American Rescue Plan

Who gets to decide how to spend St. John's share of federal COVID money was the topic of a debate during Wednesday's town council meeting. St. John expects to get about $4 million dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. is touting the city's efforts to add housing and clean up the environment, thanks to federal COVID-19 money.

"Times" chief political reporter Dan Carden is on "Regionally Speaking" to talk about his stories on the end of the 2022 General Assembly session. A city councilmember from South Bend was the only northern Indiana city official to participate in the National League of Cities "Congressional City Conference" in Washington, D.C. and we'll learn more from Lori Hamman about the details of the American Rescue Plan Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — funds which are coming back into communities to help recover from the pandemic. And we'll hear from a former TV news anchor who is living with epilepsy and is helping others these days.

"Times" chief political reporter Dan Carden is on "Regionally Speaking" to talk about his stories on the end of the 2022 General Assembly session. A city councilmember from South Bend was the only northern Indiana city official to participate in the National League of Cities "Congressional City Conference" in Washington, D.C. and we'll learn more from Lori Hamman about the details of the American Rescue Plan Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — funds which are coming back into communities to help recover from the pandemic. And we'll hear from a former TV news anchor who is living with epilepsy and is helping others these days.

The Lake County Council has agreed to chip in some of its COVID money for a Crown Point area sewer project. Council members passed a resolution Tuesday committing $5 million dollars from the American Rescue Plan.

The Gary City Council has agreed to spend up to a quarter million dollars to upgrade its audiovisual technology. City officials had initially proposed allocating $100,000 in American Rescue Plan money for that purpose, but council members unanimously agreed Tuesday to raise that to $250,000.

Porter County is moving ahead with the process of allocating $33 million in federal COVID-19 money. The county council Tuesday agreed to appropriate $4 million of the American Rescue Plan funds, including almost $1 million for employee stipends, $2.5 million toward the Marquette Greenway Trail, $500,000 for township trustees and $25,000 for a behavioral health study.

A Valparaiso City Council member wants to follow Porter County's lead and establish committees to allocate the city's COVID-19 money. Robert Cotton told the rest of the city council Monday that leaving Mayor Matt Murphy in charge of dividing up the American Rescue Plan funds seemed like a "narrow funnel."

The Porter County Commissioners plan to redo the process of allocating federal COVID-19 money with more public involvement. An advisory opinion from the Indiana Public Access Counselor found that the commissioners, in part, likely violated the Open Door Law when they put together the initial plan for American Rescue Plan funds.

Gary's guaranteed income program will be able to continue. The city council Tuesday voted seven-to-one to appropriate $400,000 in COVID-19 relief funding for the nonprofit group that runs the Guaranteed Income Validation Effort (G.I.V.E.).