RICHMOND, Ind. (WISH) — An inmate was found dead early Friday morning at the Wayne County jail, Indiana State Police announced.

The inmate was identified as 36-year-old Andrew Taylor.

State police say Taylor was found sometime before 5 a.m. Friday. Jail staff discovered him unresponsive, and despite life-saving efforts, he was later pronounced dead.

Detectives are working with the Wayne County Coroner’s Office and Sheriff’s Office to learn what led to the incident. They did not say what Taylor’s cause of death was, but said no foul play was suspected.

Taylor’s family was notified, police say.

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers did not waive point guard T.J. McConnell prior to June 28, and with the calendar now rolling to June 29, the veteran point guard has a fully guaranteed contract for the 2024-25 season.

McConnell, 32, signed a four-year, $33.6 million contract in August of 2021. The first three seasons of the agreement were fully guaranteed, but the fourth and final season only had $5 million out of $9.3 million guaranteed. In theory, had the Pacers waived McConnell before Friday ended, they could have saved $4.3 million.

But there was no sense in doing so. $4.3 million in savings is nothing compared to the value McConnell has on the hardwood — if anything he is underpaid at $9.3 million — and the Pacers are over the salary cap anyway. They would have gained little to no flexibility with the savings.

The veteran ball handler is one of the best reserve guards in the league and just averaged career-best numbers across the board. “Getting this franchise back into the playoffs and making a run to the Eastern Conference Finals when not a single person had us going there, it was really fun,” McConnell said of his 2023-24 season.

He averaged 10.2 points and 5.5 assists per game this past year. His scoring down the stretch of the campaign and in the playoffs was remarkable as he did everything for the second unit. Indiana needed McConnell to step up in the scoring department once Bennedict Mathurin went down with an injury, and he did.

“I don’t know, I try not to focus on stuff like that,” McConnell said of having a career year at his age. “Just the team success, really just getting back to the playoffs. That was the goal for us. Just tried to contribute in any way I could.”

The nine-year veteran was never going to be waived. It would have been incredibly misguided for Indiana to do so, but now it’s official. His contract is fully guaranteed for the coming season, and the veteran guard currently projects to be the backup floor general to open the upcoming season.

The more interesting question with McConnell’s contract is about a possible extension. Reporting has suggested that the Pacers would like to add years on to McConnell’s deal this summer, and he is eligible for a longer contract starting on July 6.

Indiana could add up to four years and up to about $80 million to McConnell’s contract this offseason if they are so inclined. “To have him here long term, we’d love to keep T.J. as a Pacer for life. The business part eventually comes into play for everybody, but would hate to lose that guy,” Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan said of McConnell late last month.

“His value to us is obviously very, very high,” the GM added. McConnell averaged 11.8 points and 5.1 assists per game in the playoffs.

McConnell, a Pittsburgh native, has been a key veteran for the Pacers ever since he joined the franchise. His fierce mentality after going undrafted in 2015 has never faded, and it makes him the competitor that he is. If Indiana wants to keep playing their up-tempo style that is possible because of star guard Tyrese Haliburton, keeping McConnell as a high-paced backup makes all the sense in the world. As of right now, they have him under contract for one more season.

INDIANAPOLIS (WXIN) — A judge has blocked a new Indiana law from going into effect which would have effectively cut off Hoosiers from accessing adult content websites, such as Pornhub. In his decision, the judge called the law “likely facially unconstitutional.”

Previously, Indiana lawmakers passed Senate Bill 17 which was signed into law by Governor Eric Holcomb and set to go into effect on July 1. Under the restrictive bill, websites hosting “material harmful to minors” would have required Hoosiers to upload sensitive documents, such as driver’s licenses, in order to prove their age.

While proponents of the law argued the age-verification law was meant to protect minors from accessing explicit material, such as pornography, critics pointed out that the law was not only a potential violation of the First Amendment but also opened up Hoosiers to substantial risk of having their sensitive information and documents stolen.

While Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita defended the age-verification law as a “shield” to protect children from “the psychological and emotional consequences associated with viewing porn,” the Free Speech Coalition filed a lawsuit to stop the law from going into effect.

“We will continue to fight for the rights of adults to access the internet free of shame and surveillance,” said Alison Boden, executive director of Free Speech Coalition. “While they may sound reasonable on their face, laws like SB17 have effectively functioned as state censorship.”

On Friday, a judge with the United States District Court of Southern Indiana issued a preliminary injunction blocking the law from going into effect on July 1. In his decision, the judge concluded that the law “likely violates the First Amendment” and echoed many of its critics such as pointing out how the law could be easily circumvented with technology and the broad, vague scope of the law.

The vagueness of the law was previously called out by the ACLU of Indiana who sounded the alarm against the age-verification law and its vague use of “material harmful to minors,” which the ACLU speculated could go beyond just blocking pornography and be used to also block “age-appropriate LGBTQ+” or be used to censor sex education content.

The ACLU also pointed out how the law could be easily circumvented, needlessly putting Hoosiers’ sensitive information at risk.

“The worst part, the law won’t even work,” said the ACLU of Indiana. “Minors will just go to sites that aren’t regulated by Indiana law or use technology to bypass the verification method. A @CommonSenseMedia report found 6 in 10 older teenagers already use VPNs to browse the internet.”

As part of his decision, the judge wrote in defense of his injunction by stating, “Indiana’s legislature chose an ineffective and more broad method to protect minors from harmful materials than other alternatives. The First Amendment does not allow such imprecision.”

The injunction will remain in effect until a final judgment is made or a higher court dissolves the injunction.