Around The Region

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- A Lafayette man was arrested and charged with murder in the stabbing deaths of a man and a teenage boy whose bodies were found in a ditch in east-central Illinois, authorities said.\nPolice in Riverside, Calif., arrested Jerry Joe Fuentes, 49, of Lafayette Monday. He was being held in California without bond.\nJerry Bean, prosecutor in Tippecanoe County, Ind., said Fuentes was charged with two counts of murder Feb. 19 that were sealed until Fuentes' arrest because he was a flight risk, he said.\nBean said a motive has not been determined in the deaths of Alejandro Rodriguez, 24, and Juan Ricardo Hernandez, 15.\nTheir bodies were discovered Feb. 5 lying about a quarter mile from each other in a ditch near Henning, Ill.\nVermilion County Sheriff Pat Hartshorn said the victims were found bound with rope and gagged.\nRodriguez was stabbed three times in the back and suffered blunt force trauma to the head. Hernandez was stabbed 12 times in the back.\nRodriguez had been living in Lafayette for the past three to four years, while Hernandez had recently arrived in Lafayette from Mexico three days before their bodies were found.\nBean said it appears the two victims were stabbed and beaten in a house on Lafayette Drive in Lafayette.\nBall State to sponsor seven charter schools across state\nINDIANAPOLIS -- The city will not be the only city with charter schools this year after all, as Ball State University announced plans Wednesday to sponsor seven charter schools across Indiana.\nSix of the schools are scheduled to open this fall in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, South Bend, West Lafayette, Schererville and Floyds Knobs, located in far southern Indiana. A seventh school in Gary plans to open in the fall of 2003.\nThe schools will serve a total of 544 students.\nBall State is the first university in Indiana to sponsor charters under the law approved last year by the General Assembly. The law allows the state's four-year universities, the mayor of Indianapolis and school districts to sponsor charter schools.\nFour schools already approved by Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson are expected to open this fall.\nAllen County election board to consider candidacy\nFORT WAYNE -- The Allen County election board is considering whether a candidate for township trustee can run for office with a drug conviction.\nA complaint alleges that Jessie Jackson, 46, was convicted of a felony in 1986, The Journal Gazette reported Wednesday. Indiana law prohibits convicted felons from running for public office.\nCourt records show that Jackson was arrested on charges of possession and dealing of the drug Hydromorphone after a drug informant arranged a drug buy for $210 worth of pills.\nThe dealing charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement, and Jackson received a two-year suspended sentence. He met the requirements of his probation.\nJackson filed last month to run for trustee of Wayne Township, which includes most of the city of Fort Wayne, in the May 7 Democratic primary. He also signed a declaration of candidacy saying he has no criminal convictions that would prevent him from serving and that he is eligible under Indiana law to run.