Indiana News

Grace College in Winona Lake has announced that a student was found dead in a residence hall on campus earlier today. 

Back in September, the Citywide Classroom partnership between the City of South Bend, enFocus, and the South Bend Community School Corporation received 1.8 million dollars of state funding to expand student internet access during the pandemic. 

Next week, the partnership will begin distributing over 2,000 at-home internet packages and about 2,000 WiFi hotspots to students with limited broadband access, which City of South Bend spokesperson Caleb Bauer said is about 15-30 percent of students in the district. 

The St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office has announced that the father of a 3-year-old who was dropped off at the ER and died has been charged with the child's murder. 

Trevion Dawon Shaver, 21, is already in custody on an unrelated charge in Michigan. According to charging documents he dropped his 3-year-old daughter, Kardie Weathersby, off at the ER at Memorial Hospital in South Bend earlier this month and left. It was later determined she sustained a brain injury and died of blunt force trauma. An officer quoted in the charging documents also says Shaver admitted to the girl's mother that he had gone "overboard" in disciplining her. 

Concord Schools Athletic Dept. Twitter account has posted that the Minutemen will not play in sectionals tonight against South Bend Adams. 

Here is what was posted: 

Based on newly released data from the Indiana State Dept. of Health, LaPorte County saw its highest number of new daily COVID-19 cases yesterday. 74 new cases were reported on Oct. 29. That surpasses the county's previous daily high for new cases that was recorded in mid-April in association with an outbreak of the virus at the Westville Correctional Facility. LaPorte County is currently in the "orange" category on the state's COVID-19 map, indicating there is medium to high community spread going on. 

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s largest county is getting its largest early voting site. The Marion County Election Board voted Friday to allow early voting at Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The stadium will include 56 voting machines and eight poll pads, more than at any other site, Deputy Director of Elections Brent Stinson said. The web site indyvotetimes.org showed a wait time of 215 minutes, or more than 3 1/2 hours, at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the nearby City-County Building.

Elkhart Police report that two individuals have been arrested for the June 29th robbery of a man in a wheelchair at 418 W. Franklin Street. After the crime occurred, police posted security camera footage of what happened. In the video you can also see the suspects hitting the victim. 

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has agreed not to use tear gas and other “riot control agents” during peaceful protests to settle a lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana. The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit in June on behalf of Indy10 Black Lives Matter and three individual protesters after IMPD used chemical irritants, pepper balls and batons against protesters in downtown Indianapolis on May-29-31. Violence and vandalism occurred that weekend, but the protesters who sued IMPD say they and many others remained peaceful. 

About 100,000 vote-by-mail ballots still haven’t been returned to Indiana county election administrators with just days to go before they’re due.

Indiana’s State Health Commissioner says a COVID-19 vaccine could be available for some Hoosiers as early as mid to late November.

MUNSTER, Ind. (AP) — Officials have broken ground on an expansion of the South Shore commuter rail line through part of western Lake County. Gov. Eric Holcomb said Wednesday that the 8-mile line that will extend from Dyer to Hammond and connect to Chicago will be the largest public transit investment in Indiana history. Holcomb calls it "a game changer for northwest Indiana and the entire state.” The project includes four new stations: two in Hammond, one in Munster and one at the border of Munster and Dyer.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — A white former South Bend police officer whose fatal shooting of a Black man roiled then-Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to a charge related to an earlier on-duty sexual encounter. Forty-four-year-old Ryan O’Neill was sentenced Tuesday to two years of probation after pleading guilty to ghost employment for a paid sex act with a woman while he was on duty in May 2019.

Mishawaka High School's long-time tradition of hosting the Al Smith Invitational wrestling event will not happen this season due to COVID-19. 

In the one and only live debate between the candidates for Indiana's 2nd District Congressional seat, Democrat Pat Hackett and Republican incumbent Jackie Walorski squared off on a whole host of issues. 

The debate began with the topic of healthcare and the pandemic.

In a message to staff on Wednesday, Oct. 28, Penn-Harris-Madison School Superintendent Jerry Thacker announced that he was tested for COVID-19 on Thursday, Oct. 22 and received his positive result this past Monday.

Thacker said in the email that so far, he’s only experiencing mild symptoms and fatigue. He will isolate for 10 days, and as long as his symptoms improve, will return to work on Monday, Nov. 2. 

Bristol, parts of Elkhart and Wakarusa are seeing some of the highest spikes in COVID-19 cases in Elkhart County in the last week. The data released covers a period from Mon., Oct. 19-Mon., Oct. 26, 2020. 

At least four zip codes in the county saw COVID-19 cases spike by more than 20% in the last week.  

Gov. Eric Holcomb’s challengers – Democrat Dr. Woody Myers and Libertarian Donald Rainwater – were on the attack in the last gubernatorial debate before Election Day.

Wednesday, Oct. 28th the candidates running for the congressional seat in Indiana's 2nd District will debate live at 7pm. Democratic challenger Pat Hackett and GOP incumbent Jackie Walorski will face off from 7-8pm. You can listen live on 88.1 WVPE.  

Kosciusko County hit a new daily all-time high in COVID-19 cases on October 26th with 91 cases being reported. Previously, the daily high for Kosciusko County had been 58 cases reported on Oct. 23rd. Kosciusko County is already in the “orange” category on the Indiana State Dept. of Health COVID-19 map. The orange designation means there is medium to high community spread occurring.  

NEW (Oct. 27):

The three candidates for Indiana governor are meeting for their last televised debate Tuesday night, one week ahead of Election Day.