WIBC News

Noblesville Police Investigating Robbery

By Alex Brown - alex@wibc.com | @WIBC_AlexBrown — Tue, 21 May 2013 01:50:00 GMT

Noblesville Police are investigating a robbery Monday afternoon.

Officers were called to the 500 block of South Street on a report of a robbery that had just occurred. The officers located two people who identified themselves as the victims. The victims told police they were familiar with the suspect and had been with him earlier in the day.

The suspect was not located at the scene. Investigators are interviewing a person of interest but not arrest has been made.

No one was injured in the robbery. Anyone with information is asked to contact Noblesville Police at 317-776-6371.

Indiana Civil Rights Commission Issues Findings on Racial Profiling

By Reed Parker - reed@wibc.com | @WIBC_ReedParker — Tue, 21 May 2013 02:44:00 GMT

The Indiana Civil Rights Commission has issued probable cause findings on three cases involving racial profiling.

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Commission spokesperson Brad Meadows says the cases all involve Indianapolis business. Meadows says Dots clothing store is accused of profiling African American women. Meadows says three sisters were stopped and accused of shoplifting. Investigators found the trio did not shoplift, but were surrounded by police and were treated like criminals.

Another case involved an African American woman was denied specific training on eyebrow threading at an Indianapolis Seva location. Meadows says Indian women were given the specific training, but the African American woman was not. The third case involves an African American man who tried to return merchandise at a Harbor Freight Tools store. Meadows says the man tried to return unopened merchandise, but store officials did not allow the return because the customer was "red-flagged". Meadows says the Commission found no reason why the frequent customer was "red-flagged.

Meadows says the cases will now move on to mediation and the companies will likely agree to pay a monetary award. Meadows says all the cases were filed last year, but he says if an agreement is not reached an Administrative Law Judge will take over the cases.

Pence Speech at School Choice Gathering Showcases Indiana's Law

By Eric Berman - eric@wibc.com | @WIBC_Eric Berman — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:03:00 GMT

Gov. Mike Pence (center) signed an expansion of Indiana's school voucher law May 9. (WIBC.com file photo: Eric Berman)

Governor Pence's Monday keynote speech at a national conference in Maryland to discuss and promote private school choice laws marks a recognition of Indiana's leading role in the movement.

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22 states have passed some version of laws to make it easier for students to attend private schools, but none has gone as far as Indiana, where about 55% of students are eligible for vouchers. Jeff Reed with the Indianapolis-based pro-voucher Friedman Foundation says Indiana focused its voucher law on low-income students, while other states used narrower, special-needs criteria, such as students in foster care, or whose assigned public schools had flunked state accountability measures.

And Reed credits the enthusiastic support of then-Governor Mitch Daniels -- and the continuation of support under Pence -- with encouraging legislators to craft a more broad-based law. He says Indiana's margin over other states may narrow in the next few years, as the Indiana Supreme Court decision upholding Indiana's law has given other states a roadmap for making sure their laws stand up to challenges.

This year's expansion of Indiana's voucher law, which Pence signed into law this month, tacks on the categories other states started with.

Indianapolis City-County Council president Maggie Lewis is also speaking at the American Federation for Children conference. Other speakers include former WNBA star Lisa Leslie, former George W. Bush campaign pollster Matthew Dowd and former Bill Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry.

Members of Congress in Both Parties Say IRS Owes an Explanation

By Eric Berman - eric@wibc.com | @WIBC_Eric Berman — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:09:00 GMT

Members of Congress are finding rare bipartisan common ground in blasting the IRS for singling out conservative nonprofits for extra scrutiny.

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Ninth District Republican Todd Young serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, which held a first hearing on the IRS last week and plans more. Young says the agency needs to clarify exactly who instructed agents to flag applications from groups with conservative-sounding names. And he says there needs to be systemwide tax reform -- he says the convoluted nature of the tax code is what made abuses possible.

Democratic Senator Joe Donnelly says it'll take more information to offer a prescription for preventing similar issues, but he calls the IRS actions "outrageous." He says politics should never be a factor in any taxpayer's treatment by the IRS.

At issue is the section of the tax code known as 501(c)(4), which allows nonprofit groups which promote "social welfare" to apply for tax-exempt status. Unlike 501(c)(3) groups, they're allowed to engage in political activity, as long as it isn't their primary purpose. The IRS has acknowledged homing in on groups with words like "Tea Party" or "patriot" in their names, and demanding reams of documentation before acting on their applications.

The agency has contended it made an ill-advised attempt to find a shortcut after being deluged with applications following a Supreme Court decision making it easier for outside groups to wade into campaigns. But Young says the IRS policy began before the number of 501(c)(4) applications began to rise significantly.

Donnelly and Young say Congress needs to use its oversight power to determine just what happened.

Greenwood May Foreclose On Biotech Firm

By Mike Corbin - mcorbin@wibc.com | @WIBC_MikeCorbin — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:57:00 GMT

A Johnson County business may be looking at foreclosure.

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Greenwood City Attorney Krista Taggart says the city may foreclose on Elona Biotechnologies within the next few weeks. Taggart says construction has been stopped on Elona Biotechnologies' planned facility near I-65 in Greenwood. Three years ago, the city gave Elona almost $8.5 million in incentives to build an insulin manufacturing facility. Incentives included a $6 million loan for construction. The facility would've employed 70 workers.

Taggart says there's still time for new investors to take over the company and keep the project afloat. The project had been part of Elona's planned $25 million expansion.

Ex-Councilman Sentenced to 2 1/2 Years for Fraud

By Eric Berman - eric@wibc.com | @WIBC_Eric Berman — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:43:00 GMT

U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett (left) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Vaughn speak after the sentencing of ex-City-County Councillor Paul Bateman. (WIBC.com photo: Eric Berman)

A former Indianapolis city-county councillor has been sentenced to 2 1/4 years in prison for his role in swindling an Indianapolis doctor.

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Paul Bateman apologized in court to his family for "bringing shame" to them, and to Dr. Arthur Sumrall, who invested $1.7 million in a supposed ethanol project backed by the Russell Foundation.

Instead, federal prosecutors say Bateman and foundation creator Michael Russell burned through a million dollars in 33 days, and spent Sumrall's money on personal items from cars to Bateman's tax bill.

Both men pleaded guilty. Russell was sentenced to 5 3/4 years in prison last week.

A third defendant was acquitted. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Bateman's cooperation with investigators and acceptance of responsibility may have saved him as much as five years of prison time.

Bateman said in court it took him nearly a year to realize the money the foundation raised was going to other purposes. By that point, he testified, "My name was on everything." He says he was counting on another investor to allow him to pay back Sumrall "and get the heck otu of there."

A Democratic caucus elected Bateman to complete the term of Steve Talley when Talley resigned in 2006. He won a full term in 2007, but abandoned his 2011 reelection bid when Talley returned and defeated him at the party's slating convention. Bateman was indicted less than two weeks before leaving office.

Bateman is the second council member sentenced to prison in two years. Republican ex-councillor Lincoln Plowman was sentenced to 3 1/3 years for bribery in 2011.

Indy Mom Upset Following Lemonade Day At IMS

By Mike Corbin - mcorbin@wibc.com | @WIBC_MikeCorbin — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:03:00 GMT

The mother of an Indianapolis girl says they're still upset after IMS officials shut down their lemonade stand at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Saturday.

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Telisha Morris and 10-year-old daughter Morgan were selling lemonade at IMS as part of National Lemonade Day. Morris says a guy wearing an IMS shirt approached their stand and told them they didn't have proper permission to operate the stand and he shut them down. Morris says she told the guy that they did indeed have the proper permits that included IMS permission.

Lemonade Day Director Jami Marsh says that in addition to IMS permission, the city and state health departments also granted her organization a temporary waiver for the day to operate at IMS. The group held Lemonade Day last year at Castleton Square Mall. Marsh says that by the time she got word about what happened, the stand had already been shut down. Meantime, Morris says the point of Lemonade Day for her daughter was to learn entrepreneurial skills in addition to raising money to buy a Kindle Fire and donate money to the American Heart Association.

Late in the day Monday, Morgan said she has received over $750 dollars in donations, including a $500 donation to the American Heart Association from IMS.

Condo Fire Kills 2 Children

By RTV6 — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:21:00 GMT

Two children were killed in a condo fire on Indianapolis' far-east side Monday, sources told RTV6.

The fire broke out just after 9 a.m. at the Raintree Commons Condominiums at 12010 E. Welland St., near Washington Street and German Church Road, in Cumberland.

Two children were confirmed dead. A woman, two men and another child were taken to area hospitals, sources said.

Neighbors said a woman and her four children lived in the condo.

Witnesses tried to help the victims get out of the burning home.

"The window that was busted out over there was filled with smoke, and there was smoke coming out from the top," one witness said.

The fire was reported to be out by 10 a.m.

Independent Campaign Spending to Face Scrutiny

By Eric Berman - eric@wibc.com | @WIBC_Eric Berman — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:00:00 GMT

Legislators could act next year to require organizations which wade into election campaigns independently of the candidates to disclose their activities.

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Independent expenditures have exploded since a 2010 Supreme Court decision made it easier for otherwise nonpolitical groups to advertise for or against candidates.

Senate Elections Chairman Sue Landske (R-Cedar Lake) says she was blindsided to discover Indiana doesn't require financial disclosure from those groups. She notes 15 states already have disclosure requirements, and says a legislative study committee is likely to request data from those states this summer.

Currently, independent groups have no requirement to disclose how much they've spent or on what, nor the source of their funding. House Elections Chairman Milo Smith (R-Columbus) says Indiana repealed a disclosure requirement in the late '90s as part of a broader set of changes. He says it doesn't make any sense to make public the names of direct campaign donors but not people who donate to outside groups.

A Montana-based watchdog group, the National Institute on Money in State Politics, last week gave all but nine states either an "A" or "F" grade for the amount of disclosure they require from independent groups. Indiana was one of 26 states receiving a failing grade -- and one of six to miss all six of the group's benchmarks for reporting the stances and targeted candidates of independent groups.

Field of 33 Set for Indianapolis 500

By Alex Brown - alex@wibc.com | @WIBC_AlexBrown — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:14:00 GMT

Katherine Legge qualified for the final spot in the Indy 500. (photo courtesy Bret Kelly/INDYCAR)

After two days of qualifying, the 97th running of the Indianapolis 500 mile race has a full field of 33 drivers.

The remaining nine drivers qualified within an hour Sunday on Bump Day. Katherine Legge, who announced her entry with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports on Saturday, qualified for the final spot. Legge says she's thrilled to finally be in the race.

"I haven't slept in like three days, so I'm going sleep tonight, which is good," Legge said. "It's been a long day, but it's been a great day and a great opportunity. So just happy now, relieved to be in the field."

No actual bumping took place on Sunday. Michel Jourdain, Jr. had a chance to qualify for a spot in the race, but couldn't get his car up to speed and never made a qualifying attempt.

Those that made the field Sunday include Josef Newgarden, Graham Rahal, Sebastian Saavedra, rookie Tristan Vautier, Ana Beatriz, Pippa Mann, rookie Conor Daly, 1996 Indy 500 winner Buddy Lazier and Legge. It's the second time four women have qualified for an Indy 500. Simona de Silvestro qualified on Pole Day and will start 24th.

Drivers will get one final practice run on Carb Day Friday before the big race next Sunday.