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Get in the Know with Kim’s Wednesday News & Headlines

The death toll has fallen to six with more than a dozen injured in a commuter train collision just north of New York City. The train last night was carrying 400 people and struck a SUV stuck on the railroad tracks killing the driver of that vehicle and at least five passengers on the train. A top official with New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is now weighing in offering new details about this horrific train crash. Chairman Tom Prendergast said the third rail entered the floor of that SUV at the center of this accident and pierced the floor of the Metro North train’s first car, triggering an explosion and fire. The National Transportation Safety Board is now investigating this accident.

Rescue and recovery teams are trying to find about a dozen people who are missing after a plane crashed shortly after takeoff in Taiwan Wednesday. Sixteen people were killed. Fifty-eight people were listed on-board the TransAsia Airways plane that crashed in Taipei City upside down into a river. As many as 28 passengers are known to survive this crash. The last communication from the plane’s cockpit was a pilot saying, “Mayday, mayday, engine flameout.”

President Obama is condemning ISIS after the militant jihadist group released a video showing a Jordanian pilot being burned alive. Obama says the terrorist group seems intent only on “death and destruction.” The President said he wants to redouble the efforts of the U.S. and coalition partners to defeat ISIS. ISIS captured the pilot in December when his jet crashed in Syria. The State Department is planning to boost aid to Jordan to $1 billion per year. The aid will be used to pay for the cost of housing refugees from Iraq and Syria and for fighting ISIS terrorists. Meanwhile, Jordan struck back at ISIS for the savage murder of that pilot. The country reportedly executed the would-be female suicide bomber it had offered to swap for the pilot’s safe release.

Back here at home…

A family wants to know who shot their nine-year-old daughter Tuesday night on Indy’s northwest side. The little girl was hit in the leg by a stray bullet at an apartment complex near Westlane and Michigan Roads.  Witnesses told police they saw a blue or green SUV pull into the parking lot and start firing at two men standing outside. The young bystanding victim is recovering this morning at Riley Hospital. If you have any information on this shooting, call Crime Stoppers at 317-262-TIPS.

A woman was shot at a Fishers apartment complex Wednesday morning near 121st Street and Cumberland Road, according to WISH-TV. Fishers Police were called to a nearby hospital where she’s being treated. The suspected shooter was taken into custody shortly after 8 a.m. No identities have been released in this incident and her condition is unknown at this time.

The Indiana Senate has voted 39-to-11 in favor of a bill that allows some contractors to discriminate in hiring based on religion. The bill was authored by Senator Travis Holdman and allows religious-affiliated organizations receiving state monies, to hire based on their religion. It also allows those organizations to require employees to follow certain religious tenets. Senate Bill 127 passed on Tuesday. It now moves to the state House.

Scott Gruber is going to spend four years in prison.  He was convicted of keeping most of the money collected for veterans through mail fraud.  Gruber must also pay restitution of 365-thousand dollars.

rosa-parksToday marks the 102nd anniversary of the birth of civil rights activist Rosa Parks. In her honor, researchers are being granted permission to examine thousands of her personal items from an archive.  To learn more about this story, click HERE.

Today is also World Cancer Day. You’ll see lots of red dresses moving through the downtown area in observance. Meanwhile, here’s a little history. The Union for International Cancer Control sets aside each February 4th to raise awareness of cancer and encourage people to do what they can to prevent it. The main goal of World Cancer Day is to substantially cut illness and deaths from cancer by 2020. However, the World Health Organization expects cancer cases to rise from 14-million in 2012 to 22-million over the next two decades. Another organization has weighed in as well. The American Cancer Society says that they are seeing less people die from complications due to breast cancer specifically. According to their latest statistics breast cancer deaths have declined 34 percent between the years 1990 and 2011, meaning more than 200,000 deaths have been averted. Health officials say new and improved treatments along with new medicines such as targeted chemotherapy and the estrogen blocker Tamoxifen could be the reason for the decline. Keep in mind though, the disease is often more aggressive in African Americans and is oftentimes diagnosed at later stages. According to the Sisters Network, Inc., Breast cancers diagnosed in African-American women are more likely to have factors associated with poor prognosis, such as higher grade, advanced stage, and negative hormone (estrogen and progesterone) receptor status, than those diagnosed in the general population. These factors make it increasingly important to check and maintain breast health in our community.

In Sports…

Today is National Signing Day for the nation’s top high school football players. It’s the first day that student athletes can sign a letter of intent to play college football for an NCAA school. It’s also a widely followed event by sports media, fans and moms and dads of perspective student athletes. Five-star recruit and ESPN’s number one overall prospect Byron Cowart, a defensive end, has already signed to play with Auburn University.

Pacers President Larry Bird doesn’t know if Paul George will be back this spring, but says he won’t hold him back if he’s cleared to play.  You may recall, the NBA All-Star broke his right leg last August while playing in a Team USA scrimmage in Las Vegas. At the time of treatment, doctors said it would take seven months for George to heal and that milestone is highly anticipated and around the corner in  March.

The Pacers have had an exciting day on this Hump Day leading up to tonight’s game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse where they’ll host the Pistons at 7 p.m. The basketball organization partnered with IndyGo to unveil four new Pacers wrapped busses and to give passengers free rides Wednesday morning. Passengers rode free from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and some were treated to free swag from the Pacers players, other noted members of organization and mascot Boomer when they boarded busses on random stops heading into downtown Indy. Along with the swag, they registered riders for free tickets to home games.

And Finally…

Whitney Houston & Bobbi KristinaA Bobbi Kristina Update:  Three years ago this month, the Grammy family was hit hard with the unexpected passing of singer and Grammy-great Whitney Houston. Now just three years later, tragedy has struck the family again with Whitney’s daughter’s life now hanging in the balance. Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich says he’s personally moved by Bobbi Kristina’s situation. {Click the media player to listen to his thoughts.}

Singer Bobby Brown who Bobbi Kristina’s father has released a statement to the press saying that his daughter was never married to “husband” Nick Gordon and has never been married. Bobbi Kristina has been moved to Emory Hospital in Atlanta and is continuing to fight for her life four days after she was found unresponsive in a bathtub at her home by Gordon and a friend. The scenario is eerily similar to the circumstances under which her mother was found in a hotel bathtub in Beverly Hills on February 11, 2012—one day before the Grammy Awards that year. The loss found Ehrlich and his Grammy producing team scrambling to include a tribute to Whitney in the program as her death weighed heavily on the minds of everyone in attendance. The Grammy’s will air this Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern locally on CBS4.

Indianapolis weather…

Snow amounts of one to two inches is expected in Indy this afternoon. Today’s High is 39 degrees. Temps are expected to plummet to 8 degrees tonight.

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