Crossover week at the Indiana Statehouse signals the end for many bills
By Chloe White, TheStatehouseFile.com
Yesterday (Thursday, 2/19) was the crossover deadline for bills to be passed in their respective houses and sent to the other chamber for consideration. Legislators spent the week under pressure to sift through legislation, determining which bills would move forward and which would be shelved until next year.
According to StateScape, “a ‘crossover’ deadline is the last day for a bill to pass out of the chamber in which it was introduced and move forward for consideration in the opposite chamber.” Any bills that had not received their third reading before Thursday were dismissed for this session but will be eligible to be submitted again in 2026.
Aaron Dusso, associate professor of political science at Indiana University Indianapolis, shared his insights on crossover week and its purpose in an interview with TheStatehouseFile.com.
“The purpose of it is to keep some order in the process and not have any late-arriving bills that can be given enough time to consider beforehand.
“Every year, every session, whether it’s the long or short, there’s always certain bills that are thought to be more important ones,” said Dusso, pointing to issues like abortion and marijuana as key examples.
Many bills have been stagnant since the beginning of the session—unsurprisingly, as there were over 2,000 bills written by Indiana lawmakers.
Laura Wilson, a political science professor at the University of Indianapolis, discussed the process of bills passing through committee.
“The committee chairs have a large say in terms of what we’re going to hear and the order in which we’re going to hear it. They are able to prioritize what they think is most important,” said Wilson.
Additionally, she spoke of the misconceptions many people might have about the legislative process.
“There will be bills that never make it to committee, and there’s some that get there and that’s as far as they go,” she said.
“The national average is that legislators across state legislatures author between 12 and 14 bills a legislative session, and there’s no way that legislation could be thoughtfully deliberated, edited and then passed into law. The reality is, most bills don’t become laws, counter to what we might assume to be true, and in fact, the ones that do are rare.”
Chloe White is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
Young & Established Awarded $10,125 from 100 Guys Who Care
100 Guys Who Care—Evansville continued its philanthropic mission this week when it donated $10,125 to Young & Established. Courtney Johnson, who received the donation, said, “Your donation will be instrumental in helping us complete Granddaddy’s Garden Spot and continue serving our community through programs addressing food insecurity.”
Each quarter, the group selects three non-profits to present to. The members donate $100 each, and the entire pot of those donations is awarded to the charity selected at the meeting.
Over $1.3 million awarded to Indiana soil conservation districts and organizations
Over $1.3 million awarded to Indiana soil conservation
districts and organizations
INDIANAPOLIS (Feb. 20, 2025) – The Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) and the Indiana State Soil Conservation Board(SSCB) announced today that 16 soil and water conservation districts and one organization were awarded over $1.3 million in Clean Water Indiana competitive grant funding. This funding will support water quality improvements across the state.
“This funding is critical for our local soil and water conservation districts to assist farmers with bettering their water quality initiatives,” said Lt. Gov. Beckwith, Indiana’s Secretary of Agriculture. “This program touches every corner of the state and the improvements made will go a long way in ensuring Indiana remains a leader in soil conservation.”
The Clean Water Indiana program is administered by the state’s soil conservation board. The program, led by the ISDA, provides financial assistance to landowners and conservation groups that are working to reduce runoff from non-point sources of water pollution, whether it’s on agricultural land, urban areas or eroding streambanks.
Once received, districts can use the funds to partner with other counties or address specific needs within their jurisdiction. Some examples include participating in a cost-share program, hiring staff, providing technical assistance, implementing cover crop incentive programs or increasing watershed capacity.
Clean Water Indiana (CWI) is managed by ISDA’s Division of Soil Conservation and funded by a portion of the state’s cigarette tax. Projects can be up to three years in length and grantees could apply for any dollar amount that was necessary to complete the project. In addition to CWI funds, each grantee is required to produce a match for their project, which can be cash or in-kind. Projects requesting staffing were required to have a 25% match for that component, while all other project areas required a 50% match. Many Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD) will target producers not currently served by other conservation programs.
Below is the list of awardees, their project titles and overviews. $1,382,571 was awarded to 17 projects.
Delaware County SWCD – $3,000
This project will control invasive species in priority areas along the Cardinal Greenways.
Delaware County SWCD – $125,000
The funds will be used for staffing and support for the Delaware County Soil and Water Conservation District to hire a Conservation Resource Technician.
Greene County SWCD – $15,500
The Greene County SWCD will utilize this funding to purchase a no-till drill to assist landowners in implementing increased soil health, water quality and soil water holding capacity on properties located in Greene County. Landowners can utilize the drill to plant cover crops, assist in establishing new pastures, inter-seeding for pasture improvement, plant native grass for prairie establishment and plantings for pollinator habitats.
Jefferson County SWCD- $130,000
The project will promote soil health on pasture and hay land and improve water quality. Conservation practices will be installed that help improve forage and biomass quality, reduce soil erosion and compaction, reduce excessive nutrients and sediments in surface and ground waters and improve inadequate feed, forage and water. The funds will also promote and incentivize the use of cover crops.
Jefferson County SWCD – $30,650
The project funds will be used to purchase the Jefferson County SWCD a no-till drill to assist landowners in improving the quality of their soil and water resources.
Jennings County SWCD- $50,000
The Jennings County SWCD and the Ripley County SWCD will provide cost-share to private landowners within Jennings and Ripley counties to start or continue cover crop, forage and biomass planting, and installation of heavy use area protection practices.
Kosciusko County SWCD- $52,721
This funding will allow the district to undertake a large-scale soil health focused education event across the next 3 years (2025-2027) in addition to providing free soil samples to local producers. Led by the county-funded Soil Health Specialist, these events are structured as interactive meetings. They are designed to provide a roadmap for collaborative exploration into soil health, the soil food web, ecological risk of pest management strategies, and developing long-term solutions for regenerative ag systems.
Madison County SWCD – $120,000
The grant funds will hire a full-time Urban Conservationist for a three-year time frame from Jan. 2025 through Dec. 2027 for the Madison County SWCD. This funding would provide the necessary means to empower Madison County SWCD to build district capacity and engage in conservation partnership efforts. Additionally, the funds will assist in developing an accountable case with empirical information and numbers to provide to the Madison County Council and Madison County Commissioners in an effort to obtain a permanent county funded full-time position.
Marion County SWCD- $100,000
The funds will leverage Marion County SWCD’s federal Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant to further the reach of their soil health program to ensure Indiana conservation planners beyond Marion County have the training and tools necessary to assist small farm practice implementation. These and other future training will help market Indiana’s unique conservation tools nationally, and are striving to enter into a future multi-year agreement with NRCS to provide long term sustainability for the program beyond the timeframe of the proposed CWI grant
CWI 2025, paired with SARE, will allow the SWCD to deliver a high-quality program that addresses the needs of the district in delivering assistance to urban and small farms.
Morgan County SWCD – $60,000
Morgan County SWCD will utilize the funds to purchase a new seed drill. The funds will also be used to promote the use of the drill through a cost-share program, “Seeding for Soil Health”, for cover crops and native habitats that would benefit soil health and water quality in Morgan County.
Orange County SWCD – $125,000
The Clean Water Indiana funds will be used for cost-share program to increase conservation efforts and improve local water quality and soil health. The project, “Cultivating Clean Water, One Practice at a Time”, will allow and encourage local producers to expand on soil health and decrease nonpoint source pollutants entering waterways by reducing livestock run-off, stabilizing high-traffic livestock areas and increasing living cover within the project area.
Posey County SWCD- $84,000
Posey, Vanderburgh, Warrick and Gibson Counties will continue to work together to encourage producers to plant cover crops addressing our local concerns of soil health and water quality. The partnering districts will add 4000 acres of cover crops. Special emphasis will be placed on education, highly erodible land (HEL), and farmers new to our cost-share program. The district cash-match will pay $5/acre to farmers new to our program, $5/acre for diversified seed mixes of three plus, incentives for planting green by offering an additional $5/acre and up to $250 for perches or nesting boxes for raptors to assist with rodent control.
Spencer County SWCD – $20,000
This project aims to reduce sediment and nutrient runoff in the pastures of Spencer County through promoting exclusionary livestock fencing for water quality, and prescribed grazing and rotational grazing for soil health and other pasture best management practices like cover crops.
The Nature Conservancy- $82,500
Announced by ISDA on Jan. 2, 2025, this project will incentivize farmers to utilize cover crops by reducing crop insurance premiums on 35,000 acres across 50 counties. The project will provide eligible participants with a $5/acre premium discount on the following year’s crop insurance invoice for every acre of cover crop enrolled and verified in the program.
Washington County SWCD- $224,200
Crawford, Harrison, Jackson, and Washington counties will offer Clean Water Indiana funded cost-share opportunities to land users alongside educational opportunities and technical assistance protect soil health and water quality by reducing nutrient, sediment and pathogen runoff into surface & ground water.
This project provides financial and technical assistance for livestock, crop, and wildlife best management practices. Best management practices reduce sediment, nutrients and pathogens reaching waterways in runoff and limiting livestock access. Planting practices filter pollutants, increase biodiversity, decrease soil compaction, restore soil structure and provide continuous root systems which increase soil infiltration.
Wayne County SWCD – $75,000
The Wayne County SWCD will educate on the numerous soil health benefits of planting cover crops and the need for healthy, abundant pollinators by establishing pollinator habitats. The goal of the program, “Cover It, Wayne County”, is to establish at least 20 new acres of pollinator plantings and an anticipated 2,300 acres in cover crops.
Wells County SWCD – $85,000
Wells and Huntington County SWCDs are partnering on a cost-share program for managing and removing invasive species and for seeding cover crops. The program will be open to private landowners, city, county and community parks. The goal of the program is to help educate citizens in the need to manage invasive species.
Swonder Ice Arena Hosts ACHA Tournament
Collegiate hockey returns to Evansville today, as the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division 2 Southeast Regional comes to Swonder Ice Arena.
Games begin at 12:30 p.m. CST on Friday.
Teams from all over the Southeastern and Midwestern United States, including Indiana University, the University of Louisville, and the University of Kentucky, will play in the single-elimination tournament, which runs from tomorrow through Sunday (February 23). The winner punches their ticket to the ACHA Division 2 Nationals, which will be held March 14-18 in St. Louis, MO.
Admission to the tournament is open to the public, with tickets on sale at the door for $15 per day.
House passes legislation to create a new pediatric cancer research fund
House passes legislation to create a new pediatric cancer research fund
STATEHOUSE (Feb. 20, 2025) – The Indiana House of Representatives supported a bill authored by State Rep. Tim O’Brien (R-Evansville) to create a new grant program for pediatric cancer research.
Through House Bill 1453, the Pediatric Cancer Research and Treatment Grant Program would focus on providing grant funding for innovative research into novel forms of treatment.
“This legislation would establish a dedicated grant program to support innovation and improve outcomes for children battling cancer, helping more families and kids get a fighting chance.” O’Brien said.
According to the Indiana Department of Health, more than 300 new cases of pediatric cancer occurred each year in Hoosier children ages 0 to 19 between 2016 and 2020. Additionally, more than 30 children in Indiana died from cancer annually between 2016 and 2020.
According to the American Cancer Society, more than 9,000 children in the U.S. are expected to be diagnosed with cancer in 2025. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in children ages 1 to 14, and over 1,000 children under age 15 are expected to die from cancer in 2025.
House Bill 1453 passed the House Public Health Committee and House Ways and Means Committee before passing the House. It now moves to the Senate for further consideration. To learn more about the bill and follow session, visit iga.in.gov.
Vincennes University among partners in collaborative robot workshops for rural and underserved communities
Vincennes University among partners in collaborative robot workshops for rural and underserved communities
VINCENNES, Ind., February 20, 2025 – Vincennes University continues to cement its position as a trailblazer in advanced manufacturing education through its Center for Applied Robotics and Automation. Home to the largest collaborative robot (cobot) educational program in the United States, the CARA is partnering with Telamon Robotics and the STARTedUp Foundation to offer hands-on workshops centered on cobot technology.
The partners are hosting Innovation Cobot Workshops for high school students and educators across Indiana, focusing on rural and underserved communities.
CARA Director Kimberly Wright said, “The Innovation Cobot Workshops demonstrate VU’s commitment to shaping Indiana’s future workforce and driving economic growth. These workshops are about creating access and opportunity. By introducing students and educators to cutting-edge cobot technology, we are preparing them for in-demand careers in Industry 4.0 and empowering them to be leaders in an era when technology is constantly evolving.”
These immersive workshops provide high schoolers with hands-on experiences at CARA locations on the Vincennes and VU Jasper campuses and Telamon Robotics in Carmel.
Eastern Hancock High School students and staff participated in a recent workshop.
Eastern Hancock Math and Business Teacher Cole Allen said, “Eastern Hancock is always looking to partner with companies and community leaders to help enlighten students about the opportunities that they could pursue after they graduate. By having the chance to be a part of this workshop, students not only got first-hand experience into what it’s like to work with a cobot, but also the career paths they could pursue that they previously didn’t know about.”
During the one-day workshops, students interact directly with cobot technology and explore a variety of STEM career pathways in robotics, advanced manufacturing, and more. They also connect with industry partners and explore future career opportunities. In addition to benefiting students, the workshops empower educators like Allen to integrate AI and automation into their classrooms.
Telamon Robotics Vice President of Sales and Operations Paulo Dutra e Mello said, “Through our partnership with the STARTedUP Foundation and Vincennes University Center for Applied Robotics and Automation, we are providing high school students with hands-on experience in collaborative robotics, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to thrive in an increasingly automated world. These workshops serve as an exciting introduction to real-world robotics applications.”
By expanding access to advanced technology education, VU and its partners are shaping the next generation of innovators and ensuring a prosperous economic future for Indiana.
To learn more about the Center for Applied Robotics and Automation, visit vinu.edu/cara
EVSC School Board to Meet Monday 2/24
The Board of School Trustees of the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation will meet for the regularly scheduled Board meeting Monday, February 24, 2025 at 5:30 PM in the Board Room of the EVSC Administration Building located at 951 Walnut Street, Evansville, IN. Board meetings can also be observed by tuning to EVSC’s radio station, 90.7 WPSR or live streamed online at https://www.wpsrhd.com/. During the meeting, as advertised, the Board will hold two Public Hearings. The first will be regarding the General Obligation Bonds for 2025 and the second will be regarding thesale of property.
Prior to the regularly scheduled Board meeting, three members of the Board, along with district administrators, will hold a Town Hall beginning at 5:00 PM. This Town Hall is for Vanderburgh County residents to speak directly with Board members in attendance about issues involving EVSC schools. The Town Hall will be held in the Technology and Innovation Center located at 951 Walnut Street, Evansville, IN. Members of the public who would like to attend the Town Hall should register by completing the Town Hall Registration Form located on our website at district.evscschools.com.
EPD DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT
FOOTNOTE: EPD DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT information was provided by the EPD and posted by the City-County-County Observer without opinion, bias, or editing.