Muncie City Hall will be closed today. Today’s regularly scheduled Muncie City Council Meeting has been rescheduled to January 10th due to city hall being closed today. The Delaware County building is OPEN for business today and the county commissioners meeting will begin at 9 AM in the commissioners court room.
The Muncie paper reports a New Castle man has been accused of holding a five-year-old child’s head under water as she took a bath. 53 year old Jamie D. Asberry was charged last week in Henry Circuit Court 2 with domestic battery resulting in bodily injury to a person under the age of 14 and neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury. Both charges are Level 5 felonies carrying up to six years in prison.
Delaware Advancement Corporation, City of Muncie, and the Muncie Sanitary District have awarded three individual contracts to E&B Paving, 3D Construction, and DC Construction Services to install a pedestrian trail, repave Riverside Avenue, and reconstruct the Riverside-Jackson Street Intersection. Each project includes extensive storm water infrastructure improvements and will begin in 2022.
The seventh annual Neighborhood I.D.E.A. Conference has been scheduled for March 5, 2022 on the Ball State campus. The theme of the conference is Intentional Development and Education for Association members. IDEA brings together leaders representing Muncie’s neighborhoods to develop and strengthen community-building skills. IDEA presenters will provide leadership training, share best practice strategies for grant-writing and project funding, and discuss ways to engage residents, as well as how to recruit and retain volunteers.
In a 2021 year-end report, the Muncie YWCA Emergency Shelter Program indicated they provided over 776 beds for women and women with children. They kept 106 mothers and their 70 children safe; Helped over 60 families find permanent housing; and they assisted 96 women in obtaining employment. Finally, they helped 44 women go back to school.
A Muncie man was arrested after emergency dispatchers received “multiple reports” of gunfire in the 100 block of South Dicks Street, southeast of the Ball State University campus. According to Melissa Pease, deputy chief with the Muncie Police Department, officers received information that led them to an apartment at 111 S. Dicks St. 34 year old Daytreion Marcell Jones was arrested on preliminary counts of criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.
A standoff between a woman and Fishers police ended peacefully. The Fishers Police Department says a domestic disturbance led to the standoff. The woman drove to the intersection of 116th Street and Olio Road and parked her SUV, blocking traffic. Police closed that section of 116th street for several hours, while SWAT team members negotiated with the woman. She finally surrendered and no one was hurt. She was taken to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation.
According to the Muncie paper, 11 families and 37 people from Afghanistan have settled in Muncie. The Muncie community offered the new residents places to live, furniture, clothing and financial assistance. Some are already employed or enrolled in our local schools. Financial donations have amounted to $137,000 so far.
Some Madison County governing bodies are planning to meet virtually in the new year amid a surge in COVID-19 infections that has led the state to raise Madison County’s advisory level from orange to red. The Alexandria and Elwood city councils and boards plan to meet virtually this evening. As they have in the past, Alexandria’s council will meet at 6 p.m. on the Zoom platform, and Elwood will meet at 7 p.m. by conference call.
The Band “Skerryvore” will perform at Pruis Hall on January 13th. The Scottish band combines a contemporary mix of fiddle, accordions, pipes and whistles, alongside guitar and vocals. Tickets are available through the Emens box office by phone or at Ticketmaster.com.
Hospital leaders throughout Indiana are pushing back on the attorney generals beliefs regarding the pandemic. Indiana attorney general Todd Rokita has blamed hospitals themselves for causing staff shortages because most require workers to be vaccinated for COVID — and firing workers who refuse. Indiana Hospital Association president Brian Tabor says hospitals have only fired about one-percent of workers. Tabor says the real reason for staffing shortages is burnout among hospital workers — who are fed up with the surge in patients and are either quitting or moving to non-frontline jobs.
An Anderson man has died after suffering injuries during what police say may have been a home invasion. The Anderson Police Department says officers were called to the 1700 block of Lockerbie Court on Friday on a possible robbery of a home. 24 year old Devin Swain, —also known as Anderson rapper ‘Lil Devin’ —was found with injuries to his chest. He was transported to an area hospital, where he later died. The Madison County Coroner’s Office will determine the cause of Swain’s death.
Three recent donations totaling $6,000 helped send the Empty Stocking Fund skyrocketing past the $25,000 campaign goal. The campaign total reached a record $29,584.50 through last Thursday. The previous eight-year high, accumulated in 2020, was $27,365.07. The Empty Stocking Fund helps the Salvation Army with gifts for children and provides food and other necessities year-round to local families in need.
An Indiana man suspected of killing his girlfriend just days before Christmas has been apprehended at a rest stop along a Massachusetts highway, according to state police. Massachusetts State Police troopers and federal marshals located Alexander Ortiz, of Anderson, Indiana, parked at a rest stop along Interstate 95 just outside of Boston. He was arraigned as a fugitive from justice and is being held pending rendition proceedings.
Some Madison County governing bodies are planning to meet virtually in the new year amid a surge in COVID-19 infections that has led the state to raise Madison County’s advisory level from orange to red. The Alexandria and Elwood city councils and boards plan to meet virtually this evening. As they have in the past, Alexandria’s council will meet at 6 p.m. on the Zoom platform, and Elwood will meet at 7 p.m. by conference call.
