Ball State trustees near decision about new president\nMUNCIE - Ball State University's trustees have scheduled two special meetings for next week in a sign that a decision may be near on choosing the school's next president. Board members approved plans Friday for two meetings Tuesday at the school's alumni center. One of the meetings will be open to the public.\nAfter Friday's meeting, board President Tom DeWeese acknowledged the board would be discussing the presidential search during Tuesday's special meetings.\nHe would not say whether the board would vote on a successor for Blaine Brownell, whose resignation from the post of Ball State president took effect Jan. 31.\n"We are going to further consider the presidential choices," DeWeese said. "I am not sure we are going (to make a decision). We are going to discuss it some more."\nAfter Friday's board meeting, university officials maintained they knew nothing about the special meetings or why they were being held.\nUnder the state's open meeting law, the trustees must send out a notice within 48 hours prior to the meetings. Since one of the meetings is a closed session, they must also state a reason.\nDeWeese said the search for a new president has been going very well.\nTrustees and university officials have declined to talk about the search, and have declined to identify finalists or candidates.\nThe trustees met in executive session twice last month in Chicago and Indianapolis to continue interviewing prospective finalists.
Bayh seeks funds for armored Humvees\nWASHINGTON D.C. - The Senate Armed Services Committee has approved a request by Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., to spend an additional $610 million for armored Humvee trucks or kits to fit standard Humvees with armor.\nThe bill still must be passed by the full Senate.\nAM General Corp. of South Bend currently produces 220 Humvees a month and will boost that number to 300 in July, according to Bayh's staff." It's tragic any time American servicemen or women die, but it's particularly tragic when the injuries are caused because of inadequate protection," said Bayh, a member of the Armed Services Committee.\nBayh's request, which also would boost production of Humvees to 400 a month by October, was included in a bill authorizing funds for the military.\nHe said some estimates have found some 25 percent of U.S. fatalities in Iraq could have been avoided with armored Humvees. To protect themselves, some U.S. troops have bolted plywood and scrap metal to the side of standard Humvees, he said.
Goshen man wins $40,000 from show\nINDIANAPOLIS - A Goshen man won $40,000 on the "Hoosier Millionaire" television show broadcast Saturday.\nTom McDaniel, who was a proxy for his friend, Ben Cantu, advanced to the playoff round with $18,000 to compete against Ervin Sobecki of Mishawaka, who had $17,000. McDaniel's pick of $2,000 put him at $20,000, enough to pass Sobecki, who won $2,000 on his pick to end up with $19,000.\nMcDaniel doubled his $20,000 in the bonus round and chose to stop.\nOther contestants and their winnings were Betty Danford, Star City, $10,000; Anna Willis, Gas City, and Rich Wilson, Warsaw, $8,000; Brenda Franklin, Indianapolis, $7,000.
Indianapolis woman to face felony charges in adoption scam\nINDIANAPOLIS -- A woman allegedly collected money from two adoption placement agencies in a scam leaving one of two couples promised her newborn son heartbroken.\nMayra Paredes Guevara, 22, was charged Friday with two felony charges of profiting from an adoption and theft, and adoption deception, which is a misdemeanor.\nInvestigators say the Indianapolis woman collected $3,593.51 in living expenses from two adoption agencies. Her son was born April 9 and was adopted by a couple through Bethany Christian Services agency.\nBut a Carmel couple who was also expecting her baby was left heartbroken and out $1,446.64 in living expenses it paid Guevara and $500 for a domestic home study through Coleman Adoption Services.\n"They were literally devastated -- crushed by the loss of this child," Indianapolis Police Department Detective Steven Hull said of the couple.\nUnder Indiana law, a child cannot be sold for adoption. But the adopting couple can pay "living expenses" or medical costs up to $3,000 to the woman giving up her baby.
\nAccording to a police report, investigators learned about Guevara's actions after a social worker for Coleman Adoption Services called police in April after becoming alarmed that Guevara's due date kept changing.\nThe social worker told police Guevara called the agency April 20 and said she was still pregnant, had decided to keep her child and was leaving for California.\nThe next day, the social worker discovered that Guevara had delivered a baby boy April 9, and the infant had been given to a couple through the Bethany Christian Services agency.
