Latest news with #Danville
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Four wounded, one killed in southern Virginia shooting
June 2 (UPI) -- Five people were shot, including one person fatally, in a shooting that erupted at a large outdoor gathering in southern Virginia over the weekend, authorities said. According to preliminary information, the early Sunday shooting involved gunmen in a Chrysler sedan and individuals at a party in the 100 block of Carver Drive in Danville, a city of about 42,000 near the Virginia-North Carolina border. The Danville Police Department said in a statement that the shooting occurred shortly before 1:30 a.m. local time Sunday. Officers dispatched to the area following reports of shots fired found a deceased man, later identified as Jay'Shaun Tiejae White, 22, in the front passenger seat of a Chrysler sedan with gunshot wounds to his upper body. Officers found the suspected driver of the vehicle, identified as a 26-year-old man, suffering from a gunshot wound on an adjacent street. The victim was then transported by ambulance to Sovah Health Danville. Three additional victims later arrived on their own at the health center with injuries from the gunfight, the police department said. The victims have been identified as two men, ages 31 and 25, and a 19-year-old woman. The woman has since been treated and released, while the three men have been transferred to other medical facilities, police said. Juwan Montel Baker, 26, of Danville, has been arrested in connection with the shooting. Police said he was a passenger in the sedan, and he has been charged with three counts each of discharging a firearm from a moving vehicle, malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. According to The Gun Violence Archive, there have been at least 127 mass shootings involving four or more people shot so far in the United States this year.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Vermilion Advantage using a grant to help City of Danville
DANVILLE, Ill. (WCIA) — One organization is getting closer to improving the economic life of Danville. Vermilion Advantage was awarded an $80,000 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration Local Technical Assistance Program. Another $10,000 came from the state's Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which Vermilion Advantage matched. Danville may get new sports facility thanks to local legend Now, Vermilion Advantage has a $100,000 planning project. The goal is to start planning and figuring out which types of businesses will be successful for the city. 'It was a little over a year ago that we got the news [that] Quaker Oats closed, and it was important to me that I wanted to send the message to the community that we had a plan in place and that we weren't going to just take that closure lying down,' Mike Marron, CEO of Vermilion Advantage said. 'We were going to do something about it. And so that's how this whole plan came about and it starting to happen and starting to unfold. And it's pretty exciting.' He said the work has already started. Right now, the main area they're looking at is along East Voorhees Street. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Indianapolis Star
6 days ago
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Preps Insider: 'First-time' transfer is here, high rate(?) of coaching changes, other moves
I need a catchy name for this style of article/column/Insider. This is not necessarily a mailbag – maybe more of a human, word of mouth discussion group than the usual electronic reader feedback style. I need somewhere to unload some thoughts, notes, information, etc., that are maybe not fully formed but things that have been on my mind, and/or news relevant to readers. So, for lack of a better idea, let's call this 'Fourth and long.' Or not. It's a working title. The new Indiana High School Athletic Association 'first time' transfer rule will go into effect June 1. I am aware of roughly 8-10 basketball players just in Central Indiana who will be using the rule to transfer to a new school. Of more interest to me than each individual transfer is how the new rule will impact how coaches use June. This is a key month for football and basketball as players are able to practice with their high school teams, go to camps and play in events (like the Charlie Hughes Shootout at the end of the month). One local football coach told me he told his assistant coaches that there will be no depth charts in the summer. Interesting. It makes sense, though. Why potentially run kids off by burying them on the depth chart? As a coach, you might like that athlete's potential. But a player going into their sophomore or junior year – or maybe more specifically their parents – might see that as a sign to bounce to a different school. And I am not sitting at my computer thinking that is a bad thing, necessarily. Every case is different, right? But it is going to be interesting how this plays out as it relates to the management styles of coaches who are trying to keep kids (or, on the other hand, sending a message that they might want them to transfer). As usual, the players you see on teams in June might not be the same once the school year starts in August (or late July, in some cases). My quick 2 cents: After these first few weeks and months, I think the first-time transfer will ultimately be a more black-and-white rule that kids and parents will come to understand and know what they are getting into. There will be less gray area than the old rule, where 'the best interests' of the athlete transferring were often left to be decided by schools who would either benefit or lose out on the transfer decision. I think it is a little misleading to think of this as the transfer portal of college sports. The freedom only applies to the first transfer, not a clean slate every year like in college, though certainly some of that is filtering down from there. But this change was pushed by the state legislature, which wants school choice to apply to athletics as well. We will see how it all unfolds. I was asked recently during a radio interview why there seems to be so many high school basketball coaching changes during this cycle. Anecdotally, there does seem to be a lot. In boys' basketball in Central Indiana, we have changes at Danville, Greenfield-Central, Greenwood Christian, Guerin Catholic, Hamilton Southeastern, Tindley, Martinsville, Pendleton Heights, Speedway and Western Boone. But after checking with the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association, the coaching changes – so far – are down overall, believe it or not. Currently, there have been 130 total changes (77 boys, 53 girls) for this coaching cycle (there will almost assuredly be more). How those numbers compare over the last several years: 2024: 171 (79 boys, 92 girls) 2023: 198 (105 boys, 93 girls) 2022: 176 (77 boys, 99 girls) 2021: 158 (96 boys, 62 girls) 2020: 179 (86 boys, 93 girls) I remember the 2023 season being a massive year for changes, which it was. But in the big picture, it is interesting that these big numbers are consistent since 2020. There are currently 406 IHSAA member schools. In some of those years, nearly one quarter of the schools in the IHSAA are changing boys or girls coaches. The highest number before 2023 was 197 changes in 2014. Before that, the highest mark was 188 in 2007. Since 2000 (when there were 125 changes), the number has trended upward. If you have spent any time around the Danville boys' basketball program in the past 2 ½ decades, you probably recognize Mark Artman. Artman, 58, joined the staff at Danville when Brian Barber was hired as coach in 1999. And for the next 26 years, Artman worked with Barber to make Danville one of the most consistent basketball programs in the state, winning 462 games, 12 sectional titles and four regional crowns. The only losing season was an 11-12 mark in 2011-12. Artman was hired as Barber's replacement earlier this month. Barber was 462-168 overall in his time at Danville and won 501 games overall before resigning after the season 'to pursue other career interests.' 'I really enjoyed what we had here and we definitely worked well together,' Artman said. 'Brian was really great about making it easy to work with him. He always wanted to hear from me or Rick Foster, who has been here the whole time too. We learned how to coach with each other. That was something coaches at other schools would talk about. They couldn't believe how long we'd been together.' This is the first head coaching job for Artman since he spent two seasons at Fort Wayne Bishop Luers from 1995-97. The Lebanon native also coached at Lebanon and LaVille. Artman said Foster and Matt Stewart, another longtime assistant and former player at Danville, will stay on the staff. 'I know what I'm getting from those guys,' he said. Artman said it is difficult to say how things will be different moving one seat over on the Danville bench. He did fill in as head coach when Barber was hospitalized following hernia surgery. It was a relatively seamless transition because Artman already had a major role. 'When one person tries to do everything, none of it is very good,' Barber said in 2017. 'You're going to miss something. I try to tell young coaches that the key to this is to surround yourself with good people. Good things will happen.' Artman said he 'didn't always have the same ideas' as Barber, which made for a good working relationship. 'We always bounced ideas off each other,' he said. 'I think that's the way it will continue to be. I've always been kind of a basketball crazy guy, so hopefully I can just keep it going as long as I have my health.' At one time, Corey Smith was committed to a Big Ten program. The former Brownsburg star ended up taking a different route, decommitting from Minnesota and playing his freshman year at Tulsa. But Smith said the opportunity to play in the Big Ten came back around and he committed to Purdue last month. 'I really like what they have going,' Smith said of Purdue. 'Really from the head coach to everybody on staff, including coach (Cornell) Ford, the wide receivers coach. The offensive coordinator (Josh Henson) came from USC and we ran a lot of his offense.' Smith, who caught 76 passes for 1,597 yards and 14 touchdowns in his three seasons at Brownsburg, said 'definitely could have had a better season' at Tulsa. 'I feel like I didn't get much run as I wanted to,' he said. 'I got some real experience, though. It took a little bit just matching the physicality of all of the other players. I gained more weight to be more physical.' Smith caught 12 passes for 179 yards and two TDs at Tulsa as a freshman. Coach Kevin Wilson was fired in late November with the team on its way to a 3-9 season. Wilson, the former IU coach, was 7-16 in two seasons at Tulsa. New coach Tre Lamb was hired in December from East Tennessee State. Smith said he felt like was Tulsa's best receiver in spring practices, but sensed with the coaching transition it might be a good time for a change. He said Indiana, Syracuse, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Louisville were among the schools he talked to after entering the portal. Purdue has also added receivers David Washington (Utah), Michael Jackson (Georgia) and Nitro Tuggle (Georgia) in the transfer portal. Smith said he has added about 15 pounds of weight to his 6-foot-1 frame. 'I definitely feel like I got some good playing time (at Tulsa) that would have been harder at a Big Ten school as a freshman,' he said. 'I think getting into that environment, I kind of got a feel for it. Being an hour from home and having family and friends close by will be nice. I'm trying to represent Brownsburg.'
Indianapolis Star
6 days ago
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
‘Friendly rivalry' to ‘good friendship': How these two Brebeuf baseball players formed a bond
INDIANAPOLIS — Anthony Suscha and Andrew O'Brien found themselves outside uncontrollably screaming and yelling. Just moments prior, while sitting in Brebeuf teammate Nick Sobek's basement, the two friends watched Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton hit a game-tying shot that sent Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks to overtime. 'It was one of the coolest moments we had as friends," O'Brien said. "We were jumping up and down like we had won state.' Brebeuf (13-12) got one step closer to state Thursday after beating Danville 5-3 in a IHSAA Class 3A baseball sectional quarterfinal. Brebeuf scored four of their five runs in the first inning. Suscha's one-out triple drove in Sobek, who walked at the leadoff spot. Suscha then tagged home on a sacrifice fly by senior Ethan Norris to give the Braves a 2-0 lead. The Danville pitcher hit two straight batters, allowing a single from sophomore Nate Marcus to drive in Brebeuf's final two runs of the first. O'Brien and Suscha lead the team in home runs, RBIs and batting average and their numbers in each category are similar. Akin to their numbers, O'Brien and Suscha's friendship is just as close. The two met at 8 years old while playing in Broad Ripple Haverford Little League. Through grade school, O'Brien and Suscha competed against one another in baseball, chess, soccer and basketball. 'They started out wanting to beat each other when they were young in all these different sports, but as they got older, they were big supporters of each other. So, it's been cool to see the friendship evolve over the years,' O'Brien's father, Matt, said. 'It was a friendly rivalry that has now become a really good friendship in high school.' Suscha said he and O'Brien began to bond when they played together on their local Under-12 team but didn't get closer until they joined Brebeuf, where they both made the baseball team as freshmen. Matt said the two were 'happy and relieved' when they were again teammates. O'Brien, who hits second in the Braves' lineup, and Suscha, third, shared hitting notes throughout high school and gave each other tips on their swings. O'Brien credited Suscha for encouraging him to stay positive and 'keep a good approach at the plate' when he struggles to hit. Swinging at baseballs started and maintained their friendship. Swinging at tennis balls strengthened it. O'Brien joined the tennis team this school year after he began playing the sport in 2024. Alongside Suscha, who has played tennis since age 2, the two seniors earned Brebeuf tennis its first state championship in 51 years. From the fall: Brebeuf boys tennis wins first state title in 51 years, beating Center Grove When asked how he would rate O'Brien's tennis skills, Suscha looked at his teammate, and the two laughed. 'He's working, he's getting better,' Suscha said. In addition to improving his tennis skills, O'Brien began prioritizing his spiritual life in recent years. He incorporates prayer and Bible reading into his daily routine and attends church services regularly. 'He leads such a great life and enjoys every aspect of it,' Suscha said. 'He is always fun and energized but knows how to focus, which is cool to observe and put into my own life. I get to learn from his joy and how he boosts everyone up.' Brebeuf coach Wes Neese praised both seniors for their composure this season following Brebeuf's defeat in last year's state final and applauded their relaxed on-field spirit. 'They behave like no moment is too big and that rubs off on other guys. Play every pitch, every at-bat, like it's the same,' Neese said. 'There's not much harder to do than hit a baseball, so to be able to take a deep breath and control your heart rate, you get to think more clearly. When you reach this point, you're facing pitchers who throw in the upper 80s, so you don't have to do much. If you try to do more, the worse it gets for you.' Brebeuf will play Guerin (15-12) at 1 p.m. Monday in the sectional semifinals. As the year draws to a close, bittersweet emotions arise for O'Brien's mother, Heather. Heather and Suscha's mom, Liz, played on the Brebeuf softball team together in 1991. 'It's fun to have it come all full circle with the boys playing together. It's crazy how we both had boys at the same time and now both are playing,' Heather said. 'That's what it's all about, the people. And we are going to miss that the most.' Elsewhere: Luke Baker's extra-inning homer lifts Roncalli to sectional win over Shelbyville As Suscha continues his baseball journey at Trinity College, he can expect an occasional text message from O'Brien checking in on his season. O'Brien will stay closer to home and attend Notre Dame but doesn't plan to continue baseball. Two separate colleges. Two separate career aspirations. However, the pair can give thanks to little league baseball, to the poker games that lasted eight hours straight on a team trip to Memphis at the start of this school year, to chaotic screaming and yelling over their hometown basketball team doing the miraculous, to making a miraculous comeback of their own in semistate in 2024. Thanks to 10 years of moments carved by friendship through sport, O'Brien and Suscha's bond will remain formidable. 'We weren't always super close when we were back in little league because we were rivals, but because we've gotten to know each other, we've come to know we're both fun people,' O'Brien said. O'Brien and Suscha plan to reconnect during Thanksgiving break and text about the Pacers and Colts while in college. For Suscha, no future experience with O'Brien will ever top the past four years.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Danville AMBUCS selects 92nd First Citizen
DANVILLE, Ill. (WCIA) — The public has spoken — Danville's chapter of AMBUCS is honoring the 92nd First Citizen. This year Justice Rita Garman was selected. Annual Memorial Day ceremony held in Danville AMBUCS president Diane Carlton said she's had a tremendous career… Serving 49 years on the bench in Illinois as an associate judge, a member of Illinois Supreme Court, and Chief Justice. Carlton said they will be celebrating her later this week. 'It's just one thing that that's been done for, well, now 92 years. That, it's not about people with disabilities, but it was something that was started and we think it's a good thing to continue. It's just one of our community events that we do,' Carlton said. The banquet will be held at the Turtle Run Golf Club at 6 p.m. on Thursday. The organization has also turned 100 years old this year, and they're looking to have a few events to celebrate coming up. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
