This and that: A sled-day Sunday edition

• Thanks to sponsor Stuart & Branigin for continued support of the Based in Lafayette reporting project.

On a walk through the neighborhoods Saturday, a friend and subscriber offered one of his kids’ sleds to go down the snow-packed berm that is their front yard. He said he’d take a picture and have it lead this morning’s edition. I passed on the opportunity. Today, I’m thinking: What a mistake. Next time. Instead, here’s some this and that on a Sunday morning …

A MARS CRATER, A FAMILIAR NAME FROM PURDUE: In late 2024, crater on Mars was named for the late Jay Melosh, a Purdue professor who was a leading world expert in impact crater physics. According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature website, the crater on Mars was named “Melosh” on Oct. 23, 2024. According to Purdue, Melosh – who died in 2020 at age 73 – was known for his work on impact cratering, planetary tectonics and the physics of earthquakes and landslides. He also was part of team for the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission that first mapped the gravity field of the moon and part of the Deep Impact mission that slammed an impactor into a comet to look under the surface.

“This large, nearly 100-kilometer crater is a rather fitting honor since Jay, quite literally, wrote the book on impact cratering,” Brandon Johnson, a Purdue professor of planetary sciences, said in a university feature about the honor.

“Jay was a wonderful mentor to so many of us,” Briony Horgan, a Purdue professor of planetary sciences and co-investigator and long-term planner on NASA’s Perseverance rover mission on Mars, said. “The crater is located near Aram Chaos in the equatorial region of Mars. Based on a quick look at the orbital data, this crater has had a complex history. It looks like it was filled in with lava, then ripped in half by giant outburst floods of water. Jay would have loved that interplay of planetary processes.”

For more about the crater, here’s a link to the USGS site.

A TRAFFIC LIGHT FOR INDIANA 26 AND MCCARTY LANE: Work is expected to start Monday on a new traffic light on Indiana 26 East at the McCarty Lane extension. The project will include periodic lane closures and will take until mid-May, the Indiana Department of Transportation said this week.

SPONSORSHIP GRANT OPPORTUNITY FOR NONPROFIT TOURISM EVENTS: Applications are open through Feb. 15 for a series of sponsorship grants offered through Visit Lafayette-West Lafayette for nonprofit tourism attractions and events in 2025. Here’s what’s available to nonprofit organizations:

• Up to $15,000 for events that have 10,000 or more in attendance.

• Up to $2,500 to $7,500 for events that have less than 10,000 in attendance.

• Up to $15,000 for attractions.

• Up to $10,000 for public art installations.

• Up to $5,000 for creation of, or improvement to, sports tournament facilities.

• Up to $5,000 for new initiatives or organizations that will attract/host visitors.

Here are the links for the full guidelines and to apply.

INAUGURATION FOR A NEW GOVERNOR: Gov.-elect Mike Braun will be sworn into office at 11 a.m. Monday at the Indianapolis Hilbert Circle Theater, starting a four-year term. Micah Beckwith will be sworn in as lieutenant governor and Todd Rokita will be sworn in for his second term as attorney general. Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter Whitney Downard had more details: “Inaugural activities set for incoming Gov. Mike Braun.”

A FEW WORDS FROM THE OUTGOING GOVERNOR: Gov. Eric Holcomb, down to his final 24 hours in office, offered several exit interviews in recent weeks after two terms as Indiana’s governor. Among them:

• Holcomb talked with Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter Casey Smith about, among other things, his handling of the COVID pandemic. From the story: “The Holcomb administration’s response to the global pandemic likely earned the governor the most criticism, much of which from conservatives who disapproved of Indiana’s statewide mask mandate and other COVID-19 restrictions that Holcomb imposed by executive order. ‘You’re never going to please everyone, and you might not even please half of them. But what gave me confidence, actually strength, during it all, was that we were looking at all the information that we could get our hands on and were connected with communities in all 92 counties. We were connected to trade associations, to schools, to hospitals, to local health departments, to all kinds of entities that had an opinion,’ Holcomb recalled.” It also provided what Holcomb said was biggest regret: “But if there is ‘one regret’ Holcomb has, it came in May 2020, after a photo was posted on Facebook showing the governor posing at the Hobnob Corner Restaurant in Nashville, Indiana, with two other people — none of whom were wearing masks. The photo was posted amid rising statewide tensions over Holcomb’s stay-at-home orders that caused many businesses to shut down. … ‘“I wish I wouldn’t have done that.’” For the full story: “Outgoing Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb looks back on eight years in office — and at what’s next.”

• Indianapolis Star’s Kayla Dwyer had this look back on the Holcomb administration: “Grand Old Pivot: How COVID, economic development and a changing GOP defined the Holcomb era.”

• This week, Holcomb added his own closing lines in an op-ed. From it: “When I took office as Governor in January 2017 I was determined to pick up where my predecessors had left off and make our state an even better place to live, work, play, and stay. I said we’d take Indiana to the world and the world to Indiana, and over the past 8 years we’ve done just that. How? With civility and a common sense approach, along with the collective efforts of Hoosiers from all walks of life.” For the full piece: “Eric Holcomb: We showed the world who Hoosiers are. Thank you, Indiana.”

Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.