Articles

Records: $50K settled officer racial discrimination lawsuit

Records show a former West Terre Haute police officer who appealed his firing has accepted $50,000 to settle a 2015 federal lawsuit alleging racial discrimination. Jonathan Stevens, who is black, signed an agreement in January 2017 to resolve the complaint he’d filed alleging the West Terre Haute Town Council and police chief conspired not to hire him because they allegedly said they didn’t want “his kind” working for the town.

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Mishawaka teen charged with killing pregnant schoolmate

An Indiana high school football player told investigators that he killed a 17-year-old schoolmate because he was angry that she waited so long to tell him she was pregnant with his child that it was too late to get an abortion, authorities said Monday. Aaron Trejo, 16, was charged as an adult with murder in the Sunday killing of Breana Rouhselang and the fetus.

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Elkhart police chief resigns amid discipline controversies

A northern Indiana police chief who downplayed the beating of a handcuffed suspect by two officers and faced other controversies over discipline has resigned. Elkhart’s Chief Ed Windbigler said in a letter Monday that Mayor Tim Neese asked him to resign.

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Justices won’t hear states’ appeal over Planned Parenthood

The Supreme Court on Monday avoided a high-profile case by rejecting appeals from Kansas and Louisiana in their effort to strip Medicaid money from Planned Parenthood, over the dissenting votes of three justices. The court’s order reflected a split among its conservative justices and an accusation from Justice Clarence Thomas that his colleagues seemed to be ducking the case for political reasons.

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Whether a president can be prosecuted remains in dispute

For the first time, prosecutors have tied President Donald Trump to a federal crime, accusing him of directing illegal hush-money payments to women during his presidential campaign in 2016. Although Trump hasn’t been charged with any crimes, the question of whether a president can even be prosecuted while in office is a matter of legal dispute.

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Albion man pleads guilty in death of toddler

A 42-year-old Albion man has pleaded guilty to murder in the battering death of a 2½-year-old girl he was babysitting. Trevor Wert entered the plea last week in Noble Superior Court after admitting to striking Railee Ewing's head and face multiple times and kicking her in the buttocks as she was trying to leave a bathroom, sending her into the bathroom door frame.

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Indiana man pleads guilty to 1988 killing of 8-year-old girl

An Indiana man has pleaded guilty to the 1988 abduction, rape and killing of an 8-year-old Fort Wayne girl. John D. Miller pleaded guilty Friday to murder and child molestation charges in the long-unsolved killing of April Tinsley. A plea agreement calls for the 59-year-old Miller to serve 80 years in prison.

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Group seeks 2nd hearing on tainted East Chicago site’s cleanup

East Chicago community group is asking for a second public hearing on the proposed cleanup of the site of a public housing complex that was evacuated and demolished because of industrial contamination. The East Chicago Calumet Coalition Community Advisory Group says many residents didn’t get to speak at a Nov. 29 hearing about a $26.5 million project to remove tainted soil from the site of the West Calumet Housing Complex.

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Munster man pleads guilty to post office pipe bomb

A man charged in a pipe bomb explosion at a northwestern Indiana post office says he was targeting an attorney who had filed a lawsuit against him. Eric Krieg of Munster pleaded guilty Tuesday to making an unregistered destructive device and other charges. 

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Judge denies new trial in off-duty officer’s 1980 death

A judge has denied a request for a new trial for an alleged getaway driver convicted in the 1980 shooting death of an off-duty northwestern Indiana police officer. James Hill was sentenced to 47 years in prison in October after a jury earlier convicted him of murder in perpetuation of robbery and attempted robbery, and Judge Salvador Vasquez determined there was no need for a new trial.

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Indiana midterm election turnout hit 51 percent

Voter participation in Indiana’s fall election was 51 percent, the first time since 1994 that the state topped 50 percent in a midterm election. Henry County had the highest turnout in Indiana with 64 percent of registered voters casting a ballot, while Vigo and Madison counties had the lowest turnout at 44 percent of registered voters. 

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Prosecutors recommend no jail time for cooperative Flynn

President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser provided so much information to the special counsel’s Russia investigation that prosecutors say he shouldn’t do any prison time, according to a court filing that describes Michael Flynn’s cooperation as “substantial.”

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