What do the following Indiana cities have in common – Indianapolis, Evansville, Spencer, Bloomington, Lafayette, Mooresville, Martinsville, Muncie, Richmond, South Bend and Bedford?

All those Hoosier cities have newspapers owned by the largest chain in the nation, Gannett.  Why is this fact important now?

Because, after a wave of recent job cuts, Gannett is once again lowering the boom on its own employees.

Just last week, the top brass at Gannett gave its own workers some very bad news.  Each employee must take one week of unpaid leave in December and the corporation is looking for volunteers to take buyouts and leave the company.  That’s just the start.

On October 24th, the 401(k) retirement program will no longer match employee contributions to the plan.   This was announced 2 months following layoffs of 400 employees and a decision not to fill 400 open positions.

My understanding is the only reason the Indianapolis Star did not have any layoffs 2 months ago was due to the number of unfilled jobs.  Although no one at the Star lost a job, the remaining journalists will be covering more news with fewer people.

It is clear the business of journalism is not doing well, at least not at Gannett.  According to the Poynter Institute, a well-regarded nonprofit covering American journalism, Gannett had a $54 million loss in the second quarter of this year.

Gannett became much larger after a merger with Gatehouse newspapers but it saddled the company with $1 billion in debt.

From everything I am reading, Gannett is doing everything possible to avoid more layoffs.  But with the numbers publicly known, this will be a large task.

The Indianapolis Star is the state’s largest newspaper and news organizations throughout the state look to that staff for leadership in Hoosier journalism.  With the number of journalists there going down over a number of years, that has an impact on how news is covered throughout the state.

I know many of the journalists working at the Star and there is no doubt in my mind that each and every one of them is dedicated to the profession of journalism.  The Star continues to produce amazing reporting.  I just wonder how long that can continue with a reduced staff at a time when there is so much news to cover.

I saw a Twitter post recently from a reporter I respect, and was dismayed at the message.  That reporter can no longer recommend a career in journalism to students in high school and college today.  The business of news is not good and there is no prospect at the moment to find a business model that works better.

There is something you can do to help get journalism back on its feet – subscribe to your local media.  Online subscriptions are not that expensive.

In the meantime, my hearts go out to the reporters and editors that continue to pursue the news as best they can against the financial headwinds of today.

Thanks for reading this.  I may just be a small local volunteer blog, but I try to make this journalism as best as one person can.

Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools released a statement Friday afternoon citing improvements planned after Fishers City Judge, and local attorney, Dan Henke submitted a report on a classroom incident, but local group Fishers One describes the statement as “vague.”

Fishers One Founder Diane Eaton says members of her organization “are simply appalled by the weak response of the HSE administration.  The lack of action items, accountability, discipline, sensitivity and transparency continues to demonstrate a lack of leadership and a school culture that fosters disrespect and contempt for law enforcement.”

The Friday HSE statement did not provide details of what Judge Henke included in the report that gave the results of his investigation into the classroom incident.  The school district said in the statement –  “The report has a significant amount of student information. The district does not have consent to release the report with this information.”

Instead, school officials laid out improvements it plans to implement as a result of Judge Henke’s report.

The classroom incident deals with Elwood Police Officer Noah Shahnavaz, who died in the line of duty.  Officer Shahnavaz’ brother was in a classroom at an HSE school and saw a “Defund The Police?” poster.  Judge Henke’s investigation was to determine what happened in that classroom incident.

Fishers One argues that HSE Schools has demonstrated a “lack of transparency.”  The organization is backing four candidates for HSE School Board – Tiffany Pascoe, Dr. Juanita Albright, Dawn Lang and Ben Orr.

If the City Council approves in November, sometime in 2023 you will begin to see placards in Fishers restaurants with a grade attached to their latest inspection by the Health Department

The Fishers City Council gave first reading October 10 to the plan that has already been presented to the city’s Board of Health and explained at a recent City Council work session.  The Council is expected to take a final vote on the proposal in November  The Fishers Health Department has held two Webinars explaining the plans to restaurant owners and managers.

If the City Council provides its final stamp of approval on the plans, the Health Department will begin to utilize the state inspection grading system for restaurant inspections, convert that to numbers and convert the numbers to a letter grade – A, B or C. An eatery with a grade of less than a C (or 60 points) would be temporarily closed and would re-open after all priority violations have been corrected and imminent health hazards eliminated.

How often an establishment is inspected depends on the grade.  For example, a restaurant earning an A grade  would likely be inspected again in about 12 months.  Those with a B grade should expect 1 or 2 more inspections in the same year.  A C grade would result in 3-4 inspections per year.

Fishers Public Health Director Monica Heltz says the Health Department will begin gearing up for the inspection program, if enacted by the City Council, in November, in 2023.

So it is possible you will begin to see those placards at Fishers restaurants with the grade from their Health Department inspection in 2023.

For more details on this program, use this link.

My series of podcasts featuring Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board candidates continues.  In this podcast, Fishers High School student Casey Alexander joins me in questioning incumbent board member Julie Chambers, who is seeking another term on th board.

Fishers City Judge Dan Henke has submitted his report on a class incident at an HSE school and the school district says it will make improvements as a result, but is not disclosing details of Judge Henke’s findings, due to “a significant amount of student information.”

According to a statement issued Friday afternoon, the school district says it does not have the proper consent to release the report with this information.

Although Judge Henke’s findings were not released, the HSE District says it plans to use the report “to create and build upon current procedures for the  re-entry of students following a traumatic event.”

Below is the summary provided by school officials on improvements to be implemented:

• School administration, counselor and/or school social worker will contact the
affected student and family to offer a re-entry meeting to determine a plan for ongoing supports and what information they are comfortable with sharing to create
safeguards.

• Notify appropriate teachers and staff to discuss instructional and social emotional
supports needed, including changes to the classroom environment and/or student’s
schedule.

• School administration will provide oversight and regular check-ins with affected
student and applicable staff to monitor student’s transition to school and report any
possible stressors.

Judge Henke was asked to investigate an incident involving a “Defund the Police?” poster in a high school classroom.  According to school officials, the brother of Officer Noah Shahnavaz saw the poster in the class and that resulted in an apology from the school board, assuring the community the school district does not believe in defunding the police and the poster was a student project from the previous year.

Officer Noah Shahnavaz, a Fishers resident, died in the line of duty as part of the Elwood Police Department.

“HSE is committed to doing everything possible to ensure all students feel safe, accepted and supported while in school, and supporting teachers in this endeavor,” the HSE Schools statement says. “Additionally, HSE has already begun organizing a regularly scheduled meeting with local law enforcement and public safety officials to improve communications and cultivate the trust of the community.”

The HSE School District is establishing a part of its Web site to this commitment of making improvements, which can be found at this link.

STATE ROAD 37 AND 135TH STREET
135th Street at State Road 37 is open.  Access onto and off of SR37 at 135th Street is right-in/right-out only.   


Please drive with caution through this area. To learn more about the State Road 37 Improvement Project and sign up to receive text updates, visit 37Thrives.com.

116TH STREET
The outside westbound lane on 116th Street at the Sand Creek bridge will be closed on Wednesday, October 19th, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm to allow crews to do curb repair. 

116TH STREET
During the week of October 17th, eastbound lanes of 116th Street between Regency Drive and Municipal Drive will be restricted down to one lane between the hours of 7:00 am and 3:00 pm.  The restrictions will switch during the week as work on the road repair progresses.  Fishers Center Drive, on the south side of 116th Street will be closed completely to allow for staging of equipment and material.  Alternate routes to the businesses on the south side of 116th Street will be from Moore Street and Fishers Pointe Blvd. onto South Street.  See map here for details on closure.   

ADA ramp and curb reconstruction is currently taking place in Grey Eagle as part of the 2022 Resurfacing Project. Homeowners will be notified via door hangers prior to any curb reconstruction near their home. After ADA ramp and curb reconstruction is completed, those areas will be restored with topsoil and seed. It is the responsibility of the homeowner to water the seed for the seed to germinate. Prior to road resurfacing, residents will be notified via street signage for street parking restrictions.

At Monday’s City Council session, new district boundaries for council members were approved.  Six council seats are elected within their districts, three seats are at-large and elected by the entire city electorate.

The Gray Eagle neighborhood had been divided between two council districts and changes were made to include the entire subdivision under one council district at the urging of residents there.

Councilor Jocelyn Vare expressed concerns that another neighborhood would be divided under the new map and she could not see because, in her view, the map did not drill down into enough detail to see lines at the street level.

Council President Todd Zimmerman said, in his view, the map is good.

“We have a bipartisan council here, nobody was drawn out their…district, and we accommodated everything possible,” Zimmerman said.

I first met John Wechsler in 2012, shortly after starting this local Fishers news blog.  He and then-Town Manager Scott Fadness had fashioned a proposal put before the Town Council to start a co-working space operation named Launch Fishers.

It’s first location was the lower level of the Hamilton East Library in downtown Fishers.  Launch later moved into larger quarters just off Technology Drive and the library transformed that space into the current Ignite studios.

John Wechsler remained the leader of Launch Fishers since its inception in 2012.  Today, John is no longer the day-to-day leader of Launch Fishers, but remains on its board of directors and is a supporter of the operation.

John has moved to his next challenge, a new tech startup business called spokenote.  As it was explained to me, spokenote can add a video component to almost anything.  One example I was given was sending someone flowers.  With spokenote, you can add a video message by scanning with your cell phone.

Business must be good for spokenote because it is announcing a major expansion in Fishers. The firm says it is creating up to 300 new positions in what the company describes as high-wage jobs, by the end of 2026.

“Indiana continues to position itself as a leader in entrepreneurship and in tech innovation, making us the perfect place for spokenote to launch and grow,” said Governor Eric J. Holcomb in an Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) news release. “I couldn’t be more grateful for them choosing Indiana among a world of options and for the hundreds of high-tech, high-wage jobs they will create for Hoosiers in central Indiana.”

spokenote plans to invest $2.95 million to establish and grow its headquarters in the Certified Technology Park in Fishers, the same office park that houses Launch Fishers. spokenote will locate in and equip a 4,000-square-foot office in the Techway building, which is currently being redeveloped, and plans to invest in new hardware and equipment to support its growing team. The company plans to move from its current location in the Indiana IoT Lab to its new headquarters in fourth quarter 2022.

“We are very excited about our prospects for growth, and having the support from our state and local government makes a real impact in our expansion plans,” said John Wechsler in th same state news release. “Between the thriving innovation ecosystem in Fishers, and the financial incentives from the state, we’re confident in our ability to generate new jobs and create economic value in Indiana.”

The IEDC is providing incentives for spokenote, including the Venture Capital Investment (VCI) tax credit, and up to $165,000 in training grants. These tax credits are performance-based, meaning the company is eligible to  claim incentives once local people are hired and trained. The city of Fishers offered additional training grants to support the company.

“John Wechsler and his spokenote team have built an incredible product platform as they join the growing list of companies that have graduated from Launch Fishers,” said Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness. “As spokenote creates connections around the world, we can all be proud of the fact that it all began here in Fishers.”

One editor’s note – spokenote wants its company name to be written in all small letters, which is why I have not capitalized any letters in the firm’s name, even when used as the first word in a sentence.

There had been anticipation that the Hamilton Southeastern School Board will vote Wednesday night on whether to join the 5 other Hamilton County school districts in the Pursuit Institute, but the issue was removed from the meeting agenda.  School officials say there will be more meetings to clarify questions before the board votes on the proposal, likely in the next board meeting scheduled 2 weeks from now.

The Pursuit Institute is an idea with one-time funding from Hamilton County to form a Career Technical Education (CTE) program for the school districts in the county.

The board did receive a report from Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Katy Dowling estimating the total HSE Schools spending plan for 2023, including all funds, at $287 million.  The largest fund is the Education Fund, which is expected to come in at $151 million.  The school district’s share of the tax rate is expected to decrease from the previous year.  Dowling told the board to expect a tax rate of 1.1954 in 2023, compared to the 2022 rate of 1.2376.  A final vote on the 2023 district budget is expected at the next regular board meeting.

The school corporation continues to need more substitute teachers and has a marketing program to draw more people into the program.  You can review the presentation to the board at this link

Food Service Director Karen Ogden told board members that all positions in the school food service operations are not filled, but she is making progress.

Finally, the Snapshot of Success featured the Fishers High School Tutoring Club.  The club began about 1 year ago as a student-driven club, preparing middle school students for high school by helping them with their schoolwork and offering extra academic support. Fishers Tutors aims to help students academically as much as they can before students enter into the next phase of their academic career when their GPA begins to accrue. The pandemic put a lot of stress on students and caused some students to fall behind, so Fishers Tutors was created to provide support to students who need help with any subject. The group also was awarded a Project AWARE Student Led Engagement Grant in March 2022 to assist them in their work at the junior high school.

View a video about Fishers Tutors at this link.

Fishers does not have many bank robberies, but one was reported Tuesday afternoon along the border with Indianapolis.  Police were called to the Star Bank at 8762 E. 96th Street, near Lantern Road, on the report of an armed robbery.

While officers were on the way to the scene, they were informed the suspects had already fled the scene.  A perimeter was established but, so far, no suspects have been arrested.

According to investigating detectives, the suspect entered the bank, approached a bank employee, displayed a handgun, and demanded cash. The employee complied and was not injured. Witnesses describe the suspect a white male, 20-30 years old, wearing a disguise.

Anyone with information should contact Detective Arndt at 317-595-3300.