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Indianapolis conducts annual count of homeless population – Indianapolis Business Journal

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Indianapolis conducts annual count of homeless population – Indianapolis Business Journal


As a part of a federally required annual count of the homeless population in Indianapolis, about 70 volunteers departed from Horizon House’s east-side location to pinpointed areas across the city Wednesday evening.

The event, called the point-in-time count, is a tally of the homeless population required by U.S. housing officials to help determine federal funding amounts tied to housing and homelessness. Coalitions of service providers in states and municipalities must conduct the count during a night within the third week of January.

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Volunteers departed from the home base at Horizon House, 1033 E. Washington St., to more than 300 locations where homeless individuals are likely to spend the night. Outreach workers spend months before the count identifying the spots that ultimately become part of the plan, such as locations where homeless individuals are living in cars, encampments and parks. 

Along with collecting data, the volunteers who partake in the count hand out resources such as warm clothes and bus passes.

Although the city is experiencing a cold snap—with temperatures in the teens Wednesday night—the count was set to go on as scheduled.

Niki Wattson, the Horizon House street outreach manager and coordinator of the Professional Blended Street Outreach Team, said a warming center at Washington Park Family Center was set to close at 8 p.m. To count the people staying in that location, Wattson said a team would head there before it shut down.

She gave the volunteers last-minute instructions. Among them: call your team leader every hour to ensure you’re safe; don’t go somewhere if it feels unsafe and follow the lead of the most cautious person on your team; remember that officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and the Mobile Crisis Assistance Team are on hand in case of an emergency.

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Although they begin at dusk, the counts have been known to last until midnight.

The night-time count is just the first step in the process. Through a methodology implemented two years ago, over the next few days additional community volunteers will conduct the same unsheltered survey at day centers, service centers and other service locations working with residents experiencing homelessness. Those volunteers will ask: “Where did you stay the night of Wednesday, Jan. 22?” in order to get a better picture of Indianapolis’ homeless population.

The results of the point-in-time count aren’t typically announced until summer. Those results include demographic details including age, race and gender, as well as details on families and those who are chronically homeless. The 2024 count found 1,701 individuals experiencing homelessness in Indianapolis on Jan. 24—a 5% increase over the previous year and the first increase since 2021.

Nationally, the 2024 count found the largest rise in the homeless population since 2007.

Chelsea Haring-Cozzi, executive director of the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention, said the count provides a starting point for determining local policy and possible solutions.

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“The pit doesn’t necessarily tell us why we’re seeing what we’re seeing, but it absolutely points us to the things we need to dig deeper into and pay more attention to as we target interventions and resources,” Haring-Cozzi said.



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Indianapolis, IN

Competitive eater Joey Chestnut wins Ale Emporium’s wing-eating contest at Big Ten Fan Fest in Indianapolis

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Competitive eater Joey Chestnut wins Ale Emporium’s wing-eating contest at Big Ten Fan Fest in Indianapolis


INDIANAPOLIS — Competitive eater Joey Chestnut won a chicken wing-eating contest at Big Ten Fan Fest in downtown Indianapolis on Saturday.

In a post on X, Major League Eating reported that Chestnut won the Ale Emporium Hermanaki Wing Eating Contest by downing a whopping 242 wings in 10 minutes. Chestnut finished in front of Nick Wehry and Miki Sudo. Wehry placed second by eating 187 wings, and Sudo finished third by consuming 144 wings.

Sudo and Wehry came into the contest at No. 5 and No. 6 in Major League Eating’s rankings, respectively. Chestnut was No. 1 before Saturday’s competition began.

“The hardest thing about this contest is, you don’t know if you’re ahead,” Chestnut said in an interview after Saturday’s competition. “In other contests, you can tell if you finish your plate before the next person and you’re moving on. This one, you’re worried. You don’t know if you’re cleaning your bones well enough. You don’t knew where everybody else is at at all. So, you kinda just focus on your plate, don’t panic, and just keep putting it down.”

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Saturday’s contest featured a total prize purse of $3,000. Prize payouts were as follows:

  • First place — $1,500
  • Second place — $750
  • Third place — $400
  • Fourth place — $200
  • Fifth place — $100
  • Sixth place — $50.

An eating competition has been held during Big Ten Fan Fests in previous years. St. Elmo Steakhouse used to be the title sponsor of the contest, and competitive eaters used to come from far and wide to engage in a shrimp cocktail-eating contest. This year, Ale Emporium replaced St. Elmo as the contest’s title sponsor, and thus the eatery’s Hermanaki wings were subbed in for shrimp cocktail.

Chestnut is from Westfield, Indiana. He’s won the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest 17 times. Chestnut also broke a popcorn-eating record at an Indiana Rural King in May.

He holds world eating records for Eggo waffles, Hostess Donettes, Twinkies, apple pies, fish tacos, gyros, funnel cakes, corned beef sandwiches, Pizza Hut P’Zones and hot dogs — among other things.



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Indianapolis, IN

Animal Care Services out of space, asks people to adopt to ‘save more lives’

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Animal Care Services out of space, asks people to adopt to ‘save more lives’


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Indianapolis Animal Care Services announced Dec. 6 that they are out of space at their 2600 South Harding Street animal shelter, urging people in a post online to adopt pets.

Adopting a pet makes room for the next animal that comes into the shelter, officials said. Same-day adoptions are an option, according to the online post, and foster-to-adopt options are also available.

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“That’s the truth. We are completely out of kennel space, and animals are continuing to come in,” the post read. “The only way we can save more lives is if pets leave the building today.”

The situation is particularly dire for dogs, according to an updated post on Facebook. There were 227 dogs in the shelter and 210 kennels, putting the shelter at 108% capacity. There were 61 cats and 91 feline kennels, putting capacity at 67%. Shelter officials said they try to operate at about 80% capacity to ensure they can provide quality care and be prepared for emergencies.

The post said that short-term fostering of animals still helps make room and space needed at the shelter.

Kelly LaRoche with the shelter told IndyStar that they are over capacity, “which unfortunately has become our normal operating state.”

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“At this point, we have no open kennels available for incoming animals,” LaRoche said. “When we say we urgently need adopters today, that is not an exaggeration. Without adoptions or fosters creating space, we have nowhere to safely house the animals still coming through our doors.”

LaRoche said they only put animals in the same kennel if they come to the shelter as a bonded pair or if they were previously living together. As long as their behaviors are calm and neither is sick, they can share one kennel.

Placing animals that don’t know each other together creates a risk of fighting and injury, according to LaRoche, as well as the possibility of spreading disease.

“We anticipate needing adopters and fosters not just today, but every day for the foreseeable future,” LaRoche said. “The pressure on space does not let up, and our intake as an open-admission municipal shelter does not stop.”

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Here’s how you can help

If you have questions about adopting, you can email the shelter at adoptions@indycares.org.

You can find out more about individual animals at the shelter by checking out their posts on Facebook.

Jade Jackson is a public safety reporter for the Indianapolis Star. You can email her at Jade.Jackson@IndyStar.com and follow her on X, formerly Twitter @IAMJADEJACKSON.



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Indianapolis, IN

Here’s when Indianapolis might see snow this weekend, NWS says

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Here’s when Indianapolis might see snow this weekend, NWS says


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A quick-moving low pressure system could bring more snow to Indianapolis this weekend, the National Weather Service predicts.

A few flurries and patches of freezing rain are expected Saturday before noon. The rest of the day will be cloudy with a high of 34 degrees.

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Overnight, temperatures will drop to 26 degrees. Snow will begin to fall in the early hours of Sunday morning, ending at around 10 a.m. before turning to a wintry mix.

Forecasters don’t expect much of the weekend’s snow to stick. Andrew White, an NWS meteorologist, said Indianapolis might see half an inch of accumulation on Sunday morning.

Sunday night will be bitterly cold, with a low of 14 degrees and wind chills near zero. A sunny Monday will only heat up to about 25 degrees, and wind chills will reduce that into the teens.

Indianapolis weather radar

Weather travel advisories

Weather info you need

🚨 Indiana Weather Alerts: Warnings, Watches and Advisories.

⚡ Indiana power outage map: How to check your status.

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💻 Internet outages: How to track them.

🚫 What you should and shouldn’t do when the power is out.

🐶 Your neighbor left their pet outside. Who you should call.

Where to report power outages and downed lines

  • AES Indiana customers: 317-261-8111
  • Duke Energy customers: 1-800-343-3535

How to report downed traffic signals or tree limbs blocking a road

If you encounter a downed traffic signal or a limb blocking a roadway, contact the Mayor’s Action Center at 317-327-4622 or online at RequestIndy.gov. When calling after hours, press “2” to be connected. 

Indianapolis and Indiana road conditions

Check road conditions, including road closures, crashes and live webcams using Indiana’s online Trafficwise map at 511in.org, or visit our gridlock guide page for live traffic cams and more.

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INDOT’s CARS Program provides information about road conditions, closures and width and weight restrictions. The website has a color-coded map of Indiana’s highways and highlights hazardous road conditions and travel delays.

The interactive map also shows road work warnings, closures, roadway restrictions and other information helpful to drivers.

Ryan Murphy is the communities reporter for IndyStar. She can be reached at rhmurphy@indystar.com.



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