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An FBI raid on the home of the head of a large nursing home operator is underway this Tuesday morning. Those agents along with local police and other law enforcement are investigating at James Burkhart’s home in Carmel, an affluent northern suburb of Indianapolis. Burkhart currently serves as the CEO of American Senior Communities. According to WRTV-6, this raid is linked to Health and Hospital Corporation and Burkhart’s organization, which operates many of Health and Hospital’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Sources are telling the station’s investigative news team that this raid involves Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements and alleged kickbacks. However, officials will not confirm this on-the-record. What they’re looking for and why, is still developing. To follow this developing story and the expanding locations of their investigation in Hamilton County, click HERE.

The Indianapolis City-County Council and Mayor Ballard are still at odds over funding for the Indianapolis Metro Police Department. Councilors failed to muster an override of the mayor’s veto of a funding proposal for new officers and new cars on Monday night. Council Democrats say his veto won’t allow the department to be funded as it should be funded.

Despite this defeat, the councilors got some things accomplished last night…

Cell phone cases that look like handguns are now illegal in Marion County. The Indianapolis City-County Council thinks they are recipe for disaster and are stopping them before problems arise. The council voted last night to approve Proposition 259 which bans that cell phone accessory. So it’s now illegal to buy, sell or own a cell phone case that looks like a firearm anywhere in the county. Check out Council President, Maggie Lewis’ tweet:

The City is allocating $1.6 million to bring a grocery store to the Avondale-Meadows neighborhood. The City-County Council approved the use a federal loan to pay for the placement of two stores–a Save-A-Lot and Goodwill, into the “food desert” on the city’s Northeast side. A store on 38th Street and Meadows Drive is planned and will offer fresh meat from a butcher at its meat counter and fresh produce.

Startling behavior aboard an American Airlines flight from Miami to Chicago caused an unscheduled stop at Indianapolis International Airport. A woman is now in the Marion County lockup after being pulled off that Chicago-bound plane for unruliness. The pilot diverted the plane here to Indy, so they could get the flight back under control. They say she struck a flight attendant and a passenger and did a bit of unwanted kissing. She’s not been identified.

More lane restrictions are starting on U.S. 31 in Hamilton County. Beginning at 9 p.m. Tuesday night, INDOT will begin placing bridge beams over 116th Street.  There will be lane restrictions for both directions of U.S. 31. Beginning Wednesday, the intersection of 116th and Pennsylvania Streets will be closed for approximately two months for the construction of another roundabout.

A teacher at Mississippi’s Delta State University suspected of killing a colleague and the woman he lived with is dead. Authorities say Shannon Lamb, 45, took his own life by apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound late Monday. Lamb was suspected of killing professor Ethan Schmidt at the university Monday.  A woman identified as Amy Prentiss was found shot to death at Lamb’s home several miles away.

Eight people are dead and at least five are missing after a flash flood caught them off-guard in southern Utah Monday. A thunderstorm cell dropped a tremendous amount of rain on parts of Washington County. Two cars in the town of Hildale were washed downstream when the waters rose too quickly for them to drive across. At least one child is among the dead.

Northern California’s Valley Fire is up to 62,000 acres, and has destroyed nearly 600 homes. Around 10,000 people have been displaced by the fast-moving wildfire. Cal Fire officials said last night that the blaze is only ten-percent contained. The fire has spread into several counties, and has damaged five cooling towers at the Geysers geothermal power plant.

In a startling announcement on Tuesday morning, North Korea says it’s ready to use nuclear weapons “any time” against the U.S. The state-run news agency says the country’s main nuclear facility is now in full operation, and that North Korea is improving its nuclear weapons in quality and quantity. The reactor is the source of plutonium for North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

The Terminator is replacing Donald Trump as host of the “Celebrity Apprentice.” NBC has announced that Arnold Schwarzenegger will take over for the GOP presidential front-runner when the reality show returns for the 2016-17 TV season.  The former governor of California tweeted that he can’t wait to bring his experience to the board room and raise millions for charity.

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is just about even with Trump in a new poll out on this Tuesday. The latest “New York Times”/CBS News poll shows Trump the favorite of 27-percent of likely GOP voters. Carson is at 23-percent, which is well within the poll’s six-point margin of error.

Twitter is making it easier for people to donate to political campaigns. Getting underway on this Tuesday, Twitter users can donate to campaigns without leaving the website.  The move comes a day ahead of Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate on CNN–where you can see Carson, Trump and others in the GOP field go head-to-head. The aim is to help campaigns collect small donations more easily.

In Sports…

The roof at Lucas Oil Stadium is staying closed, for now. Officials say it won’t be reopened until investigators figure out what caused a bolt to fall onto fans earlier this month injuring three people. The roof was being opened for the Colts preseason game against the Bengals on September 3 when the accident happened. Games at the stadium will go on as planned.

And, in an update from the last game…

Colts wide receiver T.Y. Hilton has received good news regarding his injured knee. An MRI revealed no structural damage in the knee a day after Hilton was forced to leave Indy’s season-opening loss to the Bills. Hilton may be able to play against the Jets during the season home opener at Lucas Oil Stadium on Monday night.

Indianapolis Weather…

Expect a warm up today under partly cloudy skies. Tuesday’s High: 83 degrees.

Finally…

Did you know the Indianapolis Colts are the 14th most valuable team in the NFL? They are, according to a new report by “Forbes.” The business magazine valued the Colts at $1.88 billion. Yes that’s billion, with a “B.” They noted that the Colts lease Lucas Oil Stadium for just $250,000-a-year and have a rock-solid balance sheet that has almost no debt. “Forbes” also says the home team had $321 million in revenue last year, with an operating income of $90 million. Apparently our “blue” really is big “green.”

###( @PraiseIndy )###

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