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NOVEMBER 18, Tuesday    IGA Organization Day
DECEMBER 1, Monday       IGA Begins 2026 Legislative Session
JANUARY 28, Wednesday  League Day at the Statehouse
FEBRUARY 28, Saturday    Hoosiers Vote Summit

Pressure on our legislators is ramping up, urging them to redistrict and provide the Trump administration with two additional Republicans for our 9-member congressional delegation. Polls indicate Hoosiers are opposed to mid-cycle redistricting. Readthis Capital Chronicle articleshowing that anti-redistricting sentiment was twice as strong as support among Indiana voters.

But outside influence is having some effect:

State Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, has announced his support for redrawing Indiana’s congressional boundaries. Significantly, Koch was the Senate sponsor of the 2021 bill that crafted new congressional and state legislative districts, which he said at the time would “serve our state well in the decade ahead.”Niki Kelly of the Indiana Capital Chronicleexplainswhy Koch is on board for redistricting.

WHAT CAN WE DO? Keep up the pressure! Let our legislators know we do not want our congressional maps redrawn. Invite friends and neighbors to voice their opinions.

• Send messages to your legislators and the governor:
  • https://actionnetwork.org/letters/no-mid-cycle-redistricting
• Email or call legislative leaders and your legislators to state your opposition:
  • Gov. Mike Braun:https://www.in.gov/gov/contact-mike/, 317-232-4567
  • Speaker of the Indiana House: Todd Huston,H37@iga.in.gov, 317-232-9677
  • President Pro Tempore: Rodric Bray,S37@iga.in.gov, 317-232-9400
• Meet with your legislators in person to state your opposition
  • On Organization Day, November 18, at the Statehouse (request meeting in advance)
  • Before November 18 or between November 19 and 30 in your home district.
  • As an example, LWV Brown County, Johnson County, and Bloomington-Monroe County are sponsoring a Town Hall on Zoom with Senators and representatives from Bartholomew, Brown, Johnson, and Monroe counties.Saturday November 15, 9:30-11:00. You can register here: Https://tinyurl.com/LWVTownHall
• Join the Say NO to Redistricting rally at the Statehouse, Monday, December 1, 2025
  • Multiple organizations in our All IN 4 Democracy coalition will be gathering9:00 am-1:00 pm ET to greet legislators at every entrance to the building.
  • Register in advance to get updated information! https://lwvin.org/content.aspx?page_id=4091&club_id=42001&item_id=2772096
    

• LITIGATION VICTORY! Late in the afternoon on October 31, a federal court permanently blocked a provision of President Trump’s executive order that sought to add documentary proof of citizenship to the federal voter registration form inLWVEF v. Trump. The League previously succeeded in blocking the provision before it could ever go into effect back in April. Read the press release HERE.
  
  
• LWV signed a Civil Right statement with 175 other groups. Read about it HERE.
  
  LWVUS submitted public comments to EPA opposing its proposed rule to eliminate the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. https://www.lwv.org/environment/lwvus-submits-comments-epa-opposing-eliminating-greenhouse-gas-reporting-program
  
  
• League of Women Voters Announces Advisory Committee for Unite and Rise 8.5 Campaign
  
  
• Women-Led Organizations Team Up to Strengthen Democracy in Communities Nationwide
  
  
• LWV Lawsuit Protecting Americans’ sensitive data. Read about it HERE.

LWV Lake Michigan Region Annual Conference and Business Meeting

October 24/25, 2025 Springhouse Inn, Porter Indiana

LWVIN is in partnership with theLeague of Women Voters Lake Michigan Region, an Inter-League organization made up of the four surrounding state Leagues and over 60 local Leagues.Active participationfalls to the local Indiana Leagues in NW Indiana and they helped plan this informative weekend that includeddelegates and members from our four Lake Michigan states.

Speakers included the Alliance for the Great Lakes’ Helena Volzer, J.D., Senior Water Policy Manager; the Environmental Law and Policy Center’s Howard A. Lerner, CEO; and Save the Dunes’ Betsy Maher, Executive Director. LWVLMR has promised to upload all of the presentations on the lwvlmr.org website soon. Key points we learned over the weekend:Indiana as a state needs to pay attention to water rights, water availability, groundwater issues and conflicts, water usage by data centers and heavy industry, and coal ash legislation.

• Regarding AI and Data Centers: https://greatlakes.org/2025/09/webinar-preparing-the-great-lakes-region-for-large-water-users/ Here is a recent ELPC webinar about data centers – we need to educate ourselves: https://elpc.org/events/elpc-thinks-clean-energy-the-data-center-dilemma/
  
  
• The “Permit Act” part of the Clean Water Act, is currently in danger of being “gutted.” Search for “HB 3898” or visit ELPC’s website and scroll down to the “Tell Congress – Don’t Gut the Clean Water Act” to see what this act entails and how you can help!
• To find out more about how to facilitate conversations, and identify partnerships to create sustainable solutions, visit https://savedunes.org/resources/
  

Current officers are: President David Mueller, Vice President Fran Wallace, Treasurer Sarah Bury, and Secretary Abigail Nichols.

FORGOTTEN FOREMOTHERS
Profiles of lesser-known heroines in the fight for women's rights

Pretty Shield, Crow medicine-woman

But his chosen subject, Pretty Shield, a medicine-woman of the Crow tribe, came. Accompanying her was another woman, a translator named Goes-together, “wife of Deer-nose, the Indian Police Judge.” Pretty Shield had some questions for Frank before they began.

“She wants to know what it is that you wish her to tell you,’” Goes-together asked him. When Frank answered that he wanted to know “everything that happened to her since she was a little girl,” Pretty-shield laughed, “eyes merry.”

“We shall be here until we die. Many things have happened to me,” she said through Goes-together. “I am an old woman.”

You can read this entire article HERE.

Kathryn S Gardiner