General News

The Indiana Veterans Home has undergone some changes in the past month.

New doctors, specialists, therapists, and nurses are treating residents of the facility on North River Road in West Lafayette.

Superintendent Tony Stewart says the goal of switching to Indianapolis-based Preferred Home Health Care is to improve front-end care and avoid external hospitalizations.

He says reaction to the changes has been positive for the most part.

The Indiana Veterans' Home is a state-operated facility under the administration of the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Medicare- and Medicaid-licensed facility is home to approximately 260 military veterans or their spouses.

A pair of Korean companies is showing what their technology can do to help local firefighters.

HoyaRobot and DRB have built robots used to fight fires.

HoyaRobot’s device is a small one that uses a camera to help find people trapped in a burning building.  DRB’s is designed to go into a blaze and spray water to reduce the risk for firefighters.

Lafayette Fire Chief Richard Doyle says the technology has great potential for the department in the future, particularly to fight larger fires.

He says the department currently has some infrared technology, but it can only be used when a firefighter is holding a camera inside a blaze.

Members of the department got a first-hand look at the robots Tuesday during a demonstration.

The number of home sales in Tippecanoe County last month was less than it was a year ago.

However, sales prices have increased over that span.

Indiana Association of Realtors reports the county’s sales dropped 2.5-percent over the past twelve months.

There were about 40 fewer homes sold this January compared to last year.

Among surrounding counties, only Benton, Boone, Montgomery, and White experienced an increase in home sales.

But, the median sales price of homes in Tippecanoe is up $1,000 to $124,000.

The state average is $101,000, which is a slight increase from 2011.

Indiana, as a whole, also saw increases in closed and pending sales as well as average sales price.

Purdue’s Global Policy Research Institute is sponsoring a lecture on campus from a former Jordanian diplomat.

Marwan Muasher was Jordan’s first ambassador to Israel in 1994. He later held the same position in the United States.

He began his career as a journalist after receiving a PhD in electrical engineering from Purdue.

His talk Monday night deals with leadership and policy changes resulting from last year’s uprisings in the Middle East. It also focuses on how the West should approach international relations with developing Arab democracies.

Muasher currently oversees research on the Middle East for the Carnegie Endowment in Washington, D.C.

His lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. in Fowler Hall at Purdue's Stewart Center.

The Hanna Community Center is changing its leadership. The board of the Lafayette non-profit accepted the resignation of Dewayne Moffitt.

He’s served as executive director since 2008. A news release from the board did not give a reason for the departure.

Former board member Sanders Howse will serve as interim executive director. The board hopes to hire a new leader for Hanna Center this spring.

The Community Center provides social services for the Hanna neighborhood of Lafayette and all residents of Tippecanoe County. Programs focus on the young and the old, but reach out to individuals of all ages.

Indiana’s Department of Health is investigating more than a dozen cases of measles in the state.

Outbreaks have been reported in Boone and Hamilton Counties.

Commissioner Greg Larkin expects the number of cases to increase.

He says symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose, and red eyes about ten days after exposure to the virus.

Those who believe they may be infected are encouraged to contact a doctor.

The state has set up a hotline to answer questions about measles.  Call 877-826-011 for more information.