Greenwood teacher arrested on child seduction charges
40 year-old Matthew Hockersmith, a teacher at Greenwood High School, was preliminarily arrested on 3 charges of child seduction, with formal charges expected today. Hockersmith is the head cross country coach, as well as an assistant track coach for Greenwood High School. No additional information is available at this time regarding the matter.
*All criminal defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Mackenzie Holmes becomes the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Player of the Week
Indiana University Junior Forward Mackenzie Holmes has been named the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Player of the Week. During the week, Holmes averaged 26.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.0 blocks, and shot 75.9 percent from the floor in a pair of wins over Fairfield and #20 Ohio State. This is her third career Big Ten Player of the Week award and second of the season. She was previously honored for the week of November 15th. Holmes set a new career high with 30 points against the Buckeyes on 68% shooting to go along with seven rebounds and five blocks. Additionally, she amassed her 1,000th career point during the game.
Third-Party Report finds area affected by Bloomington controlled burn below level of concern for Lead
A detailed third-party report concluded that samples of air, surface dust, surface soil and leaf litter collected in the vicinity of a recent controlled burn exhibited no lead contamination in excess of state and federal standards, and recommended that no further action is warranted. The report was published by VET Environmental Engineering (VET), with whom the City contracted to provide lead abatement oversight, confirmatory investigations, and reporting, including coordination of abatement activities with clean-up contractor Environmental Assurance Company, Inc. (EACI), area air sampling during abatement activities, and confirmatory post-abatement soil sampling analyzed by an independent laboratory. Activities responded to areas where debris was dispersed after the Bloomington Fire Department’s (BFD) November 5th controlled burn of a residence on South High Street conducted to provide training to firefighters.
VET’s report stated: “All lead abatement and confirmatory sampling was conducted in accordance with applicable published guidelines….It is VET’s professional opinion that further investigation of lead contamination at the site is not warranted.”
Additionally, the Monroe County Health Department confirmed that blood samples collected from firefighters who operated at the burn and from residents who sought testing at a voluntary, free site on December 4th, did not indicate any elevated levels of lead. The VET report is available here.
This Week in Hoosier History
1950 – 19-year-old James Dean got his first paid acting job in a commercial for Pepsi-Cola. He had recently moved to California after graduation from high school in Fairmount, Indiana. He went on to a short but legendary career in Hollywood movies.
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Check out our archived episodes of What’s Happenin’ and Talkin’ Sports with Nick Jenkinson here