Image of flowered uterus. Title: Mondays with Michelle 9/16/24. Prioritizing Maternal Health. The (Un)Intended Consequences of SB1.

Prioritizing Maternal Health: The (Un)Intended Consequences of SB1

By michelle

“Significant and compelling evidence regarding the policy implications of S.B. 1 and its effect on medical professionals in particular was presented. However, the Court cannot substitute its own policy preferences for that of the Indiana General Assembly.” - Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Kelsey Blake Hanlon (https://www.newsweek.com/indiana-judge-rejects-abortion-providers-challenge-near-total-ban-1952441)

Thank A Union - image of a sunset

Thank A Union - Remembering the Labor Movement

By michelle

As another Labor Day weekend comes to a close, I am reminded of the men and women who fought for and won labor rights in this country. I am reminded of my grandfather who was a telephone lineman and proud union member in northern California. The original telephone poles in Sonoma County were evidence of his work. That was pretty cool to witness. But the truth is that we all experience the contributions of organized labor every day. Manufacturing, construction, transportation, healthcare, education, hospitality, entertainment, retail and so much more.

Photo of a field and red barn in the distance

Loving Rural - The Things That Bring Us Home

By michelle

I’ve felt deeply connected to two rural places in my life. The first was the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas in a small town called Mercedes, about 5 miles from the Rio Grande River and the Mexican border. I was 3 ½ when I arrived at the small farmhouse on a rural route, surrounded by cottonfields. It was ½ mile to the nearest neighbor. My “swimming pool” was an irrigation ditch and some rather deep potholes in a gravel driveway. A propane tank was my “pony”. My imagination grew as wide as that Texas sky.

Indiana Rural Summit Tour 2024 poster with candidates' headshots and tour dates. For more information, visit: https://linktr.ee/IndianaRuralSummit

Meet the Indiana Rural Summit: The Nine-Candidate Supergroup Shaking up Southern Indiana Politics for the Better

By michelle

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Indiana Rural Summit 2024

Indiana Rural Summit

Local House candidates band together to demand more for rural voters, kicking off a six-stop event tour at Jasper Strassenfest.

Greetings from Indiana the Hoosier State tourism postcard

Extraction Economy - Selling Out Hoosiers

By michelle

I recently finished reading “Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism” by Yanis Varoufakis, the former Finance Minister for Greece. (For an extensive interview with the author, see Wired Magazine.) It is a sobering look at what has slowly been happening in our global economy since the housing crash of 2008. As the book description explains, “Big tech has replaced capitalism's twin pillars—markets and profit—with its platforms and rents.

Redesigning The Indiana Diploma: Coming to a School Near You with a photo collage of Michelle Higgs testifying at the State Board of Education public hearing, the opening slide "Rethinking High School: The Future of the Indiana Diploma" and the IDOE website image "Redesigning the Indiana Diploma" showing a classroom and apple in the background

Education - My Personal Stake in the Proposed New Diploma Requirements

By michelle

[In less than 24 hours, I rearranged my schedule so I could attend the public hearing of the State Board of Education as they presented the first draft of their proposed high school graduation requirements and listened to public comments. As the parent of an incoming 7th grader who will be directly impacted by these decisions, I definitely had some questions and concerns.  Seeing several glaring gaps in infrastructure, with further demands on our most underfunded schools, and lack of acknowledgment for the unique needs of rural schools (e.g.