Vice President Vance makes a redistricting push.

Indiana signs up to help deport people.

Plus a data center energy deal and more.

From the television studios at WFYI.

It's Indiana Week in Review for the week ending August 8th, 2025.

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

This week, Vice President J.D.

Vance met with governor Mike Braun and Republican state legislative leaders to discuss redrawing Indiana's congressional district lines to benefit Republicans.

Democrats rallied at the state House in response, railing against what they called a moral violation of democracy.

Braun confirmed that the vice president discussed redistricting during their meeting at the state House.

Braun says he and state legislative leaders listened, but wouldn't say more than that.

Democratic Congressman Andre Carson, one of the lawmakers who would be at risk under redistricting, called the fight a civil rights issue.

We will not accept our state being cut and spliced and maneuvered for I want to be king in Donald Trump.

In statements, both state House Speaker Todd Hoston and state Senate Leader Rodric Bray said they appreciated meeting with Vance, but neither statement made any commitments about redistricting.

Will Indiana Republicans redraw the state's congressional map?

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

Democrat, Ann DeLaney.

Republican, Whitley Yates.

Ebony Chappel, market director for Free Press Indiana.

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

I'm Indiana Public Broadcasting statehouse bureau chief Brandon Smith.

Ann DeLaney will Republicans, in the words of Congressman Frank Mervin, bend a knee.

And kowtow to Donald Trump?

Well, you know, it's no accident that they picked Indiana.

They have a very weak governor, and they have a supermajority.

He's only two seats in play here.

But, you know, it is amazing to me, if you look at the Constitution and you look at the statute, you might think that we redistrict as soon as the census is over, and we do it once every ten years.

But Donald Trump is concerned about the 2026 election with good reason, because his popularity numbers are dropping like stone and his policies are hurting average people.

And people are tired of the chaos.

So he wants to rig the election to maintain his power, because he's actually even thinking of running a third term because, you know, he hasn't monetized the presidency enough yet.

He hasn't sold off access to the white House and to him and to, you know, to every lobbyist willing to put millions of dollars into his pocket.

So it is really it is really unprecedented.

And we'll see what happens in Texas.

But you know what?

There's some thought among Democratic circles that if they're going to change the rules to favor this jerk we have in the white House, then the rules get changed in Democratic states as well, and we can easily pick up, even if they did it for nine seats here in Texas, we could easily pick that up between California and New York and.

Illinois.

And Illinois and Massachusetts and Maryland and Virginia.

should Indiana Republicans redraw the map?

No, I don't think that they should.

I think when we were talking about redistricting during session, people were very much against it.

And so when you think of conservative Republicans, the federal government coming in and having, a press tour to get you to do something that you said you wouldn't do when it came to property taxes and things of that nature to now do it doesn't feel very conservative.

And I think that it is dangerous and could leave some of them in an influx to lose their seats.

And so I think we have to think about bigger things than just what it is that Trump wants.

But what's best for Hoosiers in Indiana?

And I think right now I understand they're entertaining, the idea of what he wants.

But I can kind of tell, by the way, that things are going that I don't believe it's going to happen.

To the point you just made.

You can I mean, especially with the technology now.

And this is a conservative state, you can easily draw nine districts that favor Republicans, but especially around if you're going to crack Indianapolis into several pieces and what you'd have to do in order to right out, essentially.

Right out.

Andre Carson, if you're going to crack the region a little bit in order to to get rid of Frank Moran, are you potentially creating seats for Republicans that aren't going to attract the kind of Republicans who serve in Congress in this state?

I think it is a risk, but I think the people that are pushing this are not deeply considering that risk.

And I want to take a moment to highlight the fact that Whitley and Ian have agreed on the.

I think that is fantastic, but I would agree as well.

I think it's a bad idea, but to an point, as long as we have the governor that we have, we can expect a lot more knee bending and other forms of genuflecting.

I'm glad to hear that there are people that don't necessarily agree with that.

So hopefully this is something that doesn't come to fruition here in the state of Indiana.

It's exactly right about that because he could stop the discussion right now.

We don't have a special session unless the governor calls.

That's true.

Yeah.

there.

It feels like Texas is the domino.

If Texas now and right now, Democrats are resisting that by by leaving the state and being sheltered and being sheltered in Illinois.

which obviously couldn't happen here because the supermajorities.

But if Texas doesn't happen, it feels like all the other stuff doesn't happen.

If Texas does and some of the Democratic states respond.

How much pressure will Indiana then be under?

Yeah.

Texas is that is the tipping point.

If they do it, I don't think Indiana Republicans are going to be able to withstand that pressure.

you know, and to be fair, though, I'm not hearing I mean, even off the record, I haven't heard any Indiana Republicans who are like, yes, let's do this.

Save for one tweet from Lieutenant Governor Mike back Webb.

I don't think they like how it's going to look.

I don't think they like the cost, I don't think.

Yeah.

During the special session.

They're also worried about, you know, if we don't follow like, what does that mean for us on other financial things that we need from the federal government?

You know, when we lose funding for managed care, well, we lose, you know, and so they're worried about sort of both.

The retribution.

Banks and and Todd Young.

I mean, they need those votes in the Senate too.

It's not as if the Senate has a huge margin for the Republicans.

And they could stand up like they did in Alaska and demand things for Indiana instead of giving us pollution, more expensive electricity and housing people who may or may not be criminals.

Yeah, that's all we get from them.

All right.

Time now for viewer feedback.

Each week we post an unscientific online poll question.

And this week's question is should Indiana lawmakers redraw the state's congressional district map?

A yes or B no?

Last week, we asked you whether people experiencing homelessness should have who have mental illnesses should be involuntarily committed.

38% of you say yes.

62% say no.

If you'd like to take part in the poll.

Go to wfyi.org/iwir and look for the poll.

Well, governor Mike Braun said this week he wants the federal government to reimburse Indiana for any costs related to state personnel, helping enforce federal immigration laws.

The Indiana Department of Homeland Security, Indiana Department of Correction, State Police and Indiana National Guard recently signed agreements to do more to help federal authorities deport people.

ICE arrests have surged since President Donald Trump took office, and recent federal data shows that 1 in 4 people arrested by Ice in Indiana in June had no criminal charge.

Braun has been critical of that, noting he wants to see undocumented immigrants with criminal records targeted for deportation first.

But he says he has no concerns they will worsen as state officials play a bigger role in Ice arrests and deportations.

You got to get better at the process of differentiating between, the two.

And the fact is, that's not easy.

And due to the dynamic of it.

So but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try better.

Braun also emphasized that when it comes to due process for people detained by state and federal authorities, he wants to ensure, quote, we're doing that the right way Whitley, will Mike Braun face any blowback for using state resources, at least initially, to act as federal immigration authorities?

I don't believe so, and I don't think that people will look at it in blowback.

I think they'll look at it as a back up.

I think it's seen as a collaborative partnership, as opposed to something that would be consistently draining the resources.

However, I do find it interesting that Braun has already asked for money to be paid back to Indiana for supporting and having such a partnership.

And so I think even in that request, he's thinking about how is this going to play on our finances, especially coming after this budget session, but more importantly, making sure that criminals are off the streets and that we are working together with all of our law enforcement partners is really important.

I think Mike Brown is absolutely right that he's saying like, no, no, no, if we're going to, you know, there's already long standing collaboration with federal authorities to help them in whatever way they request.

But these new agreements go a step further, and they're actually almost, in a sense, deputized as federal authorities to do some of this work, housing them at Miami Correctional, for instance.

he's right to ask for reimbursement.

Should he be confident that this particular administration is going to be giving out that money in any kind of timely manner?

No.

No.

And he won't stand up to them when he doesn't get the money.

You know, the irony of this is this is a perfect example of him being taken to the principal's office.

Last week, he complained about the fact that we weren't locking up criminals.

We were locking up people who weren't here legally.

Right.

But they were not violent criminals, which is the way it's been solved.

And.

And then he gets.

He shouldn't have said that.

He shouldn't have said that.

So now he's offering a thousand beds without an agreement as to who's going to pay.

And I don't see him.

He is so weak.

I don't see him standing up to Donald Trump saying, we're not going to take them on this.

I don't see that he's going to fold as penance for having said the right thing last week.

Do you think that the state will have to spend resources without the immediate guarantee of federal reimbursement?

I mean, they might have to.

And what's really interesting is we're talking about whether the feds will reimburse the state, the state of like $14 million to counties for the same kind of thing for for housing state prisoners in local jails.

So, you know, I know we have the we technically have a thousand beds, but they're not in use now because we don't have enough staff for them.

So the money has to come from somewhere.

Is that, you know, the some of this is obviously some of this is obviously the politics of it.

Right.

He there was attention being shown on the fact that Indiana didn't have any of these what are called 287 G agreements with ICE.

And all of a sudden boom, now we have them from the political standpoint, is just having signed the agreements enough without having to necessarily do a lot of work yet.

I, I do think that this is just completely abhorrent.

The fact that he would agree to it in the first place.

So let's just start there.

I don't think he's going to get the money back that he's asking for to the points that have already been made and in an already cash strapped state, we have education funding that is jacked up, people at risk for not having proper health care of rural hospitals at risk.

This seems like a total misstep on the governor's part to participate in in the first place, especially with no guarantee that it's not going to negatively impact our finances.

And somebody ought to tell the people in Washington that Miami County is nowhere close to speedway.

Yeah, naming it the Speedway Slammer.

I mean, yeah, you don't want in Indiana.

You don't want to mess with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway very much do.

Yeah.

I do think that Roger Penske could have went a little bit harder with his, you know, comments about not using IndyCar branding and things like that.

But I do appreciate that he spoke up for his organization.

All right.

Indiana, Michigan Power and Google announced what is called a demand response structure this week, signaling ways the utility will handle what is likely to be one of its largest consumers.

The agreement was filed late last week with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

If approved, it outlines Google's plans to transfer some of its clean capacity generated by clean energy resources to A&M.

The power company will then use that capacity to meet its own power distribution needs to its customers.

It is unclear from the documents what constitutes clean capacity.

They also agreed for Google to reduce or shift its energy demand during periods of peak load on the utility.

The consumer advocacy group Citizens Action Coalition filed a petition to intervene in the proceedings before the ICRC.

Google announced plans to build a $2 billion data center in Fort Wayne in April 2024.

That same year, the Department of Energy, under President Biden, forecast data centers would use up to 12% of the nation's total electricity by 2028.

Niki.

Obviously, this is still subject to approval, but will agreements like these help allay the very legitimate fears that people have had about the energy usage of these data centers?

Definitely some.

I do think, though, that they redacted so much of it that it's it's a little unclear.

Exactly.

You know, we we know the very broad strokes of the agreement.

But I mean, I think it's very appreciated the what's in the broad strokes, obviously, you know, shifting, hours or work to non-peak times and, and that's this capacity issue that they have.

basically if Google owns or leases, renewables such as solar or wind or whatever, that they can basically kind of give their capacity to IBM.

Great.

But again, we don't know what any of that is off of this.

So great start.

I just hope they, you know, give a little more detail as it moves forward.

Republicans at the state House, as much as anybody else, lately have been have started to express some concerns about we're getting multiple announcements of these data centers around Indiana potentially coming.

And there have been serious concerns about what is that going to do to Indiana Energy?

Is something like this going to help quell those?

Any action maybe from lawmakers?

as far as quelling action, I don't I'm not sure, especially considering that we're already in an interesting place with the EPA and wanting regulation or not wanting regulation about, the environment.

So, you know, I'm a little shaky on that as far as the community's concerns, I think the attempt at trying to restrict how much power Google has access to is a step in the right direction, and Fort Wayne could be a model for other places in the nation where this is happening.

However, when I think about places like Memphis, where these data centers are literally choking out its citizens, we also have reporting of what's happening on, in different counties here in the city of Indianapolis, with people having their environment disrupted by the existence of these data centers.

So I think it's a step in the right direction.

Got a little bit further to go as far as making sure everybody feels comfortable with what's.

Going on, to the point in the, a Niki made about the redactions in these, there's always going to be redactions and these you're never going to learn everything are what you seeing so far is what you're seeing so far from these a good sign?

I'm going to be honest, I think the problem that we're having here is before we I mean.

And she does that.

She does that.

Yeah, she does that.

Everybody believes it.

But I'm I'm trying to be honest here specifically around energy because I am someone that is quite, deep into the, into energy and protecting it and politicizing the environment.

The problem that we have is because we don't know what's all in the deal.

There's a level of transparency and accountability that the community will never have because of the way that the deal was forged.

And so now you have a community that is upset, about how much energy something is going to use, excited about potential jobs, but upset about energy.

But then with a redacted version, it's hard to even address some of the issues.

And so how do you measure results when you don't know what's inside of it?

But it is private business.

Yeah.

And so I think there's a part of me that says, yes, that they should be able to operate as a private business.

However, when the private business is taxing on the residents in the community, then I think you should be well.

Into that.

And getting incentives while state and local.

Government.

Yes.

But to that point, that's really where the IU RC can play a bigger role because they can see they can see some of the stuff that we're not privy to.

We should have a shout out to the Citizens Action Coalition and Ben Inscape for raising for raising these issues.

In some states, they're required to provide their own power.

I don't understand the obsession with these.

They don't generate jobs and they are.

Not going to.

Use very few for the incentives we're giving them.

And it's going to put a huge, huge impact on our, on residential customers.

And we're already paying for those.

So the average residential rate in the Midwest and nobody's looking at what that does.

And then meanwhile, the Trump administration won't let us get cheap, renewable power from Kansas.

I mean, what's wrong with this picture?

Right?

State officials say highway work zone speed cameras are already helping to slow down traffic.

Indiana Department of Transportation Deputy Commissioner Jason Kaiser says 25,000 notices have been issued since the enforcement period began in May.

Since it has started, we've seen a 70% reduction in that number of people speeding over ten miles an hour in our work zone.

Under current law, the speed cameras can only be used in four locations at a time.

Right now, there are speed cameras on I-40 65 and I-69 around Indianapolis, and on I-65 in Lake County, but Kaiser expects the program to spread statewide once it gets beyond the pilot phase.

Enforcement zones are clearly marked and speeding drivers are issued a warning before fines are imposed for additional offenses.

This isn't a gotcha.

We're not trying to, you know, bring in a bunch of money from the state or anything like that.

This is really about safety, not not just our workers, but yours as well.

Kaiser said about 270 people have been killed in the state's work zones over the past decade, and the severity of crashes can be reduced by lowering speeds.

It took a long time, years and years for lawmakers to approve even the pilot program.

Do you think there will be much appetite to expand it further?

I do think it's important for us to pay attention to our traffic.

in addition to car safety, there is an Indy pedestrian safety group that is tracking this.

There have been 463 accidents this year, 15 of them fatal.

And that's just this year alone.

So I do think it's important for us to pay attention to whether or not that should mean cameras everywhere.

I'm not really sold on that.

I also want to point out, I don't know if you guys saw this U.S. News and World Report about Indiana being ranked number one for roads in the country?

Absolutely.

I'm not sure.

I'm not sure where that came from.

Yeah.

Not sure where that came from, but it's great.

Yeah, yeah, I would like to see something expanded as far as paying attention to traffic safety.

Do you think do you think it's going to stay a pilot program for a while?

Most they would be okay with a few more.

Again, only in the work zone.

Yeah.

On the highway.

Yeah.

But we're not we're not going to ever see them go to red light cameras on the, you know.

City street.

City streets.

Exactly that I don't.

Think they should.

They, should they go a little further with us.

Yeah.

I'd like one on my street.

I think there are people driving 50 miles an hour on a residential street that has lots of kids playing ball in their front lawns, and it really is very worrisome since I really have noticed a difference since Covid.

It is like traffic laws don't apply anymore, speed limits aren't there anymore and it's it's it's worrisome.

Well, you know, I think it was, House, Roads Committee Chairman Jim Pretzel, who in a, in a presentation about traffic safety a couple of years ago in a committee hearing, said, you know, it used to be you could go about eight miles, like on a highway, you go about eight miles per hour of the speed limit.

And that was like the generally accepted nobody's you're not going to get a ticket for that.

You'll be okay.

And he said, now it feels like 15 is like the standard that everybody's going.

15.

Five.

Yeah, yeah.

No kidding.

Rule was.

Ten.

Yeah.

Wow.

Mean me there it is.

And there's but there's also data to back up that what he felt which is that the average speed on Indiana highways is getting faster.

Do we need this in more places than just work zones?

No, I don't want cameras all over the city watching us.

unless there are empty cameras in downtown Indianapolis, I do, I have issues, I have issues with this.

And I also lost a cousin, to a drunk driver.

So then there's also issues with road safety.

But I do think that there is a balance in keeping them in areas that have construction.

Indiana's infamous for its road construction.

And so making sure that people are being wise to the people working in helping to create a better infrastructure for us is important.

Having them just anywhere and everywhere, recording us and all of those types of things?

Absolutely not.

At the same time, does the camera stop people from going faster or will we have the same amount of incidents?

But the state just makes more money because they get more tickets?

Well, so far that's not the way it's worked in other states.

We have.

I mean, we've and according to the end that we're seeing it even here where it's you're seeing the average speed through the zone drop.

And in other states that have had these for for a while now, you're seeing a fewer number of incidents in those work zones, because Nicki's part of the part of the selling point here is we should obviously care about the workers in the zone, but actually the majority of fatalities or injuries and work zones are the drivers.

So it's this is good for everybody, but that hasn't.

And that's, I think, what finally put lawmakers over the edge on this.

Right.

Yeah, I think so.

you know, and like I said, I think the data is showing that it's working in the pilot and maybe we'll get a few more added to that, but probably not much more about that.

Yeah.

And I will say this, you know, you talk about not wanting cameras everywhere.

And it's one of the it's one of my favorite issues at the statehouse because it's, it's what Michael Bryan likes to call the circle of the political spectrum, which is folks on the right don't like the don't like the privacy questions.

And folks on the very left don't like the privacy questions raised by those cameras.

Right?

Yeah, exactly.

All right.

Finally, speaking of Indiana drivers, they can now purchase a new specialty license plate at the BMV called a blackout plate.

You can see it on the screen there for folks who can't see the screen.

It's an all black plate with white lettering for Indiana, the numbers that they need.

And then whatever your your numbers and letters on the plate itself is, Indiana joins a growing number of states with that option.

The plates cost $45 on top of the standard BMV fees.

So when are you getting yourself a black out?

But absolutely.

Yeah, I got a I had a black car.

I just ordered a new black car.

It should arrive here soon.

I want the black out plates.

It's sleek.

It looks sophisticated, especially for people that have black cars.

I think it's.

Great.

And this is this is really just a moneymaker.

This is really, lots of other states are doing it.

A lot of people really like the look and the sort of modern feel of it.

And so why not?

Do you like the look of the blackout plate?

Not particularly.

It's better than Wander Indiana, but not much.

It's been a while since we had, it's been a while since Warner, Indiana.

I think to me, when I see them out on the road, too, I think I've noticed them first, like Iowa plates had them.

I think they're easier to read too.

Yeah.

So if you're like, hey, I don't like the way that.

Eating you better know.

Well, this is my thing.

Yeah.

And they can take all that extra money and put that speed camera on and street.

You just make it happen.

I don't think they're going to do that.

But the nice thing is, as we're looking at, we need we need we need more road funding dollars in the state of Indiana.

I don't know that this is going to be the only way we get it, but it certainly can't hurt.

It can't hurt.

Does it feel like a tax?

No.

Another tax, another tax.

It is.

It doesn't feel like that's the if it is voluntary.

That's right.

Which is why I won't be doing it because unfortunately volunteer.

Unfortunately I have a hybrid vehicle.

I'm already paying an extra fee at the DMV, but I'm not happy.

I am not paying another $45 on top of that.

I'm sorry.

I'm just not doing it.

But they but they do look cool.

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

Our panel is.

Democrat Ann DeLaney.

Republican Whitley Yates.

Ebony Chapelle of Free Press Indiana.

And Niki Kelly of the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

You can find Indiana Weekend Reviews podcast and episodes at wfyi.org/iwir or on the PBS app.

I'm Brandon Smith of Indiana Public Broadcasting.

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

The views expressed are solely those of the panelists.

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