Local News

A local domestic violence shelter is one of six pilot shelters in the state to throw out its rule book and try a new type of management. Albion Bacon Fellows Center's new model focuses on individual case management, replacing the punishment and demerit system for violating rules. Now residents no longer receive demerits for actions such as missing curfew, drinking alcohol, and failing to clean their bed spaces. Instead, shelter workers are developing a stronger partnership with residents and gaining valuable time that used to be spent on demerit paperwork and enforcements.

Citizens Energy has announced that the state moratorium on utility disconnection ends today. The moratorium protects customers who qualify for the Indiana Energy Assistance Program from being disconnected during the winter months. Customers not receiving state energy assistance can have their service terminated for nonpayment throughout the year.

Indiana’s Health Department is launching a website to encourage pregnant women to get HIV screenings as early as possible.  (www.1test2lives.org)  This campaign is part of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.  Unless they receive appropriate intervention and therapy, state health officials say 25 percent of pregnant women with HIV will transmit the virus to their unborn children.  That number drops as low as 1 to 2 percent  if treated.  More than 800 children in Indiana have been infected this way since the 1980’s.  

The deadline to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is tomorrow.  Not only can college students qualify for state and federal grants and loans, they now have the chance to earn extra money!  All you have to do is enter the Learn More Indiana’s Cash for College contest to potentially receive $100 in an Indiana CollegeChoice 529 Saving Plan.  Visit http://www.in.gov/cashforcollege/index.htm for information on how to file your FAFSA and enter the contest.

An altercation in an Owensboro apartment late last night led to two men being hospitalized. Police say the men knew each other. One man was shot multiple times and was taken to Owensboro Health Regional Hospital. He remains in critical condition, while the other man was taken to the hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

Vanderburgh Humane Society is raising funds for its Low Cost Spay and Neuter Clinic at its 2nd Annual Spay-ghetti and No Balls Benefit Dinner. The Dinner at Milestones' Crescent Room is from 5 to 9 tonight with all-you-can-eat spaghetti, salad, bread, drinks, and dessert. Tickets for this family-friendly event are $10 each or $125 for a table of ten. The Clinic has spayed or neutered more than 30,000 animals in the last six years.

More beds will be open next week at the VA Medical Center in Fort Wayne. According to the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, it‘s part of the second phase of a program to resume inpatient care at the facility. The Department of Veterans Affairs Northern Indiana Health Care System announced yesterday afternoon that by Wednesday, six more beds will be available, and that they expect to have a total of 26 spaces available by the end of March.

The meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office in Indianapolis has been relieved from his command following a sexual harassment investigation. 56-year-old Daniel McCarthy, who has been in charge since 2007, has been removed from the job until the internal investigation has concluded. Police say a 32-year-old woman told police she started receiving threats on Facebook because of the sexual harassment investigation of McCarthy. She said the threats came from a different coworker‘s wife and some of the messages threatened with physical harm.

Federal jurors have ruled in favor of Marsh Supermarkets and ordered former CEO Don Marsh to pay $2.2 million in damages. RTV6 reports the decision came down late Friday night in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis. The supermarket chain had sued Don Marsh alleging he used the company as his personal checkbook. Company officials had accused the 75-year-old of using millions of dollars to finance trips and buy expensive gifts for loved ones and friends.

The Evansville campus of the IU School of Medicine and partner organizations release a study favoring Downtown Evansville as the site for an academic health science education and research facility. Mayor Lloyd Winnecke says it has tremendous potential. He says it would do more for the region than the Ford Center or new Downtown Hotel. He promised support from the city in finding a suitable location for a $35-million 100,000 square foot central campus building in the Downown. Tripp Umbach delivered a study saying it could create thousands of medical jobs over the next 25 years.