By Kyla Russell for WISH-TV.
Broadcast version by Joe Ulery for Indiana News Service reporting for the WISH-TV-Free Press Indiana-Public News Service Collaboration.

The Indiana House has passed an extension to the state's Lifeline Law, sending it to the governor's desk for signature.

The state's current law, passed in 2012, grants criminal immunity to anyone who calls 911 to ask for help for someone drinking underage and experiencing a medical emergency. The expansion aims to also protect the person drinking.

"Currently, the person in need of medical attention is not protected," Purdue University Student Body Vice President Rebecca Siener, a junior, said.

She spent some of her college career as a resident assistant.

"Our students are more fearful of the repercussions of underage drinking than the potentially life threatening condition of alcohol poisoning," Siener said.

She, along with her fellow student government leaders, spent the last year trying to get protection for all parties. She said she also assisted in writing the new legislation.

Siener watched the House pass the expansion in an 87-3 vote on Thursday. It passed in the Senate earlier this session.

"The last step is the signing ceremony," Siener said. "The governor has the option to veto it, but we don't see him vetoing it, and then it will go into effect July 1 of 2025, and we will have changed state law."

The new changes may soon be etched in law, but Siener says she stands on the backs of students who came before her. In 2012, when the Lifeline Law first passed, it was Purdue student government leaders who pushed for the change.

"The former Purdue Student Body President Brett Highley came up with the idea of the Indiana Lifeline Law and having a medical amnesty policy within Indiana and they proposed this to former Sen. (Jim) Merritt," Seiner said. "Former Sen. Merritt agreed to author it."

Purdue students formed the Indiana Lifeline Law Coalition to get the original law passed. It's made up of college students at various Indiana universities united in advocating for the policy.

The coalition still stands today.

"Here we are, 12 years later, trying to expand it," Siener said. "If students could change law in 2012 to save lives, we can do so, and, we will do so, again in 2025."


Kyla Russell wrote this article for WISH-TV.


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New data shows incarceration has ballooned in Kentucky's rural counties, and less populated regions are building more jails.

The findings come from an analysis of jail-offenses data by the nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative. Wanda Bertram, a communications strategist for the organization, said small towns and counties pour a huge amount of public resources into arrests for minor offenses. She added that those same counties are doubling down on policing and prosecution policies.

"Incarceration is a costly business," she said. "It is extremely destabilizing for people who go to jail, and it may or may not actually do anything to improve public safety."

The average county in Kentucky had about 12,000 people incarcerated in 2019. That number has decreased to around 10,000 in 2024, according to the Kentucky Association of Counties.

Across the country, Bertram said, most counties see jails as a place to hold people charged with low-level offenses or misdemeanors.

"Two thirds of people are being held on charges that did not involve physical violence against another person," she said.

According to federal data from 2023, 20% of people in jails were held for misdemeanors. According to the Jail Data Initiative, the actual number of people in jails that year for non-violent offenses is closer to 35%.


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More than 60 Pennsylvania counties do not have enough public defenders for their caseloads, forcing some, including in Erie County, to each handle more than 400 cases a year.

A report by Quattrone Center at the University of Pennsylvania said the state needs more than 1,200 full-time public defenders but has about 850.

Sara Jacobson, executive director of the Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania, said the state was one of only two providing no funding for public defense but $7.5 million was allocated in the last two state budgets. Jacobson acknowledged it has helped, although spread across 67 counties, it is not enough to make real change in places like Erie County.

"Erie got in 2023-2024 a little over $102,000. The second appropriation: $106,723," Jacobson pointed out. "The problem is that when you add the cost of an attorney's salary and benefits, the money that's there is not enough when it gets divided up."

The report found Erie County would need 28 full-time attorneys to handle the large caseload but currently has nine full-time and eight part-time attorneys. At a recent news conference, Clinton County Commissioner Jeff Snyder said the state's allocation of funding for indigent defense would have to double, to $15 million a year to handle the growing need.

Jacobson noted heavy caseloads cause delays, both for public defenders and clients. She added prior to the pandemic, Erie County had top public defender pay but now, some attorneys are leaving for better-paying work in the Erie conflict office.

"Conflict Counsel in Erie County gets paid more and has a far lower caseload," Jacobson explained. "Every time someone leaves, their 400 or however many cases have to be distributed among the other lawyers. So those caseloads go up and the service to those clients goes down because of it."

Jacobson cited a Vanderbilt Law School study, which found each exoneration for a wrongful conviction costs a state $6.1 million. With at least 140 exonerations, it adds up to $856 million in costs for Pennsylvania.

Indiana lawmakers continue to debate THC rules while surrounding states move forward with marijuana legalization.

Senate Bill 478 targets packaging and branding rules for legal THC products sold to people 21 and older. Lawmakers want to prevent the products from mimicking candy or snacks, which might appeal to minors. The bill would require testing and stricter packaging for craft hemp flower and other THC items.

Rep. Jake Teshka, R-North Liberty, sponsored the bill.

"This market right now is the wild, wild West," Teshka contended. "I think what this bill attempts to do is to ensure that the safety of Hoosier youth and Hoosier consumers comes first and primary in our efforts to regulate this product."

Delta 8, Delta 9 and Delta 10 products-chemicals with THC levels under 0.3% remain legal in Indiana and often appear in gas stations, smoke shops and dispensaries. Committee members provided input for possible changes to the bill and recessed before acting but plan to reconvene soon.

Although marijuana sales remain illegal in Indiana, nearby states allow both recreational and medical use. Across the country, nearly 40 states allow medical marijuana and 24 permit recreational sales.

Rep. Timothy Wesco, R-Osceola, said in conference committee Monday the current bill offers far too many permits.

"In the future, if there are additional permits needed we could always come back and increase that number of permits," Wesco argued. "But the 20,000 is essentially more than 200 locations per county in our state on average, and I think is far too accessible and available."

The House has passed two amendments to the bill this session. One limits sales near schools and another changes the definition of e-liquids.


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