Top Indiana stories…..

wpid-indiana-flag-jpg-14

Protect yourself from ticks…..a fatal police shooting video to be released after probe….. Cole Porter’s birthplace in northern Indiana needs a face lift…. Indianapolis smoking ban upheld by Indiana Supreme Court and a new Indiana group to look at ways to reduce food waste

 

TICKS

Spring is here, and state health officials are urging Hoosiers to protect themselves from ticks while they are enjoying the outdoors.

Ticks are found throughout Indiana in grassy and wooded areas. Ticks can transmit a variety of infectious diseases, including Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. In 2015, Indiana reported almost 200 cases of tick-borne infectious diseases.

Health officials say Hoosiers should wear a long-sleeved shirt and light-colored pants when entering a wooded or grassy area. People should also wear EPA-registered insect repellents with active ingredients such as DEET.

Once indoors, people should thoroughly check for ticks on clothing and skin. If a person does become ill after finding an attached tick, he or she should see a medical provider immediately. Tick-borne diseases can all be successfully treated with antibiotics, and prompt diagnosis can help prevent complications.

 

INDIANAPOLIS-SHOOTING-POLICE

 

The Marion County prosecutor says a video of a struggle between an unarmed black man and a white Indianapolis officer who fatally shot him won’t be released until authorities have completed their investigation.

Prosecutor Terry Curry said Monday the video won’t be immediately released to protect “the integrity of the investigation” into the April 5 fatal shooting of Kevin Hicks, who allegedly assaulted his wife.

Curry says holding the surveillance camera footage in confidence will ensure that anyone who comes forward with information does so based on “firsthand knowledge and not based on what they’ve seen or heard in the press.”

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said Monday that the officer who fatally shot Hicks was 28-year-old Patrolman Robert Carmichael, a six-year department veteran.

 

 COLE PORTER BIRTHPLACE NEEDS MORE RENOVATIONS

Cole Porter’s birthplace in northern Indiana needs facelift

 Efforts are underway in the northern Indiana city of Peru to spruce up the two-story wooden house where composer Cole Porter was born.

A renovation project started in 2004 to transform the house into a three-room inn and museum dedicated to Porter’s life. It currently attracts about 10 visitors a month and houses memorabilia from the man who wrote songs like “Anything Goes” and “Night and Day.”

But the house’s exterior needs additional work. The yellow paint that was applied in 2006 is starting to peel.

An online fundraising campaign was launched last month to raise money for work on the home. Its first phase seeks to raise about $12,000 for a new paint job.

Porter was born in Peru, Indiana, in 1891.

INDIANAPOLIS SMOKING BAN IS UPHELD

The Indianapolis Star (http://indy.st/1oSNgLS ) reports the court ruled Monday that it isn’t a violation of the state’s constitution to bansmoking in restaurants and bars and allow it in satellite gambling facilities. Certain establishments, such as satellite gambling facilities and hookah bars, are exempted under the Indianapolis ordinance.

The Indiana Court of Appeals had found in June that it was unconstitutional to treat bars and restaurants differently from a satellite gambling facility because the “disparate treatment is not reasonably related to the inherent differences” between them. But the state Supreme Court reversed the decision and found that bars and restaurants are inherently different from off-track betting facilities.

The owners of two Indianapolis bars had filed suit in an effort to end the ban.

 REDUCING FOOD WASTE

A newly formed group has set its sights on reducing food waste in Indiana.

The stakeholders involved in the new Indiana Food Scrap Initiative include local governments, food banks, farmers, food producers, grocers, event venues and restaurants.

Indiana Recycling Coalition Executive Director Carey Hamilton says the group is planning a series of meetings in the coming months focusing on the causes behind food waste and identifying ways to divert as much food from landfills as possible.

Hamilton says very little infrastructure for managing food scraps currently exists in Indiana but the initiative will study ways to save more food “at every rung of the waste management hierarchy.”

Americans waste an estimated 35 million tons of food each year that gets discarded and is valued at about $165 billion.