The Indiana Publisher

Publisher The Indiana Volume 84, Issue 12 • December 2019 Published on second Thursday monthly Indiana University Professor of Practice Tom French will serve as a mentor to the stu- dents selected as summer 2020 Pulliam interns. French is a Pulitzer Prize- winning jour- nalist who has coached journal- ists in work- shops around the world. "It's an honor to be mentoring again with some of Indiana's most promising young journalists," French said. "At a time when facts and truth are under constant attack, our newsrooms desperately need these students' energy and talent." Each year,newspapers across Indiana request paid college interns to work in their news- rooms during the summer. Nine students and newspapers are matched up via the Eugene S. Pulliam Internship Program which is administered through the HSPA Foundation. French will serve as a resource for students throughout their internship experience. "I look forward to offering them whatever guidance they need as they set out to chronicle local news around our state," French said. To request an intern, visit http://bit.ly/2BjN9C3. Deadline is Dec. 20. Deadline is Dec. 20 to request a summer student employee Pulitzer Prize journalist to mentor 2020 Pulliam interns French Newspapers that want to receive notice in 2020 of meet- ings from various local or state governing bodies must send a letter to those public agencies before Jan. 1. Failure to make the written request relieves the public agency of its obligation to give that media member notice of regular, special and executive meetings. Following is a sample letter that can be used to request the notice: Dear (public agency or its governing body): The (name of the newspa- per) requests that your govern- ing body give the newspaper written notice of the date, time and place of any of its meet- ings, executive sessions, and any rescheduled or reconvened meetings. This request also applies to all of the govern- ing body's committees, and any other entities of the(public agency)subject to the public notice provisions of the Open Door Law. This request is made pursu- ant to IC 5-14-1.5-5. This statute requires 48 hours notice (exclud- ing Saturdays, Sunday, and legal holidays) be given to the public and specifically to news media that request such notice in writ- ing prior to Jan. 1.Please send notice of meeting to (address and/ or email). Thank you for your attention to this request. Written requests to receive notice of meetings due by Dec. 31 The General Assembly will convene on Monday, Jan. 6, in its non-budget, short session. The legislative session will be particularly fast-paced as leadership in the House and Senate have pegged March 11 as the ending date. The 2020 election carries additional importance for Republicans and Democrats. Whoever controls the legislature will lead the redrawing of district lines for the decade. If Republicans continue to hold super-majorities in both chambers, they can act with little regard for Democratic input in the redistricting effort. With an eye toward the 2020 election, it's not expected that Republican leadership in the General Assembly will look to tackle controversial topics that would anger large numbers of Hoosiers. It's more likely Republicans will look to notch some legislative victories by raising the legal smoking and vaping age, passing some relief for teachers impacted negatively by the school testing problems, and moving other non-controversial bills. Controversy also works against the legislative goals because the shortness of the session will limit to two or three hearings at most per committee. Committee chairs will be reluctant to take on controver- sial bills that would pack a committee room and result in hours of testimony, killing the See Preview, page 10 Legislative Preview Anti-public notice bill expected to appear in short session

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