Winnie is a female mixed-breed dog with adorable ears! She was found roaming in an alley not far from the VHS. No one ever came forward to claim her! She’s estimated to be around 4 years old. She weighs 45 lbs. Winnie’s adoption fee is $110 and includes her spay, microchip, vaccines, and more. Contact Vanderburgh Humane at (812) 426-2563 for adoption details!
By Janet Williams
TheStatehouseFile.com
INDIANAPOLIS—Gov. Eric Holcomb has declared a health emergency after a man who had just returned from a conference in Boston tested positive for the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, early Friday morning.
“I have just signed and declared a public health emergency to ensure that the state of Indiana is in the absolute best position to get the federal funding necessary to respond step by step,†Holcomb said at a hastily called news conference hours after the first case was confirmed.
The unidentified Marion County man is the first in the state to have a presumptive positive test for COVID-19 after undergoing tests in the early morning hours Friday, said Dr. Kristina Box, commissioner of the state Department of Health. The results still need to be confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control.
“This individual is currently in isolation and there is no ongoing risk to the public,†Box said. “With the global spread of COVID-19, the question has never been if Indiana would get a case but when we would see one.â€
Box said health professionals across Indiana have been preparing the virus and stressed that the case is an isolated one.
The man’s employer had let him know that he might have been exposed to the virus after his March 4 return from the Boston conference and he had been monitoring his symptoms, which included a sore throat, cough and mild fever, Box said.
Box and Holcomb were joined at the press conference by Dr. Ram Yeleti, the chief physician at Community Hospital North where the man was tested, and Dr. Virginia Caine, director of the Marion County Health Department.
Box said the hospital was contacted about a potential COVID-19 case and medical staff, wearing protective gear, met the man in the parking lot and took him to an isolation room to be examined and avoid contact with other patients.
Yeleti said that no other patients at Community North were exposed to the virus because of the precautions taken by health professionals.
The news that Indiana has its first coronavirus case comes as illness continues to spread across the globe. On Friday, the number of cases worldwide surpassed 100,000 and in the United States, 14 people have died of the disease. Most had underlying health conditions.
Congress this week approved $8.3 billion to combat the virus and some of that money will be made available to states where it has appeared. By declaring a public health emergency, Holcomb will ensure that the state can seek some of those dollars to control or stop the spread of the virus.
Both Box and Caine said that the Marion County man has a mild case and is not hospitalized. He will remain in isolation for 14 days and not released until specimens taken two consecutive days at the end of that period test negative for the virus.
County health officials are also investigating those who had contact with the man and checking details about the flight he took from Boston to Indianapolis, Caine said. They will also continue to monitor his health.
Health officials have said the virus is most commonly spread through coughing and sneezing, close personal contact such as shaking hands, touching an object with the virus and the touching one’s mouth, nose or eyes, and fecal contamination, though that is rare.
To protect oneself from any respiratory illness:
For more information, visit https://on.in.gov/COVID19.
Janet Williams is executive editor of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
Cali is a female – you guessed it – calico. She’s 2 years old, and has been at the VHS since the day after Christmas. Cali isn’t always a fan of a lot of other cats… she may do fine in a calmer home environment with 1-2 others. But since all of VHS’ communal cat rooms are 15+ cats, she gets a little stressed. Understandably so! She is spayed, vaccinated, and ready to go home today for $40. Contact Vanderburgh Humane at (812) 426-2563 or adoptions@vhslifesaver.org for details!
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UE back on the diamond for two games on Saturday
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A 5-run second inning was the difference for the University of Evansville softball team on Friday evening with the Purple Aces holding off Oakland for a 7-4 win in the Red & Black Challenge.
Oakland (7-8) tagged Evansville (9-9) with a pair of runs in the top of the first. The Aces cut the deficit in half over the ensuing half inning before bringing five runs home in the second. From there, Evansville cruised to its 9th win of the season.
Facing the early 0-2 deficit, Evansville got one of the runs right back in the bottom half of the first with Jessica Fehr reaching on a leadoff single. Fehr advanced to third on an Eryn Gould single before coming home when Alyssa Barela hit a sacrifice fly.
The big inning for the Aces came in the second. Lindsay Renneisen reached on an error before a sacrifice from Halie Fain got her into scoring position. Hannah Hood singled up the middle to bring home the tying run before Kat Mueller launched her first home run in an Aces uniform to give UE its first lead. Following a Katie McLean walk, Gould recorded her second hit of the day, singling to right to bring in the fourth run of the frame before Barela single to center, scoring McLean for the fifth run with Evansville taking a 6-2 advantage.
Oakland picked up a run in the fifth before UE countered, getting it right back in the bottom half of the inning on a Jessica Fehr single. The Grizzlies added another run in the next frame, but they could not get any closer as UE took the 7-4 win to open the tournament.
Emily Lockhart picked up her sixth win of the 2020 campaign, throwing four innings while allowing three runs on five hits. Erin Kleffman gave up an unearned run in two frames of work while Jaime Nurrenbern earned a save, throwing a scoreless seventh.
Fehr led the Aces offense with three of their 11 hits in the game. Hood, Gould and Barela each had two hits. Mueller and Barela each brought in two runs while Mueller notched her first homer as a member of the Aces squad.
Saturday’s schedule pits the Aces in a rematch against Oakland at 1:30 p.m. CT before a 3:45 p.m. CT contest versus Northwestern.
The University of Evansville men’s swimming and diving team posts more school records, day three of the Mid-American Conference championship.
Credence Pattinson broke the school record in the 100-yard butterfly at 48.54, finishing in ninth place. Pattinson a fourth place finish in the 100-yard backstroke at 48.88.
Paul Cozzens shaved almost a second off his 400 IM school record, finishing in fourth in the event at 3:57.93.
Brandt Hudson earned fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle at 1:39.02.
Closing out the night, the Aces broke the school record in the 400-yard medley relay, finishing in fifth at 3:19.96.
UE sits in fifth place in the team scores with 239 points, just 40 points behind Ball State.
The Aces kickoff the final day of the MAC championship at 11:30 a.m., with finals beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Evansville added an insurance run in the sixth as freshman Brent Widder drove in Danny Borgstrom with a base-hit to right-center field.
College of Charleston took a chunk out of Evansville’s lead in the seventh, plating a pair of runs to trim the Aces’ advantage to 5-2. Senior Nathan Croner saw his day come to an end in the seventh with runners on second and third as Croner finished the day pitching 6.1 innings, allowing just one earned run and striking-out four.
Needing a pair of outs, it was senior David Ellis who came on in releif to close-out the seventh and Ellis did just that, not allowing the Cougars to draw closer in the inning with back-to-back outs.
The eighth proved to be the all important inning for College of Charleston as the Cougars plated seven runs in the inning to take a 9-5 lead, before shutting down the Aces at the plate in the ninth to grab the comeback victory.
Evansville returns to action with the second game of its three-game series with College of Charleston at 1 PM (CT) on Saturday in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.
 University of Southern Indiana Men’s Basketball rallies in the second half to defeat Bellarmine University, 76-73, in the final quarterfinal game of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament Friday evening in Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s First Community Arena in Edwardsville, Illinois. USI, the fourth seed, rises to 22-7 overall, while Bellarmine, the fifth seed, drops to 20-7.
With the win, USI advances to play the University of Missouri-St. Louis (26-5), the top seed, Saturday at 6 p.m. The Tritons advanced the semifinals with a last-second 53-51 victory over Drury University Thursday night.
The Eagles split the season series with the Tritons, falling 73-68 in St. Louis and winning 67-66 at Screaming Eagles Arena.
USI had a hard time holding onto the basketball in the opening half, committing 15 turnovers, but held firm on defense to go into the locker room down, 39-36, at the break. The Eagles were efficient with their host, hitting 58 percent from the floor (14-24), and led by senior guard Joe Laravie with 10 1st half points.
Laravie was nearly perfect during the opening 20 minutes, hitting three-of-four from the floor, one-of-two from beyond the arc, and three-of-four from the stripe.
In the second half, the fierce battle continued as the final period would feature six ties and 11 lead changes, including the Eagles first lead at 17:50 when Laravie hit a three-pointer. The Knights, after USI and Bellarmine traded the lead back and forth over the next three minutes, regained the momentum and matched their largest lead of the game, 60-53, with 10:31 remaining.
USI responded with a 9-0 run to regain the lead, 61-60, on a three-point bomb at the 8:12 mark by junior guard Mateo Rivera. The lead would go back and forth five more times when junior guard/forward Clayton Hughes gave the Eagles the lead for good, 71-70, on a pair of free throws with 2:10 left.
Senior guard/forward Kobe Caldwell gave USI its largest lead of the game, 74-70, with a three-pointer from the left corner before junior forward Emmanuel Little sealed the 76-73 victory with a pair of free throws with two ticks left on the clock.
USI, as a team, overcame 20 team turnovers by shooting 53.2 percent from the field (25-47) and dominating the glass, 38-19, that produced a 19-5 advantage in second chance points. Junior forward Josh Price paced the USI dominance of the boards by grabbing a career-high 13 rebounds for a third time this year, nine of them coming on the defensive end.
Individually on the scoreboard, Laravie led three Eagles in double-digits with a USI career-best 21 points. The senior guard finished the contest seven-of-10 from the field, four-of-seven from beyond the arc, and the first half three-of-four at the stripe.
Hughes followed Laravie in the scoring column with 14 points, while Rivera third in the scoring column with 10 points.
