Local news and updates from Wayne County, Indiana reportersRichmond

Richmond’s Board of Zoning Appeals approved variance requests last week that will allow an eighth solar park and a new grain handling company that will supply area pet food manufacturers. The requests for fence height by the Indiana Municipal Power Agency and for building height by Anchor Transload LLC needed and received affirmative votes from […]

About three dozen students and faculty gathered on a finals week morning to display signs along Earlham College’s U.S. 40 entrance and walk a lap around administrators’ offices, showing concern about labor conditions for some of the campus’ lowest-paid workers. Earlham outsourced its housekeeping and facilities a few years earlier. It began contracting with National […]

Extreme heat takes a toll and presents a hazard to Richmond residents. The city now has a guide for alleviating heat-related problems for vulnerable residents. Richmond Common Council on May 1 adopted a heat management plan developed through the grant-funded Beat the Heat program. It addresses heat response protocols, public outreach, home cooling and climate […]

The Indiana Municipal Power Agency plans an eighth Richmond solar park, this one along U.S. 40 west of the city limits. IMPA submitted paperwork requesting relief from zoning standards about fence heights to install a 7-foot-high fence with another foot of barbed wire at the top. The request is similar to the fencing allowed at […]

Talisha Spicher’s family has experienced breathing problems, coughs, sore throats and headaches since returning to their Linden Court home after Richmond’s plastics fire. Still, she had one main objective when attending an April 25 informational session at Fairview Elementary School. “We want to know if the soil is safe for our kids,” said Spicher, who […]

Richmond’s firefighters will receive a 3% salary increase with their new two-year contract. The raise will be split with 1.5% this year and 1.5%, non-compounding, in 2024, according to the contract approved April 27 by the city’s Board of Public Works and Safety. The contract — and the raise makes the base firefighter salary $53,279.90 […]

The billowing black smoke from an April 11 plastics fire triggered an evacuation order that forced residents from their homes and closed businesses. A class-action lawsuit claims residents have experienced physical problems and emotional distress because of the fire at a North West F Street plastics recycling and resale business. It seeks compensatory and punitive […]

Richmond Community Schools addressed a variety of topics at its April 26 board meeting, including an update on its new STEAM Academy, helping kids impacted by trauma, and a $60,000 contract for strategic planning.  STEAM Academy: All student spots are filled in the new program for science, technology, engineering, arts and math. A second fifth-grade […]