Berger and Holmes named All-Big 10
Senior guard Grace Berger and junior forward Mackenzie Holmes were named 2021-22 preseason All-Big Ten selections and the Indiana Hoosiers were picked to finish second amongst the league’s coaches and media. Berger is a preseason All-Big Ten selection for the second-consecutive season after earning All-Big Ten first team honors in 2021-22. Holmes makes her first appearance on the preseason All-Big Ten team after also turning in All-Big Ten honors along with an All-Defensive team nod last season.
The Hoosiers are picked to finish in both the coaches and media polls, coming in behind last year’s regular season and tournament winner Maryland. Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio State followed, respectfully in each of the two polls. All top five teams are ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 (No. 4 Maryland, No. 8 Indiana, No. 9 Iowa, No. 11 Michigan, and No. 17 Ohio State).
Season and single game tickets for the upcoming campaign are now on sale through the IU Ticket Office by visiting its website, calling 1-866-IUSPORTS or in person at the West lobby ticket office in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall from 9am-4pm Monday through Friday.
2021-22 COACHES BIG TEN PRESEASON RANKINGS
1. Maryland
2. Indiana
3. Iowa
4. Michigan
5. Ohio State
Todd Rokita confronting White House over apparent collusion
Following his successful leadership of a 17-state coalition in winning an apology from the National School Boards Association (NSBA), Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita took further action with other states to hold the Biden administration accountable for colluding with the NSBA to threaten the First Amendment rights of parents.
“The role of parents in the education and upbringing of their children is paramount,” Attorney General Rokita said. “It’s critical that we protect their liberties under the Constitution to fulfill their God-given responsibilities, and for me, this remains a top priority.”
Attorney General Rokita expressed disappointment in the Biden administration’s antagonism toward parents who simply want to have a voice in local school decisions.
“Each new fact that arises in this saga puts the Biden administration in a worse light,” Attorney General Rokita said. “We already knew the White House used a faulty premise to justify its attacks against parents. Now we learn the White House solicited the fabrication of that premise in the first place.”
Attorney General Rokita sent letters to both the Biden administration and the NSBA demanding a series of actions. Thirteen other states’ attorney general joined the letter to the Biden administration, and 11 joined the letter to the NSBA. Attorney General Rokita and fellow attorneys general called for the Biden administration to revoke its threats to deploy the FBI nationwide to monitor parents’ interactions with local school officials. He and other attorneys general also instructed both the Biden administration and the NSBA to release documents revealing communication with one another in the lead-up to threats against parents in an Oct. 4 memo from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
The NSBA has admitted to using language against parents in communication to the Biden administration for which there was “no justification.” On Oct. 18, Attorney General Rokita composed and sent a letter — also signed by 16 other state attorneys general — to President Joe Biden and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. The letter demanded that the Biden administration cease making threats against parents such as those contained in the Oct. 4 DOJ memo, which called for the FBI and other law enforcement to keep a close eye on parents nationwide to address supposed “threats against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.”
The DOJ memo echoed an NSBA letter sent Sept. 29 to the Biden administration lamenting the rise of parents pushing back against divisive ideologies, including critical race theory (CRT). The NSBA letter raised the specter of local protests rising to the level of “domestic terrorism.” Now, facts have arisen showing the NSBA and White House worked together to create the NSBA’s fallacious letter to Biden administration officials in the first place.
In his most recent letter to President Biden and U.S. Attorney General Garland, Attorney General Rokita states: “Attorney General Garland’s reliance on the NSBA letter is troubling enough, but potential collusion between the White House, the DOJ, and the NSBA in the actual creation of the September 29 letter — as a pretext for threats against parents — raises serious concerns. Officials with the awesome power to initiate criminal actions using the USA PATRIOT ACT abuse citizens when they solicit, as an excuse for mobilizing federal law enforcement, complaints against ordinary Americans who merely disagree with local school officials.”
This week in Hoosier History
1939 – Joe Louis, the boxing heavyweight champion of the world, went four rounds in an exhibition at the Richmond Coliseum. A local sports reporter said, “Lewis gave the local fans a fine picture of his ring actions, both from the long-range jabbing to close-in fighting.” The crowd of 1,500 gave him a rousing hand at the end of each round.