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(05/02/14 2:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A new law revamping the state’s criminal code for felony classifications could cause stress on local community jails in an attempt to alleviate prison overcrowding.Gov. Mike Pence signed House Enrolled Act 1006 in March. It will take effect July 1 of this year.Level 6 felons with less than 90 days actual time served will be diverted back to the community. That number will change to one year starting July 1, 2015.“Indiana should be the worst place in America to commit a serious crime and the best place, once you’ve done your time, to get a second chance,” Pence said in a press release. “The legislation that I sign today will reform and strengthen Indiana’s criminal code by focusing resources on the most serious offenses, and the related legislation will give a second chance to those who strive to re-enter society and become productive, law-abiding citizens.”Indiana ranked among the 10 states with the greatest imprisonment rate increases in the last five years, according to a recent survey by PEW Charitable Trusts. Indiana showed a 9-percent decrease in crime rate with a 3-percent increase in prison population for 2012 imprisonment rates.Linda Brady, Monroe County chief probation officer, said there has not been a community discussion between the circuit court judges, the prosecutor’s office and community corrections, but judges and probation officers are currently receiving training in light of the new changes in Indiana criminal law taking effect in July.“There’s really no way to know what to expect til it happens,” Brady said, referring to the possible increase in low-level felons being diverted back to the community.American Institutes for Research released a local fiscal impact assessment of HEA 1006 in January drawing on data from the Indiana Judicial Center and Indiana Risk Assessment Systems. Based on data from 20,036 offenders sentenced to prison from July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2013, the analysis projected that Monroe County would retain 177 criminal offenders.“There’s no question about that,” said Doug Garrison, Indiana Department of Correction chief communications officer, referring to the potential stress local jails could face.The earliest any money can be allocated to community corrections will be July 2015, after the next legislative session, which will address the state budget, Brady said. “The concern across the state is that the legislators provide appropriate funds for the offenders who will be now supervised in the community,” she said.Garrison said he anticipated the new provision in HEA 1006 to save the state money by avoiding the construction of new state prisons.Brady said she did not know if the new law would save the state money, but if it does, there are provisions in Indiana law that allow for the IDOC to write grants to community corrections and probation offices of up to $11 million.
(04/29/14 3:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A 19-year-old woman declined to pursue criminal charges after reporting a sexual assault.The woman told police she was sexually assaulted by two known men at an east side house party, Bloomington Police Department Sgt. Joe Crider said.Police collected clothing for evidence, and the woman received a sexual assault medical examination.The case is now inactive.Dennis Barbosa
(04/25/14 4:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>New legislation to revise Indiana criminal offense classifications will go into effect this July in an effort to reduce prison overcrowding.House Bill 1006 amends the current criminal code so that felony charges will be filed into 1 to 6 levels as opposed to the current A to D classes.The enacted law will undergo two phases, said Doug Garrison, Indiana Department of Correction chief communications officer. Starting July 1 of this year, inmates serving 90 days of incarceration will not be accepted into state prisons.Starting July 1, 2015, inmates serving one year or less of incarceration will not be accepted into state prisons.Data released by the American Legislative Exchange Council shows IDOC currently spends about $618 million on inmates per year, given that there are about 30,000 inmates incarcerated in the IDOC system with $20,761 allotted for each inmate, according to the most recent IDOC statistics.The annual budget for IDOC is about $500 million.“The aim of the legislation is that it levels off the rise in our prison population,” Garrison said. “As we have studied the way our prison population has been rising over the last number of years we anticipate that if it doesn’t stop rising that we’ll have to build new prisons.”IDOC data also showed as of December 2013, prisons were under capacity by 3 percent for adult men and by 5 percent for adult women.Between January 2012 and January of this year, prison populations increased by 1,074 inmates. In the past, the IDOC had difficulty working with low-level felons who only serve short amounts of time in prison, Garrison said. The new legislation is designed to defer level 6 felons back to the community for reentry into society.Level 6 felons can earn day-for-day good time credit, resulting in a 50-percent reduction in imprisonment time for good behavior. For example, if a felon is sentenced to two years imprisonment, the inmate may be deferred back to community corrections under the presumption of earned good time credit.Levels 1-5 felons cannot earn day-for-day good time credit, according to the new legislation. Instead, they can earn a one-day sentence reduction for every three days of good behavior, as opposed to just one day of good behavior. If the felon displays bad behavior, good time credit can be reduced to one-day sentence reduction for every six days or no good time credit at all.Level 6 felons will be diverted back to the community according to actual time of incarceration and not amount of sentencing, Garrison said.“Diverting them back into community programs where they could be in, for example, a community transition program or a community corrections program or perhaps a work release, that would better serve the criminal justice community by maybe keeping people out of prison that didn’t necessarily need to be in prison,” Garrison said.Mary Katherine Wildeman contributed reporting.
(04/23/14 1:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Post-doctoral researcher Emilio Ferrara has helped Italian police investigate murder, robbery, prostitution and drug trafficking. Now, he’s at the IU School of Informatics and Computing and hopes to aid police in crime prevention by predicting individual cases of criminal activity through mapping out criminal social networks.Everyone has their sphere of friends they communicate with on a regular basis, Ferrara said. By using social network theory, Ferrara and his colleagues have developed a program called LogAnalysis.It can map out communication networks of a criminal organization using phone call data provided by police investigators.“What we do is very different from what other government agencies — for example, NSA — do,” Ferrara said. “Our system is designed to analyze data of people who are suspects of some crimes or who are already known to the law enforcement agencies to be criminals.”The system is not a broad, sweeping search through everyone’s phone data. Rather, LogAnaylsis only uses information obtained by police through court warrants, he said.With a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Messina, Italy, IU requested Ferrara join the School of Informatics and Computing in 2012. It was an honor, he said, considering the school’s national ranking.U.S. News ranked IU as the 52nd best graduate school for computer science for the year 2014.Ferrara said while analyzing phone activity during robbery investigations in Italy, he noticed spikes in phone calls before and after the robberies. By tracking the frequency of certain callers, middlemen in the criminal hierarchy could be identified.Those who were higher ranking in the criminal hierarchy tended to make fewer phone calls, Ferrara said. Even callers who used a phone just once and threw it away were distinguishable.At first, LogAnalysis might identify disposable phone users as multiple people. But after tracking a regular pattern, the program can determine that it is one person using multiple phones.LogAnaylsis is focused on the analysis of mobile phone data right now, Ferrara said. In the near future, he said he hopes to incorporate data from online social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter as well as financial transaction activities.“The goal is that we want to transform this platform in a predictive system, which means that we want to be able to not only study crimes as they unfold,” Ferrara said. “But also try to understand whether we can prevent or predict crime.”
(04/08/14 4:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Monroe County Circuit Court is seeking a special prosecutor to look into questionable travel expenses charged to the county by Treasurer Catherine Smith.Smith is currently running for the office of Monroe County sheriff.The Monroe County Auditor notified the commissioner’s office of reimbursement claims that were a cause for concern, Chalfant said, for trips made to Indianapolis by Smith and Treasurer Chief Deputy Hans Huffman.Smith submitted a reimbursement claim of $414.19 for hotel and meal expenses in Indianapolis for an Association of Indiana Counties conference Feb. 4 and 5 that was cancelled the day before it was slated to take place.“As per personnel policy, all employees who are seeking reimbursement must strive to incur the lowest possible amount of expense,” Chalfant said.The Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office requested a special prosecutor as soon as it was notified about Smith’s reimbursement claims, Monroe County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Bob Miller said, citing Smith’s candidacy for sheriff, status as an elected public official and affiliation with the Democratic Party, which is the same as the elected prosecuting attorney.Smith also requested reimbursement for the AIC conference, which was rescheduled for Feb. 19 and 20, amounting to $287.07 for hotel and meal expenses plus $39.98 for car charges.“Only expenses which are reasonably necessary in order to conduct county business and which are incurred while in travel status shall be reimbursable,” according to the Monroe County Personnel Policy Handbook.Expenses claimed by Smith on Feb. 3 and 18 do not meet the criteria in the policy handbook, according to a letter to Smith from the Monroe County Commissioners’ President Patrick Stoffers. The county will not reimburse employees for meals unless authorization is given for reimbursement of lodging, according to the policy handbook.Smith cited a letter from Ronald G. Watson, First Financial Bank vice president of treasury management, claiming she had attended an annual meeting Feb. 3 to discuss treasury management issues, according to Stoffers’ letter. Watson told Chalfant he did not meet with Smith and Huffman that day.Smith also cited a letter from MainSource Bank that claimed Smith and Huffman attended a morning meeting Feb. 4 that concluded at 12:30 p.m.Chalfant emailed Melanie Schlegelmilch at Thomson Reuters Tax & Accounting, according to Stoffers’ letter. They had met her on Feb. 4 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.The Monroe County Circuit Court will choose a special investigator to look into whether Smith committed any crimes, Miller said, but as of Monday, one had not been assigned to the case.
(04/02/14 4:16am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Traffic came to a halt as protesters chanted and marched through the downtown streets of Bloomington for the right to sleep.A hodge-podge of advocates rallied Tuesday at People’s Park after the Interfaith Winter Shelter closed for the summer.Interfaith is the only low-barrier homeless shelter in Bloomington, which means it has no stipulations for potential guests. Volunteers only ask for respectful behavior.This will be the second summer that more than 50 people will have nowhere to sleep because they do not meet the high-barrier standards for admittance to other shelters.Bloomington used to have a low-barrier summer shelter for the homeless, but it shut down in 2012, said Donyel Byrd, a social worker and advocate for people experiencing homelessness. Byrd has been active in helping find a replacement ever since. There are certain zoning standards the shelter has to meet before the city approves it, Bloomington planning director Tom Micuda said.If advocates propose a site to the city in a residential area, the Bloomington Plan Commission has to have a public hearing on it and make a recommendation to the City Board of Zoning Appeals. The process could potentially take as long as 60 days and 30 days for any additional hearings.Byrd and several other advocates found a property on the city’s northwest side but quickly found they were in a catch-22 situation.“We can’t apply for grants or raise money until we secure a place,” Byrd said, but the hearing process took so long the owner of the property sold it to a buyer who had money.The only way advocates could secure a shelter site by summer is if the site meets the conditional use permit requirements, which means the site has to be a commercial, medical or institutional space.Advocates have found no such places yet, Byrd said. “When you tell people you’re looking for property for a homeless shelter they have a lot of concerns, and many times (are) not willing to rent their property for that use,” Byrd said.Ross Martinie-Eiler, rally organizer and advocate, led the march west down Kirkwood Avenue all the way to Morton Street.Marinie-Eiler said there used to be several places for people experiencing homelessness to camp, but the city has systematically rooted out all those places. “The need is for legal, safe places to sleep,” he said.Marinie-Eiler led the march followed by a small band equipped with a portable PA system, clogging traffic and turning heads all the way to the Monroe County Courthouse.The area Marinie-Eiler referred to used to be called the Switchyard Park before the city acquired it from the CSX Railroad Company, said Mick Renneisen, Parks and Recreation Department director.“There might have been a time where folks camped there before we owned that property,” Renneisen said.Since the 2009 purchase, the city has built the B-Line Trail through the property and enforces the policy of no camping.Traffic came to a complete halt on North College Avenue in front of the courthouse as advocates chanted, “Our passion for freedom is stronger than their prison.”Several city police cars showed up, circling the area as advocates wound around the courthouse for their candlelit vigil and short order of speakers.Advocate Joe Varga asked for a moment of silence for those who had died of homelessness before introducing speakers.Traffic surrounding the courthouse returned to its usual rhythm as advocates held their candles in silence.Standing at the top of the stairs on the corner of Kirkwood Avenue and Walnut Street, Trevor Richardson, a man experiencing homelessness, called out to the crowd.“You have to speak,” Richardson said. “You have to march. It starts with us. You want change. You seek change.”Before the march, Richardson spoke about difficulties he encountered while trying to find a job to better himself. He said he felt discriminated against by an employer because an investigative consumer report they conducted on him cited his stays at the Shalom Center as a high-risk indicator.“This is a dangerous trend,” Richardson said. “We are trying to better ourselves and apply for jobs and we get denied because we have gone to agencies to assist us in bettering ourselves.”The sun began its decent and the candles glowed. Byrd recalled her last time on the courthouse lawn in 2012 after the Sandy Hook shooting.“Together we expressed solidarity with those who were grieving,” Byrd said. “Tonight, together we stand united to share our concern about a different kind of tragedy. This is the tragedy of our neighbors who have nowhere safe, warm or legal to sleep at night.”She said at least 50 people would likely have nowhere to sleep that night.“Together we can show we care and unite against this tragedy,” Byrd said. “After all, Bloomington is a home for all of us.”
(03/27/14 4:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Four IU scientists spent Wednesday night trying to answer one of the modern age’s most challenging questions: can belief in God and science be reconciled? The Secular Alliance at IU sponsored the panel, “Are Science and Belief in God Compatible?” The audience packed a lecture hall in the Kelley School of Business. Orion Day, president of the Secular Alliance, introduced the speakers and moderated the discussion.John Beggs, an associate professor of physics, launched the discussion by posing the question of whether science could explain if bayonetting a baby is wrong.“Science can’t really answer that question. It can’t answer what I should do with my life,” Beggs said. “And I don’t think sociobiology can answer why we shouldn’t have genocide.”Beggs said he didn’t think a belief in God and science needed to be divorced. He cited examples of award-winning scientists such as Francis Collins, director of National Institutes of Health, who is a practicing Evangelical.“I don’t think it’s essential that one has religious beliefs in order to answer some of the questions John raised,” physics professor Timothy Londergan said, referring to life after death and morality.Londergan said he thought belief in both God and science was compatible as long as the scientist followed the rules of scientific method. He said it is “extraneous” to ask about a scientist’s personal beliefs.He compared such a distinction to the Germans in the 1930s when they divided science into Aryan science and Jewish science. Londergan called such divisions “disastrous.”“To me, the universe is all determined by these microscopic things happening, and that doesn’t leave room for intervention, like John said, for angels or anything else of that sort,” said Douglas Hofstadter, professor of cognitive science and comparative literature. “I don’t think having a cold is the result of some kind of divine intervention or any other thing. I think it’s because of microbes.”Referring back to Beggs’ original bayonetting babies example, Hofstadter said it had nothing to do with God. “It has to do with not wanting to kill,” he said. “It comes from empathy.”David Bender, a Ph.D. student of computer and cognitive science, said he was a Christian but has since rejected his former faith.He said a belief in God and in science is not logically incompatible, but there’s definitely a conflict.“I don’t require that my moral sense be timeless,” Bender said.Beggs clarified for the panelists that he did not believe an atheist to be incapable of being a moral person. He even said they could be more moral than him, joking that it wouldn’t be hard to do.“Science sometimes oversteps the bounds, and starts to make ethical statements both in evolution and in neuroscience,” Beggs said. “And there I think there is a conflict.”Londergan said he agreed with Beggs, but that he also believed scientific advances would soon challenge fundamentalist beliefs in religious, absolute rules that are prioritized over secular laws. He said scientists who believe in a young earth and a global flood are vanishing.“What I kept thinking was it was secularism against Christianity,” said Tim Hobbs, Ph.D. and physics graduate student, after the panel discussion. “I imagine, for instance, Muslims or Jews have beliefs that are not necessarily secular, but not Christian.”Hobbs said he hoped to see similar panels again, but with more variety of ideas.“It would be nice to see those perspectives represented in the future,” he said.
(03/13/14 3:57am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A former city project manager and two co-conspirators allegedly embezzled more than $800,000 from the City of Bloomington since May 2011.U.S. Attorney Joseph Hogsett announced the possible embezzlement Wednesday at a press conference with representatives from the Bloomington Police Department and the FBI.Justin Wykoff, 51, former city of Bloomington senior project manager, faced felony charges in district court today in Indianapolis with 24 counts of embezzlement and one count of conspiracy.“While we expect some level of misbehavior in a small criminal sector of society that has little respect for the law, we certainly don’t expect it from our officials and government executives in whom we’ve placed our trust to uphold those laws and who reinforce the rules,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Bob Jones said.Wykoff, Roger Hardin, 51, and his son Zachary Hardin, 25, were arrested Wednesday morning by federal agents in Bedford, Ind. All three will face charges of conspiracy to commit a federal crime.On Feb. 20, a city employee told police that Reliable Concrete Construction did not perform any work for a contracted job with Milestone, a construction company, according to court documents.Milestone performed all the construction for the work listed on the invoices in question at the time.The U.S. Attorney office alleges Wykoff created fraudulent invoices for city project works never performed or work performed by other subcontractors.Bloomington Chief Mike Diekhoff said additional charges at the state level might be filed.Steven DeBrota, senior litigation counsel for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the southern Indiana district, said the Hardins would receive payment for the projects and give Wykoff a one third refund of the payment. Upon further investigation Hogsett said he expects the amount of money stolen to “go north” of $800,000.On Feb. 25, a Milestone employee confirmed at least 11 different invoices related to work on Rogers Street. Milestone did all the work, with no contribution from RCC, according to court documents.The co-conspirators, owners of RCC, sent the false invoices to the City for payment to RCC for projects on Rogers Street and College Avenue, as well as several other sites where curbing, sidewalks and drainage work was supposed to be completed.“Public corruption, wherever it occurs, in whatever community throughout the southern district of Indiana, degrades all of us,” Hogsett said. “That is why the United States Attorney’s office, along with our federal partners at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, have prioritized the investigation and prosecution of public corruption cases for the last two years.”DeBrota called Wykoff and Hardins’ double billing of the city a “classic fraud scheme.” Wykoff approved fraudulent invoices at least 24 times throughout a two and half year period, with the Hardins giving him 33 percent of each invoice as payment for his approval.DeBrota said Wykoff’s position of trust is why he was able to get away with it for so long.Roger said RCC was set up after he went to prison in 2011, according to court documents. Zachary said when Roger went to prison he was to contact Wykoff for work. He said Wykoff took care of all the invoices, proposals and estimates for the jobs.Zachary deposited the checks into RCC’s bank account and made cash withdraws of less than $10,000 to not draw attention to himself, according to court documents.The city hired Wykoff in 1991 as a project inspector. He maintained this position until 1999 when he was promoted to deputy assistant city engineer. In 2012 he was demoted to senior project manager with February 2014 marking the end of his employment.Wykoff faces 10 years imprisonment for each count of embezzlement and the Hardins face five, DeBrota said.“There is no acceptable level of corruption or the abuse of power here in Bloomington or anywhere else in the state,” Jones said. “This year the FBI created a new public corruption unit that will conduct more focused efforts on these violations, and today’s arrest is a product of this endeavor.”
(03/12/14 4:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Bloomington Transit staged a public hearing Tuesday about proposed bus route changes slated to take effect in June or July.The proposal would cut out all Kirkwood Avenue stops from routes 1, 3 and 5 and all Sixth Street stops cut from route 3.Bloomington resident Mike Satterfield said he was curious whether or not the Monroe County Public Library had been consulted, considering the parking lot congestion it already suffers.Bloomington Transit General Manager Lew May said the board had not, but made note of the man’s comment and planned on consulting the library.May said nothing had been set in stone yet and no plans would be decided on that night.The main point of contention for the handful of people who attended the public hearing was with route 3, which is a one-hour round trip.Kara Prill, a Bloomington resident and bus rider since 2001, said her main concern was for her mother and the wheelchair access at Gifford and Curry Pike.Proposed changes to route 3 would cut out a handicap accessibility point at Garden Villa nursing home on the inbound trip.Prill said the only place her wheelchair-confined mother can board and exit the bus is on the north side of Gifford Road facing Garden Villa.If the changes go into effect as is, Prill said she and her mother would be forced to exit the bus on the wrong side of Gifford Road or the east side of Curry Pike where there is no sidewalk and there are four lanes of traffic to cross to reach Garden Villa.Prill proposed two separate routes to serve the area as well as new stops for Ivy Tech and the new YMCA facility.May said population in that area has increased, causing more traffic and more bus riders, with ridership expected to increase when Interstate 69 goes in.“Something has to go,” he said.The proposed cut in the route would save the bus drivers precious minutes since route 3 in general struggles to make it downtown on time.Bloomington Transit has considered two routes for route 3 in the past, May said. They have even considered a shuttle bus to extend as far down as Heatherwood Lane.“We want to go to Ivy Tech someday, too,” May said, but state and federal funding is not expanding. “We have a finite budget. We don’t have the money to pay for it.”
(03/07/14 3:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When police found Rodney Allender’s body Feb. 27, he was bound by duct tape on his garage floor, blood pooling from his head.Distinct, bloody foot prints were also found at the scene in Allender’s Lawrence County home. Allender, 43, had a gunshot wound and it was clear he was beaten. An autopsy would later reveal blunt force trauma as the cause of death. On Saturday, two Bedford, Ind., men and one juvenile were arrested on preliminary charges of murder and robbery.Lawrence County police found the house in “complete disarray as if it had been ransacked,” according to court documents. The couches were flipped, a door ripped from its hinges, desks emptied, papers strewn about and two safes opened and emptied.On Feb. 28 an autopsy determined Allender died from blunt force trauma, with multiple injuries to his head, chest, abdomen, leg and left arm.Austin M. Curtis, 18, was arrested Saturday in Lawrence County, Ind. Taylor Flynn, 19, and Dillon Hicks, 16, were arrested the later that day in Lawrence County, Ohio, by Ironton, Ohio, police.On Feb. 28 police received reports from juveniles who went to Bedford North Lawrence High School with Curtis, Flynn and Hicks, according to court documents. One juvenile told police that Hicks recruited him to join them in a robbery of a man who lived alone with no neighbors off State Road 446.Another juvenile told police Flynn admitted to going with Hicks and Curtis to rob “some big guy who lived out in the middle of nowhere.”Police investigators spoke with Curtis and received his permission to examine the bottom of his shoes. Photographs of Curtis’ shoes were compared and matched to the footprints found at the scene of the murder.Detectives obtained a search warrant for Curtis’ shoes and the presence of blood was found on the bottoms and shoelaces.After police arrested Curtis for murder and robbery, he admitted that someone told him Allender had a large sum of money, according to court documents. He said he checked out the house on more than one occasion with Hicks and Dillon.Curtis told police Flynn dressed up like a girl and walked to Allender’s house and asked to use his phone. When Allender opened the door Flynn shot him in the leg, Curtis hit him in the leg with a bat and Hicks shot him in the face with an air soft gun.Allender tried to defend himself with a broom stick, but the three suspects bound him with duct tape.Curtis told police Allender eventually gave them the combination to the safes where they found money and guns, which they stole.A juvenile spoke to Hicks on the phone Thursday. Hicks reportedly said he “prayed to God the guy’s not dead.”Dillon and Hicks are being held in Lawrence County, Ohio, awaiting extradition, Indiana Lawrence County Sheriff Sam Craig said. Curtis is being held in Lawrence County, Ind., without bond.Allender’s funeral will take place today at 1 p.m. Services will happen at the Funeral Chapel on East Third Street in Bloomington. The burial will be performed at Duncan Cemetery in Belmont.More than 160 supporters have raised almost $7,000 for Allender’s funeral expenses, surpassing their goal of $5,000. Supporters believe he did not have life insurance.Allender was a man who loved his community, family, logging and most of all his son, according to the online fundraiser web page.“Rodney was a great man who would’ve given the shirt off his back to anyone in need,” the page read.
(03/04/14 5:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Four years ago, Angela Bowman was the freshman who sat in the back of the classroom and didn’t talk to anyone. Today, she is the battalion leader of 130 IU Army Recruiting Officers’ Training Corps cadets.IU ROTC’s primary purpose is to teach leadership and train cadets to become United States Army commissioned officers when they graduate, but joining doesn’t necessarily mean enlistment in the army.Every semester, IU ROTC selects a different battalion commander to lead the cadets in training.Bowman, 25, said she never imagined being chosen.“I definitely didn’t put in for battalion commander,” Bowman said. “Typically the cadet battalion commander is very outgoing.”Born in San Francisco, Bowman spent most of her life growing up in Indianapolis in a family with a strong military background. Both Bowman’s parents served in the army. It’s how they met.“You see all the commercials of soldiers in helicopters helping people in distress in, you know, a flood or something like that and here comes the National Guard flying in to rescue people off the roof,” Bowman said. “My mom definitely helped steer me in that direction, but when I saw that I was like, ‘Yeah, this is exactly what I want to do.’”After graduating from high school in 2007, Bowman worked her first and last civilian job as an aircraft off-loader before applying to study at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis.She worked closely with the very crafts she hoped to someday pilot.Bowman joined the Army National Guard the following year, and shortly thereafter enrolled at IUPUI.But she soon transferred to IU-Bloomington, drawn by an outdoors program.“One of the reasons why I did transfer over here is because of the IU Outdoor Adventures program,” Bowman said. “I could get credit for classes like Search and Rescue and Wilderness First Responders, stuff like that.”Spencer Tigges, IU ROTC senior recruiting cadet, met Bowman at a fall retreat during freshman welcome week in 2010.IU ROTC sponsored a campground retreat for the cadets to get to know each other at Bradford Woods.Tigges said everyone split off into groups. Bowman was in his group. She was quiet.The retreat leader started conversations with the group, asking personal questions, like what their biggest fears were.Everyone gave typical answers, Tigges said, but Bowman said only one word — “failing.”“This is an individual who’s going to do whatever they can to become an army officer,” Tigges said.Twenty-five cadets joined IU ROTC that year. Today, only 12 of the 25 remain, including Tigges and Bowman.“Now we’re here as seniors, months away from commissioning,” Tigges said. “Bowman, she’s definitely come out of her shell. Each year you get a little bit closer to your classmates.”Garrett Guinivan, IU ROTC cadet executive director, has known her for two years.“Even last year, she was much more introverted,” Guinivan said. “She was very closed off.”Since being selected to be the spring 2014 cadet battalion commander, Bowman has been talking a lot more and letting the other cadets see more of her personality, Guinivan said. Every week, they learn something new about her.In her office, she arranged a collage of pictures of her colleagues.During some strategy training, Guinivan said he was trying to plot geographical points and wished he had some way to put it all on a bigger scale. He said Bowman knew right away how to do it.Bowman is double majoring in criminal justice and geography, but she said her primary interest is geography. Criminal justice is just something she “tacked on” because of her background in the National Guard military police, her military occupational specialty.As a cadet, Bowman works in an aviation unit in charge of refuelers. She flies around in Blackhawk helicopters every month but has yet to go to flight school.Whenever the other cadets get a chance to fly on a Blackhawk, they’re like “kids on Christmas day,” Tigges said, and Bowman is the only one who is calm and reserved.This May, Bowman will graduate. The following day, she will become a commissioned officer and serve her next four years on active duty.She knows she’ll be training at the Army Logistics University in Fort Lee, Va., but does not know where in the world she will be sent after that.“I think Bowman, more than anyone in the battalion, is capable of doing whatever she wants,” Tigges said. “If I see later in the future she’s become a pilot, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
(02/27/14 3:13am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Jameson Farrell was driving to work Tuesday morning when he noticed provocative graffiti on the wall of the Salvation Army Bloomington.Salvation Army Operations Manager Scott Parnell called Bloomington police Tuesday night and reported that someone had spray painted “Salvo hates fags” on the east side of the store at 111 N. Rogers St.Salvation Army has received accusations of discriminating against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community for several years through Facebook posts and emails, according to its website.“It’s completely untrue,” said Sharyn Tennyson, Salvation Army executive director for Monroe County. “We don’t discriminate against who we serve. We never have and never will.”Tennyson said she had never seen anything like this at any of the stores she’s worked at before. She has worked for Salvation Army in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.“To me it’s just a very hateful slur that shouldn’t exist,” Tennyson said. “I just can’t believe someone would do this.”Salvation Army is a charitable church organization founded by William Booth in London in 1878 and has spread to more than 109 countries.Farrell was driving by the store when he noticed the graffiti Tuesday morning. He took pictures of the graffiti and posted them to his blog.“Vandalizing a building with crudely written graffiti is not a way I would recommend sharing one’s political belief,” Farrell said in an email.Although Farrell said he thought the graffiti was inappropriate, he said he does not support the Salvation Army’s policies.“Whenever a Salvation Army bell ringer asks for donations, I kindly state that unfortunately I do not despise women and homosexuals enough to support their ‘cause,’” Farrell said in the email. “Rather than donate to the SA, I would highly recommend donating to secular charities.”
(02/25/14 5:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Two Ohio men were electrocuted Monday while working on high-voltage power lines for Duke Energy.Shortly after noon, the Perry-Clear Creek Fire Department responded to a report of an explosion at 7100 S. Old State Road 37, PCCFD Assistant Chief Dustin Dillard said.The two men were in the bucket of a cherrypicker truck working near 34,000-volt power lines in the woods behind Prairie Material concrete plant.Dillard said he was not sure if the two men came into contact with power lines or a transformer.When firefighters and ambulance personnel arrived, the coworkers of the two men had already lowered and transported the victims out of the woods and to Ohio State Road 37.The two men were alert and conscious when firefighters arrived, Dillard said. One of the two men told firefighters the box wasn’t working properly.Both men suffered electrical burns, with one being transported to IU-Bloomington Hospital and the other to IU-Indianapolis Methodist Hospital.Dennis Barbosa
(02/17/14 5:52pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Two armed men robbed the CVS Pharmacy at 2650 S. Walnut St. Sunday night.The first suspect is 5 feet 8 inches tall and wore an orange hooded sweatshirt and a blue ski mask, Bloomington Police Department Sgt. Steve Kellams said. The second suspect, 5 feet 6 inches tall, wore a letter jacket and a Tampa Bay Rays baseball cap.The man in the orange hoodie revealed a handgun to the store clerk while the man in the letter jacket walked behind the counter to steal cash and cigarettes.Police have not identified a vehicle but know the two men approached the store from the south side of Bloomington and retreated toward the 1000 block of Sunny Slopes, Kellams said.The armed robbery is still being investigated.Anyone with information about the robbery can call 812-339-4477 and ask for Detective Chris Ryan.— Dennis Barbosa
(02/14/14 5:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This Valentine’s Day the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction is asking big questions through a smartphone app called Kinsey Reporter. Kinsey Reporter allows users to report and view anonymous data on sexual behavior on a global scale.“We’re taking advantage of this little app to see how people feel about Valentine’s Day and what the reality is for people’s experience,” said Jennifer Bass, Kinsey Institute director of communications.The survey contains questions about what the user desires and expects for Valentine’s Day. Answer options include commitment, a romantic date, to be left alone and sex. When Valentine’s Day ends, users have the option to record what actually happened.The Kinsey Institute collaborated with the Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research to create the app.After the Kinsey Reporter’s initial launch in 2012, CNetS Director Filippo Menczer said, it was shut down by the University for legal review concerning privacy issues.The mobile app was launched again last May with bugs, which were then remedied.Updates were installed by November.The Kinsey App maps out the data it collects, available for public viewing.As well as sexual activity and flirting, users can report unwanted or unconsenting experiences in the app.“Obviously we encourage rape to be reported, but we also know it’s highly unreported,” Menczer said.The Kinsey Reporter app acts as a tool for people who are less likely to report such cases, he said. “There are also other acts which are not illegal, depending on the country,” Menczer said. “We want to know about those as well. Our app is designed from the ground up to assure the anonymity of all the participants.”Several design choices were made with this in mind, Menczer said. For example, there is no way to create an account asking for personal information, write your own response to questions or report specific places and times.“I thought the app was really good because it lets you survey a larger group of people,” sophomore Emilee Bailey said. “It allows people to be more honest, in my opinion, since it is in private.”Data collected by the Kinsey Reporter is viewable by anyone. Users can view the data by organizing it into charts or graphs by top countries, cities or tags.It was the first time Bailey heard of a survey app of this kind, she said. However, she would like to see more expansion on the questions aside from the generic ones, she said.“Valentine’s Day is coming, and we really want to know what is happening in people’s lives. When I say ‘we want to know’ I don’t mean ‘we’ the researchers,” Menczer said. “I mean there is an interest for the community to learn more about what people desire and want.”
(02/14/14 5:02am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The rookie ran three miles from his apartment to the Warehouse for boxing training.His coach said it’s part of what makes Emmett Dillon special.“That got my attention right away,” boxing coach Rob Scardina said. “During my time as a boxing coach I get a lot of different people that say, ‘We’re interested in a gym,’ and you know, some show up and some don’t.”Since the start, Dillon practiced three hours a day, five days a week, practicing punches and feet movement. Scardina had confidence in him from the beginning, but it was unclear whether Dillon could fight. He had never hit anyone in his life. Now, about a month later, Dillon has committed to compete in the Golden Gloves this March, an amateur boxing competition known for breeding champions during its eight decades of existence.“Emmett’s one of the few kids that I’ve seen besides my son and a few other kids I’ve had that actually has natural speed, ability, that inner toughness you sometimes need to be an amateur boxer,” Scardina said.Dillon is training with Scardina’s new boxing club, B-Town Boxing. Scardina, a certified U.S. boxing trainer, opened B-Town Boxing Jan. 2 at The Warehouse on South Rogers Street to produce champion boxers.Despite his inexperience, Dillon might be Scardina’s first champ.Most boxers train for a year or at least six months, competing in five to six fights in preparation for the competition, Scardina said. It’s very uncommon for someone to enter the Golden Gloves without any fights underneath his belt.“It’s a pretty big leap of faith,” he said. “It shows me he’s somebody that has a lot of faith and self-confidence.”On January 8, when Dillon first showed up at The Warehouse, he walked in on the beginning of one of Scardina’s first boxing classes in Bloomington.B-town Boxing opened January 2 after Scardina moved from Lizton, Ind., to be closer to his 7-year old daughter, who lives in Brown County. He operated a boxing gym in Lizton. When he moved to Bloomington, he contracted with the Warehouse, a Christian-based community outreach center for group activities, to train inside the facility. He has been working with about seven boxers, including his stepson and Dillon. “I do this for the kids,” Scardina said. He said it had brought his family closer, particularly because he has been training his stepson.B-Town Boxing meets in The Warehouse, which houses multiple Christian ministry oriented organizations.Dillon has missed practice only once. Originally from Chicago, Dillon attended IU for the 2011-12 school year, studying business management and competing as a starter for the Division I lacrosse team.The out-of-state tuition, after three semesters, was too much for Dillon and his family to afford. He said that’s when he decided to drop out and get an apartment in Bloomington to gain residency.Dillon said he plans on returning to IU this summer.“I’m very goal-oriented so usually when I start something I don’t give up,” he said. “So I don’t see myself quitting anytime soon.”It was one day in September, long before Dillon knew B-Town Boxing existed, when he came across Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao was, at the time, considered the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, and he is a southpaw — a lefty — just like Dillon.Dillon wrestled in the southpaw stance for all four years of high school, he said.It is now the stance he is most comfortable boxing in.“I watched the replay of the Manny Pacquiao Antonio Maragarito fight and I kind of just said to myself, ‘I think I can do that,’” Dillon said.From then on Dillon prepared his body for fighting condition running three to five miles every other day while weight training at Cardinal Fitness.It wasn’t until New Year’s that he came across B-Town Boxing’s ad on Craigslist.Scardina said he received an email from him saying that he would be coming by the gym to talk about training.Scardina’s coaching style is to ease boxers into the sport. This is why Dillon has just recently sparred for the first time.Dillon said he plans on competing as a sub-novice middleweight, meaning he’s had less than five fights. “I kind of pride myself in taking people that don’t necessarily have those attributes and helping them get them,” Scardina added. “But Emmett ... he makes my job a little easier.”
(02/12/14 4:54am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>More than 50 people filed into the Ernie Pyle auditorium Tuesday evening to attend the Media School merger question and answer panel organized by the IU Journalism Student Advisory Board.The Media School, which combines the units of the School of Journalism, Department of Communication and Culture and Department of Telecommunications, will be housed under the College of Arts and Sciences at its new location in Franklin Hall.Lesa Hatley Major, interim dean of the School of Journalism and associate dean of the Media School, and Larry Singell, executive dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, answered student questions.One student questioned whether or not there would be enough space for the three units in Franklin Hall.“That’s exactly what we’re trying to do,” Major said. “We’re looking at what’s the best way to do this.”It starts with a wish list, she said.The space committee is working with student media representatives to try to give everyone what they think they will need and then go from there, Major said.Another student wanted to know when the move to Franklin Hall would be completed.Singell said it is tentatively scheduled for January 2016, but part of the building is already renovated. The University completed renovation to Franklin Hall’s old library reading room last spring. It has been renamed President Hall.The model of the Media School will be based on other universities like Arizona State, University of Southern California and University of California, Los Angeles. Major said the goal is to connect the schools, not contain them. The goal is to create collaboration between students and faculty.“We want faculty to be among students and students to feel welcomed,” Major said. “We hope what happens in the classroom continues out into the hallways. So we want to have these spaces where students can sit and just meet outside the classrooms.”Part of the vision of revitalizing the area is to bring students back into the Old Crescent, the University’s historic center, Singell said.“If there’s any group that’s there 24/7, it’s media students,” he said, earning a laugh from the students.One student said potential students looking for a good journalism program might shy away from IU because there is no longer an independent school of journalism.“That’s the question I’m worried about most,” Singell said. “The good news is we have talented people in the School of Journalism and these other units to talk about it.”Journalism will be a prominent part of the Media school, he said, with official discussion on marketing strategy beginning Wednesday.One sophomore asked what changes he should expect to see before graduation.It wouldn’t change that student’s degree, Major said, and changes to curriculum will take more than a year to see.“What I believe will happen, and what I hope you will notice, is there will be a willingness to cross boundaries before that and an understanding among the faculty about how we can work together so that there are classes you can take,” Singell said. “Often we’re planting trees we’ll never see.”
(02/11/14 3:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The flu this season is causing more deaths in people ages 25 to 64 in Indiana than last year.“At this time last year, 81 percent of deaths were in individuals 65 or older,” Shawn Richards, Indiana State Department of Health respiratory epidemiologist, said in an email. “This season, 62 percent of deaths have been in individuals 25-64.”A total of 37 influenza-related deaths in Indiana have been reported for the current October to May flu season, according to the ISDH.Seven deaths occurred in the last two weeks.“The activity this season is similar to the 2009 pandemic, when H1N1 viruses were predominant,” Richards said. “Younger adults and people with chronic medical conditions are harder hit.”He said last year, the dominant strain was H3, which had the most effect on children and adults 65 and older.Every year the flu vaccine is slightly altered to match which flu strains are predominant.“This season, 2009 H1N1 virus has been the predominant strain so far,” Richards said. “This is the first season that the virus has circulated at such high levels since the 2009 pandemic. While the strain of influenza involved in death cases is not always reported, records indicate that eight out of 37 so far have been positive for 2009 H1N1 virus in Indiana.”Traditional flu vaccines are trivalent, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meaning they protect against three different flu viruses. This year quadrivalent vaccines are available, which protect against four different flu viruses.This season’s trivalent and quadrivalent vaccines provide protection against the H1N1 strain.“History will show that every 30 or 40 years, it’s not unusual to have a new strain,” Diana Ebling, IU Health Center medical director, said.This year’s vaccine is effective against the most common strains, she said.The IU Health Center’s current allotment of 6,000 vaccines, however, is almost depleted with fewer than 10 doses remaining as of Monday.When the center runs out, people seeking vaccines will be referred to local sites offering the vaccine.“Unfortunately only about 40 percent of the population gets vaccinated,” Richards said. “It’s not too late to get vaccinated since flu season typically lasts until May.”— Dennis Barbosa
(02/07/14 4:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A man with a long black beard bustled behind the bar, pushing through a 12-hour shift at work.A couple sitting nearby drank Function Brewing’s trade amber ale and smoked porter.Despite his long day, Function Brewing co-owner Steve Llewellyn was in good spirits as he served his customers. Steve and his wife Anne Llewellyn officially opened their downtown brewery on Jan. 29 at 108 E. Sixth St..Steve Llewellyn said the two had never operated a business before.“We knew we wanted to work for ourselves,” he said. “We thought about a couple different business models to get us out of the daily grind, be our own bosses.”Function’s location on Sixth Street formerly housed a photography studio.“We essentially gutted this place,” Llewellyn said.All the plaster was removed from the west and east walls, revealing the original brick walls. The dropped ceiling was changed and the carpet was torn out to give the brewery the wood floor it has now.Originally from Utah, Llewellyn said the beer business was appealing because they are beer enthusiasts.Steve has home-brewed beer for seven years. The Llewellyns have been working the beer competitions at the Indiana State Fair almost every year for the last five to six years.The launch of their first business venture posed a number of obstacles for the couple such as permits, construction and beer production.“There are so many things you don’t think of,” Llewellyn said. “Beer production, it doesn’t behave the same way as it does at home.”The pair has been planning the startup of their brewery for more than four years, receiving help from several breweries such as Upland Brewery, Bloomington Brewing and Cutters Brewing Company.However, Llewellyn said, it was primarily the two of them working to start the company. There were no investors. The couple poured their life savings into the brewery, he said.By trade, Steve is an electrical engineer for the federal government, a job he landed in Bloomington after graduating from Purdue 11 years ago.He said he hopes to quit his job as an engineer and work full time in the brewery like his wife.“We don’t have to be rich,” Llewellyn said. “We just want this place to be able to pay for the bills. And have a good time being our own bosses.”
(02/05/14 5:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The old debate of evolution versus creationism aired live Tuesday night in Woodburn Hall with about 130 people in attendance.Bill Nye, best known for his ’90s show “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” and Ken Ham, CEO of Answers in Genesis, debated for more than two hours in the creation museum in Petersburg, Ky.The live video feed started off shakily, beginning with an error in the audio, but it was remedied after several minutes. The Secular Alliance at IU, Biology Club at IU and the Biotech Club at IU organized the event.Following a short presentation from the clubs at 6:50 p.m., the debate began at 7 p.m.Orion Day, president of the Secular Alliance at IU, said the goal of the three IU organizations is to promote the understanding of science and not to ridicule other viewpoints, because that is not constructive.“I’m very much emphasizing listening closely and trying to understand their position and respectfully disagreeing,” he said. “Focusing on their arguments and not the person.”While the debaters made 30-minute arguments followed by shorter rebuttals and even shorter counter-rebuttals, the audience in Woodburn guffawed at several different moments at both speakers.Nye seemed intent on peppering his speech with anecdotal comedy, whereas Ham caused laughter simply by the claims he made from the Bible.“I was hoping that there might be some legitimate claims from both sides, but it seems like Mr. Ham’s whole argument is kind of hampered by the fact that his knowledge of the Bible doesn’t seem to be very credible,” sophomore Emma Johnson said. “I think he kind of shot himself in the foot there, and I just love Bill Nye. In my book, he definitely won this debate.”Other students said they had a problem with the way the debate was set up.“I don’t like the format because I feel like they kept saying the same thing over and over to address each other and neither of them is able to properly respond, so they just restate the process,” sophomore James Duncan said. “I do think the Ken guy, the Australian, he does give a lot of objective proof. He has some good points like the nuisances between the observational and the past sciences.”Following the debate, Nye and Ham answered questions from the audience in Kentucky while student opinions varied in Woodburn.“This is kind of a touchy subject,” Day said. “It’s religion versus science.”