Rudy Yakym III

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize McDonald Studio of South Bend, Indiana, the longest-operating photography studio in our state, and the Patnaude family, who have owned it for 80 years.

For 165 years, McDonald Studio has captured timeless moments for the people of South Bend. Weddings. Senior pictures. Baby pictures. Family portraits. Over the past half-century, generations of South Bend high school seniors sat for their senior pictures at McDonald Studio. If you grew up in South Bend, chances are McDonald Studio took your picture, or your parents', or your grandparents'.

The story begins in 1861, when a young photographer named Albert McDonald opened a picture studio in South Bend. That was the year the Civil War began, and four years before South Bend was incorporated as a city. Photography itself was barely two decades old. Albert ran the studio for more than three decades. His son, Edwin, and other owners carried it forward in the years that followed. Through every change, the McDonald name carried on.

In 1946, Raymond F. Patnaude and his wife, Beulah, bought McDonald Studio. Their son, David, and his wife, Ann, joined the business in 1975, more than 50 years ago.

McDonald Studio endured the Civil War, the Great Depression, and two World Wars. It lasted through the arrival of color film, Polaroids, and digital photography. But one thing never changed: capturing the moments that matter most to South Bend families.

The studio's mission is to promote value, beauty, expression, and timeless memories to share with family and friends, For more than 160 years, McDonald Studio has done exactly that.

In September, David and Ann announced they are ready to retire. Whatever comes next for the business, McDonald Studio's legacy is

secure. It hangs on the walls of Hoosier homes across our community.

Mr. Speaker, a photograph freezes a moment in time. For 165 years, McDonald Studio has made sure South Bend's most important moments were never lost. On behalf of Indiana's Second Congressional District, I congratulate McDonald Studio on 165 remarkable years and thank the Patnaude family for preserving the moments that matter most to Hoosier families.

Mr. Speaker, in the last 2 months northwest Indiana has sadly seen a rash of violence against law enforcement. Three officers in and around

my district have been shot in the line of duty.

Trooper Benjamin Beers was shot during a traffic stop. Deputy Jon Samuelson was shot three times while helping a stranded driver. Sergeant Justin Helfin was shot during a pursuit.

I want to be clear: If someone targets our officers, they will face justice.

For far too long, we have seen the officers who protect us demonized while excuses are made for the career criminals who terrorize our communities. It is dangerous, and as we have seen recently, it has tragic consequences.

These officers deserve to go home to their spouses, their children, and their parents at the end of every shift. I am grateful that these three survived, but survival is not safety, and three shootings in 2 months cannot be ignored or normalized. It must be a wake-up call.

Law and order does not sustain itself. It is upheld by the men and women who put on the badge, and they are willing to risk everything for strangers. That is what separates us as a functioning society and why I and the thousands of Hoosiers I serve will always back the blue.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Danny Reynolds of Stephenson's of Elkhart, who will be named the 2026 America's Retail Champion on July 15 at the NRF Retail Advocates Summit here in Washington, DC. Danny Reynolds is a name known to just about every family in Elkhart County.

For decades, he has helped fit local residents for life's biggest moments, and he's done it with the kind of personal touch you only find on Main Street.

The Stephenson's story goes back to 1931, when the store first opened as a small, appointment-only dress shop in downtown Elkhart. Today, nearly a century later, it has grown into a fixture spanning three buildings, still rooted in that same stretch of Main Street where it all began.

Danny's own story with the business started young. His parents took over Stephenson's in 1964, and Danny was practically raised in the stockroom, learning the trade from the ground up as a teenager. I have to think that's also where he picked up his sense of style, which I can personally attest to, having picked up clothing from Stephenson's myself.

After finishing college in 1994, he came back home and never left, building on his family's legacy one customer at a time for more than thirty years since.

But Danny's impact reaches well beyond downtown Elkhart. He has become a leading voice for retailers across this industry in the halls of Congress, helping connect policymakers with the realities of Main Street.

Mr. Speaker, small businesses like Stephenson's are the heartbeat of our communities and the backbone of our local economies. With 36.2 million small businesses across this country accounting for nearly half of all private-sector jobs, their impact reaches every corner of America, and Danny Reynolds is a shining example of what makes Main Street work.

I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Danny Reynolds on being named the 2026 America's Retail Champion, and in thanking him for his decades of service to Elkhart County and to Hoosiers across Indiana's 2nd District.