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(04/30/08 8:19pm)
The victim of a fatal crash last Wednesday on Old State Road 37 died before impact, said Monroe County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Scott Mellinger. \nBloomington resident Wilburn Brown, 78, was heading northbound when his car crossed into the opposite lane, striking the guardrail before hitting an oncoming vehicle head on. \nBrown was pronounced dead at the scene.\nMellinger said the cause of death could not be determined at the time of the autopsy, but was “convinced” the cause was medical. \nParth Chauhan and Mila Norman, two IU Stone Age Institute faculty members, were in the southbound vehicle and sustained minor injuries.
(04/27/08 3:14am)
Two women were shot Saturday morning at Roosters, a bar located at 3000 S. Walnut St., after an altercation between two males at the business had gone awry, according to a Bloomington Police Department press release.\nDuring the fight, a handgun, a .40 caliber Glock, was produced and a struggle ensued for control of the gun. During the struggle, two to three rounds were discharged and the females were struck in the legs by debris or fragments from the bullets.\nOne of the men gained control of the gun, but was pursued by Rooster's security personnel. The man surrendered the weapon but fled on foot. He later went to the Bloomington Hospital, where he was treated for broken teeth, a head injury, abrasions to his arms, legs and back.\nBPD is still looking for the second man involved in the altercation. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Rob Shrake at 812-349-3352.
(04/26/08 10:21pm)
The Bloomington Police Department is currently investigating a shooting that occurred Friday afternoon, leaving two 19-year-old men with gunshot wounds.\nAt about 3:30 p.m. Friday, officers were dispatched to the 3000 block of E. Longview Avenue, where they found a man with two gunshot wounds to his abdominal area. The male was transported to the Bloomington Hospital, where he underwent surgery, according to a BPD press release. The victim was unable to provide any information detailing the shooting.\nA second victim arrived at the Bloomington Hospital with gunshot wounds to his right knee. He underwent surgery and will be interviewed at a later time.\nThrough witness accounts, BPD learned that there were about four to five shots fired during the incident. Shell casings and other evidence were recovered from the apartment. Witnesses told officers they saw two black men in their late teens, early twenties, running from the apartment and fleeing in a maroon vehicle, according to the press release.\nThe case is still under investigation and anyone with information is asked to contact the Bloomington Police Department at 339-4477.
(04/23/08 4:33am)
INDIANAPOLIS – It looks like rocker John Mellencamp is an equal-opportunity campaigner – at least when it comes to Democrats.\nMellencamp, who was born and lives in Indiana, is taking the stage to support both Democratic presidential candidates, first at a Barack Obama rally Tuesday night in Evansville and then May 3 with Hillary Rodham Clinton in Indianapolis.\nBob Merlis, Mellencamp’s publicist, said the rocker hasn’t said who he’ll vote for but sees Democrats as the greatest hope for change.\n“Neither candidate is as liberal as he would prefer, but he’s happy to contribute what he can,” Merlis said Tuesday.\nMellencamp is no stranger to political activism. The Farm Aid co-founder played three house parties in 2004 for Wesley Clark, Howard Dean and John Edwards. He had supported Edwards in the Democratic race and performed at an Edwards rally the night before the Iowa caucuses in January.\nHe has been outspoken against President Bush and the Iraq war, with recent anti-Bush songs “To Washington” and “Texas Bandito” angering some conservatives.\nMellencamp’s wife, model Elaine Irwin Mellencamp, was a delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention and is seeking to be one again this year.
(04/22/08 2:19am)
Since 1970, people have celebrated April 22 as Earth Day. This year, the Monroe County Solid Waste Management District will celebrate by handing out tree seedlings at its Central Recycling and Reuse Facility. \n“We do this every year in collaboration with the (Indiana) Division of Forestry,” said Elisa Pokral, the Monroe County Solid Waste Management District’s media and education director. \nIf any seedlings are left, the district will give the rest out on Arbor Day, which is Friday, she said.\n“We encourage people to stop by the (Central Recycling and Reuse Facility) on April 22,” Pokral said. “They probably won’t be available on the 25th.”\nThe mission of the solid waste management district is to “reduce the amount of waste going to final disposals (landfills and incinerators) through education, source reduction, reuse and recycling,” according to its Web site. \nIn addition to the seedlings, the solid waste management district also has tree-planting instructions available, as well as its usual pamphlets about the three Rs – reduce, reuse, recycle – and about hazardous waste.\nThe Central Recycling and Reuse Facility is located at 3400 S. Walnut St. and will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today. Seedlings are limited to one per family.
(04/20/08 11:34pm)
WEST SALEM, Ill. – Bricks shook loose and fell from buildings. Walls cracked. Books tumbled off shelves.\nA 5.2 magnitude earthquake centered near this southern Illinois town struck before dawn Friday, rocking skyscrapers in Chicago, 230 miles north of here, and in Bloomington but doing little damage and seriously hurting no one.\nIt was the kind of tremor that might be ignored in earthquake-savvy California, but the temblor shook things up from Nebraska to Atlanta and rattled nerves in Milwaukee, Cincinnati and Louisville, Ky., where bricks toppled to the pavement.\n"We thought it (the house) was falling on us, we really did," said 85-year-old Anna Mae Williams, who was shaken awake at 5:37 a.m. in tiny West Salem, six miles from the epicenter.\nDozens of aftershocks followed, including one with a magnitude of 4.6.\nThe quake is believed to have involved an extension of the New Madrid fault, a network of deep cracks in the earth's surface, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The fault is at the center of the nation's most active seismic zone east of the Rockies, something that's known to Midwest residents, even if they forget it now and then _ the last severe earthquake in the region was a 5.0 magnitude quake in 2002.\nWilliams said she knew exactly what was happening because it reminded her of an earthquake back in 1968. Others had no idea what was going on.\nJanet Clem of nearby Mount Carmel thought a nearby power plant had exploded, and was just as afraid when she realized that what she'd heard – "a heck of a rumble then a loud kaboom" – was in fact one of the most powerful earthquakes in Illinois history.\n"I'm terrified, I'm not going to lie to you," she said after the earthquake collapsed her porch. "I've never experienced anything like that and I don't want to experience it again."\nThe earthquake was the talk of towns throughout much of the Midwest.\n"I just saw my house just shake. Golly," said Mike Morrow of Mount Carmel, his eyes widening during an aftershock.\nMorrow's two-story apartment building was evacuated because of loose and falling bricks. The initial quake woke the 30-year-old and startled his pit bull.\n"He was about as scared as I was," Morrow said. "We both just froze."\nThough nowhere close to the power of the nation's most famous quakes _ including the devastating temblor that hit San Francisco exactly 102 years ago Friday _ it was enough to remind people of the risk that exists in the Midwest.\nIn 1811 and 1812, the New Madrid fault produced a series of earthquakes estimated at magnitude 7.0 or greater said to be felt as far away as Boston. They were centered in the Missouri town of New Madrid (pronounced MAD'-rid), 140 miles southeast of St. Louis.\nExperts said that with the much higher population in the Midwest, another major quake along the New Madrid fault zone could destroy buildings, bridges, roads and other infrastructure, disrupt communications and isolate areas.\nRoad crews in Kentucky and Indiana were out early Friday inspecting bridges and overpasses, and work crews took a close look at skyscraper construction sites in Chicago.\nEarly homeowner damage claims received by State Farm, the largest provider of earthquake coverage in the area, were mostly for cracks in drywall and foundations, spokeswoman Missy Lundberg said.\nMany residents said they felt helpless.\n"I tell you, it was scary," said Williams. "There was no warning at all."\nDavid Behm of Philo, 10 miles south of Champaign, said he was awakened by the quake.\n"Windows were rattling, and you could hear it," he said. "The house was shaking inches. For people in central Illinois, this is a big deal. It's not like California."\nCheck idsnews.com throughout the day for more updates.
(04/19/08 1:11am)
Mayor Mark Kruzan's dogs seemed to know an earthquake was coming.\nMoments before Friday's magnitude 5.2 quake shook the Midwest, rousing many residents from their beds, Kruzan said his dogs began barking and awoke him. Then, his home started swaying.\n"My dogs figured it out before I did," he said.\nMany other Hoosiers also said their pets woke them up before they felt the earthquake, which had an epicenter six miles from West Salem, Ill.\nCats hid under beds, dogs woke their owners, rodents scurried about in their cages, and birds flapped wildly in their cages or sounded a cry of alarm.\nMonroe County resident Deborah Stroud said her pet mice, Aiden and Smith, went berserk just before the earth started moving.\n"They were running in the wheel like crazy and actually fighting over who was going to be in it. I don't think I have ever seen them run that fast in it before. At one point they were both running in it side by side," Stroud said.\nHannah Murray's 2-year-old chinchilla, Gizmo, started chirping and scurrying around his cage just before it hit.\n"I got out of bed to check on him and I felt the first rumble," she said.\nElizabeth Evans said Count Basie, her pet cockatiel, starting "freaking out and screeching, which woke us up, then the bed started shaking ... The bird sensed it before we did."\nWhen a 4.6-magnitude aftershock hit hours later, Evans was walking in the woods with her dog, who also sensed something.\n"He was sniffing a stump and then suddenly backed away. I thought something had stung him on the nose," she said.\nFor more updates, check idsnews.com or see Monday's IDS.
(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 2:35am)
TERRE HAUTE – Investigators ruled out arson as the cause of a fire Friday that destroyed a western Indiana campaign office for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.\nTerre Haute Fire Department spokesman John Gardner said local and state investigators were focusing on two possible causes: lightning or a malfunction in wiring left behind after a sign was removed from the building.\nTwo people inside the office when the fire broke out around midnight escaped unharmed, Gardner said.\nFormer President Clinton stopped outside the building Friday on his way to a campaign speech in the small city of Clinton, Ind., located about 20 miles north of Terre Haute.\n“Our young workers here are undeterred, and they’re ready to roll so we’ll get it going,” Clinton said. A campaign spokesman said workers would be looking for a new location.\nThe former president laughed when asked whether the fire was a bad sign for his wife’s campaign. \n“No, I think this is a good omen,” he said. “We’ll rise from the ashes like the Phoenix.”\nA volunteer firefighter driving past the building in a commercial district along U.S. 41 south of the city’s downtown spotted flames on the roof and warned those inside, Gardner said.\n“They got out and a few seconds later the ceiling fell in where they were working and about five minutes later it was fully engulfed in the roof,” he said.\nThe roof of the one-story building partially collapsed, and a part of the front wall fell on a parked car, which then caught fire. The adjoining office of a staffing services agency had water and smoke damage, but a fire wall held back the flames, Gardner said.
(04/08/08 1:44am)
Bill Clinton plans 4-stop campaign swing
(04/02/08 2:38am)
Gospel duo to receive Indiana’s highest award
(04/01/08 12:23am)
Number of reported child abuse cases decreased in 2007
(04/01/08 12:21am)
HAMMOND, Ind.– Motorists who pay cash to drive on the Indiana Toll Road will see their rates increase starting today.\nThe highway’s private operator is authorized under its contract with the state to increase tolls as it starts operating an electronic toll transponder system on the full length of the 157-mile highway.\nThe toll for the full length of the toll road will rise to $8 from the current $4.65 for car drivers paying cash. Drivers who use a transponder won’t see a toll hike until 2016.\nAll drivers of vehicles with three axles or more automatically will pay toll increases, regardless of whether they use the electronic tolling system known as I-Zoom.\n“The spirit of the toll freeze is for local users,” said Matt Pierce, a spokesman for the Indiana Toll Road Concession Company the highway operator. “This is the first time tolls are going to increase for a two-axle vehicle since 1985, and those individuals continuing to pay with their electronic transponder are going to pay that 1985 rate of $4.65 for the next eight years.”\nThe provision for increasing the toll rate was included in the 2006 deal Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration made agreeing to a 75-year lease of the toll road to a consortium of Spanish company Cintra and Australia’s Macquarie Infrastructure Group. The consortium, which formed ITR Concession, has paid the state $3.8 billion and will collect all the highway’s toll revenue over the term of the lease.\nToll booths on a 23-mile section of the highway from Portage to the Illinois state line have had electronic tolling for about a year. During peak times on that stretch, 60 percent of drivers use the electronic transponders.\n“Northwest Indiana was pretty covered, so where we’re picking up our new I-Zoom users is in places like South Bend and Elkhart,” Pierce said. “We’ve seen about 10,000 of those folks come on line with the electronic tolling, and we expect to have 20,000 to 30,000 before the end of 2008.”\nIndiana drivers who frequently use the toll road will be able to keep the lower rates for eight more years, Daniels said.\n“It means out-of-state traffic, most of it out-of-state trucks and commercial, is paying to build Indiana’s future,” he said.\nJohn Hennessy of Crown Point, who has worked in downtown Chicago for 25 years, said he’ll probably break down and get the I-Zoom to avoid the new rates –especially since his daughter knows how to go online and order one.\nToll rates also will go up for trucks, with the charge for six-axle vehicles driving the full highway going from $26.50 to $32 and seven-axle vehicles rising from $49.25 to $59.60.\nKenneth Cragen, president of the Indiana Motor Truck Association, said the industry has felt the effects of a slumping economy.
(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.
(03/15/08 4:17pm)
Three Bloomington residents were arrested Tuesday morning after the Bloomington Police Department found a Bloomington man stabbed to death.\nJodie L. Reeves faces preliminary charges of murder and obstruction of justice. Jennifer Hardiman faces preliminary charges of assisting a criminal and obstruction of justice. Roger A. Edwards faces preliminary charges of theft and possession of marijuana.\nThe investigation began Monday, where Gene A. Davis, 44, was found near West 10th and West Cottage Grove Streets. Davis had several stab wounds to the chest and abdomen and knife wounds to the throat and neck.\nAccording to a BPD press release, investigators believe the accident occurred between about 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. Monday. Information was received about those who were last known to be with Davis before his body was found.\nAfter interviewing those individuals along with Reeves and Hardiman, investigators learned that Reeves stabbed Davis in a van and then chased him down 10th street, according to the press release. The stabbing was the result of a verbal and physical altercation over crack cocaine. \nAfter the stabbing, Reeves and Hardiman went to Reeves’s boyfriend, Roger Edward’s residence and began burning their clothes in a woodstove, according to the release.\nBPD detectives went to Edwards residence to locate Reeves. Edwards informed the detectives of his suspicions due to blood being found in the van Reeves drove, according to the release. He told officers that Reeves told him she cut hand, but that did not correspond with the amount of blood in the van.\nEdwards allowed BPD to seize bloody towels that were used to clean the van, according to the release. BPD secured a search warrant for Edward’s residence and seized a small amount of marijuana and the alleged knife used in the incident. Additional evidence was obtained from the ashes in the woodstove, according to the release.\nEdwards was questioned further and said he took Reeves to get medical attention for the knife wound on her hand, according to the release. He told detectives he stole a syringe with Novocain while at the medical facility, according to the release.\nThe case remains under investigation. Anyone with information that might assist with this investigation is asked to contact Detective Rich Hunter at 812-349-3322 or Captain Joe Qualters at 812-349-3317.
(03/15/08 4:01pm)
INDIANAPOLIS - Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama will visit Indianapolis Saturday trying to gain an early foothold in a state whose 72 delegates will play an important role in who grabs the Democratic nomination.\nIndiana holds its presidential primary on May 6, and the state could help decide the presidential nominee for the first time in 40 years.\nWith the important Pennsylvania contest six weeks away, Obama is playing down his chances there, even though a victory would effectively finish his opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton. His aides are emphasizing instead the need to campaign in Indiana, North Carolina and other presumably friendlier states that will vote even later.\nThe campaign expects Indiana to be a battleground because of its large black population and the fact that the northern part of the state is in the Chicago media market, where the Illinois senator is often on TV and in the news. But Indiana also has a significant blue-collar population and Evan Bayh, the state's senator and former governor, will actively campaign for Clinton.\nThe New York senator, meanwhile, is banking heavily on Pennsylvania. A solid win here could sustain her claim to late-season momentum and the ability to win big, industrial states.\nOverall, Obama had 1,598 delegates, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton had 1,487, according to an Associated Press count. It takes 2,025 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination for president.