This section is dedicated to some of my best feature stories that I've completed during my years working as a reporter for the Indiana Daily Student, Indianapolis Star, Chattanooga Times Free Press and Lafayette Journal & Courier.
Saving her bacon: Pig safe after standoff
During former fugitive Marcus Bramlett's standoff with police on May 16, one rumor circulated through the crowd of evacuated neighbors:
Bramlett was in the house with the pig.
Lisa Lefever remembers the rumor because it filled her with fear.
Bramlett was in the house with the pig.
Lisa Lefever remembers the rumor because it filled her with fear.
'More than just the grass cops'
Rick Walker knows the mean streets of West Lafayette.
Every day, the code enforcement supervisor on West Lafayette’s Neighborhood Resource Team patrols in his refurbished police car, cruising the neighborhoods and scanning the scenery for certain telltale signs.
Advertisements on utility poles. Garbage cans left out after trash day. Grass taller than 10 inches. Tree limbs hanging over sidewalks.
After doing this job for six years, he said, he sees things other people don’t.
Every day, the code enforcement supervisor on West Lafayette’s Neighborhood Resource Team patrols in his refurbished police car, cruising the neighborhoods and scanning the scenery for certain telltale signs.
Advertisements on utility poles. Garbage cans left out after trash day. Grass taller than 10 inches. Tree limbs hanging over sidewalks.
After doing this job for six years, he said, he sees things other people don’t.
Is Reynolds killing its golden goose?
REYNOLDS – The sprawling Magnetation iron pellet plant dwarfs this tiny northern Indiana town, promising riches like Oz at the end of the rainbow.
When it opened last September in an unincorporated section of White County, the plant brought with it more than 100 jobs, potential millions in new tax dollars for the county and a fresh sense of hope in the modest town of 530 people.
When it opened last September in an unincorporated section of White County, the plant brought with it more than 100 jobs, potential millions in new tax dollars for the county and a fresh sense of hope in the modest town of 530 people.
Just add a fiancé
Sofia Stout, 22, knows what kind of wedding she wants.
It will take place on a January morning, where brunch will be served around 11 a.m to fewer than 100 guests after Mass. The colors will be navy and champagne, or pink. She's undecided on venues, although it will take place somewhere in the Chicago area. She'll wear a dress with lace and long sleeves, and everything will be covered in glitter. Even though they'll be out of season, she wants peonies at her wedding, and probably hydrangeas.
After years of planning, she has the wedding figured out.
Now, she just needs a fiancé.
It will take place on a January morning, where brunch will be served around 11 a.m to fewer than 100 guests after Mass. The colors will be navy and champagne, or pink. She's undecided on venues, although it will take place somewhere in the Chicago area. She'll wear a dress with lace and long sleeves, and everything will be covered in glitter. Even though they'll be out of season, she wants peonies at her wedding, and probably hydrangeas.
After years of planning, she has the wedding figured out.
Now, she just needs a fiancé.
Acorns driving you nuts?
If an overabundance of acorns indicates heavy snow ahead, as many folklorists claim, then Chattanooga is in for a rough winter.
Oak trees around Southeast Tennessee are producing far more acorns than usual this year, said Gene Hyde, forester for the city of Chattanooga.
"I've got 'em coming out my ears" at home, Hyde said.
Oak trees around Southeast Tennessee are producing far more acorns than usual this year, said Gene Hyde, forester for the city of Chattanooga.
"I've got 'em coming out my ears" at home, Hyde said.
Foxes, cougars and skunks: Hoosiers can own just about any animal
Karleigh Davenport knew from the start she didn't want an average pet.
She grew up with all sorts of animals, from a guinea pig to a pot-bellied pig. As a full-time college student, she couldn't handle the needs of a dog, but she didn't want a pet as independent as a cat. And her apartment didn't have space for a large animal.
Then, about a year ago, she found Cruella — her pet skunk.
She grew up with all sorts of animals, from a guinea pig to a pot-bellied pig. As a full-time college student, she couldn't handle the needs of a dog, but she didn't want a pet as independent as a cat. And her apartment didn't have space for a large animal.
Then, about a year ago, she found Cruella — her pet skunk.
Family farm uses distinct practices
The Howards wake up with the sun.
Mist rolls over the hills surrounding Maple Valley Farm, and their house glows warmly through a pre-dawn dark that smells like rain. In the field in front of the house, a rooster crows.
The front door to the house opens, and light spills out. Three blonde children — Ethan, 12, Elena, 10, and Grant, 8 — stumble into the morning, in rubber boots and cargo
pants. It’s time for morning chores.
Mist rolls over the hills surrounding Maple Valley Farm, and their house glows warmly through a pre-dawn dark that smells like rain. In the field in front of the house, a rooster crows.
The front door to the house opens, and light spills out. Three blonde children — Ethan, 12, Elena, 10, and Grant, 8 — stumble into the morning, in rubber boots and cargo
pants. It’s time for morning chores.
Home for the final time An urn bearing the IU emblem rested on a table below the auditorium stage. Between the American and Indiana flags was the police chief’s official department photo.
On the podium above him, there was a can of Foster’s beer. Bringing burlesque to Bloomington
It’s 1 p.m. on a Sunday, but inside Jake’s Nightclub, it might as well be Saturday night.
The lights are low and warm, and two women walk onto the raised stage, one in a tight, black leotard corset and heels, the other in a long, blue sequined dress and elbow-length red gloves. Rhinestones stud the base of the second woman’s false eyelashes. Music starts, and the two women stop to stand next to each other on stage. The corseted woman begins to take off the other woman’s gloves with her teeth. This is the dress rehearsal for the Bloomington Burlesque Brigade, the city’s only burlesque troupe. What do you get when you mix YouTube & comedy in Saudi Arabia? When speaking about his controversial work as a comedian in ultra-conservativeSaudi Arabia, 28-year-old Fahad Albutairi cites Oscar Wilde.
“There is an Oscar Wilde quote that says: ‘If you want to tell people the truth make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you,’” Albutairi, who hosts his own comedy show online, said in a phone interview. “Seriously, this is what we’ve been facing.” Family searches for autism answers Laura Jacoby knew something was different about her young son, but no one would listen to her.
“Originally, we had taken him to the doctor because we had a lot of problems with him wandering off, and he’d been thrown out of preschool,” Jacoby said. “When we’d talk to him ... it’s like he didn’t understand. He didn’t know what we were doing.” Her son Jackson, now age 7, wasn’t like other kids. He had developmental and speech delays, and he seemed to be off in his own world. Jacoby turned to doctors. Martinsville still recovering from school shooting Suzie Lipps, principal of Martinsville West Middle School, was in her office the morning of March 25, 2011, when two shots rang out just down the hallway.
“A staff member came into the office and told me she heard something that could’ve been a shot,” Lipps said. “When I saw the teacher’s face when she ran into the office, I knew it wasn’t just a disruption in the hallway. I knew it wasn’t just books falling. I knew it was something really horrible because of her face. “She just had this expression of ‘I can’t believe this.’ IU among leaders in number of sugar babies on campus With the state of the economy during the past few years, many families have struggled to afford tuition for their college-age students.
But some college women have found an alternative solution. More college women are becoming sugar babies, exchanging anything from time to romantic intimacy with wealthy men who typically reward them with a monthly allowance that can be thousands of dollars per month. Bringing in Bigfoot: a centuries-long hunt for answers Much of Southern Indiana is covered with woods. It’s not uncommon to see forest wildlife here, such as squirrels, opossums or deer.
But some believe these woods are home to a much larger creature: Bigfoot. Last fall, a string of recent sightings sparked a visitation from the Animal Planet reality show “Finding Bigfoot.” |