Recent editorials published in Indiana newspapers

The (Munster) Times. March 24, 2017

Budget move would help state's most vulnerable

The Indiana Legislature is on the cusp of ensuring more stability for some of our state's most vulnerable residents.

Now the Indiana Senate must fulfill what the House initiated by approving a budget that includes funds for boosting the pay of front-line workers who sustain the severely disabled.

It's an often thankless job that can take a sizable physical and emotional toll.

They're known as direct support professionals (DSPs), and they provide close, personal care for Hoosiers whose disabilities require intensive care.

Many of them work for Region nonprofits, including Tradewinds and Opportunity Enterprises, providing care and relying on state Medicaid reimbursement for funding.

Statewide, DSPs' wages are just slightly above the federal poverty level for a family of three and are 33 percent of the Indiana median income, according to Opportunity Enterprises.

This means high turnover in a position that begs for stability for the well being of the clients they serve.

The Indiana House wisely passed a budget that includes enough funding for DSPs to each receive about $1,700 more in income.

This represents a 5 percent increase in the pay rates for DSPs, Merrillville-based Tradewinds CEO Jon Gold said.

"I don't think I could do their jobs," Gold said of the DSPs. "They work with clients who, in some cases, have very difficult physical, behavioral and emotional needs. Some clearly need constant supervision, and it gets very physical and emotional at times."

Tradewinds already took its own steps to help boost the pay of its DSPs, recently approving an 18 percent raise over two or three years without state reimbursement.

But the need for a livable wage throughout the state remains.

Now the Senate must act to ensure that the final budget approved at the end of the 2017 legislative session includes these important funds.

It's part of a $10 million investment that ultimately will leverage $20 million in federal matching funds.

We all have a social duty to help those profoundly unable to help themselves.

This budget provision is but a small step in that greater direction.

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The (Bloomington) Herald-Times. March 23, 2017

Proposed federal budget cuts would have severe consequences at home

Stories about President Donald Trump's budget proposal and the Senate hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch are dominating the national news this week.

Both will have a huge impact on the nation, and that includes Monroe and surrounding counties. The impact of Gorsuch on the court is less predictable, however, than what would happen if the budget were to sail through Congress as proposed by our new president.

It would have a number of serious negative consequences for our community, especially for people on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale.

Lawmakers will most likely massage the budget before it is final, but just a part of the potential impact of what's on the table is laid out in stories in today's Herald-Times.

Eliminating Community Development Block Grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and and Urban Development would affect individuals and families served by programs that provide necessities for people who live in and around Monroe County.

The program, which began in 1974 and exists under the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is described like this on the HUD website: "The CDBG program works to ensure decent affordable housing, to provide services to the most vulnerable in our communities and to create jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses.

CDBG is an important tool for helping local governments tackle serious challenges facing their communities. The CDBG program has made a difference in the lives of millions of people and their communities across the nation."

It reaches into more than 1,200 communities across the country, including this one.

As outlined in a story by reporter Jonathan Streetman, the city of Bloomington distributed nearly $785,000 in federal funding from the block grant program in 2016, a total that dropped to $700,000 for 2017. Programs that receive funding include (but are not limited to) the Hoosier Hills Food Bank, the Community Kitchen of Monroe County and Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, which help feed people who need food; Middle Way House, which serves those affected by sexual and/or domestic violence; the Bloomington Housing Authority and the city department of Housing and Neighborhood Development, which help people find and maintain affordable housing; LifeDesigns, which helps people with disabilities; and Monroe County United Ministries, which assists people with affordable childcare as well as any number of other emergency services.

A second story in today's newspaper by reporter Brittani Howell looks at proposed cuts to the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, a federal grant program that supports summer learning and afterschool programs at the local level.

Funded through the U.S. Department of Education, that program also is earmarked for elimination; it provides at-risk students a safe environment and educational enrichment during nonschool hours.

The Monroe County Community School Corp. and the Richland Bean-Blossom Community School Corp. both have been approved for 21st Century grants for the 2017-18 school year - grants that could fall victim to the Trump budget blueprint. (The R-BB grant was awarded in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Ellettsville.)

The afterschool programs would continue, school officials say, but scholarships that now allow children from low-income families to participate might not be available. A funding cut also could effect the ability of at-risk students to participate in MCCSC's summer EdVenture Camps.

Today's stories are just the first of many that will come in the near future about how cuts at the federal level could affect real people with real problems throughout the nation, including right here at home.

We understand there's a good argument to be made that spending cuts are needed at the federal level. Careful, thoughtful cuts can and should be made.

However, it would be poor public policy to shut off funding to programs that have served millions of people effectively at the local level, from acting as a safety net to helping people move toward self-sufficiency to providing opportunities to meet educational goals and pursue dreams.

Now would be a good time to reach out to Hoosier members of Congress to let them know the federal government has a significant role to play in shoring up the social fabric of local communities.

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The (Fort Wayne) Journal Gazette. March 23, 2017

Can you hear us?

Jim Sack was not happy when a new utility tower popped up along his beloved Rudisill Boulevard.

"I called the city and acted like a spoiled brat," he said, "That boulevard is my baby. I was jumping up and down and insisting they move it, so it went from the north side of the road to the south side. I called again and it finally got moved to Bluffton Road and Broadway."

But the city wasn't behind the new pole. It was Verizon Wireless, which is installing small towers across the city as part of its new 5G network expansion. Last June, The Journal Gazette's Frank Gray reported on a Wallen Road resident who had a similar experience, with a pole originally planted in the right of way in front of his home.

If Senate Bill 213 passes the Indiana General Assembly in its current form, there will be many unhappy property owners, and local elected officials will have no authority to intervene when a telecommunications company decides a spot outside a home, business or church is the best place for its tower. The legislation makes placement of a "small cell facility" exempt from local zoning review.

Make no mistake: A 5G network is a good thing to have. It delivers data at up to 10 times the speed of the current LTE network, so video streams smoothly; websites load instantly. As with most new technology, consumers will demand it once it's available.

But for now, the technology requires many smaller towers - ideally about every 500 feet - in addition to the large towers. With five wireless carriers in Indiana, it could mean thousands of new towers in densely populated areas.

The House Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications Committee last week heard representatives for the industry extol the benefits of 5G, suggesting Indiana needs to pass the bill to support economic development.

Bill Soards, president of AT&T Indiana, reminded lawmakers his company had selected Indianapolis as one of the first two 5G markets in the country. A day earlier, he tweeted to SB 213's sponsors - Sen. Brandt Hershman and Rep. David Ober - that the bill could make Indiana "lead the 5G economy."

But Sack, who traveled to Indianapolis at city officials' urging to testify, asked legislators to consider their own homes and communities.

"I'm guessing none of you in this room would like to have one of these things right up against the side of your house; in the park strip between the sidewalk and the street - that's right of way," he said. "Every block and a half they are going to have these things the size of a Volkswagen? Does that look pleasing to you? Would you like to have that in your community?"

Sack asked for "just a little local control - so those people in Fort Wayne or in your community can look at it and say, 'You know - not quite there - let's move it half a block away.' "

Brian Gould, government affairs director for Accelerate Indiana Municipalities, the former Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, also urged lawmakers to amend the bill.

"Currently, constituents know they can go to city hall or town hall, talk to their mayor and that we will assist them in working through the process with their provider to perhaps identify a new location. But that's no longer going to be the case."

Gould said AIM would like to see a process that doesn't require property owners to hire an attorney.

Ober, an Albion Republican and the utilities committee chairman, said amendments are in the works. The revisions should give communities a voice. They can encourage telecommunications companies to place the new wireless equipment on existing poles or on buildings. They can work with neighborhood associations and property owners to find locations that are the least objectionable.

Progress is good, but it should come with the cooperation and collaboration of everyone involved.

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South Bend Tribune. March 22, 2017

The real Obamacare nightmare would be lost coverage for Hoosiers

Vice President Mike Pence has promised that the "nightmare" of Obamacare will soon end.

But Indiana Democrats - and the state's Republican governor - are hoping that the Medicaid expansion that Pence proudly launched thanks to the health care law survives.

The proposal in Congress to replace the Affordable Care Act would slash Medicaid - the cuts are estimated at $880 billion through 2026, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Democrats have warned that these cuts could have an alarming effect in Indiana for Hoosiers on Pence's Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0, which expanded Medicaid in 2015 thanks to funds available through the ACA.

At the time, Pence, who has repeatedly referred to Medicaid as a "broken" program, lauded the consumer-driven HIP 2.0 as the future of health care.

In a letter to Indiana's congressional delegation, Statehouse Democrats are asking them to defend HIP 2.0 from cuts backed by President Donald Trump. The letter calls for "serious answers" on how HIP coverage and overall health care policy could be affected.

Last week, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, called on Congress to spare Medicaid funding as they overhaul the ACA, saying he wants to make sure "we're compassionate and cover the Hoosiers that we are right now."

He added, "I completely believe that we need to fix the Affordable Care Act and repeal was the right first step. But the devil is always in the details."

Here's one detail that shouldn't be swept aside: More than 400,000 poor people in Indiana have health insurance as a result of the Medicaid expansion that Pence has championed as one of the great accomplishments of his governorship.

So far, Pence hasn't commented on how the plan he's selling as vice president could undo one of his signature achievements as governor. Or, most significantly, how that would affect the low-income Hoosiers enrolled in HIP 2.0.

But we can look to his words of January 2016, on the one-year anniversary of HIP 2.0, long before President Donald Trump, before the American Health Care Act. In an op-ed than ran in newspapers throughout the state, Pence praised the program, then looked to the future: After Obamacare is repealed, there will need to be a "transition period," he said, "allowing a new administration in Washington the ability to reform Medicaid and provide states even more flexibility to innovate and strengthen programs like HIP 2.0."

Fortunately, Pence is in a position to help ensure that bright and promising future he once envisioned for a stronger and even better HIP 2.0 - and for the hundreds of thousands of Indiana residents insured through the program - comes to pass.

In the past we have praised the former governor for the successful implementation of HIP 2.0. Even though we favored traditional Medicaid expansion, it wasn't difficult to support the alternative Pence offered. Now it's time for the vice president to offer his support to the program he developed - and the Hoosiers who have benefited from it.

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