Sudden Heat
Three years ago this Christmas, IU assistant professor Don Belton arrived at the home of former-marine Michael Griffin for a dinner party. Two days later, he was dead and accused of sexually assaulting the man who killed him.
107 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
Three years ago this Christmas, IU assistant professor Don Belton arrived at the home of former-marine Michael Griffin for a dinner party. Two days later, he was dead and accused of sexually assaulting the man who killed him.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Near the beginning of Christopher Nolan’s final chapter of his Dark Knight trilogy, Batman learns his new flying vehicle, appropriately named “the Bat,” is not equipped with autopilot.Seemingly, neither was anyone involved in the production of the film. “The Dark Knight Rises” — bigger, longer and, for better or worse, stuffed with more complicated ideas than either of the series’ first two entries — does not rest on the franchise’s laurels.Series veterans Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman turn in their best performances yet, and Christian Bale is phenomenal. We see more Bruce Wayne than Batman in this outing, and Bale’s acting makes the character one of the film’s greatest attributes.Special attention must also be given to new additions to the cast — Anne Hathaway’s sexy and soulful Selina Kyle (Catwoman, though she’s never called that in the film) and Joseph Gordon Levitt’s uncompromising, inspiring beat cop John Blake.Tom Hardy, while not as iconic as Heath Ledger’s Joker, brings a wonderful theatricality to the vicious Bane, a terrorist bent on tearing down Gotham to give the city back to its people, locking those who get in his way inside a massive Escher-like prison.And he does tear Gotham down. The film goes to some dark places.Nolan and cinematographer Wally Pfister fill each frame with the realism and grit that has made the series a standout among superhero movies. Billed as “the epic conclusion to the Dark Knight legend,” the movie is huge, yet the spectacle still feels grounded. Each punch lands not with a “Pow!” but a brutal thwack.Even so, “The Dark Knight Rises” seems to be the most comic book-influenced of the trilogy. With some tweaks, Bane’s origin remains intact. Selina Kyle and Batman trade one-liners and sexual tension. Old members of the hero’s rogue gallery reappear. Two similar revelations toward the movie’s end will either have long-time Batman fans grinning or slapping their foreheads.“The Dark Knight Rises” is not without issues.While Hans Zimmer’s score is as thrilling as ever, he’s flying solo this time, and co-scorer James Newton Howard’s contributions are missed. Some key scenes are screaming out for a return of the Wayne family theme first heard in “Batman Begins.”It’s certainly overstuffed, too, and the pacing suffers. The plot is overly convoluted and features a very convenient McGuffin.With the number of themes and characters being explored here, and the twists and revelations that come in the film’s finale, “The Dark Knight Rises” often seems like it could collapse under its own weight.But, like the Bat, it somehow defies all that gravity and soars.By Jake New
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It’s difficult not to compare “The Amazing Spider-Man” to the series it’s rebooting.Peter Parker’s famous origin story is actually handled better here than in Sam Raimi’s original trilogy. Credit must go to Andrew Garfield for his brooding, yet comical and entirely relatable, portrayal of the character. Emma Stone is great as the beautiful and intelligent love interest Gwen Stacy, Martin Sheen shines as Peter’s doomed Uncle Ben and director Marc Webb knows when to let emotional beats linger and breathe.We’re retreading familiar ground here, but it’s great to see it done with such care and emotional adherence to the source material. It’s the fresher aspects of the story where the movie stumbles.The as-advertised “untold story” of what happened to Peter’s parents serves little purpose other than to introduce the Lizard/Doctor Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans). Ifans brings a sense of weariness to the role that makes his reasons for transforming into a giant lizard monster believable and tragic. But the visual effects of the Lizard lack that believability.Still, Webb surprises with just how visually rich and well-directed the action is. The fights are thrilling and easy to follow, showing the transformation of an angry teen out for revenge to a hero who uses his power responsibly.Cheesy at times and sometimes tonally confused, “Amazing Spider-Man” is far from perfect (in fact, it’s not even as good as just the train sequence in “Spider-Man 2”). But it’s a solid start for a new series based on the enduring modern myth. And that’s kind of the point of myths, isn’t it? They’re meant to be retold.By Jake New
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When Vincent Ostrom took a position at University of California, Los Angeles in the late 1950s, he likely didn’t realize that one of his Ph.D students would become the first woman to ever win the Nobel Prize in economics — or that the same woman would one day be his wife of nearly 50 years. Vincent, distinguished IU professor and the husband of Nobel laureate Elinor “Lin” Ostrom, died Friday, less than three weeks after his wife died of pancreatic cancer. He was 92.“Vincent’s death, especially coming so soon after his wife Lin’s passing, is an inestimable and tragic loss to the university and to the broad fields of political theory, social-science and policy-based interdisciplinary research,” IU President Michael McRobbie said in a statement Saturday.Vincent was his wife’s biggest supporter, McRobbie said, but Elinor was always quick to point out the effect her husband had on her own success. He was born Sept. 25, 1919, in Nooksack, Wash. His parents were recent immigrants from Jamtland County, Sweden. He grew up on a farm where his family domesticated minks and sold the animals’ pelts. After graduating high school, he earned a political science degree from UCLA.In 1943, while earning his M.A., Vincent began teaching at Chaffey Union High School in Ontario, Calif. It was here that he made observations that not only created a foundation for his master’s thesis, but also the work his wife would later dedicate her career to. During the two years he taught in Ontario, Vincent noticed that citrus-growing smallholders created a system of land and water rights that provided what the farmers needed to sustain the farms’ incomes. The community also created an endowment for the local high school and a planned college.In short, he realized that a group of people with common interests and needs could create their own systems and institutions to achieve complex objectives — without any outside governance. “Lin studied the way small communities were able to govern themselves, and Vincent’s understanding was really a foundation on what she was doing,” said Michael McGinnis, director of the Vincent and Elinor Ostrom Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis. Vincent earned his M.A. in 1945 and a Ph.D in 1950. He taught at the University of Wyoming and the University of Oregon before returning to UCLA as an associate professor, where he met Elinor. The couple married in 1963. A year later, he accepted a full professor position at IU. Elinor joined him as a visiting assistant professor before eventually becoming an associate professor in the department of political science.An expert on democratic governance, Vincent’s list of accomplishments is long. He pioneered work on polycentric governance, helped draft Article VIII on Natural Resources of the Alaska Constitution and consulted as a member of resource management commissions in three different states.In 1973, he cofounded what some say is his most lasting legacy: the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis. The workshop brought together some of the best minds in political science and economics and encouraged a collaborative style of transdisciplinary work called the “Bloomington School.” It was at the workshop, located in a beige house off a brick street behind Collins Living Learning Center, that Vincent proudly watched his wife accept her Nobel Prize on closed circuit television in 2009. His health and hearing were fading and, already in his late 80s, traveling to Stockholm would have proven difficult. “If he could have, he would have gone with her,” McGinnis said. “But it was so nice that he was able to watch her. I doubt he could hear her, but he could see her.”Even near the end of his life, when his caretakers brought him by the workshop, Vincent would point out Elinor’s photographs and awards on the wall.“He was just very, very proud,” McGinnis said. James Walker, an economics professor at IU who has known the Ostroms since 1986, said the respect was mutual, citing the dedication page in Elinor’s most famous book, “Governing the Commons.”“To Vincent,” it reads, “for his love and contestation.”“It tells you they had a very loving relationship but they also had one as academics,” Walker said. “They questioned each other and pushed each other.”Their celebrated academic partnership, which often saw them working side by side for 16 hours a day, sometimes eclipsed the human side of their relationship — that of a devoted married couple that loved to get out of the office. “They loved adventure and loved to travel,” Walker said.The couple built most of their own furniture with help from a local craftsman, Walker said. They also built a cabin on Lake Huron’s Manitoulin Island, where they spent their summers. When Vincent’s health continued to deteriorate and his wife’s popularity continued to rise, Elinor would often have to travel without him. Even when he could no longer communicate very well, he would ask about his wife, McGinnis said. “Where ever she was in the world, she’d get a message to him every day,” McGinnis said. In 2012, the workshop was renamed to honor the Ostroms’ commitment to the program and each other. The morning of June 12, Vincent was brought to his wife’s bedside to say goodbye. She had lost a six-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Just more than two weeks later, Vincent died, too. “They remained a very loving couple,” McGinnis said. “He was quite a guy, and they were just a sweet couple.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>What with the Avengers running around fighting X-Men in between counting their box office receipts, it’s hard to tell Spider-Man’s celebrating his 50th anniversary. Now, we’ve been invited to Spidey’s own crossover party.In the new five-issue series “Spider-Men,” Peter Parker is sucked from his universe and plopped into the middle of one inhabited by Ultimate Spider-Man’s pre-teen Miles Morales. Sara Pichelli’s art is gorgeous, and Brian Michael Bendis proves he’s learned a thing or two from writing that “other” Spider-Man for 10 years. Pichelli does her usual great work with facial expressions, but her city skylines are the real treat here, showing us just how different these two New Yorks are. Look for her expressive characterizations to come in handy later as Peter learns more about a world in which he didn’t make it out of his sophomore year of high school — and the first love of his life is still alive. A crossover that promises an emotional payoff and doesn’t require any tie-ins? Forget “Avengers vs. X-Men.” This could be the Ultimate comics event of the summer. By Jake New
Just more than a year ago, 20-year-old IU student Lauren Spierer left her apartment at Smallwood Plaza for a night out with friends. Lauren never made it back to her apartment that night and was allegedly last seen at about 4:30 a.m. June 3, 2011.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The first three months after IU student Lauren Spierer went missing were a flurry of activity. Thousands of volunteers searched the area. Lauren’s face appeared on posters covering surfaces all over town, as well as on “America’s Most Wanted.” Daily press conferences gave updates to a worried family, community and country. Then the conferences stopped. The search groups dwindled from thousands to a dozen. And the posters began to fade. Sunday, June 3, marks the one year anniversary of Lauren’s disappearance. Here we look back at a year of questions still left unanswered.June 2011 June 3Lauren hangs out with friends at Kilroy’s Sports Bar. Around 2:30 a.m., she leaves with an Indiana University student named Corey Rossman, leaving her shoes and cell phone behind. The pair return to her home at Smallwood Plaza where a physical altercation reportedly occurs with some of the complex’s residents. They then allegedly go to Rossman’s friend’s apartment. At about 4:30 a.m., she allegedly decides to return home and is last seen at the intersection of 11th Street and Morton Avenue. June 4Lauren’s parents fly into Indianapolis after hearing their daughter is missing. They rent a car, drive to Bloomington, file a police report and begin combing the area around Lauren’s apartment and Kilroy’s Sports Bar. The Bloomington Police Department also starts searching with dogs in nearby areas. Officers conduct searches throughout the city.June 5Volunteers gather outside Smallwood Plaza to create a search plan. Local residents, students, friends and family map a route to explore Bloomington and lakes Lemon, Griffy and Monroe. Lauren’s mother, Charlene Spierer, tells the Indiana Daily Student that Lauren has a heart condition called Long QT syndrome. She urges whoever knows about her daughter’s location to take her to a hospital. The Spierers meet with police to discuss the next steps. June 6IU Dean of Students Harold “Pete” Goldsmith announces that IU employees are searching the campus and buildings for any trace of Lauren. June 12Bloomington Police receive between 30 and 40 tips following the airing of an episode of “America’s Most Wanted,” which featured Lauren’s case. June 15Police release pictures obtained from surveillance video showing a white, four-door truck. According to time stamps on the videos, the truck circled the block and drove north on Morton Street at 4:14 a.m. The truck was later determined to be unrelated to the case. June 29The daily volunteer searches end, and the search headquarters is closed. The BPD decides to focus the search exclusively on tips and specific information they receive. JulyJuly 7The owners and managers of Smallwood Plaza send an open letter to local media quoting poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, saying they miss Lauren “like hell.” July 9Lauren’s parents organize a “searcher’s reunion” at IU’s Woodlawn Field. Volunteers are thanked and encouraged to share memories of the search so far. July 30Local motorcyclists ride 50 miles from Bloomington through Bean Blossom, Ind., and to Nashville, Ind., raising awareness for Lauren. AugustAug. 16After originally denying their involvement and even a Lauren Spierer connection, the BPD confirm that they are working with the FBI. Team Adam of the Center for Missing and Exploited Children and IU Police begin to search a landfill in Pimento, Ind. The search had been planned since the first week of Lauren’s disappearance, and officers plan to search for 12 hours a day for the next two weeks.Aug. 26 The landfill search is called off. Nine days of combing through more than 4,100 tons of trash results in no new clues. The search ends earlier than expected after investigators realize they are beginning to search through trash from both outside of Bloomington and the correct timeline. Aug. 28Lauren’s parents, friends and more than 125 people distribute updated fliers about Lauren around Bloomington. Aug. 29Classes begin at IU for the fall semester. More than 40,000 students are back in town from summer vacation.September Sept. 3Three months have passed since Lauren's disappearance. It’s also Charlene Spierer’s birthday. Charlene releases an open letter, addressed to the person who knows what happened to Lauren. “Do you think we are going to walk away without finding out the answers?” she writes. “Do you think we are going to rest until we find Lauren? We will not. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO YOU HAVE TAKEN FROM US.”Sept. 22A concert is organized to raise awareness. Planned by 20 campus groups, it features Brice Fox and Daniel Weber and is emceed by IU Men’s Basketball Coach Tom Crean. Sept. 23The Spierers reveal that they have hired a private investigative team, led by media personality Bo Dietl, to find information about Lauren. In an interview on a New York television station, Dietl calls Bloomington’s police chief “Gomer Pyle.” NovemberNov. 5 About a dozen volunteers put up new posters around town. DecemberDec. 3It has been six months since Lauren's disappearance. Volunteers organize a prayer and support walk. BPD Cpt. Joe Qualters releases a statement saying, “The Bloomington Police Department remains as committed to this investigation as we were on June 3, and our vigorous efforts will continue as we seek to provide answers to Lauren’s family and the Bloomington community.”February 2012Feb. 4The University decides to “rotate” the button linking to information about Lauren’s disappearance from the top of its website. Lauren’s family expresses disappointment. AprilApril 24Charlene Spierer tells local media she no longer believes her daughter is alive. MayMay 11The Spierers announce a poster creation project, asking users to design and submit their own missing posters to a Tumblr blog. The site receives 110 uploads. May 29Captain Qualters says there does not seem to be a connection between a missing female student in Louisiana and Lauren. BPD had reached out to local police there after hearing about the case which involved a petite, blonde female student going missing late at night. Similar inquiries have become standard procedure for BPD, which has reached out to other agencies about remains found in neighboring cities and states, as well as a man accused of killing three women in New Albany, Ind.June June 3It has been one year since Lauren Spierer’s disappearance. To read more about Lauren, visit www.idsnews.com/laurenspierer--How to helpMoney can be donated to a fund through the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center’s website at iuhillel.org or at findlauren.com.Anyone with information related to Lauren Spierer’s disappearance is asked to call (812) 339-4477, or send tips to Find Lauren, P.O. Box 1226 Bloomington, Ind., 47402.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When freshman Julian Eisner walked into a Bloomington recording studio in February, he was nervous. He had been playing music for nearly his entire life, and he wanted to get his ideas out of his head and into people’s ears. But the actual process can be nerve-wracking. When he emerged from the studio a few hours later, however, he told an old teacher that he was pumped.“He could barely keep a lid on his tenacious and mischievous muse after that,” the teacher said. Julian officially began work on a studio album. He never finished it. Julian died on April 27. He was 20 years old. Julian was born on June 24, 1991, in Pasadena, Calif. He developed a love of music early in life, quickly becoming a fan of Tom Petty and Elvis Presley. He began playing guitar when he was 5 years old. At age 8, Julian tried his hand at piano. His mother Lyn said Julian’s tendency to play music by memory rather than through reading sheet music drove his teacher crazy. “We frustrated each other much during those years and pleasantly sparred,” said Nellie Burruano, Julian’s piano teacher. Burruano, who began teaching Julian the year he took up piano, said his sense of music was so intuitive that her efforts to teach him must have sometimes felt like she was trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. But she persisted, knowing he would need the knowledge in order to communicate with other musicians who were not as intuitive. “My goal was to teach his fingers to move and give him foundational chord theory and reading skills,” Burruano said. “I always felt there was greatness in him. Truly, not just saying that. I was looking forward to his first Grammy and, in 35 years of teaching, I’ve never said that about anyone else.”Julian also studied classical guitar but quickly applied his skills to playing rock and blues tunes — genres he adored for their freer form. Julian’s interests were not limited to music. After his family moved to Pennsylvania, he won the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state doubles tennis championship as a freshman in high school. At Mercersburg Academy, the school he would graduate from, Julian was the third-leading scorer on his varsity basketball team. In addition, his mother said he was an accomplished rock climber, kayaker and even impressionist, doing imitations of Larry the Cable Guy, President George W. Bush and Sméagol from “Lord of the Rings.” He also had recently tried his hand at screenwriting, creating rough drafts of scripts with his best friend Barrett Helzel. “He could do it all, and he did, with passion and amazing drive to make himself better and better,” Helzel said in an email. Still, his friends and family said, music was his true love. “He was a one-man band with the writing skills to bring it all together in song,” Helzel said. “He was a mentor, my soulmate and my best friend. Anybody who was lucky enough to know him in his too-short years understands who he was and the legacy he leaves behind.”Several small colleges were interested in Julian’s basketball skills, Lyn said, but the one-man band had other plans. “He knew that his passion was music and writing, so IU seemed the right fit,” Lyn said.While studying journalism at IU, he turned his attention to drums, an instrument he had only recently starting playing. He quickly impressed his teacher, IU Associate Instructor Zach Compston. “He was very talented,” Compston said. “To him, music wasn’t just an activity. He wasn’t just trying to fulfill an arts credit. He was a musician. It was about way more than just playing.”Julian’s friend, freshman Tori Roper, said she was also impressed by the musical talents of Julian, who she considered to be her other musical half. “I knew from the moment I saw him with a guitar in his hands that he was something special,” Roper said.One of the first times the two met, Julian asked if he could see Roper's guitar. She handed him the instrument and, unembarrassed by the crowd of students milling around him, he played a few of his favorite tunes. Then he looked at her and said, “let’s write a song.”“Right now?” Roper recalled asking. “Everyone is right here.” “So? They’re not paying attention. How about this?”Julian played a few chords and Roper immediately began finding words to put with the music. Before the two freshmen had even exchanged phone numbers, they had written half a song. “All we needed was a bridge,” Roper said. “I realize that might sound crazy, but I swear that's how it happened.”A few months later, joined by their friend Gemma Tidman, they entered a recording studio and began creating a demo album. They planned for the demo to be released at the end of May. The night Julian died, he had just recorded the bass line for one of the demo’s tracks, Roper said. She said she hopes to use the track and the many other instrumental parts Julian had completed to finish one of the band’s songs. When Julian died, the band hadn't yet decided on a name. But Roper said she and Tidman plan on going with Julian’s top pick: Villain, My Victim.Even when not playing drums or working on the album, music was not far from Julian's mind. He regularly wrote about local musical acts for LiveBuzz, an Indiana Daily Student blog. Burruano said she once received a phone call from Julian at 12:30 a.m. “Nellie, I just realized how many trillions of dollars have been made on three chords,” Julian said. “Trillions! It makes me sick.” Burruano said the incident still makes her laugh because the statement is so true. She said memories like this one are still fresh in her mind, and it’s hard to think of her old student as being gone. “I believe Julian is in a place where every musician is an intuitive musician,” she said. “And he’s got a whole lot more than three chords to work with now.”When friends and family were asked to speak about Julian, his musical talents often dominated their accounts, but he is also remembered as a caring and loyal friend to many.“He was talented, sensitive, hysterically funny, passionate, loved and loving,” his aunt Stacey Eisner said. Compston said Julian was extremely approachable, aware and always willing to learn. Roper said he treated everyone as though they were a close friend. Lyn summed up her son in one brief but encompassing phrase: “He was our bright, loving, unique, introspective star.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>President Barack Obama declared his support for same-sex marriage Wednesday, becoming the first U.S. president to do so. In an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts, the president described his thought process as an “evolution” that led him to this decision.“I have to tell you that over the course of several years, as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together; when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama said.Obama had previously stayed away from endorsing same-sex marriages, often citing his faith as a roadblock. In October, Obama maintained he would not be making any public announcement on the issue, even telling ABC News, “I probably won’t make news right now.” Recent events including a gay marriage ban being approved in North Carolina and Vice President Joe Biden publicly announcing his support of same-sex marriages might have influenced Obama’s decision to make the announcement. “He had to do something because everyone could tell that this was something he had come around to supporting, but it’s politically risky, very politically risky, for him to say so,” IU Professor of political science Christine Barbour said in an email. “He was going to face a mutiny among Democrats if he did not come out in favor of it, but it will likely cost him support with independent voters in some important swing states.”Junior Catherine Wells, president of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Equality at IU, said she also thinks Obama’s comment could jeopardize his candidacy. “I believe that President Obama’s display of support for same-sex marriage is timely in light of recent rulings and political statements concerning LGBT rights, although it does pose risk to his campaign for reelection,” she said. “However, I’m hopeful that this show of support presages a future environment that is more favorable to LGBT equality.” Same-sex unions are currently illegal and banned by statute in Indiana. Since 2004, there has been an initiative to pass a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage every year, according to the Indiana State Senate website.In the interview, Obama said his support of same-sex marriage does not change his stance on states having control of the issue.Obama said conversations with staff, openly gay and lesbian service members, and his wife and daughters influenced his decision.Doug Bauder, coordinator of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services office at IU, said he was happy to read that Obama’s family had an effect on his decision.“It helps prove something that I have always believed,” Bauder said. “That good children can raise great parents.”He also said the evolution of Obama’s feelings toward same-sex marriage reminds him of how thoughtful the president can be.“He understands that the political is personal and vice versa,” Bauder said. “I am delighted.” Barbour said she thinks this was a bold statement and bold timing on Obama’s part. “A majority of Americans support marriage equality these days but not a majority of voters,” Barbour said. “I think it was a pretty courageous thing to do for a president who is not ahead in the polls right now.”
WEEKEND previews this summer's big upcoming movies
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>You see the smoke first.White, billowing and carrying the smells of pork and chicken, it drifts downwind across 17th Street and into the parking lots of nearby apartment complexes. If the wind’s blowing in from the south, the smoke and smells travel up North Dunn Street and past the stadium.Either way, follow the smoke, and the trail ends at Will T’s BBQ, a small wooden stand occupying a corner of the Convenient Food Mart parking lot on Dunn Street. It’s here that owner and head cook Will Thomas dishes out his barbecue-slathered sandwiches, chicken and ribs.“Been around for a while,” Thomas said. “But the last two years I started to make a name for myself with the students.”Thomas has worked for IU for decades. He said he always planned to “barbecue a little bit” after he retires.But a few years ago, when the food mart’s former owner asked if Thomas wanted to open up a stand in the store’s parking lot, he decided to jump-start his retirement plan.Currently, he works in the University’s cyclotron operations department, but when football season and Little 500 arrive, his focus turns to barbecue. You can find Thomas at his stand every home game day and all Little 500 weekend, though he can’t always predict when he’ll get the urge to barbecue.“Sometimes I just show up,” Thomas said.No matter the time of year, the most popular items on the menu are the ribs and the pulled pork sandwich.For his barbecue sauce, Thomas said he uses the brand Open Pit as a base and then adds his own “secret stuff.”The result is a sweet-and-tangy, rose-colored sauce that Thomas pours liberally on the meat after it’s been cooked.The hours vary as Thomas only prepares so many slabs of meat a day. When all of the meat is cooked, it’s time to close shop.Loyal customers know to stop by and pre-order a favorite menu item, but there’s usually enough meat to feed a game-day afternoon’s rush.When he needs more barbecue sauce, Thomas simply runs next door. His friend owns the small home that sits just feet away from the parking lot.“I got lucky getting this spot,” he said.Will T’s BBQ doesn’t advertise much, and the business doesn’t have a website. But Thomas said the store has its own free publicity campaign.“I like grilling for the kids on campus,” Thomas said. “They’re what keeps me going. They brag about my barbecue so I don’t have to.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Bloomington’s mail processing facility is one of 252 plants facing possible closure if a new cost-cutting plan by the U.S. Postal Service comes to fruition. Fighting bankruptcy, the Postal Service is attempting to save $2.1 billion a year by closing the plants and cutting 280,000 positions by March. The plan could also mean an end to overnight delivery for first class mail, including letters, post cards and bills, even if the sender and recipient are in the same city. If the Bloomington plant closes, as many as 30 employees could be let go or transferred out of the city, said Ken Hill, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers South Central Indiana Branch 828.“For some, this transfer could be up to a 50-mile change, which means families would have to move,” Hill said. “That can’t be good for Bloomington.”The plan comes after a tumultuous year for the Postal Service, which has seen the company face a possible debt default, proposals to close down 37,000 local branches across the country and nation-wide protests by letter carriers. Some politicians, both Republicans and Democrats, have criticized the plan and Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe.“This guy, this so-called postmaster general, should be fired because of a lack of any imagination or initiative,” U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said to Congress Monday. “He’s proposing the death knell for the great United States Postal Service.”U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the top Republican on the Senate committee that oversees the Postal Service, told the Los Angeles Times she also was highly critical of the plan.“Time and time again in the face of more red ink, the USPS puts forward ideas that could well accelerate its death spiral,” Collins said.Donahoe has said the cost-cutting measures are a necessity, blaming the Postal Service’s descent toward bankruptcy on package delivery services, online billing options and the rise of email. Another major concern, Donahoe said, has been a steep decline in first class mail, which accounts for 49 percent of its revenue. As of September, the Postal Service faced an $8.3 billion budget deficit. Union leaders like Hill, however, argue the deficit is the result of another matter. While he admits some modern conveniences have hurt the Postal Service, Hill said the company has managed to decrease other costs already and retain a viable business model.“I strongly disagree that a decline in first class mail is really the death nail,” Hill said.Instead, union leaders point to legislation passed in 2006 that requires the Postal Service to pay its health care benefits for future retirees far in advance. Because of the legislation, the USPS must come up with 75 years’ worth of benefits within 10 years.The Postal Service still had a $112 million operations profit this year, according to a USPS Preliminary Financial Information from October.“The real loss of revenue is coming from this unfair practice of forcing us to pre-pay 70 years’ worth of benefits,” Hill said.Other Indiana plants facing possible closure include those in Kokomo and Columbus, and many rural post offices around the state could also be closed, Hill said. The Bloomington plant serves Bloomington, Ellettsville, Spencer and Bloomfield, making Indianapolis the closest service plant for those customers. Hill said closing so many plants and local branches can only make the problem worse and urges customers to sign online petitions against the plan.“The Postal Service has always been and will always be here for the public as long as there’s the need for the goods and services we provide,” Hill said. “But we’re going to need help from the public now to keep the doors open.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The tenth and final season of “Smallville” may not live up to the high hopes of its longtime fans, but it should certainly meet their expectations.Anyone who’s stuck with “Smallville” for this long should know what to expect by this point.As usual, this season offers an increasingly good performance by Tom Welling as Clark Kent, fun teases at Clark’s destiny as Superman and special effects that work far better than the show’s budget should allow. But it also offers plot holes, fight scenes that last all of 30 seconds and plenty of wheel spinning.We had to endure seasons of “wondering” if Clark and his first sweetheart, Lana, would end up together (hint: She’s not Lois Lane), and this continues with Clark and Erica Durance’s Lois Lane (hint: She’s Lois Lane). Thankfully, Durance and Welling do have good chemistry, despite the writers’ often awkward handling of Lois’ dialogue.Fans of the writers’ continued obsession of sacking Durance with unbelievably bad analogies will not be let down (“My head is pounding like a mosh pit, and my mouth tastes like armpit”).“Smallville: The Complete Tenth Season” has its problems, but if you’ve made it this far, there are enough great character moments, fun cameos from the larger DC Comics universe and the return of a certain bald villain from Clark’s past to make it worth your time.
Six months ago, IU student Lauren Spierer disappeared, leaving behind her shoes, purse and cell phone.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A Bloomington man was arrested Wednesday on preliminary felony charges of child neglect and battery with serious bodily injury. The boy arrived at IU-Health Bloomington Hospital on Friday, Nov. 4, to be treated for dehydration, Sgt. Jeff Canada of the Bloomington Police Department said. After an overnight stay, the boy was transported to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis after doctors found unexplained bruising on his body.Jason L. Mitchell, 28, the live-in boyfriend of the child’s mother, reportedly told the family that the boy had choked on a piece of candy Nov. 2. The child’s mother told police that Mitchell said he had first tried to pry open the boy’s mouth to get to the candy before resorting to the Heimlich Maneuver. Mitchell said the child began vomiting during the maneuver, and he had been vomiting several times each day since.Doctors at Riley soon determined that the 3-year-old was suffering from a life-threatening internal abdominal injury called duodenal hematoma. The child also had unexplained bruising on his spine and on one of his thighs, Canada said.Additionally, doctors found a healing spiral bone fracture in the boy’s right forearm.BPD detective Sarah Carnes and an Indiana Department of Child Services investigator talked to the child, who said Mitchell hurt him, Canada said.The child’s mother told police she often leaves her three young children home with Mitchell while she works full time. She has been leaving the children with Mitchell for about three months, Canada said.Mitchell told Detective Carnes that he and the 3-year-old often wrestle, and sometimes the boy falls over. Mitchell also told Carnes he suffers from blackouts. Mitchell said he can’t recall what happens during these blackouts, but when he comes to, the child is sometimes injured. The Riley Child Protection Program reported that the child’s injuries represent severe physical abuse, Canada said. The fact that there was bruising on the boy’s back, but not his stomach, is not consistent with the use of the Heimlich Maneuver, the team told police.The 3-year-old remained hospitalized Thursday, Carnes said. The two other children, ages 2 and 4, were checked for injuries but appeared to be fine.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>While Bloomington police search for the suspect who shot and killed a Pizza X delivery driver early Friday, the store where the driver worked has announced a fundraising effort to assist his family.The driver, Adam Sarnecki, 22, died at 4:40 a.m. after surgery at IU Health Bloomington Hospital, Monroe County Coroner Nicole Meyer said. He left behind a fiancée and three young children he cared for.The restaurant has created an account called the Adam Sarnecki Family Fund at United Commerce Bank, according to a Saturday announcement from One World Enterprises, the company that owns Pizza X. All sales made Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the south location will be donated to the fund. Sarnecki was shot shortly after midnight Friday behind the store, located at 2443 S. Walnut St., Bloomington Police Lt. Bill Parker said.Parker said Sarnecki told the arriving officers that as he returned from a delivery and pulled into the store’s parking lot, he saw a man trying to break into another employee’s car.“He confronted the man, who turned and shot the driver,” Parker said. Sarnecki was shot on the right side of his body, just below the chest. The suspect then fled into a wooded area behind the store.Two Pizza X employees in the store said they did not hear gunfire but called police when Sarnecki came inside after being shot. Sarnecki was able to describe the shooter as a white male of unknown age and medium height who had a goatee and was wearing a brown hoodie. The area behind Pizza X was blocked off with police tape, and Bloomington Police Department officers searched the area with canine units and flashlights soon after the shooting. Police searched two cars parked behind the store.Two men found in two different locations near the area were taken to the police station and cooperated in interviews before being released, Parker said. A police canine led police to an area near Winslow Court, but a suspect was not located.Detectives and officers gathered evidence and will continue investigating, Parker said. He said it was not clear if the shooting was related to a separate shooting just days earlier on Halloween.In that incident, a 60-year-old woman was shot in the thigh as she walked her dog on West Ninth Street. The victim told police that a man emerged from a wooded area at the street’s dead end and shot her without saying a word. Parker said the gun used in that shooting was a .380 caliber semiautomatic handgun.As of Sunday, the police were unable to provide any new information about either case, BPD Sgt. Shane Rasche said.The Pizza X Twitter account (@PizzaX) began circulating the hashtag “#RIPAdam” midday Friday, and Pizza X posted a statement on its Facebook page.“We are in somewhat of a daze today, and Pizza X South will remain closed tonight in support of our staff there,” the company said. “We are very sad today.”Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the police department at 812-339-4477. Charles Scudder and Mark Keierleber contributed to this report.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Bloomington police are still searching for a man who shot a 60-year-old Bloomington woman in the leg late Monday.Officers will continue to heavily patrol the area of the shooting during the next few evenings, Bloomington Police Department Lt. Bill Parker said Tuesday.The victim was walking her dog on West Ninth Street when the shooting occurred at about 8:30 p.m., Parker said. The street dead-ends near a wooded area. The victim told police that when she reached the dead end, a man rushed out of the woods.Without saying anything, the suspect fired several shots toward the woman.The victim said she heard some popping sounds, which she described as sounding like fire crackers, and she fled to a nearby residence.She said she did not realize she had been shot until she stopped running, which Parker said is a common occurrence in shootings similar to this one. Once at the residence, she called the police, who arrived and quickly began canvassing the neighborhood and searching the woods for the suspect.At the scene, officers found several shell casings, as well as unfired bullets.“The guy must have done a lot of fumbling with his weapon,” Parker said.After nearly 20 officers searched the area for three hours, the suspect was not located, Parker said. The suspect’s motive also remains unknown.“The victim stated she does not know anyone that would target her in that manner,” Parker said. “The motive is a puzzler.”The victim was in stable condition Monday when she was transported to IU Health Blooomington Hospital, but hospital spokeswoman Amanda Roach said she did not have any information on the victim or her condition Tuesday.The suspect is described as a young white male of medium height and weight and who was wearing a striped shirt.Anyone with any information about the shooting is asked to call the Bloomington Police Department at 812-339-4477.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Two Hebrew characters were reported missing from the Chabad House’s main sign Sunday in the most recent case of vandalism at the Jewish Student Center.Chabad director Rabbi Yehoshua Chincholker said he noticed the two letters had been “torn away violently” from the right side of the building’s front wall. The large letters had been fixed to the wall to form a sign.“It’s a big sign and an easy target,” Chincholker said. “This isn’t the first time it’s happened, but I’m still shocked.”Chincholker reported the letters missing at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday and filed a police report, Lt. Bill Parker of the Bloomington Police Department said Tuesday. One character was soon recovered lying nearby, but the other remains missing.Parker said the theft could have occurred anytime in the past two weeks, as Chabad’s staff do not deliberately check the sign every day to see if it has been vandalized.While the vandalism has not been characterized as a hate crime, Chincholker said he does believe Chabad House was specifically targeted.“They know exactly what they did and what building they did it to,” he said. “No other churches are being vandalized. We are being picked on.”The Chabad House is no stranger to vandalism or hate crimes. Just before Hanukkah 2010, a rock thrown through the center’s back window began a wave of anti-Semitic attacks in Bloomington. Hebrew texts were urinated on in the Herman B Wells Library, a rock was thrown through a back kitchen window of the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center and a rock was thrown at the staff directory glass display case for the Robert A. and Sandra B. Borns Jewish Studies Program in Goodbody Hall.Before the Jewish holiday’s end, a second rock was thrown at Chabad, this time through a window of the center’s upstairs apartment. In October 2007, a beer bottle smashed through a window of the Chabad House and, a few weeks later, the word “Jewish” was stripped from the building’s front.Hate crime or not, Chincholker said the most recent incident is testing his patience and nerves after enduring years of vandalism.“I just don’t know what to do,” he said. “This should not happen, not in Bloomington. But it keeps happening, again and again.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Bloomington police are still searching for a man who shot a 60-year-old Bloomington woman in the leg late Monday.Officers will continue to heavily patrol the area of the shooting throughout the next few evenings and nights, Bloomington Police Department Lt. Bill Parker said Tuesday.The victim was walking her dog on West Ninth Street when the shooting occurred at about 8:30 p.m., Parker said. The street dead ends near a wooded area. The victim told police that when she reached the dead end, a man rushed out of the woods.Without saying anything, the suspect fired several shots toward the woman.The victim said she heard several popping sounds, which she described as sounding like fire crackers, and she fled to a nearby residence.She said she did not realize she had been shot until she quit running, which Parker said is a common occurrence in shootings similar to this one. Once at the residence, she called the police, who arrived and quickly began canvasing the neighborhood and searching the woods for the suspect.At the scene, officers found several casings on the ground, as well as unfired bullets.“The guy must have done a lot of fumbling with his weapon,” Parker said.After nearly 20 officers searched the area for three hours, the suspect could not be located, Parker said. The suspect’s motive also remains elusive.“The victim stated she does not know anyone that would target her in that manner,” Parker said. “The motive is a puzzler.”When the victim was transported to IU Health Bloomington Hospital Monday, she was in stable condition, but hospital spokeswoman Amanda Roach said she could not comment on the victim’s condition Tuesday.The suspect is described as a young white male of medium height and weight and wearing a striped shirt.Anyone with any information about the shooting is asked to call the Bloomington Police Department at 812-339-4477.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Occupy Wall Street — a large protest against corporate greed that began in New York City in September and has drawn thousands of supporters, accusations of police brutality and criticism for what some call a lack of focus — has led to similar protests across the country, the United Kingdom and Canada.More than two hundred people gathered in Bloomington’s Peoples Park on Sunday to begin an occupation of their own.Occupy Bloomington began quietly, with an atmosphere more akin to a large community picnic than a loud demonstration. The elderly sat on benches while small children ran around the park with plastic swords. Young couples held their cardboard protest signs but also held leashes to their excited dogs.But as various demonstrators hopped on top of a stone bench in the park’s center to rally the crowd, the volume slowly increased until the demonstration was on the move.“Show me what democracy looks like,” the crowd began chanting as it marched down Kirkwood Avenue. “This is what democracy looks like.”While the demonstrators admitted that there was not a complete consensus about specific reasons for participating in Occupy Bloomington except protesting general corporate greed, the marchers seemed to pick one business in town to symbolize their frustration: Chase Bank on the corner of Kirkwood and College avenues.After standing in front of the old courthouse on the square shouting “We are the 99 percent,” the crowd crossed the street and filled the bank’s entrance and the sidewalk in front of it. The chanting — this time, “We got sold out, Chase got bailed out" — soon gave way to more impromptu speeches.Bloomington resident Lisa T. Webb told the crowd how she lost her family’s home after the death of her parents. There was no bail out for her and her house despite there being one for banks, she said.“I’m here to let you all know that as a union, what you are fighting for today, democracy, it can be retained,” Webb said. “It can be retained when United States citizens come together and fight for the very same things our country was based on.”An hour into the demonstration, the crowd agreed to head back to Peoples Park. Bloomington resident Ian Brewer, 49, hung near the back of the group as it made its return trip.“I’m just tired of corporate corruption,” Brewer said. “We need to overturn this flawed idea, this fiction of corporate personhood.”Brewer said he has now lost two jobs after the work was shipped to the Philippines, a result of corporations’ hunt for lower costs and higher profits, no matter the human cost.“It’s time that American corporations stop the mindless pursuit of profits,” he said. “It’s ruining people, their lives, their families.”Back at People’s Park, the crowd struggled to reach an agreement on where exactly in Bloomington they should occupy. Peoples Park was the original location, but the park closes at 11 p.m., meaning if the demonstrators were to stay, they could face arrest.Some argued to move the occupation to Dunn Meadow, which has a history of protests and demonstrations. But even demonstrations in the meadow have not happened without police interference. As minor arguments occasionally found their way into the discussion, three demonstrators began setting up their camp in the back of the park.Nick, Lauren and Alex, who asked that their last names not be used in this story, quickly pitched a red tent near a bench filled with bags of organic mixed greens, sacks of Michigan apples and loaves of bread.The three demonstrators expressed apprehension for how the demonstration was beginning to be organized but said they were still excited to see such a movement taking place.Lauren said she does not agree with what the Bloomington campaign may be shaping up to be, but she agrees with the idea of social justice. As someone who works with homeless youth, she said she sees how hard it can be for children with ambition to break out of poverty.“We may not be in agreement, but we do share a common thread,” she said. “I am thrilled to see so many people giving a shit. There’s a general consensus that ‘I’m pissed so I’m gonna do something.’ That’s progress.”For Nick, Occupy Bloomington is about solidarity with the demonstrators in New York.“It’s exciting to read about Occupy Wall Street,” Nick said. “I’m excited to be here, feeling like I can be in solidarity with people I can’t be with physically.”As the sun began to set and hours began to tick away to the park closing, a handful of police officers began their own occupation, leaning against bicycles in front of Hartzell’s Ice Cream shop across the street. While the police looked on, the discussion about where exactly to occupy continued, and other demonstrators began pitching their town tents.“I think solidarity is the key word,” Alex said, moving out of the way to make some space for his new neighbor. “I don’t really know most of these people. I don’t agree with all of them. But there is this dawning realization that capitalism does not work.”