Indiana Fever star rookie Caitlin Clark is off to a torrid start in her first season as a professional, scoring 17.1 points per game while averaging 8.2 assists and 5.8 rebounds on 40.5% shooting from the floor and 32.7% from three.

Clark’s impressive play in the first half of the WNBA season for the 11-15 Fever earned her an All-Star selection in her first year in the league.

However, her play did not earn her a spot in the Paris Olympics for Team USA, who opens group play against Japan on July 29. In fairness to Team USA, the final roster was completed very early in the WNBA season as Clark was still finding her footing as a professional.

With Clark left off the United States Olympic team (for likely the only time in her basketball career), she has some time to kill between her last game before the WNBA All-Star break, a 101-93 loss to the Dallas Wings on July 17 to the Fever’s next scheduled game on August 16 at home against the Phoenix Mercury.

Team USA, of course, is comprised of over a dozen WNBA stars, so the league has gone on an extended Olympic break until basketball is completed in Paris. Clark will go nearly a month without playing a game for the Fever, which is an unorthodox period of rest in her first season as a professional.

When the Fever return to action, they’ll be looking to make a late season push for playoff contention. Indiana is currently in the No. 7 spot in the WNBA standings, but Clark’s strong play over the last month or so could potentially propel Indiana into an unexpected playoff spot in year one of Clark’s career.

Here’s the remaining schedule for Clark and the Fever, including how to watch her games in the second half of the WNBA season set to kick off in mid-August.

Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the country, and now two Hoosiers are making sure players can rally no matter what Indiana weather brings.

Ron Brock and Dave Gilreath founded wealth management company Sheaff Brock decades ago, and now have another project cooking in the kitchen.

“We bounce different ideas off one another from time to time,” Brock said. “[Dave] came in one day talking about pickleball…the demographics are really strong for pickleball. All ages can play, you get people in middle school or even younger to senior citizens playing. Everybody can play and have fun.”

The duo signed on with The Picklr, a Utah-based franchise, and plan to open six locations across central Indiana.

“Indiana has a good location for indoor pickleball because three, maybe four months of the year you play outside, but other than that they’d rather be inside,” Gilreath said. “People talk a lot while they’re playing and after playing. Probably the advantage [pickleball has] over golf is golf takes 5 hours. It takes a long time; whereas in pickleball, after an hour and a half, you’re tired.”

The Picklr Indianapolis Keystone Crossing club, located at 3810 E. 82nd St., will be the first location to open this fall. The former OfficeMax building will be transformed into 10 indoor pickleball courts, private event space, tournaments and more.

“I’m most excited to see the people having fun inside this building. Right now it’s just a big empty room, but I think that’s what I’m most excited about,” Gilreath said.

The Picklr’s second location will open in Noblesville at 9847 Cumberland Pointe Blvd, just north of 146th Street. It will have 19 courts.

First announced in May, the Noblesville location is a joint venture between former NFL quarterback Drew Brees’ BV Pickleball Clubs LLC and Pickle Indy LLC, which is owned by Gilreath and Brock.

Brees is not involved with the Keystone Crossing location.

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The Picklr members can play at any of the more than 200 clubs across the country. For updates on both Indiana locations, click here.

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Marion County Superior Judge Chris Miller declared the mistrial Tuesday in the trial of Raymond Ronald Lee Childs III, who faces six counts of murder in the January 2021 slayings in an Indianapolis home.

Childs, 20, was arrested a day after the attack and accused of killing his father, stepmother, two teenage relatives, a woman nearly due to give birth, and her unborn son.

The mistrial came after a key witness in the case, Elanso Valez, testified that in the hours after the killings, he had picked up Childs and drove him around Indianapolis. He said Childs later covered his eyes and wept while laying on a bed at Valez’s home in Plainfield, just west of Indianapolis.

“Y’all remember that?” Valez asked Childs from the witness stand, WXIN-TV reported.

The defense and prosecution teams quickly sought to cut Valez off, and the judge tried to intercede from the bench, but Valez continued, asking: “Why did you do it, Raymond?”

The judge admonished Valez for his comments in front of the jurors and sent them from the courtroom so he could speak with attorneys and then each juror individually.

Miller then declared a mistrial, saying he’s “firmly convinced that Mr. Childs cannot get a fair trial.” He set a status conference for Monday with the attorneys.

The killings followed an argument over Childs, who was 17 at the time, staying out late, according to court records. Prosecutors said Childs methodically went from room-to-room, shooting the victims.

The attack killed Childs’ father, Raymond Childs Jr., 42; his stepmother, Kezzie Childs, 42; the couple’s daughter, Rita Childs, 13; son Elijah Childs, 18; and Elijah’s 19-year-old girlfriend Kiara Hawkins, who died at a hospital along with her unborn son.

Childs’ 15-year-old brother also was shot but survived after fleeing the house to escape the gunfire.

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