IndyStar editor: We're adding journalists in Indianapolis; more on Billy Graham

Hoosier hospitality question: How soon after officially moving to Indiana can I call you my fellow Hoosiers?

Two weeks ago, I published a guest column asking for your input on IndyStar's continued printing of the Rev. Billy Graham's "My Answer" column (more on that later), put my out-of-office notifications on, and started throwing a life built across 12 years in Colorado into boxes.

On June 20, my wife, three kids and two cats joined me as Indiana residents. Our first order of business, aside from unpacking: start to build a community and support group from scratch.

A lot of that effort will take place outside of work, but it also needs to happen on the job. These last five months of splitting time between Colorado and Indiana have only enforced my belief that it's near impossible to effectively tell a community's stories from afar.

To best represent a place, you need to be of that place. For 121 years, IndyStar has been of this place.

Now that I'm here full time, I want to be of this place, too. And where better to start than with our shared love language of basketball?

On July 12, the Indiana Fever will host IndyStar Night. In addition to some fun activities during the Fever's 7:30 p.m. game against the Phoenix Mercury, we'll have a pregame booth at Gainbridge Fieldhouse where you can meet some of our sports staff.

I'll be there, too. I hope you'll come say hi before you cheer on the Fever.

Welcoming new members to IndyStar's newsroom

On the topic of introductions, I have a few to make now that I've met our newest team members in person.

IndyStar welcomed five journalists in May and June, along with an outstanding group of summer interns. We're preparing to welcome four more in July as we leverage the USA TODAY Network's $1 million investment into IndyStar's newsroom to bring you more of the news you need.

You'll find bios of our staff online and in our "Meet our team" page in upcoming editions of the Sunday Star. For now, here's a quick look at the new names you'll recognize in the news:

• Indy native and former Indianapolis Recorder reporter Jade Jackson joined our public safety team in May, telling stories of victims' lives and their families.
• Hayleigh Colombo, our senior government accountability reporter, has been digging into Indy's bid for an MLS expansion franchise since joining us earlier this month. The Butler University grad's previous stints include the Indianapolis Business Journal.
• Senior sports enterprise and Purdue athletics reporter Nathan Baird, formerly of Cleveland.com and the Lafayette Journal & Courier, also joined us in June to boost our coverage of the Boilermakers.
• Visual journalist Grace Smith, who covered Caitlin Clark's rise while both were at the University of Iowa, joined our team in June.
• Alysa Guffey has returned home to Indy after a Chicago Tribune internship to tell Indianapolis' economic stories as our new commercial growth and development reporter.
• Our do-everything summer intern lineup of nine promising young journalists includes Zion Brown, Alex Haddon, Daryl Perry, Brett Phelps, Yasmeen Saadi, Nadia Scharf, Kyle Smedley, Tyler Spence and Jade Thomas.

I'm reading and responding to Billy Graham feedback, I promise

We posted a guest column by the Rev. Daniel Gangler in the May 16 Sunday Star questioning the continued publication of the late Rev. Billy Graham's "My Answer" advice column. We asked for feedback, and boy did you provide it.

A mea culpa here: It wasn't the best idea to seek reader feedback before a cross-country move, and I'm about 400 emails behind in responding. But I've enjoyed readers' passionate responses on their faith and its place in IndyStar's report.

We're not going to make any hasty decisions. I think there's an additive approach to be had as we consider an IndyStar that is representative of not only the Christian faith that my family shares with many Hoosiers, but also the beliefs and values of our neighbors.

We'll have much more to come in the weeks ahead. Thanks for your deep care for your local news source. Thank you for reading IndyStar.

IndyStar Executive Editor Eric Larsen can be reached at ericlarsen@indystar.com or 317-444-7342.