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3rd ‘No Kings’ protest draws massive crowds The protest began at the courthouse and ended with a march down Kirkwood Avenue
By Ella Curlin elcurlin@iu.edu
The crowd stretched from Sample Gates past First Christian Church on Kirkwood Avenue on March 28 as several thousand people chanted, marched and held signs in protest of the Trump administration. Bloomington’s "No Kings" protest began at 1 p.m. at the Monroe County Courthouse and ended shortly after 3 p.m. with a march down Kirkwood Avenue. The protest was one of nearly 3,000 events planned across the United States. Similar events were held in June and October. The protests were organized by the Bloomington chapter of 50501, a national grassroots group organized to protest the actions of President Donald Trump’s administration. At the courthouse, representatives manned booths from organizations including Indivisible of South Central Indiana, Medicare for All Indiana, the Bloomington chapter of the League of Women Voters, MADVoters and Mobility Aids Lending Library. Representatives from local organizations including Exodus Refugee Immigration gave speeches, and musician Carrie Newcomer played guitar and sang songs to the crowd from a stage next to the courthouse. As protesters walked along the sidewalk around the courthouse, they waved signs referencing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Epstein files, the war in Iran and the Trump administration. Some protesters came dressed in costumes, carried American flags or brought musical instruments. Organizers say early estimates indicate about 3,000 people attended the protest. Paul Smedberg, a volunteer with the Bloomington chapter of 50501 who helped organize the protest, said the crowds at this protest looked like the “largest yet.”
EMERSON ELLEDGE | IDS
Demonstrators gather in front of the Monroe County Courthouse for a “No Kings” protest March 28, 2026, in Bloomington. Iterations of the protest were held nationwide.
EMERSON ELLEDGE | IDS
Demonstrators hold signs for passing cars during the “No Kings” protest held in front of the Monroe County Courthouse on March 28, 2026, in Bloomington. Passing cars often honked in support of the demonstration.
Demonstrators sit on the lawn surrounding the Monroe County Courthouse on March 28, 2026, for a “No Kings” protest in Bloomington. The protest lasted about two hours.
Smedberg said he joined 50501 after attending the first "No Kings" protest in June. Amid the arrests of both non-citizens and U.S. citizens by ICE, Smedberg said he worries for the safety of his Latino family members. He was also motivated to become active by the cutting of federal research
On the courthouse plaza shortly before 2 p.m., a large green inflatable frog walked slowly towards the sidewalk, using the long wooden pole on his sign as a walking stick. “Ribbit ribbit,” the frog chanted, as protesters stopped to take pictures with him.
funding, how the Trump administration handled the aftermath of the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the war with Iran. “There aren't many areas that this administration is touching on that doesn't seem totally un-American,” Smedberg said.
EMERSON ELLEDGE | IDS
This was just one of the many chants that the frog, who declined to be named, likes to deploy. “Ribbit ribbit, get your frog on, uh, frog army coming through. Once you go frog, you don’t go back,” the frog told the Indiana Daily Student. “I think that’s my repertoire right there. I just
say it over and over again.” The protester said he first donned the frog costume for October’s "No Kings" protest, after anti-ICE demonstrators in Oregon made headlines for wearing inflatable costumes in confrontations with federal agents. He saw it as a way for protesters to appear non-threatening yet slightly mocking toward agents from ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. “Basically, a way of saying, you know, we're really not afraid of you,” he said. Farther down the plaza, Zach Reed and Dylan Taylor stood in Revolutionary War uniforms at the top of a grassy hill. As protesters marched by, Reed and Taylor serenaded them by playing Revolutionary War-era songs like “Yankee Doodle” on plastic recorders. Taylor said they came in costume to symbolize the country’s first fight against monarchy. “America was found on the principles of being antimonarch,” Taylor said. “I find somebody taking advantage of the system that we've created to be against that type of authoritarianism, getting away with what has happened within the House, the Congress and the executive branch, to be absolutely deplorable.” Other protesters held up signs with puns, slogans or caricatures of Trump and members of his cabinet. “Are we great yet?” one sign read, referencing the campaign slogan "Make America Great Again". Others read “I really miss constitutional checks + balances,” and “Stop Fascism Now.” The protest ended with a march down Kirkwood, with protesters turning left at Sample Gates and looping back around to the courthouse, where organizers began to pack up tables. They chanted “This is what democracy looks like!” and “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here!” as they marched.
Inside Seymour's only quinceañera boutique By Natalia Nelson nelsonnb@iu.edu
COURTESY PHOTO
Research and development worker Annamaria Tessitore is seen at Novo Nordisk Oxford Research Centre at the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Catalent owned the Bloomington facility from 2017 to late 2024.
Novo Nordisk to lay off 400 employees
By Andrew Miller
ami3@iu.edu | @andrew_mmiller
Novo Nordisk will lay off around 400 employees at its Bloomington site at the beginning of May, about a fifth of the drug manufacturing facility’s workforce. Company spokesperson Stacy Beard confirmed the move in an email to the Indiana Daily Student on March 30. The move follows a tumultuous history for the Bloomington site, including several rounds of layoffs when Catalent owned it from 2017 to late 2024. “We are deeply grateful to every impacted colleague and are committed to treating them with respect and dignity through
this process, including severance, outplacement assistance and transition support,” Beard said. Catalent, a third-party drug manufacturer, previously owned the site at 1300 S. Patterson Dr. Years of layoffs and alleged mismanagement under Catalent left many workers hopeful for Novo’s takeover bid, looking for a better company culture. Novo Nordisk’s parent company completed its $16.5 billion acquisition of Catalent in December 2024. According to Novo’s website, the Bloomington site employs more than 1,800 people. In September last year, the company announced it would cut 9,000 jobs, 4,000
of which would be outside of Denmark. On Tuesday, the City of Bloomington acknowledged the impending layoffs in a press release. The city said Novo Nordisk site head Lars Arnoldsen notified Mayor Kerry Thomson about the reductions, and discussed the local impacts. The city, the release said, will work to connect laid off employees with other work and support. “Our focus is on the individuals affected,” Mayor Kerry Thomson said in the release. “We know this is a difficult moment for many and we are committed to helping ensure that those impacted have clear pathways forward.”
It took nearly 10 minutes to put on the dress. At the back of Seymour’s only quinceañera boutique, Nadia Herrera laces the purple ribbons up the corset. She leans sideways to avoid stepping on the sparkling floral train. “Hermosa,” Herrera tells the girl in the dress. “Do you want to put down your hair a bit?” The 15-year-old girl undoes her long black braid, letting it cascade over the dress’s gauzy sleeves. Herrera chooses a dainty silver crown from a nearby shelf and sets it on top of the girl’s head, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear. “Lift your face, my love,” she says in Spanish. Herrera fluffs out the skirt and helps the girl step in front of a mirror in the corner of the shop next to the pink neon sign that reads “Hello, Gorgeous.” Herrera moved to Seymour in 2011 from Veracruz, Mexico, after her husband found a job at an auto company. She started choreographing quinceañera dances shortly after. A quinceañera, which marks a girl’s passage to womanhood on her 15th birthday and can also refer to the girl herself, is celebrated across Latin America. It typically involves a Catholic
Mass followed by a party, with the birthday girl performing several dances with her father and her court of damas and chambelanes — a group of male and female friends that accompany the quinceañera. Herrera studied dance at an academy in Mexico when she was younger and, from there, transitioned to folkloric dance. It takes about three months for Herrera to choreograph and prepare four or five dances with the girl and her court. Her favorite memories from her work are watching the quinceañera and her court together, seeing their celebrations, laughs and nervousness. She also started working as a master of ceremonies for the parties, making sure the quinceañera and her family has time to enjoy the party. A quinceañera party can cost thousands of dollars between catering, venue rental, the dress and decorations. As master of ceremonies, Herrera also connects families with vendors. Herrera stopped choreographing in 2019 and decided to open her dress shop — NH by Nadia Herrera — in May 2024. She said she likes fancy things. Rhinestones are her favorite. “When they are changing in the fitting room and when, and they go out and the first time they see it in the mirror,” Herrera said. “It’s some-
thing that you can see in the faces, that they are so proud and they are so happy to see what they are seeing.” She imports the dresses from a couple suppliers in Mexico and one from the United States. She sells at least one dress a month — more during warmer months, which is the bigger quinceañera season. She loves to help people feel secure and shine. When you’re fifteen, she said, you’re beautiful and that’s it. While now she’s settled with her boutique, it wasn’t always easy for her to transition to life in the United States. Learning things like how to pay her Duke Energy bill, going to the doctor or communicating with her childrens’ teachers and counselors proved a challenge. Even after living in Seymour for 15 years, she tries to learn a word every day. Today’s was “slightly." But here, in her little boutique tucked in the corner of a shopping center, she doesn’t need to use it. On a sunny Wednesday in March, a family walks into the shop. They drove from Indianapolis to come here. Herrera greets them in Spanish and guides the girl and her mother through the colorful racks. “Do you have any color preference?” she asks. SEE BOUTIQUE, PAGE 4