2025 national and local news was a wild ride of ups and downs, inside outs, and outside ins.
President Donald Trump’s second term started off with a flurry of executive orders that banned any mention of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), transgender or sexual identity, withdrew the country from the World Health Organization, and authorized Elon Musk’s drive to purge “waste, fraud, and abuse” from government agencies. These were the first in about 221 executive orders he signed in his first year. In the first two weeks, Musk’s “DOGE” squad moved into agencies, including the Treasury and Office of Management and Budget, gutted USAID which provided food and medical care across the world, and NOAA. Other agencies lost employees to DOGE actions, such as the FAA, the National Institutes for Health, the CDC, IRS, and many others. Trump ordered the Dept. of Education to be shuttered. The courts put the brakes on some of the initiatives, ordering the rehiring of thousands of employees, and ordering funding for USAID to be returned. However, the administration ignored some court orders, bringing the country to the brink of a constitutional crisis. By summer, Musk fell out with the President, and DOGE packed up and left town, and was dismantled completely in September.
The Trump administration also cracked down on undocumented immigrants, rescinded the refugee status of over 300,000 Venezualians as well as 240,000 Ukrainian war refugees and refugees from Somalia, while also stopping refugees coming in from across the globe. ICE and Border Patrol targeted Los Angeles, Georgia, Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Portland for large-scale raids. Thousands came out to protest the actions. In New York City courts, immigration hearings were targets for agents to detain immigrants going through the legal process. The administration called for National Guard units to help with crime in D.C., LA, and Chicago.
President Trump issued tariffs on many nations, including Canada, China, Mexico, and countries that exported steel and aluminum and auto parts. In many cases, there were negotiations that lowered them, then they were imposed again. In the past, Congress, which has the “power of the purse” to raise or lower tariffs would announce changes, but the President claimed executive privilege, using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and part of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. The Supreme Court will hear the case for the legality of the tariffs in early 2026.
The Jeffrey Epstein files were ordered released by the courts, but the Attorney General refused to release them. Congress voted for them to be released, and they were slowly made public — heavily redacted. By the end of the year, another million pages were found in the case, with the promise they would be released eventually.
The “Big Beautiful Bill” passed in Congress, but only after a 43 day government shutdown. Appropriations were made for the 2026 fiscal year, but it did not extend the expanded Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) funding, potentially throwing thousands off the Marketplace insurance plans due to affordability. It included tax cuts for tipped employees and overtime, and an additional deduction for seniors.
In other news, the Department of Defense was renamed the Department of War, and the Navy was mobilized to intercept boats leaving Venezuala, destroying them in the ocean. The administration claimed they were drug boats heading to the U.S. In December, the Navy intercepted oil tankers from Venezuala, stating they were keeping them from destinations in China and Russia.
Several major disasters struck the United States. Starting in January, historic wildfires around Los Angeles burned thousands of homes and businesses, killing 25, Wildfires also raged across North and South Carolina, and Texas forced evacuations from wildfires in March. Wildfires on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon burned down a historic hotel. The south suffered through record-breaking cold in January, with New Orleans seeing 5 inches of snow. Floods hit Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, and southern Indiana, killing 10 in Kentucky. A flash flood in Texas Hill country killed over 135 people, including children at a summer camp along the Guadalupe River. Indiana saw 60 tornadoes in 2025, a near record number.
Mass shootings in 2025 continued, including a school shooting at a Catholic elementary school, killing 2 children and wounding 20 others. In Traverse City, Michigan, 11 people were stabbed in a Walmart by a person with a history of mental illness. This year’s number of mass shootings is actually down, with 17 incidents in the year to the lowest number in 20 years, according to Northeastern University Mass Killing Database.
In Indiana, Indiana University’s director of student media and advisor to the Indiana Daily Student was fired in October, and the university leadership stopped the print edition of the paper. It was reported that the advisor was terminated because it was unwilling to censor student media. Earlier in the year, Governor Braun installed conservatives on the board of IU after ousting the alumni-elected trustees.
Governor Braun called a special session on Nov. 3 to vote on redistricting. Polls showed that Hoosiers opposed redistricting 5 years after the last redistricting. The plan was endorsed by the president, who attempted to court Indiana lawmakers to vote for the bill. When the Senate voted to not go into session, Braun demanded that they hold a session on Dec. 1 for hearings for the redistricting. Hundreds showed up to protest the map and hearings as unconstitutional. Several assemblymen were threatened, including swatting, pipe bomb threats, and other harassment in order to get them to vote for the plan. Representatives voted on the proposed map, which would have divided Marion County into four districts, effectively eliminating a “safe” Democratic district, and carving the other Democratic district in the north into two parts, blending it with reliable Republican voters. Turning Point USA and other conservative organizations threatened to fundraise to “primary” Republicans who voted against it. The proposal was defeated.
Martin University, the only mainly Black university in Indiana, closed it doors in December, citing financial problems.
In November, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita sued the Indianapolis Public Schools for “thwarting” ICE agents from entering schools to remove children suspected of being undocumented immigrants. The school system is revising its policies for 2026.
Vop Osili stepped down from the position of City-County Council President. In December, Maggie Lewis was selected to replace him.
