, held this year for the first time in Hammond.  It will be held at the Ophelia Steen Family and Health Center.  Topics of interest to northwest Indiana residents include education and the efforts to clean up contaminated soil in East Chicago.  We also revisit our conversation with Jena Bellazza of the Indiana Parenting Institute about this weekend's Parent Expo on the I.U. Northwest and Ivy Tech Gary campuses.  The I.U.

The Indiana Black Legislative Caucus will hold a series of town halls in communities across the state over the next few months.

Today:  the final Town Hall meeting in the statewide series of meetings set up by the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus is coming up this Saturday at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, so we bring back our conversation with State Senator Eddie Melton (D-Gary) and his Caucus colleague, State Senator Greg Taylor (D-Indianapolis). They talk about the entire Town Hall series and the Caucus' intentions for the comments they hear in creating new legislation.

Today:  an extended conversation with State Senator Eddie Melton (D-Gary) and State Senator Greg Taylor (D-Indianapolis) about the series of Indiana Black Legislative Caucus statewide Town Hall meetings, ending in Gary on August 19th in the Bergland Auditorium at the Savannah Center of Indiana University Northwest in Gary.  Both Melton and Taylor have attended some of the other Town Hall meetings in other Hoosier cities.

Today:  We find out more about a special summer learning program to be held at Purdue University Northwest in Hammond.  A group of about 50 Hoosier foster youth from across the state will spend the next eight weeks beginning Friday in the Summer Bridge Program.  These youth will stay in residence halls and study on campus, as they learn skills that will help them adjust to life from foster homes to life -- on their own --in college. 

The Indiana Black Legislative Caucus’ agenda for the 2017 session is nearly as much about bills they want to halt as measures they hope to pass.

The caucus’ agenda includes bias crimes legislation, a measure to ban private prisons, a healthy food initiative and a bill to improve student discipline and behavior.

And while Rep. Greg Porter (D-Indianapolis) acknowledges the difficulty in getting many of those bills passed, he says the caucus constantly seeks common ground.