The Indiana Publisher

September 2021 Page 9 Free training webinars available to Indiana newspapers: HSPA member newspapers have access to a full catalog of online training through the Online Media Campus. Courses cover editorial, advertising, digital and management topics. For more information, visit https://onlinemediacampus.com. work Indianapolis Indianapolis sopho- her high Red. in Franklin The reporting she possibili- Dixon Crawfordsville. Univer- two majoring in Tribune summer. former IU. also an will majoring in spend his Herald-Times Sawyer student newspaper at Hanover College where she covered the Covid-19 pandemic and athletics. Osman, a senior who is also on Hanover's track and field team, is interning at The Herald Bulletin in Anderson. During her senior year in high school, Tori Smith wrote for the Kankakee Valley Post News in DeMotte. That experience convinced her to continue in journalism: "I saw who and where I wanted to be," Smith wrote in her application. This summer, the Ivy Tech Community College sopho- more will be working at the Rennselaer Republican. Franklin College senior Taylor Wooten has served as co-execu- tive editor of The Franklin newspaper and has also worked for TheStatehouseFile.com. The Multimedia Journalism major will spend her summer at The Daily Journal in Franklin. "I think this group is going to be hugely helpful to the newspapers they represent and will get a great experience because of the gift that the Pulliams and HSPA have given them," Metzger said. "I think they really appreciate what that means." my and ride in concrete driver's Rock, need down face, much of me Have access & other legal questions? Contact the HSPA Legal Hotline. HSPA Executive Director & General Counsel Steve Key is available to answer your questions. Email skey@hspa.com or call (317) 624-4427. Look for the Hotline column every month in the Indiana Publisher. Juli Metzger speaks with 2021 Pulliam interns on May 19 at the Pulliam Production Center in Indianapolis. Meetings on spending COVID money might have broken state's Open Door Law St. Joseph County officials this month stopped holding a series of private meetings on the spending of $53 million in federal COVID- 19 relief dollars, after the South Bend Tribune learned the discus- sions likely ran afoul of Indiana's "open-door" law. The group of officials had been holding weekly discussions since late spring to review requests from county departments and out- side organizations for slices of the "American Rescue Plan" money. The group has been assigning the requests as favorable, unfavor- able or no recommendation, and then sending them to the County Council. So far, the group has moved more than $8 million in new spending to the County Council, while holding other funding requests for further deliberations. But after The Tribune argued on Aug. 26 that the small-group discussions must be held in pub- lic, officials decided to end the private meetings, county attorney Jamie Woods said last week. "When we deal with open- door meetings, obviously, they're nuanced, and it's our belief that what the commissioners and coun- cil did was appropriate," Woods said. But out of an abundance of caution, Woods said, they would not be going forward in this for- mat. Experts on public-access law say the committee fell squarely within the requirements of Indiana's open-door law because, by deliberating over the alloca- tion of millions of tax dollars, the officials were taking action on News in Brief News Media Alliance urges PRC to include all periodicals in reporting on-time delivery The News Media Alliance and National Newspaper Association (NNA) filed Comments with the Postal Regulatory Commission about its proposed modifications to its performance measurement systems. The Comments point out that the measurement system needs improvement, specifically in seeking greater transparency and inclusion of all periodicals in its measurements and reporting. The Alliance and NNA urge the Commission "to improve the reporting on all mail per- formance by inquiring about the scope of current reporting on mail that is not covered by the measurement system." Otherwise, the incomplete and overly optimistic reporting does not paint the full picture. —News Media Alliance public business. "This is an easy case study because you're dealing with taxpayer money," said Indiana Public Access Counselor Luke Britt, a lawyer who is appointed to referee disputes over public information. "When it comes to these kinds of decisions for appropriating money, it's impor- tant for the public to be privy to the decision-making process from start to finish." For the complete story, visit, https://tinyurl.com/mm8e2xxf . — South Bend Tribune

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