Severe storms hit Indiana, Build Indiana gas tax, ILEARN and IREAD results, Purdue Vonnegut Museum, IPS ballot challenge

WFYI Podcasts are brought to you by Gregory and Appel Insurance. Dedicated to helping people and businesses navigate the complexities of risk management, employee benefits, and private client insurance. More at GregoryAppel.com. WFYI podcasts are sponsored by Sun King Brewery, home of sunlight cream ale. More information at sunkingbrewing.com, fresh local beer. This is WFII News Now. It's Wednesday, August 12th, and I'm Barbonguiano. Here are today's top stories around central Indiana. Severe thunderstorms and heavy rains are rolling through Indiana again this week. That includes a storm system that pushed 60 mile per hour winds through central Indiana Tuesday afternoon. In northwest Indiana, the same storm system was responsible for hail and three tornadoes, which were confirmed by the National Weather Service yesterday evening. Two of those tornadoes entered Lake County through the towns of Munster and St. John. The agency will continue surveys today to determine. the paths of the tornadoes. In a statement on social media, Governor Mike Braun says state agencies are working around the clock to assess damages and clear debris, including downed power lines, which have led to blackouts across northern Indiana. In a different online post, Nipsco estimates nearly 300,000 of 500,000 customers lost power. due to the severe weather. Nipsco says, quote, this is currently the largest customer outage event in Nipsco's history and expects restoration to be a multi-day effort in some areas. Meanwhile, the Chicago Office of the National Weather Service posted on X that more storms are expected today. The agency anticipates additional heavy rain and damaging winds this afternoon. A flood watch has also been extended. Indiana residents may be happy with cheaper gas when filling up their cars, but some Indiana road construction representatives are increasingly worried. Benthorpe has more. The gas tax holiday has already cost the state roughly half a billion dollars. Governor McG Braun has said it is possible because of a strong state surplus. But the Build Indiana Council, an advocacy group representing the transportation infrastructure industry, warns the state needs to make changes to its long-term funding model. Brian Gould is the executive director for the council. He says the state faces a funding cliff. The average Hoosier right now has saved around $100 so far this summer. If we continue this much longer without a new plan into the future, I think Hoosiers are going to have to weigh what's the benefit? According to Gould, just maintaining both state and local roads costs over $2 billion each year. I'm Ben Thorpe in Indianapolis. Indiana's middle schoolers are struggling with math in English, but the state's youngest readers are continuing to make gains. Caroline Beck reports on the latest scores for the state's I-Learn and I-read tests.

Tuesday's results showed that I-read scores have improved for the fifth year in a row. For the state's assessment on grades 3 through 8 on math and English, it is harder to tell how students are doing. That's because this year's scores set the new benchmark for I-Learn after the test went through changes and new state academic standards were established. Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner says now they're working towards improvement. And our goal will be to take that baseline where we see it. and we will work to improve across the board. New A to F letter grades are also expected to be given out to schools later this year after being on a five-year hiatus. I'm Caroline Beck. Purdue University wants to expand its educational offerings and its presence in Indianapolis. Jeremy Rubin reports the school announced this week its latest move is to purchase a museum. The Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library has sat on Indiana Avenue since 2019 and aims to keep the Indianapolis-born author's legacy alive. The museum's founder, Julia Whitehead, says the new partnership means Purdue will fund the museum and take on some logistical challenges the nonprofit used to tackle alone. It is an honor that they see the value in what we bring and how hard we've worked and how much we've done on a shoestring budget. And, you know, now we won't have to worry so much about the things that are not our primary mission. The university plans to use the museum to enrich its museum studies program. It will remain open to the public after the partnership begins. I'm Jeremy Rupin. A candidate running for IPS school board has been kicked off the ballot over her eligibility to run as a Democrat. Caroline Beck has more from our reporting partners at Chalkbeat, Indiana. The Marion County Election Board voted Monday to remove Lindsay Cornett from the ballot, leaving her opponent Chris Boltman the only candidate for the IPS District 4 race. The challenge to Cornett's eligibility all stems from a new law that allows school board candidates to list party affiliations. The election board ultimately agreed with the challenge that Cornett could not qualify as a Democrat since she is not voted in two Democratic primaries in Indiana. Cornett's voting records showed she has only voted in one Democratic primary since moving to Indiana in 2019. Cornett says she plans to file a judicial review on the decision. I'm Caroline Beck.

That's all for today's episode of WFYI News Now. Our podcast is produced by Zach Bundy with support from the news team at WFYI and public media journalists across the state. Kendall Antron produced our music. If you like today's episode, remember to subscribe and share and follow WFYI on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to get the latest from our newsroom. Thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow. WFYI Podcasts are sponsored by Sun King Brewery, home of sunlight cream ale. More information at sunkingbrewing.com, fresh local beer.