IMPORTANTVILLE: Hero teacher speaks—Indiana's gun laws—Post-Indy 500 thoughts—Donnelly's big week
IMPORTANTVILLE
Days to Midterm Election: 163
By Adam Wren
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BREAKING NOW: Jason Seaman, the 7th grade science teacher at Noblesville West Middle School, who has been hailed worldwide as a hero for intervening in a school shooting, spoke for the first time this morning. He said little about himself. READ MORE.
WE FIND OURSELVES amid an odd mix of pageantry and pain this Memorial Day Weekend in Indianapolis. We're celebrating the pageantry of the Indy 500 and Memorial Day. But we're also still sorting through the pain of school shooting that happened in our own backyard, at Noblesville West Middle School. There's still a lot we don't know: How did the shooter get the guns into the school? Who own the guns and how were they purchased? What happens next?
WHERE'S MIKE: The Vice President will be joining Gold Star families in Minturn, Colo.
WILL POWER won the 102nd running of Indy 500. After 11 years of trying to win the race, his name is a bit too on the nose, if you ask me.
BACKSTORY, from Indianapolis Monthly: “Winning the 500 is the last box I need to tick in my IndyCar career,” he told Rob Peeters earlier this month. READ MORE.
RACE LEDE FROM INDY STAR'S GREGG DOYEL: "This is when it all came out, the frustration and fear that Will Power has been lugging around for years. Ahead of him, Stefan Wilson and Jack Harvey are turning into pit row on Lap 197 of the 2018 Indianapolis 500. Ahead of him now? There is nobody ahead of him now. Only the checkered flag. Three laps to go, two, one…Will Power starts screaming." READ MORE.
RACE LEDE FROM WTHR'S BOB KRAVITZ: "He had waited so long, through so many years, so many close calls, so many successes without earning the ultimate prize – the Indianapolis 500. Will Power had checked off all the boxes in a sterling career: 34 IndyCar victories, 40 poles, a series championship, had established himself as a massively talented road-course racer while having struggled on ovals. Then, on the second-hottest day in Indianapolis 500 history, the 37-year-old Australian finally – finally – got it done, zipping to the lead on the final, late restart, ultimately cruising to victory and a celebration that figures to last for a very long time, both here and Down Under." READ MORE.
SPOTTED at the race: Gov. Eric Holcomb; Mayor Joe Hogsett; former Mayor Greg Ballard in the media center. AXIOS executive editor Mike Allen was also at the race, per his morning newsletter.
Good Monday Morning, and Happy Memorial Day. I went to my first Indy 500 yesterday. As a native Buckeye from a small town northwest of Columbus, Ohio, I had only ever attended some practice laps, and was a bit skeptical of the whole drive-fast, turn-left spectacle. Not more than an hour into my time at the Speedway, I was sucked in—by that ineffable roar-wine of the 2.2-liter twin turbo V-6s; by the yawning maw of 300,000 fans encircling the 2.5 mile track. I get it now. I'll be a lifetime fan of the race from here on out.
YOUR MEMORIAL DAY READ: "The Things That Carried Him," by Chris Jones in Esquire. I try to re-read this every Memorial Day. It's one of the finest pieces of magazine journalism. The story is set in Indiana, about the death of Scottsburg native Sgt. Joe Montgomery, who was killed in action in 2007.
"The last time the platoon saw Sergeant Montgomery was later that morning, at first light. It was Wednesday, May 23. They all came out of their barracks to see the helicopters land. And these sleepless young men, from Colorado, from Pennsylvania, from Washington, they took hold of the poles of the stretcher, three on each side, with their friend from Indiana between them, zipped up inside a black bag tucked under a green Army blanket, and they carried him into one of the Black Hawks, and they watched them lift off into the dawn and dust, and they saluted then, saluted the start of one journey and the end of another, holding their salutes all the while as the birds flew away, until they were gone over the horizon." READ MORE.
YOUR MEMORIAL DAY LISTEN: Jason Isbell's Dress Blues, written in memory of the death of Marine Cpl. Matthew Conley, killed at age 21 in Iraq. My favorite version, on Spotify, is from his album Live from Alabama.
THE LEDES
HAPPENING this week: Paul Ryan comes to Indiana Thursday for a Congressman Jim Banks' fundraiser. Hosts pay $2,700. Sponsors pay $1,000. Individuals kick in $500.
COMING GUN REFORM DEBATE? Indianapolis has little authority over its guns laws. While little seems likely to happen on a national level, one change that could happen on a state level is a repeal of a law that bars local governments in Indiana from regulating the ownership, possession, sale, transfer, or transportation of firearms or ammunition and from passing any gun laws that preempt those of the state. Neighboring states such as Illinois have no such restrictions. That said, with Republicans controlling state government, it seems unlikely that law will be repealed. READ MORE, from my piece in Indianapolis Monthly.
FROM THE GUARDIAN: "A science teacher at an Indiana middle school saved lives when he threw a basketball at a student who opened fire in his classroom, a witness said." READ MORE.
MIKE BRAUN ON CANCELLED NORTH KOREA SUMMIT: “President Trump’s strong leadership on the international scene has crushed Kim Jong-un’s resolve and it must continue. I am confident in the President’s approach to denuclearizing North Korea and that unlike President Obama before him and Senator Donnelly, he understands when to walk away from a bad deal. Unlike Senator Donnelly, I will oppose bad deals like the Iran nuclear deal, and will work to support President Trump’s foreign policy."
BRAUN ON NFL ANTHEM CONTROVERSY: “The NFL did the right thing by requiring their players to stand for the national anthem,” said Mike Braun. “The anthem honors our veterans and those who fought for our freedoms, and is not an appropriate time for civil disobedience.”
Braun also called on Senator Joe Donnelly to take a firm stance on the issue.
“Does Joe Donnelly agree with the NFL’s decision or not? Last year he wouldn't say if he did. Joe Donnelly should state if he agrees with the NFL’s decision to require the players to stand for the anthem or not, and not try and dodge the question.”
HERE'S WHAT JOE DONNELLY TOLD ME LAST NOVEMBER when I asked him about the NFL controversy for POLITICO Magazine: “I don’t know what the thinking is behind that. I’m just trying to create more jobs here.” And on Vice President Mike Pence’s October visit to Lucas Oil Stadium and an Indianapolis Colts game, where he walked out after the national anthem? “I’m not going to get into that.”
JOE DONNELLY'S BIG WEEK: Indiana's incumbent U.S. Senator had a big week last week, as President Trump promised to sign two of his bills into law. Per a release from his office: "President Trump said 'big legislation will be signed by me shortly,' and both the Right to Try legislation and regulatory relief package that makes reforms to Dodd-Frank he touted are efforts U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly led. Enactment of these provisions will build on the 19 Donnelly provisions already signed into law by President Trump since the President took office and 41 measures the Senator’s had signed into law since he began serving in the Senate in 2013."
WHAT THIS MEANS: It got a little more difficult to attack Donnelly as 'Sleepin' Joe,' but Trump and national Republicans will continue to do so.
THE KICKER
The coolest #Indy500 driver in history has to be Jules Goux. During his 1st pit stop he said, "Fetch me a pint of wine, or I'm done." His crew had none on hand, so they went to the grandstand looking for some. Dude drank six pints and won the race. pic.twitter.com/RaUIH8wIcN
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) May 27, 2018