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Happy Thursday! We hope your Oct. 3 is as memorable as Cady's.

☀️ Today's weather: Sunny with a high near 76.

🎂 Happy birthday to our Axios Indianapolis member Ronald Perez!

🍯 Situational awareness: Shana Tova to those celebrating the Jewish New Year.

Today's newsletter is 942 words — a 3.5-minute read. Edited by Lindsey Erdody.

The first gubernatorial debate between Republican Sen. Mike Braun and Democrat Jennifer McCormick last night was not quite as cordial as the vice presidential debate the night before, as the candidates addressed controversies around attack ads, running mates and party loyalty.

State of play: Even though every poll has Braun up and he'd raised six times as much money as McCormick by the second quarter of this year, he released an attack ad this week that has some political watchers speculating he may be concerned about McCormick gaining ground.

• Braun is also contending with unforced errors from his own team, criticizing running mate Micah Beckwith for going off-script with several far-right talking points about vaccines and comparing McCormick to the "Jezebel spirit."

What happened: The two candidates stayed largely on track, answering questions on policy issues like education, marijuana legalization, property tax plans and immigration, though FOX59 moderators had to ask both of them to more directly answer questions several times.

• The final minutes of the debate became more contentious as they were asked about their running mates.

Here are the moments that stuck out to us in the hour-long debate.

📺 Braun addressed the attack ad he released this week using a digitally altered image without the disclaimer required by a new state law seeking to limit AI-driven misinformation in elections.

• Braun did not apologize for the ad, which has since been replaced with a version that doesn't include the manipulated image.
• "No campaign is going to be perfect," he said.

👀 The latest version of the ad in question ran during a commercial break immediately following the discussion of it.

🗳️ When pressed, Braun said he does believe that former President Trump lost the 2020 election.

What's next: Another debate — this one with Braun, McCormick and Libertarian candidate Donald Rainwater.

• It starts at 6pm tonight and airs on WISH-TV.

Go deeper

A new festival concept from Indiana Humanities this weekend aims to show how lit Midwestern authors truly are.

Why it matters: The inaugural Proof: A Midwest Lit Fest is designed to highlight the Circle City's thriving independent bookstore era, and follows the success of Indy's first book crawl this spring.

The big picture: Nearly a dozen new bookstores have opened in the greater Indianapolis area over the last three years, giving local writers a platform and reversing a trend of local shops losing out to online sellers like Amazon.

• The national reading renaissance has been attributed to a rise in readership during the pandemic and in places like Indiana, a response to efforts to censor books.

Driving the news: Organizers say Proof will bring together writers, readers and literary enthusiasts to celebrate the power of Midwestern-grown writing.

• The event will be headlined by Indy native author and New York Review of Books contributor Darryl Pinckney and the 2018-19 Indiana Poet Laureate and editor of Poetry Magazine Adrian Matejka.
• It will begin with a local author's morning mixer and end with an open mic hosted by VOCAB and That Peace Open Mic.

Zoom in: Highlights of the one-day, all ages event include:

📚 A book fair with local sellers.

🗣️ Conversations about the literary Midwest.

📖 Local and regional author readings.

🤝 Opportunities to connect with publishers and literary magazines.

🧑‍🏫 Workshops led by experienced writers.

If you go

💉 Eli Lilly is investing another $4.5 billion in Boone County's LEAP Research and Innovation District in Lebanon, pushing the company's total investment in the area past $13 billion. (IndyStar)

🔍 The committee created to investigate Mayor Joe Hogsett's administration and its handling of sexual harassment allegations met for the first time Tuesday.

• The focus of the meeting was the city's human resources system, which lacks a way for employees to make anonymous reports. (FOX59)

🏎️ The Tony Stewart Foundation will cease operations at the end of the year after two decades of raising money to support children, animals and injured drivers. (WISH-TV)

🤼 Tickets for the WWE Royal Rumble at Lucas Oil Stadium go on sale Nov. 15. The event takes place on Feb. 1, 2025. (WWE)

🏆 Carmel High School was one of seven Indiana schools recognized by Special Olympics North America for efforts to provide inclusive sports and activities. (WRTV)

 🏀 Former Boilermaker Zach Edey had the site formerly known as Twitter abuzz after a video was posted of the 7'4" NBA rookie raining 3s at the Memphis Grizzlies training camp. (Sports Illustrated)

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Meet Breanna Faith, a Central Indiana musician and advocate who learned to sing before she learned to talk.

The inspo: Faith, who began playing piano at 4, guitar at 7, and writing her first song at 12, told Axios that her music is all about expressing her real-life emotions through song.

• "There's nothing I love more than sharing my story," she said. "The way the music meets somebody and the way a listener interprets a song can just mean so many different things, and I think that's really special."

Zoom in: Off stage, Faith is a neurodiagnostic technologist at IU Health in Bloomington who volunteers with the Epilepsy Foundation.

• Diagnosed with epilepsy when she was 8, Faith shares her story to inspire others and raise awareness.

Check her out

Newfields' annual spooky (not scary) Halloween spectacle is back, now through Nov. 2.

Driving the boos: Harvest Nights runs from sun down — earliest tickets right now are 7:30pm but will get earlier later into the month — until 9:30pm, depending on the day.

• Visitors can walk the Pumpkin Path of Peril, feel the Ghost Train rumble by and wander through Mischief Manor every day but Monday.
• Tickets start at $25 for adults/$16 for youth.

Get your brand in front of highly engaged readers in Indianapolis.

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• Reach civic minded leaders and smart professionals.
• Support local journalism with Axios Local.

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Our picks:

🎃 Arika's house is all decked out for the season, with funky pumpkins (from the farm stand at 62nd & Allisonville), a skeleton and small graveyard.

🎧 Justin is vibing out to all the '80s-themed synthwave playlists that have taken over his YouTube algorithm this week.

🐿️ Lindsey is glad the squirrels seem to (finally) be staying away from the giant pumpkin she bought from Costco for $6 (!!) last weekend. The trick was wiping it with white vinegar.