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The identity of a priest, who appeared at an accident scene, is a mystery. Illinois rescue crews spent the first 45 minutes after the accident trying to get a 19-year-year old girl out of a car. They were running out of options when a priest came out of nowhere, even though the road was blocked for miles, WEWS-TV reported. "I went back and talked to the priest and told him we were worried she would think we'd given up hope. He said 'I just want to anoint her' and so we just let him come up to the scene," New...

An 'Officer of the Year' for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is now under investigation after security footage was released showing him attacking a 60-year-old man who was just reporting a burglary. Last September, victim Brian Hudkins was in town for a business conference. He was staying at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis with one of his employees, Andrew Davis. After dinner, the two went back to the hotel, but Davis was locked out of his room. He heard people behind the door and called Hudkins, believing it was a burglary. The two went downstairs to report the incident to...

It was a violent and deadly week in a Northwest Indiana city; over the last 6 days, 5 people have been shot to death. Among the victims, a young man on the job at a hot dog restaurant and a teenager sitting in the backseat of a car. The latest shooting happened just last night. This is all going on in Gary, Indiana, where the murder rate is up over last year at this time. The family and friends of Anthony Green, Jr. are relying on their faith to help them make sense of his death. The 24-year old was...

Georgia said that insurance premiums for a 25-year-old male currently in a high-deductible plan would rise up to 198 percent in 2014 and rates for many others could rise by 20 percent to 100 percent. Florida's office of insurance regulation said on Tuesday that rates for individuals will rise roughly 30 to 40 percent next year. Indiana's department of insurance last week said that insurance costs to individuals under the Affordable Care Act would rise 72 percent.

We are back after a summer break:sorry it is 2012...

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indianapolis Fire Department says three people were killed when a bus carrying teens from a church camp crashed on a busy thoroughfare near Interstate 465. It happened along Keystone Ave. near 96th Street at around 4:00 pm. The three people were a married couple, along with a teenager. It isn't known if the teen was related to the husband and wife. The bus was carrying 37 passengers who are members of Colonial Hills Baptist Church and were returning from camp in Michigan when the crash happened Saturday afternoon. Most of them were teenagers. Witnesses told police that...

INDIANAPOLIS — Where’s the best place to market marijuana to people already buzzing from alcohol? At a NASCAR race, of course. The pro-marijuana advocacy group has a video billboard promoting marijuana as an alcohol alternative. That ad — which boasts “Marijuana: Less harmful than alcohol and time to treat it that way" — is being shown outside the grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway the next three days as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series takes to the track for Sunday’s Brickyard 400.

GARY — Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson wrote a second, more detailed appeal to Gov. Mike Pence on Tuesday, asking him to send Indiana State Police into the city to boost police presence for three months. Since the July 11 letter, “several more homicides occurred claiming the lives of young African-American males. The situation in our community is now beyond urgent,” the mayor wrote. Attached to the letter is a five-page, “Gary, Indiana for Life” plan that includes many operations and programs in place long before the recent jump in violent deaths here. No one from the governor’s office returned messages left...

Before Indiana became a state in 1816, territorial Gov. William Henry Harrison organized the Indiana Rangers in 1807 to safeguard the Buffalo Trace -- the main travel route between Louisville, Ky., and Vincennes, Ind. The Indiana Rangers were a rough and tough band of men and women who were well-trained and ready to protect new settlers and tradesmen. They were forerunners of the popular Texas Rangers, of whom I am an honorary member and on whom I based my television series "Walker, Texas Ranger." I think the Hoosier State and the rest of the country saw the spirit of the...

Four men were arrested in less than three hours Friday in Clark State Forest and two men were arrested near Falls of the Ohio State Park a week ago. . . Soon after one of the undercover officers sat on a piece of driftwood on a trail about 1 p.m. July 9, he was approached by Samuel Elmore, 64, of Louisville. Spainhour said the men were initially engaged in a conversation about the weather and how secluded the area was. “After a very brief conversation, Mr. Elmore reached up the shorts of our officer and attempted to touch the genitalia...

A federal judge on Friday gave the government 30 days to start allowing American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh and other Muslim inmates to hold group prayers outside their cells in a high-security prison in Indiana. In a seven-page order, Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson said the Bureau of Prisons might have misconstrued her ruling seven months ago that granted Lindh’s request to hold group prayers in the Terre Haute federal prison’s Communications Management Unit, so she made her intent clear. “The warden is to allow group prayer during every Muslim prayer time for which the inmates are not confined to their...

“I’ve had a lot of complaints, especially with the little guys,” Linda Wireman, a food service director for North White School Corp., told JCOnline. “They get a three-quarters cup of vegetables, but if it’s something they don’t like, it goes down the garbage disposal. So there are a lot of complaints they’re going home hungry.”

School officials in Carmel Clay, Ind., said they lost $300,000 last school year because students are rejecting the healthy menu changes brought on by First Lady Michelle Obama’s federal lunch regulations....[snip] Amy Anderson, the food service director for the school district, said the rules made her feel less like an educator and more like a “food cop.” The changes have even made her consider retiring early.[snip] “They’re teaching our kids with this meal pattern that it’s OK to throw away,” she told JCOnline. “We did a waste study on three different schools, and there was a huge amount of waste....

A home invasion suspect is dead and a left homeowner terribly shaken. That homeowner was fast asleep when police say Jason Rabe, 23, of Three Oaks Twp. Mich, shattered a rear window and climbed inside the log cabin-styled home. The terrifying intrusion played out Monday around 9:15 a.m. EST, along the 6700 E. block of County Road 1000 North. That's about three miles north of Hudson Lake, near the Indiana-Michigan state line. According to the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Dept., Rabe rode to the house on a moped with the intent to break-in. The sole homeowner, a middle-aged man, awoke to...

According to LaPorte County Sheriff Mike Mollenhauer, a middle-aged renter called 911 just after 9 a.m. saying he'd shot an intruder. Police arrived at the extremely rural home to find a man in his 20s shot dead. Investigators have learned that the person in the home was awakened to the sound of breaking glass. He armed himself with a pistol and found the intruder in his home, according to police. Police say the suspect was armed with a hatchet and after a fight the suspect was shot by the renter.

"The homeowner has been taken to the LaPorte County Sheriff's Departmnet for questioning. The detectives main goal at this time is to verify the homeowner was acting in self defense"

Contrary to popular belief, the Obama presidency has not taken its cue from environmentalists on all major issues. Nor has it been nearly as liberal as it is accused of being, even in President Obama’s native Great Lakes region. But if it succeeds with its ambitious, multi-tiered climate change initiative, it will take the nation off dead center on what many people – including Obama’s 2008 rival, Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona – have described as one of Earth’s biggest crises. The administration will set America on a new path of greenhouse gas reductions and quite possibly leave...

U.S. prison warden: Muslim prayers led to gangs The warden of a U.S. prison holding high-risk inmates, including American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh, insisted Thursday that he was obeying a court order to allow daily group prayer by permitting inmates to pray in pairs within their cells. Warden John Oliver told a federal judge that when the prison allowed group prayer earlier this year, Muslim inmates formed gangs and bullied other prisoners. Lindh attended the hearing by video conference from the high-security unit that houses him and about 40 other inmates, including several convicted on terror charges. A U.S....

UNION MILLS, Ind. (AP) — An explosion at a fertilizer plant in northwest Indiana has killed one person.

That's what some defeated House candidates from 2012 are hoping, at least. Several failed candidates who ran strong campaigns, but fell just short last year, are back for a rematch this election cycle. Whether they can use lessons learned in their losing campaign to change next year's results will go a long way in determining which party gains seats in the House.

Man Rescues Bald Eagle, Could Face Jail Time An Indiana man was charged this week with the unlawful possession of a bald eagle, which the man says he cared for and rescued from the mud pit in which it was trapped. The former Department of Natural Resources employee, Jeffrey Henry, could face up to 60 days of jail time and a $500 fine as part of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, Yahoo reports: As reported by WISH News 8, Henry had the bird in his home for 11 hours after several weeks of caring for the sick animal...

As Hillary Clinton prepares for a possible presidential run in 2016, it appears that she could have knocked then-candidate Barack Obama off the 2008 primary ballot in Indiana. If anyone, including her campaign, had challenged the names and signatures on the presidential petitions that put Obama on the ballot, election fraud would have been detected during the race. But at the time, no one did. On Monday, there was some closure to the case, though, as the four defendants who were convicted or pleaded guilty in the state's presidential petition fraud scandal were sentenced. Only one received prison time for...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana woman put on death row at age 16 for killing an elderly Bible school teacher is scheduled to be released Monday after serving a prison term that was shortened after the state Supreme Court intervened. Paula Cooper's death sentence at such a young age sparked international protests and a plea for clemency from Pope John Paul II. Now 43 years old, Cooper is being given a second chance at her life. Cooper was 15 when she and three other teenage girls showed up at Ruth Pelke's house on May 14, 1985, with plans of robbing...

Teenage killer who was sentenced to death for killing bible teacher at age of just SIXTEEN to walk free after spending 28 years behind barsAn Indiana woman who was sentenced to die at age 16 for the brutal murder of an elderly Bible school teacher will be released from prison on Monday after 28 years behind bars. Paula Cooper was just 15 in May 1985 when she and two other teenage girls entered 78-year-old Ruth Pelke's home in Gary, Indiana, by telling her they wanted to study the scripture. Once inside, they viciously attacked the frail woman. Cooper, now age...

...SYNOPSIS... A SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK APPEARS INCREASINGLY LIKELY ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE UPPER MIDWEST/LOWER GREAT LAKES FROM THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THIS EVENING. INTENSE STORM DEVELOPMENT IN A VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS...COINCIDENT WITH A COMPACT AND INTENSIFYING SURFACE LOW SHOULD RESULT IN NUMEROUS DAMAGING WIND EVENTS AS WELL AS SCATTERED...POSSIBLY STRONG TORNADOES. ...ERN IA/NRN IL/NRN IND/NWRN OH AND ADJACENT AREAS OF EXTREME SRN WI AND SWRN LOWER MI...

Ingredients are coming together across parts of the Midwest and Ohio Valley that could potentially trigger a derecho on Wednesday into Wednesday night. While it isn't exactly a certainty whether or not a derecho will form, some of the cities and towns most at risk include Chicago, Ill.; Columbus, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Aurora, Ill.; Dayton, Ohio and Davenport, Iowa, to name a few. Strictly speaking, a derecho is a widespread, long-lived wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms. These showers and thunderstorms produce wind damage over a large swath of land. While...

The Illinois pension saga just keeps getting worse. In response to the state legislature’s failure to pass a pension reform bill before adjourning, Fitch downgraded Illinois’s bonds from A to A- earlier this week. On Thursday Moody’s joined the party, lowering the state’s rating from A2 to A3. S&P is now the only agency not to have downgraded the state, but it is issuing its own dire warnings. As Reuters notes, Illinois now has the lowest credit rating of any state in the country even without the S&P downgrade, and the worst rating in its history. The higher borrowing costs...

A recent report claims that "marriage equality" will provide an economic boost to Illinois: US$54- $103 million in new spending, and $8.5 million in new tax revenues. This study comes at an opportune time for the gay lobby in Illinois. Their marriage bill, SB-10, is not exactly sailing through the House. Chicago legislators representing heavily ethnic minority and religiously conservative districts have been reluctant to endorse the redefinition of marriage. Perhaps the gay lobby hopes this extra tax money might motivate wavering legislators to support this bill. The people and legislators of Illinois should not count on extra revenue as...

INDIANAPOLIS – Common Core hasn’t been fully implemented yet, but it’s already making it easier for teachers to inject their political preferences into their lesson plans. That’s the case in Indianapolis’ Cathedral High School, where English teacher Melinda Bundy ... “I didn’t want to teach the Constitution, I didn’t want to teach the Declaration of Independence,” ... teachers who use their classrooms to promote (usually) left-wing political causes. But under Common Core, those activist teachers will be able to excuse their behavior by simply saying, “Common Core made me do it.” Indiana lawmakers have prudently hit the “pause” button on...

An attempted robbery on the city’s south side turned deadly Saturday night for one of two men who approached a man standing outside his residence, Fort Wayne police said. Police were called shortly after 11 p.m. on a report of a shooting at West Packard and South Wayne streets. After talking with witnesses, police said an adult male was standing on or near the porch of his residence at Packard and South Wayne when he was approached by two men. The two men attempted to rob the resident, but he was armed with a handgun and fired several rounds striking...

<p>The Supreme Court dealt a setback Tuesday to the campaign of abortion opponents to “defund” Planned Parenthood.</p> <p>Without comment, the justices turned away Indiana’s defense of a 2011 law that would ban all Medicaid funds to an organization such as Planned Parenthood whose work includes performing abortions.</p>

Former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin won over racing fans this weekend at the Indianapolis 500, again showing how well she resonates with people because she genuinely loves retail politics and meeting them. As was observed, that genuineness--and patience--cannot be faked. Palin met with people in the lobby of the hotel she was staying at on Saturday night, and those who observed her noticed how patient she was with everyone as they asked for her time. It is worth noting that those who do not even have as many speaking engagements and television appearances as requests...

God Bless our troops.. leadership at the top or not. Getting ready to roll, the ceremonies are almost done.. Let's Boogie!!

Ball State University, a public institution in Muncie, Indiana, is purportedly looking into claims that a course centered around the subjects of creationism and intelligent design constitutes a violation of the separation of church and state. The college purportedly began its investigation after the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a church-state separatist group, sent a letter of complaint regarding physics and astronomy professor Eric Hedin. Hedin’s offense? He apparently encourages students to read books by scientists, journalists and proponents who embrace intelligent design. The description of his course, as reported by World on Campus, claims that students will “investigate physical...

Indiana has just given every state that agreed to adopt Common Core national education standards and tests a lesson in prudent governance. On Saturday, Governor Mike Pence (R) signed the Common Core “Pause” bill into law, halting implementation of Common Core until state agencies, teachers, and taxpayers better understand the implications of Common Core adoption. Indiana law now requires that the Common Core standards be evaluated and compared to existing state standards, and that a cost assessment be conducted by the state’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) before implementation moves forward. It’s something every state that adopted Common Core...

Last month, the Indiana General Assembly adjourned after passing two bills of importance to gun owners and sportsmen. The following bills were recently signed into law by Governor Mike Pence (R): Senate Bill 1, now Public Law 172, specifies how a School Resource Officer (SRO) program may be established in schools and sets forth their duties and responsibilities. This law has already taken effect and provides schools an effective asset in protecting our children and increasing school security.House Bill 1563, now Public Law 289, repeals Indiana’s current prohibition on the use of a suppressor while hunting and also strengthens Indiana’s...

<p>The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Monsanto Monday over an Indiana farmer accused of having pirated the genetically-modified crops developed by the agribusiness giant.</p> <p>The high court was unanimous in its decision, ruling that laws limiting patents do "not permit a farmer to reproduce patented seeds through planting and harvesting without the patent holder's permission."</p>

A great deal has been written and spoken about Common Core, but it is worth rehearsing the outlines again. Common Core is a set of math and English standards developed largely with Gates Foundation money and pushed by the Obama administration and the National Governors Association. The standards define what every schoolchild should learn each year, from first grade through twelfth, and the package includes teacher evaluations tied to federally funded tests designed to ensure that schools teach to Common Core.

Shortly after Barack Obama won reelection in November, New Jersey governor Chris Christie pointed out that Republicans’ cloudy political prospects had a bright silver lining. “One of the reasons you have 30 Republican governors in America, and why we’re the only organization to add Republican strength,” Christie said, “is because people see us getting things done.” Christie’s stance countered most of the elite postelection commentary, which gleefully pronounced the Republican Party’s political irrelevance. But the governor was right. Since Obama first took office in 2008, Republicans have picked up a net nine governorships, bringing their total to 30 states,...

"Warsaw-based Zimmer Holdings Inc. has laid off between 40 and 50 employees in the wake of “transformation initiatives,” the global medical-device manufacturer said Thursday."

As Indiana governor, Mike Pence has been flying under the radar. While other Republican governors, such as Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker, have taken advantage of their platform to speak out nationally, Pence has stuck close to his state and focused on the concerns of Hoosiers. Pence — who attracted buzz as a potential 2012 contender when he was still a congressman in 2011 — has instead been working diligently to rack up accomplishments during his first term as governor. Pence’s top accomplishment this session was cutting Indiana taxes. Initially, he had proposed slashing the income-tax rate, currently at 3.4...

EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) - An Evansville man who held two home invasion suspects at gunpoint until police arrived shared his story with 14 News. It happened about 10:30 on Wednesday night in the 1,000 block of Idlewild Drive. 22-year-old Paul Lukac and 24-year-old Justin Henschen are accused of breaking into John and Matt Fugate's home, but those two suspects had no idea what was waiting for them. A threat on his family, turned the soft-spoken Matt Fugate, into an armed protector. Matt was behind his bedroom door when out of nowhere, he says two men kicked in the front door...

An Indianapolis man has been arrested and charged with murder in the beating death of his girlfriend's 18-month-old son 36 years ago. Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said 57-year-old Michael V. Ackerman was arrested late Wednesday in connection with the Jan. 17, 1977, death of William T. (Billy) Wood, whom Ackerman was babysitting at the time of the child's death.

Officials found guilty in Obama, Clinton ballot petition fraud: A jury in South Bend, Indiana has found that fraud put President Obama and Hillary Clinton on the presidential primary ballot in Indiana in the 2008 election. Two Democratic political operatives were convicted Thursday night in the illegal scheme after only three hours of deliberations. They were found guilty on all counts.

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - A semi truck carrying 80 pounds of gun powder overturned Thursday morning closing one lane of Interstate 65 near Lafayette. It happened around 3:30 a.m. in the northbound lanes of I-65 near mile 171 (between the Ind. 38 and Ind. 26 exits). Investigators says the driver swerved to avoid a deer, then overcorrected in the interstate median and finally ended up in a ditch.

FORT WAYNE – They brought revolvers, .22-caliber and .38-caliber. They brought semiautomatics. They brought 12-gauge, 16-gauge and 20-gauge shotguns, some with barrels and stocks chopped off. ---------------------cut-------------------------- It was mostly elderly and middle-aged people who brought guns to the collection site in the parking lot of the Fort Wayne Urban League, near Hanna Street and East Creighton Avenue. The police, along with the NAACP, the Urban League and the Guardians of Police, a watchdog group of officers and residents, sponsored the event.

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 123 NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 935 AM EDT THU APR 18 2013 THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN ILLINOIS CENTRAL AND EASTERN INDIANA SOUTHERN LOWER MICHIGAN NORTHWEST OHIO OHIO LAKE MICHIGAN * EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON FROM 935 AM UNTIL 500 PM EDT. ...THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION... * PRIMARY THREATS INCLUDE... SEVERAL INTENSE TORNADOES LIKELY SEVERAL SIGNIFICANT DAMAGING WIND GUSTS TO 80 MPH POSSIBLE A FEW VERY LARGE HAIL EVENTS TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER POSSIBLE THE...

During a hearing into the constitutionality of voter identification laws enacted across the country, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) tore into claims by the Department of Justice that those laws were racially discriminatory. In the space of five minutes, Gowdy knocked down the claims, one by one, that a voter ID law passed in South Carolina in 2011 discriminated against African-Americans or was dissimilar to laws the Justice Department had cleared in a variety of other states. Gowdy began by noting that, when the Palmetto State’s voter identification law was passed, a third of the state’s congressional delegation were African-American; former...

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (www.incnow.tv) – Confidentiality is the idea behind Gun Amnesty Day, an event coming up next weekend where FWPD will collect guns. The Fort Wayne Police Department (FWPD) is teaming up with the Fort Wayne Urban League, NAACP Fort Wayne Chapter, and Men of Action for Gun Amnesty Day. Next Saturday (April 20), you can head to 2135 S. Hanna Street, at the Urban League parking lot, and turn in any ammunition and or guns, no questions asked. There will also be a tip box on site for people to anonymously leave crime tips. Police say the goal...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, more toughened measures are expected as security is calibrated for major upcoming sports events that draw big crowds, such as next month’s Kentucky Derby and Indianapolis 500.