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(05/11/08 10:55pm)
INDIANAPOLIS – A judge has ordered the social-networking site Facebook to turn over information identifying the person who set up a fake profile in the name of a high school dean.\nMarion Superior Court Judge Robyn Moberly issued the order Friday, a day after Roncalli High School Dean of Students Tim Puntarelli sued the Web site, alleging harassment and identity theft by the unidentified creator of the profile.\nFacebook, based in Palo Alto, Calif., removed the fraudulent profile from its site after Roncalli officials reported it last month. A Facebook spokeswoman declined comment to The Indianapolis Star. The AP sent an e-mail seeking comment from Facebook.\nFacebook’s privacy policy requires a court order or subpoena before it will release identifying information.\nThe lawsuit said the posting included “pictures and messages inappropriate for a dean of students to send to a student.”\nMoberly’s emergency order required Facebook to preserve all information from the deleted profile.\nThe Archdiocese of Indianapolis, which operates Roncalli, doesn’t know whether the profile was created by a student or someone unconnected with the Catholic school on Indianapolis’ south side.\n“The archdiocese hopes to resolve the issue as quickly as possible in order to restore damage done to Puntarelli’s reputation and to prevent this type of identity theft from happening again,” the archdiocese said in a statement.\nSimilar profiles have been the subject of lawsuits in other states and have led to debate over whether they constitute defamation or parody protected by the First Amendment.
(04/23/08 4:28am)
Heavy spring rains that pushed Lake Monroe to near-record water levels have submerged boat ramps and roads, prompting state wildlife officials to open a ferry service to take boaters to their vessels.\nFrom a tent-like office near the lake’s shoreline, Roy Arthur mans a ferry station that has moved about every three days as the normally 10,750-acre reservoir recedes. Arthur said he’s at the station 24 hours a day to take boaters from shore to ship and back on his pontoon boat.\n“They come and go at all times,” he said. “They honk or call on the radio. Usually about the time I’m going to pour a cup of coffee I go get ’em.’\nArthur’s office at the Paynetown Recreational Area, about five miles southeast of Bloomington, is a tarp equipped with a coffee maker, microwave and a nearby campfire.\nMonday evening, his station was 10 feet from one of Paynetown’s submerged campsites.\nThe reservoir’s high waters have swamped portions of lakeside roads, lengthening local residents’ road trips to work because they have to drive around flooded areas.\nAnglers are excited, though, because the high waters have allowed them to reach fish-filled sections of the lake that previously were inaccessible to their boats.\nCarl Syphers of Indianapolis said he embarked on a fishing trip last weekend and was surprised by the number of fish he caught.\n“I’ve never had crappie fishing like this,” he said. “With high water, really high water, you can motor in and around the logs and the shrubbery where the fish are moving in. They’re moving in because of all the fresh food that can be found along the new shoreline.\n“The fish follow the food and I follow the fish,” he said.\nBarbara Shedd, who owns a nearby bait shop called The Fishin’ Shedd, said she’s had brisk sales so far this spring. Already, the glass on the counter near the register is filling up with Polaroid snapshots of strings of crappie and a group of teenagers holding up slippery catfish.\nPatty Robertson, the office administrator of the Army Corps of Engineers, urged boaters to be careful as they approach the lake’s new shorelines because there could be trees, bushes or even fences just below the surface.\nShe said the Army Corps is discharging as much water from the reservoir’s spillway as it can to lower the lake’s level, which is dropping 3 to 4 inches a day.\nRobertson said the lake reached 17 feet above its normal height on April 13, about a foot below the record set in 2002.
(04/16/08 3:42am)
Company pulls guards from East Chicago schools
(04/16/08 3:41am)
EAST CHICAGO, Ind. – The Indiana attorney general has asked the state Supreme Court to order a development group that has received $16 million in casino subsidies to open its books.\nThe state Court of Appeals and the Marion County Circuit Court have both already ruled in favor of East Chicago Second Century Inc., finding the private company does not have to account for the casino money it has received since 1997.\n“There is a strong basis for moving forward and continuing to present the arguments that this entity should be accountable for $16 million that appears to have vanished,” said Attorney General Steve Carter. “There has been no proof that these funds intended for economic development have not been wasted. The public is left to wonder how the $16 million has actually helped them.”\nJ. Lee McNeely, attorney for Second Century, called the move by Carter a continuation of the tactics of the city and the state to use taxpayer funds to prolong the legal battle in hopes of bankrupting Second Century.\n“We’ve won every court decision at every level,” McNeely said. “The city is using taxpayers’ money to spend hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars on this pointless litigation and the state of Indiana has joined with them, apparently.”\nMcNeely pointed out that the state appeals court in its decision March 12 said Carter mischaracterized the agreement in his arguments. The court said Second Century was formed as a for-profit corporation to assist the initial casino operator as a “catalyst” for economic development in the city. The appeals court also said Second Century was formed as a for-profit corporation.\nA state attorney general’s office investigation suggested that the money should have paid for more economic development activities. The review also said the agreement might violate industry integrity because it directs money intended for public benefit to a private company that has used its for-profit status to resist public oversight of its activities.\nThe Indiana Gaming Commission, citing the investigation, terminated Second Century’s more than $2 million annual casino subsidy in June 2006. But the subsidy, a 0.75 percent cut of the East Chicago riverboat’s annual revenues, is mired in litigation.\nEast Chicago Mayor George Pabey wants the Second Century payments redirected to the city, and the two sides remain locked in a court battle. Roughly $4 million is being held in escrow pending a resolution. The casino payment agreements were negotiated under former longtime Mayor Robert Pastrick, whom Pabey defeated in 2004.
(04/14/08 3:39am)
WASHINGTON – It would be a “cop-out” for countries to skip the opening ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics as a way of protesting China’s crackdown in Tibet, President Bush’s national security adviser said Sunday.\nThe kind of “quiet diplomacy” that the U.S. is practicing is a better way to send a message to China’s leaders rather than \n“frontal confrontation,” Stephen Hadley said.\nPresident Bush has given no indication he will skip the event. “I don’t view the Olympics as a political event,” Bush said this past week. “I view it as a sporting event.” The White House has not yet said whether he will attend the opening ceremony on Aug. 8.\n“We haven’t worked out the details of his schedule at this point in time, but from his vantage point, if you listen to what he said, he has no reason not to go,” Hadley said in broadcast interviews Sunday. “Because what he has said is we need to be using diplomacy.”\nCalling a boycott “a bit of a red herring,” Hadley said: “I think unfortunately a lot of countries say, ‘Well, if we say that we are not going to the opening ceremonies, we’ve check the box on Tibet.’ That’s a cop-out.\n“If other countries are concerned about Tibet, they ought to do what we are doing through quiet diplomacy, send the message clearly to the Chinese that this is an opportunity with the whole world watching, to show that they take into account and are determined to treat their citizens with dignity and respect. They would put pressure on the Chinese authorities quietly to meet with representatives of the Dalai Lama and use this as an opportunity to help resolve that situation,” he said.\nCritics of China say that were Bush to avoid the opening ceremony, it would send a powerful signal of international anger over China’s violent response to demonstrating Buddhist monks in Tibet.\n“The whole issue of opening ceremonies is a nonissue,” Hadley said. “I think it is a way of dodging what really needs to happen if you’re concerned about” Tibet.\nBritish Prime Minister Gordon Brown and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will not attend the opening ceremonies. Brown’s office says he will attend the closing ceremony. Merkel said the opening event never was on her schedule.\nBush is going to the Olympics to show support for the American team and all the participating athletes, Hadley said. At the same time, he is relying on “his own personal diplomacy” in dealings directly with Chinese officials.\nIn a telephone call March 26, Bush pushed China’s president, Hu Jintao, about the violence in Tibet, a necessity for restraint and a need for China to consult with representatives of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leaders, the White House said.\n“We have a lot of leverage on China. We are using it in a constructive, diplomatic way. And it is a lot greater leverage than just the issue of whether he goes to an opening ceremony or not,” Hadley said. “The whole international community has leverage. They ought to be using it now, not letting themselves off the hook by simply saying, ‘Well, we won’t go to the opening ceremonies.’”
(04/01/08 12:23am)
Number of reported child abuse cases decreased in 2007
(03/18/08 11:48pm)
LAKEVILLE, Ind. – A piece of meteorite stolen from a museum was recovered after a man who owns another slice of the same rock saw it at a gun show.\nSomeone stole the 12-by-16-inch meteorite slice valued at $5,000 from the Joshua Tree Earth and Space Museum in Lakeville about two weeks ago.\nOn Saturday, museum founder Terry Boswell got a call from a friend and fellow meteorite collector who was working at a gun show at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis.\n“He said, ‘I think I found your meteorite,’” Boswell said, “and I couldn’t believe it.”\nNeil Smith told Boswell that a man was trying sell the rock but left it behind before police arrived. Boswell said Smith owns another slice of the meteorite and was one of the few people in the world who could have identified it.\n“The odds of someone stealing this meteorite and then taking it to the person who has the sister piece is unbelievable,” Boswell said. “There are only a handful of people in the world who would be able to identify it with certainty, and here he goes right to this fellow who knew it was stolen.”\nThe name of the man who tried to sell the meteorite has been given to the Lakeville police, who are searching for him, Boswell said.\nThe meteorite is being stored in the museum office, while Boswell looks for ways to increase security.\nBoswell created the museum about 10 miles south of South Bend as a place where children could get hands-on experiences with objects like fossils and meteorites.\nHe said the museum is looking for ways to increase security.
(03/18/08 11:47pm)
INDIANAPOLIS – Colts quarterback Peyton Manning will headline a fundraiser for the Indianapolis children’s hospital that bears his name.\nThe Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent was named for the former Super Bowl MVP last September.\nAlso attending the April 25 gala will be Manning’s wife, Ashley, and his father and former NFL quarterback Archie Manning. Other guests include Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, John Mellencamp, CBS NFL host James Brown and Colts president Bill Polian.\nAbout 530 people are expected to be invited to the event at the N.K. Hurst Bean Factory near the site of the new Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
(03/18/08 11:46pm)
COLUMBUS, IND. – Bartholomew County authorities are searching for two men who escaped from the county jail in Columbus.\nSheriff Mark Gorbett said jailers noticed Justin James and Matthew Mullins were missing during a head count early Tuesday morning.\nHe said the men apparently escaped through a hatch in a third-floor shower area. Jail guards found chips of paint on the floor below a hatch that allows access to pipes.\nGorbett says the men were likely able to escape the building through a boarded-up hole in the exterior wall. The bricks in that area were removed for construction of a link to the county’s new jail.\nGorbett says it’s not known if the men are still in the Columbus area, about 40 miles south of Indianapolis.
(03/18/08 11:46pm)
PLAINFIELD, IND. – A judge has upheld a town ordinance that bars convicted sex offenders from using Plainfield’s parks and recreation areas.\nIn a five-page opinion, Hendricks Superior Court Judge Robert W. Freese ruled that the ordinance was constitutional.\nThe American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit in 2005 challenging the ordinance on behalf of a man known in court documents as John Doe. The ACLU argued Doe has completed his punishment including probation and that banning him from the park effectively adds more punishment.\nACLU Legal Director Kenneth Falk said Monday the group plans to appeal.\nIn his ruling Friday, Freese found that there is a legitimate government interest to protect children by keeping sex offenders away from recreation areas where children are present. He wrote that “at least some sexual predators prey upon those to whom they have access. And some offenders have a high incidence of re-offending.”\nDoe was convicted in 2001 of child exploitation and possession of child pornography. The lawsuit stated that he served time in jail, was placed on probation until August 2004 and is on the Indiana Sex Offender Registry.\nDoe was visiting the Splash Island water park with his young son in June 2005 when police warned him not to return because he was on the sex offender registry.
(03/03/08 2:30am)
INDIANAPOLIS – Leaders of Indianapolis’ Humane Society blame a budget deficit for a decision to stop accepting stray animals and to no longer allow people to drop off unwanted pets immediately.\nThose steps are aimed at reducing the number of animals for which the society must find new homes, but officials say it could force 4,000 to 5,000 more animals a year on the city-operated animal pound.\nThe policy changes should cut $800,000 from the operating budget of the Humane Society of Indianapolis, allowing it to close its deficit next year, said Martha Boden, the group’s chief executive officer.\nThe Humane Society has been in talks with the city for weeks on how the transition will work once the changes start March 15, but final decisions have not been made, Boden said.\nVeterinarian Ben Ealing said he worried that without a good plan to handle the strays no longer accepted by the Humane Society, the pet population could get out of hand.\n“If there are strays wandering around,” Ealing said, “there will be breeding, and the problem is going to be compounded.”\nScott Newman, the city’s public safety director, said he expected the changes will send more animals to the county pound and mean many of them will be destroyed. To handle the expected influx, money will likely be diverted to the animal shelter from a fund aimed at rooting out dogfighting.\nThe city’s pound now typically takes in about 18,000 animals a year and euthanizes more than 11,000 of them. The Humane Society, meanwhile, took in nearly 9,000 animals last year, with 3,200 being euthanized.\nUnder the new procedures for giving up pets, a Humane Society staffer will ask about the decision and possibly suggest tips or training classes to improve behavior. The owner will have to make an appointment for the drop-off and provide life history information that could help make the pet ready for a new adoption.\nThe Humane Society could still reject the animal under the policy, which Boden said was also aimed at prompting people to consider needs of homeless animals by doing more than driving them to the shelter.\n“We want to help them understand more about what’s involved with making a lifetime commitment to a pet,” she said.
(02/29/08 1:30am)
INDIANAPOLIS – The Associated Press reported on several bills passed by the Indiana General Assembly Thursday.
(02/27/08 12:29am)
INDIANAPOLIS – More voters could cast ballots at centralized polling sites instead of traditional neighborhood precincts or submit absentee ballots by mail without giving an excuse under a bill that cleared the Indiana House of Representatives Tuesday.\nThe House voted 73-25 for Senate Bill 235, which would allow any county to opt for vote centers – scattered polling sites where people can cast ballots regardless of their precinct – if the local election board unanimously approves the change.\nAlthough the vote-center concept won support in the Republican-controlled Senate this year, GOP leaders in the chamber have opposed no-excuse absentee balloting by mail in the past. The bill could head next to a conference committee, where senators and representatives could try to hammer out a compromise on the legislation.\nUnder current Indiana law, anyone voting absentee-by-mail must meet certain provisions, such as being out of the county on Election Day or working through voting hours. Voters do not have to give an excuse if they cast an absentee ballot in person before Election Day.
(02/27/08 12:28am)
Ranchers and horse-barn owners are hoping a $2,600 reward will help catch the thieves who have swiped saddles worth thousands of dollars from two southern Indiana ranches.\nFive businesses chipped in for the reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the robberies at Up-N-Over Stables and Stone Creek Ranch.\nLast week, thieves hit Up-N-Over Stables, making off with mostly English riding gear, ranging from a custom Pullman Roping saddle to bridles.\nThen, late Sunday or early Monday about $25,000 worth of saddles, including pricey custom-made ones, were taken from Stone Creek Ranch, said owner Wayne Allbright.\nHe believes the thieves are knowledgeable about different saddle types because they took only the more expensive varieties and left behind some lesser-valued ones.\nAllbright said the thefts occurred even though three of his employees live very close to the barn that was targeted.\n“They were very brazen. With all this lighting around, and with people here onsite, they were very brazen,” he said.\nAllbright has warned other farms in the area about the thefts. He said sheriff’s deputies suspect that whoever robbed his ranch had visited it or driven past it to scope things out.\nHe has notified local pawn shops to be on the lookout for someone trying to cash the saddles in for a quick turnaround, and he has someone checking eBay.
(02/24/08 8:44pm)
HAVANA — Nearly 50 years of rule by Fidel Castro ended in Cuba on Sunday as parliament chose his brother Raul to replace him — a transition that leaves the island's communist system unshaken.\nThe new president proposed consulting with the ailing 81-year-old Fidel on all major decisions of state, and parliament approved the proposal.\nThe vote came five days after Fidel said he was retiring, capping a career in which he frustrated efforts by 10 U.S. presidents to oust him.\nThe transition was not likely to bring a major shift in policies of the communist government that have put it at odds with the United States. But many Cubans were hoping it would open the door to modest economic reforms and improvement in their daily lives.
(02/22/08 3:03am)
INDIANAPOLIS - The six-county United Way of Central Indiana raised a record $39 million in corporate and individual contributions in its 2007 campaign, organizers said.\nThe amount might climb even higher because several national companies have yet to report contributions from their local employees, campaign co-chairman Denny Sponsel said Wednesday.\nMore than 100,000 people donated, Sponsel said. The average donation rose 10 percent, or $27 per donor, over last year. Contributions typically are made by paycheck deductions, which will be collected during 2008.\nIndividual donations make up about 80 percent of donations, with corporate giving accounting for the remainder.\nAt drug maker Eli Lilly and Co., the area’s largest private employer, employee contributions rose by more than $500,000 over last year, the United Way said.\nThe money goes to 104 human service agencies in Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Marion and Morgan counties.
(02/22/08 3:02am)
FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The president of a Texas energy company has donated $1 million to his Indiana high school alma mater, a gift the school said it will use to hire another teacher, create programs and fund scholarships.\nT. Paul Bulmahn, founder and CEO of ATP Oil & Gas Corp., donated the money to Concordia Lutheran High School in Fort Wayne.\n“This gift just provides for incredible opportunities that we’ve never had before,” said David Widenhofer, Concordia’s executive director.\nSchool principal John Marks said the school will use the money to hire another math teacher and develop new programs in science, technology and entrepreneurship. He also said the gift will fund scholarships to help needy students afford the annual tuition of $7,600.\nBulmahn graduated from Concordia in 1961, and went on to earn degrees from Valparaiso University, the University of Texas and Texas State University. He founded ATP Oil & Gas Corp. in 1991.\nBulmahn’s cousin, Steve Bulmahn of Fort Wayne, presented the check to the school at a Wednesday news conference.\nThe gift was the largest single donation in the school’s history and amounted to a fifth of its $5.4 million yearly operating budget. Concordia was founded in 1935 and has 679 students.\nBulmahn said he decided to donate the money while attending the school’s graduation ceremony last year.\n“I was very impressed with what is taking place there and wanted to make a difference for Concordia to encourage young people to believe they can pursue their own dreams and potential,” said Bulmahn in a statement. “That possibility for Concordia gives me great joy, and I am eager to see the school flourish.
(02/19/08 8:28am)
HAVANA – Ailing leader Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba's president from nearly a half-century early Tuesday, saying in a letter published in online official media that he would not accept a new term when the newly elected parliament meets on Sunday.\n"I will not aspire nor accept — I repeat I will not aspire or accept, the post of President of the Council of State and Commander in Chief," read a letter signed by Castro published quietly overnight without advance warning in the online edition of the Communist Party daily Granma.\nThe new National Assembly is meeting for first time Sunday since January elections to pick the governing Council of State, including the presidency Castro holds. There had been wide speculation about whether he would accept a nomination for reelection to that post or retire.\nThe 81-year-old Castro's overnight announcement effectively ends his rule of almost 50 years over Cuba, positioning his 76-year-old brother Raul for permanent succession to the presidency.
(02/18/08 5:12am)
Kosovo declared itself a nation on Sunday, mounting a historic bid to become an “independent and democratic state” backed by the U.S. and key European allies, but bitterly contested by Serbia and Russia. “Kosovo is a republic – an independent, democratic and sovereign state,” parliament speaker Jakup Krasniqi said as the chamber burst into applause. Serbian President Boris Tadic reacted by saying his country will never accept Kosovo’s “unilateral and illegal” declaration.
(02/18/08 5:10am)
BEIJING – China said Sunday it was concerned about U.S. military plans to shoot down a damaged spy satellite that is hurtling toward Earth with 1,000 pounds of toxic fuel.\nThe U.S. military has said it hopes to smash the satellite as soon as next week – just before it enters Earth’s atmosphere – with a single missile fired from a Navy cruiser in the northern Pacific Ocean.\nThe official Xinhua News Agency quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao as saying the Chinese government was monitoring the situation and has urged the U.S. to avoid causing damages to security in outer space and in other countries.\n“Relevant departments of China are closely watching the situation and working out preventive measures,” Liu said. Xinhua did not elaborate.\nRussia also has voiced concerns about the U.S. plan to shoot down the damaged satellite, saying it may be a veiled test of America’s missile defense system.\nThe U.S. has insisted the plan to shoot down the satellite is not a test of a program to kill other nations’ orbiting communications and intelligence \ncapabilities.\nThe Bush administration and U.S. military officials have said the bus-sized satellite is carrying a fuel called hydrazine that could injure or even kill people who are near it when it hits \nthe ground.\nU.S. diplomats around the world have been instructed to inform governments that the operation is meant to protect people from the satellite’s blazing descent and the toxic fuel it is carrying. The diplomats were told to distinguish the upcoming attempt to destroy the satellite from China’s much criticized test last year, when it used a missile to destroy a defunct weather satellite.\nLeft alone, the satellite would likely hit Earth during the first week of March. About half of the 5,000-pound spacecraft would be expected to survive the fall and would scatter debris over several hundred miles.\nKnown by its military designation US 193, the satellite carrying a sophisticated and secret imaging sensor was launched in December 2006. It lost power and its central computer failed almost immediately afterward.
