Indianapolis, IN (October 31, 2020) - Governor Eric Holcomb signed an executive order Friday extending Indiana's public health emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic until at least December 1, 2020.
So far, this is the eighth extension of the coronavirus emergency initially declared by Indiana's chief executive March 6, 2020 after the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Indiana.
A state law enacted in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks entitles vast authority on the governor when he determines the state has been struck by one or more of 30 potential disasters, including a "public health emergency."
The governor is authorized during a disaster to "employ any measure and give any direction" in accordance with the recommendations of the State Department of Health or local boards of health, both of which have a statutory obligation to "do what is reasonable and necessary for the prevention and suppression of disease."
Governor Holcomb's directive for residents to wear face masks in public places is among the powers derived from his emergency declaration is one example.
Indianapolis, IN (October 21, 2020) - PayPal Holdings said on today it will allow customers to hold bitcoin and other virtual coins in its online wallet and shop using cryptocurrencies at the 26 million merchants on its network. The new service makes PayPal one of the largest U.S. companies to provide consumers access to cryptocurrencies, which could help bitcoin and rival cryptocurrencies gain wider adoption as viable payment methods.
The San Jose, California-based company hopes the service will encourage global use of virtual coins and prepare its network for new digital currencies that central banks and companies may develop, President and Chief Executive Dan Schulman said in an interview.
“We are working with central banks and thinking of all forms of digital currencies and how PayPal can play a role,” he said.
U.S. account holders will be able to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies in their PayPal wallets over the coming weeks, the company said. PayPal plans to expand the service to its peer-to-peer payment app Venmo and some other countries in the first half of 2021.
The ability to make payments with cryptocurrencies will be available from early next year, the company said.
Other mainstream fintech companies, such as mobile payments provider Square Inc SQ.N and stock trading app firm Robinhood Markets Inc, allow users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, but PayPal's launch is noteworthy given its size.
The company has 346 million active accounts around the world and processed $222 billion in payments in the second quarter.
PayPal’s shares were up 4% at 1418 GMT, set for their best day in a month.
Bitcoin and other virtual coins have struggled to become established as widely used forms of payment despite being around for more than a decade. Cryptocurrencies’ volatility is attractive for speculators, but poses risks for merchants and shoppers. Transactions are also slower and more costly than other mainstream payment systems.
PayPal believes its new system will address these issues as payments will be settled using traditional currencies, such as the U.S. dollar. This means PayPal will be managing the risk of price fluctuations and merchants will receive payments in virtual coins.
“We are going about it in a fundamentally different way to make sure we provide the maximum amount of safety to our merchants,” Schulman said.
PayPal's service comes as some central banks have announced plans to develop digital versions of their currencies, following a Facebook-led FB.O cryptocurrency project Libra in 2019, which was met by strong regulatory pushback..
PayPal was among the founding members of this project but dropped out after a few months.
PayPal has secured the first conditional cryptocurrency licence from the New York State Department of Financial Services. The company will initially allow purchases of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies called ethereum ETH=BTSP, bitcoin cash BCH=BTSP and litecoin LTC=BTSP, it said.
PayPal is teaming up with cryptocurrency firm Paxos Trust Company to offer the service.
Indianapolis, IN (October 20, 2020) - The Indianapolis Public Library’s East Washington and Southport Branches are closed to the public Tuesday, October 20, after a staff member who had worked in both locations recently learned that they had been exposed to a family member with Covid-19.
Both branches will remain closed through October 20 for deep cleaning, and both are tentatively planned to reopen to the public on Wednesday, October 21.
The employee and any fellow staff with whom they had close contact (defined as within six feet for ten or more minutes) are under a 10-day quarantine. Patrons who visited the East Washington or Southport Branch Library on or around October 17-19 are encouraged to self-monitor for any symptoms.
ALERT: The East Washington Branch and Southport Branch are both temporarily closed due to a staff member being exposed to COVID-19. For more information, please visit https://t.co/XZXWvEAihp
All Indianapolis Public Libraries have had a face mask requirement in place since reopening in June. Other precautions include capacity limits at libraries, one-hour time limits for patrons when necessitated by building capacity limits, accessible hand sanitizer, regular surface cleaning, and 96 hour quarantining of returned books and other library materials.
“Library administration hopes to utilize staff from other locations to continue to serve the East Washington and Southport patrons immediately after a deep clean,” said Jackie Nytes, Library CEO. “Nimble scheduling for an issue like this is a necessity, as we understand that The Library is essential for residents who need access to information, materials, wi-fi, and computers – and we aim to fulfill our mission of providing access to these services as safely as possible.”
Visit The Indianapolis Public Library's website or follow The Indianapolis Public Library on social media for the latest on this situation, and for any future incidents of potential COVID-19 exposure at libraries.
Indianapolis, IN (October 20, 2020) - On this date in 1987, an Air Force jet attempting to make an emergency landing, crashed into a bank and then a hotel near the airport, killing ten people.
All of those killed and injured were on the first floor of the hotel when the jet, gliding without power, glanced off the flat roof of a bank, hit the ground, then bounced up and smashed into the hotel marquee. Fire covered much of the center-front of the building.
''It was like skipping a rock,'' said Robert Duncan, staff lawyer for the Indianapolis Airport Authority.
The pilot, Maj. Bruce Teagarden, 35, of Mt. Morris, Pa., ejected seconds before the single-engine A-7D Corsair crashed at 9:15 a.m.
He parachuted into a parking lot less than two blocks from the crash site, said Robert Spitler, acting director of the Airport Authority.
Teagarden apparently was following approved procedure after his aging jet fighter lost power.
Marion County medical examiners said all ten of those killed may have been hotel employees. Three had been positively identified and one tentatively identified by 8:00 p.m., said Dennis Nicholas of the coroner`s office. Dental records must be used to identify the five other victims.
The four for whom names were available were hotel employees: Beth Louise Goldberg, 30; Emma J. Brownlee, 37; and Brenda Joyce Henry, 26, all of Indianapolis; and Allen Manter, 18, of Amo.
Six people were injured. Thomas Murray, 41, of Indianapolis, was listed in critical condition with third-degree burns over 95 percent of his body. Darryl Crenshaw, 28, a firefighter, was in serious condition. Betty Gonzales, 52, a hotel employee, was in fair condition, with second-degree burns over 10 percent of her body.
Davis Bosan, 21, of Mattoon, Ill.; John Cameron, 43, of Wauwatosa, Wis. and pilot Teagarden were treated at area hospitals and released. Teagarden was released to military medical authorities.
None of the three customers and six employees in the bank, Bank One, was injured when the plane tore off two-thirds of the building`s roof and collapsed the southwest corner of the structure.
''It`s hard to imagine there were human beings that walked away from it, but they did,'' said Fred Roesner, head of security for Bank One.
Some of the hotel`s guests were also counting themselves among the fortunate. Nearly half of the previous night`s 107 guests had checked out before 9:00 a.m., said a spokesman for the Ramada chain in Tucson. And more than 50 guests attending an engineering conference at the back of the hotel were unscathed when the plane hit, said Neil Sullivan, a spokesman for the Marion County Sheriff`s Department.
But those gathered near the lobby were not so fortunate. The plane disintegrated on impact, with parts of it hurtling 75 feet into the hotel, said Larry Curl, Wayne Township deputy fire chief.
''It looked like it was exploding from the inside. There was a sheet of flame, then an explosion,'' said Shirley Heaton, an employee at Indiana National Bank, across the street from the Ramada Inn.
Lori Leisen, secretary for H.L. Yoh, a technical service firm across the street from Bank One, said: ''I saw something real big and dark come in front. I heard the explosion and saw the fireball.'' Windows of cars in the parking lot blew out from the intense heat, she said.
''There wasn`t anything we could have done. The heat was atrocious. It was a holocaust,'' she said.
City firefighters, who gathered at the airport when Teagarden radioed that he was in trouble, averted what probably would have been a greater disaster by arriving at the hotel within minutes to extinguish the flames, said Indianapolis Mayor William Hudnut.
Emergency workers late Tuesday night were still trying to account for some guests, Marion County Sheriff Joe McAtee said at a news conference. He added that it was likely these guests had checked out before the crash and had not called to notify authorities, as they have been asked to do. No more bodies were expected to be found, he said, because the hotel had been thoroughly searched several times.
Teagarden had failed an attempted instrument landing through a low cloud ceiling and apparently was heading the plane toward an open field when he bailed out.
''He came through the clouds and was making a right turn and said he would have to get out,'' Spitler said.
Shortly before 9:12 a.m., Teagarden, flying west at 31,000 feet from Pittsburgh to Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas on a proficiency cross-country training mission, notified Indianapolis air-traffic controllers that he had lost power in his single jet engine and was urgently seeking a landing site.
He was given a choice of landing at Terre Haute, 44 miles due west, or Indianapolis, 15 miles north, said James McCue, airport operations manager.
''It was up to the pilot to determine which,'' said Spitler.
Teagarden, of the 4450th Test Group Squadron at Nellis, told the tower he would land at Indianapolis, and controllers tried to guide him in, McCue said. He could not see the runway because there was an 800-foot cloud ceiling and light fog, Spitler said. Spitler said Teagarden came over the airport too high, so the control tower tried to take him around to another runway. The plane had lost too much power to complete the maneuver.
''The major made the best decision he could have made,'' said Col. Bruce L. Johnson, a senior public relations officer at Ft. Benjamin Harrison Army Base, near Indianapolis.
An Air Force source told The Tribune that, if a power failure occurs during the final landing approach, the pilot ''is only a second or two from the ground.'' ''The orders are to do what you can when you have control of the aircraft and then get out'' if control is lost, the source said.
McCue said the Vietnam-era fighter had lost its thrust and was gliding when it went down.
He speculated that the force of the pilot`s ejection from the jet could have pushed the plane down, deflecting it from its course toward open fields beyond the hotel.
Crown Point, IN (October 20, 2020) - A man is expected to make his first court appearance today on charges filed more than seven years ago alleging he sexually abused a girl when she was between the ages of 4 and 10. Fermin B. Rosales, 20, of Joliet, Illinois recently was extradited from El Paso County, Texas, to Lake County.
Rosales is accused of repeatedly molesting the girl when they lived in the same home in Hammond between March 2003 and March 2009.
Rosales' initial appearance was scheduled for today before a Lake Criminal Court magistrate, online records showed.
The girl first disclosed the alleged abuse in early 2012, after she was admitted to a mental facility for treatment, court records state.
Rosales was charged in June 2013 with nine felonies, including three counts of child molesting.
The girl told police Rosales repeatedly touched her inappropriately when she was between the ages of 4 and 6, documents state.
When she was 10 years old, Rosales began forcing her to have intercourse and oral sex, court records allege.
The girl told police Rosales punched her in the stomach or face if she refused to do as he ordered, and he threatened to kill her if she told anyone.
The girl's mother told police Rosales' father was deported to Mexico for sexually abusing a female child, records state.
Homecroft, IN (October 19, 2020) - If you’ve never tried Homecroft Hummingbird cake before and are a fan of anything with bananas, this is a cake you need to try. Nana told all us kids this cake got its name because every bite makes you hum with delight.
Whenever Nana would make this cake, everyone fell in love along with it. It would make a great cake for a special occasion, especially Thanksgiving, which is coming up.
Ingredients:
2 box Duncan Hines yellow cake mixes
6 eggs
Water for mixing cake mixes, go by directions on boxes
use melted butter for cake mixes instead of oil, for amount go by directions on box
1 can(s) crushed pineapple, 20 oz., drained
3 bananas, cut and smashed
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 c chopped pecans
1 dash(es) salt
Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 pkg cream cheese softened, 8 oz.
1 pkg confectioners’ sugar, 16 oz.
1 stick salted butter, softened
1-2 Tbsp milk
1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 and grease a large square cake pan (like 12×18). If you do not have a 12×18 pan, a 9×13 will work. Just cut all the ingredients in half.
2. First, mix cake mixes according to directions on the boxes except use melted butter in place of oil. Also, add vanilla extract.
3. Next add pineapple, smashed bananas, cinnamon, salt, and pecans.
4. Mix all this together well.
5. Pour into pan and cook for 25 to 30 min or until toothpick is inserted and comes out clean. Let cool and ice with cream cheese frosting.
6. For frosting, add cream cheese to mixing bowl. Add butter, confectioners sugar, and vanilla. Mix well.
7. Add milk, a little a the time, to get the consistency you want it to be.
Beech Grove, IN (October 17, 2020) - Nana loved deserts and her Beech Grove Butterscotch Lush recipe is a rich and refreshing dessert recipe that is delicious any time of the year. It especially works well during the winter holiday season. Serve this recipe at your next dinner party or birthday party.
Beech Grove Butterscotch Lush is a 4-layer dessert of graham cracker crust, cream cheese, pudding, and whipped cream. Topped with butterscotch and chocolate shavings.
Ingredients:
Graham Cracker Crust:
1.5 cup graham crackers, crushed
1 stick butter (1/2 cup), melted
1/2 cup sugar
Cream Cheese Layer ~
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
Pudding Layer ~
2.5 cups milk
2 small packages butterscotch instant pudding
Whipped Cream Layer ~
1 cup heavy cream
3 Tbs powdered sugar
Toppings (optional) ~
Butterscotch ice cream topping
Chocolate bar, shaved
Directions:
Graham Cracker Crust ~
Preheat oven to 350° F. Mix together graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and sugar. Press mixture into the bottom of a 8×8 baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes.
Cream Cheese Layer ~
Use a hand mixer to beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add in 2 cups heavy cream and beat until stiff peaks form. Layer over cooled graham cracker crust.
Pudding Layer ~
Beat milk and pudding mix. If too thick, add a little more milk. You want it thicker than traditional pudding, but not so thick you can’t pour or smooth your pudding layer. Spread over cream cheese layer.
Whipped Cream Layer ~
Beat heavy cream and powdered sugar, until it forms soft peaks. Spread over pudding layer. Chill 4 hours in the refrigerator, or until set.
Toppings (optional) ~
Drizzle warmed butterscotch topping across the top. Sprinkle with shaved chocolate pieces.
Indianapolis, IN (October 17, 2020 - Indianapolis recently received a not-so-great distinction. According to pest control company Orkin, the Circle City is one of the “rattiest” cities in the country--15th to be exact.
Orkin says the ranking is based on the number rodent treatments performed in the last year. Chicago, Los Angeles and New York took the top three spots.
The company warns that as the winter months set in, rodent activity will increase inside people’s homes and places of work as the vermin seek the indoors’ warmth and safety. Orkin adds that coronavirus lockdowns may make matters worse for homeowners as they spend more time at home. Homeowners should take greater care not to leave food scraps around and to “pay extra attention to the attractants that entice rats and mice.”
“Rodents are experts at sniffing out food and shelter, and they’re resilient in their ways to obtain both,” Ben Hottel, an Orkin entomologist, said in the company’s statement. “Residential properties offer the ideal habitat for rodents, and once they’ve settled in, they’re capable of reproducing rapidly and in large quantities.”
The company also noted that rats cause structural damage with their chewing of wooden beams and their burrowing below structural foundations. Worse, they carry harmful pathogens and diseases that can infect humans and pets.
Orkin also offered a series of tips on preventing rat infestations, including throwing away food scraps, keeping floors swept, making sure garbage is not left to gather, and saying foodstuffs should be kept in sealed glass metal containers.
Outdoors, the company suggests keeping lawns trimmed and to keep weed patches eliminated.
Finally, homeowners were advised to keep an eye out for infestation including droppings, and things that seem to have been chewed.
Southport, IN (October 8, 2020) - Most children can see spirits. For some, this ability starts as soon as they can focus their eyes and for others, the ability to see Spirits develops as they get older.
Until, at some point, when they tend to stop seeing Spirits. There’s a societal and cultural conditioning that exists that continues to tell children that their friends are imaginary and that monsters aren’t real, and neither is the man they keep talking about.
This is the same reason most adults cannot see spirits – because at some point along the way, we were told in numerous ways that our experience wasn’t real.
But before this happens, and it doesn’t have to, there’s a period of time in childhood where most, if not all, children can see, hear, and feel those in Spirit. Good and Bad. All kinds.
This period of time is generally most evident to parents between the ages of 2 to 8 years old. Although, it can start much earlier and go on much, much later.
Think your child can see Ghosts?
Here’s a list of the most common signs that a child can and is seeing those in Spirit.
1. Your child has a long history of sleeping troubles, usually starting in infancy and toddler hood with not sleeping through the night.
2. Your child frequently stares off into empty space, blank walls, or windows.
3. Your child talks about “peoples,” “bats,” “monsters,” etc. that you cannot see.
4. Your child talks to your about individuals and beings that you cannot see.
5. Your child points and talks about animals that you cannot see.
6. Your child has conversations with “nothing.”
7. Your child shares their food and drink with a seemingly non-existent being.
8. Your child suddenly gets nervous and scared in public places, often looking down and averting their eyes.
9. Your child comes running to you fearfully while playing outside with no discernible danger
Beech Grove, IN (October 6, 2020) - Is it possible for those who have passed from this mortal coil to make contact from the spirit world through electronic media? Can a loved one make contact through the humble telephone to say one last good-bye or even give warning of impending disaster?
As odd as it may seem, this phenomenon is not an unusual one and occurs quite frequently, usually with in the first 24 to 48 hours after someone has died. However, many people have reported getting phone calls from deceased loved ones years after they have passed on. These calls are nearly always filled with heavy static and the caller’s voice sounds faint, as if it is coming from a great distance.
Countless people have reported receiving telephone calls that seem to have come from a deceased relative or friend. These strange calls usually happen not more than once or twice and are nearly always brief messages. For some, these phone calls can be frightening, but for others they are a source of comfort and help grieving loved ones move on with their lives.
Often when a person receives such a phone call he or she may not realize, at first, that the person that they are talking to is someone who has passed on from this world and thinks that he or she is talking to corporeal person.
Man people have reported receiving phone calls from a person that they never knew directly in life, but receive an urgent message to relay to another person he or she and the deceased both know/knew. These types of phantom phone calls are more rare. Often, the recipients of such calls say that the voice sounds odd, almost mechanical or unreal in some way.
In most of these phantom phone call cases, people reported that the ring sounded different than it usually did. The tone would be different and the rings would come in shorter than usual bursts. Considering that paranormal investigators use all sorts of electronic equipment to detect spirit activity due to the fact that spirits do indeed seem to be able to communicate through electronic means; then it is not at all far fetched to think that the spirits of departed friends or loved ones could conceivable use the telephone as a medium to make contact between this world and theirs.
If this is indeed the case, then it is quite possible that one day we may find a way to develop such a device that is specifically designed to be able to allow direct interaction with the spirit world using the basic telephone technologies and developing them to a whole new level.
Not only would this enable people to talk to their loved ones, but it would invariable prove that we continue to live on even after physical death. Perhaps we could gain new insights as to what happens after we die and remove the fear and uncertainty from this seemingly inevitable process.
Until such a time comes, the mystery of these phantom phone calls will continue to be just that, a mystery.
Haunted Indiana - The Willard Library, located in Evansville, Indiana, was built in 1881 by William Carpenter, known locally as a pioneer of public charity. Victorian Gothic in design, the brick building stands two stories tall, with a tower and ornate window arches. Being the oldest library in the state of Indiana, it contains a treasure trove of local historical archives and genealogy materials.
It also has a ghost. An apparition reportedly roams the hallways and library rooms. She became known as the Lady in Grey, since she was dressed in an 1800’s period grey dress with a matching grey shawl. First seen in the late 1930’s by a custodian, who soon quit his job in fear of seeing her again, she’s been viewed countless times since.
Patrons and employees alike have witnessed water turning on and off, touches on their hair, unexplained noises, and items being moved. After numerous sightings, the library installed a series of web cams around the library, allowing viewers from around the world to search for her from the comfort of their own homes.
The results have been phenomenal. People from all around the world have captured images of the grey lady as she roams the library in the middle of the night. Some even see her during the daytime, lingering in the children’s room or browsing the titles in the library.
During the mid 1970’s, when the library was under construction, the lead librarian, a woman named Margaret Maier, reported that the ghost went home with her. Her son didn’t believe her until he saw the apparition for himself.
He witnessed a woman in a long grey dress climbing the staircase to the second floor in their house. When he went to investigate, she vanished before his eyes. After construction was completed, the Lady in Grey soon returned to the library.
The special collections librarian also experienced the apparition. She was reading a book, while walking out of the second story staff room. As she passed a stack of books, she stopped short, catching something out of the corner of her eye. When she looked up, she found herself face to face with the ghostly figure.
Beech Grove, IN (October 4, 2020) - Ohio Sate Offensive tackle Josh Fryar was given the honor of having his black stripe removed yesterday. Fryar was a three-star recruit from Beech Grove, Indiana, coming in at 6 feet, 4 inches and 275 pounds.
The black stripe ritual was designed by Urban Meyer as an in-house motivational tactic for his players. The stripe doesn't come off a freshman's helmet until he has proven he's worthy of being a Buckeye.
So the longer it's on, the more stressful it becomes. Everyone in practice sees it.
Fryar becomes the first of six offensive linemen to lose the black stripe. More than a player's personal pride is at stake because the coach announces every time a freshman has his stripe removed. In a world where Ohio State invites top-rated prospects into the program every year, it gives fans -- who can't see practice -- a way of tracking which players are acclimating to the program the right way. It's very public.
Fryar was excited about the honor and had some words of gratitude.
“I just want to thank everybody here, thank you Coach Stud, especially, thank my O-line unit, thank my strength coaches, and I especially want to thank the defense for going hard every day and giving me a look. Go Bucks!”
Fryar becomes the eighth freshmen to lose their black stripe, a list that includes Miyan Williams, Trey Sermon, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Kourt Williams, Gee Scott, Jr. and Julian Fleming.
