#WTLCIndyNews: Early Morning West Side Shooting Keeps IMPD Busy; Michigan Gov Being Called To DC While Feds On Ground Now Assisting In Flint–A Water Crisis Update; ‘Snowmageddon’ To Hit Mid-Atlantic Causing Shut Down; Celebrate Sam Cooke With A Gospel Video On His Birthday; & More

Source: David Sacks / Getty

Get In the Know With Kim’s Friday News & Sports Headlines

Snowy weather in the nation leads Friday’s headlines on this day that we stop to remember the legendary singer Sam Cooke on his birthday (videos below). Forecasters say the huge snowstorm they expect to begin pounding the Mid-Atlantic today could truly make history. The National Weather Service says the blizzard could dump as much as 29 inches of snow on Washington, DC by Sunday night. That would break a record set 94 years ago. Blizzard watches are also in effect in Philadelphia and New York City. Ice totaling an inch or more is expected in North Carolina.

Local:

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An early morning west side shooting leaves the victim recovering in an area hospital on this busy Friday. IMPD responded to a person shot call in the 3200 block of Heather Ridge Dr. just before 5 a.m. It’s there that they found the male victim shot in the leg. He was apparently shot through the door of his apartment. If you know anything about this crime, police ask you to call Crime Stoppers at 317-262-TIPS.

Teachers here and across the state won’t get punished if their students failed the ISTEP.  Governor Mike Pence signed a law on Thursday protecting teachers from any negative effects. The state had hoped to use the test as a measuring stick for teachers, but the ISTEP has seen issues with grading, low scores and technical glitches. Indiana is dropping it after just one year.

Lawyers for the latest man to go to trial for the deadly 2012 Richmond Hill explosion are pleading with jurors to keep an open mind. Bob Leonard’s defense team gave its opening statement Thursday, saying the jury is going to hear some emotional testimony and see some disturbing things. But they say the case should point to two others. Prosecutors say they’re going to build their case “brick by brick.” Leonard is facing 51 felony counts including arson and murder in connection to the explosion that killed a young couple.

A Richmond mother is facing a laundry list of charges after police say she left her two-year-old in a freezing car with a loaded gun and prescription pills, while she went to shoplift. Police arrested Ashley Doolin outside a local Meijer. Officers say the child didn’t have a coat. Doolin is now facing drug and weapons charges as well as child endangerment charges.

Marion County’s coroner says a man’s death after a downtown bar fight is a homicide. But police say they don’t think it’s a murder. Indianapolis Metro Police Department officials say they talked with witnesses and the other man involved in the January 9 fight at Kilroy’s. They say the scuffle was self-defense. The coroner says John Hilf died after hitting his head and he was shoved during the fight.

Tim Simmons wants to set the record straight–he’s not a member of ISIS. But the Muncie man says a joke led to an investigation and that cost him his job. Simmons says a group of workers at Progress Rail were joking and someone joked he was a member of the terror group. It wasn’t funny when the FBI showed up or when he lost his job. Simmons says he’s now struggling to find a new job and pay the bills.

In International & National News:

The Crisis in Flint, Michigan…

Source: Paul Warner / Getty

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder will have to testify before Congress next month over the water contamination crisis in Flint. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is calling a hearing on February 3 to find out what caused the lead contamination in the city’s water.

In the meanwhile, the mayor of Flint says she won’t stand in the way if Governor Snyder chooses to resign for the handling of the city’s contaminated water crisis. Mayor Karen Weaver said, “we were told that the water was good at all different levels and we knew it wasn’t.” She also told reporters, “it wasn’t until Virginia Tech and the medical community spoke out that our voices started being heard.” She went on to comment on reports that she would not call for Snyder to step down. She called them wrong. Instead, Weaver said the governor needs to decide if he’s going to resign or not after it was revealed Flint’s water contained dangerous levels of lead. She remarked that an investigation is going on and if Snyder is on the list of people who are responsible, “then so be it, he can step down.” She said instead of focusing on what he’ll do, she’s using her energy to focus on getting the residents of her city what they need. Governor Snyder has apologized and taken full responsibility for the crisis.

Source: Sarah Rice / Getty

Helping to get the city what they need is U.S. Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Dr. Nicole Lurie. Laurie is in Flint to coordinate the federal response to the city’s lead-contaminated water. Lurie says there are a number of issues that need to be addressed, such as gathering information to help with both the immediate crisis and the longer term situation.  HHS’s efforts include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which was directed to the city last weekend as part of a state of emergency authorized by President Barack Obama. The president has announced that $80 million in funding will be available to the state of Michigan for water needs in Flint. The Michigan National Guard has been handing out bottled water and filters door-to-door and several distribution sites remain open.

Elsewhere…

North Korea says it has detained an American university student for “committing a hostile act” and wanting to “destroy the country’s unity.” The North Korean state-run news agency says the student, Otto Frederick Warmbier, entered North Korea as a tourist and was “caught committing a hostile act against the state,” that was “tolerated and manipulated by the U.S. government.” Warmbier is an undergrad at the University of Virginia.

A major conservative magazine is coming out against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The National Review published an editorial Thursday calling the Republic presidential frontrunner “a menace to conservatism.”  NR’s editor Rich Lowry told Fox News, Trump has shown no evidence of a being a true conservative. The magazine also published essays by 22 conservative thinkers in a series called “Conservatives Against Trump.” Trump dismissed the attack and called The National Review a dying paper.

Source: Scott Olson / Getty

Bernie Sanders’ campaign is sharpening its attacks on Hillary Clinton as a new poll gives him the lead among Democratic voters in Iowa. The CNN/ORC survey puts Sanders at 51-percent support and Clinton at 43-percent. In a statement, Sanders’ campaign spokesman said Iowans understand it’s too late for Clinton’s “brand of establishment politics and establishment economics.”

Falling temperatures are pumping up oil prices. Crude futures rose five-percent in early trading today, to more than $30 a barrel. Cold weather in the U.S. and Europe is driving demand for home heating oil. U.S. crude, at $30-to-$79 a barrel, is more than $4 above the 12-year low it hit earlier this week.

Source: Rick Diamond / Getty

Source: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty

Happy Birthday to Soul and former Gospel Singer Sam Cooke who would have celebrated a birthday today. The dynamic song writer and crooner was born on this date in 1931. Known for gospel hits like “Nearer My God To Thee” with the group the Soul Stirrers and secular recordings as a solo artist like “You Send Me” and “A Change Gonna Come,” Cooke was shot to death in 1964. Director Spike Lee featured Cooke’s song “A Change Gonna Come” in the film Malcolm X, reviving its popularity. Also, Rapper and DJ, DJ Jazzy Jeff turns 51 today. He’s best known for his work with Will Smith as the duo DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.

Check out the best of Cooke and DJ Jazzy Jeff:

Cooke with the Soul Stirrers:  

DJ Jazzy Jeff:  

In Sports:

It will now be the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil.  The Indianapolis Star has a sneak peak at the first-ever presenting sponsorship deal. PennGrade gets the name recognition and the 500 will get $5 million over the next three years.

Source: Kevin C. Cox / Getty

Indiana Pacers forward Paul George has been voted a starter for the 2016 NBA All-Star Game. George makes his third appearance on the squad after finishing third in the East with over 700,000 votes. George returns to the All-Star Game after missing last season’s festivities due to injury. The All-Star Game takes place on Valentine’s Day in Toronto. Also The Pacers are in action tonight. They battle the high-flying Golden State Warriors on the road at ORACLE Arena. Tip is at 10:30 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on ESPN.

Colts’ linebacker Sio Moore is looking at a fine after police ticketed him for driving 100 miles an hour and weaving in and out of traffic. IMPD says an officer saw Moore’s Jeep speeding along I-65 near the 29th Street exit Thursday night. Moore is facing a ticket for both speeding and reckless driving.

Weather:

Parts of Mississippi are tallying up the damage after more than a dozen homes may have been hit by a tornado. Significant roof damage reported in part of Lamar County. There’s other possible tornado damage in Simpson County as well as near the town of Wesson.

Source: Digital Vision. / Getty

Though a ‘snowmageddon’ style blizzard is expected to dump several feet of snow across the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. which has left residents scrambling for supplies to tough it out and attempting to flee when possible, the record snowfalls will not impact us here in Indy. Only the southern-most tip of Indiana will see significant snowfall because of its proximity to the Ohio Valley region which is included in the blizzard area.

Indianapolis Weather for this end of the work week:  Cloudy and becoming windy. Today’s High: 29 degrees.

Finally:

The word Millennial how do you spell that?  Well, one texting company says millennials are bad spellers. The texting app Blend turned off it’s spell-checker for 72-hours last week so they could find out which words users misspell the most. The app pulled data from 200,000 random users ages 16 to 24 and found a lot of mistakes. Blend says two of the most frequently misspelled words by millennials are the words “weird” and “Budweiser.”

###(@PraiseIndy) ###