Bloomington Police arrest stabbing suspect
Investigators with the Bloomington Police Department have continued the investigation into a stabbing that occurred in the early morning hours of January 1, 2023, in an alleyway in the 200 block of S College Avenue. The victim, a 32-year-old man, was able to provide detectives with further details of the event. The victim reported that at approximately 10pm. on December 31st, he was walking towards a bar in the 200 block of S College Avenue when he encountered the suspect. The victim reportedly asked the suspect if he could touch his hair, to which the suspect responded by telling him no. However, the victim stated that he touched the suspect’s hair anyway. The two men then had a brief verbal exchange and the victim stated that he apologized for touching the man’s hair after being told that he could not. The men then went their separate ways and the victim reported that he did not see the man again until a few hours later in the east/west alleyway in the 200 block of S College Avenue.
The victim reported that as he was walking west in the alleyway after 1am, he recognized the man approaching him as the man whose hair he had touched a few hours earlier. He said that as the man was walking past him, the man bumped into him and then continued walking. The victim immediately began feeling pain in his abdomen and lifted his shirt, where he observed a significant wound and realized that he had been stabbed. He then walked towards College Avenue and asked a bystander to contact 911 for him. The man that called 911 reported to officers that he had seen a man matching the description of the suspect walking eastbound in the alleyway holding a knife just prior to the victim asking for someone to call 911 because he had been stabbed.
Investigators reviewed security camera footage from the area and also from The Atlas Ballroom. The suspect was located on video prior to the stabbing inside The Atlas Ballroom and was immediately identified by name by an employee of the bar. The suspect, Ryan Johnson (36, Bloomington), was seen on video walking east in the alleyway just prior to the stabbing wearing the same clothing as described by the victim.
On January 7th, investigators were able to locate Johnson in a vehicle near the intersection of Country Club Drive and S Madison Street. Officers stopped the vehicle and Johnson was taken into custody without incident. Ryan Johnson was transported to the Bloomington Police Department for an interview, then later to the Monroe County Jail, where he was remanded for Attempted Murder, Aggravated Battery, and Battery with a Deadly Weapon.
***Criminal Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.
Federal grant will help improve quality, access, affordability of early childhood care, education
The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning, in partnership with the Indiana Department of Education Office of Kindergarten Readiness, has been awarded a $42 million federal grant. These dollars will be used over three years to implement programmatic changes that will improve Indiana’s capacity to recruit early educators, increase access to early learning opportunities for students in unserved areas and ultimately, support families as they make important decisions regarding their child’s education.
The three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will award $14 million annually to FSSA, which partnered with the Indiana Department of Education on the grant application. Combined with FSSA’s $4.2 million annual investment as matching funds required by the grant, $54.6 million will be leveraged in total to accelerate and build Indiana’s capacity to implement long-lasting change, including:
- Building upon stakeholders’ understanding of the needs, gaps and inequities in Indiana’s birth-through-age-5 mixed delivery system, especially as they relate to underserved populations
- Refreshing Indiana’s birth-through-age-5 strategic plan to reflect the current environment and the existing opportunities to drive system-level change
- Amplifying the voices of families in decision-making and introducing new services and educational supports that empower them as their child’s first and most important teacher
- Introducing new workforce recruitment and career pathways, building the operational capacity of early childhood care and education providers and enhancing workforce conditions and compensation
- Strengthening instructional practices, quality measures and birth-to-age 8 coordination efforts
- Investing in the expansion of high-quality programs in underserved geographies
Mary Catherine Carmichael sworn in as Bloomington Deputy Mayor
Mary Catherine Carmichael was officially sworn in as Deputy Mayor in the Council Chambers at City Hall. City Clerk Nicole Bolden administered the oath of office. Carmichael has served in Mayor John Hamilton’s cabinet since January 2016, first as Communications Director and since 2018 as Public Engagement Director. Prior to these roles, Carmichael, who was educated at Indiana University, worked in the utility industry, education, public radio, and operated her own business, while holding positions on a wide variety of local nonprofit boards of directors. She has been serving, supporting, and engaging the residents of Bloomington for the last three decades.
Carmichael replaces Donald Griffin, who resigned at the end of 2022 in order to pursue a campaign in the upcoming Bloomington Mayor’s election.,
This Week in Hoosier History
1821 – The first state prison was authorized by the Indiana Legislature. The facility was established on Market Street in Jeffersonville. Prisoners were committed to hard labor. Within 20 years, the prison was too small, and another was built in Clarksville. Pictured: Indiana Historical Marker in Clarksville.
Follow us on Facebook
For more local news . . .
Check out our archived episodes of What’s Happenin’ and Talkin’ Sports with Nick Jenkinson here