The EPA undoes its climate endangerment finding.

President Trump's order on homelessness.

Plus Governor Braun on READI and more.

From the television studios at WFYI, It's Indiana Week in Review for the week ending August 1st, 2025.

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

This week, the Environmental Protection Agency wants to undo its finding that climate change harms people and eliminate greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks.

Indiana Public Broadcasting's Rebecca Thiele reports.

EPA administrator Lee Zeldin officially announced the proposal at a commercial truck dealership in Indianapolis.

The 2009 endangerment finding serves as the scientific and legal basis for many of EPA's rules that limit greenhouse gas emissions from things like cars and coal plants.

Zeldin says reversing the finding would be the largest deregulatory action in the country's history.

He says greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks have gone down in recent decades, and Americans shouldn't be forced to buy expensive electric vehicles.

There are other nations that continue to increase emissions and all of us strangulating our own economy, regulating the heck out of American families and American industries.

Former EPA officials and climate advocates say reversing the finding will lead to more premature deaths, as well as increase risks from heatwaves and flooding.

How will this EPA move help the average American?

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

Democrat Lara Back.

Republican Whitley Yates, Jon Schwantes, host of Indiana Lawmakers.

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

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

Lara Beck is this about helping the average person or helping big businesses?

Well, I think this is about helping the Trump administration dismantle every positive climate legislation and climate policy that the Obama administration had done, as well as the Biden administration.

So it's going back to taking, you know, pulling out of the Paris Accords, dismantling the, dismantling the Inflation Reduction Act and all the pieces there.

What's ironic to me is that they held this event in Indiana, which has probably some of the worst environmental quality rankings in the country.

the metro area alone has some of the worst air quality in the country, out of metro areas.

this last week, we were, rated 48th in terms of quality of life, in terms of a CNBC study.

And what I find so disheartening about this is that the MAGA Republicans have essentially taken away the societal contract of, we're going to leave the world a better place for the next generation.

I mean, the activities that have gone on with the work from the Obama administration and the Biden administration are designed for a long term effect.

And the fact that they have just abandoned Vox, they have followed Donald Trump off the cliff.

It's it's incredibly frustrating, but it's also incredibly eye opening that they're willing to do this at the at the cost of the future for the future generations.

When you're talking about reducing greenhouse gas emissions, why is that a bad thing?

Why is that something that needs to be undone?

I think they want to push back regulations to allow for businesses to be able to do the things that they want to do.

And when you look at what's been happening in Indiana, specifically, like in Petersburg, Indiana, where you have an AES plant that's coal is switching to natural gas, they're not doing so because the EPA forced them.

They're doing so because it's cleaner and it's more efficient.

And so what you really have is the market regulating and doing things that the EPA was once foreseeing on their own.

And so I think the thought or the idea behind this, in my opinion or my view, is that what they really want to do is just continue to spur that innovation so that companies like AES can continue to do things that we've been seeing, and it hasn't been because they've been forced.

It is honestly just innovation within the market.

I want to build off of that because specifically, when you think about some of the regulations on cars and trucks like Cafe standards and things like that, the automotive industry does not move, does not switch on a dime.

They think in ten, 20, 30 year plans, they were already working on this stuff and aiming towards again.

And we've seen it reducing, you know, miles per gallon in vehicles and electrifying more and more.

We've seen some of them step back from the electrification of vehicles.

But is this, you know, getting rid of this EPA rule going to dramatically change what the auto industry is doing?

Well, the endangerment finding, which I think dates back to, what, 2008.

To 2009 nine.

It had been widely accepted over time.

Now, initially there was a lot of litigation that it was a lot of pushback.

People saying the sky was going to fall, industry would collapse, but it had become widely accepted.

And I think, became sort of standard operating procedure, which is another thing.

Business operators like, which is knowing what they're dealing with, they may not like it, but if I have consistency and know what's going to happen five years from now and ten years from now, and it's not a ever changing regulatory landscape, there's value in that.

So that's part of the issue with that I think, is people find unsettling here.

also let's stipulate that regulation can cost money, but we do it for various reasons.

I mean, we have a debate.

We now abate asbestos, you know, which is a problem.

we have determined that tobacco and smoke is a danger.

We have, you know, formaldehyde and other sorts of, materials that just, lead out of gasoline, that that came with the cost as well.

So at some point, you just can't say, take the shackles off of business and let it go crazy.

Or maybe you can.

I mean, yeah, I mean, isn't that the end goal here is I mean, deregulation on a level we've literally never seen in this, that.

You regulate the dye in candy and so forth.

And so that's something you can choose to consume.

I can I can either have the red dye or the purple dye or whatever dyes the bad dye or not.

But with air, if I want to breathe, I'm kind of stuck with what I get.

So it's regulation when I like it.

Regulate and no.

Regulation.

I mean, the inconsistency is tough.

And and you brought up what I was going to bring up like we're banning food dye, but it's okay if, you know, we pollute the air kind of thing.

Now, I don't think any of these automakers are going to reverse course and go back to like once we're up to this.

That's the that's not where the marketplace.

Right, exactly.

We're up to this point.

They're not going to go backwards.

But there is a question about whether they could have been pushing to improve even more and whether that will be worth their while now.

But it's also a question of, you know, American companies can't just measure themselves against other American companies, whether it's the auto industry or anything else.

If if European or Asian automakers are doing things, are pushing further in terms of that.

Obviously, Donald Trump wants them to import more of our vehicles, right.

Right.

And so that's another thing that they're going to have to consider is that they're in a global economy and not just in the United States.

All right.

Some local housing advocates are critical of the Trump administration's recent executive order, saying that local governments should remove people experiencing homelessness from public places.

Mary Morgan is with Heading Home.

She says the approach conflates homelessness with mental health issues, substance use and crime.

There obviously can be overlap between all of those things, but the condition of homelessness does not always coincide with these other things, and then it doesn't address the fundamental cause of homelessness, which is a lack of housing options.

The executive order said placing people with mental illnesses into long term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order.

But Morgan says there aren't enough beds to do this in her locality, Monroe County.

According to the 2024 count, the county had 456 people experiencing homelessness, and about a third of them are unsheltered.

I would say a subset of, Unhoused, folks who do need some serious intervention that they aren't able to, function in society.

But again, you know who's making that determination?

The 2024 statewide count said 1 in 4 people experiencing homelessness had a serious mental illness, Whitley, is involuntary commitment as part of a homelessness reduction plan really all that viable?

I don't believe so.

And I don't think that the solution is going to put handcuffs on people or put them in hospital gowns.

That's not going to be the solution to homelessness, especially in a state like Indiana, where we have removed those long term care facilities that we once have, for those that have been mentally incapacitated or have mental health issues.

Now, I have seen in this current administration, the Braun administration, that they have attempted to at least stabilize housing specifically for inmates who are coming out and being viable in society and trying to provide, through Ida, some stable housing.

But we have to get down to the root cause.

And I don't believe that this is what it's going to do.

This order.

I mean, an executive order from the president on this subject is only only has so much force and effect.

but clearly this is where this is that the head of the Republican Party at least, saying this is what we should be doing.

It really isn't what Indiana has been focused on.

Do you think that's going to change because of this?

Well, I think it probably depends on how politically expedient the governor and his people think that that is to make sense.

Right?

I think that one of the challenges I agree with Whitley.

I think the big this is such a complex challenge, and there are so many factors that that pull into this.

and for all of the reasons that you're, the person you're interviewing from Bloomington, Monroe County, was talking about, the other piece of the question I have is where if you're going to put people into some type of of emergency housing or hospital setting, where are they going to go and what the what does that look like?

And I think you get into a whole other host of issues when what we really need to be working on is we need to be working on income inequality.

We need to be working on affordable housing, not just affordable housing for people who are homeless, but affordable housing for people who are working people.

education.

One and hour, one care and hour, one emergency away from being.

Homeless.

Exactly, exactly.

And the other part, too, is I think when we think about people who are homeless, we think about people we see on a street or people we see in a camp.

We're also not thinking about people who they're doubling up with family and friends because they couldn't make the rent.

And now their credit is destroyed.

And so where do they go next?

And I think that that is or.

If you get one eviction on your record.

Good luck getting.

Exactly or you can't buy a car or I mean, it just it becomes or, you know, you, you go into medical debt.

I mean, I think this is our society is not set up for people who are working middle class people.

And what we're seeing is we're seeing people.

There's no safety net anymore.

And this to me is just it's a it's a political tool again, to try and get us divided.

So we aren't sitting around a table talking in a reasonable way about what makes sense and what we need to do.

So I ask the same question to you too, which is, you know, does this change in any way what Indiana has been working on for a while and continues to work.

So only because the beds aren't there.

So it's not even an actual like we don't have the money to do that.

We don't have the physical beds to do that.

So it's almost like not even a conversation to have, because we just don't have those resources available to help all these people.

I do find it interesting.

Something else we need to tie in along with mental health.

And, you know, low wages is education.

And for whatever reason, people have pulled away from education.

And I don't mean just a four year degree.

I mean.

Any.

Sort of post-secondary education, whether it be licensing or other training or certificate science.

And we keep seeing that drop and drop and drop.

And so that's another thing that a lot of these people could be helped with.

You know, training and education.

Time now for viewer feedback.

Each week we post an unscientific online poll question.

And this week's question is, should people experiencing homelessness who have mental illnesses be involuntarily committed a yes or b no?

Last week, we asked you whether state lawmakers should do more to help lower Hoosiers utility bills.

94% of you say yes.

6% say no.

If you'd like to take part in the poll, go to WFYI.org/iwir and look for the poll.

Well, Indiana Governor Mike Braun this week voiced support for the state's READI regional grant program intended to help finance economic development projects statewide.

Indiana Public Broadcasting's Thomas Ouellette reports that as the new two year state budget doesn't include a third round of the grants.

The first $500 million READI grant program, launched in 2021 under then Governor Eric Holcomb, was paid for with federal Covid 19 funds.

The second, awarded in 2024, was funded entirely with state money.

During a Tuesday evening chat with ForgeECI, East Central Indiana's READI managing organization, governor Mike Braun said he wanted to keep up the momentum the program created.

There are a lot more tools and I think READI grants a good one, because it's based upon really giving a multiplier effect on what the state would invest in a community.

So we'll keep that healthy and do more of it.

But a third round was not proposed in the budget passed in April.

Braun did not give any details about when a third round would come, or how it would be funded.

Niki Kelly If the next state budget is rosier than the current one, and God knows, we all hope it is.

Does READI make a comeback?

I honestly don't think so.

I don't really have any.

I mean, at least not in the format of $500 million that we've done before.

And also a lot of the projects through READI one, much less READI two are still working through the process.

So I don't think I don't know if we're ready for another READI, so to speak.

But but also, I just think they have so many other big needs in the state budget that we've been holding back.

Not only we've been holding them back or we've been just actively cutting them, but I'm not sure it would be a wise priority for lawmakers.

There was a version of READI, the Regional Cities Initiative, created under governor Mike Pence.

That was a little bit it was, I think 120 something million dollars.

From a tax amnesty program.

So it wasn't like it was actually.

Paid for ongoing spending or anything like that.

And so some form of this sort of regional economic development incentive has been around for a decade now in some form.

Does READI continue in Indiana in the future?

I think in some form, for the precisely the reason you mentioned the notion of having regional development, where the, the, the benefits of economic development and incentives can be spread throughout the state.

Something is clearly, part of the agenda of Mike Braun, for instance, who who, if anything, was critical that too much economic development, focus and spending was in some areas on central Indiana.

So this certainly fits with the the, the mantra he has been putting forth during.

And.

Beyond.

And also just the idea of counties and cities not having to compete.

Yeah, I mean, there there's a logic to it.

And for all of those reasons, I think there will be an appetite to continue it in some way.

Now, does it have a new name?

Does it have less funding?

I think it certainly will have less funding.

Yeah.

but there's somewhere between the $100 million when it was, regional made its debut and the 500, million.

$500 million.

That's, that's that was, I think that caught everybody, you know, a little bit off guard, that there was a willingness to put that much into the into the hopper.

So what it will go on in some fashion, but at a reduced amount.

I think from a political standpoint you're going to see something because big check presentations are very popular.

in an election year, particularly in 2028.

So it would not surprise me if we see something.

I also think that municipalities and local government school districts are going to be really pushing back on the legislature because they're going to need something because of Senate Bill one.

I mean, you've already got some municipalities that are raising their taxes so they can actually apply for community crossing grants.

Those are grants that they have really come to rely on for their infrastructure.

So I think from a political standpoint, they're going to have to do something because optics wise it looks good to have that check.

But it also you're going to have local governments who are going to start turning their ire on the legislature.

Well, in terms of politics and the optics, that's how some things like I mean, the second 500 million, which just came from state dollars, was only really possible because the first 500 million was so popular across the board.

Democrats, Republicans, local governments all over the place loved this thing.

And Niki kind of got to this too.

But is something that's going to help something like this stay alive well into the future going to be that these projects are going to be happening for years and years and years, because that's just how long it takes to do this.

I honestly think that's what's going to be able to keep them from issuing more money.

Why it's not in the budget now?

Because you have all of these projects in the pipeline, and we're looking at the foundation, but we have not been able to see the viability of the programs.

It hasn't hit our economy.

And so being able to say, well, we have ten, 15 regional projects that are going to be happening over the next five years.

Let's wait and see those come to fruition before we begin funding more of these projects.

Yeah, I think it's something like 65% of the first round of funding has has gone out now.

So not even 100% of the first 500 million and then the second 500 million is in its earliest stages.

And a lot of these projects, too, it's like it's not the throw up a quick, you know, little building somewhere.

I mean, it's huge housing projects.

It's huge.

You know, beautification plans that take time to literally build.

Yeah.

Multiple phases.

So people still appreciate a good old fashioned check presentation, because in this day of electronic funds transfers, that just does it.

Maybe trying to scam that in on my phone that the.

Yeah, it's a little challenging, but if you can make it.

Work.

Really good out of it, it's not.

Big time.

You know.

All right.

Indiana is revamping how it grades the quality of a school.

And from phys education desk Eric Weddle reports the state is taking public comment on a new accountability system that could change how student success is measured for years to come.

The first draft of Indiana's new A to F school accountability system is now open for public feedback.

The proposed model moves beyond test scores as the yardstick for quality.

It added skills for students like work ethic and career readiness.

The system would track student progress at key grade levels from third grade through graduation.

Secretary of Education Katie Jenner says the feedback from families and educators will be used to improve the plan.

The first draft is far from perfect, and people have suggestions that we can take forward and and make better.

Comments are due by August 22nd.

A final version is expected by the end of this year.

Jon Schwantes, I love the idea of not relying so much just on tests.

We just know that that's that doesn't help anyone.

It doesn't help learning.

But how do you measure measure something like work ethic.

Those are tough.

When you look at communication skills and you look at the soft skills that we often talk so much about in this economy, I'm not sure how we'll see what the final.

Once the public comment period is done, we'll see what they come up with.

I on the one hand, yes, it is tougher and biases to enter into it because of an inherent subjectivity to it.

But I guess the argument for it is that's the way the work place is.

You're when you're going to apply for a job or when somebody is recruiting, it may be, okay, thank you.

I'm glad that your GPA was this, and I'm glad that you're short of civil service where there might be some specific guidelines.

Otherwise, it's like, I really like the way you shook my hand or the way you look at me during the interview.

And so in a way, this is trying to get at.

Will it be perfect?

Probably not, but trying to get at those intangibles that effectively drive hiring in the workplace.

Yeah.

Niki, sort of the same question.

I mean, obviously anything that moves past one metric to judge all students in all schools is improvement.

Attendance can show work ethic.

Whether you're late, truancy, you know those.

Kids.

But we also know but we also know there are so many things that go into to those to that, that aren't sometimes the students fault.

The whole idea of having these work based learning internship, that that's something that you could objectively, you know, put in there, whether you're taking the act, the SAT, you know, those kinds of tests.

So there are some things and I really I think it's a really good move.

And I'm excited to see because like I said, we were using basically one, maybe two metrics.

So anything is an improvement I think is this.

You know, this is they acknowledge this is early in the process.

We saw the same thing with the high school diploma requirements.

They came out with the first version.

Everybody went, no, this is terrible.

They said, okay.

And it looked very different by the time we got to the end.

But it's at least this the right direction.

Well, I just would like to take a step back because as we were listening to this story and as I was coming out, I can't tell you how many times I've sat on programs like this.

And there's a new way we're going to measure success in Indiana.

I mean, I think, you know, I think there's probably my son is going to be a senior in high school.

And I think throughout his entire educational career, we have had multiple ways of how we measure success.

And I think what ends up in multiple.

Different tests.

Using different types.

And then we change the name.

And I think what has ultimately happened is we get data, we don't like the data, we move the goalposts, then we get the data from that.

We we're not really sure about that.

Then we move the goalpost again.

And so I feel like we have just in Indiana, been in a constant state of flux with education policy.

and it's it's not benefiting kids.

It's not benefiting parents.

We know it's not benefiting the school districts and and the teachers.

I do think that Katie Jenner is really practical and and very good at what she does.

And I certainly hope they're listening to her.

and maybe some of this is based on, you know, some of the work that she's done.

But from my vantage point, it's just been a constant source of change.

And it just creates chaos for it just creates chaos for everybody.

That's not an uncommon opinion.

Even among some Republicans at the state House who've said, hey, we're doing these bills every single year.

We need to like, take a couple years and see if it's working.

But at the same time, if the current system isn't working, we can't help but try and make it better, right?

Right.

And I think that the issue is wanting there to be a singular point of success, because I think we will all say that some of the new generation entering the workforce could use some of these soft skills.

So I think this is actually going to be able to be proactive towards making sure that the future generations are able to at least interact and be able to have what is necessary when it comes to interpersonal relationship and soft skills.

What I do think is important is that we're not basing teacher salaries off how well they do without the guys to be able to measure.

And so I want to make sure that I'm looking at the teachers.

I'm a mom of a fourth grader going into the fifth grade here next month, and so I am excited to see that we're having the conversation.

But let's make sure that it is looked at thoroughly.

And I think Doctor Jenner does a great job in making data driven decisions.

I agree with them.

All right, finally, the Indiana State Fair begins this weekend, and this year's taste of the fair foods include pickle, fried Oreos, a cotton candy, lemon shake up, and Little Debbie honey bun burgers.

That's a burger between two Little Debbie honey buns.

Lara Beck.

Yep, Lara Beck.

What food are you looking forward to most this year?

I just go straight to the dairy barn for a vanilla vanilla milkshake.

And basic the special milkshake this year at the Dairy Barn is the key lime pie milkshake.

What fair food are you looking forward to?

You know, as I'm trying to make myself healthy again, I don't know if I should divulge this, but I'm always excited to get that dipped corn.

Those big pretzels, and I think you have sold me on trying the deep fried pickled Oreos.

Yes, after you say it's.

So good.

So good.

So maybe one of those egg rolls you're talking about.

Yeah.

Jon, how about a rib eye sandwich and a milkshake?

I'll be.

I'll see you in the dairy barn.

That's that's a classic fare food.

I'm in for the new trio of little funnel cakes that are Italian themed.

I love it.

Yeah.

Cannoli.

Italian, wedding cake and tiramisu.

Yeah.

yeah.

So I tried one of these egg rolls from the folks that brought you the Godfather Egg Roll last year, which was spaghetti and meatballs in an egg roll this year.

It's a chicken Philly filling in the egg roll.

The whole egg roll is then dipped in a hot honey lemon pepper buffalo sauce and drizzled with ranch.

I don't like like half of those things on their own, but that was one of my favorite things I've eaten at the state fair in my life.

I recommend everyone, and it's a local, catering and food truck company who does a lot of the local vendors.

have those taste of the fair foods.

So never a bad time to go out, meet.

No, no.

Absolutely not.

My doctor's appointment was a couple months ago.

My next one's in several months.

I'm sure I can make that call.

That tastes good for you.

If you give me the deep fried.

That's Indiana Week in Review for this week.

Our panel is Democrat Lara Beck.

Republican Whitley Yates.

Jon Schwantes of Indiana Lawmakers.

and Niki Kelly of the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

You can find Indiana Week in 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.

And then the 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.