The ADM, or Average Daily Membership, count for all schools in Indiana is Friday, Sept. 12 and administrators are urging all students to be in school on that day.
It’s imperative that students show up for school as an official enrollment will be taken which will be given to the state. It’s that enrollment count that will determine how much money the state will give each school per student for operating costs.
Girls Golf
Caston-220 LaLumiere-252 Knox-270
Boys Tennis
Twin Lakes-5 NJSP-0
Volleyball
South Central-3 Oregon-Davis-0
The Grovertown man accused of backing into a Starke County Sheriff’s Deputy during an attempted traffic stop before leading officers on a high-speed chase through two counties last week is jailed on a $250,000 surety bond. Paul Thomas Coffin, 34, of Grovertown, pleaded not guilty to the charges during his initial hearing in Starke Circuit Court. Continue reading
A Medaryville man whose sister says he over-stayed his welcome faces strangulation and battery charges in connection with the brawl that ensued. Pulaski County Sheriff’s Deputies were called to a home in the 100 block of East Pearl Street Sunday evening after a fight broke out between several men. Continue reading
The Marshall County Council members approved the 2015 budget after making over $300,000 in cuts.
They initially cut $177,654 out of the General Fund with the sheriff’s budget and the prosecutor’s budget getting hit the hardest. The council also decided to move $216,859 in the sheriff’s pension to the certified shares portion of the budget. With those changes, the $9,041,321 all-funds budget was approved.
The Pulaski County Council approved an additional appropriation for the EMS for the purchase of an ambulance and new cardiac monitors.
EMS Director Nikki Lowry requested $88,000 in an additional appropriation in order to pay for the new ambulance. The insurance company will be paying $82,000 to the county after totaling the ambulance that was damaged in a fire on Feb. 7 at Wagner’s Towing. The cost of a new ambulance is approximately $150,000.
Fuel prices across the state of Indiana took a large scale hike at the end of last week. The state average price ended up around $3.59 a gallon prompted by a gain in wholesale prices that caused a double digit per gallon increase. GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan says spikes in prices can be predicted ahead of time.
“What we see across Indiana is that prices generally spike like they did last week, every one to two weeks, so it’s quite predictable that these spikes happen,” said DeHaan.
Officials met last week to look into composing a new five-year comprehensive plan for the city of Knox.
Knox Mayor Rick Chambers said a company will be hired to design a plan.
“We have hired a company from Indianapolis called Green Three and this company will be hired from a grant that we have obtained from the State of Indiana from OCRA (Office of Community and Rural Affairs) to update Knox’s five-year plan and give us a direction of where we want to go,” stated Chambers.
The West Central School Board held the hearing for the 2015 budget during their recent meeting.
The board opened the floor for comments on the budget, capital projects plan, transportation plan and bus replacement plan. Superintendent Don Street went over the line items and said there are no significant changes in the budget for 2015.
The 49th Annual Francesville Fall Festival is back next weekend. Festivities get under way Friday, Sept. 19 with the American Legion Fish Dinner starting at 4:30 p.m. EDT and ending at 8. The Master Cracker Jack and Miss Candy Korn pageant starts at 6:30. Later learn to dance with the Tri County Kickers at 7. Continue reading
A Medaryville man was sentenced in U.S. District Court this week.
James Huddleston, 42, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $53,790.49 in restitution after pleading guilty to the felony offense of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and forfeiture allegations.
According to documents filed in this case, from August 2011 through April 2013, Huddleston, while employed as the business manager for the Lake Ridge Public Schools in Gary, embezzled $134,054 which caused Lake Ridge to incur associated fees. Court documents indicate that gambled with much of the money he embezzled. Huddleston failed to report the embezzled income to the IRS and owes the IRS $25,000 in taxes as a result of the crime.
A Plymouth man will serve 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of manufacturing methamphetamine.
Brock Biddle pleaded guilty in a plea agreement with the state to the charge and was sentenced in Marshall County Superior Court 1 on Thursday. He admitted to manufacturing the drug at his home on Loon Court which is near Webster School in Plymouth. Continue reading
Hamlet and Davis Township officials will open bids on Monday, Sept. 15 for the new fire station they plan to build next to the Starke County Fairgrounds. Bids are due by 2 p.m. CDT to the clerk-treasurer’s office and will be opened and read. The Davis Township Building Corporation will take them under advisement. Continue reading
West Central School Superintendent Don Street and administrators shared information with the school board members about the new academic standards.
Street said a new I-STEP+ test will be administered in the spring based on the new academic standards.
The Eastern Pulaski School Board will meet today.
The board will approve administrator contracts and discuss tentative enrollment figures. The official ADM count that determines funding for schools is this Friday, Sept. 12. The funding follows the student so if a student moves from the corporation that money goes with the student. The board is hopeful that this year’s count doesn’t reveal less students.
The Marshall County Council will meet this morning with quite a few items on the agenda.
The council members will hear several additional appropriation requests. The coroner will request several thousand dollars for the autopsy, toxicology and radiology line items plus additional money for morgue supplies. The surveyor is requesting $25,000 for a vehicle purchase and there is a request to take money from the rainy day fund to go toward the Metronet project in the amount of $125,000.
From the green flag to the checkered flag, Brad Keselowski and the No. 2 team had the car to beat at Richmond International Raceway. The car was fast on the track and the pit crew members got Keselowski out of pit road first on every pit stop. To say it was a dominant performance by the Team Penske group may be an understatement.
Keselowski, who had the pole for the race, led 383 out of the available 400 laps in the race to win his fourth race this season. He is the first driver to win that many races this season and has gained the top seed entering NASCAR’s post season next week in Chicago. He captured the 400th win for owner Roger Penske.
The man accused of beating his estranged wife to death at his home in Knox, kidnapping an employee at gunpoint and fleeing in a vehicle from Mark Bailey’s Discount Center in North Judson and carjacking a vehicle from a residence in English Lake at gunpoint on June 6 was in court Friday morning to see if he has secured counsel.
Eric Taylor was sentenced in Starke Circuit Court Friday morning.
Taylor was on trial for two days in Starke Circuit Court in August which ended with not guilty verdicts on charges of dealing in methamphetamine and possession of chemical reagents or precursors with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine. The jury was deadlocked on counts of possession of methamphetamine, possession of a syringe, maintaining a common nuisance and possession of paraphernalia.
The West Central School Board heard from the building principals concerning the school improvement plans for the elementary, middle and high schools.
Superintendent Don Street explained that this is all required as part of Public Law 221 as a way to gauge needs of the students and how to improve those areas.
