Columbus East High School student struck by vehicle and killed
A 16 year-old Columbus East High School student was killed after being struck by a vehicle while attempting to cross the street to enter her school bus this morning. Police and medical personnel were called to South Gladstone Avenue in Bartholomew County, just after 7am this morning after the incident, in which 25 year-old Shiam Sunder Shankara Subramani allegedly hit the young girl and fled the scene of the accident. The girl was transported to Columbus Regional Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Police quickly located Subramani, after he had been followed by a witness to the accident, and was arrested on preliminary charges of leaving the scene of an accident, causing death, and passing a stopped school bus with arms extended, causing death.
***Although the name of the victim has been made public, it is the policy of the South Central Indiana News Network to avoid publishing the names of minors in relation to a crime or accident
Attorney General Todd Rokita: Biden’s unlawful ‘antidiscrimination’ policies threaten individual rights and women’s sports
On Monday, Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a multistate lawsuit against the Biden administration to stop the enforcement of new, expansive and unlawful interpretations of federal antidiscrimination laws. Federal guidance issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Education purports to resolve highly controversial and localized issues — such as whether schools must allow biological males to compete on girls’ sports teams, whether employers and schools may maintain sex-separated showers and locker rooms, and whether individuals may be compelled to use another person’s preferred pronouns.
“Hoosier parents rightly expect their children’s schools to follow commonsense rules that reflect their values, such as maintaining separate bathrooms for boys and girls,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Using the weight and perceived threat of federal agencies, the Biden administration has sought to circumvent the law and impose a radical leftist ideology on American families nationwide. We can’t let that happen.”
The extremist positions advocated by the Biden administration also pose an existential threat to women’s sports, Attorney General Rokita added. “Forcing girls to compete against biological males for spots on women’s sports teams robs them of opportunities to participate in athletics,” he said. “Not only that, but forcing girls to play against biological males endangers their very health and safety. What could be more disrespectful toward women than these kinds of policies?”
The federal agencies claim that the guidance simply implements the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, but that decision did not address any of the issues covered by the guidance. The agencies have no authority to unilaterally resolve these sensitive questions, let alone to do so without providing the public with notice and an opportunity to comment. The multistate coalition asks the court to declare the EEOC and Department of Education guidance invalid and unlawful and to prohibit their enforcement.
Pedestrian struck by vehicle following I70 crash
Sunday evening, Emergency personnel responded to a multiple-vehicle crash on I-70 at the 56-mile marker that included a pedestrian being struck and seriously injured. The preliminary investigation revealed that a 2013 Ford passenger car was traveling on I-70 in the right westbound lanes when the driver, who attempted to change lanes due to slower traffic, made contact with a 2005 Jeep that was in the left lane. That collision caused the Jeep to leave the roadway and come to rest in the grassy median. The Ford passenger car then collided with a 2018 Honda and both vehicles came to rest on the right shoulder of I -70.
The driver of the 2013 Ford was identified as Robert E. Bowles, 50 years old from Cloverdale. Early reports show that Bowles then exited his vehicle and began checking on the other drivers by running across the roadway. Upon crossing the travel lanes of the interstate, Bowles was then struck by a fourth vehicle. Deputies of the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department initially arrived and were able to apply a tourniquet to Bowles’s arm to prevent blood loss due to the severe injuries as a result of the collision. Once Troopers arrived at the scene, they began shutting down the traffic on I-70 to coordinate for Bowles to be flown to an Indianapolis area hospital for treatment. As the investigation into the crash continued, Troopers believe that Bowles may have been impaired due to his driving behavior, evidence at the scene and erratic actions before being struck. The status of Bowles is unknown at this time and this crash is still under investigation as Troopers perform the crash reconstruction.