Two “Calamitous” Weeks in Gary, Indiana
  August 18, 2026 Greetings, Meteor readers, The world has a little less love in it tonight with the passing of country music star and exemplary human Dolly Parton. She was a singer, a trailblazer, and a philanthropist. Her music touched millions, and her signature hair was high enough to brush the toes of the gods. Everyone has their favorite Dolly moment—there are no bad ones—but allow me to share the clip I love the most: Dolly Parton expertly strumming a guitar on the Johnny Carson show with acrylic nails, big old hoops, and a “$13 wig.” Rest well, Mother Parton.  In today’s newsletter, what the two-week power outage in Gary, Indiana, has really been like. Plus, Trump’s war on mail-in voting reaches a new level. xoxo, Shannon Melero  WHAT’S GOING ONA calamity in Indiana: On August 11, journalist and editor Javonte Anderson lost power in his home in Gary, Indiana. Having grown up in the area, he’d lived through a number of outages and wasn’t immediately alarmed. “My first instinct was to find a coffee shop so I can get some power and finish working,” he tells The Meteor. But as Anderson drove from one neighborhood to the next to the next, he began to realize just how widespread the blackout was. A few hours later, the local gas and electric company, NIPSCO, confirmed that power was out for almost all of northwest Indiana. That was two weeks ago. As of this morning, roughly 8,000 people in Gary are still without power. Anderson describes the ordeal as “calamitous.” The outage in Indiana was caused by an historic storm in which winds reached 99 MPH. Power lines came down, and the electric grid, operated by NIPSCO and suffering from years of structural neglect, failed. As the area has struggled to recover from the blackout, NIPSCO’s lack of preparedness for the storm has fueled a growing discussion. “If I know, as a reporter, that Tornado Alley is shifting and we’re starting to have more aggressive storms in the last few years,” says Anderson, “I would expect a million-dollar company to know that as well.” As we’ve seen in other places, like Puerto Rico, companies often do know the risks, but choose to focus on profit over people. And that can be an easier choice to make when you’ve got a monopoly on the grid: In Gary, NIPSCO is the only power provider available. The governor has called for an investigation.  POWER LINE REPAIRS UNDERWAY IN GARY, INDIANA, ABOUT NINE DAYS AFTER THE STORM HIT. (VIA GETTY IMAGES) Despite the severity of the storm and the resulting power outage, it wasn’t until the blackout passed the one-week mark that national newsrooms started really paying attention. By then, Anderson’s team at Capital B News Gary and social media posts from other residents had been sounding the alarm for days. “It’s been interesting to watch the process in real time,” Anderson says. “After nine days, we start getting a little bit more national media attention…resources [for the city] became a lot more abundant in the last four days. There’s been a real positive windstorm because of the national attention. It feels like there’s some support behind the city.” Still, it’s notable that the residents of Gary are among the last in the region to have their power restored. “Gary is the second most populated and Blackest city in Lake County,” Anderson explains. Within three days of the power outages, NIPSCO got the power back on in other parts of Lake County, “but then we go into day six, and people are like, wait, what about Gary? We can see the work isn’t being done.” Meanwhile, the White House hasn’t even managed to muster up a thought or a prayer. (You know the situation is dire when Ms. Rachel has to step in.) And for some residents of Gary, the crisis continues. “It really disrupts daily life when you start going 10 days without power,” Anderson explains. “You have no gas stations, no gas, no hot water—your food is spoiled. Gary has a very high poverty rate. Missing one day of work is life-altering for people. You think they can go three, four days without their paychecks because they can’t even afford to get to work?” For now, Anderson is hopeful that NIPSCO will deliver on its promise to fully restore power this week thanks in part to pressure from residents, the governor, and the media. “The one thing that media attention does do is draw attention to an issue and help bring money and resources into the community,” he says. “[Gary] is defined by crime, blight, disaster. But within all of that are real people and families working and living to try and make this a better place…and we need to tell that whole story.” For a list of how to help Gary residents impacted by the blackouts, click here. AND:
 RESIDENTS IN BRUSSELS ENDURE AN EXTREME HEAT WAVE EARLIER THIS MONTH. (VIA GETTY IMAGES)
 IT JUST FEELS WRONG. (VIA GETTY IMAGES)  FOLLOW THE METEOR     Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend? |
