Indiana landed a commitment from one of the state’s top playmakers on Monday as Brownsburg (Ind.) High receiver Branden Sharpe announced his pledge to head coach Curt Cignetti and the Hoosiers during a live broadcast on the Rivals YouTube Channel.

The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Sharpe chose IU over his other finalists in Purdue, Cincinnati and Vanderbilt.

“I would say the relationships I built with the coaches and the winning a National Championship,” Sharpe said. “coming from a program that’s won two state championships, that winning culture is something I want to be around and I can see myself in that system.”

As a junior Sharpe racked up 1,386 all-purpose yards with 1,143 of them receiving. He scored 15 touchdowns en route to that second-straight state championship. He becomes commits No. 7 for Indiana in the 2027 recruiting class.

“Also the fanbase the way they support them,” Sharpe said.

Sharpe visited Indiana numerous times during his process including games in the fall and recent spring practices.

“I’d say a lot fires me up about them,” Sharpe recently said. “Obviously their coaching staff develops players. I think they had 13 players drafted, something insane like that. So the way they develop players and their offensive scheme getting their players in space and giving them an opportunity to make plays is something I see myself in.

“The way they hound their players and want them to be better. Their efficient with their practices. Everything from their lifts to their practices and meetings, everything is all organized.”

Rivals ranks Sharpe as the No. 68 receiver in the country and No. 13 prospect regardless of position in the state. Other offers included West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Iowa State, Houston, Northwestern and Boston College.

A Southeastern Indiana author from Bright is turning Moores Hill into the backdrop of a thriller series

(Moores Hill, Ind.) – In a region where family roots run deep and small towns often hold big stories, Southeastern Indiana author Ray Brown is proving that inspiration can be found close to home.

Brown, who was born and raised in Bright, Indiana, and is an alumnus of East Central High School, has turned his longtime connection to Moores Hill into the foundation of an ambitious nine-book suspense series that blends hometown history, modern intrigue, and just enough mystery to make readers wonder what might really be hidden beneath the surface.

The Moores Hill Thriller Series centers on a young data security analyst who grew up in Moores Hill. Brown describes his lead character as someone readers can relate to: She’s not a superhero. She finds herself at the center of something much bigger than she ever expected.

That grounded approach may be part of what makes the series stand out. While the books include global connections and high stakes, the story always circles back to one small Indiana town and the people who call it home.

Brown says Moores Hill was the obvious choice because it has always meant something personal to him. His mother’s family came from Moores Hill, and he spent time there often while growing up. Those visits left an impression that never faded. “Almost every relative I know on that side of the family is from there,” Brown said. “It was personal before it was anything else.”

But it was not only family ties that captured his imagination. Like many locals, Brown long wondered why a town of roughly 700 people had such a remarkable building as Carnegie Hall School. Why would the Carnegie name, associated with wealth, influence, and philanthropy, make such an investment in a small southeastern Indiana community?

That question stayed with him for years. Eventually, Brown decided to create his own fictional answer. “What if there was more to the story?” he said. “What if a place like Moores Hill mattered in ways no one realized?”

That spark became the series. The books invite readers to think ‘what if’ to mysteries that, maybe, happened in the small town of Moores Hill.

What began as a local thriller has continued to grow into something much larger. “I’m nine books into a series set in a town of 700 people,” Brown said with a laugh. “I’m as surprised as anyone.”

Brown brings a unique background to fiction writing.

Before retirement, he spent decades in the corporate world of Information Security, helping protect Fortune 500 companies from threats that often hid in plain sight.

Today, he uses that same mindset in storytelling.

His experience in cybersecurity gives authenticity to the technical side of the books. It also shaped the way he approaches suspense. He researches details carefully, aiming to make readers feel as if they are walking the streets of Moores Hill themselves.

That realism extends beyond maps and buildings. Brown intentionally includes real Southeastern Indiana touches throughout the series.

Readers may recognize familiar last names, roads, and businesses. In scenes set in bars or gathering places, Brown has even included local musicians and bands, with permission. “If a scene needs a band playing, why not make it a real local band?” Brown said. “Why not make people feel like they’re part of the story?”

That connection to community matters to him.

Rather than simply borrowing the name Moores Hill, Brown says he wants to bring local people along for the ride. He hopes readers from across Southeastern Indiana will see something recognizable in the books and feel pride in seeing their corner of the world featured in an exciting new way. Even St Leon is woven into the tale as the series continues. For a region sometimes overlooked in popular fiction, that idea resonates.

The series may deal with ancient sites, hidden lineages, and dangerous secrets, but at its heart it remains a story about home – how the places we come from continue to shape us, and how even the quietest towns can hold extraordinary stories.

As Brown continues work on the next chapter, one thing is clear: Moores Hill may be small on the map, but in his imagination, it sits at the center of a much bigger world.

Books in the Moores Hill Thriller Series are available locally and online.

Standing at the roundabout outside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Bonnie Feikes held a sign reading “End ICE Detention at Miami.”

“It’s just really simple. Has nothing to do with politics, it has to do with right and wrong, and what they’re doing to these detainees,” Feikes said, “including just taking them in as detainees, is just wrong.”

Some drivers passing by honked in agreement, others yelled in support of U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement. Feikes said for her the rally is about awareness.

“Even to get them to think that, ‘well, why are these people standing out here’,” Feikes said. “If it just changes one person, it’s worth it.”

Feikes was one of about two dozen people that gathered in Speedway to protest ICE and the agency’s use of Indiana’s Miami Correctional Facility to house detainees.

It was one of nearly 30 scheduled call to action events organized by the Indiana Organizing Project that took place across the state Saturday.

Demi Abbett was at the rally outside IMS and said she supports ending detentions at the facility.

“We want our state leaders to make this happen, where they’re not allowed to find beds here. If ICE has no beds, they can detain less people,” Abbett said.

The rally outside the speedway had an unlikely connection to the detention facility outside of Kokomo.

“People have been calling it the ‘Speedway Slammer,’ which is not okay,” Abbett said. “And so we’re out here to sort of just make people aware that that’s still happening.”

When the U.S. Department of Homeland Security first announced its plans to hold more detainees in the state last year; it coined the Miami Correctional Facility the “Speedway Slammer” with a logo of an IndyCar.

The partnership with the state provides up to 1,000 beds at Miami Correctional.

IndyCar and IMS officials quickly released a corporate statement and distanced themselves from the announcement.

“We were unaware of plans to incorporate our imagery as part of yesterday’s announcement. Consistent with our approach to public policy and political issues, we are communicating our preference that our IP not be utilized moving forward in relation to this matter.”

As of now, roughly 600 men are being held at the state maximum security prison. Detainees have reported poor treatment and spoke with U.S. Representative Andre Carson when he visited last month. Following his tour and meetings with detainees and people incarcerated there, Carson called for an end to detention at the facility.

“They are not violent criminals, and they don’t deserve to be detained,” Carson said.

The last scheduled day of action event was a vigil on Mass Ave. in Downtown Indianapolis Saturday night.

A group gathered in front of the Ann Dancing artwork. People held candles, signed a banner and sang songs of resistance and hope.

Vigil organizer Kim Saylor handed out postcards with information about the movement to end ICE detention at Miami. The cards also encouraged people to write a letter to the Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Correction to end its agreement with ICE.

Saylor said they had to do something and wanted to create a space for people to come together.

“We sing because it hurts, and we worry about our family that doesn’t look as white as us and we help where we can,” Saylor said. “What I see here tonight is a bunch of people that care just like I do, and it doesn’t matter what you do to us, you can’t make us stop caring.”

Contact WFYI All Things Considered newscaster and reporter Samantha Horton at shorton@wfyi.org or on Signal at SamHorton.05