Indiana
Indiana mom pulls daughter from school after 6-year-old left behind on field trip: 'She thought she was lost'
An Indianapolis mother has pulled her first-grader from her school after the 6-year-old was left behind at an apple orchard following a field trip last week.
Dearra Allen says her daughter Cianni went to Tuttle Orchards in Greenfield, Indiana, last Wednesday with her charter school, Christel House West Academy.
“My mom calls me, and she goes, ‘Hey, the school called, and they left Cianni at the apple orchard,’” she told Fox News Digital over the phone. “I thought she was playing.”
Once reality set in, Allen immediately ran out the door, picked up Cianni’s dad and rushed to the school to figure out what was going on.
INDIANA PROSECUTORS SAY UNSPENT BULLET, VIDEO PROVIDE PROOF OF MAN’S GUILT IN HORRIFIC DELPHI MURDERS
Cianni Allen, 6, seen here showing off a missing tooth from her smile. (Dearra Allen)
Cianni’s teacher told the mother she did a headcount before leaving the field trip location. Allen responded that if the headcount had been accurate, her daughter would not have been missing.
“They really had nothing to say other than I was right,” Allen said after pressing school officials for answers.
Cianni told her mom one of her classmate’s dads was her chaperone during the field trip.
“Cianni said she just kept playing because he never called [her] name. Well, then she said she looked up a little later, and she noticed that everybody was gone,” Allen said, adding that her daughter went to look for someone in the apple orchard area prior to going to the pumpkin patch.
INDIANA RESIDENT PLEADS FOR HELP, TRANSPARENCY AS EXPLODING MIGRANT POPULATION OVERWHELMS COMMUNITY
Cianni Allen, 6, can be seen at a skating rink. (Dearra Allen)
Cianni Allen’s mother told Fox News Digital the 6-year-old was left behind following a field trip on Oct. 16, 2024. (Dearra Allen)
“She said this lady came out of nowhere and was like, ‘Hey, what’s wrong? Are you OK?’ and she was like, ‘My school left me.’”
Cianni was then taken to an office, where she was held until her principal went to get her.
“When we got to the school, she wasn’t there yet, and I didn’t know that,” the mother said. “They was at the school by the time they realized that they didn’t have Cianni.”
The drive time between the school and orchard is about an hour, Allen said, leaving the first-grader without any school care for about 2.5 hours.
Family photo of Dearra Allen, Cianni Allen, Cianni’s older sister and younger brother. (Dearra Allen)
Allen said past field trips involving her oldest daughter and Cianni through Christel House West Academy had gone off without a hitch.
Cianni and her parents did not reunite until 4:30 p.m. the day of the field trip, Allen said. Along with Cianni, she also withdrew her oldest daughter from the school.
Allen says she remains confused and feels like she was being lied to about who was chaperoning her daughter at the time of the incident. The mother said two classes were on the field trip at the time, and she believes 50 students attended.
As for Cianni, her mom said she was “so heartbroken, distraught. She didn’t think she was going to see us again. She thought she was lost.”
Cianni Allen, 6, seen in this park photograph taken by her mother. (Dearra Allen)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The school district provided the following statement to Fox News Digital:
“Christel House is committed to the safety and well-being of all of our students. As soon as staff identified the situation, they took immediate steps to ensure the safety and well-being of the student. We work closely with families to provide full support to address any concerns they may have.
The trust placed in us by our families and community is of utmost importance, and we are dedicated to upholding that trust with the highest standards of care and responsibility.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says Bears need stadium site soon
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters at the NFL’s annual meeting that the Chicago Bears need resolution on a stadium site soon.
The saga of the Chicago Bears and their potential move to Indiana continues as Illinois lawmakers unveil amended legislation aimed at keeping the team in the state, Illinois Capital News reported.
Seemingly still a minor step in the right direction, the legislation is a prerequisite for the team to build a new domed stadium in suburban Arlington Heights. Here’s what happened in Illinois this week.
What does the amended bill mean for the Chicago Bears?
The Illinois House unveiled a new version of property tax legislation aimed at winning over lawmakers concerned about the move.
More specifically, the changes target worries about shifted property tax burdens to local residents and the team’s departure from Chicago’s Soldier Field, which still has nearly $500 in unpaid bonds.
While the original bill would allow the Bears or other “megaproject” developers to negotiate a payment in lieu of taxes, the amended version would contribute 50% of such payments to property tax relief. Of that amount, 60% would go to property tax rebates for homeowners residing in megaproject districts, while 40% would be deposited into the state’s existing property tax relief fund.
This incentive plan would end in five years, at which time lawmakers would revisit its effectiveness.
Will amended legislation pass in Illinois?
The legislation was discussed at length in the Illinois House Tuesday, but still has a far way to go before it makes its way to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk.
Illinois Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, the lead House negotiator on the megaprojects bill, said he plans to file the amended legislation with the intention of it being heard in committee on Wednesday. If it passes there, the full House could vote on the measure this week.
But importantly, it still must be approved by the Illinois Senate, which returns to Springfield on April 28. Only then would it be sent to Pritzker.
Is the measure likely to pass in Illinois?
Buckner appeared optimistic about the changes, while Pritzker’s office said they’re still “reviewing the draft amendment.”
Illinois Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, said the latest version is a step in the right direction, saying the “forthcoming amendment” addressed lawmakers’ concerns “in a really thoughtful way.”
What’s going on in Indiana?
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun signed a bill into law in February creating a northwest Indiana stadium authority that would be in charge of financing a new stadium for the Bears in Hammond.
As recently as April 16, Indiana lawmakers renegotiated the Indiana Toll Road lease to further appeal to the Chicago football team, according to the IndyStar. The new agreement would allow $700 million to be put toward infrastructure or transportation projects in seven Indiana counties near the proposed stadium site in exchange for more frequently increased toll prices on the Indiana Toll Road.
CONTRIBUTING: Kayla Dwyer, Indianapolis Star; Brenden Moore, Illinois Capital News
PLAINFIELD, Ind. (WISH) — Suspects fled a Plainfield bank after it was robbed Tuesday afternoon, police say.
Plainfield Police Department was called at 2:10 p.m. Tuesday to the robbery of a bank in progress at Chase Bank, 807 Southfield Drive. That’s southwest of the intersection of Quaker Boulevard and Stafford Road/East County Road 450 South in the Hendricks County town.
Deputy Chief Ryan Salisbury of the Plainfield Police Department said detectives were working on the case.
The police department posted on social media on Tuesday night that no one was hurt in the robbery, and the suspects, who were not in custody, fled prior to the arrival of first responders.
INDIANAPOLIS — Sophie Cunningham wants to emphasize she’s perfectly happy with the Indiana Fever. She just wishes she could be locked down longer.
Cunningham, who signed a one-year, $665,000 deal with the Indiana Fever for 2026, said on her podcast, “Show Me Something,” on Tuesday night that she was frustrated with the free agency process in the condensed offseason.
She shook her head vehemently when her co-host West Wilson asked if the contract was better than she thought it would be, then said in part, “It’s tough because I came off an injury … I’m not even going to lie to you, that’s a little, kind of, frustrating.”
Fans on social media largely took that as she did not get interest from other teams, she didn’t want to return to the Fever, or she was unhappy with the salary she got.
She shut those thoughts down on social media Monday night, then expounded on her frustrations with local media at Fever training camp on Tuesday morning.
Buy 2026 Indiana Fever tickets!
“I think Twitter kind of blew up last night about a comment I made on my podcast. But that wasn’t what I meant at all,” Cunningham said. “I think if you listen to the full clip, you really understand that I just wanted to be somewhere for more than one year. I’m almost 30 years old. I want to have a home. I want to get established. And I would love to get established in a place like Indiana.”
The Fever prioritized as much financial flexibility as possible this offseason because of the new EPIC clause, which allows both Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark to renegotiate their fourth-year salaries up to the max with an extension. Boston’s salary was bumped to $1 million in 2025, and she will make the supermax from 2027-29. Clark is eligible to negotiate up to the max in 2027, and both Clark and Boston could be making the supermax starting in 2028.
Only Lexie Hull and Monique Billings got major multi-year deals with the Fever out of free agency. Hull signed for $765,000 in 2026 and $803,250 in 2027, per Her Hoop Stats, while Billings got $800,000 for both 2026 and 2027. Damiris Dantas is the only other player that got a multi-year deal out of free agency, but that was for the minimum cap hit of $277,500.
Kelsey Mitchell signed a one-year, $1.4 million supermax, Cunningham returned on a one-year deal, and Myisha Hines-Allen and Tyasha Harris each signed one-year deals.
Cunningham added that she got multi-year offers from other teams, but chose to stay with Indiana on a one-year deal.
She wanted to return to Indiana, she said, because of friendships she created with her teammates and the potential they showed, even after six separate season-ending injuries on the roster. She is also closer to her hometown of Columbia, Missouri.
“When you find a group of girls who really make you fall in love with basketball games and you enjoy it, you enjoy them, not only on the court, but off the court, like, you want to hold on to that,” Cunningham said. “ … it was never about the money, it was just about the years, because I wanted to be with them. And God forbid a girl loves her teammates, you know what I mean?”
Cunningham is also coming off a major knee injury after she tore her MCL in August 2025. She was ruled out for the rest of the 2025 season and got surgery in Indianapolis, then had a six-month rehab process before she was cleared in February.
Since then, she has been ramping back up as much as possible, including playing one-on-one, three-on-three, plyometrics, and everything she does to get ready for a regular season.
Still, she said, she’ll need to actually play to get back into full basketball shape.
“Basketball shape is just different,” Cunningham said. “You can run as many suicides as you want, you can get your butt kicked however you want, but until you’re out here playing, you’re never fully going to be in game shape until you’re playing games.”
Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at chloe.peterson@indystar.com or follow her on X at @chloepeterson67. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter. Subscribe to IndyStar TV: Fever for in-depth analysis, behind-the-scenes coverage and more.
-
Dallas, TX3 minutes agoIt’s a big week for restaurant openings and closings in Dallas
-
Miami, FL9 minutes agoCain, Kushner launch South Florida JV with plans for Edgewater rental tower
-
Boston, MA15 minutes agoMBTA Green Line trains out from Kenmore to Boston College on B branch through April 30
-
Denver, CO21 minutes agoNuggets vs. Timberwolves | 3 keys to a Denver win in Game 3
-
Seattle, WA27 minutes agoThe Honorable Brandon Lee Gowton Picks for Seattle at #32 | Field Gulls
-
San Diego, CA33 minutes agoPerson struck, killed by train in Encinitas
-
Milwaukee, WI39 minutes agoFatal opioid overdoses decline in Milwaukee County
-
Atlanta, GA45 minutes ago‘Rich and Unemployed’ podcaster sentenced for $3.8M scheme