INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Aug. 20 Indianapolis Animal Care Services Board Meeting was contentious.

The tension was caused by a policy change that prohibits adoption coordinators from running criminal background checks on potential adopters through MyCase, the statewide public court records database.

Kelly Diamond, IACS deputy director, said Tuesday the MyCase checks will not return and called the practice discriminatory.

“As far as the MyCase, It’s not coming back,” Diamond said. “Just by the mere fact that people of color are more likely to have records on there, that by itself is discrimination. It introduces biases for things that are not related to a person’s ability to be a good pet owner.”

Diamond refused two times to speak to News 8 in a one-on-one interview to clarify the old policy or provide additional context.

Two IACS employees were recently fired for going against this change, continuing to look, and in some cases, block adoptions from being approved based on the background checks.

News 8 first reported this story on Aug. 7.

Kylee Fox was the first woman to be fired. She said that, to her knowledge, the initial policy told employees to check every potential adopter for any of the following charges:

• Animal cruelty charges within the last three years
• Murder
• Sex offenses
• Domestic violence
• Neglect of a dependent
• Strangulation

She said she felt this put everyone on an equal playing field.

Fox admitted to checking potential pet adopters for a history of animal neglect and cruelty knowing it was against policy. She told News 8 she continued to do background checks after learning a couple with five animal cruelty or abandonment violations readopted their dog after IACS officials confiscated it.

“We expressed our concerns that we felt more like dog distributors because there’s no fees, there’s no background checks,” Fox said.

Makenna Chiddister is another IACS employee fired for checking MyCase, despite telling the shelter she didn’t break the policy.

“I did know Kylee was doing it. I do think it’s something we should do, but I personally didn’t check MyCase,” Chiddister said. “I was fired based on hearsay.”

The two want to see the policy reinstated.

Both of the women attended Tuesday night’s meeting, and many supporters joined them.

“These animals need to have better protection for them so I will continue to try and get this policy reinstated because the vast majority of the public wants it brought back,” Fox said.

Diamond told the crowd that IACS now instructs employees to use Chameleon before an adoption.

Chameleon is an internal Animal Care Services system. It covers Marion County, but only contains data that animal control officers input, according to Fox.

The MyCase system is statewide and has all criminal charges available.

Fox and Chiddister say they believe the policy was removed to help the shelter improve its “live release” numbers without considering if the adopters were fit to be pet owners.

IACS Board Member Chris Roberson also declined two interview requests after the meeting. News 8 was unable to speak to the other board members.

News 8 was unable to find the names or contact information of any of the board members online to contact them to gain further understanding of the policy and situation.

Anthony Richardson is the second-year quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts. The 22-year-old didn’t get a lot of playing time as a rookie as he suffered injuries in Week 2 (which kept him out the following week) and Week 5 (which ended his season).

His intriguing mix of throwing and running ability − and a breakaway threat at running back in Jonathan Taylor − has Colts coach Shane Steichen creating a scheme that opposing defense won’t be able to deal with. However, injuries have interrupted Richardson throughout his career and his completion percentage at all levels has been low by today’s standards.

The Colts narrowly missed winning the AFC South in 2023 and they are eager to challenge for the playoffs with a full year of Richardson behind center.

When was Anthony Richardson drafted?

The Colts selected No. 4 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft.

He was the third quarterback selected. The Carolina Panthers picked Alabama’s Bryce Young first overall, and the Houston Texans picked Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud second. Houston also had the No. 3 pick and took Alabama linebacker Will Anderson Jr.

Colts owner Jim Irsay said a few days after the draft that had Young, Stroud and Richardson been taken in the top three, the Colts would have selected former Kentucky quarterback Will Levis at No. 4. The Tennessee Titans took him with the first pick in the second round, No. 33 overall.

Anthony Richardson’s contract

Richardson has a four-year, $34 million rookie contract, according to Spotrac, all of it guaranteed from 2023-26. The Colts hold an option for the 2027 season.

Here is how much Richardson counts toward the Colts’ salary cap through 2026:

2022: $6.18 million

2024: $7.73 million, 24th among NFL QBs this season

2025: $9.27 million

2026: $10.82 million

Anthony Richardson back tattoo

Richardson went all in on a back tattoo: His last name, the NFL logo, four aces, a roulette wheel, a lion, a cross, a Spartan warriors. And there’s plenty of ink on his arms, too.

The second-year player said he spent much of 7 hours sedated while getting full back artwork during the offseason. The tat includes his last name, the NFL shield, a lion’s face, four aces and much more.

Richardson said he got hassled a little for going under sedation. However: “I’ve been getting tattoos since I was 13, so I did my time there.”

Richardson told Pat McAfee earlier this week that he has space for a Lombardi trophy tattoo, for when the Colts win the Super Bowl.

Richardson’s first tattoo? Praying hands, done by an uncle in his living room. (Richardson said his uncle is a tattoo artist.)

INDIANAPOLIS — The numbers are in, and the Indianapolis Airport Authority is reporting record-breaking passenger traffic for the first half of 2024.

According to reports, more than 5.2 million people traveled through the Indianapolis International Airport from January through June.

“First and second quarter data show us that we’re tracking at 10-percent higher in passenger travel than in 2023 and 2019,” said Mario Rodriguez, IAA executive director. “In fact, five out of the 10 busiest days in the airport’s history have occurred in 2024 so far, and four were from 2023.”

At the beginning of the year, much of the traffic was driven by the NBA All-Star game in February and a busy Spring Break travel season.

The airport says March 2024 was IND’s busiest month of all time, with a total of 967,597 passengers.

May kicked off the summer travel season with a 12 percent increase in traffic compared to 2023. More than 967,360 passengers made it the second-busiest month of all time. The days surrounding the Indianapolis 500 had the most traffic.

However, June takes IND’s busiest-month ever title, with 995,139 total passengers. The numbers were boosted by the Olympic hopefuls and swimming fans that visited for the Olympic Swim Trials.

The top three busiest months of all time at IND are now June, March, and May 2024.

“We’re confident the Indy airport will hit double digits with a record 10 million total passengers for the year,” said Rodriguez. “The real question is when it will happen.”

Indy airport officials say they are preparing for another record-breaking Fall Break travel season and holiday travel to cap off 2024.

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