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President-elect Joe Biden introduces his first Cabinet nominees and appointees cnn.it/3m5PFl8 https://t.co/3ZXF0cXWmf
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The US could distribute Covid-19 vaccines "soon after" Dec. 10, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar saystwitter.com/i/web/status/1…ba
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The Dow tops 30,000 for the first time ever as Biden transition begins cnn.it/2HveEPx
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Pennsylvania has certified its 2020 election results, officially awarding the state’s 20 electoral votes to Presidetwitter.com/i/web/status/1…L3HV
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61% of Americans changed their Thanksgiving plans due to Covid spikes, a new poll finds. Follow live coronavirus uptwitter.com/i/web/status/1…xH
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Russia says its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine is more than 91% effective, according to the latest data from its ongtwitter.com/i/web/status/1…Eh
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Pope Francis has for the first time publicly named China's Uyghur minority among a list of the world's persecuted ptwitter.com/i/web/status/1…Vj
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Flakes sprinkle Northeast winter wonderland
The storm that whipped the Northeast over the weekend with six to 16 inches of snow has blown off to Canada, but more snow is on its way - maybe just enough to bring out some of that holiday spirit.
The flakes sweeping across the Midwest and Northeast on Monday and Tuesday aren't expected have the heft of the fast-moving storm that preceded them but are predicted to add a couple of inches to the wintry landscape.
Ware thinking of team, not leg
Kevin Ware's leg may be broken but not his spirit.
Not in the least bit.
Millions of television viewers cringed, when a bone punched through Ware's skin, protruding out of his leg after the University of Louisville guard landed hard from a jump to block a shot Sunday night.
It brought the Elite Eight game against the Duke Blue Devils to a screeching halt in the first quarter.
FULL STORY
Indiana school vouchers upheld
In a ruling that could reverberate nationwide, the Indiana Supreme Court upheld the state's voucher program, which gives poor and middle class families public funds to help pay for private school tuition, including religious schools.
Indiana has the broadest school voucher program available to a range of incomes, critics say, and could set a precedent as other states seek ways to expand such programs.
FULL STORYLockdown ends at Indiana college
A lockdown imposed Tuesday afternoon at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis has been lifted, according to the school's Twitter account.
Students and staff at the university had been asked to take shelter earlier Tuesday afternoon while police investigated a report of an armed person on campus.
FULL STORYPlane crashes into neighborhood, kills 2
A corporate jet, sheared in half - it's nose poking through the front window of a shattered home.
Such was the scene in a South Bend, Indiana, neighborhood Sunday when a Hawker Beechcraft 390 slammed into a row of single-story homes, damaging three.
Two of the four people aboard the plane died on impact.
FULL STORYWhat to know about this year's Indy 500
Before the 96th Indianapolis 500 race on Sunday, "Back Home Again in Indiana" will be sung, and by the end, the winning driver will drink his Victory Lane bottle of milk. But superhero-esque cars and an all-female racing team are adding a few changes to the event's storied traditions.
The Brickyard
The Brickyard is the historic nickname for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was built in 1909 as an automobile testing ground to support the state's growing auto industry, according to the event's website. However, the track was soon used for racing purposes.
Today, it remains the world's largest seating facility, with 250,000 permanent seats. The oval itself, which covers 253 acres, can fit Churchill Downs, Yankee Stadium, the Rose Bowl, the Roman Colosseum and Vatican City, according the site.
Originally constructed with crushed rock and tar, 3.2 million paving bricks were laid on top later in 1909, giving rise to the Brickyard nickname, according to the event's website.
Over the years, the brick has been covered with asphalt - except for a 36-inch strip of the original bricks that have remained intact and uncovered at the start/finish line, known as the "Yard of Bricks."
The winning driver and team of the Indy 500 kneel for a tradition started in 1996 of "kissing the bricks."
Girl power
Katherine Legge isn't the first woman to qualify for the Indy 500 - she's actually the ninth ever - but Legge is making the most of her position.
The rookie driver brings an all-female racing team with her to the Indy, the first ever in the history of the race.
She is also sporting a Girl Scouts logo on her helmet and representing STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) as an ambassador.
This year's 'Batmobile' design
For cars that can race at 224 mph, speed, efficiency and safety measures reign supreme. And given the tragic death of two-time Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon in a 15-car crash at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October, this is the year of safety measures.
Wheldon died when his vehicle became airborne and hit a fence pole. The new design is supposed to prevent cars from becoming airborne. Italian firm Dallara has created the new DW12 chassis, named for Wheldon, who helped test the car before his accident.
Wider cockpits, wheel guards, a smaller engine, vertical wings on the side panels and energy absorption foam have all been added to keep drivers safer on the track, and in the event of an accident.
Sizzling temperatures expected
It's going to be a hot one on Sunday with temperatures expected to reach the low 90s. The humidity could actually be the worst enemy. The event's website has warned spectators to come prepared.
Drinking plenty of water, wearing loose-fitting clothing and wide-brimmed hats or taking shade breaks should help people beat the worst of the heat.
But if all of that still leaves spectators feeling wilted, there are also 78 "misting stations" on the grounds to help cool people down fast.
Nostalgic noshing
Given the heat warning, fans may cut back on some of the track's signature fare, but it won't stop diehards from eating their favorite things.
The Indy Dog, Brickyard Burger, Track fries, bratwurst and elephant ear (fried flat dough with butter, sugar and cinnamon) are all part of the tradition.
But the breaded pork tenderloin sandwich is king at the race. A favorite in the state, it's a bit like schnitzel in a bun.
Are you an Indy 500 fan? Let us know your personal traditions, or how you'll be celebrating in the comments below.
Sen. Lugar loses primary in Indiana
The U.S. Senate's most senior Republican will lose his primary race to a GOP challenger, CNN projects.
Sen. Dick Lugar (pictured), who was seeking his seventh six-year term, will lose Tuesday's primary to Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock.
During his 2012 campaign, Lugar, 80, was forced to defend his conservative bona fides as the tea party and other groups proclaimed him to be too moderate and too willing to work with Democrats.
FULL STORY
Survivor of 2 plane crashes still intends to play college ball
Things were looking bright for 16-year-old Austin Hatch as last summer began. The Indiana boy who had survived a plane crash that killed his mother and two siblings eight years earlier had just verbally committed to playing basketball for the University of Michigan in 2013.
Then the 6-foot, 6-inch high school basketball star boarded another small plane - piloted by his father, who also flew the 2003 flight - bound for the family’s summer home in Michigan.
That plane crashed as it approached a Michigan airport on June 24, 2011, this time killing his father and stepmother.
Austin survived again, but now with brain bruising and other injuries, and without any immediate family members. He was in a medically induced coma for weeks and underwent months of physical therapy.
This week, he told the Detroit Free Press that he’ll still be on Michigan’s team when the 2013-2014 season begins.
"I'm still going on a full basketball scholarship,” Austin told the Free Press for a story published Tuesday. “I'll still be on the team and all of that and go to practice and everything. But I just don't know if I'll be quite as good as I was before.
“But I still have over a year until then, so a lot can happen."
Thursday's live events
CNN.com Live is your home for all the latest news on the Trayvon Martin shooting and aftermath.
Today's programming highlights...
11:00 am ET - Indiana State Fair stage collapse briefing - Two independent groups will release their findings into last year's fatal stage collapse before a Sugarland concert at the Indiana State Fair. At 3:00 pm ET, the members of Sugarland will answer lawyers' questions at a deposition regarding the collapse.
Gotta Watch: Narrowly escaping with their lives
We've recently received lots of videos of narrow misses and people barely avoiding catastrophes. They faced everything from natural disasters to auto accidents, but these lucky people managed to get away without serious injuries. You’ve Gotta Watch these great escapes.
Tornado throws bus
A bus driver carrying a busload of children must decide what to do to save them when she sees a tornado touch down. Watch the shocking surveillance video from inside the bus.
Fireman: Roof under him 'just dropped'
Three firefighters in Michigan were fighting a fire at a dry cleaning business when the roof collapsed underneath them. See how they use teamwork to save their partner, and their reactions once they saw the tape.
Car swerves toward biker
This video out of Texas shows a motorcyclist barely avoiding a car that is spinning out of control. We debated about how many inches this biker was from the sedan. Watch and decide for yourself.
Affiliate roundup: Woman who lost legs in tornado returns home
A sampling of Tuesday's headlines from some CNN affiliates nationwide:
WDRB: Woman who lost legs in tornado goes home
A southern Indiana woman who lost part of both of her legs as she shielded her children from two tornadoes this month has been sent home from a hospital, CNN affiliate WDRB reported.
Stephanie Decker, of Henryville, was released Monday from a rehabilitation hospital in New Albany, Indiana.
Decker said she covered her son and her daughter in their basement with a blanket and her body on March 2 when a tornado damaged the home, causing debris to fall on and severely injure her legs. She said she continued to shield her children as another tornado came through the area.
School bus wreck kills child and driver in Indianapolis
A school bus wreck killed a young child on the bus and the bus driver Monday in Indianapolis, officials said.
Ten other children were injured, including two critically, according to the Indianapolis Fire Department. The girl killed in the wreck was estimated to be 5 or 6 years old.
The wreck happened just before 8 a.m. on Emerson Avenue in southeastern Indianapolis, the fire department said.
FULL STORY
Peyton Manning leaving Colts
[Updated at 12:48 p.m. ET] A tearful Peyton Manning announced the end of his 14-year career with the Indianapolis Colts on Wednesday, but said he plans to be playing in the NFL again.
In a press conference with Colts owner Jim Irsay, the four-time NFL Most Valuable Player said circumstances had brought his time with the Colts to an end, despite both the wishes of him and Irsay that things could have worked out differently.
"It wasn't his decision. It wasn't my decision. Circumstances kind of dictated it," Manning said.
Manning did not play during the entire 2011 season after having surgery to repair a neck injury. With their longtime leader off the field, the Colts plummeted to a 2-14 record and earned the top pick in April's NFL Draft. That makes Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck and Baylor QB Robert Griffin III available to them. Both are considered franchise quarterbacks, much like Manning was when the Colts selected him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1998 draft. The Colts are expected to take Luck or Griffin and begin to rebuild the team.
Irsay said Wednesday keeping Manning during that rebuilding process wouldn't be fair to Manning and would prevent the team from having the money necessary to revamp its roster. The Colts would have owed Manning a $28 million bonus if he'd remained on their roster past Wednesday.
Indiana mom loses legs saving kids from tornado
[Updated Wednesday, March 7] After we reported on the story of Stephanie Decker, an Indiana mother who shielded her two children from tornadoes and lost her two legs after being pinned by her collapsing house, CNN received an outpouring of support from readers and viewers asking how they could help.
Some wanted to know if they could help pay for her medical bills, others wanted to wish her well, and others hoped to help her and her children because of Decker's act of bravery.
The family has set up The Stephanie Decker Fund and all donations will be sent directly to them.
Donations can be sent to the following address:
Fifth Third Bank
392 S. Indiana Avenue
Sellersburg, IN 47172
Make payable to: The Stephanie Decker Fund
Any questions can be directed to the Sellersburg location at (812) 246-0982 or the Fifth Third Bank Marketing offices at (502) 562-5355.]
You can also lend your help to all of the victims of the recent tornado outbreak by visiting CNN's Impact Your World page, which has various resources and ways to help.
[Posted Tuesday, March 6] A woman in Indiana lost part of both of her legs as she shielded her children from two tornadoes that slammed into their home.
Stephanie Decker was at home Friday when her husband texted her that a tornado was hurtling directly toward their three-story home in Henryville, Indiana.
Just minutes before the tornado swept through, Decker and her young son and daughter huddled in the basement. She covered them with a blanket to try to shield them from debris.
"I was reaching around, holding them and trying to keep everything away from them so it wouldn't hit 'em," Stephanie Decker told CNN affiliate WLKY.
The wreckage broke seven of her ribs and almost completely severed both of her legs.
"I had two steel beams on my legs, and I couldn't move. I was stuck," she told WLKY.
Then, another storm came roaring through. She again covered her children the best she could, taking the brunt of the debris as her home collapsed around her.
Joe Decker said his wife relayed some of the horror on an iPad, because when he first saw her, she was on a ventilator and unable to speak, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.
As the storm rolled through, Stephanie Decker told her husband, she turned and saw a large piece of debris begin to collapse. She pulled her daughter away just before it came crumbling down, according to the newspaper.
"She just kind of grabbed her and turned," Joe Decker told the Courier Journal. "She doesn't remember anything after that."
Outbreak of deadly tornadoes tear through U.S.
A powerful storm system rolled across the U.S. Friday causing at slew of tornadoes from Alabama to Indiana. The deadly tornadoes left a devastating path of destruction behind. This is something you'll have to see to believe.
‘Take it away from us’
A woman near West Liberty, Kentucky can be heard praying on camera as a huge funnel cloud forms over her house.
'This was time to take shelter'
A WDRB reporter and photographer got caught in the storm as they headed out to cover the severe weather in Indiana.
‘It’s heartbreaking’
Indiana was among the hardest-hit states.
Well built homes 'wiped' to the ground
Video captures the heartbreak as tornado survivors try and pick up the pieces from what's left of their homes.
Overheard on CNN.com: What's a 'Hoosier'? In defense of Indy's Super Bowl
Editor's note: This post is part of the Overheard on CNN.com series, a regular feature that examines interesting comments and thought-provoking conversations posted by the community.
Our readers are apparently quite excited about the Super Bowl and its host city Indianapolis, Indiana. We received several passionate comments from residents and fans. There was also plenty of talk about the game itself. Let's delve in.
Super Bowl in Indianapolis? Get ready world
Several commenters wrote posts promoting Indianapolis.
jasges: "I have been to several Super Bowls and this is probably one of the best setups so far. A lot to do here. We are pleasantly surprised!"
Guest: "I have visited Indianapolis several times for Men's NCAA Regionals/Sectionals. It is a very nice city. I would visit there again without hesitation."
Yes, there were a few skeptics.
wilecoyote58: "Indianapolis is a pleasant, if dowdy city. Some nice restaurants and it is compact. BUT – who the hell wants to spend a week in Indiana in February? There is a good reason the student body of every midwestern university heads to warmer climes at Spring Break. But then it is clear that those who attend the Super Bowl are not the brightest and deepest thinkers in our society. It is a football game folks, not the Second Coming."
Some of our readers' posts were directly addressed to the story writer, Thom Patterson, who is from Indiana. Two are included here. (By the way, the author of this blog post is a former resident of Des Moines, Iowa, and can attest to the high quality of the city's botanical dome. Wichita, Kansas, is also quite lovely.) FULL POST
Doctor OKs Manning to play, but Colts say hold your horses
One of the NFL’s all-time elite quarterbacks is medically fit to resume playing after three neck surgeries and a season off, one of his surgeons says.
But the owner of Peyton Manning’s team pointed out in a tweet early Friday that the organization itself has yet to clear the 35-year-old, and NFL analysts said it’s still too soon to know whether he’ll have enough arm strength to compete.
The four-time NFL Most Valuable Player is “medically cleared to play professional football,” Dr. Robert Watkins Sr., Manning’s most recent surgeon, said in a statement Thursday night, according to NFL.com. Manning’s most recent surgery to relieve a pinched nerve - a single-level anterior fusion - came in September, sidelining him for the entire 2011 season, marking the first games he missed since his career began in 1998.
But Colts owner Jim Irsay, who has to decide by March 8 whether to pay Manning a $28 million bonus or release him, indicated early Friday what he’s been saying all week: The matter is far from settled.
“Peyton has not passed our physical nor has he been cleared to play for The Indianapolis Colts,” Irsay posted on Twitter early Friday. “Team statement coming on Friday.”
Gotta Watch: Oops! School signs spelled wrong
Students who struggle with their spelling lessons may have trouble finding positive reinforcement from some school signs we found spelled incorrectly. Check out these signs that spell trouble:
"SHCOOL X-NG" sign lacking "street smarts" – Since July of last year students at Marta Valle High School on New York City's Lower East Side have had to view a painted street sign outside of their school that was spelled wrong.
"People older than us always tell us to make sure we spell stuff right and this sign is wrong right in front of us," said Tanaysha Ebron, a senior at the school.
The sign, spelled "SHCOOL X-NG" on Stanton Street was corrected Tuesday.
Not-guilty plea in Indiana girl's slaying
A man accused of killing a 9-year-old Indiana girl with a brick and dismembering her body with a hacksaw made an initial appearance in a Fort Wayne, Indiana, court Wednesday.
Michael Plumadore, 39, faces one count each of murder, abuse of a corpse and moving a body from the scene of a crime in the killing of Aliahna Lemmon.
Plumadore pleaded not guilty at the hearing, said Robyn Niedzwiecki of the Allen County prosecutor's office. His next court hearing was set for January 18, and a public defender will be appointed to represent him.
FULL STORYOfficials: Suspect in Indiana girl's death wanted in Florida
A man charged in the bludgeoning death and dismemberment of a 9-year-old Indiana girl is wanted in Florida for violating probation in 2000, officials said Wednesday.
Michael Plumadore, 39, faces one count of murder in the death of Aliahna Lemmon. He was being held without bond after a court appearance Tuesday. He was arrested Monday night after the girl's body was found.
Florida Department of Corrections records show that Plumadore was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, firefighter or EMS worker in May 2000, and later that month he was sentenced to a year of community supervision.
FULL STORY
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