Indy Fuel head coach Duncan Dalmao will not return for the 2026-27 season, the team announced Thursday.

Dalmao is leaving Indianapolis to become an assistant coach with the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League, one level below the NHL. The move creates a head-coaching vacancy for the Fuel ahead of their 13th ECHL season.

Fuel Owner and Chairman Jim Hallett thanked Dalmao for his work with the organization during the past five seasons.

“During his time with Indy, Duncs has been a strong presence both behind the bench and in our community,” Hallett said. “We are immensely proud to see him make this move to further his coaching career.”

Dalmao became the Fuel’s interim head coach near the end of the 2021-22 season. He was named the permanent head coach before the 2022-23 campaign, becoming the fourth head coach in franchise history.

During his tenure, Dalmao recorded 159 regular-season victories—more than any coach in Indianapolis hockey history—and guided the Fuel to four consecutive Kelly Cup Playoff appearances.

The Fuel also enjoyed their best regular season under Dalmao in 2022-23. Indy set franchise records with 43 victories, 244 goals and 23 road wins while earning a playoff berth.

In a statement, Dalmao thanked fans in Indianapolis and Fishers for supporting him and the team.

“After arriving five years ago, I never imagined Indiana would come to feel so much like home,” Dalmao said. “I will never forget your unwavering support through the good and bad.”

Dalmao also expressed appreciation for the Fuel’s players, hockey operations staff and front office, along with the Hallett family and the organization’s affiliates, the Chicago Blackhawks and Rockford IceHogs.

“It’s been the honour of my life to be able to operate within such an amazing franchise,” he said. “A piece of me will always remain here in Indy.”

The Fuel did not announce Dalmao’s successor Thursday.

Indy is the ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks and the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs. The team will return to Fishers Event Center in October 2026 for its 13th season.

A sharp-eyed reader contacted me after the August 12th story on Hamilton Southeastern Schools CFO Tim Brown’s recommended 22-cent referendum rate for 2027, and the question is a good one — good enough that I suspect this reader isn’t the only person wondering about it.

The math question goes like this: the proposed rate of 22 cents per $100 of assessed value is 2.05 cents above the current 19.95-cent rate. Take a home assessed at $400,000, divide by $100, and you get 4,000. Multiply 4,000 by the 2.05-cent increase and you get $82 a year. So why did my article — citing Brown’s presentation — say the increase for a $400,000 home would be about $26 a year?

The multiplication is correct. The missing piece is a feature of Indiana property tax law that trips up nearly everyone the first time they encounter it: referendum rates are not applied to your home’s full assessed value.

The rate applies to your net assessed value

Every owner-occupied home in Indiana receives homestead deductions before any tax rate is applied. The rate — whether it’s the school referendum rate or any other — is levied against what’s left over, called your net assessed value.

And those deductions are in the middle of a major overhaul. Senate Enrolled Act 1, passed by the legislature in 2025, phases in substantially larger homestead deductions each year between 2026 and 2031. By the time the phase-in is complete, only roughly a third of a typical home’s gross assessed value will remain taxable.

So for that $400,000 home, the 22-cent rate never touches the full $400,000. Apply the 2.05-cent rate difference to only the post-deduction value in Brown’s projection and you land right around the $26-a-year figure from his presentation — a little more than $2 a month.

You can check this against another number the district has published: the ballot language will show a maximum rate of 36 cents, which the district says works out to roughly $700 a year on a median home rounded up to $400,000. If the full $400,000 were taxable, 36 cents would come to $1,440 a year — double the district’s figure. The difference, again, is the deductions.

The same math explains why the referendum is on the ballot at all

Here’s the wrinkle worth sitting with: the very mechanism that makes the homeowner impact smaller than the raw rate suggests is also the reason HSE is back before voters this November.

Those growing SEA 1 deductions shrink the tax base that the current 19.95-cent rate applies to, too. A rate can only raise money on value that remains taxable, and as the deductions phase in, that taxable value shrinks every year. That’s how the district projects it would collect about $45.3 million less than originally expected between 2026 and 2031 without a new referendum — even though the rate printed on the ballot is going up, the base underneath it is going down.

Check your own number

Every property is different — assessed values, deductions and exemptions vary parcel by parcel. The district has posted a calculator on its referendum page that estimates the referendum tax impact using your actual property information. If you want to know what the proposal means for your own bill rather than a hypothetical median home, that’s the place to start.

Hamilton Southeastern Schools has selected 42 parents, alumni and community members for its 2026–27 HSEngaged cohort.

The program gives participants a behind-the-scenes look at the school district through monthly meetings held from August through April. Sessions hosted at schools across the district will cover academic programs, student services, finance, operations and facilities management.

HSEngaged began in 2021 as a way to share information, highlights and stories about the district. Since then, hundreds of people have applied to participate.

The program’s impact has extended beyond its monthly sessions. According to the district, previous participants have become substitute teachers, joined the Hamilton Southeastern Education Foundation Board of Directors and volunteered in district schools.

Alumni have also supported community education efforts involving district referendum proposals and helped with events including the HSEF Legacy Celebration and HSE Schools’ Before the Bell.

“My job is to tell the stories of HSE Schools, but HSEngaged reminds me that those stories carry further when community members experience them firsthand,” said Emily Pace Abbotts, the district’s director of school and community relations. “It is rewarding to see participants leave the program better informed, more connected and ready to contribute in ways that are meaningful to them.”

Participants were chosen through an application process.

Continue reading HSE Schools welcomes 42 participants to HSEngaged cohort →

Victims of child and elder abuse in Hamilton County will have round-the-clock access to specialized services under a new three-year partnership approved by the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners.

The agreement with the Cherish Center, a nationally accredited child advocacy center in Carmel, provides forensic interviewing and victim advocacy services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The services will assist victims as well as local law enforcement agencies and the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office investigating abuse allegations.

“Our goal is to make sure victims and the professionals helping them have the resources they need when they need them most,” Hamilton County Commissioner Christine Altman said. “We want victims to have access to highly trained professionals in a safe, supportive environment right here in Hamilton County.”

The county will invest up to $619,800 over the life of the agreement, which runs from Jan. 1, 2027, through Dec. 31, 2029. It is the first formal contract between the Cherish Center and a government entity in Hamilton County.

The center served 302 victims of reported child and elder abuse in Hamilton County in 2025.

Forensic interviews are conducted by specially trained professionals and are designed to gather information from victims in a single, child-friendly setting, reducing the number of times a victim must recount what happened. Child advocacy centers bring investigators, prosecutors and victim advocates together under one roof.

Jordan Teeple received a standing ovation at Wednesday night’s Hamilton Southeastern Schools board meeting as district leaders celebrated his selection as HSE’s 2026-27 Teacher of the Year.

Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Schools Jason Urban praised Teeple before the board, highlighting the seventh-grade math teacher’s commitment to his students and leadership at Riverside Junior High.

Teeple, who also serves as Riverside’s math department chair, is known for balancing high expectations with genuine care. He creates a classroom environment where students feel supported, confident and willing to take risks as learners.

Beyond the classroom, Teeple provides leadership across his department and remains deeply involved in the Riverside community.

In May, Teeple received a $1,000 award from the Hamilton Southeastern Education Foundation. He will now represent HSE Schools in the statewide Indiana Teacher of the Year competition.

Two exchanges Wednesday night revealed sharply different perspectives among Hamilton Southeastern school board members: how the district should refer to students who do not have a regular home, and what belongs on the walls of HSE classrooms.

A policy title, and the words inside the policy

The first came during the board’s review of policy updates recommended by its Policy Committee.

Sarah Parks Reese asked why the committee had recommended changing the title of a policy from “Homeless Students” to “Children Experiencing Homelessness,” but had left the older phrasing in place throughout the body of the policy itself.

She moved to send the item back to the Policy Committee so members could consider whether the language inside the policy should be changed as well, noting the committee had not discussed that question at its most recent meeting. The board voted 5-2 to return the issue to committee, with Ben Orr and Board President Tiffany Pascoe voting no.

The Policy Committee is made up of two board members — Dawn Lang and Juanita Albright.

Reading from a prepared statement, Orr argued the person-first phrasing is tied to national advocacy organizations he said carry a political agenda. Parks Reese asked whether there was alternative wording he would recommend that did not stigmatize the children involved. Orr said “Homeless Children” was a “fine description.”

Latrica Schooley said she did not think arguing over terminology was a productive place for the board to be, but added that words matter — particularly when the students in question have experienced trauma.

Context: Both phrasings appear in official use. The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which guarantees enrollment, transportation and school stability protections for students without fixed, regular and adequate nighttime housing, uses the statutory term “homeless children and youths,” and the federal grant program districts draw from is titled Education for Homeless Children and Youth. Person-first constructions such as “students experiencing homelessness” have become common in state guidance, district policy and the materials of advocacy groups that work on the issue. Indiana school districts are required to designate a homeless student liaison under the federal law regardless of which term the policy uses.

Criticism of the board president’s post

Later in the meeting, during the portion set aside for individual board member comments, Parks Reese and Schooley criticized Pascoe over a social media post that read:

If there are any politics or ideation rhetoric in any HSE classroom please message me directly the teachers name and building so I can address.

In times of RIFs and looking for support from the community to pass a referendum, this is not in alignment for earning the community’s trust nor acceptable (at anytime). I take your tax dollars as well as the environment your child learns in seriously.

Thank you in advance for advocating for our schools and a neutral learning environment.

The post included Pascoe’s personal cell phone number.

Parks Reese said the post amounted to acting outside the authority of an individual board member and that established rules should be respected. Schooley said the post did not reflect a consensus of the board and that complaints about a teacher should not bypass the superintendent and the district’s human resources staff. Under Indiana law, school boards act as a body, and individual members hold no authority to direct district operations on their own; personnel matters run through the superintendent.

Orr, again reading a statement, said all students should feel welcome in HSE classrooms, but said some signage can be construed as signaling that certain students are not welcome. Signs that may appear on their face to be welcoming, he said, are part of a partisan political agenda.

Pascoe responded briefly: “I am not going to entertain the false accusations, unprofessional.”

Context: Pascoe’s reference to “RIFs” points to the reduction-in-force process the district carried out this spring, when 18 teachers received notices amid declining enrollment; Superintendent Matt Kegley later said attrition had opened enough positions that none of those teachers would lose a job. The referendum she mentioned goes before voters Nov. 3, and would replace the operating referendum approved in 2023.

As Hamilton Southeastern Schools officials begin making their case to the community for a new operating referendum, Chief Financial Officer Tim Brown told the school board Wednesday night he will recommend a lower referendum tax rate for 2027 than the district projected earlier this year — the result of new assessed valuation data from Hamilton County.

The county’s numbers show the assessed value of property inside HSE boundaries will come in higher than originally projected. A larger tax base means the district can raise the revenue it needs at a lower rate. Brown will recommend the board adopt a rate of 22 cents per $100 of assessed valuation for 2027, down from the 22.75 cents he outlined this spring.

For a home valued at $400,000, the practical difference is modest but real. Under the earlier recommendation, that homeowner would have seen an annual property tax increase of about $37. Under the new recommendation, the increase drops to roughly $26 a year — a little more than $2 a month.

Why HSE is asking

HSE is one of roughly 40 to 50 Indiana school districts expected to put a referendum question before voters this fall, including Hamilton County neighbors Carmel, Noblesville and Westfield. The common cause is Senate Enrolled Act 1, the 2025 property tax overhaul signed by Gov. Mike Braun, which phases in substantially larger homestead deductions between 2026 and 2031.

Those deductions do not change a district’s tax rate. They shrink the assessed value the rate is applied against — meaning the same rate now yields significantly less money. Consultants project HSE will collect about $45.3 million less than previously expected between 2026 and 2031.

In the past, a district could ask voters for a single rate that would bring in sufficient revenue for the life of the referendum. The new deduction regime has changed that calculation, and state law now requires the ballot to show the maximum rate a district might need across the full term. For HSE, that ballot figure is up to 36 cents per $100 of assessed valuation over eight years. District officials have consistently said they do not expect to levy the maximum in any year; the board sets the actual rate annually.

Timing matters

Under the new law, school districts set the referendum tax rate as part of the annual budget process, which must be completed by Nov. 1. The referendum, however, is on the Nov. 3 general election ballot — two days later.

That sequence means HSE will build its 2027 budget assuming the referendum passes. If voters reject it, the district’s existing rate of 19.95 cents, approved by voters in 2023, remains in place, with a significant impact on 2027 revenue and a hole the district would have to close through further reductions.

SEA 1 also narrowed when districts may ask. Referendum questions may now appear only on general election ballots in even-numbered years, so a defeat on Nov. 3 would leave HSE without another opportunity until November 2028.

Superintendent Matt Kegley and Brown are presenting the proposal to community groups through the fall. The district has posted a tax calculator and a set of frequently asked questions on its Referendum 2026 page.

Much of central and eastern Indiana spent Wednesday under water. Fishers spent it with one wet road.

As storms rolled through Hamilton County and a Flash Flood Warning stretched into the late afternoon, the City of Fishers reported high water along 106th Street, where the roadway runs close to a creek. That was it — the only trouble spot the city flagged as of Wednesday afternoon.

“With the storm we received today, we did experience high water/flooding along 106th Street because of the proximity of the creek to the road,” said Ashley Elrod, public relations manager for the City of Fishers. “That said, the stormwater infrastructure improvements we began several years ago have drastically improved our situation and we have very limited closures due to flooding comparatively.”

Compare that to what was happening elsewhere. Parts of east central Indiana picked up as much as 10 inches of rain, Wayne County went to a Level 3 travel warning through Thursday at noon, and schools closed across several districts. Delaware and Henry counties were under a Flash Flood Emergency. Thousands of Hoosiers lost power.

Fishers used to be part of that story

Longtime residents will remember when a heavy rain meant more than one closed road here.

Fishers grew up fast, and a lot of it grew up before modern detention and drainage standards were the norm. Water coming off all that new pavement had to go somewhere, and it went into creeks — Mud Creek, Cheeney Creek, Fall Creek — that were never sized for a suburb of 100,000 people. Low-lying streets flooded. Basements took on water. Neighborhoods built in the 1970s and 1980s ended up with drainage systems that were undersized almost from the day they were finished.

The town’s answer was to stop treating stormwater as an afterthought and start treating it as a utility, with its own bill, its own staff and its own capital plan. That is the money that has paid for storm sewer upsizing, drainage repairs, stream restoration and flood control studies over the past decade-plus.

Today the city’s stormwater division owns and maintains roughly 17,000 storm sewer pipes and 19,000 storm drains, sweeps 800 lane miles of street to keep debris out of the system, and runs a floodplain management program that includes a matching Stormwater Grant to help property owners fix private drainage problems — including elevating homes or getting them out of the floodplain entirely.

None of that shows up on a sunny day. It shows up on a day like Wednesday.

What it does not fix

Infrastructure has limits, and 106th Street is a good illustration of one of them. When a road sits that close to a creek, no amount of pipe upsizing changes the fact that the creek is going to leave its banks in a big enough rain. That is topography, not engineering neglect.

The reminder stands regardless of the ZIP code: do not drive through standing water. It takes very little of it to float a vehicle, and you cannot see whether the pavement underneath is still there.

Residents can report drainage problems, clogged storm drains and standing water through Fishers Connect. Weather permitting, the city expects conditions to improve as the system moves east.

Heavy thunderstorms have already produced up to 3 inches of rain, creating the potential for life-threatening flooding across central Indiana.

The National Weather Service has extended a Flash Flood Warning for Boone and Hamilton counties until 5:15 p.m. Wednesday.  This includes Fishers.

At 2:01 p.m., Doppler radar showed thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area. Between 1 and 3 inches of rain had already fallen, with rainfall rates of 0.5 to 1.5 inches per hour expected. Up to another half-inch of rain is possible.

Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly, according to the weather service. The flooding could affect creeks, streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses.

Communities included in the warning area include Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Lebanon, Zionsville, Westfield, Cicero, Fortville, Whitestown, Sheridan, Arcadia, Thorntown, Jamestown, Atlanta, Advance, Ulen and areas near Morse Reservoir. Indianapolis is also listed among the locations that could experience flooding.

Drivers should never attempt to cross a flooded roadway. The National Weather Service advises: “Turn around, don’t drown.” Most flood-related deaths occur in vehicles.

New program will connect emerging professionals with business executives and community leaders while helping local employers develop and retain talent.

OneZone Chamber of Commerce has launched NextGen, a new leadership initiative designed to help emerging professionals build relationships, strengthen their skills and become more involved in Hamilton County’s business community.

Operating under the tagline “Creating Tomorrow’s Leaders,” OneZone NextGen will combine professional development with networking and hands-on leadership experiences. The chamber said participants will have opportunities to meet CEOs and community leaders, develop practical skills and expand their professional networks.

“NextGen is about investing in the people who will shape what our communities and workplaces look like in the years ahead,” OneZone President and CEO Jack Russell said. “We want to create a place where people can build genuine connections, learn from established leaders and have opportunities to step up and make an impact.”

The initiative also is intended to help Hamilton County employers attract, engage and retain workers with leadership potential. OneZone said connecting those employees with local businesses and civic leaders could strengthen the county’s long-term talent pipeline.

That issue is becoming increasingly important as Hamilton County continues to grow. The county’s population reached an estimated 387,036 in 2025, an increase of 11.4% from its 2020 estimate base, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Hamilton County added more residents than any other Indiana county during 2025, according to an Indiana Business Research Center analysis.

Rapid population and business growth can create demand for employees who are prepared to move into management, nonprofit and civic leadership roles. It also increases competition among employers seeking to keep talented workers in the community.

“Talent development isn’t just an individual issue — it’s a business and economic development issue,” Russell said. “When people feel connected to their community, see opportunities to grow and have a pathway to leadership, they are more likely to build their careers and their lives here.”

OneZone has not yet announced program dates, participation requirements or costs. The chamber said more information about NextGen events and participation opportunities will be released in the coming months.

OneZone Chamber of Commerce serves businesses in Carmel, Fishers and northern Hamilton County through advocacy, professional connections, leadership development and other business resources.