You may have enjoyed the cooler part of summer as opposed to the very hot last weeks of August.

But experts at Purdue say both were good for the state‘s wine grapes.   Bruce Bordelon, a professor at Purdue and a viticulture expert with the school‘s Wine Grape Team, says cooler temperatures in July and early August were good for grapes because it helps add sugar content while maintaining the acidity needed for proper wine flavor. August was drier than normal, and last couple weeks were very hot across much of Indiana.

Bordelon says that type of weather near the end of wine grape season also helps, saying too much rain causes the grapes to split while still on the vine.  That, he says, makes them more vulnerable to bugs and other pests.   Wine grape growers in the southern part of the state gained the most from the cool summer.

Bordelon says that‘s because they have completed their harvest of early- and mid-ripening varieties of grapes.  But he also says growers in north-central Indiana should have a good crop of mid-ripening grapes.

Bordelon‘s only concern is that there will not be enough remaining warm weeks for some grapes to fully ripen, especially late-ripening varieties grown in the northern part of the state.

Now that school has started, some doctors hope that parents will keep an eye on how much their kids are lugging around.

Some children are have to carry several books all day, not to mention musical instruments or other gear that can weigh them down.  Rachel Tudor, an occupational therapist with Riley Hospital For Children at IU Health, says most kids don‘t carry their backpack correctly either.

Tudor says a backpack should not be heavier than 10-percent of your child‘s body weight.  She also suggests making sure a backpack has two straps, well padded, and that your child is using both straps.

If your child needs to carry more books than can safely fit in a backpack, Tudor suggests getting them another bag that rolls they can pull along. You can also see if your school provides extra copies of books that kids can keep at home.

Indiana‘s 6th District Congressman may be the only member of Indiana‘s Republican Congressional delegation supporting a military strike on Syria.

Luke Messer serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Messer says after reviewing several confidential documents on the situation, he thinks a military strike is warranted. Messer says for him, it is a matter of conscience and and he cannot in good conscience sit back and allow what happened in Syria to go by without action.

Messer is critical of President Obama and says the president needs to do more to convince the general public and  members of Congress that a military strike is the right action to take.

Messer thinks the president should make an evening statement from the oval office explaining why the U.S. needs to take action.

A Fishers mother accused of running off with her 8-year-old daughter in a custody battle was arrested Wednesday evening in Louisville, police said, and the girl was found unharmed.

Jennifer Ansari, 37, was found at a home in the Kentucky city’s south end at 5:45 p.m., Louisville Metro Police spokesman Dwight Mitchell said.

She faces a felony charge of interference with custody.

Daughter Sophia Snow “is fine and unharmed” Mitchell said. He said Ansari surrendered and was “very cooperative.”

An Amber Alert had been issued Tuesday night by the Indiana State Police, four days after the girl went missing.

Investigators believed a woman from Fishers took her eight-year-old daughter to Kentucky after a judge took custody of the girl away from her.

An Amber Alert was issued last night for Sophia Snow after Jennifer Ansari refused to give the girl up.  Sophia is the daughter of Ansari and Aaron Snow, who were never married but split up before Sophia‘s first birthday.

Aaron Snow‘s attorney, Rodney Sarcovics, says a judge in Hamilton County gave custody of the girl to Snow about a month ago, and says Ansari was supposed to turn her over yesterday.

Sarcovics says there were circumstances last week which caused some emergency motions to be filed with the court to accelerate the custody exchange date. Specifically, Sarcovics says Snow spoke on the phone with Ansari from Snow‘s current home in Florida last Thursday and immediately booked a flight to Indianapolis because of concerns from that conversation.

The judge agreed to speed up the transfer of the girl, and Ansari left town, prompting an Amber Alert to be issued Tuesday night by Indiana State Police.

Ansari‘s parents live in Louisville, Kentucky, and while they haven‘t seen her or her daughter, her father told Louisville TV station WDRB that Ansari didn‘t think Snow was fit to have custody. Snow‘s attorney says there were hours of testimony taken by the Hamilton County judge that persuaded him otherwise.

The Hamilton County Prosecutor‘s office has issued an arrest warrant for Ansari, charging her with interference with custody.

Hoosiers now have access to nonstop air service to San Francisco.

United Air Lines will soon begin offering the flight. Governor Mike Pence says he had  heard from many business owners telling him how important the flight would be to Indiana.

Pence says Secretary of Commerce Victor Smith led a collaborative effort to pursue the nonstop route. Mayor Greg Ballard this flight has been a long time coming.

Exact Target CEO Scott Dorsey says the flight is a “gamechanger” for Indiana‘s tech sector. Dorsey says the flight will lead to more venture investment, board seats, mentorships and strategic partnerships.

The flight will leave Indy at 8am, and arrive in San Francisco at 10am. The return flight will depart San Francisco at 1:35pm, and arrive in Indy at 8:51pm. The new service will begin on January 7th.

Former Indiana Senator and Senate Foreign Relations Committee head Richard Lugar is weighing in on whether the U.S. should take military action against Syria.

This follows what Secretary of State John Kerry calls strong evidence that dictator Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons on his own people.  Lugar says Syria‘s use of chemical weapons not only crossed President Obama‘s “red line,” but also violated international law.

Meantime, former Indiana Congressman Lee Hamilton agrees.

Hamilton says the U.S. must send a clear message to Assad and adds that a limited strike is the best of all options.  Hamilton cautions that Syria is worse than both Afghanistan and Iraq.  He says the U.S. needs to make sure that Assad doesn‘t have the ability to use chemical weapons again.

New Albany-Late yesterday evening, a trooper from the Indiana State Post at
Sellersburg made a traffic stop on a black Jeep on Interstate 265 East at the
3.8 Mile Marker in Floyd County.

The traffic stop was for a false and fictitious license plate. The driver stopped the Jeep and immediately fled on foot into a wooded area along Interstate 265.

As the trooper approached the vehicle, a female, identified as Laura R. Faulkenburg, 26, from New Albany, IN, was lying in the front passenger seat.
During a search of the Jeep Methamphetamine was located.

The passenger, Laura Faulkenburg was arrested for Possession of Methamphetamine, Possession of a
Schedule II Controlled Substance and Trafficking with an Inmate. The driver of the vehicle could not be located but positive identification of the driver was made and a warrant will be sought for his arrest.

At least nine dams in Washington County have had their state classification status changed to high hazard, which means if the structure fails, there could be serious damage to residences and structures as well as loss of life.

David Hoar, president of both the county plan commission and county council says the earthen structures function well, but the state has changed standards regarding classification. Some medium-hazard dams are now high hazard not only because of their physical design but because of residence and buildings that have been built in the floodway areas.

Tom Scifres, attorney for the plan commission and county added the dams were in compliance when they were built, but the state changed the definition of what is high risk.

Hoar says seven structures in Delaney Creek Conservancy District and two in Twin Rush Conservancy District are now classified as high-hazard. Hoar says the state wants the districts to make improvements to the dams, but the districts don’t have the money to do that. He added the county plan commission has been asked to establish regulations that would limit development in areas subject to flooding if a dam should fail.

Drew Wright is the attorney for Delaney Creek. The district includes the lake at Delaney Park, which was constructed for drainage and flood control purposes. He says the problem is that the state wants the conservancy district to hire an engineer every two years to inspect the dam and complete a report which is filed with the state.

He says the Department of Natural Resources wants dam owners or operators to upgrade the dam beyond the specification that were required when they were built adding that would be a huge expense.

Ruth Hackman, Washington County’s district conservationist, said the new regulations have been in place for some time but the state is just now enforcing them. And if districts don’t comply, Hackman says the state has the power to level fines.

Washington County is not alone, it’s a problem faced by other districts in counties across the state. Hackman explained that when the dams were built in the 1960s, there was federal money to help cover costs but there is no longer federal money to help with upgrades. She said in some cases, it might be cheaper for a district to acquire the residences and businesses sitting in the flood way through eminent domain.

Hackman says the Natural Resource Conservation Service is conducting surveys to determine “breach routes,” where the water would go in the event a dam was breached. Technicians survey the dam and the area downstream of the dam, identifying homes and businesses in the floodway and where the water would go in the event of a breach, plotting it all on a map. She says that has been done on three structures and there are still six more do. Hackman adding that the surveys are done at no cost to the conservancy

Indiana Conservation Officers are investigating the death of a Columbus woman that occurred at Patoka Reservoir Sunday afternoon.

Crawford County Dispatch Center received a 911 call that a woman was unresponsive on a boat in the Sycamore Creek area of Patoka Reservoir

55-year-old Patti Hoskins-Owens from Columbus was out swimming on a raft away from the boat. She yelled for help to get back to the boat. Once on the boat, she went unresponsive.

Three registered nurses that were on Patoka Reservoir in the same area swam over to Hoskins-Owens’ boat and began CPR. Brittney Barnickle, of Lanesville, Laura Whitfill, of Shepherdsville, KY, and Sheila Huffman, of Booneville, continued CPR until help arrived.

The woman was taken by an Indiana Conservation Officer to the Little Patoka Boat Ramp where she was flown by Air Methods to Harrison County Hospital where she was later pronounced dead. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday afternoon.

Indiana Conservation Officers were assisted at the scene by Crawford County EMS and English Volunteer Fire Department first responders.

The Lawrence County Democratic Central Committee will host Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz on Sept. 13 in the banquet room at Stonecrest Golf Community.

Ritz will be the keynote speaker at the initial Lawrence County Trailblazers Dinner.

Tickets for the event are $30 and are available through the LCDDC at P.O. Box 36, Bedford, or online at www.lawrencecountydems.com. the event will be catered by Limestone Cafe.