September 3, 2010

WARSAW- A 15-year old Cromwell boy has admitted in court to plotting to kill his step-father and to carrying out that plan. 15-year old Colt Lundy gave Judge Rex Reed the details of the night that 49-year old Phillip Danner was shot and killed in the family home in April as part of a proposed plea agreement offered yesterday. If Reed accepts the deal, Lundy would spend 20 to 50 years in prison. 12-year old Paul Gingerich also has been charged in Danner’s murder, and 12-year old lookout Chase Williams has already started serving time at the Juvenile Justice Center in South Bend and will be there until he turns 18. Lundy says the boys had been planning to kill Danner for a month, and then take the family car to Arizona. The trial was due to start in a month.

UNDATED- Millions of Midwesterners will be hopping in their cars later today for a 3-day getaway before summer unofficially turns to fall. Travelers are reminded that extra patrols at the local and state level will be out this weekend looking for speeders, drunk drivers and reckless drivers. Last year, a third of all traffic accidents during the Labor Day Weekend were alcohol-related. Meanwhile, motorists hitting the road this weekend are getting an unpleasant surprise at the pump before leaving town. The price for a gallon of regular self-serve gasoline has increased to $2.75 in Indiana. According to a report on www.indianagasprices.com.  Some gasoline stations around the state increased prices as much as 35-cents per gallon compared to prices early yesterday. Motorists can blame an upbeat jobless report last week for curbing the recent downturn in oil and gasoline futures.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly and Republican challenger state Rep. Jackie Walorski have agreed to a debate at a northern Indiana public television station. The South Bend Tribune reports that the Republican and Democratic 2nd Congressional District candidates and Libertarian Party candidate Mark Vogel will debate Oct. 27 at WNIT-TV in South Bend. The American Democracy Project of Indiana University South Bend is sponsoring the debate in cooperation with the student-led
Political Science Club and the community-based League of Women Voters of the South Bend Area.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - State lawmakers are set to take up proposals that would ban synthetic marijuana substitutes known as K2 or Spice. Republican Sen. Ron Alting of Lafayette says the sale and use of such products is a growing problem that needs a statewide solution. He says he'll introduce legislation in the 2011 session beginning in January to outlaw the products. Democratic Rep. John Barnes of Indianapolis also hopes to sponsor a bill banning spice. The mixture of herbs and spices is sprayed with a synthetic compound chemically similar to the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. The products are illegal in several states but not
Indiana. Several Indiana municipalities are considering or have passed similar laws.

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Former Indiana University basketball player Todd Leary faces charges that he stole appliances from foreclosed homes less than two months after he pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a mortgage fraud scheme. The 39-year-old Leary was scheduled to appear in a Hamilton County court Thursday on burglary and theft charges.
Hamilton County deputy prosecutor Jeff Wehmueller tells The Indianapolis Star that Leary targeted unoccupied homes using sheriff's foreclosure listings and sold the appliances to an Indianapolis store. Leary, of Carmel, pleaded guilty in July to a felony charge of misappropriating title insurance escrow funds in Fort Wayne. He is scheduled to be sentenced in October.
The Associated Press left a message seeking comment from Leary's
attorney.

PLYMOUTH- One of the great traditions of this Labor Day Weekend is the annual Blueberry Festival in Plymouth. Thousands of vendors hawking everything from trinkets to t-shirts; food vendors offering everything from fried butter to spiral potatoes and all things blueberry; and fireworks, softball tournaments and the giant parade of over 200 entries highlight the weekend’s events. If you are headed to Plymouth for the football game tonight, enter from the north end of the parking lot and tell the parking attendants that you are there for the game and parking will be free.

SOUTH BEND- Tomorrow marks the return of Notre Dame Football to the local sports landscape and to the local bottom line. The Irish open the 2010 season at Notre Dame Stadium against Purdue at 3:30pm—the first game under new coach Brian Kelly. Hundreds of thousands of fans will invade Northern Indiana starting tonight, and hundreds of them will spend the night here in Warsaw. Many of the local hotels are nearly full, and the local economy gets a big boost on home game weekends.


September 2, 2010

THE CITY OF WARSAW SAYS THAT THE COMBINED SEWER SYSTEM HAS OVERFLOWED INTO WALNUT CREEK. PEOPLE ARE CAUTIONED NOT TO SWIM IN THE CREEK OR DRINK WATER FROM IT FROM CENTER STREET TO THE TIPPECANOE RIVER UNTIL MID-DAY TOMORROW.

WARSAW- The leader of Warsaw’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church has passed away. As we broke the news first yesterday, 70-year old Reverend Monsignor James Wolf died Tuesday at the IU Simon Cancer Center in Indianapolis. Wolf was ordained into the priesthood in May of 1969 and was named Pastor at Sacred Heart in January of 2001. Calling hours will be Monday from 2-5 and 6:30-8pm at the church; A rosary service will be held at 4:45 Monday and a prayer vigil Monday at 7:30pm. Services will be held Tuesday at 11am at the church with calling one hour prior. Sacred Heart School will be closed Tuesday, and that day will be made up March 25th.

ANGOLA- An Indiana State Trooper from the Elkhart Post has resigned after being accused of groping a woman he’d stopped on the toll road. 28-year old Michael Mosier will appear in court after being charged with felony official misconduct and battery. Steuben County Prosecutor Tom Wilson says Mosier allegedly pulled the 19-year old woman over in that county, and then touched her inappropriately twice after he requested that she get into his squad car.

WASHINGTON DC- Experts say income for Hoosier farmers is expected to reach its highest mark in a decade in 2010. Purdue researchers and federal farm officials say Indiana farmers could see their income jump by 20-percent from last year and almost triple from 2006. This year’s collective estimate is 3.05-billion dollars according to the report, which compares to 2.5-billion last year and 1.3-billion just four years ago. Analysts say the recession reduced the price of items like fertilizer and other farm chemicals, which means it will cost farmers less to operate.

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (AP) - Indiana State Prison says an inmate facing murder charges held a prison employee hostage for 90 minutes before surrendering. Prison Superintendent William Wilson says Scott Nicholson
assaulted a correctional officer about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, then took another employee hostage at the prison in Michigan City. Wilson says the second employee sustained superficial cuts. The 42-year-old Nicholson was convicted Friday of attempted murder for using a piece of his wheelchair to beat an officer at the Pendleton Correctional Facility in 2007. He's also charged with murdering an inmate at the Miami Correctional Facility in 2003. Nicholson was sentenced to 42 years in prison for a 1998
conviction for armed robbery, criminal confinement and attempted drug dealing.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - State officials are considering changes to Indiana's popular 21st Century Scholars program that promises full college scholarships to needy students who stay out of trouble and get acceptable grades. The Indianapolis Star reports that more than $37 million a year
has been shifted from the state's primary financial aid program in order to meet the 21st Century Scholars obligation. Higher education commissioner Teresa Lubbers plans to present recommendations on some changes to the State Budget Committee on Sept. 8. The program was started in 1990. Youths in grades 6-8 who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches sign a pledge to stay drug-free and maintain a 2.0 grade-point average in exchange for four years of free tuition at an Indiana public university. Lubbers says tightening the financial qualifications should be considered.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - American Taliban John Walker Lindh is one of two inmates asking a judge to rule that limits on group prayer at a restrictive federal prison unit in Indiana violate their religious freedom. The American Civil Liberties Union made the request on behalf of Lindh and co-plaintiff Enaam Arnaout. The inmates claim that a ban on daily group prayers in the unit is illegal. The motion filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis says
there are no disputes over the facts of the case and the law is on the side of the inmates. The government maintains that there is no evidence that Muslims were confined to the unit in the Terre Haute prison because of
their religion and that most Muslims don't adhere to the requirement of five daily prayers.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - The owner of a nonprofit child-care business in Fort Wayne has pleaded guilty to charges he helped to run an illegal gambling operation that was masquerading as a lawful charitable gaming enterprise. Ralph T. White pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of corrupt
business influence and unlawful charity gaming contracting. Under a plea agreement, he faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison when he is sentenced next month. He also has agreed to testify against others. White runs White's School of the Arts Community Development Programs, a nonprofit organization that he has said offers 24-hour child-care for about 90 children, plus educational and athletic programs, including martial arts.