Artificial intelligence, electric utility rates and helping seniors remain independent are all featured in this week’s edition of Fridays with Larry.

In the June 26 episode, I begin with commentary on the technology industry’s response to the federal government’s decision to pull back the Mythos and Fable5 artificial intelligence programs. The reaction raises questions about the future direction of AI development and the relationship between government policy and one of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy.

I also discuss recent developments in Indiana’s regulation of electric utility rates and what they could mean for consumers as utilities continue to seek approval for major infrastructure investments and the growing demand for electricity.

My guest this week is Stacey Williams, owner of Seniors Helping Seniors. She explains how her organization helps older adults remain in their own homes by matching them with fellow seniors who provide companionship and assistance. Williams discusses the growing need for in-home senior care and why the program benefits both those receiving services and those providing them.

The podcast concludes with a lighter story from Australia, where one man has earned recognition as the loudest person in the world.

Fridays With Larry is sponsored by Citizens State Bank.

You can listen to the June 26 edition of Fridays with Larry using these video or audio links, or the links below.

As Spark!Fishers returns this weekend, Fishers is again preparing for the kind of summer gathering that has been part of this community for nearly four decades. The name has changed. The location has changed. The event is now run by the city. But the roots go back to 1989, when the Fishers Freedom Festival began as a hometown Independence Day celebration at Holland Park.

When I moved to Fishers after marrying my wife Jane in May of 1991, the Freedom Festival was preparing for its third event. We lived in Sunblest, only a few blocks from Holland Park, and the festival quickly became one of those local traditions that helped define summer in Fishers.

The timing was always intentional. Fishers held its celebration just before the Fourth of July so it would not conflict with holiday events in nearby communities such as Carmel and Noblesville. That pattern started with the first festival in 1989 and continues today with Spark!Fishers.

According to a retrospective published for the Freedom Festival’s 25th year, the event began when founders of the Fishers Parade and Festival organized a one-day community picnic, parade and children’s games to celebrate the Fourth of July spirit, promote volunteerism and bring residents together. The response was strong enough that the festival soon grew into a two-day event.

Over the years, the Freedom Festival became one of the clearest symbols of Fishers’ identity during a period of massive population growth. By the early 2010s, reports described weekend crowds of about 50,000, with art and craft booths, business and food vendors, games, live entertainment, a 5K, fireworks and the annual parade. In 1998, the festival formally became a nonprofit, allowing it to accept tax-deductible donations.

But the festival’s success also masked a financial reality. As I reported in November 2017, trouble had been brewing for a couple of years. The city had been providing about $85,000 annually in direct cash support, along with in-kind help from city departments valued at about $45,000 each year. The Freedom Festival organization said its annual budget was about $325,000.

At the same time, Fishers officials were facing more requests from local nonprofit groups seeking city support. In earlier years, the Freedom Festival and Conner Prairie had received most, and in some years all, of the municipal money set aside for local nonprofits. Members of the Fishers City Council began pushing for more accountability, written agreements and a broader review of how public money was being distributed.

As part of the 2018 budget process, a City Council committee evaluated requests for nonprofit funding. The Freedom Festival applied, but in August 2017, the city announced its list of funded organizations and the festival was not included.

A city news release later said the Freedom Festival “was unable to demonstrate fiscal independence,” and that the nonprofit committee believed grant dollars should be spread among multiple organizations to benefit more residents. Among those receiving support were groups such as Cherish, the Hamilton Southeastern Schools Foundation and Nickel Plate Arts.

After the funding decision, I asked Freedom Festival officials whether they could stage the 2018 event without city cash and in-kind support. The board took time to deliberate. Late on the evening of November 8, 2017, the board announced the nonprofit no longer had the financial means to operate another festival.

That set off a difficult public moment for Fishers. I recorded podcast interviews with Freedom Festival Board President Don Dragoo and City Councilman Brad DeReamer, which revealed two very different perspectives on what had happened. Mayor Scott Fadness also pushed back strongly against language in the festival’s announcement suggesting the city did not see the festival partnership as part of its vision.

“We’ve had lots of dialogue with the Fishers Freedom Festival about maybe evolving their event, or continue to adapt just like our city continues to adapt,” Fadness told me at the time. “It was not in any way about ‘I don’t believe we should have festivals’ — nothing could be further from the truth.”

The basic disagreement was clear. The Freedom Festival board wanted to preserve the traditions of the event dating back to 1989. City officials believed the festival needed to evolve financially and operationally, while preserving major pieces such as the parade, fireworks and entertainment.

There were hurt feelings. Many long-time festival volunteers were not inclined to help with a city-run version of the event. DeReamer said at the time the city would welcome those volunteers. The city also had to deal with another practical matter: the Fishers Freedom Festival organization owned the rights to the name “Fishers Freedom Festival,” and Dragoo said the nonprofit intended to hold on to those naming rights.

That meant the city needed a new name.

The result was Spark!Fishers, launched in 2018. The celebration moved from Holland Park to the Nickel Plate District, but many familiar elements remained: a 5K, music, food, a parade and fireworks. Fishers budget records said more than 100 community members helped plan that first Spark!Fishers, which city leaders framed as both a fresh start and a continuation of community tradition.

Spark!Fishers did miss one year, 2020, when the city canceled the festival because of COVID-19. But the event returned, and this weekend’s celebration is another reminder that Fishers never really gave up its pre-Fourth of July gathering.

The old Freedom Festival ended after 29 years. Spark!Fishers is now the city-sponsored successor. For those of us who remember walking over to Holland Park in the early 1990s, the change was not always easy. But the tradition survived — just with a new name, a new location and a city-run structure.

Steve Ferrucci, chair of the Fishers Board of Zoning Appeals, said he could not recall ever seeing a short-term rental variance request receive unanimous and enthusiastic support from residents in the affected neighborhood.

But that is what happened at Thursday’s board meeting.

Lynda Pendleton and her sister inherited a home on Wakefield Place in the Harrison Green neighborhood. Their mother lived in the house for many years before moving into nursing home care. Pendleton told the board the income from operating the house as a short-term rental helped defray the cost of caring for their mother, who has since died.

The sisters continued the short-term rental arrangement until the city, during its rental registration process, informed them they would need a zoning variance to continue using the home for that purpose.

Pendleton gave board members a detailed presentation, explaining how she and her sister carefully screen renters and maintain the property. She also read a series of letters from nearby residents, all supporting the variance request. Two people spoke during the public hearing, both in favor of the request.

State law limits how much cities can regulate short-term rentals. However, because no one lives in the home as a primary residence, the city is allowed to review this particular short-term rental use.

The board voted unanimously to approve the zoning variance.

In one other item before the board, members unanimously approved a request from Mission Christian Academy, located on Publishers Drive near 131st Street east of State Road 37, to place two additional portable classrooms on its property through July 2028.

School officials told the board they are working with an architect on plans to either reconfigure the current building or construct an addition to provide more classroom space.

Fishers Parks has postponed Friday’s free Spark!Fishers concert and drone show, citing a forecast of rain throughout the day and possible storms into the evening.

The event, presented by Meijer, was set to feature P!NK’D — a tribute act to pop star Pink — followed by the festival’s popular drone show. Both have been rescheduled to Saturday, July 31, where the free P!NK’D concert will now close out the summer season.

Despite the postponement, the Spark!Fishers Festival is still set to kick off this Saturday at 4 p.m. The annual community celebration draws thousands to the Nickel Plate District for live music, food, family activities and entertainment.

Organizers encouraged attendees to follow Spark!Fishers on social media to stay up to date and to mark their calendars for the rescheduled concert. “We look forward to kicking off the Spark! festival this Saturday at 4 p.m.,” Fishers Parks said in its announcement.

For the latest information on festival programming and the rescheduled concert and drone show, visit the Fishers Parks website or follow Spark!Fishers on social media.

The Fishers Freight have spent the last two weeks doing exactly what a bubble team has to do: winning. Now comes the hard part.

Sitting at 7-6 with three games left, the Freight head to Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin on Saturday to face the Green Bay Blizzard, the runaway leaders of the Indoor Football League’s Eastern Conference. Kickoff at the Resch Center is set for 5 p.m. Eastern.

The math is unforgiving. Fishers is fifth in the East, a game back of the Orlando Pirates and Tulsa Oilers (both 7-5) for the conference’s final playoff spots. Every remaining game matters, and this one is the toughest on the slate. Green Bay enters at 10-2, has already locked up a top seed, and has been close to untouchable at home, where the Blizzard have not lost all season.

It’s also personal. Green Bay is the only team to beat the Freight twice in 2026. The first came back in March at the Resch Center. The second stung more — a 57-52 thriller in Fishers on May 2, when the two clubs met at 5-1 and tied for first. The Freight led 30-23 at the half before the Blizzard pulled away in the final minute, recovering a late Felix Harper fumble and then an onside kick to slam the door. Quarterback Liam Thompson’s four-yard touchdown run proved the difference.

Harper remains the engine of the Fishers offense, a dual threat who has carried the Freight through their best stretches with his arm and his legs. His favorite target, CJ Windham, has been a steady presence in the end zone since opening night. The questions are on the other side of the ball, where Fishers has struggled to slow the league’s top offenses — a problem Green Bay is uniquely equipped to expose.

The Blizzard are deep, balanced and battle-tested, the kind of team built for a long playoff run. They overcame the in-game loss of running back Demilon Brown in the May meeting and still found a way to win, which tells you plenty about their resilience.

For the Freight, the path forward is simple to describe and hard to execute: protect the football, finish drives, and find a way to make a stop when it counts — the exact things that slipped away in May. Win, and Fishers keeps real control of its postseason fate heading into the final two games. Lose, and the margin for error all but disappears.

The Freight have shown this season they can beat anyone on a given night, including a blowout of the Arizona Rattlers. To keep their playoff hopes alive, they’ll need that version of themselves on the road, against the best team in the conference, in a building where the Blizzard simply don’t lose.

Saturday’s game streams on the Yahoo Sports Network. First place isn’t on the line this time — but for Fishers, a season might be.

Steve Dillinger has served as a Hamilton County Commissioner since 1989, and after more than three decades in office he says one question follows him everywhere: why is there always road construction all around the county?

He offered a simple answer during his 2026 State of the County address Wednesday: growth.

In 1990, Hamilton County was home to about 110,000 people. Today, Dillinger said, that number has climbed past 394,000 — nearly a fourfold increase in roughly 35 years. More people mean more vehicles on the roads, and more vehicles mean more construction to keep traffic moving safely.

Dillinger delivered the address before a packed ballroom at the Noblesville Embassy Suites Conference Center, where the speech anchored a Noblesville Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

His theme for the morning was “Doing the right things for the right reasons.” Dillinger acknowledged that sticking to that motto isn’t always the smart political move, but said it is what’s best for the people who live in Hamilton County.

Roads and Interchanges

Much of the commissioner’s time was spent reviewing recent road improvements, several of which directly affect Fishers. Among them was the long-awaited completion of the State Road 37 project running from 126th Street to 146th Street, a years-long effort that converted a heavily traveled corridor into a free-flow series of interchanges. Dillinger also pointed to the new interchange at 146th Street and Allisonville Road, which opened to traffic a few months ago.

Safety improvements are next. The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department has identified the county’s most dangerous intersections, and two of them sit along 146th Street — at Hazel Dell Road and at Gray Road. Both are slated for upgrades aimed at reducing crashes.

Courts, 911 and a New Day Care

Beyond the roads, Dillinger highlighted a wave of construction tied to the county’s growing population. The Indiana Supreme Court has authorized eight new courts in Hamilton County, and work is already underway to expand the Judicial Center in downtown Noblesville to make room for them.

The county is enlarging its 911 dispatch center to keep pace with rising call volume. In the same area, officials are planning a day care center for county employees. With staff working around the clock across multiple shifts, Dillinger said, on-site care would help parents match their hours to their jobs — and save them real money. A year of child care, he noted, can run as high as $20,000 for a single child.

Fairgrounds and a Patriotic Finale

Work also continues at the Hamilton County 4-H Fairgrounds, where several facilities are being designed for year-round, multipurpose use — everything from community events to wedding receptions.

These were only a few highlights of Dillinger’s presentation, which closed with a video montage and a medley of patriotic music in honor of America’s 250th birthday.

It is not too early to begin planning for this year’s Spark Fishers Festival.

Below is the route for this year’s parade.  Below is the list of parking restrictions and details on how to park and/or catch a shuttle to and from the celebration.

Continue reading Planning for the Spark Fishers Festival →

The Hamilton County Community Foundation closed out 2025 with a new strategic direction, new leadership and a string of investments aimed at one goal: making sure every resident has a chance to thrive, according to the foundation’s newly released annual report.

It was a year of change at the top. The foundation welcomed Danielle Stiles-Polk as president, while Eddie Rivers served as board chair. “Hamilton County is a community on the move,” the two wrote in a joint message. “That growth is most meaningful when our entire community has the chance to be a part of it.”

Much of the year’s work flowed from a strategic plan launched in January. Built on a needs assessment that gathered more than 2,000 data points and extensive community conversations, the plan concentrates the foundation’s investments in five areas: affordable housing, education and training, social services, childcare solutions and transportation.

Those priorities showed up in the dollars. In 2025, HCCF invested $558,000 directly in the community, including $405,000 awarded through its competitive grant cycle. The flexible grants let nonprofit partners direct money where local needs are greatest. “Every grant we award reflects our commitment to strengthening the wellbeing of our neighbors,” Stiles-Polk said. “Nonprofits are leading community change, and HCCF is proud to support their work.”

Several gifts stood out for their size and timing. When a disruption in SNAP benefits left many local families facing gaps at the kitchen table, HCCF joined the Crosser Family Foundation and the Shelly & Cherryl Friedman Family Fund to provide a $100,000 emergency grant to the Hamilton County Harvest Food Bank. “This support comes at a pivotal time for many residents,” said Suzanna Hobson, the food bank’s executive director. “It’s a powerful reminder of the compassion and collaboration that make Hamilton County such a caring place to call home.”

In May, the foundation announced a $120,000, three-year partnership with Prevail, Inc., a nonprofit serving survivors of crime and abuse. The grant will help expand access to secure housing. “It is a powerful investment in the safety, stability, and future of survivors of crime and abuse in our community,” said Prevail Executive Director Tami Wanninger. “Prevail will expand access to secure housing options — removing one of the biggest barriers our clients face as they begin their healing journey.”

Housing affordability drew a longer-term commitment as well. Working with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Indianapolis, HAND, Inc. and other partners, HCCF helped launch the Hamilton County Community Land Trust. By separating the cost of land from the cost of a home, the trust aims to make homeownership more attainable now and keep it affordable for future generations.

The foundation also invested in the county’s youngest residents. Through a coordinated effort led by local libraries and HCCF, with funding from the Hamilton County Council, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is now mailing monthly books to more than 5,000 children under age five — an early-literacy push the foundation says creates lasting opportunities for kids.

Education got another boost through the Lilly Endowment Community Scholars program, which named five local students — from Culver Academies, Hamilton Southeastern, Noblesville, Fishers and Westfield high schools — as 2025 scholars. “Our 2025 Lilly Scholars are the kind of young people who see a need and step up,” Stiles-Polk said.

Behind the grants sits a growing pool of charitable capital. Individual fundholders granted $5.4 million to 981 organizations during the year and contributed $4.0 million to their funds, while the foundation managed $13.6 million across 41 charitable organization funds.

The year’s largest vote of confidence came from outside the county. HCCF was awarded a $6 million Community Support Grant from Lilly Endowment through its GIFT IX initiative — flexible resources meant to help the foundation respond to emerging needs and strengthen partnerships over the next three years.

The foundation closed its report with a note of gratitude to the donors, fundholders and nonprofit partners who made the year possible. “The work we do can’t happen in isolation,” it reads. “We’re grateful for that shared commitment and look forward to seeing our community continue to grow.”

Drivers along USA Parkway should brace for orange cones this summer as the City of Fishers moves forward with a major road widening project. The work will stretch from USA Drive, near the Link Building (formerly Navient), all the way to the IKEA intersection — one of the busier commercial corridors in the area.

The City has awarded the bid for the roughly $2.5 million project to Calumet Engineering. Fishers Engineering Department Director Hatem Mekky said he expects the widening to be complete by this fall, in time to ease congestion before the busier shopping season.

In another road project of note, a new four-way stop is coming to the intersection of Southeastern Parkway and Connecticut Avenue. The intersection currently operates as a two-way stop, with only Connecticut Avenue traffic required to halt. To prepare drivers for the change, city crews will install advance warning signs and flashers alerting Southeastern Parkway motorists that they will now be expected to stop.

The Fishers Engineering Department recommended the four-way stop as a preliminary and temporary safety measure, citing crash history and limited sight-line conditions at the intersection. The change is a stopgap: the City already has funding in place to build a roundabout at the location in 2029.

Two items on Tuesday morning’s agenda for the Board of Public Works and Public Safety dealt with the new Community Center.

First, cost savings realized during construction of the Community Center will be reinvested into the facility in the form of a rooftop exercise studio. Williams Architecture, the firm that designed the Community Center, will also handle the design of the new studio. The board authorized a maximum of $1.988 million for the project.

Finally, the board took a step toward adding a dog park at the Community Center. Kelly Landscaping Services was awarded a $159,000 contract to regrade the site, add soil amendments, install drainage tile, and lay sod for the new park — giving local pet owners a dedicated space to let their dogs run.

As the Fishers Freight wrap up their second Indoor Football League season with three regular season games remaining, the bigger story off the field is how — and how many — fans are watching. After two years of churn, from free YouTube streams to a paid league app to a national distribution deal, the IFL is reporting the largest television audiences in its history in 2026. Independent reviews of the new broadcasts are mostly favorable, with some technical caveats.

From YouTube to a national platform

Just two seasons ago, IFL games lived on YouTube, free to anyone but drawing modest crowds — a few thousand viewers per game by most accounts. In 2025 the league launched the subscription-based IFL Network through a partnership with Visaic, and in April 2025 announced the service had “surpassed 15,000 subscribers” during a record-setting weekend that also saw 14,729 fans pack Tulsa’s BOK Center.

The 2026 plan was more ambitious — and bumpier. In November 2025 the IFL announced a deal for FanDuel Sports Network to carry 60 games. Within months, financial instability at FanDuel’s parent, Main Street Sports Group, prompted the league to exit the agreement, joining several MLB, NHL and NBA teams scrambling for new homes. “What’s going on there is not good for anybody,” IFL President Jared Widman told Barrett Media, while crediting FanDuel for being upfront.

The league pivoted to two partners. Yahoo Sports Network — a free, ad-supported streaming channel operated by C15 Studio, for which the IFL is the first-ever live sports — expanded its slate to 64 games. To fill the gap, the IFL signed a multi-year deal in March 2026 with Overnght, a subscription streamer (about $12 a month) that becomes the exclusive home of at least 55 games annually through 2028. The league called it the largest media-rights agreement in the sport’s history. The old IFL Network, meanwhile, went free in 2026, repurposed for replays, highlights and team content rather than live games.

The audience numbers

For the first time, the IFL is also producing every broadcast itself — hiring the talent and controlling production rather than leaving home games to individual teams, as in past years. The league brought in CBS Sports veteran Brent Stover as lead play-by-play voice and Director of Broadcasting, paired with Yahoo personalities Jason Fitz, Nate Tice and Caroline Fenton and other national names including Dave Ryan, Mark May, Anthony Herron and Danny Kanell. Widman’s stated goal: three national broadcasters on every game for “the most polished look you can get.”

The early returns, by the league’s own measurement, are strong. According to figures the IFL released and that were reported by sports-media columnist Howie Hanson, an April 4 game between Tucson and New Mexico drew 220,000 viewers and 9.2 million minutes watched — both league records. Subsequent featured windows stayed in six figures: roughly 159,000 viewers on April 12, 116,000 on April 19 and 101,000 on April 26. Each topped 100,000, a consistency the league says it had never reached. The IFL characterized the jump as a “multi-thousand percent increase” over its YouTube-only model.

Those numbers deserve a caveat: they are league-supplied figures for marquee Yahoo windows, not independently audited Nielsen ratings, and they reflect the most-promoted broadcasts rather than a typical game. As Hanson noted, the leagues are reporting growth “at least through their own data.” Still, even discounted, the scale dwarfs the YouTube era.

What the critics say

On broadcast quality, the most substantive independent review came from Shady Sports Network, which assessed the inaugural IFL Cup at New Jersey’s American Dream in May. Its verdict was largely positive: “Other than the audio issues the broadcast of the games was amazing,” praising Stover and analyst Kurtis Riggs in the booth alongside three sideline reporters who made it “feel like they had every angle covered.” Presentation, the field and the production “lived up to the standard the IFL has created for itself.”

The audio, though, was a real problem. The outlet described sideline reporters whose “lips [were] moving without any sound coming through,” plus intermittent distortion in the booth — issues it attributed partly to the venue but called “certainly avoidable.”

The trade outlet Barrett Media framed the effort favorably, while indoor-football site Off The Wall credited the IFL’s multi-year investment in raising broadcast standards and adding commentary talent.

The bottom line for fans in Fishers: the games are easier to find and free to watch on Yahoo Sports, the audiences are demonstrably larger, and the production has drawn solid early marks — with the league’s own audience claims still awaiting independent verification, and a few audio gremlins to iron out.