The Political Spotlight - Episodes Tagged with “Local Government”

#719 | Wednesday, August 19, 2026 | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 21:00:00 -0400

Due to ongoing technical issues, this episode was cut short. Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey did not complete the full show. What was NOT covered here will be covered in a future program!

In this 719th episode of The Political Spotlight, Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey discusses the latest email from Delaware County Commissioner Stephen Brand regarding the "Delaware County-City of Muncie Dispatch Communications Issues," a topic that has been discussed for the past week.

The City of Muncie still has not responded to The Political Spotlight with answers to the questions Bilbrey has been trying to get answered. Bilbrey highlights what Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour has done over the past several days, which leads to a discussion of the Special meeting of the Muncie City Council set for tomorrow, Thursday, August 20, 2026, at 145 p.m.

Lastly, Bilbrey reviews a few meetings held in Muncie over the past couple of days:

Muncie Parks Board Meeting (Tuesday, August 18, 2026)...
Muncie Board of Works Meeting (Wednesday, August 19, 2026)...
Muncie Sanitary District Board Meeting (Wednesday, August 19, 2026)...

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

VIDEO version of Ep 719: https://youtube.com/live/mvJVQX2HwM4

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Connect with The Political Spotlight team on social media:
Facebook 1: https://www.facebook.com/Bilbrey318
Facebook 2: https://www.facebook.com/PoliticalSpotlight318
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight
Twitter: https://x.com/BilbreyLIVE
Email: tpsprogram@gmail.com

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🚨🚨🚨
'The Political Spotlight'
LIVE Sunday - Thursday @ 9 p.m. (ET)
Hosted by: Kristopher H. Bilbrey
Produced by: Kate Thornburg & Brandon Rudd
https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight
https://rumble.com/c/ThePoliticalSpotlight
https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
https://www.facebook.com/Bilbrey318
https://www.facebook.com/PoliticalSpotlight318
https://www.tiktok.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight
https://x.com/BilbreyLIVE
Email: tpsprogram@gmail.com
© 2026 Mud Creek Studio.
—

#718 | Monday, August 17, 2026 | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 21:00:00 -0400

This 718th episode will be a free-for-all!

First up, Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey welcomes back Madison County's contributing correspondent, Dr. Katherine Callahan. Callahan joins Bilbrey to break down several major developments in Madison County and the City of Anderson over the past month and a half, including:

The most recent Election Board meeting on July 30, 2026...
The recent historic weather event—Callahan shares her thoughts on the flooding in her neck of the woods and how she feels public servants and elected officials have handled the situation...
The "emergency" Madison County Council meeting, held today, Monday, August 17, 2026. The meeting concerned appropriating funds from the Rainy Day Fund — 1186 for flood relief — to the Madison County Emergency Management Agency and the Office of Homeland Security...

Then, from Madison County to Delaware County... the focus shifts back to the ongoing discussion of the issues faced by the Delaware County (City of Muncie) 911 Emergency Communications Center during the historic flooding on August 12-13, 2026.

During a regularly scheduled meeting of the Delaware County Commissioners today, Monday, August 17, 2026, Delaware County 911 Director Fred Cummings addressed the Commissioners and the public regarding the ongoing public-safety communications situation. His latest remarks appeared to walk back several statements he made at last week's "emergency" meeting while also offering significant new claims about the system's current status.

Bilbrey examines what has changed, what has been clarified, and what questions still remain—and oh yes, there are still plenty of questions. That said, it appears that The Political Spotlight is making some headway!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

VIDEO version of Ep 718: https://youtube.com/live/3eGK_NigSIs

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

#717 | Sunday, August 16, 2026 | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 21:00:00 -0400

In this 717th episode, The Political Spotlight continues its coverage of last week's historic flooding in Muncie, Delaware County, and elsewhere across East Central Indiana, focusing on the lives lost and the major property damage.

Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey also continues to investigate the serious public-safety communications problems reported during the event. We now have more information — but we also have two very different accounts of what happened.

The Political Spotlight obtained firsthand accounts from Muncie police, fire, and EMS personnel, along with an end-of-shift report from MPD Lt. Justin Peters detailing intermittent police radio issues, problems with Fire/EMS paging, flooding at the Sampson Avenue communications site, alternative methods of dispatching officers, Priority 1-only responses, and concerns about the availability of a fully operational backup system.

Delaware County Commissioner Stephen Brand has now responded, stating that the county's backup and failover communication processes worked, emergency communications continued despite flooding at the Sampson Avenue tower control building, backup channels were used, and he is not aware of any critical communication failures or public consequences.

So which description is correct?

Possibly both — which is exactly why more answers are needed.

In this episode, Bilbrey examines what we KNOW, what we DON'T KNOW, and the critical questions that remain:

Was MPD limited to Priority 1 calls — and for how long?

What exactly failed or degraded?

What backup systems were activated, and what capabilities did they provide?

How do the county's claims of a successful failover align with what Muncie first responders reported in real time?

Is the communications system fully back to normal today?

What equipment was damaged, what will repairs or replacement cost, and who will ultimately pay?

And perhaps most importantly: What will Muncie and Delaware County do differently before the next catastrophic emergency?

This is not about manufacturing a controversy. It is about establishing the facts surrounding one of the most important pieces of public-safety infrastructure in Delaware County.

If the backup system worked exactly as intended, the public deserves to understand how.

If weaknesses were exposed, the public deserves to know how they will be corrected.

And if The Political Spotlight reported something incorrectly, officials have been invited to identify exactly what was wrong and provide the correct information.

In this episode, Bilbrey lays out the entire timeline and follows the evidence wherever it leads.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

VIDEO version of Ep 717: https://youtube.com/live/SfLBHkFIUJU

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

#716 | Thursday, August 13, 2026 | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 21:00:00 -0400

Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey explores the extraordinary weather emergency and disaster that has struck East Central Indiana, particularly the southern portions of Muncie and Delaware County, extending into Henry and Randolph counties, as historic flooding — reportedly the worst in more than 113 years — has overwhelmed roads, neighborhoods, infrastructure, and emergency services.

As police, firefighters, EMS personnel, emergency management officials, and first responders worked to protect the public during the flooding, the Muncie City–Delaware County 911 Dispatch Center and the public-safety communications system faced an emergency of their own.

The dispatch center handles emergency and non-emergency communications for police, fire, and EMS throughout the City of Muncie, Delaware County, and the smaller communities and departments across the county. During one of the area's most serious weather emergencies in generations, critical radio communications encountered major problems.

The Political Spotlight obtained information from within the Muncie Police Department indicating that city police radios went in and out throughout much of the overnight shift from Wednesday, August 12, through the morning hours of Thursday, August 13, 2026. Officers were reportedly informed that the primary Motorola communications tower near 18th Street and Sampson Avenue in Muncie had been found underwater.

By approximately 4:45 a.m., the paging-tone system used for Fire and EMS was reportedly down, with no estimated time for restoration.

Personnel were further advised that there was no fully operational “Plan B” to replace the affected tower if it failed completely. AEP was expected to shut off power to the tower to protect whatever equipment could still be salvaged — a move that would further disrupt MPD radio and dispatch operations.

With communications compromised, MPD personnel were reportedly responding only to Priority 1 calls at the time, while dispatchers and supervisors relied on alternative communication methods to coordinate officer responses.

In this 716th episode, The Political Spotlight examines what happened, how severe the communications failure was, what contingency measures were — or were not — available, and the questions that Muncie and Delaware County officials will now have to answer about the reliability and redundancy of one of the county's most critical public-safety systems.

Questions have been asked; have answers been provided yet? Tune in for more.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

VIDEO version of Ep 716: https://youtube.com/live/AOGJS1RpZaA

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

#715 | Tuesday, August 11, 2026 | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 21:00:00 -0400

After initial rumors in early 2026 that something was amiss at the Delaware County EMS office, the story began to unfold publicly on March 12, 2026, when The Political Spotlight reported that longtime Delaware County EMS Office Manager Meagan R. Coutinho was no longer employed by Delaware County amid allegations of an internal theft investigation.

On March 23, 2026, the situation escalated dramatically when Delaware County Commissioners announced the suspension of County EMA Director John Coutinho — Meagan Coutinho’s husband — and County EMS Director Mike Ashley, as the Indiana State Police investigation into the alleged theft continued.

The investigation ultimately led to the arrest of Meagan R. Coutinho on June 3, 2026, and to the public release of the Probable Cause Affidavit, which detailed what Indiana State Police investigators alleged had occurred within Delaware County government and beyond.

━━━━━━

More than five months after The Political Spotlight first publicly reported that something was happening inside the Delaware County EMS office, and more than two months after the arrest, the case has reached another major milestone.

On Tuesday, August 11, 2026, the Delaware County Prosecutor’s Office formally filed 10 felony counts against Meagan R. Coutinho, including multiple counts of Theft and Fraud, as well as one count each of Conflict of Interest and Official Misconduct.

The formal charges stem from allegations involving approximately $181,749.93 in unauthorized compensation, thousands of hours of allegedly unauthorized overtime, money allegedly taken or diverted from a Delaware County EMS-related account, undeposited checks payable to Delaware County EMS, allegations related to retirement funds or benefits, an alleged conflict of interest involving a private cleaning company that received money from Delaware County, and, last but not least, allegations of theft from the Delta High School Girls Golf Boosters.

In this 715th episode of The Political Spotlight, Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey takes viewers through a recap of the entire timeline — from the first rumblings of trouble inside Delaware County EMS to the Indiana State Police investigation, the June arrest, and the official filing of 10 felony charges by Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman.

━━━━━━

Beyond the criminal allegations, several important questions remain for Delaware County Government:

If the allegations are true, how could this have persisted for years without detection?

Who was responsible for reviewing payroll?

Who authorized — or failed to question — thousands of hours of overtime?

What internal controls were in place?

Who was overseeing the funds?

What changes, if any, have been made to ensure that something like this cannot happen again?

And one of the most important questions of all:

Was Husband John Coutinho, or anyone else, involved?

━━━━━━

Meagan R. Coutinho is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. The allegations in the charging documents and Probable Cause Affidavit remain allegations unless established through the judicial process.

In this 715th episode of The Political Spotlight, Bilbrey leads the audience through the paper trail, examines the charges, breaks down the potential penalties, and continues to ask the questions Delaware County taxpayers deserve answers to.

━━━━━━

Timeline of other episodes connected to this topic:

First Mention: Episode 618 (03.12.26):
https://youtube.com/live/KHsZo1vua7A . . .

Commissioners Suspend EMA & EMS Directors (03.23.26):
https://youtube.com/live/GAKNvIVHY_o . . .

Arrest of Meagan R. Coutinho (06.03.26):
https://youtube.com/live/oa9h375x6QM . . .

News Relating to John Coutinho (06.10.26):
https://youtube.com/live/peN24gRaVfc . . .

Commissioners Terminate John Coutinho (06.16.26):
https://youtube.com/live/631ScX-qidM . . .

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

VIDEO version of Ep 715: https://youtube.com/live/jx3z8xsN2mM

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

#712 | Thursday, August 06, 2026 | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 21:00:00 -0400

Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey continues battling the tech gremlins in this 712th episode of The Political Spotlight. Bilbrey also explains an email he sent to the Muncie City Council on Thursday, August 6, 2026.

It's a new day, looking forward! Now to see if everyone else agrees!

All of the above, plus a few other bits and bobs, round out what has been a hectic and chaotic week for Bilbrey and The Political Spotlight.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

VIDEO version of Ep 712: https://youtube.com/live/8MgQHr9vr4Q

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

#711 | Wednesday, August 05, 2026 - (PART 2) | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 21:00:00 -0400

This is Episode 711, Part 2, the conclusion, of The Political Spotlight's two-part look at the highly anticipated August 3, 2026, Muncie City Council meeting.

In this episode, Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey will conclude his detailed commentary and analysis of everything that happened—including the highs and lows, the winners and losers, the status of major issues, and what comes next for Muncie. Specifically, Bilbrey will cover:

The Council's discussion, public input, and final vote on Ordinance 14-26, which aims to prevent current and future mayors from appointing their staff and other city employees to various governmental boards and commissions.
The Council's discussion, public input, and final vote on Resolutions 10-26 and 11-26, both of which relate to Ordinance 9-26 regarding the proposed construction of a new Station 5 for the Muncie City Fire Department.
The Public Comments portion of the meeting.

That may not seem like much, but those three points convey a lot of information.

That concludes Part 2 - Episode 711. As a reminder, in Part 1, Episode 710, which aired on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, Bilbrey covered the following topics:

The Public Hearing on Ordinance 9-26, which concerns the proposed construction of a new Station 5 for the Muncie City Fire Department.
The start of the regular meeting, including the Committee Reports and an unusual mid-meeting "public hearing" on Resolution 8-26, the Council's investigation into the City Controller's office's financial operations and internal controls.
The Council's discussion, public input, and final vote on Ordinance 9-26, which concerns the proposed construction of a new Station 5 for the Muncie City Fire Department.
The Council's handling of Ordinance 15-26 (the watered-down version of the vetoed Ordinance 13-26 concerning the McKinley neighborhood's overlay district). Bilbrey shared what went unsaid at the meeting, explaining why no action was taken on the vetoed Ordinance 13-26, why Councilor Jerry Dishman quietly withdrew Ordinance 15-26, why the rest of the Council went along with it, and why, at least for now, both sides are happy and working together.

Episode 710 - Part 1 LINK: https://thepoliticalspotlight.fireside.fm/710

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

VIDEO version of Ep 711: https://youtube.com/live/Phf2TfbNq8A

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

#710 | Tuesday, August 04, 2026 - (PART 1) | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 21:00:00 -0400

The dust has settled after the highly anticipated August 3, 2026, Muncie City Council meeting. Now it is time for the full postmortem.

Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey offers detailed commentary and analysis of everything that happened—including the highs and lows, the winners and losers, the status of major issues, and what comes next for Muncie—in this two-part series: Part 1 - Episode 710, airing Tuesday, August 4, 2026, and Part 2 - Episode 711, airing Wednesday, August 5, 2026.

In this 710th episode (Part 1), Bilbrey provides a complete breakdown of the important August 3, 2026, Muncie City Council meeting, beginning with the Public Hearing on Ordinance 9-26, which concerns the proposed construction of a new Station 5 for the Muncie City Fire Department.

Amazingly, issues began right away in the meeting, ranging from audio problems to Council President Jeff Green's attempt to silence Bilbrey during the public hearing. Hang on; it only gets worse from here.

Next, Bilbrey covers the start of the regular meeting. He details the Committee Reports and the unusual mid-meeting "public hearing" on Resolution 8-26, which concerns the Council's investigation into the financial operations and internal controls of the City Controller's office.

From there, Bilbrey covers the discussion of Ordinance 9-26, which concerns the proposed construction of a new Station 5 for the Muncie City Fire Department. This was the final discussion before the final vote. It was a serious issue, deserving everyone's full attention (wake up from your siesta, Bilbrey - IYKYK).

To wrap up Part 1 - Episode 710, Bilbrey covers the Council's handling of Ordinance 15-26, the watered-down version of the vetoed Ordinance 13-26 concerning the McKinley neighborhood's overlay district. Bilbrey shares what went unsaid during the meeting, explaining why no action was taken on the vetoed Ordinance 13-26, why Councilor Jerry Dishman quietly withdrew Ordinance 15-26, why the rest of the Council went along with it, and why, at least for now, both sides are happy and working together.

This concludes Part 1 - Episode 710.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

In Part 2 - Episode 711, Bilbrey will conclude his analysis and commentary on the August 3, 2026, Muncie City Council Meeting, covering:

The Council's discussion, public input, and final vote on Ordinance 14-26, which aims to prevent current and future mayors from appointing members of their staff and other city employees to various governmental boards and commissions.
The Council's discussion, public input, and final vote on Resolutions 10-26 and 11-26, both of which relate to Ordinance 9-26 regarding the proposed construction of a new Station 5 for the Muncie City Fire Department.
The Public Comments portion of the meeting.

Episode 711 - Part 2 LINK: https://thepoliticalspotlight.fireside.fm/711

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

VIDEO version of Ep 710: https://youtube.com/live/Mg1_cMiye6g

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

#709 | Sunday, August 02, 2026 | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 21:00:00 -0400

This is the calm before the storm! In the 709th episode of The Political Spotlight, Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey outlines the government events scheduled for tomorrow, Monday, August 3, 2026, in the City of Muncie and Delaware County, Indiana.

This episode airs on the eve of what is certain to be a consequential and potentially contentious Muncie City Council meeting, set to begin at 6:45 p.m. on Monday, August 3, 2026. Bilbrey previews the major issues expected to come before the Council, including:

• The Council’s investigation into the internal operations and financial controls of the Muncie City Controller’s Office, authorized by Resolution 8-26.

• Ordinance 9-26, along with Resolutions 10-26 and 11-26, concerning a proposed construction project for a new fire station at the current Station 5 location.

• The future of the vetoed Ordinance 13-26. Will the Council allow the mayoral veto to stand, effectively killing the ordinance, or will at least six of the nine Council members vote to override it?

• Ordinance 15-26, a watered-down version of Ordinance 13-26, sponsored by District 5 Councilman Jerry Dishman. Bilbrey argues that Dishman should withdraw the ordinance or that the Council should reject it if it overrides the veto of Ordinance 13-26.

• The highly debated vote on Ordinance 14-26, a transparency and accountability measure intended to prevent the mayor from appointing members of the mayor's staff and other city employees to city boards and commissions.

Bilbrey will also share his thoughts ahead of the Delaware County Commissioners' meeting, set for 9:00 a.m. Monday, August 3, 2026.

With multiple controversial ordinances, a possible veto override, an ongoing investigation, and major decisions on public accountability and city operations, Monday could be one of the most significant days in recent Muncie government.

Whatever you do, do not miss episode 709 of The Political Spotlight.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

VIDEO version of Ep 709: https://youtube.com/live/SpmaKWVtb9Q

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

#700 | The City of Muncie Gets a Social Media Policy! | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 21:00:00 -0400

The city government in Muncie, Indiana, implemented a new "social media" policy as of today (Monday, July 13, 2026). Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey has been waiting for this policy to take effect for more than two years. But it might not be all it's cracked up to be.

Many are hopeful that this will change the attitudes of certain members of the Administration and how they interact with the public. But will it? Or will nothing change? Or will attitudes just get worse? Time will tell!

Plus, Bilbrey is concerned that this might be a way to target employees who attempt to speak out against wrongdoing within City Hall! This has to be considered!

Bilbrey discusses it all on this 700th episode of The Political Spotlight! It's about to get HOT!

============================

VIDEO version of Ep 700: https://youtube.com/live/BvEMo0UBVkA

============================

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

============================

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday - Thursday @ 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

============================

Facebook 1: https://www.facebook.com/Bilbrey318
Facebook 2: https://www.facebook.com/PoliticalSpotlight318
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight
Twitter: https://x.com/BilbreyLIVE
Email: tpsprogram@gmail.com

============================

🚨🚨🚨
'The Political Spotlight'
LIVE Sunday - Thursday @ 9 p.m. (ET)
Hosted by: Kristopher H. Bilbrey & Brandon Rudd
Produced by: Kate Thornburg
https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight
https://rumble.com/c/ThePoliticalSpotlight
https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
https://www.facebook.com/Bilbrey318
https://www.facebook.com/PoliticalSpotlight318
https://www.tiktok.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight
https://x.com/BilbreyLIVE
Email: tpsprogram@gmail.com
© 2026 Mud Creek Studio.
—

#671 | Muncie's Packed Council Agenda Creates Questions Ahead of Meeting! | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Wed, 27 May 2026 21:00:00 -0400

HUGE!

This 671st episode of 'The Political Spotlight,' along with the next several days leading up to the Muncie City Council's public hearing and regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, June 1, 2026, will be HUGE!

Not to mention, the public hearing and meeting will be HUGE, too!

But why!?

Well, Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey explores the recently released agenda for the upcoming Muncie City Council public hearing and regularly scheduled meeting, set for Monday, June 1, 2026, beginning at 6:45 p.m.

The agenda is PACKED with several important topics!

From an ordinance concerning the controversial decision to start the process for another expensive fire station construction project and the related appropriations... to an ordinance relating to appropriations for the Muncie City Police Department (because when one gets, the other wants... ALWAYS)! And then there's what is almost guaranteed to be a controversial resolution of the City Council authorizing an investigation into the financial operations and internal controls of the City of Muncie's Controller's office... all of this happening during the first week of Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour's planned absence from city government for an extended period due to medical treatment.

Episode 671 takes a deep dive into what's coming before the council — and why citizens should pay close attention to the meeting and its outcomes!

Bilbrey will go through the agenda item by item, discussing what stands out, the questions he has heard from others, the questions he has, and why this will be an important Muncie City Council meeting to attend in person!

If you care about transparency, accountability, communication, spending, local leadership, and the city's direction, you do NOT want to miss this episode or the meeting on Monday, June 1, 2026.

Real issues. Real conversations. Real accountability.

=========================

VIDEO version of Ep 671: https://youtube.com/live/DecgTuVbick

============================

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

============================

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday - Thursday @ 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

============================

#670 | It Costs to Not Be Corrupt! & Indiana's INTERESTING GOP Convention! | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Tue, 26 May 2026 21:00:00 -0400

Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey examines the "cost" of fighting fraud and corruption in Delaware County, as outlined by Delaware County Auditor Ed Carroll during the Delaware County Council meeting earlier today, Tuesday, May 26, 2026.

Then, Bilbrey discusses his continued frustration with his interactions — or lack thereof — with the local Delaware County Republican Party as he looks ahead to what promises to be an interesting State Republican Convention, to be held Friday, June 19, and Saturday, June 20, 2026.

=========================

VIDEO version of Ep 670: https://youtube.com/live/0wjCTmJC-ig

============================

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

============================

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday - Thursday @ 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

============================

#666 | The Episode From Hell! | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Tue, 19 May 2026 21:00:00 -0400

Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey covers several bits and pieces of information about Muncie, Henry County, Knightstown, and beyond!

He's really feeling the pain from his broken ribs, which is fitting since this is the episode from hell - episode 666!

=========================

VIDEO version of Ep 666: https://youtube.com/live/Af6xGDE8C1A

============================

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

============================

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday - Thursday @ 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

============================

#664 | Fighting the New Tax! Bad Attitudes, Failures, & ODL Violations! | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Sun, 17 May 2026 21:00:00 -0400

In this 664th episode of 'The Political Spotlight,' Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey covers four major issues affecting the citizens of Muncie and Delaware County.

First, Bilbrey focuses on tomorrow’s important public hearing, which will take place at the start of the Delaware County Commissioners meeting (9 a.m.). The hearing will address the proposed cumulative capital development fund tax. Citizens are strongly encouraged to attend and make their voices heard before another tax burden is imposed on the people of Delaware County.

For those wishing to attend, the Delaware County Commissioners' meeting and public hearing will be held Monday, May 18, 2026, at 9 a.m. in Room 309A on the 3rd floor of the Delaware County Building at 100 West Main Street, Muncie, Indiana 47305.

Next, Bilbrey delves into growing concerns about members of Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour's administration, as well as what many citizens call unacceptable attitudes and poor treatment by city employees. Complaints continue to mount as more residents come forward, frustrated by how they are being treated by City Hall.

Bilbrey will also discuss the ongoing problems at Prairie Creek and why many citizens believe the situation reflects a serious failure of leadership and accountability by the mayor’s office. That said, the mayor's most ardent supporters somehow continue to see everything as a win and can't understand how others, not in control of the situation, could let things get so bad!

Finally, Bilbrey breaks down a major victory for government transparency. The Indiana Public Access Counselor has ruled in favor of TRANSPARENCY and 'The Political Spotlight' team after we filed an Open Door Law complaint against Muncie City Council members for their actions at the City Council meeting on Monday, October 6, 2025. The ruling found that the City Council violated Indiana’s Open Door Law.

Join the conversation as Bilbrey exposes the issues, demands accountability, and keeps the white-hot spotlight on corruption and misconduct across local, state, and national government.

=========================

VIDEO version of Ep 664: https://youtube.com/live/irYb3-3NUgE

============================

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

============================

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday - Thursday @ 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

============================

#524 | Solar Ordinance Delay & Voter List Fiasco! | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 21:00:00 -0400

Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey covers the Delaware County Commissioners' meeting held earlier this morning (Monday, September 15, 2025). For many residents of Delaware County, the top item on the Commissioners' agenda was the Solar Ordinance. However, instead of voting on the ordinance, the Commissioners decided to table it again to revise the language. Bilbrey is curious about why it is taking so long.

Next, Bilbrey looks toward the Indiana State House, as he has serious concerns about Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales, along with all the other ongoing issues involving Morales. He has now handed over the personal information of nearly 5 million registered Indiana voters to the federal government. As you can imagine, Bilbrey is not pleased.

Tune in for Bilbrey's thoughts on the Delaware County Commissioners' meeting and the situation with Indiana, Secretary of State Diego Morales and the personal information of all Hoosiers. Bilbrey also highlights a SUPER-FAN, Mr. or Mrs. Barton Tweaker, better known as "Bluestate49."

Click the following link for Bluestate49's video about Bilbrey and the rest of the Spotlight team: https://youtu.be/wazrKFVVDMk

============================

VIDEO version of Ep 524: https://youtube.com/live/53-m1LB03vg

============================

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

=========================

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday - Thursday @ 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

=========================

#506 | Meetings Review: (ARC), (MCC), & (DMMPC)! | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 21:00:00 -0400

This 506th episode of 'The Political Spotlight' will review not only three important meetings across three different municipalities but also examine what's wrong with government in these areas and many others!

For this task, Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey invites contributing correspondent Dr. Katherine Callahan to join him!

Bilbrey and Callahan review key discussion points from the three meetings held on Tuesday, August 12, 2025. Those meetings are:

Anderson Redevelopment Commission Meeting...
Madison County Council Meeting...
Delaware-Muncie Metropolitan Plan Commission Meeting...

As is often the case, there are both positive and negative points to take away from all the meetings, and some lessons that can be learned if only the public servants and the public alike would be willing to listen and accept what is being said! Time will tell!

Also, completely unrelated to those three meetings, Bilbrey has two other points of interest to mention.

First, the City of Muncie's Unsafe Building Housing Authority will meet on Thursday, August 14, 2025, and Bilbrey plans to attend to ask Mayor Dan Ridenour for an apology for the rude comment he made about a citizen at the July meeting.

And second, Bilbrey briefly highlights a statement made by Munice Mayor Dan Ridenour on Tuesday, August 12, 2025. It seems more like an admission the Mayor has finally made after nearly four or five years, and it is crucial that as many people as possible hear this brief admission from Mayor Dan Ridenour.

Like every other episode, you can skip this one, but you'll be missing out! So, it's best to make plans to listen LIVE or via replay!

============================

VIDEO version of Ep 506: https://youtube.com/live/dDtxh_2LWLY . . .

============================

Enjoy our content? Give us a like or a review!
Dig our content? Subscribe to the show!

============================

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday - Thursday @ 9 p.m. ET)
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Only Podcast Link: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& all other hosting sites.

============================

Become a Member of the YouTube Channel:
https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS

============================

Get Your OFFICIAL Show Merch:
https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

============================

Connect with us on social media:
Facebook 1: https://www.facebook.com/Bilbrey318
Facebook 2: https://www.facebook.com/PoliticalSpotlight318
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight
Twitter: https://x.com/BilbreyLIVE

============================

Connect with us via email:
tpsprogram@gmail.com

============================

SUBSCRIBE . . .
LIKE &/or REVIEW . . .
& SHARE THE SHOW . . .

============================

#505 | Ty'ray Wilson's Charges! Lt. Gov. on WoWo! & Tuesday-Meeting Day! | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 21:00:00 -0400

This 505th episode of 'The Political Spotlight' is jam-packed, and Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey is fired up, so let's cut through all the noise and get right to it!

First up, in preparation for tomorrow's busy meeting day (Tuesday, August 12, 2025), Bilbrey sets the stage with the first meeting at 5 p.m., when the Anderson Redevelopment Commission will meet to handle regular monthly business. However, this is also the meeting where they are supposed to lay out the “rules” for how they think citizens are supposed to behave to participate. Should be interesting to see what all shakes out! Then, at 6 p.m., the Madison County Council will meet for its August 2025 meeting. This is also their first meeting since Council President Scott Green unveiled his "rules" for how he thinks the public should behave. It must be something in the water in Madison County. And finally, at 6 p.m., the Delaware County Plan Commission will meet to discuss the Delaware County Solar Ordinance. And Bilbrey is fired up about this one. He's ready to unload, because this is one of the most important issues Delaware County has been dealing with; however, "the powers that be" are more concerned about how long the meeting will take and controlling speech. They are not focused on listening to the people!

Next, Bilbrey walks through the federal charging documents for Ty'ray Wilson...

And finally, Indiana’s Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith appeared on WOWO Radio in Fort Wayne today. While he did speak, he didn't say anything of real value! Even though the Beckwith scyophants think otherwise.

This will be one to watch LIVE or via replay, but either way, JUST WATCH!

============================

VIDEO version of Ep 505: https://youtube.com/live/mmzjGRneCQI . . .

============================

Enjoy our content? Give us a like or a review!
Dig our content? Subscribe to the show!

============================

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday - Thursday @ 9 p.m. ET)
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Only Podcast Link: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& all other hosting sites.

============================

Become a Member of the YouTube Channel:
https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS

============================

Get Your OFFICIAL Show Merch:
https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

============================

Connect with us via email:
tpsprogram@gmail.com

============================

SUBSCRIBE . . .
LIKE &/or REVIEW . . .
& SHARE THE SHOW . . .

============================

#501 | The Flip Has Flopped! | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 21:00:00 -0400

In this 501st episode of 'The Political Spotlight,' Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey discusses two major local government meetings held today, Monday, August 4, 2025. While several meetings took place across Indiana this morning—including the Delaware County Commissioners, Randolph County Commissioners, and Grant County Commissioners—Bilbrey focuses on the Muncie City Council Meeting and the Winchester City Council Meeting, both held this evening.

First, Bilbrey shares a statement that former Muncie City Councilor Jeff Robinson issued about the recent "political party hopping." Bilbrey offers his thoughts on Jeff's letter and explains why he believes Jeff is right on the money with his statement.

From there, Bilbrey explores the Muncie City Council Meeting, which turned out to be a major disappointment. The City Council passed "ordinance 2025" (an ordinance raising EMS rates in the City). While this decision is more than likely a poor choice for the citizens of Muncie, and the Council should have tabled it to gather more information, the main issue is how the discussion and votes were handled! This one specific vote demonstrated that the two former Democrat Councilors who recently switched to the Republican Party quickly aligned with their new colleagues, voting along party lines. Proving that the Republicans truly hold the majority on the Muncie City Council. It is completely frustrating that five of the nine Councilors could vote "NO" to gathering more information before voting!

However, at the Winchester City Council Meeting, things turned out much better. The Council voted to end a controversial measure — a big win for property rights and homeowners. Bilbrey was present at the meeting, and he shares his thoughts about what happened, why it matters, and what it means going forward.

As always, Bilbrey explains everything with his signature insight and straightforward commentary.

VIDEO version of Ep 501: https://youtube.com/live/XW5OasQKk_0 . . .

============================

Enjoy our content? Give us a like or a review!
Dig our content? Subscribe to the show!

============================

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday - Thursday @ 9 p.m. ET)
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Only Podcast Link: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& all other hosting sites.

============================

Become a Member of the YouTube Channel:
https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS

============================

Get Your OFFICIAL Show Merch:
https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

============================

Connect with us via email:
tpsprogram@gmail.com

============================

SUBSCRIBE . . .
LIKE &/or REVIEW . . .
& SHARE THE SHOW . . .

============================