Around Indiana

(1) Fort Wayne police work to accommodate Burmese immigrants

FORT WAYNE — The influx of Burmese-speaking people to Fort Wayne has city officials and volunteers working on ways to help the immigrants communicate better with emergency workers.

No city police officers or emergency dispatchers speak Burmese even though the city is home to some 5,500 refugees from the country now known as Myanmar.

Volunteer Rick Piatt has a class of eight Burmese adults learning English. In the class, they play out police and fire-related scenarios.

Police Chief Rusty York told The Journal Gazette it’s been difficult to find police officer candidates among the immigrants because of citizenship issues.

(2) Terre Haute councilman impersonates police officer

GREENCASTLE — A Terre Haute city councilman is facing trial next week on a felony charge alleging he impersonated a police officer and tried to arrest a man.
Jury selection for 74-year-old Ramon “Turk” Roman is set for March 29 in Greencastle before a special Putnam County judge because a Vigo County judge has recused himself from the case.

Roman allegedly approached a man in a fast-food restaurant on Dec. 18, 2008, after their cars nearly collided along a Terre Haute street.

Prosecutors said he showed the man his city councilman’s badge, told him he was a police officer, threatened him with arrest and induced him to show him his driver’s license.

The former Vigo County council member was elected to the Terre Haute City Council in 2007.

(3) Researchers finding effects of logging

BLOOMINGTON — Nearly 20 volunteers are among the ecologists who trudged through forests of southern and central Indiana this winter listening for owls to study the effects of logging.

The survey was conducted in the Morgan-Monroe and Yellowwood state forests, along with parts of the Hoosier National Forest and Brown County State Park.

Project supervisor Jeff Riegel said the Morgan-Monroe and Yellowwood forests were surveyed to learn about how logging is effecting the birds. The other sites were surveyed because logging isn’t being done there.

(4) Bike crash kills two Seymour teenagers

SEYMOUR — State police said a second teenager has died a day after he and a friend were struck by a pickup truck while riding double on a bicycle in the middle of the night on an Indiana highway.

Police said the boys were riding on U.S. 31 near Seymour when they were hit around 2 a.m. Sunday. Seventeen-year-old Todd Schurman was pronounced dead at the scene, and 17-year-old Zach Grubb died Monday at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

Seymour High School Principal Greg Prange said the boys were good friends and both juniors at the school.

Police said investigators didn’t believe drugs or alcohol were involved and that the boys were likely headed to Grubb’s home.

(5) Indiana Attorney General calls for legal challenge to health care reform

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said he is looking at possible legal challenges to the federal health care overhaul.

The Republican said he and counterparts in several other states are concerned the $938 billion health care bill approved narrowly by the House late Sunday might infringe state and individual rights.

Zoeller said attorneys general in at least 13 states have signaled they intend to challenge the constitutionality of the legislation in court.

The bill awaiting President Barack Obama’s signature would extend coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans, reduce deficits and ban insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions.

(6) Indy neighborhood receives $7M redevelopment loan

City officials and 2012 Super Bowl organizers announced a $7 million loan to revitalize a struggling near-downtown neighborhood where an NFL practice center will be built.

The 10-year, low-interest loan announced Monday will support housing and commercial redevelopment efforts already under way in the Near Eastside neighborhood as part of a 2007 quality-of-life plan.

The Host Committee used the plan as its legacy project, which includes the practice field to be built on the Tech High School campus. The facility will become a community center after the game.

Mayor Greg Ballard said Monday that the investment would be a catalyst for change on the east side of Indianapolis and would allow the Super Bowl’s legacy to continue well beyond the game.