Millions of people across the country – and more the 600,000 Hoosiers – will not receive their SNAP benefits next month if the federal government remains shut down.  

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides food assistance to low- and no-income individuals and families living in the U.S. The federal aid program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which says “the well has run dry.” 

To qualify for SNAP benefits, applicants must meet certain financial and non-financial requirements, including citizenship/alien status, work registration and a gross income of no more than 130 percent of the federal poverty line. 

Republicans and Democrats are blaming each other for the shut down – and the loss of benefits that comes with it. 

Read more: Democratic AGs and governors sue USDA for suspending SNAP benefits 

The secretary of Indiana's Family and Social Services Administration, which distributes SNAP benefits in the state said: “The surest way to protect Hoosiers from a disruption in their SNAP benefits is for Senate Democrats to quickly pass the Clean Continuing Resolution. Until then, families across Indiana are left in limbo — their ability to put food on the table tied up in political gridlock." 

Democrats say they are voting no to re-opening the government to protect millions of people who could lose their healthcare through the Affordable Care Act. 

Read more: Here’s why the shutdown has put food stamp benefits at risk 

Stuck in the middle are the 42 million Americans who rely on SNAP benefits to survive. 

Food banks, which are also facing funding cuts, say they are bracing for increased demands. 

“Really at this point, because our government funding and government food streams are also somewhat in flux because of the shutdown, we really have to rely on private support in order to be able to continue doing what we're doing,” said Julio Alonso, the executive director of the Hoosier Hills Food Bank. 

On this week’s Noon Edition, we’ll discuss the potential impact on Hoosiers of lost benefits and the impact a loss of state and federal funds will have on local food banks. 

Join us on the air by calling 812-855-0811 or toll-free at 1-877-285-9348. You can also send questions for the show to [email protected].  

You can also record your questions and send them in through email.  

Guests
Julio Alonso, Executive Director, Hoosier Hills Food Bank
Emily Weikert Bryant, Executive Director, Feeding Indiana’s Hungry
Dan Combs, Perry Township Trustee 

On this week’s special Noon Edition from the Unitarian Universalist Church in Bloomington, we discuss the rise in Christian nationalism in the U.S., its embrace by conservative politicians and how it’s shaping policy.  

Guests
Daniel O. Conkle, Professor of Law Emeritus, IU Maurer School of Law
Rep. Matt Pierce, (D) Bloomington
Bob Whitaker, Senior Pastor, Christ Community Church 

The Indiana University Media School fired Director of Student Media Jim Rodenbush Tuesday.

It comes one week after Rodenbush says he was ordered by administrators to remove news from the Indiana Daily Student print edition.

Editors at the IDS said Rodenbush refused, telling Media School Leaders he would not censor the student paper.

Media School Dean David Tolchinsky told Rodenbush in a letter published by the IDS that he was being fired for his “lack of leadership” and unwillingness to stick to the Student Media Plan.

Read more: IU announces student media merger, cuts newspaper

The Media School created the Student Media Plan after the university paid off nearly $1 million in debt for the IDS last year. The plan ended weekly printing to curb its deficit. The IDS is still permitted to publish special themed editions, which have included news. Rodenbush told editors in an email that administrators expected “that edition should contain nothing but information about homecoming — no other news at all, and particularly no traditional front page news coverage.”

An exception could be made for copies of the IDS distributed off campus, he said.

IDS editors described the order on print in an editorial Tuesday as censorship and denounced his firing. Students at campus radio station WIUX and television station IUSTV also criticized the Media School, as did IU Student Government.

On this week’s Noon Edition, we’ll discuss the firing, the Student Media Plan, the direction of the IDS and the Media School.

Join us on the air by calling 812-855-0811 or toll-free at 1-877-285-9348. You can also send questions for the show to [email protected].  

You can also record your questions and send them in through email. 

Guests
Jim Rodenbush, former Director of Student Media, Indiana University Media School
Suzannah Evans Comfort, Associate Professor, Indiana University Media School

One in 31 Americans have been diagnosed with autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest data, from 2022.

The numbers have grown significantly from the 1990s, when the autism rate was one in 10,000. Even in 2000, the rate was one in 150.

Scientists say in the past, only kids with severe problems were diagnosed with autism. Now that they know autism spectrum disorder encompasses a wide range of traits and symptoms, the numbers have jumped.

They also say as services grew, more parents began seeking diagnoses for their children.

But recent comments and recommendations on autism by President Donald Trump and his administration have stirred controversy on the issue. Trump said there is “something artificial” about the rising autism rate and suggested women not take Tylenol, which includes the drug acetaminophen, during pregnancy unless medically necessary.

Read more: Trump links autism and Tylenol: is there any truth to it?

Parents of autistic children and doctors say the president is blaming mothers and vilifying autism.

“There’s this kind of narrative that you have to be careful of absolutely everything you do in pregnancy, and if you eat the wrong thing or do the wrong thing, you’re going to irreparably harm your baby,” said Dr. Noa Sterling, an OB-GYN. “So, the Tylenol just plays directly into this fear that, ‘I’ve taken something that has caused this condition in my child.’”

Last month, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Secretary of Human and Health Services, announced actions the administration will take to “confront the nation’s autism spectrum disorder epidemic.” Those include new treatments and what he calls groundbreaking research.

The renewed focus on ASD is welcomed by some, but others decry what they see as pushing ideas not grounded in science.

On this week’s Noon Edition, we’ll discuss autism spectrum disorders, behavior analysis and support, living with autism and the federal government’s new approach to autism. 

Join us on the air by calling 812-855-0811 or toll-free at 1-877-285-9348. You can also send questions for the show to [email protected].  

You can also record your questions and send them in through email. 

Guests
Dr. Cathy Pratt, former director, Indiana Resource Center for Autism
Adria Nassim, research assistant, Indiana Institute on Disability and Community
Ashley Lehman, president, Monroe County Autism Foundation

Indiana is slashing available seats in state-funded preschool programs next year and reducing reimbursement for preschools.

The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration announced the cuts in June and said the state was narrowing eligibility for these programs.

Read more: Indiana slashes number of children in state preschool program

The programs were funded by about $1 billion in pandemic money that ran out this year and isn’t being replaced by the legislature.

Although Indiana Gov. Mike Braun pushed for increased funding, lawmakers ended up passing a smaller budget due to weak revenue forecasts.

According to a survey conducted last month, about 11 percent of the state’s early childcare providers report that they may close in the next year as a result of the cuts.

Read more: Indiana child carers already closing as cuts hit

On this week’s Noon Edition, we’ll discuss how the cuts are affecting childcare providers, parents trying to get care, and early learning costs and benefits.

Join us on the air by calling 812-855-0812 or toll-free at 1-877-285-9348. You can also send questions for the show to [email protected]. 

You can also record your questions and send them in through email. 

Guests
Tony Felts, Chief Engagement Officer, Early Learning Indiana
Jennifer Myers, Director, Monroe Smart Start
Hanan Osman, Executive Director, Indiana Association for the Education of Young Children

Pet ownership has risen by about 10 percent over the last three decades, with three-fourths of those surveyed saying they acquired a pet during the pandemic.

On this Noon Edition, we’ll be talking with three guests about how beauty standards have changed over the years and how the selfie generation is turning to procedures in hopes of achieving the perfect look.

On this Noon Edition, we talk with medical experts about the need for vaccines and the fallout from the Trump administration’s vaccine stance and shake up at the top of the Center for Disease Control. 

Labor Day traditionally marks the unofficial end to summer.

But true meaning behind the holiday is to honor the contributions of American workers to society.

Growing out of the labor movement of the 1880s, the first Labor Day parade was held in New York City in 1882. Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894.

Leading the labor movement in Indiana was Terre Haute’s Eugene V. Debs. As Grand Secretary of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, he led a 10-month strike in 1888 against CB&Q Railroad.

He was also instrumental in the founding of the American Railway Union, one of the nation's first industrial unions, and went on to serve in the Indiana House of Representatives. Debs also ran for president five times as a socialist, the last time in 1920 from jail.

One of the first major pro-labor laws came in 1914. The Clayton Act said "the labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce." It legalized strikes and boycotts. Workers earned the right to unionize in via the Wagner Act in 1935.

Union membership peaked in 1954 with 35 percent of the workforce represented by a union.

But union membership began to decline and by 1983, union membership was down to 21 percent nationwide. Indiana was above the national average then with 25 percent. But by 2004, that number was down to 12 percent and last year dipped below 10 percent.

Contributing to the decline was Indiana’s Right to Work legislation, which was signed into law in 2012. It prohibits unions from requiring union membership as a condition of employment.

But union membership is making a comeback, with companies such as Starbucks and Amazon seeing organized labor movements. And at Indiana University, the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition has been seeking formal recognition from IU for its more than 1,700 members.

On this week’s Noon Edition, we’ll discuss the history behind the labor movement in the U.S., Indiana’s role in unions, where unions stand today and why it’s important to recognize laborers.

Join us on the air by calling 812-855-0811 or toll-free at 1-877-285-9348. You can also send questions for the show to [email protected].

Guests

Derek Cronin, president of UAW Local 440

Allison Duerk, Director of the Eugene Debs Museum

Jerry Torr, former Indiana state representative from Carmel, co-author Indiana’s Right to Work law

Joseph Varga, professor in the Labor Studies Department at Indiana University

On this week’s Noon Edition, we discuss the excitement surrounding the Indiana football program, how NIL money is impacting college football and the return of the bison.