Around Indiana

Elkhart Co. food pantry takes on new missions

A church food pantry in a northern Indiana county hit hard by the recession is expanding its outreach to help more people.

The Elkhart County Community Foundation recently awarded $7,500 to the pantry at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Elkhart so it can feed 50 more families each week.
About $2,500 of the grant will be used to start a children’s backpack program that will give children at Beardsley Elementary School food to take home each weekend.

Pantry officials said an anonymous volunteer has provided 120 homemade blankets since December and is working on about 40 special blankets with pockets for mothers that will be given away just before Mother’s Day.


Faulty system affects security near Statehouse

A $400,000 system designed to block access to roads around the state government complex has been off-line for about a year because of malfunctions that the state can’t afford to repair.

The hydraulic bollards rise out of the ground to give Capitol Police a way to shut off traffic and were installed in 2005. They began having problems after water got into the pumps and controls and caused them to rise without warning.

A federal grant paid for the project, but the more than $44,000 needed to repair them would have to come from the state. The manufacturer has declared bankruptcy, and the state said it can’t pay for the work.

For now, police are using wooden and concrete barriers and law-enforcement vehicles to block off the main artery.


Indianapolis’ Monument Circle to test traffic ban

A plan to ban traffic around Indianapolis’ iconic Monument Circle is making the rounds.

The Indianapolis Star reported that city leaders plan to cut off traffic from the brick-paved circle built around a Civil War monument for the month of August. That will serve as a test for making it a permanent, pedestrian-only plaza.

City marketing director Jen Pittman said such plazas in city centers drive economic development and could do the same for Indianapolis.

One challenge will be maintaining access to surrounding businesses and attractions.
Monument Circle already serves as an impromptu gathering spot for sports- and arts-related rallies.