Local News

A preliminary State Board of Accounts audit concludes a retired treasurer at Castle High School embezzled nearly $140,000 from the school. Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller has frozen the accounts of 55-year old Rebecca McKee. Those accounts include her house, car, and any bank and retirement accounts that she may have. The audit by the State Board of Accounts says McKee failed to deposit about $82,000 in cash collections she received. It also says says she took 24 unauthorized reimbursements totaling about $15,000.

Police tracked down and arrested the man suspected of robbing the Hampton Inn in Owensboro. Police say the desk clerk told them a man with a rifle came in about 1:30 Thursday morning and demanded money. Police used a K-9 unit to find and arrest 25-year-old Mark Butler of Owensboro. He's in the Daviess County jail on charges of first degree robbery and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

For the first time, Indiana will earmark some state funding for preschool next school year -- but not as much as advocates had hoped for. Indiana will offer four-million dollars over the next two years to preschools to give more pupils an early start. House Republicans had proposed $14 million for a pilot program in five counties to give scholarships directly to low-income students to pay for preschool.

The latest in a long succession of Rotary Civic Award winners is named by the Rotary Club of Evansville. Civic Award Committee Chairman Tom Austerman noted John Whinrey's leadership of the Yucatan Project, which is sending needed medical supplies to the Tizamen District - one of the poorest areas on the continent. One spin-off of Whinrey's work was the City of Evansville and Tizamen signing a sister-city relationship that includes cultural exchanges as well as support for the region in the Yucatan.

Indiana convenience stores are suing the state for the right to sell cold beer. Under current law, only carryout stores can sell beer cold. A complaint in the US District Court filed by the Indiana Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, a statewide trade association, challenges that law. Indiana is the only state in the country that regulates beer sales based on temperature. A 2012 proposal to allow grocery and convenience stores to sell cold beer as long as that beer is made in Indiana died in the legislature.

A mechanical engineering project at the University of Evansville will help the Easter Seals Rehab Center and its clients. The UE Wheelchair Aquatic Team donated a special chair that will get people in and out of the center's salt water therapy pool. Team leader Kenneth Kaufman says it was a lengthy, but worthwhile project. Materials for the chair cost about $23,000. Much of which had to be raised by the students. Kaufman says he and the other students feel good about helping the community.

Authorities have tracked down a Mt. Vernon couple accused of robbing a southern Indiana pharmacy. Federal officers arrested 26-year-old Jacob Beyers and 27-year-old Mallory Johnson in Knoxville, TN. Indiana State Police say tips from the public following the hold-up at the Dale Pharmacy helped identify and locate Beyers and Johnson.

The Evansville City Council has approved three more specialized washing machines and two dryers for the fire department. The machines are used to clean firefighters gear and remove any cancer-causing agents that might build up. The department currently has four of the extractors. City Council member Al Lindsey, who is also a firefighter, voted against the $155,000 plan Monday night. He wants every fire house to have its own machines.

Evansville residents are learning more about a major sewer upgrade that will eventually hike sewer bills. The first informational meeting was held Tuesday at McCollough Library. The $540 million Renew Evansville project will be submitted to the EPA later this month. It can't start until the agency approves it. The project to separate sanitary and storm sewers is expected to last nearly 30 years.

The Newburgh Volunteer Fire Department is awarded two federal grants totaling $74,000. The grants are through the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program and the Fire Prevention & Safety Grant Program. Some of the funds will be used to update the department's personal protective equipment used by firefighters.The department is currently operating with fire turn-out gear that is no longer compliant with safety standards.