IndyStar's May lineup includes major police investigation, Indy 500 exclusives. Subscribe today

Indianapolis Star

27-04-2025

It's almost May in Indianapolis, and IndyStar has big plans for one of our busiest months.
With Indiana's 2025 legislative session wrapped, it's time to turn our focus to the end of the school year and spring sports, the start of the Indiana Fever's highly anticipated season, the Indianapolis 500 and what we all hope will be a long playoff run by the Indianapolis Pacers.
IndyStar will be there for all of it, capturing the highs and lows of spring in Central Indiana. But we'll also publish a number of stories that have been months, and even years, in the making. From a powerful investigation into police misconduct in northern Indiana to the tale of a local folk legend, we'll deliver unparalleled, exclusive storytelling in the month ahead.
IndyStar subscribers will have unlimited access to each of these planned stories, videos and photo galleries, along with the rest of our award-winning local journalism. Visit indystar.com/subscribe to sign up for unlimited access today.
I hope you'll find these examples of our best local journalism as fulfilling to read and watch as we've found them to report.
Lawless: A three-year investigation of racism and police brutality in Elkhart
Decades after D.C. Stephenson's Ku Klux Klan revived the Horse Thief Detective Agency to enforce its hateful agenda, a rogue band of police officers in Elkhart authored another bleak and costly chapter in Indiana's interconnected history of policing, power and race.
These young, White and aggressive officers — they called themselves Wolverines — turned Elkhart's Black neighborhoods into their sadistic playground in the 1980s and '90s. Court records and interviews detail officers competing to see how many arrests they could make during overnight shifts and heading to the neighborhoods with the expressed intent to "kick some ass."
Department leadership, officers told IndyStar, too often turned a blind eye to the Wolverines' brutal tactics.
To date, Elkhart's liability insurance carriers have paid nearly $27 million to settle allegations of misconduct leading to wrongful imprisonment. A deep distrust of policing remains in the city's Black community.
IndyStar investigative reporter Kristine Phillips and visual journalist Mykal McEldowney spent part of three years on Lawless, our multipart series on the damage wrought by these rogue police and the lasting impacts on those they bullied, beat and wrongfully imprisoned.
Lawless publishes Tuesday at IndyStar.com and in the May 4 print edition.
The legend of 'Mr. First in Line', the Arizona junkman who became an Indy 500 icon
Penske, Unser, Foyt, Castroneves. Indianapolis 500 fans know the names who made the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" the cultural phenomenon it is today.
But how about Chuck Lynn. How about Larry Bisceglia?
You might know the latter as "Mr. First in Line." From 1950 to 1987, Bisceglia was the first fan to line up for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway gates to open. IndyStar's McEldowney spent months interviewing those who knew Bisceglia to tell the story of how this "salt of the earth" junkyard worker from Arizona became an Indy 500 icon.
IndyStar sports reporter Dana Hunsinger Benbow partnered with McEldowney to write the story that accompanies an 11-minute documentary on Bisceglia's unique place in Indy 500 lore. Here's an excerpt:
"Every spring as the wildflowers began to sprout, turning the earthy tones of the landscape into bright colorful splendor, Bisceglia would set off in his van and drift far away, a long, 30-hour trek 1,900 miles away, to the place he loved most.
And when he would arrive at his beloved Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Bisceglia would transform into an outright superstar."
"Mr. First in Line" will publish in early May at IndyStar.com.
Let's talk for a moment about Indy 500 fashion, which tends to be more John Cena than Giorgio Armani.
Then you have IMS and IndyCar President Doug Boles, nattily dressed and seemingly everywhere in May. More than once, our news staff has asked, "How many suits must that man have?"
Later this May, Hunsinger Benbow will attempt to answer that question in what should be a fun read for any Indy 500 fan.
Thanks for letting me give you a taste of what's on deck this May at IndyStar. If you already support our work to keep Indianapolis and Central Indiana informed, thank you. If you'd like to support us and receive unlimited access to these stories and everything we publish, please visit indystar.com/subscribe today.