The Southeastern Swim Club and Hamilton Southeastern High School Athletic Department announced Wednesay that Christian Hanselmann has been hired as  the new Head Coach, pending school approval.  He will take over as head coach of the HSE High School boys and girls swim & dive teams.

Christian Hanselmann’s resume includes a degree from Brigham Young University in 2014 where he was a 2-year Letterman on the swim team and studied Biomechanics and Exercise Physiology. He also completed his Masters degree in Sports Psychology in 2015 at the University of Tennessee. Past coaching experience includes Eastern Michigan University, University of Tennessee, and most recently the Carmel Swim Club (Indiana).

Josh White joins the podcast talking about cars in films.  We have reviews of Quiet Place part 2, Cruella and more in this episode of the Grade A Movies Podcast, with Adam Aasen, Alec Toombs and Larry Lannan.

For most of the last 30 years or so, Janet Chandler has been serving as President of the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association, but that is about to change.  Abby Taylor will soon begin her tenure as president of the local group representing teachers in the HSE School District.

I spoke with both Abby Taylor and Janet Chandler in this podcast.  We talked about the challenges local teachers faced this past school year with a pandemic, changes in class start times for different grade levels in the coming school year, diversity & inclusion in school curriculum and much more.

This is a very tough period for journalism.  I made my living as a reporter for nearly 10 years (1970s & early 80s) and have written this volunteer local news blog for more than 9 years.  I am very concerned about the state of the news business now.  Here are just a few reasons why.

First, Alden Global Capital appears to be the new owner of the Chicago Tribune, one of the premier newspapers in one of America’s largest metropolitan areas.  Alden is a hedge fund.

The experience so far of hedge funds buying newspapers illustrates that staff will be cut savagely, maximizing the profit margins with little or no regard to how it impacts news coverage.  Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with news organizations making a profit, but the hedge fund history of an insatiable desire for higher and higher profit margins has the newspaper Guild in Chicago plenty worried.

If Alden does what other hedge funds have done in the past, look for massive layoffs of journalists at the Tribune.  I would hope that doesn’t happen, but I’m not optimistic.

It should be noted that the Tribune Company owns newspapers in other eastern U.S. markets, including Baltimore, Orlando and many more.

The second item of note deals with CNN and Chris Cuomo.  As you may know, his brother Andrew happens to be the governor of New York.  Whenever I saw Chris interviewing brother Andrew on his prime time CNN talk show, I cringed.  Why is CNN allowing a prime-time host to interview his own brother?  I saw that as a bad look for CNN.

Now, we know it was much worse than that.  It has come to light that Andrew Cuomo received advice on how to handle sexual harassment allegations from his brother Chris.  That crossed an even brighter line on what a news person should not do.

Chris Cuomo went on his program and apologized, but the stain remains.  Why did CNN ever get itself into this situation?  A clear policy keeping Chris out of brother Andrew’s political affairs would likely have prevented this from the start.

Back in Chicago, African-American Mayor Lori Lightfoot is now commemorating her first two years in office.  As a result, media outlets have been asking for interviews with the mayor.  She announced just days ago she will only grant interviews to reporters of color.  Needless to say, this has created a firestorm of controversy.

Lightfoot says this is a way of highlighting how few non-white reporters have been assigned to cover Chicago City Hall.  The mayor makes a valid point, and this is a problem in newsrooms throughout the nation.

However, news outlets must be able to independently decide which reporters are assigned to any particular beat.  This is a simple exercise of press freedoms that is part of our American traditions and our constitution.

Both the mayor and the news directors & editors all have a point.  I hope they all find a way to solve this.

Here in Fishers, there is plenty of news to cover.  We may be getting a new City Hall because the old one is literally falling apart.  Our local school board is preparing to transition from one superintendent that is retiring to a new one taking the helm on July 1.

I try to provide straightforward reporting on meetings and issues I cover.  On occasion, I will write commentary but only when I feel it is absolutely necessary and no one else is writing about a particular issue.

LarryInFishers.com is about 9 ½ years old.  I tried to quit once, but the pandemic brought me back.  Don’t ask me why, but I am still at this computer keyboard pounding out stories.

The state of local news is bad, very bad.  That’s why the plight of the Tribune Company with all its newspapers is important to us all.  Local newspapers are either folding or drastically cutting-back on reporting staff nation-wide.  This is why I continue blogging, covering the stories that do not always receive coverage from other news outlets.

We all must be vigilant about a free media that can report to you, independently, what is happening in any local community.  I look at the numbers of people reading this blog and listening to my podcasts and I know there is a hunger for local news.  Let’s find a way to deliver that product profitably.

Director Luke Holland tragically died before he could finish a film project he began in 2008, a documentary about the Holocaust and Nazi Germany, Final Account.  Other filmmakers finished the project.  Is the finished product worth seeing?  Here is my review.

The Fishers Health Department has some good news in the weekly update, with positive tests down and vaccinations continuing.

Here is the release, from the Health Department:

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		Fishers Metrics Review Positive tests have decreased over the past week. On the vaccination front, 62% of Fishers residents ages 12+ have received their first dose, and 52.5% are fully vaccinated, which is outpacing other counties in Indiana. View the full review of metrics.
		Ages 12+ Now Eligible for Vaccine Everyone ages 12 and older are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine (ages 12-17 can only receive the Pfizer vaccine). Walk-in and prescheduled appointments are available at the Fishers Mass Vaccination Site, and all 3 vaccine types are available for ages 18+. Schedule ahead at ourshot.in.gov or call 2-1-1 or the Fishers COVID Hotline at 317-595-3211. An adult must accompany ages 12-15 to the vaccine appointment. If the adult present is not the parent or guardian, consent must be submitted in advance. For anyone ages 16-17, it’s preferred that a parent or guardian accompany the minor to the vaccination site. If not possible, the parent or guardian can provide written or verbal authorization. Fishers Mass Vaccination Site Walk-In Hours: Monday: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Tuesday: noon – 6 p.m. Wednesday: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Thursday: noon – 6 p.m. Friday: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday: 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. and at The Fishers Farmers’ Market from 8:30 a.m. – noon. Learn more. Sunday: Closed
		New Guidelines: No Masks Required for Fully Vaccinated Individuals The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that fully vaccinated people (2 weeks after their 2nd Moderna or Pfizer shot or 2 weeks after their Johnson & Johnson shot) no longer need to wear a mask or physically distance in any setting, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance. Learn more.

State Road 37 construction continues and the city prepares to close 116th Street at the Nickel Plate Trail for 60 days starting June 1st.

Those are just a couple of the major road construction projects on the list.  Here is the latest update, as provided by the City of Fishers:

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Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools should not move forward with reconfiguring grade levels at this time, but should “commit to a middle level concept,” based on recommendations from a study group.  The panel also recommended pursuing the implementation of a feeder system.

That was based on a presentation Tuesday morning at a school board work session.

The Feeder and Reconfiguration Study Committee was created once the Operation Right Time Advisory Committee (ORTAG) finished its work.  The committee was made up of 44 members representing 15 school buildings.  The group included school administrators from central office and school buildings, teachers, parents and students.

The committee met seven times from February 2nd through May 3rd.

Currently, HSE Schools are configured this way – kindergarten through 4th grade are at the elementary level, grades 5 & 6 are intermediate, 7th and 8th graders are in junior high buildings and high schools are grades 9-12.

The committee studied reconfiguring the grades and buildings, with grades kindergarten through 5th grade in elementary buildings, grades 6-8 in middle schools and grades 9-12 in high schools.

Matt Kegley, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching & Learning, reviewed with the board the many scenarios studied by the members of the committee, along with the associated cost.

The group concluded that reconfiguration would need time to implement, from a cost and building standpoint, as well as adjusting staff.  For example, if fifth-graders are to be in elementary schools, then the current fifth grade teachers would need to move from intermediate schools to the elementary buildings.

That’s why the members of the group suggest committing to a “middle school concept” first.

However, committee members did say the school district should “pursue the implementation of a feeder system.”

According to Kegley, the feeder system means that your path forward through the school system would be controlled by the elementary school the student attends.   There would be no need to redistrict above the elementary school level under this structure.

Superintendent Allen Bourff told the board studies have shown that the fewer transitions students must make, the better the educational outcome.  That’s why moving to a middle school system in the future has merit, said Bourff.

One other recommendation from the committee calls for the school district to conduct an updated demographic study.

You can view the entire presentation made by Dr. Kegley to the school board at this link.

With weather warming and COVID vaccinations allowing people to get out more in their local neighborhoods, you may be seeing golf carts on your streets.  The question is often asked, are there rules governing golf carts on city streets?

The answer to that question is yes, the City of Fishers has a golf cart ordinance and failure to comply can lead to a $50 fine for the first offense, $100 for a second infraction and $250 for a third violation and each one after that.

So, what does the Fishers ordinance say?

First, you can drive your golf cart on your neighborhood streets only after at least 75% of the subdivision property owners consent and the vote is certified.  According to the ordinance, the area must have “proper signage in the designated locations” where golf carts are allowed on the streets.

According to the Fishers Police Department, only four neighborhoods meet the requirements of the ordinance and may legally allow golf carts on the streets.  They are:

–Britton Falls

–Thorpe Creek

–Intracoastal At Geist

–Graystone

Here is the full news release from the Fishers Police Department reminding local residents of the ordinance:

Continue reading Fishers & the golf cart ordinance →

This year’s Fishers Memorial Day celebration will feature the dedication of a new memorial on the Central Green, just south of City Hall.  Gold Star families will be honored with this memorial.

The Fishers Memorial Day celebration will be held Monday, May 31, at 10am, in front of City Hall (1 Municipal Drive).

Fishers city officials highly encourage Gold Star Families to register in advance so that the city can appropriately honor them. Masks are recommended for individuals who are unvaccinated. Learn more at fishers.in.us/FishersHonors.