Indiana
Former IU football star Carl Barzilauskas dies at 72
 
																								
												
												
											 
Carl Barzilauskas, IU’s earliest NFL draft pick in the last 50 years, died in Bloomington on Dec. 20, 2023. He was 72.
Barzilauskas, a native of Waterbury, Conn., played football at Indiana University from 1970-73. A defensive tackle, Barzilauskas was a Sporting News All-American and played in the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl All-Star Game.
Barzilauskas was selected by the New York Jets with the sixth overall pick in the 1974 NFL draft; the third-highest selection in program history. As a rookie, Barzilauskas recorded five sacks and won NFL Rookie Defensive Lineman of the Year. He was also runner-up behind Pro Football Hall of Famer Jack Lambert for the 1974 Defensive Rookie of the Year. Barzilauskas spent four years with the Jets before playing the last two seasons of his career with the Green Bay Packers.
After retiring from football, Barzilauskas began a life of entrepreneurship. While he was still on the Jets, Barzilauskas opened Barzo’s Blitz, a bar in downtown Bloomington. Barzilauskas also opened Barzo’s Fitness Center on North Walnut Street in Bloomington before moving to 100 N. Curry Pike in Bloomington. The fitness center eventually became the Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy Center with a second location in Mooresville at the Center for Hip and Knee Surgery. Barzilauskas had an interest in the treatment and rehabilitation of athletes after he suffered a career-ending neck injury with the Packers.
Barzilauskas was also a part of several real estate investments, including Realco, Small Town Properties, and First Care Associates. He was a partner and manager at several operating companies like A-1 Printing, First Health Care, which operated two walk-in medical clinics, Colorado Steakhouses in Bloomington and Indianapolis, and Advanced Medical, Inc.
Barzilauskas was the longtime president of the Indiana National Football League Players Association (INFLPA). He also was a member of the National Football Foundation (NFF), where he served as president of the Indiana chapter. Barzilauskas introduced an annual scholar-athlete banquet, where local athletes are rewarded postgraduate scholarships for their athletic, academic, and leadership accomplishments.
The Indiana Sports Writers and Sportscasters Association gave Barzilauskas the Joe Boland Award in 2000 for his service to the youth. He was also inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 2000. The NFF recognized Barzilauskas as the Midwest Region recipient of the NFF Chapter Leadership Award at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City in 2005.
Barzilauskas is survived by his wife, Cathi D. (Harrah) Barzilauskas, and their son, Robert F. (Bo) Barzilauskas. He is also survived by three cousins, Robin Wessman, Michael Zukauskas, and John Zukauskas.
Bo won IndyStar Mr. Football and a state championship at Bloomington South in 1993 before playing college football at IU and Valdosta State. Carl Barzilauskas believed in manual labor to build smaller muscle groups, so before the 1993 season, he had Bo and some teammates pulling engine blocks on chains, digging ditches and flipping road tires in open fields.
Barzilauskas was an avid football fan. He and his family had season tickets to IU games until his bout with sepsis in the mid-2010s. Barzilauskas still frequently watched IU games from home. He rooted for the Colts and Patriots in the NFL.
Barzilauskas was described as as a “gentle giant” by his longtime friend Geoffrey Bradley. Bradley says that despite Barzilauskas’ intimidating 6-6, 280-pound stature, he was a good guy.
Visitation for Carl will take place on Thursday from 4-8 p.m. at The Funeral Chapel, 3000 E. Third St. in Bloomington. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday at 11:00 a.m. at Saint Agnes Catholic Church in Nashville, Indiana. There will be a graveside service at Greenlawn Cemetery near Nashville.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions for postgraduate scholarships awarded to high school football scholar athletes may be made to the National Football Foundation, Central Indiana Chapter, 4922 West 16th Street, Indianapolis Indiana 46224.
 
																	
																															Indiana
Indiana University reverses course, allows student newspaper to resume print
 
														 
	In a reversal, Indiana University Bloomington Chancellor David Reingold will allow the Indiana Daily Student to resume print editions this semester.
	In a letter to the IDS editors, Reingold said he will allow the paper to use its budget through the end of the fiscal year as the editors see fit. He also called for a “reset” with the paper and asked to “affirm what unites us.”
	IDS co-editors-in-chief Andrew Miller and Mia Hilkowitz described it as a win for student media but cautioned the campus community against considering the matter resolved.
	“We do want to make sure that we ourselves and our community and our faculty and our alumni and everybody keep the administration here to their word,” Miller said to WFIU/WTIU News. “Thus far, it’s been kind of hard to trust their word, quite honestly.”
	“The last time IU had a committee to look at student media, they didn’t fully follow their recommendations,” Hilkowitz said, referring to a recently announced task force on press freedom and the existing student media plan.
	“We would want more confirmation that that’s going to be binding. Also, I’m going to stand by the fact that I think our staff and the faculty and students of the media school deserve an apology.”
	The university’s decision to end print editions coincided with it firing the director of student media Jim Rodenbush, who refused to remove news from a planned Homecoming edition at the university’s direction.
	Earlier Thursday,Rodenbush filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Indiana claiming IU violated his First Amendment rights.
	Since then, the perception that IU censored its student paper has cost the school at least $1 million in donations and provoked the ire of faculty.
	Reingold said the perception that he attempted to censor editorial content was “not grounded in fact.”
	“Indiana University has never attempted to censor editorial content, period,” he wrote. “The IDS is, and remains, editorially independent.”
	He did not address the directive given to Rodenbush to remove news from the Homecoming print issue.
	The chancellor admitted the “campus has not handled recent matters as well as we should have. Communication was uneven and timing imperfect.”
	He stopped short of an apology, saying that the decision to end print editions was a long-term financial plan to staunch the paper’s nearly $300,000 annual deficit.
	The student media plan calls for limiting print to a few special editions per semester, but it also calls for preserving the IDS print product as a “critical learning experience for student media workers.”
	Ethan Sandweiss is a multimedia journalist for WFIU and WTIU.
Indiana
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to speak in NW Indiana Thursday
 
														 
CHICAGO (WLS) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will visit northwest Indiana Thursday.
She’s expected to bring updates on the immigration enforcement that’s happening across the area.
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Secretary Kristi Noem will give an update on recent immigration enforcement deemed “Operation Midway Blitz,” which Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino has called “wildly successful” in an interview with ABC News earlier this week.
She will be joined by Indiana governor Mike Braun in Gary along with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, among others.
SEE ALSO: Court pauses order requiring CBP Chief Bovino to meet with judge daily on immigration operations
Her visit has been met with some criticism, though, from other local northwest Indiana leaders.
Gary’s Mayor Eddie Melton said his office was not involved with planning the event and is not participating.
Hammond’s Mayor Thomas McDermott also posting on Facebook, criticizing how the press conference was announced.
Counter-protests are expected later Thursday morning.
RELATED | Chicago federal intervention: Tracking surge in immigration enforcement operations | Live updates
Bovino says nearly 3,000 people have been arrested in the Chicago area, as part of “Midway Blitz.”
The expanded immigration enforcement started in September.
Wednesday night, Governor Pritzker sent a letter to Secretary Noem, requesting a pause in ICE enforcement this weekend in and around homes, schools, hospitals, parks and place of worship, so children can safely celebrate Halloween.
The governor referenced an incident in his letter this past weekend in Old Irving Park – in which he says, federal agents reportedly interrupted a children’s Halloween parade and deployed tear gas without warning – on residents peacefully celebrating the holiday.
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Indiana
Indiana BMV reports another text-related scam impacting Hoosiers
 
														 
INDIANAPOLIS — Officials with the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles are warning Indiana residents of a new scam that is being sent to Hoosiers via text.
According to a news release from the Indiana BMV, the scam asks the user for overdue payments over text, including traffic violations or unpaid tolls. The text reportedly “strongly” mimics the BMV’s mobile website and improperly cites Indiana code.
Officials said the messages should be considered fraudulent. The BMV is urging people who receive the message to delete it immediately and not click on any links.
This is not the first time that the Indiana BMV has been the subject of scam texts. According to previous reports, a scam was sent out to some Indiana residents from the “Indiana Department of Vehicles” regarding outstanding traffic tickets in early June.
“We want to make it clear that these messages are not from the Indiana BMV,” the release said. “The BMV does not send SMS text messages about outstanding penalties. In fact, the fees outlined in the messages are not ones that the agency actually collects.”
For a list of known BMV-related scams, click here.
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