Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application Indiana passed away passed peacefully from this life into the arms of Jesus on Thursday Indiana to the late Valentine Abraham and Ida (Klopfenstein) Egly Lester was united in marriage to Theda Corrine Heller and she preceded him in death on April 25 Lester married Carole Suzanne Baker and she preceded him in death on December 26 Lester was a member of the West Missionary Church in Berne Lester was a member of the North Hills Community Church in Taylors Lester was employed by Meshberger Brother’s Stone Corporation from 1954 to 2000 He was also employed by Walmart Corporation in Greenville South Carolina working in Sporting Goods department from 2001 to 2008 retiring after 72 years of total employment Lester was active in a variety of church ministries and was the church treasurer for several decades He had a wonderful tenor voice and sang in the church choir He was an avid sports fan and enjoyed watching college basketball He loved doing bird-whistles and telling terrible dad-jokes that he made up on his own Lester was preceded in death by his daughter 1968 due to a motor vehicle accident; brother A funeral service for Lester will be held at 10:30 a.m at West Missionary Church with Pastor Keith Rupp officiating Friends and family will be received one hour prior to the service at the church on Thursday Preferred memorials can be given to https://www.parkinson.org/ - The Parkinson's Foundation Memorials can be sent to the Zwick & Jahn Funeral Home – 520 N Arrangements by Zwick & Jahn Funeral Homes Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors at the Prairie Home Hospice – Lockwood House in Marshall A luncheon for attendees will follow at the church Visitation will be held one hour prior to her celebration at the Black Hills National Cemetery in Sturgis to Noel and Irene (Wight) Stroom in Hot Spring She was baptized as an infant and confirmed in her youth in the Methodist Faith Karen graduated from Hot Springs High School in 1954.  Karen was united in marriage to Robert LaRue Egly (Bob) and the couple moved around to several Naval and Marine Corps bases while he served with the United States Marine Corps When they moved from their last station in North Carolina Karen and Bob bounced from city to city over the next decade as he continued his schooling and Karen became a devoted mother and homemaker as they raised four children in 1973 and they have called it home since Karen went to work for a time with her husband at the Schwan's Sales Enterprises Karen enjoyed golfing and was active at the Marshall Golf Club She was also a longtime member of Wesley United Methodist Church which became Cornerstone United Methodist Church and baking – especially Belgian cookies Karen died peacefully under the care of hospice on Sunday (Gwen) Egly of Alexandria; 7 grandchildren Julia Egly; 11 great-grandchildren; sister Karen was preceded in death by her husband HARTFORD CITY, Ind. — A rural Hartford City man is accused of repeatedly sexually abusing two children under the age of 10. Randy A. Egly, 56, is charged in Blackford Circuit Court with 13 counts of child molesting: a dozen Level 1 felonies with maximum 40-year prison terms, and one Level 4 felony carrying up to 12 years in prison. Egly's accusers said he forced them to perform sex acts in 2018. Interviewed last week by investigators with the Blackford County Sheriff's Department, Egly reportedly at first denied the children's allegations but later acknowledged he had sexually assaulted them. In an affidavit, Chief Deputy Casey Bell reported that Egly wrote an apology to his accusers. "I am sorry for what I have done to you boys," he reportedly wrote. "If I could take it all back, I would. I would hope you could forgive me for what I have done to you both." Egly was being held without bond Thursday in the Blackford County Jail. Court records reflect no prior charges against the Blackford County resident. Dealing arrest: A young Muncie man has been accused of selling pills containing fentanyl to an informant for the Muncie-Delaware County Drug Task Force. Jeziah Kevin Greene, 19, was being held in the Delaware County Jail on Thursday under a $55,000 cash bond, preliminarily charged with three counts each of dealing in a narcotic drug and maintaining a common nuisance. According to an affidavit, Greene sold "counterfeit prescription tablets that contain fentanyl" to the informant on May 29 and June 3. He was arrested in a traffic stop on June 10. Task force investigators said searches of Greene's vehicle and later his home, in the 300 block of North Monroe Street, resulted in seizure of a bag containing the pills that weighed more than 30 grams, along with more than $5,000 in cash. The Delaware County prosecutor's office will determine whether formal charges will be filed. Another person living at the Monroe Street address, 21-year-old Daystasha Faith Stoakley, was arrested on a preliminary count of maintaining a common nuisance. She was released from the jail after posting a $5,000 bond. Greene told investigators Stoakley had no connection to the pills seized, according to an affidavit. According to court records, Greene has been convicted of dangerous possession of a firearm, resisting law enforcement, unlawful carrying of a handgun and driving while intoxicated. Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com. Columbia State celebrates graduates at Fall 2024 CommencementThe Daily HeraldColumbia State Community College celebrated 141 degree and certificate candidates as they crossed the stage during the fall commencement ceremony in the Webster Athletic Center on December 14. Dr. Janet F. Smith, Columbia State president, opened the ceremony by welcoming degree and certificate candidates, faculty, staff and guests. “Today is a special day for several reasons,” Smith said. “First and foremost, it is a day of celebration of accomplishments. It is a day of recognition that these soon to be graduates set a goal and accomplished it.” Smith highlighted Egly, who graduated from Columbia State in 2012 with a general transfer Associate of Science degree. He later earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Leadership from Middle Tennessee State University and a Master of Arts in Leadership and Public Service from Lipscomb University. Egly began his speech by sharing his gratitude to the college for helping shape him personally and professionally. “As an economic development practitioner, I understand the important role community colleges play in retaining and recruiting businesses while simultaneously giving our families, friends, and neighbors the boost they need to access those ever-changing opportunities,” Egly said. “Without the programs and services offered by Columbia State, our region would not be the place of opportunity it is today.” Egly went on to celebrate the accomplishments of the graduates for “the culmination of years of hard work, determination, and the refusal to give up when things got tough.” Egly shared several key lessons for graduates as they move into the next chapter of their life based on the lyrics of Smash Mouth’s 1999 hit, “All Star.” “Graduates, you are the shooting stars”, he explained. “You’ve already broken molds simply by being here. Maybe you were the first in your family to attend college. Maybe you’ve overcome barriers others couldn’t. Maybe you pursued a field that people don’t understand, or they underestimated. As you move forward, don’t be afraid to continue breaking molds. Push boundaries. Challenge the status quo. The world doesn’t need more people who play it safe—it needs innovators, dreamers, and disruptors.” “Let me leave you with this: life is unpredictable,” Egly stated. “It’s messy, beautiful, challenging, and rewarding all at once. You won’t have all the answers, and that’s okay. What matters is that you keep showing up, keep trying, and keep shining. Go out there and be the all-stars we know you are. Get your game on, go play!” Closing the ceremony, the alumni induction of new graduates was presented by Jolene Gairrett, Columbia State associate director of Financial Aid, and Sammy Gairrett, fall 2024 graduate. President’s Leadership Society graduates were also honored with a medallion at the commencement ceremony. “The establishment of this society was based on the belief that leadership is inherent to our lives and that we all have leadership roles,” Smith said. “The President’s Leadership Society is open to all students at Columbia State and requires only their commitment to involvement for learning, participation and helping others.”  Formed in spring 2011, PLS is a free leadership training program focused on developing a student’s unique leadership skills from their first semester through graduation. The program focuses on participation in college-sponsored programs that promote educational attainment, career choices, volunteerism and civic responsibility. During the course of the program, students attend a leadership retreat, enjoy exposure to the arts, participate in workshops and campus life, develop civic understanding and give back to the community through volunteerism. Columbia State is a comprehensive community college serving southern Middle Tennessee dedicated to nurturing success and positively changing lives through teaching, learning and service. Print Paul Egly the controversial judge who oversaw court-mandated integration efforts of Los Angeles schools in the late 1970s California’s Supreme Court ruled in 1976 that Los Angeles Unified School District must work to desegregate its schools in Crawford vs and Egly was assigned the job in 1977 of overseeing the district’s development and implementation of an integration plan He started as a well-liked judge known for his jovial nature and ability to get along with different groups and tried to bring racial integration to Los Angeles schools through collaboration rather than force But over the four years that he oversaw the case Egly faced resistance from white communities and politicians an effort to recall him and a change to the state constitution that heavily stymied integration efforts “He was willing to take a case that nobody in Los Angeles would touch and he tried his best to reason with people,” said Gary Orfield the co-director of UCLA’s Civil Rights Project and one of Egly’s advisors during the case desegregation was never a popular endeavor — many white families did not want their children bused to schools in primarily black and Latino neighborhoods Superior Court judge who initially ruled that the schools were segregated was voted out of office the next year a Times reporter asked whether the idea of losing voter support concerned him I thought about it and swallowed it — with a gulp after he rejected the district’s initial desegregation plan and demanded a more comprehensive one a Times story noted that he had received multiple death threats and “may well be the most unpopular judge in Southern California.” He believed deeply that parents and community members needed to buy into any desegregation plan in order for it to work and that the school board implementing the plan needed to be involved in developing the plan He tried for years to facilitate that collaboration Unified began its magnet schools program and a voluntary busing program that still exists in a limited capacity today Egly recused himself from the case in 1981 after the state Supreme Court upheld a voter-approved constitutional amendment to bar mandatory busing Egly lambasted the city and district leadership for shortchanging minority students “These children didn’t ask to be born into this lousy world,” he said at the time “They have the same right to a good education as everybody else.” Egly worried about the outcomes of students in Los Angeles affected by segregation “He believed Los Angeles was better than it turned out to be and that was heartbreaking for him,” Orfield said Unified has yet to implement a comprehensive and successful desegregation plan Some said Egly could have been more heavy-handed earlier on in demanding results from L.A and that more African Americans and Latinos should have been involved in the discussions school board member during 1970s and one of the few African American women to have served on the board said she gives Egly credit for his efforts in the face of mass opposition from both parents and politicians but what do you do when parents take their kids out of school?” Watson said He returned from the war and decided to go to law school in Washington then eventually opened a law practice in Covina and oversaw San Bernardino’s school desegregation efforts before he was tapped to take on the L.A About 30 years ago Egly began slowly losing his eyesight to macular degeneration and lost his eyesight completely about five years ago he learned Braille and listened to audiobooks He suffered from diabetes and died while in hospice care with his wife and a niece by his side History will remember Egly as a man who worked to ensure that young blacks and Latinos in Los Angeles knew that there were people in America’s judicial system who understood the importance of ensuring an equal education for all “He tried as hard as he could to inform people about what is required by the Constitution of the United States we have ideals that sometimes we can’t reach.” Reach Sonali Kohli at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com or on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli. Sonali Kohli is a former Los Angeles Times reporter. A product of Southern California, she grew up in Diamond Bar and graduated from UCLA. She worked as a metro reporter for the Orange County Register and as a reporter covering education and diversity for Quartz before joining The Times in 2015. California Subscribe for unlimited accessSite Map This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page the founding dean of the University of La Verne College of Law and a longtime judge who helped desegregate public schools in Los Angeles Egly’s pursuit of the law began in France and Germany where he helped people navigate local law and United States’ occupation law he returned to the United States and obtained a formal legal education Egly worked with La Verne College President Leland Newcomer to open what was then the La Verne College Law Center state-accredited program based in the basement of Miller Hall He set his sights on accreditation from the American Bar Association Such a pursuit required resources such as a dedicated law library and the program moved into the Hoover Building in 1971 saw the program move to its current location in Ontario in 2001 the College of Law attained full accreditation from the American Bar Association allowing Egly to realize his longtime dream While Egly worked tirelessly to found the law school it was a school integration case in the late 1970s The California Supreme Court ruled that the Los Angeles Unified School District must act to desegregate public schools Other judges were afraid to take on the case stepped forward to ensure the higher court’s ruling was carried out locally objected to having their children bused into schools within communities of color to achieve integration As tense and difficult as the situation was committed to trying to bring educational equity to Los Angeles schools and to give African-American and Latino students access to educational opportunities that were not available in their neighborhoods “He was devoted to equality and to democratic principles,” Doskow said Egly was a past president of the Pomona Valley Bar Association and was named Judge of the Year twice by the California Trial Lawyers Association now known as the Consumer Attorneys of California In lieu of flowers, Egly’s family requests donations in his name to the University of La Verne College of Law.  Donations can be made online, or by contacting Sharilyn Berry, senior director of major gifts, at sberry@laverne.edu University of La Verne faculty and programs are often highlighted in the media Visit our collection of news stories below Associate Vice President of Strategic Marketing & Communications On a bitter January morning, as a snowstorm catches Champagne’s gritting lorries unawares 10 barrels sit unceremoniously under one of two Coquard presses The new Champagne base wines from the 2023 vintage are downstairs in the cellar, but here, making use of what ought to be slightly warmer temperatures above ground, is Francis Egly’s still red, Coteaux Champenois Kyra is an incredible asset to the Palma Pictures team; she will work closely with production across photo and motion projects “We were impressed by Kyra from the moment we met her - not just due to her extensive and diverse experience and customer centric-approach.” said Paul Abrey Kyra brings over a decade of experience in crafting unique productions from start to finish and collaborations with musicians and athletes Her holistic approach to production and client service makes her a great lead for our photo and motion department “Joining the Palma Pictures team is truly exhilarating I'm eager to build on the excellent photography projects my predecessors achieved and delivering even more outstanding client experiences Whether you're looking for rugged mountains Please don't hesitate to get in touch with me.” The team of executive producers are thrilled to have Kyra on board at this exciting time to help drive Photo and Motion projects across Spain and Portugal We have not seen much in the way of global expansion when it comes to online lending platforms. Younited Credit is the largest online consumer lender in Continental Europe having crossed €500 million in total loans issued earlier this year they have recently expanded their business to Italy and Spain Our next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast is Charles Egly the CEO and Co-Founder of Younited Credit (formerly Pret d’Union) He has taken his company from an idea to the leading player in Continental Europe in a few short years This episode of the Lend Academy Podcast is sponsored by AlphaFlow professionally managed real estate portfolios built for you Download a PDF of the transcription of Podcast 127 – Charles Egly [expand title=”Click to Read Podcast Transcription (Full Text Version) Below”] Founder of Lend Academy and Co-Founder of LendIt he is the CEO and Co-Founder of Younited Credit they’ve been around for many years and they’re actually the largest online lender in Continental Europe They’ve built a great business where they’re not just operating in France now they’re also operating in Italy as well as Spain how they’ve been able to grow their business what it’s been like to expand beyond their home country and some of the differences between France and these other countries We also talk about the future and where he sees his business going I like to get these things kicked off with giving the listeners a little bit of background about yourself and what you’ve done in your career before you started Younited Credit I worked at BNP Paribas investment banking during seven years first as an analyst in the private equity department then as a product developer in the asset management department in Hong Kong and during the four last years as a credit derivative structure in the fixed income department it sounds like you went from there to founding Younited Credit Why did you decide to go and leave a large bank and go and create a startup in a fairly new area at that stage because we’re talking like back in 2009 but I did not want to use it so for me it was easier to apply for short term credit so I quickly applied for it and I got a revolving credit with a 4% APR so I took it But after a few weeks I realized that the rate was very high and my return on my savings in parallel was very low so basically I began to study the models that existed in the US and in the UK so I discovered this platform opportunity and I decided to partner with my partner and to launch Younited Credit I want to give the listeners a little bit of sense of what the banking industry is like I mean we talk about other countries like here in the US where the banks in the financial crisis pretty much exited the personal loan business It sounds like in France there was a personal loan business with banks What was the banking system like then and did you see the opportunity just on pricing or was it something else Charles: So just to give you a bit of a background so the French market is the third in Europe in terms of outstanding assets The UK and Germany are the biggest so the French one is the third It’s more than 150 billion euro of outstanding loans so I’m just talking about consumer loans The issue with the French market is that it’s very concentrated so you have four major banks that have the majority of the market and those four major banks in France are also the leaders in Continental Europe so it’s a very concentrated and a very competitive market that we have in France in terms of risk pricing and user experience they are not that good so we thought that there was a big opportunity to disrupt the market so my understanding is that in France if you’re going to do a consumer lending business you need to have a banking license So did you have to obtain this banking license before you started operating If you want to operate a market lending platform you need to have a banking license so I mean for us It took us two years to negotiate with the regulators and to obtain our credit institution license it’s a huge asset that we have now because we can passport this license in all European countries Charles: So of course it took us two years at the very beginning but now it’s very easy to duplicate the model and to launch our platform in all European countries I want to stick with your French business for right now I want to talk a little bit about who the typical borrowers are that come to your platform and what are they using the money for Charles: One third of them apply for loans to buy vehicles so mostly second hand cars another third apply for house improvements/house refurbishment and the last third is for treasury cash needs and how are your loans comparable to the banks what is the typical pricing and loan terms you are offering Charles: We offer loans ranging from 1,000 euro to 40,000 euro maturities range from 2 years to 6 years and the APR that we propose are on average between 50 and 100 bps below the market average so then what about on the investor side of the business because I know when we chatted before about…you have a fairly unique structure when it comes to peer to peer lending platforms let’s just talk about who are the investors that are coming to your platform Charles: The biggest part of the money comes from institutional investors so basically insurance companies small French pension funds and family offices we have some retail investors but they are qualified retail investors how are you structuring your investor offerings My understanding is that you have these separate SPVs Special Purpose Vehicles that you’re offering for the different risk levels Can you just tell us a little bit about how you’re structuring that we have three SPVs so one for the A borrower category another one for the B and another one for the C The idea for France is to create also a single SPV so that we have one SPV per country but right now you’ve split it up into three but you’re planning on changing that in the near future Peter: I’m curious about…like I just want to find out about your business model We know about how the typical platform business models are where you take an origination fee and also a servicing fee on the investor side we have a borrower approved fee that we charge upfront of 4% of the loan amount death insurance and as a distributor we share revenues with the insurer which is Metlife and we also have a management fee within the SPV So those are the three items of our net income is it right at that moment then you say…hey you should get some sort of job loss insurance or life insurance the Italian and the Spanish market are structured so in those countries consumers really like to have the option to take insurance can you give us a sense on the historical yields or the returns to investors that we’re talking about with the A SPV Charles: So basically it ranges from 2 to 4% so 2% for the A and 3 to 4% for the B and the C but the idea is really to target on average 3% Investors obviously don’t have….that meets their expectations Investors have lower expectations when it comes to yield in France than they do in other parts of Europe the ECB refinancing rate is -0.4% which is super low I mean it’s even negative and in most European countries the treasury bonds are super low the 5-year treasury yield is below 0% so really the risk-free assets do not yield anything in Continental Europe that’s why the yields that we’re offering are super interesting So then who do you view as your competition in France because I know that…when I’ve been to Paris and met with lots of different marketplace lending platforms everyone else is in the small business space it seems like and you guys are…it feels like alone in the consumer space Charles: So our competitors are traditional banks and traditional credit institutions so for us the competitors and the competition is very simple So I know that when you launched the company…and excuse my pronunciation here but it was called Prêt d’Union and you rebranded I think it was 2015 or 2014 what does Prêt d’Union mean in English and why the change of brand but the thing is the pronunciation is super French it’s very hard you know for other people especially Italians it’s fairly simple and on top of that credit is a noun that is known everywhere so that’s why when we decided to deploy the platform in other countries we decided at the same time to rebrand the platform Can you tell us a little bit…when did you start in Italy and where are you at there Charles: We started Italy in March 2016 so as of today we have originated almost 60 million euro in loans in Italy we started in March 2017 and we originated a bit less than 15 million euro in loans what are the differences between the three countries that you’re operating in now Are the yields higher in those two other countries they’re not as strong economically as France I don’t know what the treasury rates are in those countries but are you offering a similar product with a higher yield the market average APR in Italy is two times higher than in France So in those two countries the spread is much wider so it’s easier to price our own loans and to be competitive one of the most competitive markets in Europe so all other countries are simpler so are you trying to focus on Italian investors or are your French investors investing in these other countries we have a big part of our investors that are French because but we have more and more international lenders we don’t have Italian or Spanish institutional investors our SPVs can be subscribed by any institutional investor so I want to switch gears a little bit and talk about technology do you feel like you have an advantage here over the banks Tell us about your approach to technology in your business the user experience is super important to be able to attract good quality customers and to disrupt the sector We are a profit-driven and data-driven platform because we want to risk price all of our loans and to do risk pricing you’re obliged to be super precise in terms of data utilization underwriting process so we invested a lot in our CRM we are the only one using machine learning and deep learning algorithms to score our applicants so this is very disruptive we also added an algorithm to predict soft fraud as well so we invested a lot in the tech out of the 190 employees that we have in the three countries are you capturing mainly traditional credit data What kinds of data are you feeding into your algorithms Charles: So in France there is no credit bureau so scoring applicants was a huge challenge when we started so that’s why we had to use a good mix of conventional data and also unconventional data we use also the day in the week and the hour at which the application is made we also track how many minutes the applicant stays on the website unconventional data that helps us to better score our applicants So I’m curious about the impact of Brexit or if there’s been any we’ve talked about it in the UK and it seems like it hasn’t had a huge impact there as you talk to investors are you finding that it’s been a good thing for your business because obviously France is in Europe and not leaving the European Union so has there been any impact on your business but for all countries that stay within the European Union it’s good news because those countries will be able to attract businesses or opportunities leaving the UK the unemployment rate so I would say for France we also studied the opportunity to go to the UK to launch our platform in the UK when it comes to consumer loans the biggest risk is the unemployment rate increase we see a risk that the unemployment rate in the UK increases a lot so that’s why we will not launch our platform in the UK in the coming two years So how has the growth been over the last couple of years because like in the United States there was a well known pull back from investors in 2016 we’ve had the Lending Club issues and there was a general pull back but have you found that the last couple of years has been steady growth for you all the investors we have are long term lenders so we don’t have any hedge funds so our money is less volatile So we did not see any impact of what happened in the US which is good news Charles: And also there is a major difference with the UK and the US platforms We are fully regulated by the ECB and the French regulators so the institutional lenders see us as a more stable platform you guys raised a 40 million euro equity round just a few weeks ago anytime you raise that amount of money that’s not an easy process but it’s been challenging for companies to raise money in recent years and I wanted to see how that round went and what you’re going to be using the money for the process took several months so 40 million euro is but as we are the leader in France and one of the biggest fintechs in Continental Europe there is always money for leading actors So that’s why it was not that difficult to raise that amount of money and also we have good projects to use that money; European expansion the equity story made lots of sense when we saw equity investors to raise that money so where are you on the pathway towards profitability is this going to see you through to profitability Charles: So we’re still investing a lot in our growth our revenues are still growing each year by 100% so we invest a lot we lose…this year we will lose less money than the previous year with 100% revenue growth So we should be profitable in a year and a half or two years you crossed 500 million euros in total loans issued how long will you be able to keep up this 100% growth It gets harder the bigger you get to double every year we should keep this traction to 2020 because we also have lots of growth opportunities with the European expansion so for us it’s quite easy to keep up that growth but I do want to talk about your expansion there’s obviously many more countries you could go into what are your plans for continued expansion Can you share your plans for next year or beyond the idea is really to build a pan-European platform Next year we will launch in two new countries What’s really exciting about Europe is that you have a common market with very specific markets as well so you can do lots of best practice sharing among the countries to build a pan-European product because you can pick in each country you can pick the good practices to build a super nice product so this is very exciting well we’re going to have to leave it there but I really appreciate you coming on the show today Peter: One of the things that our industry has really been lacking are companies looking to expand beyond their home borders Now we have Funding Circle obviously as the most famous example; they’re in the US the UK and a couple of countries in Continental Europe but beyond that we really have not seen this So Younited Credit is really the largest consumer lender we have globally that’s operating in multiple countries and with plans obviously to go beyond that needs to have some of these leading companies be cross border all of the major banks and insurance companies in the world operate in multiple countries and I feel like we have lagged behind I think in that area for some time So I would have thought by now if you had asked me five years ago I would have thought by now that many US companies would be in multiple countries So I am fascinated by what Charles and his team has been able to do at Younited Credit and I certainly wish them all the best as they continue their global expansion I very much appreciate you listening and I’ll catch you next time You can subscribe to the Lend Academy Podcast via iTunes or Stitcher To listen to this podcast episode there is an audio player directly below or you can download the MP3 file here It was the first day in two years that a murder was not reported in the country El Salvador has one of the world’s highest levels of crime who often suffer from sexual abuse and domestic violence But one theater teacher thought that taking female victims’ life stories from their memory to the stage could actually help them rebuild their lives She discovered the experience was not just healing for the victims but created a unique connection with captivated audiences Willow Springs MO forecast Ind. – A rural Hartford City grandmother faces a felony charge over allegations she repeatedly struck her grandchild in the face of the 100 block of South Blackford County Road 400-E was charged Monday in Blackford Circuit Court with battery resulting in bodily injury to a person under the age of 14 told a Blackford County sheriff's deputy his grandmother last Thursday slapped him and then "punched him a lot in the face." The deputy noted that a day after the incident the boy had a red mark on his face and a swollen lip ►Hartford City felon accused of battering boy ►Man accused of striking woman, 7-year-old boy reportedly made by another of the Blackford County woman's grandchildren Egly can be heard screaming at and striking the boy The deputy arrested Egly on Friday at her home where she was speaking with a Department of Child Services official The grandmother reportedly said the child "likes to push her buttons and she got mad last night and was yelling at him." responded by telling Egly that didn't "give her the right to lay her hands on (the child)." said she "knew it wasn't right and was sorry for that," adding that "sometimes she gets worked up and does and says things she doesn't mean." The grandmother  – being under in the Blackford County jail under a $2,000 cash bond  – was scheduled to appear at an initial court hearing on Tuesday afternoon Court records reflect no prior charges against Egly Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com An Indiana man was arrested this week on drug charges according to Van Wert County Sheriff Thomas M was arrested by deputies on Wednesday on a charge of possession of heroin The arrest and subsequent charge was the result of a brief investigation by the West Central Ohio Crime Task Force Sheriff Riggenbach said Investigators spotted a suspicious vehicle in a parking lot of a local business several items were seen inside that are commonly associated with heroin use A subsequent search of the vehicle by investigators and deputies found more than 60 bundles of what is suspected to be heroin Egly was taken into custody and transported to the Van Wert County Correctional Facility where he is being held until his arraignment in Van Wert Municipal Court today Sheriff Riggenbach stated his office and the West Central Ohio Crime Task Force would continue to aggressively investigate all reported drug activity in Van Wert County and asks the public to continue to provide the Van Wert County Sheriff’s Office with information on drug activity and other criminal activity Anyone who has information on drug activity or other crimes can contact the Sheriff’s Office at 419.238.3866 or access its website at www.vanwertcountysheriff.com and click on the “Submit a Crime Tip” link Area residents reporting information can remain anonymous People can also report information anonymously by contacting Van Wert County Crime Stoppers at 419.238.STOP The sheriff asks the public to continue to provide as much detail about the information they report especially when choosing to remain anonymous The West Central Ohio Crime Task Force is comprised of officers from the Van Wert and Allen County sheriff’s offices and operates within a multi-county area to combat drugs and major crimes POSTED: 05/26/16 at 8:19 am. FILED UNDER: News Physicians hundreds of miles away are easing pressure on staff at the Veterans Administration hospital in Topeka and helping provide better care The physicians available by telemedicine can view patients through a camera mounted on the ceiling in intensive-care rooms and have access to patients’ vital signs on monitors and their medical histories through electronic health records interim chief of staff and chief of acute medicine at Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center One telemedicine hub in Minnesota serves multiple VA facilities in the Midwest a registered nurse who works in the intensive care unit said he appreciates having access to another physician if local staff are attending to a patient who needs a particularly high level of care at that moment It also can help to get another opinion if nurses aren’t certain how to proceed 25 patients between the ICU and the medical floor Telemedicine isn’t a substitute for having staff on-site but it supplements the staff a small intensive care unit can have on hand at any particular moment They also check in if nurses don’t activate the cameras to make sure they don’t need help “It’s a fantastic system and has changed how we provide intensive care.” The physicians in Minnesota aren’t constantly watching patients and usually come in after the local staff presses a button to activate the system They will sometimes check in with patients when time allows and check if a patient needs any assistance — which came in handy when one patient did recently and the telemedicine staff alerted the nurses “We did our job and took care of the patient,” he said VA officials discussed the telemedicine option during a tour of a relatively new simulation lab where new and existing staff can train with mannequins in rooms that look like an intensive care unit an inpatient room and an outpatient clinic The lab opened in October and earned national certification in July a registered nurse and the simulation coordinator The mannequins allow staff to practice skills like inserting lines into veins or feeling for a faint pulse One even has internal tubes designed to look like blood vessels so staff can work on using an ultrasound machine to find veins She said someone uses the space almost every day Someone receiving training will start with a “patient” history and description of the condition they are simulating Staff sometimes play family members to add another dimension to the simulation and the mannequin is programmed to moan in pain and answer relevant questions from the medical provider “The mannequin allows us the ability to create a more lifelike experience,” she said The tour also stopped by a roughly two-acre solar farm on the VA campus along S.W estimated the solar panels have generated about 470,000 kilowatt-hours and saved about $35,000 in the past four months “It’s a significant amount of power,” he said assistant chief of engineering for the Topeka VA said the 2,629 solar panels can cover about 25 percent of the campus’ energy needs at the time The monthly average is closer to 7 percent because the panels don’t produce at night and generate at a lower capacity in cloudy weather Hansen estimated they were producing at about 10 percent on Wednesday morning The $2.73 million cost to purchase and install the panels came from the VA central office’s funds for renewable energy facility energy manager for the VA in Kansas City and Wichita The power savings don’t have to be paid back to the center producing 70 to 80 percent of current output,” he said is expanding into the UK as it looks to take advantage of the groundswell of interest in buy now offers quick loans to consumers in Europe worth up to €50,000 ($56,873) over periods ranging from one month to seven years by automating the approvals process The company draws on customers' banking data something that has become more workable with the advent of Open Banking regulation in Europe The regulation has enabled customers to share their banking data with other companies more readily Younited's algorithm then uses a customer's data to evaluate their credit risk rapidly BNPL has emerged as one of the hottest trends in the credit industry with companies like Klarna soaring to a $45.6 billion valuation last year enables shoppers to spread the cost of an item over several weeks or months Younited also offers its own form of consumer credit at online checkouts an embedded product that appears as a payment option on the websites of popular merchants offers longer-dated credit which customers can use for more expensive items.  told Insider that BNPL companies were not competitors to his company but that in many ways the French fintech was aiming to be a competitor to them "We don't think it's worth taking out credit for smaller amounts and if you're going to offer credit as a payment facility then it should be called that," Egly told Insider Behaviors have changed for e-commerce consumers and through open banking you are able to better score consumers and avoid over-indebtedness." BNPL players do a soft credit check on users before determining a user's credit worthiness and concerns have been raised on both sides of the Atlantic about the potential for unregulated players in the space to cause consumers to go into debt "BNPL companies are riding the same wave as we are in terms of the growth of e-commerce and improved user experience on user experience around payment and credit," Egly added "Those companies are surfing the same mega trends but we are a very different business model." "The UK is a big market and is a big focus for us although has Brexit made it a bit more complex," Egly said credit scoring is usually the preserve of credit bureaus which Younited wants to disrupt.  "We think our risk pricing with PSD2 (open banking)  is better faster and allows you to avoid indebtedness," Egly added The Younited CEO has also not ruled out pushing into the US market eventually but insists the European market is "so huge" that there is still plenty of expansion to be carried out Younited reported revenues of more than $170 million in 2021 and has around 500 staff with more set to join in the UK.  A Johnston mother was sentenced to probation Thursday on child endangerment charges after leaving her four children home alone while she took a trip to Germany last year will spend two years on probation on four counts of child endangerment Polk County District Judge Carol Egly said Thursday. She could have faced up to two years in prison for each count In February, Macke entered an Alford plea of guilty to the charges. In an Alford plea but acknowledges that prosecutors likely have enough evidence to secure a conviction at trial prosecutors also dropped one count of making a firearm available to a person under the age of 21 A no contact order currently prevents Macke from having contact with her children but suggested the lawyers in the case arrange counseling for Macke as a prerequisite for modifying the order to allow some contact between her and the children "I believe these children need to have some sort of direct contact with their mother as soon as possible," she said a Linn County judge granted primary custody of the two younger children to their father The children have been living with their father since October but the judge's order extends that arrangement There is another ongoing court case regarding custody of Macke's other two children Matthew Macke gave a victim impact statement in court saying Erin Macke has not shown remorse for her actions "Erin's decision to leave the children was intentional done knowingly and she has not accepted any responsibility and continued to place blame on everyone else," Matthew Macke said in court He said leaving an unsecured firearm in the house presented a risk to the children that Macke does not seem to acknowledge "Erin refuses to admit that her choices put the children at a substantial risk of harm," Matthew Macke said A victim advocate also read a statement from Matthew McQuary McQuary echoed many of Matthew Macke's arguments saying Erin Macke blamed and criticized both fathers when speaking to the children "Erin does not feel any remorse or responsibility for her actions," McQuary said Court documents show Erin Macke has said the firearm was unloaded and placed on a shelf out of reach of the children Macke thanked the court for hearing her side of the case but did not speak in court other than to say she has expressed her views of the case in the presentence investigation said Macke made a mistake and should be allowed to rectify it He said animosity between the children's parents has painted Macke in a worse light than she deserves "The drama that has surrounded this case has been fanned by the fathers in this case," Oliver said Macke's lawyers had argued she should receive a deferred judgment which would have allowed the case to be expunged from her record once her probation is complete Egly said that option is not appropriate in the case and the conviction will remain on Macke's record Macke and Oliver declined to comment following the sentencing Johnston police were called to Macke's home on Sept police learned Macke left the country on Sept 20 and was not scheduled to return until Oct Court documents state Macke intended to leave the children alone in the home from Sept until her brother could start caring for them Macke arranged for a neighbor to check on the children three times a day Police say the father of one of the children called the police after he was called by his child the day after Macke left. Police called Macke while she was in Germany and demanded she return home Egly said the court documents show Macke made some plans for the children to be looked after something she said many media reports have not recognized But that does not change the fact that the children were in danger when they were left alone in the home with a gun Does being trapped in a room for an hour with nine of your best friends sound like fun Gulf Coast Escape Room has just arrived at the HarborWalk Village in Destin and has three escape room experiences to choose from “We deal mostly in the more scary type ones,” said owner Michelle Egly “We are a haunted house slash escape room.” Egly said she first got interested in escape rooms two years ago when she and her family happened upon one “We were in Orlando and I bonded with my two stepsons over it,” she said “We ending up ditching Sea World and doing more escape rooms Then I came home and there was nothing like it The Destin location is the third for Gulf Coast Escape Room which also has rooms in Gulf Shores and in Tallahassee Egly said she and her husband  work together to come up with the themes and puzzles for all the rooms themselves “My husband is a physician and he comes up with the puzzles and clues and I come up with all the themes,” she said the Destin location has three themes; two are one hour and one is half an hour The themes vary in difficulty and scariness as well as number of people allowed to participate and the Bates (Motel) room is somewhere in the middle for both scariness and escape rate,” said Egly “I am working on three more themes for next year; The Voodoo Cabin the Zodiac Killer and Alice and the White Rabbit.” Each room has a story that leads to clues and puzzles throughout the room you receive a key that leads to the next clue and if your team is able to solve the entire puzzle before the half hour or hour is up Participants need to use critical thinking to solve the puzzles “We have travelled around the world to try escape rooms and have tried over 40,” said Egly We have taken what we have experienced from other escape rooms and tried to bring the best aspects here to our rooms.” One of the most unique aspects of Gulf Coast Escape Rooms is the personal assistance given while your team is solving puzzles “The fact that we give unlimited clues or hints and we actually go into the rooms to help you sets us apart,” said General Manager Betsey Benedict “We will go in as much as you need us and personally give you hints as much as you want.” One group of young girls was signing up for a second room after having tried the Bates Motel the night before The girls were sisters and said they loved the scary ambiance and couldn’t wait to get back for more “The Bates Motel led you to believe one thing but then it was another – there was a twist that you didn’t expect.”  Gulf Coast Escape Room is located in the HarborWalk Village in unit 102 across from Crab Island Cantina. Cost is $25 per person for the 60 minute rooms and $15 per person for the 30 minute room. There are also group discounts available. For more information, visit www.gulfcoastescaperoom.com or call 850-460-8760 PARIS — French prosecutors launched an investigation Wednesday (May 11) after a 19-year-old woman committed suicide by throwing herself in front of a suburban train near Paris and streamed the act live on Periscope Passengers get off a train at the Egly station French authorities opened an investigation Wednesday after a teenage woman allegedly live-streamed video of her suicide on the popular app Periscope The suicide is the latest controversy to hit the Twitter-owned streaming service which has recently seen rapes and assaults shown live The unnamed French woman “sent a text to one of her friends several minutes before her death to make them aware of her intentions,” said prosecutor Eric Lallement “She also made statements to Internet users via the Periscope application to explain her act.” A judicial source said the victim “spoke of a rape and named the aggressor” during the filming adding that the claims were being treated with caution at this stage Footage of the woman’s actual death — which took place on Tuesday at a station in Egly to the south of Paris — was removed by Periscope But some of the video leading up to the suicide was republished by users saying the video is “not designed to create a buzz.. and what appear to be the voices of emergency personnel can be faintly heard Messages of concern from Periscope users are seen flashing up on the screen Periscope is a smartphone application that allows users to stream live video via their Twitter account The video usually remains accessible for 24 hours Police said they were informed by someone watching the stream “We were alerted around 4:30 pm by a Periscope user who was connected with the victim and told us that she was not well,” a police source said said in a statement: “We do not comment on individual accounts for privacy and security reasons the content has been reported and removed.” Disturbing incidents have become increasingly common on live-streaming services An 18-year-old woman appeared in court in the US state of Ohio last month accused of filming the rape of her 17-year-old friend by a 29-year-old man and live-streaming it on Periscope Marina Lonina “got caught up in the likes” that Periscope users gave the video have pleaded not guilty to charges including kidnapping The Buzzfeed website reported on an apparent rape in March when a young man was filmed by two friends having sex with a woman in London and the footage was streamed live on Periscope A mass brawl between teenage gangs at a London shopping centre was also live-streamed in April Twitter and other social media companies have limited control over what users publish via their services and rely on the public to flag illegal or disturbing content An investigation has been opened into the precise circumstances of Tuesday’s suicide in Paris “Once the first results of the analysis of the victim’s mobile telephone and the images diffused by Periscope are known the investigators will attempt to specify the motivations for her act to enlarge the investigation,” Mr Lallement said in a statement Todayonline.com and Today Online domains and apps are now part of 'Channelnewsasia.com' domain We know it's a hassle to switch browsers but we want your experience with TODAY to be fast Upgraded but still having issues? 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