U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz’s re-election campaign is calling on Democratic challenger J.D. Ford to explain how his campaign came to use a Carmel property that is scheduled for Hamilton County’s Oct. 8 tax sale.

The property at 610 N. Rangeline Road serves as Ford’s campaign headquarters in the 5th Congressional District race. According to the Spartz campaign, it is listed for the tax sale over $16,937 in delinquent taxes.

The Spartz campaign said this is not the first time the property has been on the county’s tax-sale list. It said the property was listed in 2022 for $14,516 and in 2024 for $20,252. The property has also been listed for sale since October 2025, with a current asking price of $749,999, the campaign said.

The campaign says the property is owned by D M Investment Group LLC. The company’s registered agent is Jason Delk, and it uses the same Muncie address as the law firm Delk McNally LLP. Delk founded the firm with Mike McNally. The firm lists the Rangeline Road property as its Carmel office.

The Spartz campaign is asking Ford to say what arrangement his campaign has for using the building. It also wants him to say whether Mike McNally is related to Matt McNally, the Indiana Democratic Party’s 5th Congressional District vice chair. If they are related, the campaign asks whether that connection has anything to do with the campaign’s use of the property.

“Ford’s arrangement raises many questions. J.D. Ford wants voters to trust him with their tax dollars, so why did he choose for his campaign headquarters a property that has repeatedly been listed for tax sale and currently has almost $17,000 in delinquent taxes?” Spartz said. “I hope the IndyStar is as eager to ask these questions.”

The Spartz campaign has not said that Ford’s campaign has done anything illegal or improper in using the property.

LarryInFishers.com asked the Ford campaign for a response. None had been received by the time this story was published. This story will be updated if the campaign responds.

Spartz, a Republican from Noblesville, is seeking re-election in the 5th District, which includes Fishers and most of Hamilton County. The general election is Nov. 3.

The Indy Fuel added a junior hockey champion to their forward group Tuesday, signing Noah Aboflan to a standard player contract for the 2026-27 season. The team also re-signed forwards Owen Robinson and Alex DiPaolo.

The Fuel play their home games at the Fishers Event Center.

Aboflan brings a winning résumé

Aboflan, 21, will make his professional debut with the Fuel this season. The 6-foot, left-handed forward from Elliot Lake, Ontario, joins Indy from the Greater Sudbury Cubs of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League. He had seven points in 10 playoff games to help the Cubs win the league championship.

Before that, Aboflan played for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, who won the OHL title in 2025. The Knights went on to win the Memorial Cup, the Canadian Hockey League’s national championship.

In 2023-24, Aboflan averaged more than a point per game for the Elliot Lake Vikings of the NOJHL before joining the Pelham Panthers of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. With Pelham, he had 13 points in 16 regular-season games and four points in five playoff games.

He also won a GNML championship in 2021-22 with the Soo Greyhounds U18 AAA team.

Robinson returns for third season

Robinson returns for his third season with the Fuel. He played 59 games for Indy last season, recording 12 goals and 14 assists for 26 points, and appeared in five playoff games.

He first joined the Fuel late in the 2024-25 season, scoring seven points in 10 regular-season games and three points in four playoff games. That came after a strong final season at the University of Toronto, where he had 15 goals and 23 assists in 28 games.

Robinson played four seasons at Toronto. Before college, he spent parts of three seasons with the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves, where he had 87 points in 124 regular-season games. He also played three games with the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears in 2021-22.

DiPaolo back after late-season trade

DiPaolo, 26, came to the Fuel in a trade with the Maine Mariners late last season after playing 37 games for Maine. He had six points in 13 regular-season games with Indy.

He made his pro debut with Maine the season before, playing 10 games after graduating from Colgate University. The 6-foot-1 winger played 129 games over four seasons at Colgate, scoring 88 points, and helped the Raiders win the ECAC championship in 2022-23.

The Oakville, Ontario, native played three seasons in the British Columbia Hockey League before college, with the Victoria Grizzlies, Penticton Vees and Coquitlam Express. He was a captain and an alternate captain in Victoria, and he was named Rookie of the Year with Coquitlam.

The creators of the Easter production “The Thorn” are bringing a new Christmas show to Fishers this holiday season.

“The Arrival,” a theatrical telling of the birth of Jesus, will be at the Fishers Event Center on Saturday, Dec. 19, 7pm.

The production follows the journey to Bethlehem with live music, aerial acts, movement arts, dance and visual effects. Organizers describe it as a chance for audiences to “encounter the age-old story in a new way” during the Advent season.

How to get tickets

A venue presale begins Thursday, Oct. 1, at 10 a.m. Use the presale code HOLYNIGHT.

General ticket sales open Friday, Oct. 2, at 10 a.m.

Tickets are available at FishersEventCenter.com. More information about the show is at thearrivaltour.com.

It is not often that a meeting of the Hamilton County Election Board ends with applause, but that happened Tuesday morning in Noblesville.

The board voted unanimously to replace precinct-based voting with countywide vote centers starting with the 2027 municipal elections. State law requires a unanimous vote of the board.

Under the new system, voters will no longer have to vote at an assigned precinct on Election Day. They can vote at any vote center in the county.

“This gives voters more flexibility while allowing us to build an election system that can better accommodate Hamilton County’s continued growth,” said County Clerk Kathy Kreag Williams, who wrote Indiana’s original vote center legislation while serving in the Indiana House.

Board Chairman Ray Adler pointed to the plan’s broad support from the county commissioners, the county council, and both Republican and Democratic party leaders.

Last year, the proposal fell one vote short. Adler, the Republican appointee, voted no because he wanted to see how vote centers worked in Allen County first. Adler and the local GOP have since come on board.

“I had concerns last year because this is a major change that will affect hundreds of thousands of voters,” Adler said. “We’ve had another year to study the process, learn from other counties, and strengthen our own plan. I’m comfortable that we’re ready to move forward.”

Greg Purvis, the Democratic appointee, voted yes both times.

“We didn’t all start in the same place on this issue, but we took the time to work through the concerns and get to a plan we could all support,” Purvis said.

Four people spoke during public comment. All of them supported the change.

Schools return as voting sites

The county now uses 102 polling sites. The plan calls for 57 vote centers. The county says that is more than double the 28 that state law requires. Starting the change in 2027 gives officials time to work out problems before the higher-turnout 2028 presidential election.

Most of the vote centers are schools. Several school districts had stopped serving as polling places because of security concerns, but all have now agreed to host voting again. According to the plan, using schools will save almost $20,000 a year in rental fees.

“One of the biggest reasons this proposal works is because our local school districts have stepped up as partners once again,” Williams said.

The vote centers will be open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the May 4 primary and the Nov. 2 general election. Most will have eight voting machines. Seven sites that also serve as early voting locations will have 10. That includes Fishers’ Roy G. Holland Memorial Park Building and Billericay Park Building.

The plan must still be approved by the Indiana Election Division. Before the first vote center election, the clerk’s office will mail a postcard to every registered voter explaining the change and listing every location.

Proposed 2027 vote centers:

Continue reading Hamilton County Election Board approves vote centers for 2027 elections →

Eleven men were arrested during a three-day undercover online operation aimed at people trying to meet children for sex. The Hamilton County Metro Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force announced the arrests Tuesday.

The task force is headquartered at the Fishers Police Department. It ran the operation Sept. 22-24 with detectives from the Greenwood and Lebanon police departments and help from the Westfield Police Department.

According to the task force, each man arranged online to meet someone he believed was a young girl and drove to a location in the Westfield area. Undercover police officers were waiting for them there.

“With digital evidence as well as admissions by the suspects it was unmistakable that these men were at the location with the intent to sexually abuse children,” the release stated. “The results of this operation solidify the need to be ever vigilant in the protection of our most vulnerable population.”

All 11 were charged with child solicitation, a Level 4 felony, and taken to the Hamilton County Jail. Some face more charges. Police said the investigation is still active and the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office may file more charges.

Those arrested:

• Ricardo Flores, 43, of Indianapolis, also charged with attempted sexual misconduct with a minor, a Level 4 felony, and attempted dissemination of matter harmful to a minor, a Level 6 felony
• Lucky Udoudo, 30, of Carmel, also charged with attempted sexual misconduct with a minor, a Level 4 felony
• El Hadji Babacar Ndiaye, 26, of Indianapolis
• Sean Conway, 28, of Westfield
• David Josue Gomez-Posada, 21, of Texas
• Simon Cinzah, 31, of Indianapolis, also charged with attempted sexual misconduct with a minor, a Level 4 felony
• Homero Madrigal Arevalo, 41, of Logansport
• Darian Foster, 25, of Indianapolis
• Arvind Kumar Kaul, 49, of Carmel
• Jermas McNeal Jr., 36, of Indianapolis, also charged with resisting law enforcement, a misdemeanor
• Michael Podniestrzanski, 38, of Indianapolis

Criminal charges are only accusations. Everyone charged is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

Detectives thanked the undercover officers and the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office for their work during the operation.

The task force includes detectives from the Fishers, Carmel, Westfield, Noblesville, Greenfield and Anderson police departments, the Hamilton County and Madison County sheriff’s offices, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It investigates internet crimes against children and child exploitation cases in Hamilton, Hancock, Madison and Tipton counties.

The family of the late Jeff Schwarz, a Fishers resident who died of brain cancer in 2023, has given $10 million to Indiana University to create a new neuro-oncology research center in his name.

IU announced Sept. 24 that the gift creates the Jeff Schwarz Center for Neuro-Oncology Research at the IU Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. The center will study brain cancer, cancer that has spread to the brain and other neuro-oncology conditions. It will bring together lab scientists, translational researchers and clinicians to get new therapies to patients faster.

The IU School of Medicine is adding $5 million, bringing the total investment to $15 million. The center is in new research space in the school’s Medical Education and Research Building.

Schwarz, an IU alumnus, met his wife, Jill, when both were students in Bloomington. He was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, in late 2022 and died in November 2023.

“Jeff and I always shared a love for IU, and it is so meaningful to create something permanent at our alma mater in his name,” Jill Schwarz said. “Our family believes research is the key to better treatments for patients with brain cancer, and we are so proud IU will do that work in Jeff’s memory.”

IU President Pamela Whitten said the family’s generosity “will help IU recruit the brightest minds in neuro-oncology and advance innovations that bring new therapies, new possibilities and new hope to patients and families.”

The gift includes endowed funding for two faculty positions: the Jeff Schwarz Senior Professor in Neuro-Oncology Research and the Jack Schwarz Professor in Neuro-Oncology Research.

Dr. Scott Boden, dean of the IU School of Medicine, said the school’s $5 million commitment “reflects how strongly we believe in the potential of this center and the work that will happen here.”

The donation builds on earlier support from the family. In 2022, Schwarz and his family started the Schwarz Family and Friends Cancer Research Fund. That fund allowed the cancer center to hire Jia Shen, an assistant professor of medical and molecular genetics. Shen’s lab at IU Bloomington studies how to keep glioblastoma from coming back, and also studies brain tumors in children.

The gift is part of IU’s Never Daunted fundraising campaign.

Nearly 25,000 people in the U.S. are expected to be diagnosed with brain or other nervous system cancers this year, according to the National Cancer Institute. The five-year survival rate is less than 33%.

Hamilton County residents who want to vote in the Nov. 3 general election have until Monday, Oct. 5, to register. Early in-person voting begins the next day, Tuesday, Oct. 6.

Early voting opens first at two sites in Noblesville: the Hamilton County Judicial Center, One Hamilton County Square, and the Hamilton County Fairgrounds, 2003 Pleasant St.

Fishers voters will get two locations closer to home when eight more sites in Fishers, Carmel and Westfield open Wednesday, Oct. 21. In Fishers, voters can cast ballots at the Roy G. Holland Memorial Park Building and the Billericay Park Building. Early voting sites in Sheridan and Cicero open Wednesday, Oct. 28.

“Early voting gives residents more flexibility to cast their ballot when it works best for their schedule,” said Hamilton County Clerk Kathy Kreag Williams. “With locations throughout the county and weekday, evening, and Saturday hours available, we hope voters will take advantage of the option that is most convenient for them.”

Any registered Hamilton County voter who meets the requirements to vote may vote early in person. No application or reason is required.

Voters should bring an acceptable photo ID. Before heading to the polls, they can check their registration status and see who is on their ballot at IndianaVoters.in.gov or by calling the Hamilton County Voter Registration Office at 317-776-9632.

Early voting locations:

• Hamilton County Judicial Center, Noblesville (opens Oct. 6)
• Hamilton County Fairgrounds, Noblesville (opens Oct. 6)
• Roy G. Holland Memorial Park Building, Fishers (opens Oct. 21)
• Billericay Park Building, Fishers (opens Oct. 21)
• Westfield City Hall, Westfield (opens Oct. 21)
• Westfield Washington Township, Westfield (opens Oct. 21)
• Cool Creek Nature Center, Carmel (opens Oct. 21)
• Wilfong Pavilion at Founders Park, Carmel (opens Oct. 21)
• Jill Perelman Pavilion, Carmel (opens Oct. 21)
• Carmel Library, Carmel (opens Oct. 21)
• Sheridan Public Library, Sheridan (opens Oct. 28)
• Cicero Public Library, Cicero (opens Oct. 28)

Hours vary by location and date. For a full schedule, visit the Hamilton County Elections website at this link.

Greg Wright, a Fishers-area dentist, practicing in Indianapolis and Lapel,  and the Republican candidate for the District 1 seat on the Hamilton Southeastern School Board, says he wants to give back to a school system that shaped his family.

Wright talked about his campaign in a new podcast with LarryInFishers.com.

All three of Wright’s children went through HSE Schools from kindergarten through graduation. The youngest graduated this year. His wife, Charron, has been active in the HSE High School community, and Wright has coached junior varsity lacrosse.

“I do not have a hidden agenda,” Wright said. “I’m doing this to give back for all the wonderful experiences.”

He said an HSE administrator and community leaders encouraged him to run. He added that Superintendent Dr. Matt Kegley’s appointment was “the icing on the cake.”

This is the first HSE board election in which party labels appear on the ballot. Wright calls himself “a very moderate Republican.” He said he chose the label on the advice of people he trusts in a heavily Republican county. “You have my word that I will not make decisions based on politics,” he said.

Wright said the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association told him it did not endorse him only because he runs under a party label. He said there is “no bad blood.” His parents are retired teachers from Anderson.

Wright supports the HSE funding referendum on the November ballot. He estimates it will cost the average homeowner about $20 to $30 a year. “No one lives in Hamilton County because of the beaches and the mountains,” he said. “You live in Hamilton County because of the school system.” If the referendum fails, he said, cuts should protect classroom instruction and teachers first.

On cash reserves, Wright said the district should keep more than the state minimum because the legislature is “unpredictable.” He also said the district cannot rely on reserves to cover recurring costs.

Wright wants HSE to be a destination for teachers statewide and nationally, and he wants the district to “tell our story” better to attract students as enrollment shifts. He pointed to the Fishers AgriPark, the partnership with Conner Prairie, the South Eastern Sports Network and HSE hosting the Chipotle Nationals high school basketball tournament on ESPN.

He sees the board’s role as oversight, not day-to-day management. “We only have one employee, and that’s the superintendent,” Wright said.

The general election is Nov. 3.

The LarryInFishers.com podcast is sponsored by Citizens State Bank.

Listen to the full podcast with Greg Wright using this link or the link below.

I have taught classes on ransomware to tax professionals for Indiana University. I have seen how much damage one of these attacks can do to a business and to the people who trust it with their personal information. Now a ransomware attack has hit a health care office here in Fishers.

Bright Smile Dental Care, Ltd., 9931 Eller Road, has posted a notice online saying it found ransomware on its server Aug. 3. The notice says the attack affected the practice’s patient records and practice management software, along with its dental imaging software.

The practice says it brought in cybersecurity consultants right away to look into the attack and limit the damage.

According to the notice, the information that may have been involved includes patients’ names, dates of birth, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, insurance information, information about dependents, health information and, in some cases, Social Security numbers. Bright Smile says patients’ financial information was not affected.

The practice believes the risk to patients is low. It says all data on the server was encrypted and there is “no indication that the threat actor possessed the encryption keys necessary to view the underlying data.”

“While we have no evidence that any of our patients’ information was misused, we are providing this notice to explain the incident,” the practice said.

That is good news if it holds up. In my experience teaching this subject, though, many ransomware groups now copy data before they lock it up, then threaten to release it unless they get paid. Bright Smile’s investigation found no sign of that here, but staying alert costs patients nothing.

Bright Smile is mailing letters to all affected patients it has contact information for. It is also notifying the national consumer reporting agencies and reviewing its security policies.

Patients whose Social Security numbers may have been involved can get free credit monitoring through TransUnion. Instructions for signing up will be in the letter.

What patients can do

• Check bank statements and credit reports for anything unusual.
• Get free credit reports at annualcreditreport.com or by calling 1-877-322-8228.
• Place a fraud alert or credit freeze with Experian (1-888-397-3742), Equifax (1-800-525-6285) or TransUnion (1-800-680-7289).
• Contact the Federal Trade Commission’s identity theft hotline at 877-438-4338 (TTY: 1-866-653-4261), or visit ftc.gov/idtheft.
• Report any suspicious activity to Bright Smile.

The notice does not say how many patients were affected or whether the attackers asked for a ransom.

The Indy Fuel announced Thursday they have traded the rights to forward Sahil Panwar to the Cincinnati Cyclones in exchange for defenseman Aaron Bohlinger, who has signed with Indy for the 2026-27 season.

Bohlinger, 26, spent his rookie professional season with the Cyclones, recording two goals and 20 assists in 62 games with a plus-5 rating. The 5-foot-9 right-handed shot from Newburgh, New York, will now suit up for the Fuel at Fishers Event Center.

Before turning pro, Bohlinger played the 2024-25 season at Quinnipiac University, where he posted 14 points and a plus-11 rating in 32 games. He helped the Bobcats win the ECAC regular-season championship.

He previously spent four seasons at UMass, serving as team captain in 2023-24. Bohlinger was named to the NCAA All-Academic Team all four years and helped the Minutemen win Hockey East championships in each of his first two seasons.

His college career included a national title. Bohlinger scored the opening goal of the 2021 NCAA National Championship game against St. Cloud State, helping UMass win the 2020-21 championship.

Bohlinger’s junior hockey career included stops with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL, the Alberni Valley Bulldogs of the BCHL and the Philadelphia Rebels of the NAHL. In Philadelphia, he was a teammate of former Fuel fan favorite Andrew Bellant.

His best junior season came with Alberni Valley in 2018-19, when he recorded 34 points in 55 games.

The Fuel open the 2026-27 ECHL season Friday, Oct. 16, against the Wheeling Nailers at Fishers Event Center. Puck drop is 7:15 p.m.