INDIANA GOVERNMENT (PUBLIC) SCHOOLS Indiana appears headed toward a record-breaking school referendum year as districts try to offset funding losses caused by state policy changes. Why it matters: Schools are feeling the effects of last year's property tax cuts and looking for ways to stay afloat without cutting staff or services, but asking voters to raise property taxes during tough economic times could prove a difficult sell. Without increased taxes, though, schools are facing tough choices — cuts to transportation services, increased class sizes, or fewer school resource officers. "We're trying to offset the damage caused by legislative changes," Tom Oestreich, superintendent of Carmel Clay Schools, explained during a recent referendum discussion with his board. On Monday night, Bartholomew Consolidated Schools in Columbus voted to renew its referendum and Mississinewa Community Schools voted to advance one for the first time. At least 11 districts statewide have officially voted to place a referendum on the November ballot. An Axios Indianapolis analysis of documents for school boards around the state identified at least a dozen more that are considering a referendum. Barr-Reeve and Beech Grove schools are expected to vote on theirs Tuesday night. Context: State lawmakers made a number of changes driving the increase in school referendums this fall. The property tax cuts passed in 2025 are costing districts hundreds of millions in revenue annually. Lawmakers also changed referendum procedures. While districts used to be able to place questions on either the primary or general election ballots in any given year, those rules were changed so that a district may place a referendum only on the general election ballot in an even-numbered year. What they're saying: "Our sense is that there's going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 or so school districts around the state," Matthew Parkinson with Policy Analytics told the Pike Township Schools board during a recent meeting. Pike passed a referendum in May 2024, so it isn't considering a renewal this year, but leaders said they'll be watching the passage rates for this spate of referendums as they consider their own renewal in the next few years. Stunning stat: The most referendums the state has seen in a single year so far is 20 in 2010, but that was split between the primary and general elections. Between the lines: It's not just one type of district pursuing referendums this year. Parkinson said some districts are considering a referendum for the first time, while others are looking to renew an existing referendum early to raise the rate and offset losses from both property tax cuts and new rules on sharing funds with charter schools. At least 10 districts in Central Indiana have passed or are considering referendums this year. Anderson, Hamilton Southeastern, Noblesville, Sheridan, Washington Township, Westfield Washington, and Zionsville schools have all officially approved their ballot questions. Beech Grove, Carmel Clay and Indianapolis Public Schools are expected to vote soon. What we're watching: School districts have until Aug. 1 to approve a referendum question for the November ballot, so we're waiting to see just how many end up going for it this year. I’m running for the Evansville VANDERBURGH School Corporation this fall. It will be interesting to monitor the Aug 1st deadline and whether the current administration will support a referendum to increase funding. The referendum will appear on the ballot the same time my name will appear on the ballot. Don’t think for a moment, I won’t use the opportunity to expose the fraud and waste of the EVANSVILLE Vanderburgh School Corporation; there’s a lot of mismanagement. I do NOT support further waste of taxpayers funds. DOGE is one of my platforms and the public will support this initiative. Everyone will be exposed. 100% transparency when public funds are being used. Let’s say the local teachers Union will never provide their endorsement of @KColbertReport. @SecJennerIN @EVSC1 @MicahBeckwith @LGMicahBeckwith @GovBraun

INDIANA LAWSUIT MEDICAID FRAUD Two former state officials filed a “whistleblower” lawsuit that alleged several Indiana hospital systems and managed care entities committed “tens, likely hundreds” of millions of dollars of Medicaid fraud. The former officials filed the lawsuit in early 2021 when they obtained access to analysis from Indiana’s “fraud and abuse detection system” contractor, IBM Watson Health. The case was sealed until earlier this year. The lawsuit alleges four companies in charge of managing Indiana Medicaid “knowingly and improperly” misused millions in Medicaid funds to pay claims that violate billing requirements. It also said six hospital systems obtained millions in funds by submitting thousands of false claims to Medicaid. The complaint was filed on behalf of the state and the federal government by John McCullough, the former director of program integrity for Indiana Medicaid; and James Holden, the former chief deputy and general counsel in the Office of the Indiana State Treasurer. McCullough served in that role from 2014 to 2017 and attended regular meetings with the managed care entity defendants and the hospital defendants. The lawsuit said the Program Integrity team and IBM Watson regularly met with the defendants and reminded them of their obligation to detect, prevent and recoup improper Medicaid payments from false claims. It also said they were advised on how to do so. The lawsuit focuses on false claims related to three specific areas. 1) The first area is false claims related to re-admissions, hospital transfers and 24-hour stays. These included claims where two separate in-patient claims were filed when a patient was re-admitted within 72 hours for the same condition. Another type of claim in this area is when a claim did not have a transfer status for patients that went to another hospital. The transferring hospital is supposed to receive a “prorated daily rate” rather than the full amount the receiving hospital gets. It also includes claims when a patient was marked as “in-patient” for a hospital stay under 24 hours. The out-patient rate is lower. 2) The second area is false claims that were “clearly unallowable” due to the claim being for services marked as being provided after a patient has died or a duplicate claim. 3) The third area is false claims for chiropractic, dental and opioid treatments. In these cases, a separate claim might be submitted for a service that should be included in another service. For example, a dental extraction is expected to have sutures, but a false claim might be filed for the sutures separate from the extraction. These areas applied to both the managed care entities defendants that were misusing Medicaid funds for these false claims and the hospitals that were obtaining the Medicaid funds for these false claims. The lawsuit said the defendants were aware of their obligation to prevent or deny claims that “violate basic hospital billing rules.” The IBM reports that the lawsuit is based on are not available to the public, but are provided directly to Indiana Medicaid’s Integrity team. The complaint said between 2011 and 2020, less than 1 percent of recoupment demands based on IBM Watson’s analysis were overturned on appeal. Starting in late 2017, the lawsuit said a senior executive at Indiana Medicaid “improperly directed the Program Integrity team to significantly curtail its efforts to utilize IBM Watson’s analysis and findings to recoup improper Medicaid overpayments” by the defendants. The lawsuit pointed to political pressure from lobbyists for the health insurers and the hospitals. It also said this misconduct contributed to last year’s $1 billion budget shortfall. The managed care entity defendants include Anthem, MDwise, Caresource and Coordinated Care, which operates as Managed Health Services or MHS. The hospital defendants include IU Health, Ascension, Community Health, Lutheran Health, Parkview Health, and Eskenazi .

INDIANA - Palantir Owner, Peter Theil, had a connection yet again with INDIANA. This time it’s a former Indiana Governor. Mitch Daniels was listed as a registrant on a leaked attendee list for an invitation-only event that was scheduled to take place in Ireland. Here’s the context: Peter Thiel’s “Dialog” Retreat (Planned for August 2026). In mid-June 2026, leaks reported by Wired and others revealed that Mitch Daniels (former Indiana governor and Purdue University president, then recently named interim president of Purdue) was among ~222 people registered for the 2026 Dialog retreat. theguardian.com Dialog is a private, invitation-only organization co-founded in 2006 by billionaire Peter Thiel. It hosts off-the-record annual retreats for influential figures in U.S. politics, tech, finance, government, and other sectors. The 2026 event was set for August 12–16, 2026, at the Powerscourt Hotel (near Dublin, in County Wicklow, Ireland). Topics on the leaked program included geopolitics (“Navigating WWIII,” “Battlefield Technologies”), energy (“Bring Back Nuclear”), economics, and more unconventional sessions (e.g., “How’s Your Sex Life?” or “Build-a-Cult”). wired.com Cancellation: The hotel cancelled the booking in early July 2026 (around July 3) after public criticism and protests. Critics, including Irish opposition politicians and pro-Palestine groups, objected due to Peter Thiel’s companies (notably Palantir) having ties to Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The cancellation came before the event could occur. irishtimes.com A list of powerful figures from the world of politics, entertainment, and tech was exposed online. The list belongs to a secretive invitation-only organization called Dialog, which conservative gay billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel cofounded. According to Wired, the list includes internal records of those who had attended off-the-record events. It notes, “Dialog has spent two decades declining to disclose its members.” The leaked records were exposed by the Swiss hacktivist maia arson crimew, who previously revealed the US government’s No Fly List, via an anonymous tip. Wired reports that it independently verified the contents. Another source gave Wired the registration for the group’s 2026 annual retreat. That retreat is scheduled for August 12-16 in Ireland. A list shared online by crimew includes out One Tree Hill actor Sophia Bush, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Democratic U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, and columnist Ezra Klein. “Together, alongside the mundane fare of a typical thought leadership conference, the documents show an extraordinary convergence of power,” Wired reports. Not only are the above people on a list, so too are the founders, directors, and CEOs of some of the most powerful companies in the U.S., religious leaders, and Trump administration officials. The overlap between the industries represented and the government officials who oversee them is striking. The 2026 retreat is scheduled for August 12-16 at the Powerscourt Hotel outside Dublin, Ireland, according to the outlet. Session topics include “Navigating WWIII,” “Battlefield Technologies,” and “Build-a-Cult,” moderated by the founder of the Christian networking site Pray.com. “What ties the roster together more than any title or office is a shared preoccupation with artificial intelligence, longevity, and the near future. Asked on a sign-up form to predict the future, registrants returned again and again to the same theme: that AI will reorder work, war, education, and belief within a few years. Several foresee mass labor displacement and a swing back toward unions and government programs; others predict an ‘AI winter,’ domestic terrorism targeting data centers, criminal defendants choosing AI lawyers over public defenders, or religious revival provoked by the disruption,” Wired reports. Wired notes that none of the 222 retreat registrants used a government email address, leaving their correspondence outside public records laws. The exposed database also included each participant’s self-reported political leaning and records from a matchmaking service the organization operates. powerscourt.com/?__cf_chl_f_… @purduemitch @indianagop @AndrewIrelandIN @MicahBeckwith @LGMicahBeckwith @Indy_reporter_ @BBessolo @peterthiel @GovBraun