KOKOMO, Ind. – When they got back to their home in Kokomo, Jill Shimer and her husband, Scott, had no idea what to expect. The Shimers returned from Cincinnati around 8 p.m., roughly four hours after the tornadoes tore up the south side of the city.
Late Nov. 17, tornadoes swept across the Midwest. The storms struck Kokomo, Ind. particularly hard, prompting officials to temporarily place it under a state of emergency.
KOKOMO, Ind. — The buzz of chainsaws cut through the chill Monday as shaken Indiana residents began cleaning up from at least 11 tornadoes that carved an angry path of destruction across 12 counties, injuring dozens but miraculously sparing lives.
This afternoon, the Interfaith Coalition on Non-Discrimination, made up of Indiana clergy members spoke at the Indiana Statehouse against House Joint Resolution 6, which would define marriage as strictly between a man and a woman, and write that definition into the state’s constitution.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — An Indiana University fraternity group says a new policy limiting how much hard alcohol is allowed at fraternity-sponsored parties was well received during its first test earlier this month. The IU Interfraternity Council says it implemented the hard alcohol limitations in hopes of creating a safer, more responsible drinking atmosphere on the Bloomington campus. The new limits got their first test during IU’s homecoming weekend during the first weekend in November. Interfraternity Council vice president of communications Jordan Shwide says that while the new policy was well received, its success is difficult to measure. The Council’s vice president of risk management, Ben Weisel, tells The Herald-Times the group is receiving positive feedback from fraternity chapters.
LEBANON, Ind. — A shift supervisor at a central Indiana Starbucks store damaged by a suspected tornado says she rode out Sunday’s storm in the coffee shop’s small bathroom with 10 other people. Melinda Wissig tells The Indianapolis Star she looked up Sunday to see the tornado approaching the Lebanon store after a customer yelled about a tornado. Wissig rushed to the drive-thru and told customers to come inside, where she and 10 others huddled in the store’s bathroom as the storm swept through. Once the sounds of breaking glass subsided, she says they emerged to find the floors strewn with debris and the store’s windows blown out. Outside the Starbucks, a car had flipped onto its side on the sidewalk and the windows of Wissig’s car were blown out.
A look at the severe weather as it unfolds in Central Indiana.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Organizers of the Purdue University Dance Marathon are celebrating breaking the $1 million fundraising mark for the weekend’s event. Organizers said more than 2,000 Purdue students brought in just more than $1 million in donations for the Saturday and Sunday fundraiser for Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.
Student Government Association may hear the first reading of a resolution to decide SGA’s stance on House Joint Resolution 6, Indiana’s proposed amendment to ban same-sex marriage in the state constitution.
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — A jury ended its first day of deliberations in the reckless homicide and drunken driving trial of an Indianapolis police officer charged in a fatal crash. The Fort Wayne jury got the David Bisard case Monday afternoon and deliberated about three hours before quitting for the evening.
COLUMBUS, Ind. — Shawn Bentz was a full-time music and history teacher just days ago. Today, he is out of work after the Ball State-owned charter International School of Columbus closed because of financial problems. He has applied at Lowe’s, Walgreens and other businesses. “I’m not going to be picky,” he told The Republic.
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (AP) — An armed man was spotted on the campus of Central Connecticut State University on Monday, prompting a schoolwide lockdown and warnings for students to stay away from windows as police SWAT teams swarmed the area. The university declared a campus emergency late Monday morning, and several hours later its website continued urging students to remain inside buildings. University spokesman Mark McLaughlin said, “Somebody was seen either with a gun or was thought to have a gun.” The area around a 400-student dorm was the focus of the police search, but by mid-afternoon authorities were allowing students to leave the building in small groups. Jordan Governale, a 20-year-old junior from Farmington, said he walked by a man carrying a backpack and with a sword and sheath strapped to his back.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana University has joined a bipartisan campaign fighting a proposed state constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriages. The university announced Monday it was joining Freedom Indiana, a coalition that includes Eli Lilly & Co., Cummins Inc. and the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce. IU President Michael McRobbie says the amendment would turn some prospective employees away from Indiana and increase the state’s challenges remaining economically competitive. The General Assembly approved the proposed ban in 2011, but the current Legislature would need to approve it again before it would go to voters in a statewide referendum.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Two Indiana University students were charged Sunday morning in connection with a stabbing that injured another student at a campus apartment building, school officials said. University police arrested 18-year-old Zesen Shen and 21-year-old Kaiyu Lao, IU spokesman Mark Land said in a news release.
