Today is Air Quality Action Day in Indiana
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management has issued an Air Quality Action Day for Central, East, Southeast, and Southwest Indiana on Monday, Aug. 21st.
The following cities will be impacted:
- Central/East Central Indiana, including the cities of: Bloomington, Brookville, Columbus, Frankfort, Indianapolis, Greensburg, Kokomo, Lebanon, Martinsville, Muncie, Richmond and all other cities within the area.
- Southeast Indiana, including the cities of: Brownstown, Corydon, Jeffersonville, Madison, New Albany, Salem, Versailles and all other cities within the area.
- Southwest Indiana, including the cities of: Bedford, Bloomfield, Evansville, Huntingburg, Mount Vernon, Paoli, Princeton, Rockport, Tell City, Vincennes and all other cities within the area.
IDEM is encouraging everyone to help reduce ozone by making changes to daily habits including:
- Drive less: carpool, use public transportation, walk, bike, or work from home when possible
- Combine errands into one trip
- Avoid refueling your vehicle or using gasoline-powered lawn equipment until after 7 p.m.
- Keep your engine tuned, and don’t let your engine idle (e.g., at a bank or restaurant drive-thru)
- Conserve energy by turning off lights and setting the thermostat to 75 degrees or above
Richmond man sentenced to 15 years in Federal Prison after Investigators discover collection of nearly one million child sexual abuse images
David Julien, 65, of Richmond, Indiana, has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to receipt of child sexual abuse material. According to court documents, on the night of January 2, 2022, the defendant, David Julien, was making French fries in his kitchen. He left the kitchen to eat them, forgetting the hot grease on the stove and starting a fire in his kitchen. The Richmond Fire Department (RFD) responded, extinguished the fire, and began an investigation into its cause.
While inside, a Deputy Fire Chief found notebooks on a dresser that contained pictures of child sexual abuse. Officers with the Richmond Police Department spoke to Julien, who admitted that “there will be thousands and thousands and thousands more of those photos.” Julien consented to a search of his house. During the search, officers located eight colored binders that had printed photographs of child sexual abuse material.
Officers also found a computer with approximately 10 external hard drives and 2 internal hard drives. Located near the computer were an additional 5 hard drives that contained well over 100,000 child sex abuse material images and over 3,000 videos, including those of bondage and bestiality. One hard drive had approximately 722,000 CSAM images and 29,000 CSAM videos. The child sexual abuse materials Julien collected and repeatedly viewed dated back to at least 2017. Julien’s collection of child sexual abuse images and videos included depictions of children being subjected to sadomasochistic sexual abuse and bestiality, as well as depictions of the sexual abuse of infants and toddlers.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc
Bloomington infrastructure update
- Crestmont Park – Parks & Recreation staff repaired two slides at the Crestmont Park playground, 1100 N Illinois St this week. A lift was used to install two new slide sections to replace pieces that were cracking at the attachment points. Staff will move from the playground at Crestmont Park to the playground at Switchyard Park, 1601 S. Rogers St. to repair the accessible carousel. Parts of the Switchyard Park playground will be temporarily closed while staff lifts the carousel to replace casters in the spin mechanism. Each city park playground is inspected regularly by certified playground safety inspectors to ensure all play equipment operates as designed, and remains safe for use.
- Resurfacing Projects – During the week of August 21, weather permitting, the Department of Public Works Street Division crews will begin milling and resurfacing on W Tapp Rd from S Adams St to S Rockport Rd. The Division will prep streets prior to resurfacing and will have restrictions during work hours (7 a.m. to 4 p.m.). Signage will be posted. View an interactive map of 2023 paving projects at: bton.in/tpNzZ
This Week in Hoosier History
1877 – Lloyd C. Douglas, American novelist (The Big Fisherman), was born in Columbia City, Indiana (d. 1951). Douglas was one of the most popular American authors of his time, although he did not write his first novel until he was 50. He was born in Columbia City, Indiana, spending part of his boyhood in Monroeville, Indiana, Wilmot, Indiana and Florence, Kentucky, where his father, Alexander Jackson Douglas, was pastor of the Hopeful Lutheran Church. According to the 1910 Census Douglas was listed as a Lutheran clergyman. He was married to Bessie I. Porch. They had two children: Bessie J. Douglas, 4 at the time and Virginia V Douglas, 2 at the time.
For more local news . . . Check out our archived episodes of What’s Happenin’ and Talkin’ Sports with Nick Jenkinson