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BUNKER HILL, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — The Grissom Air Reserve Base in Bunker Hill is in the running to serve as a Main Operating Base for the nation’s newest refueling planes for the U.S. Air Force, which would bring 175 jobs to the region. The Miami County Economic Development Authority says Indiana’s congressional delegation sent a letter to the Secretary of the Air Force urging him to consider Grissom.

Miami County EDA Executive Director Jim Tidd tells Inside INdiana Business that Grissom is one of six reserve banks being considered for the KC-46A Pegasus mid-air refueling and transport aircraft.

If selected, it would be the first active-duty Air Force unit at Grissom since it was changed to a reserve base in 1994.

Tidd says the decision would bring 12 aircraft and 175 active-duty airmen and supporting staff to the community. The new planes would replace the older KC-135 Stratotankers, which currently reside at the airbase in Miami County.

The letter, which was signed by seven U.S. representatives and both senators, said Grissom is “an optimal facility” to host the planes.

“Grissom allows for superior mission effectiveness with proximity to refueling tracks and airspace availability. The base boasts ample capacity to support additional aircraft, including hangar, runway and ramp capacity, and is located in an exceptionally low-cost area with minimal environmental concerns,” stated the letter.

The letter also points to a recently installed fuel hydrant system that is compatible with the new plane.

Tidd says a coalition of communities, chambers of commerce and economic development officials are collaborating with the 434rd Wing commander to present their case to the Air Force.

Tidd says the base must file its report to the Air Force by July 25. A selection is expected by October 1.

The USAF says site surveys of each candidate base will be conducted this summer and will be assessed on operational requirements, potential impacts to missions, housing, infrastructure and manpower.

The other bases under consideration are Beale Air Force Base, California, Joint Base Andrews-Naval Air Field Washington, Maryland, March ARB, California, Niagara Falls ARB, New York, and Tinker AFB, Oklahoma.

BUNKER HILL, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — A sign now adorns the side of a nondescript building at the Grissom Aeroplex business park in Bunker Hill that gives passersby a slight indication of the life-changing medical work that will be conducted inside. Life sciences company AZIsotopes Corp. has begun running tests on its massive cyclotron in the facility along U.S. 31 in Miami County where the company will produce medical isotopes.

The isotopes are used in a variety of applications, including diagnostic imaging and therapeutic treatment of cancer.

In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Chief Executive Officer Greg Brooksby said, the company plans to start delivery of the radiopharmaceuticals this summer.

“It is up and functional. It is not producing product yet, but there are a lot of steps you have to go through to certify one of these machines,” said Brooksby. “We will be… probably making product in June, July and shipping product out in July, August. We are right on pace.”

The company acquired a 55,000-square-foot shell building in 2019 and is spending $45 million to outfit a portion of the building with two 70-ton magnets that rearrange atomic particles to create isotopes.

“We can diagnose problems inside your body, like with cardiovascular system, arteries, so on and so forth. But we can also create isotopes to treat cancer,” said Brooksby. “We’re creating isotopes that are the leading isotopes for prostate cancer, working on some for brain cancer, or working on multiple different types of cancer.”

While the company is still working to get the system operational and is fine-tuning its systems, Brooksby says demand is already weighing heavily on the company.

“Right now, if we had seven of these machines just like this today, we would not be able to meet demand in the U.S. as it is. That’s seven of these machines. That’s how high the demand is,” said Brooksby.

Brooksby says being located adjacent to the Grissom Air Reserve Base and its 12,000-foot-long runway will help the company serve its international clientele.

“We’ve got demand coming out of Australia and Europe. And they are willing to charter planes to fly to our facility. And they love the fact that we have that access to that airstrip. And this goes back to what Indiana has done for us,” said Brooksby.

The machine was manufactured in Belgium and was shipped to the U.S, arriving via ship at the Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor. Then it made the 100-mile overland trip to the business park in Bunker Hill.

Brooksby says the project almost came to a halt when COVID-related travel restrictions were implemented, delaying a team of experts traveling from Belgium where the apparatus was manufactured.

He credits Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN. 2nd dist.) for helping to clear the path.

“She says, “what can we do for you.’ I said we will grind to a complete halt if we can’t bring in people from Europe. Their people have to be at our facility to put this together or we’re done,” said Brooksby.

Brooksby says AZI considered establishing operations in Arizona and in the Washington DC suburb of Herndon, Virginia, but determined Indiana’s talent pool offered the support the company needed to establish its world headquarters.

“One of the drawbacks from Arizona is I found out that I would have to relocate about 90% of my resources to the Arizona area. When I looked at Indiana, I don’t think I’ve taken one person from out of state. Everyone else is from Indiana. It’s the health sciences background here in Indiana. We have Notre Dame. We have Purdue. We have IU. We have a great draw of resources and with medical focus in the area.”

AZI acquired 20 acres with its initial purchase with the option of acquiring another 80 acres, which Brooksby feels will be needed.

He says like the magnetic power generated by the cyclotron, he expects AZI could attract other life sciences companies to Miami County

“I would expect to see in five to 10 years, another three or four buildings the size of the buildings we have with a minimum of seven to ten tenants. And I’m not talking about small tenants, I’m talking worldwide manufacturers with solutions in the medical field.”

BUNKER HILL, Ind. (WISH) – A 14-year-old boy is in police custody after he was found with two knives and a replica handgun that fires rubber bullets Monday afternoon at Maconaquah High School, authorities said.

The Miami County Sheriff’s Office said in a fax that investigators believe the boy was waiting behind the school to make contact with a female student who is a former acquaintance of his.

A school maintenance worker initially confronted the boy and ordered the child to place the replica handgun, which was in a holster, on the ground. The boy complied, and school officials subsequently surrounded him prior to the arrival of police.

The incident occurred about 1:30 p.m. The boy is a resident of Miami County, the fax said. It did not give the boy’s name.

The release did not say where the boy was being held on a pending charge of carrying a weapon on school property. The Marion County Prosecutor’s and Probation offices were part of the investigation, the fax said.

Bunker Hill is about 55 miles north of Indianapolis and near Grissom Joint Air Reserve Base.

BUNKER HILL, Ind. (WISH) – A Peru man died in a two-vehicle crash Monday morning on State Road 218 in Miami County, Indiana State Police said.

Police were called about 9:40 a.m. to the crash at Foreman Drive, located on the north of the Grissom Air Reserve Base. The preliminary investigation found that Robert Elliott III, 45, Peru, Indiana, was driving a 2008 Yamaha Zuma moped north on Foreman Drive approaching a stop sign at State Road 218. The moped failed to stop and pulled into the path of a westbound 2001 Dodge 1500 pickup truck. The truck struck the moped ejecting Elliott.

The Dodge truck was driven by Mark Hoeppner, 51, also of Peru.

Elliott, who was not wearing a helmet, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Hoeppner was not injured.

Hoeppner allegedly had a blood-alcohol concentration limit (BAC) of 0.09. That is over the 0.08 BAC threshold that Indiana law considers a driver to be intoxicated. Hoeppner was incarcerated in Miami County Jail to face a felony charge for operating a vehicle causing death.

The investigation was continuing.

BUNKER HILL, Ind. (WISH) – A former town marshal was arrested Monday on criminal counts including official misconduct and obstruction of justice, Indiana State Police said.

Police said they began an investigation of Randal Aaron Dague, 30, of Wabash, in November after receiving information that he had allegedly provided false police credentials and a Bunker Hill Police Department badge for an acquaintance.

“The acquaintance purportedly provided the false credentials when hired as a security guard for an Indianapolis security firm,” a news release from state police said. “As an alleged sworn police officer, the acquaintance’s salary was purportedly more, per hour, than a non-police officer would have been paid. Dague is also accused of providing an email, from his office, requesting his acquaintance be allowed to monitor and broadcast on local Indianapolis police radio frequencies when working security.

“Dague did not have the authority to hire his acquaintance as a police officer. The acquaintance was not a sworn Bunker Hill deputy marshal.”

Dague was arrested at his home when Indiana State Police Trooper Jon Cole served him with a Miami County arrest warrant. The warrant alleged four felony counts for official misconduct, obstruction of justice, forgery and aid/induce the impersonation of a public servant. He also faces a misdemeanor count for aid/induce unlawful use of a police radio.

Dague on Monday night had bonded out of the Miami County Jail, online records show.

Bunker Hill Clerk-Treasurer Andrea Newnum said in December that Dague was fired on Dec. 8 by the town council for conduct unbecoming an officer. Dague was hired as marshal of the town of about 900 residents in February 2017 after its former marshal and four deputies resigned in December 2016.

(AP) — PBS says more witnesses have detailed sexual misconduct allegations against talk-show host Tavis Smiley, who was suspended in December and later fired.

In papers filed in Washington, D.C., Superior Court in response to a breach-of-contract lawsuit by Smiley, PBS said the witnesses spoke to an independent investigator and corroborated initial accounts that Smiley had established a pattern of sexual relationships with subordinates.

The filing Tuesday also said he subjected subordinates to unwanted sexual advances – including requests for specific sex acts – and made lewd jokes.

“Over a dozen individuals reported that they were either subjected to or witnessed unwelcome, inappropriate sexual comments or conduct or otherwise inappropriate behavior by Mr. Smiley or were informed of the misconduct contemporaneously,” the court filing said.

(The 53-year-old grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana, which is near Kokomo. He attended Indiana University in Bloomington and received a degree from from in public and environmental affairs. He also has been presented with a Doctor of Humane Letters degree by IU Kokomo.)

Smiley and his representatives stuck by their denials.

“More lies, half- truths and smears from PBS from an ‘investigation’ that never should have happened, with a result that was decided well before the inquiry was even begun,” they said Friday in an emailed statement to The Associated Press.

The network said it also found further evidence that Smiley created an abusive and threatening workplace, often belittling and cursing subordinates.

Many of the witnesses were women of color, the documents say, pushing back against comments from Smiley, who is black, that racial bias was involved in his firing.

At the time of his suspension, Smiley acknowledged having had a sexual relationship with a colleague but said he had done nothing to deserve the “public humiliation and personal destruction” he was undergoing.

Smiley’s lawsuit, which seeks “multiple millions” in damages, also alleged that the PBS investigation was shoddy and poorly executed, and his dismissal was hasty.

PBS, in the answer and counterclaim, says those assertions in televised interviews after his suspension constituted a breach of contract by Smiley, who had agreed not to cast aspersions on his employer.

“PBS acted at all times justifiably, in good faith, and with reasonable care and diligence,” the filing said.

The network is seeking $1.9 in returned salary from Smiley.

Smiley’s dismissal came amid a wave of reports of sexual misconduct in the workplace by powerful figures in movies, media and politics that began with allegations against Harvey Weinstein in October and also led to the departure of Smiley’s fellow PBS talk-show host Charlie Rose.

PBS aired the show “Tavis Smiley” from 2004 until 2017.

Within weeks after his departure, he announced the beginning of “The Upside with Tavis Smiley,” a new show featuring inspirational stories that is streamed online and shown on The Word Network, a religious-oriented cable and satellite channel directed at black viewers.

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) – Less than a month after PBS dropped Tavis Smiley’s talk show after reported inappropriate relationships with subordinates, Smiley announced a deal Monday to go back to work with a new series about inspirational stories.

His series, “The Upside with Tavis Smiley,” will be streamed online and shown on The Word Network, a religious-oriented cable and satellite channel directed at black viewers. He also announced a five-city “town hall” tour to talk about relationships in the workplace.

Among the men caught up in sexual misconduct cases the past few months, Smiley has been most aggressive in fighting back and the first to publicly announce plans to resume his career. His new show is expected to start in the spring.

Smiley compared the experience to when he was fired by BET in 2001 for offering an interview that he had conducted with a newsmaker to ABC News, a corporate competitor. He wrote books about rebounding from setbacks, and launched the late-night talk show with PBS that aired for 14 years.

“I would not wish this experience on my worst enemy,” Smiley said. “Having said that, the last time this happened, great things came out of it.”

Although conceding that what was once considered acceptable in the workplace may no longer be, Smiley has been defiant, suggesting that romances between professional colleagues is hardly unusual. However, PBS investigators reportedly found women who felt their advancement at work was tied to the sexual relationships, an assertion Smiley has denied.

He’ll be a test case for whether fans will be willing to overlook behavior that an employer considered out of bounds.

By fashioning a new program focusing on inspirational stories instead of more general interest news and entertainment, Smiley will sidestep the issue of whether his downfall would make celebrities reluctant to be interviewed by him. By striking a digital distribution deal with the media company AerNow and a little-watched cable network, he will also be much less visible.

But Smiley said he believed that going digital positions him well for the future. He also said he’ll attract a younger audience than he was getting at PBS, and that he has also struck a deal for international distribution for “The Upside” and his production company’s inventory of interviews that he conducted in the past.

He announced plans for a book and online course in “Leading by Listening.”

His “town hall” appearances in Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco will have him moderating discussions about acceptable workplace protocols.

“Everyone is saying, ‘We need to talk about this,’ but nobody is doing that,” he said. “Nobody is creating a space for it. Now here I am doing it.”

Smiley said he was motivated to get back to work quickly because of concern for employees of his production company who learned that the PBS show was ending at the beginning of the holiday season.

He said he wasn’t concerned that by moving so quickly, he might be missing out on better opportunities if he waited for the story of his firing to fade.

“You can only make decisions based on what’s in front of you,” he said. “You can’t make decisions based on what might happen, on what may come.”

He said that as “a black man in America,” he knows that better offers may never come.

BUNKER HILL, Ind. (WISH) — A Miami Correctional Facility Officer is recovering after he was violently attacked by an inmate.

CO William Ross was attacked by Jonathan Lovelace while he was working his job duties.

Lovelace reportedly approached Ross and struck him in the face and head with a “lock in a sock.” He was then knocked to the ground and kicked in the head by Lovelace.

Ross was taken to a hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. He plans to continue working at the facility.

The investigation into the attack remains ongoing.

Lovelace is currently serving a 16 year sentence on a child molestation conviction in Kosciusko.

BUNKER HILL, Ind. (AP) – A small northern Indiana community is without a town marshal for the second time this year following the recent firing of its top officer.

Bunker Hill Clerk-Treasurer Andrea Newnum says Town Marshal Aaron Dague was fired on Dec. 8 by the town council for conduct unbecoming an officer.

She declined to say what led to Dague’s firing, but said information about that incident had been forwarded to State Police.

Dague could not be reached for comment Friday. A Swayzee, Indiana, telephone listing for Dague rang to an unrelated business.

The Kokomo Tribune reports Dague was hired as marshal of the town of about 900 residents in February after its former marshal and four deputies resigned in December 2016.

The Miami County Sheriff’s Department is now handling Bunker Hill’s police calls.