Indiana News

COLUMBUS, Ind. (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence will be returning to his southern Indiana hometown Wednesday afternoon following the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. The Indiana Republican Party says the former Indiana governor and his wife Karen are expected to attend Biden’s inauguration and will then fly into the Columbus Municipal Airport, where they will be greeted by some supporters. Pence grew up in Columbus and some family members still live there.

Indiana State Police say a trooper helped with the birth of a baby on the Toll Road in LaPorte County last Friday. The baby, the family and the trooper are all reportedly doing fine. 

(You can read more in the Indiana State Police release below.)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb's annual State of the State address will be a virtual event Tuesday night rather than delivered before the typical joint session of the General Assembly. Holcomb had been planning to give the speech before a small audience at the Statehouse in observing COVID-19 precautions. But that was called off when he announced the closure of the Statehouse until Thursday because of possible protests related to President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on Wednesday.

South Bend and St. Joseph County leaders asked “Where Do We Go from Here?” at the 35th annual Martin Luther King Day program on Monday, Jan. 18. 

Darryl Heller, Director of the Civil Rights Heritage Center at Indiana University South Bend, gave a virtual keynote speech addressing that question.

“Where we want to go from here is back to something resembling normal," he said. "We cannot – and should not – settle for normal. Where we go from here needs to be better: more honest, more just and more inclusive.”

Elkhart City leaders recognized the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday, Jan. 18, with a gathering at the Civic Plaza. 

(You can read the full release from the City of Elkhart below.)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The FBI says a heavy metal guitarist who was photographed with the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol and is accused of spraying police officers with a pepper-based bear spray irritant has been arrested. The agency says Jon Ryan Schaffer turned himself in Sunday after he was featured on an FBI poster seeking the public's help in identifying rioters.

A special "Shinning A Lights" presentation honors Martin Luther King Jr. is seen on the side of the Indianapolis Power & Light Company downtown headquarters, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021, in Indianapolis. Guests can hear part of the I Have a Dream speech with photos. 

HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) — A federal magistrate has revoked the bond for a northwest Indiana man awaiting sentencing in a gang-related case after the FBI charged him for allegedly taking part in the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol. The magistrate granted the federal government’s motion Thursday to revoke bond for 32-year-old Kash Lee Kelly. The Times of Northwest Indiana reports the government’s request came after the FBI charged the Hammond man with unlawful entry to a restricted area and other charges for allegedly joining Donald Trump supporters in storming the U.S. Capitol.

A bicyclist died in South Bend Friday after colliding with a semi. 

VINCENNES, Ind. (AP) — The one-time Indiana home of the nation's ninth president is getting a $1.2 million restoration that will spruce up the more than 200-year-old mansion's main floor with new windows and porches. Contractors recently started working on Grouseland, the Vincennes residence that was William Henry Harrison's home when he was governor of the Indiana Territory. Harrison was elected U.S. president in 1840.

Gov. Eric Holcomb is shutting down state government buildings in Indianapolis for most of next week. He said it’s out of “an abundance of caution” surrounding threats to other state capitols related to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration and the recent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

St. Joseph County and South Bend City officials were able to offer some positive news at their biweekly COVID-19 update on Friday, Jan. 15. 

The county’s Deputy Health Officer Dr. Mark Fox says the county’s 7-day rolling average of new cases has improved steadily since Thanksgiving, and the post-holiday “bump” in new daily cases has not been dramatic. 

He also says county hospitalizations are at their lowest point since the beginning of October.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A Kentucky woman says she was fired from her nursing job at a southwestern Indiana hospital after posting on Facebook that she had entered the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riots. Lori Vinson of Morganfield, Kentucky, says she was fired on Jan. 8 by Ascension St. Vincent in Evansville, Indiana. She says the paperwork states that she was terminated for admitting to engaging in criminal behavior at a high profile event, while her Facebook account revealed her employer.

GOSHEN, Ind. (AP) — A teenager who was 13 when accused of killing another youth in northern Indiana was sentenced Thursday to 63 years in prison. Alphonso James III, now 16, was convicted of murder in the death of 18-year-old Jaren Minies in Elkhart last September. Minies was shot multiple times during a dispute over a gun, money and a video game system. Elkhart Circuit Judge Michael Christofeno found James guilty in a bench trial last year. Christofeno sentenced James on Thursday to the 55-year advisory prison term for murder plus eight years for aggravating circumstances.

WVPE's latest Photo of the Week features a snowy pasture. Thanks to Neil Boston who captured this image outside of Bristol on January 3rd. He says he took the photos with a Pixel 5 phone. The picture could be a timeless image. 

We'd love to see what you are taking photos of.

Email Photo of the Week submissions to us at wvpe@wvpe.org.

Make sure to include your name, where you live, names of people in the photo, date the photo was taken and the location where the photo was taken.

Goshen Community Schools announced it will allow upper-level students to return to in-person learning after the Martin Luther King holiday on Jan. 18. That’s despite Elkhart County’s return to the “red” on the state’s county-by-county COVID-19 tracking map.

Starting Jan. 19, Goshen students grades 7-12 will return to in-person learning four days a week, with a virtual learning day on Wednesday. 

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — About 600 Indiana National Guard soldiers are being sent to Washington, D.C., to help with security for next week’s inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. State officials said Wednesday they were also monitoring possible armed protests but didn’t yet have any threats of violence at Indiana locations. Gov. Eric Holcomb said he had authorized 625 Guard soldiers going to Washington from Saturday until two days after Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal inmate who could be executed less than a week before President Donald Trump leaves office was a gang member who was sentenced to death for the slayings of seven people in Richmond, Virginia, in 1992. Corey Johnson is one of three members of the Newtowne gang who received the death penalty under a federal law that targets large-scale drug traffickers. Johnson was scheduled to die Thursday at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.

The seven Republican and two Democratic U.S. Representatives from Indiana did not break with their respective parties Wednesday, in an historic House vote that saw President Donald Trump impeached for the second time.

The House voted 232-197 to impeach Trump after a few hours of debate that were divided evenly between the parties. 

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita was one of only four attorneys general who refused to sign a letter from a national bipartisan group of state and territory officials condemning the insurrection at the United States Capitol last week.

Rokita said he didn’t sign because the National Association of Attorneys General didn’t release a similar letter following national unrest last summer.