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BRAZIL, Ind. (WISH) — Indiana Sheriff’s Youth Ranch in December will host a new “Breakfast With Santa” event for students in kindergarten through Grade 6.

The nonprofit training retreat will provide clothing, toiletries and food for youths. Selfies with Santa will be encouraged, the ranch said in a news release. The free event will include a meal of pancakes, cereal, turkey sausage links, juices and milk.

The event will be from 9 a.m.-noon Dec. 11 at the 62-acre ranch about 2 miles south of Brazil at 5325 N. State Road 59.

No reservations are needed, but guests are asked to “respect one another’s pandemic precautions,” the release said. Face masks and social distancing are encouraged when possible.

For more information or to donate to the ISYR Chaplain’s Fund, call 317-460-4242, go online to Indiana Sheriffs’ Youth Ranch GoFundMe page or write to the ISYR Chaplain’s Fund, 5325 N. State Road 59, Brazil, IN 47834.

Organizers of the event include Clay County Sheriff Paul Harden, Greene County Sheriff Michael Hasler, former Marion County Sheriff John Layton, Owen County Sheriff Sam Hobbs, Parke County Sheriff Justin Cole, Putnam County Sheriff Scott Stockton, Sullivan County Sheriff Clark Cottom, Vermillion County Sheriff Mike Phelps, and Vigo County Sheriff John Plasse.

CLINTON, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) – Valley Professionals Community Health Center, in partnership with Union Health System, is set to open its new facility on the Union Hospital Clinton campus on Tuesday. The healthcare providers will be joined by Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch to mark the opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

Valley Professionals says the campus will enhance rural healthcare access and specialty care.The new facility is designed to add more services and increase practitioners and healthcare experts to continue serving Vermillion County and west central Indiana.

The health center did not provide financial details on its investment in the new facility.

CROZET, Vir. (WISH) — An Indiana lawmaker is being hailed a hero after a train carrying members of Congress and their families crashed into a garbage truck.

The crash happened late Wednesday morning about 15 miles outside of Charlottesville, Virginia in Crozet. The train was carrying dozens of Republican members of Congress, including several from Indiana, to their legislative retreat in West Virginia. The driver of the truck was killed. Six patients were transported to UVA Medical Center, with one in critical condition. All members of Congress on the train and their families were said to be OK, with the exception of a few minor injuries.

Indiana representatives Susan Brooks and Jim Banks, as well as Senator Todd Young were on board the train.

Congressman Larry Bucshon is a heart surgeon. He was also on board with his wife who is an anesthesiologist. Both stepped up with several others to help after the crash.

“We again came to a very distressing scene with obviously very severely injured people and the atmosphere was as professional as that setting could allow and I do think it made a difference, I think what the people on this stage did hopefully has saved a life,” Rep. Larry Bucshon said.

Rep Bucshon also offered prayers to the those involved in the crash and said he hopes it will refocus lawmakers in Washington.

“This does bring back thoughts of family and friends in a partisan Washington D.C. climate. Sometimes, I think some of us start to lose what really is important in life and this incident today really brings that back in focus for everyone,” Rep. Bucshon said.

As for the retreat, GOP lawmakers say it is going on as planned. It’s happening in West Virginia through Friday. President Trump is scheduled to speak to the group Thursday.

CLINTON, Ind. (WISH) – A Silver Alert has been issued for a missing 61-year-old man.

According to the Indiana State Police, Gary Fitch was last seen on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 6:30 p.m. in Clinton Indiana driving a black 2011 Chevy Malibu with Tennessee license plate 570DD06.

Fitch is described as a white male, standing five feet, eight inches tall, weighing 180 pounds with white hair and blue eyes.

Fitch is thought to be in extreme danger and may be in need of medical assistance.

Anyone with information on Fitch’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Vermillion County Sheriff’s Office at 765-492-3737.

NEWPORT, Ind. (AP) – A western Indiana man charged in a pickup truck crash that killed three teens will avoid prison and have his driving privileges suspended for four years under a plea agreement accepted by a judge Thursday.

Ethan Lee, 20, of Cayuga pleaded guilty to three counts of criminal recklessness and will serve 80 days in jail and three years of home detention.

Lee was a senior at North Vermillion High School when his pickup traveling as fast as 87 mph crashed on Jan. 2, 2015, into an office building in Cayuga, about 35 miles north of Terre Haute. The crash killed 18-year-old Annie Clark and 16-year-old Caroline Clark, sisters from Muncie, and 18-year-old Braeden Hollowell of Cayuga.

Lee and Hollowell were classmates and friends who played football together on the 2014 Class A state championship team at North Vermillion High School.

Vermillion Circuit Judge Bruce Stengle also ordered Lee to serve eight hours per month of community service at a Vermillion County animal shelter and to contact two high schools about speaking to driver education students about dangerous driving.

The plea agreement dropped six other criminal charges.

After Stengle accepted the agreement, parents of the Clark sisters and Hollowell made statements in court.

John and Jill Clark, the girls’ parents, gave emotional testimony about the loss they suffered. They said their son fears for his family whenever they get into a vehicle.

Jennifer Brown, Braeden Hollowell’s mother, said her son tried every sport he could and she recalled the football season when North Vermillion won the state championship. She said she would never forget that day.

“It’s a daily struggle to deal with this. Every plan has been dashed by his death,” Brown said.

Ethan Lee said he was “incredibly sorry” for their losses because of his actions. He said he doesn’t understand why his life was spared while those of his friends were not.

VERMILLION COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) The Vermillion Township Trustee in Vermillion County, Indiana turned herself into authorities Monday morning following an investigation by Indiana State Police that began in July.

Anna “Denise” Mitchell faces felony counts of official misconduct and theft.

Indiana State Police began their investigation after being notified of possible criminal activity by the Indiana State Board of Accounts following a routine audit.

Investigators believe Mitchell issued herself checks totaling $5000 from May 2016 to February 2017. In March of 2015, Mitchell wrote herself a check for $2000 for construction of a new office at her residence and in December of the same year, she issued herself a check for $850 for extra pay as an investigator for Township Assistance. It’s also alleged she overpaid her salary by $1,002 and in 2016, Mitchell overpaid her office rent by $500.

From June 2015 to October 2016, Mitchell wrote herself ten checks ranging from $50 to $300 and totaling $1,195 as reimbursement for office supplies, and did not possess any support documentation for the purchases. The personal use amounted to $10,547. The State of Indiana incurred additional costs in the amount of $2,711.48 due to the special investigation of Township disbursements for a grand total of $13,258.48.

Saint Bernice, Ind. (WTWO) – A crash in Vermillion County has landed one man behind bars.

It happened on South State Road 71 in Saint Bernice at around 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday.

Police say Jesse Jackson, 39, of Saint Bernice, drove his vehicle through a yard, striking a trampoline.

A 7-year-old child was on the trampoline at the time, but fortunately, the child was not hurt.

Police arrested Jackson for reckless driving and driving as a habitual traffic violator for life.

He’s being held in the Vermillion County Jail on $50,000 bond.

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CAYUGA, Ind. (WISH) – A second grade class in western Indiana has found fame after a class assignment went viral.

North Vermillion Elementary School teacher Kara Porter asked her students to each submit a question with two possible answers. The 19 questions were then made into a Google Forms survey and posted on the school’s Facebook page Tuesday. The post was shared more than 2,000 times and quickly got the attention of Buzzfeed.

The survey has now been taken more than 300,000 times at such a rapid pace Porter hasn’t even been able to log in to look at submissions because, as she put it, they “broke the internet.”

“It was a little intimidating. I at first doubted that it had actually gotten that big. We were just hoping for parents, grandparents, a few friends of our family and then all of a sudden someone comes to me and says, hey, a Buzzfeed reporter is tweeting about you. I didn’t believe it until I actually got the email asking to set up an interview,” Porter explained to 24-Hour News 8.

After getting such a huge, positive response, Porter says the project originally set to be done this spring break will now likely last the entire school year and broaden their curriculum. She says her classroom will now be learning about cultures of the many countries that have participated in the survey.

“We’re hoping to go a little beyond. we’ve hit some really interesting countries. Look into some of their cultures. We’re definitely going to be plotting this on a map to see how far this went. t’s really opened up a whole new set of things that we can look into,” the teacher said.

Professors from around Indiana and even beyond have volunteered their time in hopes of helping the school synthesize the overwhelming amount of data.

Never miss another Facebook post from WISH-TV

CAYUGA, Ind. (WISH) – A second grade class in western Indiana has found fame after a class assignment went viral.

North Vermillion Elementary School teacher Kara Porter asked her students to each submit a question with two possible answers. The 19 questions were then made into a Google Forms survey and posted on the school’s Facebook page Tuesday. The post was shared more than 2,000 times and quickly got the attention of Buzzfeed.

The survey has now been taken more than 300,000 times at such a rapid pace Porter hasn’t even been able to log in to look at submissions because, as she put it, they “broke the internet.”

“It was a little intimidating. I at first doubted that it had actually gotten that big. We were just hoping for parents, grandparents, a few friends of our family and then all of a sudden someone comes to me and says, hey, a Buzzfeed reporter is tweeting about you. I didn’t believe it until I actually got the email asking to set up an interview,” Porter explained to 24-Hour News 8.

After getting such a huge, positive response, Porter says the project originally set to be done this spring break will now likely last the entire school year and broaden their curriculum. She says her classroom will now be learning about cultures of the many countries that have participated in the survey.

“We’re hoping to go a little beyond. we’ve hit some really interesting countries. Look into some of their cultures. We’re definitely going to be plotting this on a map to see how far this went. t’s really opened up a whole new set of things that we can look into,” the teacher said.

Professors from around Indiana and even beyond have volunteered their time in hopes of helping the school synthesize the overwhelming amount of data.

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NEWPORT, Ind. (AP) – A western Indiana judge has rejected a man’s plea agreement in a one-vehicle crash that killed his three teenage passengers in 2015.

Vermillion Circuit Court Judge Bruce Stengel notified prosecutors and attorneys for 20-year-old Ethan N. Lee on Thursday that he would not accept the plea deal the Cayuga man entered last month.

Lee had agreed to plead guilty to three counts of reckless homicide. If his plea was accepted, prosecutors would have dismissed criminal recklessness, false informing and other charges he faces.

Authorities say Lee was driving recklessly in January 2015 when his pickup truck crashed into an office building in Cayuga, about 35 miles north of Terre Haute. The crash killed 18-year-old Annie Clark and 16-year-old Caroline Clark, sisters from Muncie, and 18-year-old Braeden Hollowell of Cayuga.

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