INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council on Monday night introduced a proposal to remove one-way street designations on Michigan and New York streets.

Sponsored by Councilor Jesse Brown and initiated by the Department of Public Works, the proposal targets the sections designating New York Street and Michigan Street as one-way streets, affecting the area from College Avenue to Emerson Avenue. City traffic engineers think the change could slow traffic in nearby residential areas.

The proposal has been referred to the Public Works Committee for further consideration. It outlines the deletion of one-way designations for eastbound New York Street from White River Parkway to Emerson Avenue, and westbound Michigan Street from Emerson Avenue to Blake Street.

The ordinance includes a severability clause, ensuring that if any part of the ordinance is declared invalid, the remaining provisions will still stand. This clause is designed to maintain the integrity of the ordinance even if parts of it are challenged in court.

For the proposal to become effective, it must be passed by the City-County Council and receive approval from the mayor.

The exact date for the next action was not given in the proposal.

WASHINGTON, Ind. (WISH) — A 55-year-old school bus driver was in jail Monday after police found he had a blood-alcohol content nearly three times beyond Indiana’s threshold for driving drunk.

The Daviess County Sheriff’s Office received a call just after 9 a.m. Monday that a school bus carrying 38 children and four adults was stuck in mud at the intersection of U.S. 50 and County Road 300W. That’s about a mile west of the Indiana city of Washington.

The bus, a 2007 yellow Freightliner owned by the Diocese of Evansville Catholic Church, was being used for a Washington Catholic Schools field trip.

The driver, Steven W. Truelove, was taken to Daviess Community Hospital for a drug and alcohol screen, and was found to have a blood-alcohol content of 0.221. The threshold in Indiana for driving drunk is a blood-alcohol content of 0.08. He was was charged with OWI-endangering.

All passengers were safely removed from the bus without any injuries.

As of Monday afternoon, Truelove was in the Daviess County Security Center with no bond, the sheriff’s office said in a social media post.

Washington, a city of 12,500 residents, is about a three-hour drive southwest of downtown Indianapolis.

NOBLESVILLE (WISH) — Construction is moving right along on the facility that will be home to the Noblesville Boom.

Justin Jordan is the General Manager of the Arena.

He says construction has been moving along quickly and things are looking great.

“Construction is progressing and we are expecting substantial completion on June 1st,” Jordan said. “We expect programming to start in roughly August or a little after.”

Jordan says all of the credit goes to the city.

“They have dedicated themselves to taking ownership of the building and they’ve all been incredibly hands-on,” said Jordan.

The facility will be home to the Noblesville Boom, but it will be used for other things as well.

“We’re looking at hosting high school basketball, college basketball, volleyball, wrestling, cheerleading, church events, and really anything and everything in between,” Jordan said.

Jordan says they’re focused on putting on world-class entertainment and bringing it to Noblesville.

Jordan says they final phase of the project is underway.

“The next exciting thing to have happen will be getting the floors in here and baskets up,” Jordan said.

CARMEL, Ind. (WISH) — The Carmel City Council on Monday night voted to establish an investigation committee to look into the operations of the annual Christkindlmarkt.

The vote was 8 to 0.

This comes as the former CEO of the market, Maria Adele Rosenfeld, resigned from her role. She says that the board that oversees the market was excluding her from important decisions.

Then, a member of the board, Susan McDermott, filed a lawsuit against the city’s mayor. McDermott claims she and one other member were forcibly removed from the board last year to give more power over the market to the city.

Councilors hope the investigation will give them a better understanding what’s going on behind the Christmastime tradition.

Several councilors noted Monday night that the Christkindlemarkt will go on as planned this year.

Previous coverage

• Former Christkindlmarkt board member sues Carmel; CEO resigns
• Resignation, lawsuit highlight behind-the-scenes clashes over Carmel Christkindlmarkt

LEBANON, Ind. (WISH) — Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. on Tuesday afternoon will to break ground on its $4.5 billion Lilly Medicine Foundry.

Lilly Chair and CEO Dave Ricks and Gov. Mike Braun will be part of the groundbreaking in the Boone County city northwest of Indianapolis.

The Lilly Medicine Foundry was designed for advanced manufacturing and drug development from 400 highly skilled workers, engineers, scientists, lab techs and others who will drive innovation and make medicines for clinical trials.

First announced in October, the project will be in the LEAP Research and and Innovation District. LEAP is an acronym for Limitless Exploration Advanced Pace, a project which had initially raised concerns about the possibilities for drawing water from other parts of the state to sustain the development. Other plans were later made to bring water to the development.

The company’s planned investment in the LEAP district totals more than $13 billion, which Lilly touts as the largest single investment in active pharmaceutical ingredients production in U.S. history.

In Lebanon, Lilly announced a $2.1 billion investment in two manufacturing sites in May 2022, an additional $1.6 billion for that effort revealed in April 2023, and another $5.3 billion first publicly disclosed in May to “enhance capacity to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients for its latest diabetes and obesity medicines,” a news release issued in October said.

The state government has pledged help with roads, water, electricity and other utilities in the LEAP district.

Other people at Tuesday’s 2:30 p.m. groundbreaking at 2255 State Road 32 will be Dr. Daniel Skovronsky, Lilly’s chief scientific officer; Sarah O’Keeffe, Lilly’s second vice president of product research and development; and other local and state government officials.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WISH) — The West Lafayette City Council on Monday night is considering a proposal to rezone land in the city to allow a chip manufacturing plant to be built in town.

South Korean chip manufacturer SK hynix wants to spend more than $3.8 billion to build an advanced chip-packaging facility in West Lafayette. These are the types of chips needed in phones, tablets and computers.

News 8 first reported on the project when it was announced in April 2024.

According to West Lafayette government documents, the land is zoned R3 for single-family, two-family and multifamily residential. SK hynix is asking for a change to I3 for industrial development.

A Tippecanoe County document defines I3 as, “To provide areas for industrial activity, contracting, warehousing and wholesaling, that are heavy in impact because more than just loading activities are conducted outside –and associated retail and service establishments and agricultural activities as identified in the Permitted Use Table.”

A rezoning petition, filed by the Purdue Research Foundation for the project, was recommended for denial by the Area Plan Commission in March. The construction site is north of Kalberer Road between Yeager Road and Tippecanoe County Road 50 West.

People have voiced concerns about the risks to their health and the environment if land that is zoned as residential is rezoned to allow an industrial computer chip facility to come to the area.

SK hynix originally planned to put this chip manufacturing facility on land — called Site A — bordered on the east by Tippecanoe County Road North 100 West/Yeager Road, and Kalberer Road on the south. That land is ready for industrial use.

Now, the company wants to use a piece of land — called Site B — across Yeager Road because it is larger and has better road access to minimize traffic. That piece of land is bordered on the west by North 100 West/Yeager Road, and North 50 West on the east. The southern border will be just north of West Lafayette Fire Station No. 3 off Kalberer Road.

Previous Coverage

• Rezoning meeting for SK hynix’s chip facility expected to draw large crowd
• SK hynix Community Information Session on April 11, 2025, in West Lafayette, Indiana
• Plans for $3.8 billion chip facility in West Lafayette spark concern
• IMAGES | SK hynix plans for chip packaging facility
• Memory chip maker SK hynix to host community info session for its $3.87B project