After a bye week over the July 4th holiday, the Fishers Freight are set to return to the field Saturday night in Des Moines, facing off against the Iowa Barnstormers. The Barnstormers currently sit at the bottom of the Indoor Football League’s Eastern Division with a 1-12 record—their lone win this season coming against the Freight.

Fishers holds a 4-9 record, just above Iowa in the standings, and will be looking to rebound from their earlier loss to the Barnstormers as the season winds down.

The Freight announced Friday the signing of wide receiver Isaiah Coulter. The 6-foot-2 pass catcher was most recently with the Massachusetts Pirates and was released on June 26. He is expected to join the team in Iowa for Saturday’s matchup.

Earlier this week, the Freight released quarterback Victor Espinoza. Quarterback Carlos Davis was placed on  short-term injured reserve June 25.

Dr. Craig McCaffrey started his career in education as a chemistry teacher. A mentor of his encouraged Dr. McCaffrey to pursue school administration.  After a number of years experience, many of those years at Noblesville High School, he has taken the reins of leadership at Hamilton Southeastern High School this school year as the new principal.

I sat down with Dr. McCaffrey Wednesday afternoon for a podcast discussion.  We talked about his background and his vision of leading HSE High School.

Listen to the podcast at the link below.

As I approached the Wednesday afternoon ground-breaking ceremony for the new project on the grounds of the Delaware Township Center on 131st Street, just west of the Nickel Plate Trail, I saw Township Trustee Debbie Driskell was smiling ear-to-ear.  This is a development Debbie and her township board have been pursuing for some time and construction is finally about to start.

Assembled were people from the township, city and county government.

“It took us 7 years to get here, but we are here,” Driskell told those at the groundbreaking.

When it was Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness’ turn to take the microphone, he spoke of intersections, but not the type you see on the street grid.

“I mean the intersections between the township, county government, city government – when we all come together, when we put our collective resources toward a common goal, it is amazing what we can do on behalf of our residents,” Fadness said.

This ambitious project will include a Nickel Plate Trailhead, a pocket park, restrooms and an expansion of the township government building.

It has been several years since Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools have undergone a major redistricting effort. That will soon change.

Superintendent Patrick Mapes announced at Wednesday night’s school board meeting that the process of redrawing school attendance boundaries will begin at the board’s August meeting. The redistricting effort is prompted in part by the ongoing construction of Fishers Elementary School. Once completed, redrawing the district lines will help balance student enrollment across school buildings.

Other Highlights from the July Board Meeting:

• High School Infrastructure Improvements:
  DC Construction Services was awarded a $496,424.14 contract to reconstruct the south parking lot and replace the north drive at Hamilton Southeastern High School. The winning bid came in well below original cost projections.

• New Furniture for Brooks School Elementary:
  The board approved a total of $598,756.04 in bids from Sharps School Services and Purposeful Design to replace furniture at Brooks School Elementary.

• Before the Bell Celebration Set for July 31:
  The annual “Before the Bell” event kicking off the school year will take place Wednesday, July 31, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at the downtown Nickel Plate Amphitheater, 6 Municipal Drive in Fishers. Last year’s event was canceled due to bad weather, but Superintendent Mapes says contingency plans are in place to move this year’s festivities indoors if necessary.

• Key Back-to-School Dates:
  Teachers report for the new school year on Monday, August 4, and students return to class on Wednesday, August 6.

• Back-to-School Resources:
  HSE Schools has published a comprehensive back-to-school information page on the district website. Families are encouraged to visit the site for important updates and resources.  Find it at this link.

• Student Recognition – Jude Bozarth:
  The board honored Fishers Junior High 8th grader Jude Bozarth for his remarkable achievements in taekwondo. Jude is a 2nd Degree Black Belt, junior instructor, and three-time national champion with the North Indy Taekwondo Club. In 2025, he became one of the first Indiana youth in decades to be named to the USA Taekwondo National Olympic Sparring Team. He represented the U.S. at the Pan American Championships in Mexico and competed at the World Championships in the United Arab Emirates, where he finished tied for 5th in the world. Jude has trained and competed in 16 states and four countries—all while maintaining honor roll status at Fishers Junior High.

I recently posted a podcast interview with Braydyn Bear-Lents, a recent Indiana University journalism graduate who launched an online news site to serve the small southwestern Indiana city of Loogootee. His effort highlights a growing concern across the country—especially in rural areas—about the rise of “news deserts,” where access to reliable local news is scarce or nonexistent.

Now, Indiana is bracing for another hit to its already fragile local journalism landscape.

Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations (IPBS) announced this week that it will eliminate its entire statewide team of reporters and editors at the end of the year. The move comes after the Indiana General Assembly eliminated state funding for IPBS, and as federal support for public media also appears to be in jeopardy.

Mark Newman, executive director of IPBS, issued a statement Tuesday confirming the cuts and calling them a direct result of being defunded by the legislature. IPBS has long maintained a Statehouse bureau and a team of statewide reporters whose work is shared across Indiana’s network of public broadcasting stations.

According to the Indiana Capital Chronicle, the following journalists are among those affected:

• Brandon Smith, longtime Statehouse reporter and co-host of Indiana Week in Review on WFYI

• Abigail Ruhman, health reporter

• Rebecca Thiele, energy and environmental reporter

• Lauren Chapman, digital editor

• Timoria Cunningham, labor and employment reporter

These journalists are among the best in the field, known for their in-depth, nonpartisan reporting on issues that matter to all Hoosiers.

With state and likely federal support disappearing, IPBS says individual member stations will do their best to maintain local reporting capacity. But there is little doubt that the loss of a centralized, statewide news team will leave a major gap in coverage.

This is a sad day—not only for Indiana journalism but for the public that depends on accurate, thoughtful reporting. The reporters affected by these cuts are top-notch professionals. Losing them is a loss for all of us.

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Grace Potter is set to perform at the Nickel Plate District Amphitheater (NPD AMP) in Fishers on Friday, September 5, 2025. The concert was announced Tuesday by the venue and MOKB Presents.

Tickets for the show will go on sale this Friday, July 11, at 10 a.m. through npdamp.com and mokbpresents.com.

Known for her dynamic stage presence and genre-blending sound, Potter rose to prominence in the early 2000s as the frontwoman of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. The group gained recognition for its fusion of country, heartland rock, and Memphis-style grooves before disbanding in 2013. Potter has continued her solo career with several critically praised albums, including Midnight (2015) and her newly released project Medicine, a previously unreleased collaboration with producer T-Bone Burnett from the late 2000s.

Fishers has emerged as a prominent destination on the national concert circuit, thanks to its growing live entertainment scene and venues like the Nickel Plate District Amphitheater and the city’s new indoor arena, the Fishers Event Center. Together, they have drawn hundreds of thousands of fans annually and contributed to the city’s growing cultural footprint.

The NPD AMP is an all-ages venue. Children aged two and under are admitted free, and attendees are welcome to bring their own lawn chairs and blankets. Full event details are available at npdamp.com.

Here are the ticket prices:

• $35 lawn GA ($40 day of show)
• $55 pit GA (standing only, $60 day of show)
• $100 lawn GA 4-pack ($25 per ticket)

For more information about Grace Potter, visit gracepotter.com. For details on this and other events in Fishers, visit fisherslive.com.

It is rare to find someone with both a degree in journalism and a master’s in divinity, but that unique combination shaped Bill Moyers’ remarkable career in public service. Moyers brought this distinctive educational background to his early work as a founding architect of the Kennedy administration’s Peace Corps.

He soon became a close aide to President Lyndon Johnson, serving as special assistant, speechwriter, and eventually press secretary. Moyers left the White House in 1967, parting ways with Johnson over differences regarding the Vietnam War.

That departure marked the beginning of a distinguished journey in journalism. Moyers held roles including publisher of Newsday, commentator at CBS News, and host of several acclaimed programs on public broadcasting. His work extended beyond politics, delving into ethics and culture—he once devoted an entire hour-long broadcast to the music of American composer Aaron Copland.

Bill Moyers died June 26 at the age of 91.

I had the opportunity to be in the same room as Bill Moyers twice—once from a distance, and once up close. In the mid-1970s, a political science professor invited me to a conference at Indiana University Bloomington featuring Moyers and William F. Buckley. Both were eloquent speakers, and it remains one of the most memorable academic events I ever attended.

In the early 1980s, Moyers delivered a speech in Columbus, Indiana, as part of the Distinguished Visitor series. At the time, I was a morning news anchor and reporter for radio station WCSI, and I had the chance to record a brief interview with him before his speech. Initially, Moyers seemed somewhat reserved and cautious, perhaps a result of his long experience with local reporters. But as our conversation progressed, he became more engaged. I found him soft-spoken yet assertive about the issues that mattered most to him—a moment I will never forget.

Throughout his career, Bill Moyers was a voice of reason during times of deep political division. He was a journalist who never lost sight of the lessons he learned in divinity school: he was unafraid to point out what was wrong, but always sought the good in people wherever he could find it.

Bill Moyers’ work and wisdom left a lasting impression on me. Having witnessed and shaped so much over his 91 years, his voice will be deeply missed.

Cosmo’s annual 5K fundraiser is back with a new location, new prizes, and a warm invitation for all runners — whether they have two, three, or four legs.

This year’s event, titled “Walk, Jog, and Run for Their Lives!”, will be held at Launch Fishers, offering a fresh venue for the popular community race. The event features a timed 5K course open to competitive runners, casual joggers, and even enthusiastic walkers with their pets.

Early-bird registration is now open for $45, but organizers are encouraging sign-ups before the July 16 price increase to $55.

Participants have a chance to win up to $150 in Runners Forum gift cards, awarded to the overall first-place finisher. Additionally, first-place finishers in each age group will receive a $10 Runners Forum gift card.

But competition isn’t the only focus. All finishers, regardless of pace or placement, will take home a custom finisher medal, event t-shirt, and swag bag.

Runners can also earn a free race entry by raising $100 or more in donations through the event’s fundraising platform.

Cosmo’s 5K has long been a staple in the local calendar, drawing families, serious athletes, and supporters of animal causes. The inclusion of pets again this year reinforces the event’s friendly, inclusive atmosphere.

Register at this link.

The Fishers Police Department is inviting local residents to apply for its 43rd Citizens Academy, a community program designed to foster understanding and strengthen ties between police officers and the public.

The upcoming session will run Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m., starting August 13 and concluding with a graduation ceremony on November 19, 2025. All classes will take place at the Fishers Police Department headquarters. The academy is open to Fishers residents aged 16 and older, with enrollment capped at 30 participants.

The Citizens Academy aims to give attendees a behind-the-scenes look at police work. Participants will receive classroom instruction and engage in practical role-play scenarios. The curriculum covers a wide range of topics, including:

• The police recruiting and hiring process

• Conducting traffic stops

• The role and operations of the K-9 Unit

• Responsibilities of the Fishers Dive Team

• The Emergency Response Team’s function

• Crime Scene Investigation techniques

Officers will also provide insights into their day-to-day duties and specialized units within the department.

Interested residents must complete an application and pass a screening process; walk-in registrations will not be accepted. Registration will remain open until all spots are filled or until July 25, 2025.

Each applicant is subject to a screening process; advanced registration is required.  Walk-ins will not be accepted.  Begin the registration process by submitting your application at this link

For more information or to apply, residents may contact Gerry Hepp at 317-595-3316 or via email at heppg@fishers.in.us.