IU Health announced Tuesday morning what it describes as “a significant investment in its healthcare footprint in Fishers, Indiana.”  The IU Saxony Hospital has been a 38-bed facility the past 10 years.

The $287 million investment was approved approved by the IU Health Board of Directors in late Octobe.  It will include “a significant expansion” of the IU Health Saxony in Fishers.  The new hospital campus will be renamed IU Health Fishers, to be phased in throughout the duration of the project.

“Fishers is the sixth largest city in Indiana today, and with notable population growth expected each year, could be as much as 50 percent larger by the year 2040,” said Doug Puckett, president of IU Health’s Indianapolis Suburban Region, in an IU Health news release. “Community members and leaders have told us what they need and want from IU Health to best serve that growth. This investment will allow us to do that.”

The hospital facility itself will grow by 50%, according to IU Health, and will feature physician offices as well.

The hospital expansion will add:

• 50 inpatient beds, bringing the total to 88.
• New and expanded services in Obstetrics & Gynecology, Ear, Nose & Throat, Nephrology, Neurology, and Pulmonology.
• Growth of existing specialty programs in Cardiovascular, Gastroenterology, General Medicine, General Surgery, Orthopedics, Primary Care (pediatric and adult), and Urology.
• Expansion of support services space to accommodate additional staff and higher patient volumes.

Fishers is planning it second road resurfacing contract 0f 2022, but may need to find additional funding within the city budget to complete all the planned work.

City Engineering Director Jason Taylor told the Board of Public Works and Safety Tuesday morning that the bid for this project came in at $2.4 million, but there is only  $1.7 million remaining in the road resurfacing budget.  Taylor asked the board to approve the $1.7 million to move the project forward, but will work with the city controller and mayor’s office to find additional funding within the city budget.

The resurfacing contract approved by the board includes (see map above) –  Asphalt road resurfacing & miscellaneous paving work in sections of: Cumberland Rd, Promise Rd, 136th St, 116th St., Ringer Rd, Florida Rd, 104th St., Brookston Place subdivision, Geist Overlook subdivision, The Woods at Grey Eagle, Geist Bay Estates, Hamilton Proper sections
-Chestnut Hill, Audubon Trace, Heather Pointe, Talon Bluff, Turne Grove, Sutton Crossing subdivision, Valleys at Geist subdivision.

The resurfacing is mainly funded by the local Wheel Tax and the city’s share of the Local Motor Vehicle Tax.

The board also approved three Verizon 5G cell tower locations in the Sunblest neighborhood, all north of Holland Park and south of 126th Street.

Board members Jeff Lantz and Jason Meyer were at the Tuesday meeting.  Mayor Scott Fadness, the third board member, was not able to attend the Board of Works session.

Students are heading back to classes in Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools starting Monday, April 11th.  Spring break is over, and the school year is beginning its final weeks.  The final day of school for the HSE District 2021-2022 school year is scheduled to be Friday, May 20th.

With spring break at an end, there are a number of things to watch in and around Fishers in the coming week.  Here are just a few:

–Registration is now open for parents with children planning to attend kindergarten beginning with the 2022-2023 school year.  Your child must be 5 years old on or before August 1, 2022.  Schools will have an open house for the parents and kindergartners on Thursday, April 14, 5-7pm.  For more details, use this link.

–The Fishers Board of Works and Public Safety has a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, April 12, at 9am.  A full agenda is not available as of the time of this writing, but it is expected three Verizon 5G towers will be considered by the board in the Sunblest neighborhood.  The towers are proposed to be placed at the following locations:  12499 Bentley, 12526 Saksons & 12430 Farley Drive.

–The Fishers Parks & Recreation Department has already announced five ticketed concerts this summer season at the Nickel Plate Amphitheater ($20 in advance, $25 day of performance).   The department is expected to announce its slate of free concerts at the AMP this summer on Tuesday nights sometime this week.

–The city continues work behind the scenes to design a new City Hall with an arts center included in the complex.  The current Hall is sinking into the ground and the current structure will be demolished to make way for a new building.

–The Hamilton Southeastern School Board will meet Wednesday night.  According to the posted agenda, the board will receive proposals for “adjustments” to the 2022-2023 school calendar.  The agenda does not detail what adjustments will be presented to the board.  Also, calendars for school years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 will be presented for board information and discussion.  The calendar items are listed as information and discussion items only at this time.  Also, the board is scheduled to approve a contractor for the renovation of Durbin Elementary school and will present options on future ways to provide custodial services to the school buildings.

If I were to tell you about a new film all about a small Chinese laundry business under tax audit, you might not find that so interesting.  Add in a complex Sci-Fi angle and the story gets much more interesting.

Here is my review of Everything Everywhere All At Once.

HSE High School basketball fans remembers Sydney Parrish as the Indiana Miss Basketball that led her local women’s team to a state title.  After two years at Oregon, she is returning to her home state and will play for Indiana University next season.

Sydney Parrish made the announcement on social media Saturday morning.

She has three years of eligibility remaining.

Ms. Parrish joins an IU squad that just finished the past season with a 24-9 record and a Sweet 16  NCAA tournament run, losing to perennial women’s hoops power Connecticut.

So, friends and family wanting to see Sydney Parrish play a home basketball game as of next season have a short drive to Bloomington, not a long flight to the west coast.

Road construction remains the same along State Road 37 in the coming week, and the resurfacing of Technology Drive will also continue.  Look for periodic workday lane restrictions at Cyntheanne Road & Southeastern Parkway.

Watch for downtown lane restrictions during the workday on 116th Street April 13th.

Hamilton County has a project on 106th Street east of Allisonville Road starting April 18th.

Here is the full road construction listing, as provided by the City of Fishers, for the week of April 11th:

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STATE ROAD 37 AND 146TH STREET
All left-turn lanes are currently restricted on SR 37 and on 146th Street with traffic moved to the interior lanes. Thru traffic and right turns on SR 37 and 146th Street will remain open. Drivers are encouraged to seek alternate routes for all left turn access. View an alternate route map here.  

STATE ROAD 37 AND 131ST STREET
131st Street east of SR 37 is currently closed as work progresses on the interchange. SR 37 will remain open both north and southbound. View the detour map here.

131st Street west of SR 37 is now open! This will allow right-in/right-out access for southbound SR 37 until the bridge is fully complete later this year.

Please drive with caution through this area. To learn more about the State Road 37 Improvement Project and sign up to receive text updates, visit 37Thrives.com.

The inside lane of the Technology Drive is currently closed to traffic to allow for construction of new pavement in the inside lane.  One-way traffic will be in place in the outside lane as shown here.  Access to all businesses will be maintained during the construction.

Utility work is currently taking place at the Southeastern Pky. & Cyntheanne Road intersection as part of the roundabout construction project. On-going periodic lane restrictions will be in place daily between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. for unloading material and equipment. The walking path along Southeastern Pky. will also be closed during the duration of the project. Barricades will be placed across the path. 

On Wednesday, April 13, the westbound outside lane of 116th Street between Moore Street and Municipal Drive will be restricted between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Arrow boards and barrels will be in place.   

Beginning on or after Monday, April 18, 106th Street, just east of Allisonville Road will be under lane closures in both directions, one at a time, for bridge deck patching. These closures are expected to last throughout the week, beginning at 9am and opening back up to all traffic by 4pm each day. Flaggers will be in place directing traffic. We ask that you use extreme caution while driving through this construction zone.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and local journalist Abdul-Hakim Shabazz have settled a legal dispute.  In my view, this is both good and bad news.

First, the good news.

To once again rundown what happened, Rokita had scheduled a news conference at the Statehouse and barred Shabazz from entering the room, claiming he was not a genuine journalist.  Shabazz filed suit, saying he had a right as a reporter to cover the news conference conducted by an elected official.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Indiana joined in Shabazz’ side of the legal dispute.

On March 28, it was announced that the lawsuit had been dismissed at Shabazz’ request, after reaching a settlement with Rokita.  The Attorney General’s staff tried to spin this as a way to save taxpayer dollars, but the settlement was a clear win for Shabazz and the ACLU.  Journalist Shabazz will now be allowed into Rokita’s media events.

That part is very good news.  Let me explain why there is some bad news here.

I was looking forward to a federal judge ruling on how to define a journalist.  When I worked in radio broadcasting during the 1970s & early 1980s, as a reporter, I was recognized as a journalist simply because I worked for a radio station in the newsroom.

But now that I write a volunteer local news blog here in Fishers, do I qualify as a journalist in all contexts?  People here in Fishers now know me after more than 10 years of writing this blog so I have no problem covering events run by local officials.  But what about others?  Could I be excluded from a news conference by an outside group because I am just a volunteer blogger?

I was hoping the judge in this case would provide some legal guidance on just who qualifies as a journalist in this day and age.  The only explanation I can come up with for the Rokita settlement is that the Attorney General knew he would lose this lawsuit brought by Shabazz & the ACLU.

So, the journalist wins the court battle in an out-of-court settlement, a win for journalism in general.  However, we still do not have much legal guidance on how journalists such as myself are treated by elected officials and others hosting news conferences.

Perhaps, in time, the law will give us that guidance, but not in this case.

This is the celebration of the Week of the Young Child.  About 16,000 youngsters in Hamilton County are served by pre-school programs.

“Our organization was created to empower and ignite conversations in advocacy of our youngest learners,” says Dr. Jody Britten, founder of the Early Learning Alliance Network. “Since our start in 2017, we have worked to understand, build awareness, and develop a strong network of professionals to support our youngest learners, their educators, and their families throughout the community and are continuing our efforts throughout 2022.” 

The Week of the Young Child is centered on focusing public attention on the needs of young children and their families, and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.

According to Dr. Britten, pre-schools are facing the same challenges as other organizations in providing staffing, supplies and all else that it takes to run an early education program.

The week is composed of several events, including

• Tasty Tuesday
• Work Together Wednesday
• Artsy Thursday
• Family Friday

Governor Eric Holcomb signed the official proclamation for the state of Indiana and ELAN has asked local elected officials to acknowledge the event as well.

The Fishers Parks & Recreation Department announced its fifth ticketed concert for the summer season at the Nickel Plate Amphitheater, with the Soul-Pop group Lawrence on tap for a Friday, August 27th performance.

Tickets go on sale this Friday at $20, with tickets the day of the concert at $25.

Lawrence first rose to prominence in 2016 when they released their debut LP “Breakfast” (2016), which received attention and praise from a variety of sources ranging from NPR’s All Things Considered to Steph Curry’s social media. Produced by Grammy-winner Eric Krasno (Lettuce/Tedeschi Trucks/Soulive), Breakfast includes guest performances by NYC soul/funk mainstays Adam Deitch (Lettuce), Cory Henry (Cory Henry & the Funk Apostles, Snarky Puppy), and Maurice “Mobetta” Brown (Anderson Paak, Tedeschi Trucks Band).

For a sample of the group’s music, check out this YouTube video.

It has been talked about for years.  I recall local officials in Fishers and Hamilton County sounding the alarm bells as far back as 2013 that a local domestic abuse shelter was badly needed.  I covered a Carmel event in 2016 where Verizon donated $20,000 to the Domestic Violence Network and Hamilton County Commissioner Christine Altman “sounded a positive note” on the county establishing such a shelter.

So, it has taken quite a long time, but based on a story posted on the IndyStar Web site Monday, Hamilton County has a site in mind for a new shelter in Noblesville.

Both County Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt and Prevail Executive Director are quoted in the story, written by Star Reporter John Tuohy.

Most Hamilton County domestic violence victims have been placed in facilities located in Madison and Marion Counties.

For more details, read the IndyStar story at this link.  (NOTE:  Please subscribe to your local media!)