Author Archives: Mike Emery

Richmond Common Council members expressed their support for Whitewater Community Television during their June 2 meeting. An 8-0 vote passed a two-pronged motion to use WCTV for live-streaming city meetings and storing the meeting videos and to increase its financial contributions to WCTV. Council member Jerry Purcell stressed “how important it is that we have […]

Richmond Power & Light expects to complete its transition to smart meters next year. General Manager Tony Foster on June 2 updated RP&L board members, who are Richmond Common Council members, about the conversion project that began in 2017. During the day May 27, 16,485 advanced metering infrastructure meters had been installed. That left — […]

Kyle Weatherly spent 22 years with the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office prior to being selected Richmond Police Department’s chief. Now, he’ll try and return as the sheriff’s department’s leader. Weatherly posted June 3 on Facebook that he would be a Republican candidate for sheriff. The post was titled, “The job’s not finished.” Weatherly will speak […]

The Morrisson-Reeves Library building on North Sixth Street turned 50 years old a couple of years ago, and the building’s beginning to show its age. The problems aren’t just cosmetic. Dena Little, director of MRL, appeared before Wayne County Council during its June 4 meeting to describe a nearly $26 million project planned to fix […]

Whitewater Community Television has provided Wayne County’s commissioners a $40,000 proposal at a rate of $250 per hour to livestream and store video of county meetings under the new state law that takes effect July 1. The county has tested a system of handling the livestreaming and storage itself using an Meeting Owl 360-degree camera. […]

Wayne County’s commissioners unanimously chose June 4 to discontinue the county syringe exchange program that began in August 2016 aimed at reducing the county’s hepatitis C cases. Dr. Jennifer Bales, the county health officer, had requested a one-year program extension, and the county’s Board of Health voted that there remains a county hepatitis C emergency […]

Safety Village of Wayne County teaches important safety lessons to about 2,500 children ages 4 to 8 each year. “It’s a great program,” said Jeff Plasterer, president of Wayne County’s commissioners. “I want to be supportive.” Rich Cody, executive director of Safety Town, spoke with commissioners during their May 28 meeting about ways they could […]

After close of the Indiana legislature’s 2025 session, the Department of Local Government Finance has recalculated the agricultural land base rate for 2025 land assessments. The DLGF sent assessing officials statewide a memorandum dated May 9 and signed by DLGF Commissioner Jason Cockerill with the new base rate. The amendment lowered the base rate after […]

After two decades as Wayne County prosecutor, Mike Shipman will not run for reelection during next year’s election. Shipman announced his decision May 29 by email, saying he had always planned to leave prosecution once he reached 30 years of public service. His term expires Dec. 31, 2026. In 2005, Shipman was appointed prosecutor replacing […]