The Indy Fuel leaned on special teams and timely scoring Friday night to earn a 4-2 win over the Fort Wayne Komets at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

After falling behind early to a goal from former Fuel forward Zach Jordan, Indy responded with a power play tally from Matus Spodniak and a quick follow-up by Darby Llewellyn to take a 2-1 lead late in the first. Jordan struck again, this time with a shorthanded goal, to knot the game 2-2 before the first intermission.

The second period saw no scoring but plenty of penalties, as both teams battled to gain the edge. Fuel goaltending and the penalty kill unit stood strong, fending off several Komets power plays.

The turning point came early in the third when Llewellyn struck again—this time shorthanded—for his second of the game and fourth shorthanded goal of the season. The Fuel held tight defensively the rest of the way, and Kevin Lynch sealed the win with an empty netter at 18:48.

With the win, the Fuel stay in fourth place in the Central Division with 68 points, maintaining their edge over Bloomington and Kalamazoo, who sit just behind with 64.

It was a big night in Fishers as professional football came to our fair city for the first time.  The Indoor Football League’s (IFL’s) one expansion franchise this season, the Fishers Freight, kicked off its first home game Friday night.  A raucous crowd of about 5,600 fans left the Fishers Event Center happy with a 40-29 win over the Tulsa Oilers.

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness, IFL Commissioner Todd Tryon, and Freight owners Jim & Sean Hallett, greeted the fans just before the kickoff, celebrating the big night for Fishers.

Dixie Wooten and his squad provided an exciting game where the Freight scored early and never trailed  Friday night.  After the game, the Freight coach and general manager gave all the credit for the team’s early success to Jim Hallett, Sean Hallett and team President Larry McQueary for providing the front office support.  The Freight may be an expansion franchise, but the team has started 2-0 with their first game on the road at Northern Arizona a Fishers win.

The Freight picked up three rushing touchdowns from quarterback Jiya Wright with JT Stokes coming up with big plays in the passing game.  The defense came through when the chips were down, particularly in the 4th quarter when Tulsa made moves to bring themselves back into the game.

Tulsa hurt themselves with key penalties, particularly when kicker Mike Baloga missed a field goal attempt with 3:21 left in the game, but the Oilers were called for a roughing the snapper penalty.  That gave the Freight a first down on the Tulsa 6 yard line and resulted in Jiya Wright quarterback keeper run touchdown, putting the contest out of the Tulsa’s reach.

Coach Wooten was clearly miffed about a taunting penalty late in the game by the Freight, but in the end did not impact the outcome.

The Freight next travel to Massachusetts, Saturday, April 12.  Fishers is back at the Event Center Saturday, April 19, taking on the Bay Area Panthers.

The Indianapolis Star has sponsored a series of all-star games with Indiana seniors pitted against the best high school hoops seniors from Kentucky since 1940.  The 2025 team has been announced and for the second consecutive year, a Fishers High School senior has been named to the team.

The Star announced the team Friday and Tiger Justin Kirby will be a part of the Indiana All-Star squad.

“Justin’s story is 1 of true perseverance & work,” says a social media post by the Fishers basketball account. “He is 1 of the most improved players in Indiana & has earned this. Congrats, Kirb, we are proud of you!”

Keenan Garner represented the Tigers on last year’s all-star team.

For more on the 2025 team, read the Star story at this link.  (Note:  You may not have access to this story unless you are an IndyStar subscriber)

I was unable to attend the April meeting of the Fishers Plan Commission, but Current Publishing reporter Leila Kheiry did post a report online.  It is highly unusual for the Commission to end up with a tie vote on any proposal before that body, but that’s what happened in this case.  It’s all about a proposed residential development off Cumberland Road near Deering Street, just north of 106th Street.

Reporter Keiry has the details in her story available at this link.

It would appear the Cadillac Formula One team set to occupy the new under-construction facility in Fishers is anticipating more visitors.  The developer constructing the F1 building has bought the Springhill Suites hotel next door.

Indianapolis Business Journal reporter Daniel Bradley posted the story on the IBJ Web site Friday morning.  You can read the piece at this link    (Note:  It is likely you will need a subscription to IBJ in order to access this story).

Television station WTHR is reporting an HSE High School student’s car was searched on school grounds as part of a disciplinary investigation and a gun was found by school officials.  A school Resource Officer and Fishers Police were immediately notified.

WTHR cites a message sent to parents by Superintendent Patrick Mapes saying there is no indication this student was preparing to carry out “any act of violence.”

Read the WTHR story at this link.

One of Conner Prairie’s biggest summer offerings is the Symphony on the Prairie.  The lineup for 2025 has been announced, and once again features a wide variety of offerings.

See the item below for more details on tickets, contact the Symphony Box Office phone number, 317-639-4300, Wed – Fri 10 a.m – 5 p.m.

The Indy Fuel battled their way to a crucial 3-2 victory over the Toledo Walleye in a thrilling shootout Tuesday night at the Fishers Event Center.

The Walleye struck first with a late first-period goal by Mitchell Lewandowski, despite being outshot by Indy 10-6. The Fuel responded in the second period when Jarrett Lee capitalized on a power play to tie the game at 1-1. However, Toledo regained the lead on a power-play goal by Cole Gallant, sending Indy into the final period trailing 2-1.

With just under seven minutes left in regulation, Kevin Lynch netted the equalizer on another Fuel power play, sending the game into overtime. Despite several close calls, both teams remained deadlocked, forcing a shootout.

In the four-round shootout, Brandon Hawkins put Toledo ahead early, but Lynch and Cam Hausinger responded with clutch goals for Indy. Goaltender Ben Gaudreau stood tall in the net, sealing the Fuel’s hard-fought 3-2 victory and securing two valuable points in the Central Division standings.

The Fuel will look to build on their momentum when they return to action Saturday, April 5, 7pm, facing the intrastate rival Fort Wayne Komets.

As Central Indiana communities face increasing housing costs, rapid population growth, and evolving workforce needs, HAND Inc. is convening local leaders and experts to discuss innovative solutions at the 2025 Suburban Housing Conference. Scheduled for Wednesday, April 30, at the IMMI Conference Center in Westfield, the event is presented by the Hamilton County Community Foundation.

Now in its 11th year, the conference serves as a critical forum for elected officials, business leaders, nonprofit professionals, and real estate experts to address one of Indiana’s most pressing issues: ensuring suburban housing is accessible and sustainable for all residents. Continue reading Suburban Housing Conference to Tackle Affordability Challenges in Central Indiana →

The Indiana General Assembly is charged with fashioning budgets and enacting laws for our Hoosier state. We face a number of issues with economics, healthcare, taxes and the list goes on and on.

With so many genuine problems facing our state lawmakers, I question why so many of our elected officials are spending so much time and effort on a bill over school board elections.  Indiana is one of more than 40 states that elect our school board members in nonpartisan elections.

The Indiana Senate has passed a bill transforming our nonpartisan school boards into partisan political contests.  The Indiana House spent a good amount of time Monday debating a similar bill that ended up passing by a vote of 54-40.

According to reporting from Aleksandra Appleton of Chalkbeat Indiana,  the Senate measure calls for school board elections to be run like any other partisan election, with candidates running in primary elections.  Here is Ms. Appleton’s summary of the more complex House bill:

“The bill passed by the House on Monday gives school board candidates the option to state a party affiliation, identify as independent, or remain nonpartisan in general elections. It creates mechanisms for county parties to challenge an affiliation, and provides that a straight ticket vote does not apply to school board offices. It also provides raises to school board members.”

With the two proposed laws differing as they do, a conference committee would likely need to come up with a final version, unless the Senate just goes along with the House measure.  The pay raise for school board members in the House bill would bring it up from the current $2,000 per year maximum to a sum not to exceed 10% of the lowest starting teacher salary in that district.

As I have written before, having covered tons of school board elections going back to the 1970s, I just do not see any problem with nonpartisan school board elections.  Keeping party politics out of school board elections has worked well here and in most of the nation.  What exactly are we trying to fix here?

Although it appears some version of partisan school board elections is on the way, it is not a totally done deal.  Indiana legislators have been known to kill a proposed law at this stage of the game.

This law would prevent federal employees and private operation employees, with the businesses receiving substantial federal funding, from running in Indiana school board elections under the federal Hatch Act.  As long the elections are nonpartisan, those citizens may run for office.

Partisan school board elections create problems rather than solving them. Lawmakers should focus on real issues that affect Hoosiers’ daily lives.