Families say more childcare vouchers are needed.

Election security is questioned and the feds come to town for a youth sports announcement from the television studios at WFYI Public Media.

It's Indiana Week in Review for the week ending July 24th, 2026.

Indiana Week in Review is produced by WFYI in association with Indiana Public Broadcasting stations.

Additional support is provided by ParrRichey.

Indiana Governor Mike Braun visited Shepherd Childcare in Indianapolis this week to check in on efforts to make child care more accessible and affordable.

As Ben Thorp reports, there he was met by parents and staff who asked him for more vouchers.

Earlier this year, Braun infused $200 million into the Child Care and Development Fund in an effort to cut the state's waitlist for vouchers in half.

Speaking with parents and staff at Shepherd Childcare, Braun says he hopes the legislature and businesses will help him do more to address the issue.

And if there's a waitlist, we've got a lot of room to improve, and it's an important area, so it would be a high priority.

The state's waitlist is still roughly 35,000 people.

Braun's administration has also submitted rule changes for child care centers in an effort to make them more affordable.

Some critics worry that the moves could reduce the quality of care children receive.

So should more vouchers be reaching more?

Who's your families?

It's the first question for our Indiana Week in Review panel.

Democrat Terri Austin, Republican Chris Mitchem.

Oseye Boyd, editor in chief at Mirror Indy.

And Niki Kelly, editor in chief of the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

I'm Jill Sheridan, managing editor at WFYI.

So Terri is now the time to get some more people off this waitlist?

Oh, it absolutely is.

The state of Indiana loses $4.22 billion a year in childcare shortages.

parents on average lose 14 days out of the year, which costs employers close to $1 billion.

And the other issue, if they're going to increase the number of vouchers, they've got to increase the childcare access, because we've just went through a record period of folks closing their doors.

Well we have had a bit of a child care crisis now, you know with all the pandemic money that came in we were able to really get a lot of people into childcare.

But now we've got a lengthy waitlist and 200 million that the governor did allocate for getting people off the list.

But we have not seen those numbers really go down.

The data, the dashboard is still indicating that, Yeah.

I mean, I think that initial investment by the governor is supposed to bring down the waitlist by about 14,000 kids, I think, which is certainly a really good start, certainly not the finish line.

But I think that can start, kind of like a ball of really good momentum.

And, anytime we talk about child care, I like I like to reference a quote from, Senator Ed Charbonneau, who was the chairman of the health committee in the Senate, in the state House, when he said that we have to start looking at child care as an economic development issue rather than just a quality of life separate issue.

So when you're talking about roads, businesses, jobs, you kind of have to start putting childcare in there because, as a personal example, a lot of my friends now are starting to have their first or second kids.

And after the usual, you know, how, how's the baby doing?

A lot of the conversations typically pivot now to what are you doing about childcare?

And if you aren't lucky enough to have a parent that's working from home, and you have two parents that have regular nine to fives, if you are able to pay for childcare and continue doing those jobs, you're typically looked at as like, okay, you guys are doing pretty well financially just because of how expensive this is.

So I do think Governor Braun has started the momentum of addressing that issue with that initial investment.

He's already pledged to, continue that investment as a yearly investment going forward.

and then also the Republican led legislature, I think, is also joining him.

There was a bill last year that pretty much expanded the usage of the employer child tax credit to just allow for more employees to take access of it, but also to expand it so you can partner with existing facilities rather than only limiting it to childcare facilities within the employer's facility.

So I think moves like that rather than just throwing money at it.

a more comprehensive approach is something that you're seeing, and hopefully we'll continue to address the problem going forward.

I mean, you had reporters out there this week, Niki, and, you know, these are for lower income families, these vouchers.

But we heard from, you know, many families that were saying, I could not be working if it wasn't for this assistance.

do we really need to prioritize, at least getting the lower income families you know, childcare as soon as possible if we want them to be working?

I mean, the fact is, is that the governor put this additional 200 million, which I have to point out was cut first.

So, like, we cut it and then we put it back in.

So that's why we still have a wait list.

But also, you know, this is a discussion that he's trying to lay the groundwork for session because, you know, they would need even more than 200 million, as we're discussing, to actually serve all the families in Indiana that meet those eligibility guidelines.

And the fact is, there is a wing of the Republican Party who believes that these vouchers are basically socialism.

And so it's not going to be as easy, I think, as some think, especially when we have road funding needs.

And you know, we look at what we spend on Medicaid education is always the big topic anytime we do a new budget.

So, you know, he's definitely trying to build his support for that now.

But it'll be a big discussion during during session.

And we are hearing, you know, from the governor other ways that he would like to address this, you know, through businesses or through deregulation for providers.

what do you imagine is really going to be on the plate coming up?

I think all of it.

I mean, he has the idea to bring your kids to work.

Yeah.

And have your coworkers babysit.

That one.

Was fun.

That one didn't fly over too well.

but I do think, this is going to be a big issue because it is an economic issue.

Parents have to work today.

Both parents usually have to work today to make ends meet.

These are working parents.

It's not just give people, free daycare money so they can just go sit at home and bonbons and watch TV where their kids are a daycare.

And it's also important that we start early early childhood development so that when we move children into pre-K, into kindergarten, into school, that we actually have students who are ready for school, who are then ready for third grade.

We know third grade is important.

So then who are ready for high school and who are ready for college.

All these things like there is a through line from childcare on through, college actually.

So we need to take a holistic look at how this affects Indiana, because in the long run, it would benefit Indiana to have students, children who are ready for school and have kids who are actually cared for properly, in childcare and in quality childcare.

That's also a big key is quality.

Can't just be any childcare needs to be quality.

I mean, Terri, you know, Chris point that this is not just low income families that are facing, you know, this this real crisis and that a lot of, middle income families as well really cannot afford this.

Is it going to have a lot of thinking outside of the box solutions in order for us to get quality childcare?

I think so, but I'm going to go back to the issue of having available childcare facilities.

You can expand the program and the funding all you want, but until there are facilities that are up and running that provide high quality care, safe care, lowering the regulations is not necessarily the answer.

Always take a look and see what you must do versus what you wish you can do in regulation.

But at the same time, we're talking about young children and you know, you don't just put them in a playpen and throw some balls in there and let them sit for 6 or 8 hours a day.

But something you certainly see the governor really continuing to prioritize as we head into the next session.

Yeah.

And I think that's been his point.

And the legislature's point recently has just been you just can't throw money at this and expect these, you know, quality establishments to just pop up.

I think you do have to harness the private industry, the employers, to invest their own resources into whether it whether whether it is actual in care facilities in their establishments, or is it investing in a, you know, a smaller child care facility in their community to increase the capacity and increasing quality?

So rather than just throwing state money at it and crossing your fingers and hoping for the best, I think they are taking a comprehensive approach of trying to get as many folks at the table as they can.

Well, now it's time for viewer feedback.

Every week we pose an unscientific online poll question.

This week's question should the state pull more more people off of the child care voucher wait list?

Vote yes or no.

The last question posed to viewers since there is more money in reserves, should the state increase funding for needed programs, including education and childcare?

Answer 87% yes 13% saying no.

If you would like to take part in the poll, go to WFYI.org/IWIR and look for the poll.

President Donald Trump warns of election interference and security concerns ahead of the November general election.

As Zac Cassel reports Indiana election officials are confident in the security of midterm elections.

Trump makes claims about non-citizen voting, foreign interference and more.

But Indiana has a track record of strong, secure elections, officials told WFYI they are not worried about the president's claims.

Chad Kinsella is a professor at Ball State and co-director of the state's election technology program called V stop.

It is a system of checks and balances, and there are checks on the checks, and it's bipartisan and I feel very strongly we have a very good system here in Indiana that makes sure that it's very secure.

Have a 100% faith in it.

Secretary of State Diego Morales, the top election official, told WFYI in a statement that his office is confident in the election.

The top local election officials in Marion and Knox counties say their elections have been and will continue to be secure.

So, Chris, there's a lot of rhetoric around this issue.

Should Hoosiers be concerned headed into November elections?

I can't really say that Hoosiers shouldn't be.

I think we have a really good track record along saying track record of fast and accurate elections because of the system that we have here.

Now, when it comes to other states, I mean, when you have, you know, states that are taking a month plus to have results come in when you have universal Mail-In balloting, where literally almost everybody gets mailed a ballot.

I mean, just common sense will tell you the more ballots you have floating out there, the more instances there will might be a voter fraud.

So I think the Trump administration is right of making sure that we hold those states more accountable.

obviously, the rhetoric, as has been Donald Trump for the past eight years, could maybe be a little better.

But, I do think there is a point of saying that those states should be held to a little bit of a higher standard if you want to increase accessibility.

Common sense will tell you there's a higher chance of fraud.

So you should be addressing that.

now, with that being said, I think because Indiana's elections have such a good track record, I don't think that means you should stop investing, continue to, you know, monitor the voter rolls, continue to invest in technology to make it more secure.

we certainly don't have widespread fraud, but obviously, you saw the report that came out earlier this year that said, I think we had 24 instances of, non-citizens voting, which doesn't sound very big on the surface.

But, you know, we've had elections over the past 3 or 4 years that have been decided by three votes, by six votes, by 12 votes.

So, you know, I'm sure that probably matters a lot to the people who have invested time and money into those races to make sure that everybody who votes in there is rightfully able to do so.

So I think in Indiana, we're pretty good.

We don't have a lot of widespread, you know, violations or anything like that.

But on a nationwide level, I think it's certainly something to monitor as we continue to see increases in, you know, Mail-In voting, early voting, things like that.

Things that just allow a higher chance for fraud.

I mean, we do sort of feel like what it sounds like the president is kind of setting it up to, you know, say saying something.

And in November after the elections, if it if it, you know, it doesn't necessarily go his way.

And certainly we have leaders in Indiana that would agree with him if that doesn't happen.

But also, you know, we all of these leaders right now that are in place and and in charge of voting are saying not in our state.

It is secure in our state.

So where's the disconnect?

Well, that's a great question because nobody complains when it's their team winning the election, quite honestly.

I think the president did a real disservice to the Secretary of States or whoever is top election official in the states were across the board.

I know here in Indiana we do not connect our machines to the internet.

they have multiple steps and multiple eyes on the returns.

it's tighter than a drum to try to get in there and see when those returns start to spit out.

I just think that it's designed to sow doubt in the minds of the American people, which sets the stage for some drastic action or executive order later on.

Which is wrong.

Should we, you know, as as Hoosiers that when we're heading to the poll in November, be confident in our process here.

Oseye I mean, we have seen the recount, you know, that's been going on.

People can clearly see that, you know, all the steps are being taken to make sure that votes are secure.

Yeah.

I think we should be confident.

I think we have been confident until recently when all this talk about voter fraud has been happening.

I think people need to remember that the people who work at the polls are your friends, your family members, your neighbors, their people.

You know, they are not people who just happen to come from wherever, who are now here to try to sow, discord or try to cheat the system.

They are people, you know.

And so you see ‘em at the grocery store, you see them in your home, you talk to them on a regular basis.

There are people who care about the system.

They care about election.

and that's why they work in the polls, because they really care about their civic duty.

And so I think we need to remember that.

And they're not strangers.

And so that's why there's a high, high level of trust there.

Because, you know, these people.

In a lot of cases, they're required to be bipartisan as well, like the watchers and things like that.

So that's another.

And there's so many checks and balances in that process too.

What are you hearing from voters, Niki?

I mean, do they feel confident in the system is a transparent enough?

I haven't really heard much.

I mean, when I hear about it, it's about another state.

It's not about Indiana.

It's about California or, you know, whatever other state.

and I think there is some confusion.

They see all this talk about the Save act because Indiana has always, not always, but for a long time now had voter ID, there's confusion because they're like, we already have that, you know, but every state is a little different.

And, you know, I think the majority of the states, like Indiana are doing just fine.

They're secure.

They are safe.

and, you know, and I have confidence in them.

And I think voters should too.

That's about it.

That's what the feeling that I'm getting as well.

Well, federal officials traveled to Indiana this week to sign a cross-agency agreement to bring sports to underserved youth.

Samantha Horton reports.

The announcement aligns with the Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again initiative.

The memorandum of understanding is between the U.S.

Department of Labor, education, Housing and Urban Development and Health and Human Services.

The purpose of the collaboration is to identify locations near public housing for youth sports activities, and then tie educational engagement and workforce pathways into the program.

HUD Secretary Scott Turner says his department can help strengthen communities through youth sports.

HUD will work with fellow agencies to connect young people with mentorship, education opportunities, healthy lifestyles, pathways to good jobs.

It's about providing our next generation with the tools that they need to succeed.

The nonbinding one year agreement is voluntary, with no required financial investment or metrics listed to gauge success.

So Niki can this initiative have an impact for low income youth and looking to do sports in Indiana?

Look, I have no idea that that event had no details.

It was not well thought out.

There's no money behind it.

No one really understood what they meant.

It also seemed to cover a wide range of topics, like at first is it about fitness and health?

But it's also about housing.

It's also about financial literacy and academic success.

I just, I, you know, I don't know.

It was it was very underwhelming to me.

Yeah.

There was a lot of, through line or really, any metrics about how this might be successful.

I mean, we do know that youth sports is a positive impact in our youth, but this particular initiative, maybe could have been a lot more thought out before all the feds come to Indiana to announce.

Yes.

It seemed like it seemed like, just doing a lot.

Just like a lot of extra ness here for something that we have very little detail on.

when I read about it, I was excited to see, like, okay, we're going to do something to help students become more physically fit, become more active.

And we know that so many children now have, have, conditions that were once considered adult conditions, you know, type two diabetes, etcetera.

but there's no details on how it's going to combat anything and doing much of anything.

So I guess we'll just wait and see what this will actually, accomplish.

I mean, we, also had asked, you know, the HUD secretary who came in to town and, who was an ex NFL player himself, you know, about funding for this.

And there is no funding back behind this right now.

perhaps, though we could get some private funding from the NFL that might.

Yeah.

I mean, yeah, they certainly can splash the cash, I would think.

I think this program.

Yeah, there's not a lot of details to it, admittedly, but I think I do think the bones are there.

Right.

Youth sports has such, such a positive impact on youth.

Some of my biggest mentors in life with my sixth grade basketball coach, and the camaraderie you get from teammates and working together, it really is such a benefit.

But this meeting was just admittedly a lot of really good vibes.

But like I said, I think the the bones were there of, you know, we're not just going to throw money in the state and cross our fingers.

You know, we're not going to probably send the money to the sports cathedrals, you see, and Hamilton County of, you know, they have some youth fields up there that are nicer than probably some professional fields.

they do kind of have the, the metrics of, let's make sure that any investment that this program does make is where affordable housing is needed, low income first places.

So I think, you know, there's enough bones there and direction to be a good idea.

It's just are they going to commit to the funding aspect of it?

Something that we'll see.

We were struck as well with that.

you know, there was a bit of a push off, you know, about that equity question that we asked about, you know, and that, you know, more families that are more well financed, you know, are going to find it more, easy, easier to, to get involved in youth sports and obviously, this program is directed at, low income youth, but simply, you know, having a basketball court, by a public housing, it's not necessarily going to make anything happen.

No, it's not.

And I will say, I think we need to look to some of the communities, my community for example, in Anderson, where the Parks department runs a youth football league and the registration is minimal.

they have they have fundraisers to buy equipment for kids whose families cannot afford it.

And it stays with the Parks Department.

Those are the kinds of solutions I think are needed.

not just a big pronouncement, but you got to have people who can run these programs and make sure that they're not taken advantage of as well.

It does take people to make it happen.

Yeah.

Well, Indiana University is now facing calls from Republican lawmakers to fire adjunct law professor Elizabeth Booker Houston over a social media post following the death of South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.

Houston posted an Instagram video showing her delivering a cake with a sarcastic message to Graham's former office last week.

She later posted on ex addressing Graham's sister with disparaging remarks.

Houston's post prompted criticism from state and federal lawmakers, including Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith.

He said, IU should lose state funding if it does not remove her.

But Maurer School of Law professor, Steve Sanders, says a recent Ball State university settlement involving the firing of a staff member over social media posts made after the death of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, should serve as a cautionary tale.

Ball state surrendered.

They threw in the towel.

I think they saw the handwriting on the wall that they were likely to lose, and they paid her a fairly substantial settlement.

Houston teaches one course on food and drug law at the IU McKinney School of Law, remotely.

So Oseye just kind of maybe a new normal here in our social media world for colleges that are dealing with these types of social media posts.

Well, I think it's a sign of the times.

where we're at politically, but we have had social media policies, at the workplace since social media became a thing.

So I don't think this is new.

I just think we're now hearing about a lot of these because they're politically charged.

you have to adhere to whatever you're whatever your employer social media policy is, and most employers have one.

so this thing is not new.

and I don't think it may be just tightened up.

The social media policies may be helping people remember that we do have these policies out here, that you cannot violate them.

But I don't think it's something that rises to the level of being a political football, if you will.

it needs to be handled at the college with their social media policy, with their HR people and that's that.

I mean Niki, we obviously saw what happened at Ball State and they backed out of that lawsuit as the professor mentioned.

I mean should Indiana leaders even bother to make these comments.

Well I mean I think some people were kind of annoyed that Ball State backed down on that because they felt that they because of their internal policy on social media, would have been able to back that up.

But there are First Amendment concerns obviously with this woman did was detestable.

I mean, it's honestly terrible, but this is the world we live in now, right?

We see something someone does and we immediately try to get them fired on social media.

It literally happens every day.

It's also why we tell children, what would you post?

Because it's going to follow you around when you're looking for a job.

Make sure you have cleaned up your social media.

Don't post this.

I mean, should we be shocked?

People say mean things all the time.

Nasty things on social media.

I think we need to follow the rule of thumb that it used to be on email.

When you write an email and you're really angry at somebody.

Stop.

Think.

Sleep on it before you hit send.

I want to say the same thing to people who put way too much rhetoric, and their tone is so hostile on social media.

It is not helping to have productive conversations.

But it's heightens that, though.

Do you think, Chris, when Indiana lawmakers do jump in with some, Oh, yeah.

Absolutely.

And I, I never thought I'd maybe say this, but I actually kind of feel bad for IU because, you know, I wish there was a route you could take to just go to the courts and give you a legal ramification to, you know, fire this person from their job, but you just can't.

You saw it at Ball State and you've seen, you know, even when people do, in their contracts that are kind of under a shroud of controversy, you still have to pay settlements from, you know, First Amendment violations and things.

So it really does put IU in an awkward position of putting a lot of pressure on them to being like, how are you going to address this?

Because we can't we can't get any remedy from the courts.

We've already seen that no matter how hard the legislature tries to pass bills or anything like that, the courts have pretty strictly said that you know, this is going to have to be a school discipline policy issue.

Especially at the universities.

So we're seeing it while also coming up soon, the Indiana State Fair.

And the line up of new food offerings is out, and everyone can see what's new and unique at the fair.

Does anything strike you?

have you seen the list?

Yeah, I. Saw the list.

The, Dubai Chocolate thingy because I'm a big deep fried snicker fan.

Oh, like the deep fried chocolates.

That look like something I'm going to.

What do you think?

This list.

Every year.

And I was a little disappointed.

I think we're it was long.

We've lost it.

I don't know.

We're going downhill, but the dipping of ice cream and melted butter is the most disgusting.

Yeah, there was another one that they're dipping ice cream in, like, beer batter.

So you're going to have, like, a strawberry smoothie IPA or something.

I'm going to get one here.

I want to try that.

But it's part of our and make Indiana healthy again.

Yes.

Yes I know, and, yeah.

Deep fried butter ice cream is just like, that's all.

Like I'm really waiting to happen.

Looking forward to that spicy Cheeto.

Deep fried Oreo.

We should have dietitians analyze and post this.

Well, that's Indiana Week in review for this week.

Our panel has been Democrat Terri Austin, Republican Chris Mitchem, Oseye Boyd, editor in chief at Mirror Indy, and Niki Kelly, editor in chief at Indiana Capital Chronicle.

You can find Indiana Week in Reviews podcast and episodes at WFYI.org/IWIR or on the PBS app.

I'm Jill Sheridan, managing editor at WFYI.

Join us next time because a lot can happen in an Indiana week.

The views expressed are solely those of the panelists.

Indiana Week in Review is produced by WFYI in association with Indiana Public Broadcasting stations.

Additional support is provided by ParrRichey.