INDIANAPOLIS (WIBC) — An Indianapolis company, Patients Choice Laboratories (PCL), announced Monday it will pay more than $9.6 million to the state of Indiana to settle a case involving false billing to Medicare for COVID-19 and other infectious disease tests. The laboratory denies any wrongdoing in the case.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) claimed that from December 2020 to May 2022, PCL knowingly submitted claims to Medicare for respiratory pathogen panels, or RPPs, that were either medically unnecessary or obtained through illegal kickbacks.

The government says PCL was hired by the government to perform infectious disease testing, like COVID-19 swabbing, in long-term care facilities. Even though PCL was paid for this service, the company is accused of using the same specimens to bill Medicare for the “medically unnecessary RPPs.” In a few instances, the DOJ says PCL billed Medicare for RPPs without even performing any COVID-19 testing.

The laboratory also violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by paying commissions and other fees in exchange for test referrals that were then billed to Medicare. This included an agreement where PCL paid an infection prevention company $5,000 for “marketing and management services” in long-term care facilities, which the government says was a cover for paying for test referrals. Between December 2020 and May 2022, PCL paid this company $1.86 million for the RPPs, which were then billed to Medicare, resulting in over $6 million in reimbursements to PCL.

Additionally, the DOJ claims that PCL contracted with independent representatives to promote its tests to healthcare providers and paid them a percentage of the revenue generated from the testing they helped facilitate. The total commission payments to these representatives were at least $372,000.

“Kickback arrangements that drive unnecessary testing waste taxpayer dollars and undermine the integrity of our healthcare system,” Tom Wheeler, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, said. “This settlement reflects our commitment to holding accountable those who seek to profit at the expense of federal healthcare programs and the patients they serve.”

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WISH) — A suspect was arrested after a vehicle pursuit in South Bend ended with a dramatic water rescue in the St. Joseph River on Monday afternoon.

A South Bend Police Department officer around 1:30 p.m. Monday tried to stop a vehicle for a traffic violation near U.S. 20/Lincoln Way West and Wilber Street, which is southwest of the downtown area.

Deron Phillips, 56, failed to stop, leading to a pursuit that concluded at downtown’s Colfax Avenue Bridge over the St. Joseph River.

After stopping the vehicle, Phillips exited and jumped over the guardrail into the river. Police and fire crews collaborated to rescue Phillips from the water.

Phillips was taken into custody and to a hospital for evaluation. On Monday night, he was being held in the St. Joseph County jail, awaiting a formal charging decision from the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Mozel Sanders Thanksgiving Day Dinner, an Indianapolis tradition since 1971, will serve over 40,000 meals across 52 locations this Thanksgiving.

Originally started by Rev. Mozel Sanders and his wife with just 20 meals, the event has grown into a massive community effort involving over 1,300 volunteers and multiple satellite locations.

“This will allow us to address the most pressing needs for our community,” said Stephanie Sanders, leader of the Mozel Sanders Foundation.

The dinner, now led by Stephanie Sanders through the Mozel Sanders Foundation, continues to be a cornerstone of community building and support.

Ivy Tech serves as a central hub for meal preparation, where thousands of pounds of food are cooked and distributed to various sites.

Volunteers are crucial to the operation, with shifts starting as early as 7 AM on Thanksgiving Day.

The event is about more than just providing meals; it aims to offer companionship and a sense of community to those in need.

Stephanie Sanders and Chef Ricky Hatfield are among those leading the final preparations, ensuring everything is ready for the big day.

The event also receives support from various organizations, including Harlan Bakery and Friendship Church, which help store and distribute food and supplies.

Special edition t-shirts and other merchandise are available to support the cause, with proceeds helping to feed families.

The Mozel Sanders Thanksgiving Day Dinner exemplifies the spirit of giving and community, continuing to impact thousands of lives each year in Indianapolis.

WISH-TV is proud to partner with the Mozel Sanders Foundation for the fifth year to help those in need on Thanksgiving. 

How You Can Help

• Donate:
  • Text “MOZEL” to 53-555
  • Mail – 709 N Belmont Ave,, Indianapolis IN 46222
  • PayPal –You can donate securely using PayPal or use your credit/debit card
  • CashApp – $MozelSanders (make sure it has the Mozel Sanders Logo)
• Spread the word and download the Mozel Sanders Tool Kit
• To Volunteer: click HERE to sign up for any of the locations listed
• To secure a meal: call 317-636-7985 from 9a-9p by November 25th

(AP) — Purdue remained at No. 1 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll, while Arizona jumped to No. 2 to continue its opening-month rise after another impressive win against a ranked opponent.

The Boilermakers (6-0) earned 46 of 61 first-place votes in Monday’s poll to remain at the top after beating then-No. 15 Texas Tech by 30 to win the Baha Mar Championship in the Bahamas.

The Wildcats (5-0) earned 11 first-place votes to jump two spots. That came after last week’s win at then-No. 3 UConn, part of run that began with a victory over reigning NCAA champion Florida in Las Vegas and a win against a ranked UCLA team in Los Angeles.

Arizona was ranked No. 13 in the preseason AP Top 25, but jumped to No. 5 after the Florida win before inching up to No. 4 last week.

The top tier

Houston, which spent a week at No. 1 earlier this month, slid a spot to No. 3 to make room for the Wildcats, while Duke and UConn rounded out the top five.

Louisville, Michigan, Alabama, BYU and Florida rounded out the top 10, with the Crimson Tide rising from No. 11 after its win against then-No. 8 Illinois in Chicago.

Rising

No. 11 Michigan State had the week’s biggest jump, climbing six spots after beating Kentucky in the Champions Classic.

No. 17 Tennessee climbed three spots, while No. 16 North Carolina and No. 23 N.C. State each rose two spots.

In all, 11 teams moved up from last week’s poll.

Sliding

Kentucky’s 17-point loss to the Spartans triggered the week’s biggest fall of seven spots to No. 19, while the 13th-ranked Illini and 20th-ranked Red Raiders each tumbled five spots.

In all, six teams fell from last week’s poll.

Status quo

Six teams stayed locked in last week’s position, including five of the top 10 teams and No. 14 St. John’s.

Comings and goings

No. 24 Vanderbilt and No. 25 Indiana were the new additions to the poll, replacing Wisconsin (No. 23 last week) and Kansas (24th).

The Commodores spent one week at No. 24 last season, which before Monday stood as the only AP Top 25 ranking for the program since December 2015.

It is the second straight year the Jayhawks, who lost to Duke in the Champions Classic last week, have fallen out of the poll at least once. Before last season, Kansas had been ranked in every poll but one — missing one week during the 2020-21 season played amid the COVID-19 pandemic — dating to the 2009-10 season.

Conference watch

The Southeastern Conference didn’t have a team ranked higher than eighth, yet posted the biggest overall haul of any conference with seven ranked teams, including No. 21 Auburn and No. 22 Arkansas.

The Big Ten was next with six AP Top 25 teams, followed by the Big 12 with five, the Atlantic Coast Conference with four, the Big East with two and the West Coast Conference with one.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Seventh graders at William Penn Middle School in the Indianapolis Public Schools district have traded textbooks for tools in their green architecture course aiming to teach science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills.

They’re designing and building doghouses for canines in need, and the students are doing it from scratch. Students learn measuring, reading blueprints and working safely with tools, among other tasks.

Once finished, the handmade creations will be donated to Friends of Indianapolis Dogs Outside, an organization that helps dogs across central Indiana.

Seventh grader Skye Duncan said Monday, “Building this doghouse is really exciting to do with your friends and stuff as a group. It is a lot of work, because it is hard for me to measure a little bit, but at the same time, I know it’s going to be good.”

Seventh grader Ezra-Nehemiah Ducker said a lot went into learning how to build something from the ground up, but that he loved doing it. “You need to learn how to use a saw, get the perfect measurements using different tools, drilling, hammering, there’s a lot of stuff you need to learn.”

Ducker says he’s excited to start building more at home and proud to have skills where he can contribute his community. “That I can help people by my creations. Also, if I can build stuff, I don’t really have to buy stuff. Say I see a $50 table. I can just buy supplies and that’ll come to $30 so that’ll just save money.”

The students are building five doghouses, and over 65 students have contributed to the project in some form. STEM teacher Luc Sproles said the work helps students see the power of giving back through science and design. “We’ve done a lot of demonstration and then hands-on practice in the classroom so that I know that when we get to here, I don’t have to hold their hand every step of the way. They really do have the skills and the abilities to run this entire project by themselves.”

Some students also brought in old T-shirts to make dog toys.

The teacher said, “Just seeing them work together with each other has been really awesome. For them to be able to put what they’re learning into action and help their community is really what William Penn, a STEM school, is all about.”

Sproles said he’s happy that the skills they learn with this project is something they can carry into their everyday lives in the future.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, concluding that the prosecutor who brought the charges at President Donald Trump’s urging was illegally appointed by the Justice Department.

The rulings from U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie halt at least for now a pair of prosecutions that had targeted two of the president’s most high-profile political opponents and amount to a sharp rebuke of the Trump administration’s legal maneuvering to install an inexperienced and loyalist prosecutor willing to file the cases.

The orders do not concern the substance of the allegations against Comey or James but instead deal with the unconventional manner in which the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, was named to her position as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Defense lawyers said the Trump administration had no legal authority to make the appointment. In a pair of similar rulings, Currie agreed and said the invalid appointment required the dismissal of the cases.

“All actions flowing from Ms. Halligan’s defective appointment,” including securing and signing the indictments, “were unlawful exercises of executive power and are hereby set aside,” she wrote.

A White House spokeswoman said the rulings will “not be the final word on the matter” and Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed at an unrelated news conference that the Justice Department would pursue an “immediate appeal.” The department may also look to bring the cases again.

Indictments had been subject to multiple challenges

The challenges to Halligan’s appointment are just one facet of a multiprong assault on the indictments by Comey and James, whose multiple other efforts to dismiss the cases were still pending at the time of Monday’s rulings. Both have separately asserted that the prosecutions were vindictive and emblematic of a weaponized Justice Department. Comey’s lawyers last week, in moving to get his case tossed out, seized on a judge’s findings of a constellation of grand jury irregularities and missteps by Halligan. James likewise has cited “outrageous government conduct” preceding her indictment.

“I am grateful that the court ended the case against me, which was a prosecution based on malevolence and incompetence and a reflection of what the Justice Department has become under Donald Trump, which is heartbreaking,” Comey, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of making a false statement and obstructing Congress, said in a video statement.

In a separate statement, James, a Democrat who has pleaded not guilty to mortgage fraud allegations, said, “I am heartened by today’s victory and grateful for the prayers and support I have received from around the country.” She said she remained “fearless in the face of these baseless charges as I continue fighting for New Yorkers every single day.”

Halligan’s appointment

At issue in Currie’s rulings is the mechanism the Trump administration employed to appoint Halligan, a former White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience, to lead one of the Justice Department’s most elite and important offices.

Halligan was named as a replacement for Erik Siebert, a veteran prosecutor in the office and interim U.S. attorney who resigned in September amid Trump administration pressure to file charges against both Comey and James. He stepped aside after Trump told reporters he wanted Siebert “out.”

The following night, Trump said he would be nominating Halligan to the role of interim U.S. attorney and publicly implored Bondi to take action against his political opponents, saying in a Truth Social post that, “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility” and “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”

Comey was indicted three days after Halligan was sworn in by Bondi, and James was charged two weeks after that.

Though attorneys general do have the authority to name an interim U.S. attorney who can serve for 120 days, lawyers for Comey and James argued that once that period expires, the law gives federal judges in the district the exclusive say of who gets to fill the vacancy. By making a successive interim U.S. appointment and bypassing the role of courts, defense lawyers said, the Justice Department did an end-run around well-established law.

Currie says Halligan ‘unlawfully’ serving in her role

“The 120-day clock began running with Mr. Siebert’s appointment on January 21, 2025. When that clock expired on May 21, 2025, so too did the Attorney General’s appointment authority,” Currie wrote. “Consequently, I conclude that the Attorney General’s attempt to install Ms. Halligan as Interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was invalid and that Ms. Halligan has been unlawfully serving in that role since September 22, 2025.”

The Justice Department had defended Halligan’s appointment but revealed last month that it also given Halligan a separate position of “Special Attorney,” presumably as a way to protect the indictment from collapse. But Currie said such a retroactive appointment could not save the cases.

“The implications of a contrary conclusion are extraordinary,” the judge wrote. “It would mean the Government could send any private citizen off the street — attorney or not — into the grand jury room to secure an indictment so long as the Attorney General gives her approval after the fact. That cannot be the law.”

Though the defendants had asked for the cases to be dismissed with prejudice, meaning the Justice Department would be barred from bringing them again, Currie instead dismissed them without prejudice.

Comey was indicted just days before the statute of limitations in his case expired, which could complicate any effort to refile the case. One of his lawyers, Patrick Fitzgerald, said in a statement that Currie’s decision “further indicates that because the indictment is void, the statute of limitations has run and there can be no further indictment.”

Judges have separately held that several other interim U.S. attorneys — in New Jersey, Los Angeles and Nevada — have served in their positions unlawfully but have permitted cases brought by their offices to proceed. But lawyers for Comey and James had argued that Currie’s ruling needed to go even further because Halligan was apparently the only prosecutor who presented evidence to the grand juries.

Comey has for years been one of Trump’s chief antagonists. Appointed FBI director in 2013 by President Barack Obama, Comey at the time of Trump’s 2016 election was overseeing an investigation into whether the Republican’s presidential campaign had conspired with Russia to sway the outcome of the race. Furious over that investigation, Trump fired Comey in May 2017.

James has also been a frequent target of Trump’s ire, especially since winning a staggering judgment against him and the Trump Organization in a lawsuit alleging he defrauded banks by overstating the value of his real estate holdings on financial statements. An appeals court overturned the fine, which had ballooned to more than $500 million with interest, but upheld a lower court’s finding that Trump had committed fraud.

Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak in New York and Lindsay Whitehurst and Alanna Durkin Richer in Memphis, Tennessee contributed to this report.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — We’re tracking widespread rain into Tuesday with much colder and windy conditions leading into Thanksgiving.

Monday night: Showers return into tonight with coverage turning widespread after midnight. Lows in the upper 40s.

Tuesday: Rainy into daybreak Tuesday, then rain turns spotty into Tuesday afternoon-night. A strong cold front will sweep through Tuesday night and set the stage for much colder air into midweek.

Highs in the upper 50s.

Wednesday: Temperatures will drop into the upper 30s-low 40s through the daytime hours Wednesday with wind gusts of 30-40 MPH. Can’t rule out a few flurries as well.

7-Day Forecast: Thanksgiving Day is shaping up to be a cold and breezy one with highs only in the mid to upper 30s. Cold air hangs around into the final weekend of November. Then, we’ll track another system into the weekend as well with potential for a mix of some snow and rain. High uncertainty regarding system track and intensity is in place, but this system may cause some impact to post-holiday travel.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) — The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office has arrested four men after multiple ATM thefts across Illinois and Michigan.

The department says the men used a master key that allows them to bypass the machines’ alarms and electronic devices.

They say the Pontiac, Illinois, Police Department had alerted deputies to two suspicious vehicles linked to the thefts.

The sheriff’s office says deputies arrested two men near State Road 45 and Leonard Springs Road.

An Indiana State Police trooper stopped the second vehicle in Morgan County and arrested two more suspects, the sheriff’s office said.

Authorities on Monday said it remained how the men obtained the master ATM key.

This story was created from a script aired on WISH-TV.

MOORESVILLE, Ind. (WIBC) – A teenager from Mooresville, who planned a school shooting on Valentine’s Day earlier this year, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Monday.

Trinity Shockley, who had been held in Morgan County for nine months, said she has been dealing with lots of mental health issues and bullying that led her to plan the attack. The judge also sentenced Shockley to five years of probation, emphasizing the potential harm her actions could have caused.

Shockley’s threats were directed to Mooresville High School.

Shockley apologized in court and expressed remorse for her actions, stating that she is receiving mental health treatment and taking medication.

Investigators say this case highlights the importance of public intervention in preventing such incidents and the need for ongoing mental health support for individuals like Shockley.

Shockley was also fined $590.

News 8 reached out to the Morgan County Prosecutor’s Office by phone and email on Monday but did not hear back by late afternoon.

Previous coverage from WISHTV.com

• Mooresville High School student arrested for planning Valentine’s Day mass shooting
• Mooresville student accused of plotting school shooting held without bond
• Mooresville student accused of planning school shooting takes plea deal

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.

The Indianapolis Local Education Alliance is considering a variety of governance options that would significantly dilute the power of the elected Indianapolis Public Schools board — potential changes that some community groups have rallied against.

Changing who oversees schools could be a key component to solving how district and charter schools could better share transportation and building resources. An authority governing both charter and district schools could set universal policy on transportation, discipline, students with disabilities, school accountability, and school closures.

The four options unveiled at Wednesday’s ILEA meeting differ when it comes to how much they would change the way schools are currently run. In addition to the elected board that runs Indianapolis Public Schools, the mayor’s Office of Education Innovation, Education One at Trine University, and the Indiana Charter School Board authorize charter schools.

The ILEA, which state lawmakers established earlier this year, does not have the power to make policy but can make recommendations to state and local officials. The group is expected to recommend one of the four options during the week of Dec. 1, although it’s also possible it could combine two or more of the options.

While the IPS school board hasn’t issued an opinion on the options, several organizations representing teachers and parents have called for an elected board to oversee both charter and district schools. Groups that support charter schools have not coalesced around support for a particular option.

The first option would keep an elected IPS school board, which would serve as the charter authorizer responsible for making policies for building usage and transportation. District and charter schools would report up to the board, and charter schools whose applications were denied could appeal to the mayor’s Office of Education Innovation.

The second option would create a “collaborative compact advisory board” consisting of appointees from the mayor, charter schools, and the IPS school board. While IPS and charter schools would retain their individual school boards, both sectors would report to the advisory board, which would serve as charter authorizer and set policy.

A third model would create an Indianapolis Education Authority, led by a secretary of education appointed by the mayor. Underneath the secretary of education would be a nine-member policymaking board — also appointed by the mayor — that would serve as the charter authorizer. The mayor would select four of these members from the current seven-member elected IPS board.

A fourth option would replace the elected IPS board with members appointed by the mayor. This appointed board would serve as the charter authorizer, although appeals could be sent to the Indianapolis Charter School Board.

Several groups supportive of both district and charter schools have previously urged the ILEA to consider various options for governance. Here are the reactions to the options unveiled Wednesday from a few major community groups, in alphabetical order:

Central Indiana Democratic Socialists of America

In a statement, the Central Indiana Democratic Socialists of America — which has run a “Fully Funded, Fully Public” campaign to support traditional IPS schools — did not select any of the four options as the best choice.

Instead, it called for a fully elected school board to serve as charter authorizer without the opportunity for denied charter schools to appeal to the OEI. The school board would operate facilities and transportation for all school types.

“Under this plan, charter students and parents will finally have an accountable board that represents them democratically without sacrificing their school choice,” the group said. “Similarly, IPS and innovation school parents will have the flexibility to exercise school choice without exiting their stable public school system.

Indianapolis Education Association

In a statement, the Indianapolis Education Association said the first option allowing IPS to serve as the charter authorizer is the best.

“This ensures that governance is responsible to the people that they serve and provides a clear structure for community engagement when the time for new programming in specific parts of the city is necessary,” the teacher’s union said. “IEA feels that any attempt to outnumber an elected body that serves IPS is harmful to the community and a board with more appointees than elected officials sends a message that the community can’t be trusted with our schools.”

IPS Parent Council

Kristen Phair of the IPS Parent Council, a roughly 400-member parent organization that formed to support IPS during the last legislative session, said the only option her group would support is the one in which IPS is the sole charter authorizer.

“We just don’t want to see local control diluted by appointees,” she said.

The council circulated an online letter signed by over 700 IPS parents this week that suggested that IPS become the sole authorizer of all charter schools within district boundaries.

IPS school board

School board president Angelia Moore said the board hasn’t had time yet to meet in executive session to discuss the governance options.

She said she is focused on a lawsuit by Attorney General Todd Rokita alleging that IPS hindered federal authorities in the deportation of a man whose son was an IPS student. The board is seeking the public’s support as it crafts a response to the lawsuit.

The Mind Trust

In a statement, the leader of the nonprofit Mind Trust that has helped launch many charter schools in Indianapolis did not give an opinion on overall governance.

“We are pleased to see discussion of an independent facilities and transportation authority, which should exist without consolidating system-level governance,” said CEO Brandon Brown.

Brown also emphasized two separate letters that charter school leaders sent to the ILEA this week.

In one, seven leaders of independent charter schools opposed limiting charter authorization to one authorizer. In the other, nine leaders of charters in the IPS Innovation Network suggested the mayor’s office and the Indiana Charter School Board serve as the only authorizers within IPS borders.

“Out of respect for the ILEA’s work, we will withhold further judgment until the final recommendations are released,” Brown said.