Indianapolis, IN
Free gun lock boxes will soon be distributed in Marion County. Here’s where to get them
What to know about children and gun safety
Nearly 3,000 children ages 1-17 are wounded in the U.S. each year in unintentional shootings, according to BradyUnited.org. Here’s what to know about gun safety.
Dwight Adams, dwight.adams@indystar.com
Free gun lock boxes will be distributed next week in Indianapolis in an effort by community groups to curb the rising number of children in the city being accidentally shot.
The Marion County Youth Violence Prevention Coalition will give out the free lock boxes (one per household) at its headquarters just west of downtown, at 1375 West 16th St., from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 5-9. No ID is required.
The giveaway comes on the heels of a 7-year-old boy accidentally shooting himself late Monday afternoon. Police reported the boy was awake and breathing when they responded to the home in the 9000 block of Granville Court on the east side of Indianapolis. How the boy got ahold of the gun remains under investigation, police said Tuesday. No charges have been announced in the case.
‘100% preventable’: Indiana kids killed by unsecured guns hits record. Would new laws help?
The shooting is the latest case of a young child getting ahold of a firearm and pulling the trigger, injuring either themselves or another person. Indianapolis police have investigated a significant increase in these shootings. In the first six months of last year, the city recorded three times as many accidental shootings as the year prior. A quarter of those cases involved minors, police reported.
Legislation has been proposed this session addressing firearm storage. House Bill 1325 if passed would allow prosecutors to charge a person with neglect if they’re caring for a dependent who obtains an unsecured, loaded firearm in their home or car and causes injury or death. The bill, authored by law enforcement officer Rep. Mitch Gore, D-Indianapolis, has not been heard in committee.
Gun locks are available at all Indianapolis public library branches.
Contact reporter Sarah Nelson at 317-503-7514 or sarah.nelson@indystar.com
Indianapolis, IN
Unsettled Friday and Saturday, then summer heat returns early next week | July 10, 2026
TODAY
Partly sunny and warm with scattered showers and thunderstorms likely through much of the bookends of the day. Highs reach the mid 80s, with a west southwest breeze around 5 mph. It does not look like nonstop rain from start to finish, but this is the least reliable daytime period in the forecast, and any stronger storm could drop a quick heavy downpour with a gusty burst of wind.
TONIGHT
Scattered showers and thunderstorms remain possible through the evening, then another lower-end storm chance lingers late overnight. Lows settle near the upper 60s, with light wind. The severe risk looks lower than it is Thursday night, but a few pockets of heavier rain are still possible if a boundary stalls close enough to central Indiana.
TOMORROW
Mostly cloudy and not quite as hot, with another chance for showers and thunderstorms developing mainly after mid afternoon. Highs reach the low to mid 80s, with a light northeast breeze around 5 mph. Much of the first half of the day should be usable, but later afternoon and evening plans will still need a weather eye.
TOMORROW NIGHT
A few showers and thunderstorms may linger early, then the trend turns quieter with mostly cloudy skies overnight. Lows fall to the upper 60s, with an east northeast breeze around 5 mph. It is a calmer setup than Friday night overall, even if an early interruption is still possible.
SUNDAY
Mostly sunny and warmer with highs in the mid 80s. An east breeze around 5 to 10 mph keeps the day from feeling too stagnant, and this looks like one of the cleaner forecast days of the stretch. Most of central Indiana should stay dry from start to finish.
SUNDAY NIGHT
Mostly clear and seasonably mild, with lows around the mid 60s and a light east northeast breeze. Quiet weather continues overnight with no meaningful travel concerns.
MONDAY
Sunny and hotter, with highs climbing into the upper 80s. A light east wind around 5 mph holds through the day. After the unsettled end of the workweek, this looks like a very usable summer day with heat becoming the main story instead of storms.
MONDAY NIGHT
Mostly clear and warm, with lows near 70 and only a light breeze. There will be little trouble overnight, and the warmer pattern settles in more firmly.
TUESDAY
Sunny and hot again, with highs near 90. Wind stays light, becoming east southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon. This is another day where the weather looks broadly quiet, with heat the main thing to plan around.
7 DAY FORECAST
The main concern in the near term is the unsettled Friday into Saturday period, when repeated rounds of showers and thunderstorms could bring quick heavy rain, especially Friday afternoon and evening. After that, the pattern trends warmer and drier from Sunday into at least Tuesday, with highs returning to the upper 80s and lower 90s while heat index values stay more manageable than the late-June heat. By Wednesday and Thursday, isolated afternoon and evening storms begin to creep back into the forecast, with a more noticeable thunderstorm threat showing up later next week into next weekend.
Indianapolis, IN
Indiana Workforce Pell Grant options limited so far
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Education leaders on Thursday said waiting for rulemaking limited the number of programs approved for a new grant program, but they expect more approvals soon.
Created as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump signed last year, the Workforce Pell Grant program allows students to use Pell Grants for short-term, direct-to-workforce training programs. The program began on July 1. Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana and Vincennes University, which are Indiana’s two two-year vocational and technical institutions, are the only institutions in the state authorized for the program so far, though state officials have said they’ll consider expanding it to other institutions depending on the results of the first year.
So far, state education officials have approved three programs for Workforce Pell Grants: certified clinical medical assistant programs at Ivy Tech and Vincennes, plus an electrical maintenance technician bootcamp Vincennes offers. Final approval must come from the federal government, which has not yet green-lit any of those programs.
Molly Dodge, Ivy Tech’s senior vice president for workforce and careers, said Ivy Tech leaders needed to make sure they thoroughly understood the requirements they would face. To be eligible, a program must have at least a 70% completion rate and a 70% job placement rate. It also must lead directly to a job in a high-growth, high-demand job sector. Dodge said the rules were finalized this spring. After that, she said Ivy Tech leaders began going through each of their courses to see which ones would be eligible.
“Workforce Pell has a significant requirement related to job placement and wages, and so we need to backward design from an employer, in many cases, to make sure that we’re successful in launching these Workforce Pell programs,” she said.
Tony Hahn, Vincennes University’s vice president for government and legal affairs, said July 1 was the earliest under federal statute the program could begin. In practice, he said the rollout will take some time because programs must be offered for one year in exactly the same format before they become eligible for the Workforce Pell Grant.
“These are often programs that we have offered through Next Level Jobs programs and other Department of Workforce Development funding, but didn’t have the exact same requirements on number of classroom hours or number of total weeks offered,” he said. “And so, we made some modifications and we’ll be able to expand this list.”
Both Dodge and Hahn said leaders at their respective institutions are reviewing their course catalogs for other potentially eligible programs. They said they expect to add approved programs in the coming months.
Dodge said Workforce Pell-eligible programs are often designed with the expectation that you will go to work with a partner employer upon completion of the program, but that doesn’t mean education ends there. She said Workforce Pell Grant programs are stackable and can be pursued as part of a longer-term higher education strategy. Students can qualify for both traditional Pell Grants and Workforce Pell Grants, though not at the same time.
Hahn said prospective students won’t be able to apply for Workforce Pell Grants until this fall or next spring. If you’re interested, he said you should fill out a federal student financial aid form. He said Vincennes University leaders expect to add information about eligible programs to their application website once approved.
Indianapolis, IN
Man dies after car crashes into pole on near NW side
INDIANAPOLIS – A man died in a crash on the near northwest side of Indianapolis.
According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, officers were dispatched to 505 W. 16th St. around 4:15 a.m. Thursday.
There, officers discovered a vehicle had crashed into a utility pole. The driver was taken to a local hospital where he died from his injuries.
The incident remains under investigation.
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