NASCAR Cup Series Racing Returns on May 17 on WSLM

As NASCAR returns to the racetrack for the first time in more than two months, the sport will honor frontline healthcare workers in The Real Heroes 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, May 17 at 3:30 p.m. ET on WSLM 97.9 FM and WSLM 1220 AM.

WSLM is celebrating its 50th season as a NASCAR broadcaster. 

The special NASCAR Cup Series race entitlement at Darlington Raceway follows the launch of The Real Heroes Project, a collaborative initiative by 14 sports leagues including NASCAR to recognize and pay tribute to medical professionals serving on the front lines in the fight against COVID-19.

“As the coronavirus challenges our country in unprecedented ways, the frontline healthcare workers – the nurses, paramedics, emergency physicians and many others – continue to inspire us with their strength and bravery in caring for their fellow Americans,” said Jill Gregory, NASCAR executive vice president and chief marketing and content officer. “These men and women are the real heroes and the NASCAR industry is incredibly proud to honor their selflessness and service as we return to racing on Sunday.”

Through a collaboration with NASCAR, FOX Sports and the race teams, each driver’s name will be replaced above the driver-side window with the name of an individual healthcare worker currently battling the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, The Real Heroes Project logo will be displayed on the side panel of each racecar.

The healthcare workers honored on the cars will serve as grand marshals for The Real Heroes 400 and appear in an on-air mosaic to simultaneously give the command for drivers to start their engines for the race.   

“Real heroes” from the state of South Carolina include healthcare workers from St. Francis Downtown hospital in Greenville S.C., and McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence, S.C., located just south of Darlington Raceway.

The sports leagues behind the Real Heroes Project launched a public service announcement on May 6 that featured some of the biggest names in sports including a pair of NASCAR Cup Series champions in Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch and Stewart-Haas Racing driver Kevin Harvick. The PSA features more than 30 athletes sharing personal thank-you messages with their healthcare heroes and replacing the names on their own jerseys and uniforms with the names of individual medical professionals. 

The campaign encourages sports fans to pay tribute to the frontline healthcare workers in their lives on social media using #TheRealHeroes.

As NASCAR resumes the 2020 race season on Sunday, The Real Heroes 400 will be the first of three national series races at Darlington Raceway in the span of four days – all taking place without fans in attendance.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series will return to action on Tuesday, May 19 (8 p.m. ET on WSLM 97.9 FM and WSLM 1220 AM), followed by the second NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington on Wednesday, May 20 (7:30 p.m. ET on WSLM 97.9 FM and WSLM 1220 AM)

The Indianapolis Colts today signed defensive tackle Robert Windsor and wide receiver Dezmon Patmon.

The Colts have now signed four of their nine draft picks from the 2020 NFL Draft.

Windsor, 6-4, 290 pounds, was selected by Indianapolis in the sixth round (193rd overall) of the 2020 NFL Draft. He played in 52 career games (26 starts) at Penn State and compiled 121 tackles (49 solo), 20.0 tackles for loss, 14.0 sacks, three forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries. In 2019, Windsor started all 13 games and finished with 40 tackles (12 solo), 5.0 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks. He was a Third Team All-Big Ten selection by the coaches and garnered All-Big Ten honorable mention recognition from the media. Windsor started 12 games in 2018 and registered 39 tackles (22 solo), 11.0 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks and two forced fumbles. He earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors from the Associated Press and was an All-Big Ten honorable mention choice by the league’s coaches and media. In 2017, Windsor played in all 13 games and compiled 19 tackles (six solo), 2.5 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, one forced fumble and three fumble recoveries. He tied for fourth in the nation and ranked first in the Big Ten in fumble recoveries. Windsor saw action in all 14 games (one start) in 2016 and collected 23 tackles (nine solo), 1.5 tackles for loss and 1.0 sack. He redshirted as a true freshman in 2015.

Patmon, 6-4, 225 pounds, was selected by the Colts in the sixth round (212th overall) of the 2020 NFL Draft. He saw action in 43 career games (12 starts) at Washington State and finished with 156 receptions for 1,976 yards and 13 touchdowns. In 2019, Patmon appeared in all 13 games (three starts) and caught 58 passes for 762 yards and eight touchdowns. He played in all 13 games (eight starts) in 2018 and compiled 61 receptions for a team-high 816 yards and five touchdowns. In 2017, Patmon appeared in all 13 games (one start) and totaled 35 receptions for 379 yards. He saw action in four games in 2016 and caught two passes for 19 yards.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources will begin opening gatehouses at state parks across the Hoosier state will once again be charging admission.

All DNR properties will resume charging entrance fees no later than May 15.

All DNR properties including state parks, state forests, fish and wildlife areas, nature preserves, and state recreation areas are OPEN.

However, some services and facilities are open:

• Indiana DNR-managed lakes, trails, boat ramps, and wildlife areas at Brookville, J.E. Roush, Salamonie, Mississinewa, Cecil M. Harden (Raccoon SRA), Cagles Mill (Lieber SRA), Patoka and Monroe lakes remain OPEN. However, public facilities managed directly by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at or below the dams at these lakes (i.e., tailwater areas, observation mounds, etc.) are CLOSED.
• Unstaffed archery ranges – OPEN.
• Restroom availability will be LIMITED. Day use restrooms and vault toilets will open at DNR properties by May 15. Until then, guests should come prepared for restroom use to be restricted.
• The Fort Golf Course and PRO Shop at Fort Harrison State Park are OPEN, with tee times available from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Self-service cart rental is available with a limit of one person per cart. Payment and reservations can only be made by phone at 317-543-9597. Please practice social distancing during play.
• Marinas are OPEN with limited operations.
• Disc Golf Courses and Fish Cleaning Stations – OPEN.
• Welcome Centers, Nature Centers, Historic Buildings, Visitor Centers, and Forest Education Centers OPEN between May 11-15, however, hours may be reduced, and social distancing may limit the number of guests allowed in the respective facility at one time.

Closed

• Campgrounds are CLOSED (tentatively scheduled to OPEN May 24). There is no overnight camping on any DNR properties.
• All property offices – CLOSED. Passes and permits can be purchased online at ShopINStateparks.com. Property maps are available online. Find contact information on office doors.
• State park inns and restaurants – CLOSED (tentatively scheduled to OPEN May 24).
• Family cabins and camper cabins – CLOSED (tentatively scheduled to OPEN May 24).
• Playgrounds, fire towers, and other similar facilities – CLOSED
• Shooting ranges – CLOSED.
• Shelters, recreation buildings, and other enclosed picnic areas – CLOSED.
• State Park Inn pools and the aquatic center at Abe Martin Lodge – CLOSED.
• Pokagon State Park: Artesian well and shelter at the end of Spring Trail – CLOSED.
• Mounds State Park: Artesian well – CLOSED.
• All group camps, youth tent and rally tent areas – CLOSED.
• Drinking fountains – OFF. Water charging stations and buckets for filling campers will be turned on as weather improves.
• Vending machines – OFF.
• The DNR Customer Service Center in downtown Indianapolis is CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC but is still available by telephone (see below for number).

While being stuck inside it has been difficult for some to keep their children occupied.

Conner Prairie will be hosting an online celebration of storytelling. The prairie will be sharing Lenape Animal Tales, learn how newspapers and letters tell very special stories, hear about how inventors, squirrels, and pigeons are a part of Hoosier history, and tell a story with no words at all.

They will also be sharing live performances through the day, from West African Dance to harps, and special stories about Indiana’s Madam C.J. Walker.

This event will be held on Saturday, May 16 from 10:00 a.m. until 8:30 p.m., you can choose to attend each storytime or just ones that really spark your interest.

The schedule of events is as follows:

Lenape Animal Tales – 10:00 a.m.

• Before the pioneers arrived in Indiana, the Lenape lived here. Like any other culture, they told stories about who they were, where they came from, and how their society functioned.

 Paper Puppets Present: Indiana Inventors – 10:30 a.m.

• Household items become simple puppets, that are then used to tell the stories of three Hoosier inventors. Can you invent a paper puppet play?

The Culture of West African Dance with Ronne Stone (Live Performance) 11:00-11:30 a.m.

• Move along with Ronne as she shares traditional West African stories through dance. Learn about the cultural symbolism of dance, expressed individually and in groups, through movement.

 Silent Storytelling – 1:00 p.m.

• We tell stories with our voices and our bodies, but can we tell a story with no words at all?

Writing Home: Letters in the Civil War – 1:30 p.m.

• Correspondence was written during the Civil War gives us great insight into the daily lives of soldiers and their far-away families. These letters help to tell a personal version of the larger story of this historic time in our nation’s history.

Sense a Story with Melissa’s Harps (Live Performance) 2:00-2:30 p.m.

• Join Melissa Gallant and her concert harp to explore the connections between music and language. Learn how slow and fast, soft and loud, and low and high sounds help us create and express emotion.

The Ballad of John Wise – 3:00 p.m.

• This is the story of John Wise, pioneer aeronaut, and how the first official airmail delivery in the United States came to be. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll learn how sometimes even when things aren’t going quite right, you can still claim victory in the end.

Headlines from Home – 3:30 p.m.

• Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Write about it, too! Newspapers tell us all different kinds of stories. If your household had a newspaper, what stories would be told?

Sarah the Dream Builder: The Story of Madam C.J. Walker, told by Deborah Asante (Live Performance) 4:00-5:00 p.m.

• Facing poverty and tragedy from a very young age, Sarah Breedlove beats the odds and becomes the first woman in America to be a self-made millionaire. Storyteller Deborah Asante guides our exploration of the girl, the wife, the mother, the mogul, all parts of the woman known as Madam Walker.

Just Passing By The Story of the Passenger Pigeon – 6:30 p.m.

• One small bird – or a whole lot of them! – and it’s placed in Indiana history.

The Great Squirrel Stampede – 7:00 p.m.

• Sometimes the impossible, improbable, and inconceivable happens. History has never been stranger than it was in 1822.

On May 10th, 2020, Indiana State Trooper Ford responded to the Harrison County Hospital, in Corydon, to investigate a battery that had occurred in Orange County.

During the investigation, it was discovered that Jerry Archer, 45, of Paoli had begun battering his 62-year-old mother on the evening of May 9th.

The battery continued through the night and into the next morning resulting in injuries over her entire body.

According to the victim’s statement, Archer also ripped her hair out, held a gun to her head, and put a knife to her throat, and threatened to kill her multiple times during the incident.

Later into the day, the victim convinced Archer to let her leave so she could visit her mother since it was Mother’s Day. Once he let her leave she went to the Harrison County Hospital to receive medical treatment for her injuries.

After reviewing the victim’s injures and her statements, Trooper Ford immediately set up an arrest team that consisted of the Indiana State Police, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, and the Paoli Police.

At approximately 10:45 pm the multiagency team located Archer at 615 Walnut Street in Paoli.

Archer was taken into custody without incident. Archer was then booked into the Orange County Jail on local warrants as well as multiple charges including:

• Domestic Battery-Serious Bodily Injury:  A Level 5 Felony
• Communication- Intimidation: A Level 5 Felony
• Criminal Confinement: A Level 6 Felony
• Strangulation: A Level 6 Felony

Additional charges are expected to be filed.

In times of need, people come together to support one another.

The American Red Cross is asking for healthy individuals to step up to help patients experiencing health crises by donating blood or platelets.

As COVID-19 continues to affect everyday life, people may not be thinking about blood donation. But blood and platelets are needed daily to help patients battling the disease and facing the unexpected.

Donating blood is an easy way to care for each other and ensure hospitals have the blood products patients rely on.

As a thank-you for helping ensure a stable blood supply, all who come to give blood or platelets May 15-31 will receive a special Red Cross “We’re all in this together” T-shirt, by mail, while
supplies last.

Donors must have a valid email address on file to claim their T-shirt.

How to help
Healthy individuals who are feeling well are asked to make an appointment to donate this May by downloading the free Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-
800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or enabling the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device.

Donors are asked to schedule an appointment prior to arriving at the drive and are required to wear a face-covering or mask while at the drive, in alignment with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public guidance.  

Each Red Cross blood drive and donation center follows the highest standards of safety and infection control and additional precautions – including social distancing and face coverings for
donors and staff – have been implemented to safeguard donors, volunteers and employees.  

The Red Cross is also looking for blood drive hosts to help ensure stable blood supply. Learn more and sign up to sponsor a drive by visiting RedCrossBlood.org/HostADrive.

Upcoming blood donation opportunities May 15-31:
Calvary Baptist Church, 2632 Michigan Road Madison, IN 47250
5/19/2020: 2 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Living Waters Mennonite Church, 8600 West Jones Road Lexington, IN 47138
5/19/2020: 4 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Madison Fitness, 1321 Clifty Drive Madison, IN 47250
5/22/2020: 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Palmyra United Methodist Church, 14170 Greene St. NE Palmyra, IN 47164 5/22/2020: 1 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Saint Paul Lutheran, 10792 North County Road 210 East Seymour, IN 47274 5/31/2020: 8 a.m. – 12 p.m.

St. Joseph Church, 512 N Mulberry Street Corydon, IN 47112
5/20/2020: 2 p.m. – 7 p.m.

How to donate blood
Simply download the American Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit RedCrossBlood.org, call 1- 800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or enable the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device to make an appointment or for more information.

All blood types are needed to ensure a reliable supply for patients.

A blood donor card or driver’s license or two other forms of identification are
required at check-in.

Individuals who are 17 years of age in most states (16 with parental consent where allowed by state law), weigh at least 110 pounds and are in generally good health may be eligible to donate blood. High school students and other donors 18 years of age
and younger also have to meet certain height and weight requirements.

Blood and platelet donors can save time at their next donation by using RapidPass ® to complete their pre-donation reading and health history questionnaire online, on the day of their donation,
before arriving at the blood drive. To get started, follow the instructions at RedCrossBlood.org/RapidPass or use the Blood Donor App.

During this afternoon’s briefing with Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, Dr. Paul Halverson, and Dr. Nir Menachemi from the Fairbanks School of Public Health at IUPUI discussed the preliminary results of the study.

The school partnered with the Indiana State Department of Health for random testing of about 4,600 Hoosiers.

The results are preliminary, Menachemi emphasized. The testing, which will include four waves, conducted the first wave between April 25 and May 1.

Halverson said the random testing can help the state understand the scope of COVID-19 in Indiana without testing everyone, which is impractical.

The results were then examined and the results interpolated to reflect trends for the whole state.

According to the results, 1.7% tested positive for COVID-19. Another 1.1% tested positive for antibodies, meaning they had contracted the coronavirus at some point.

The study projected the prominence of COVID-19 among the general population at 2.8%–that would be an estimated 186,000 Hoosiers. In that same time frame, the state was aware of only 17,000 cases.

Menachemi said that meant only 1 out of every 11 true infections was reflected in state testing during that period.

Furthermore, the study showed the mortality rate was 0.58% in Indiana during the time frame. That’s nearly six times the mortality rate of the flu (0.1%), researchers noted.

More alarmingly, 44.8% of Hoosiers were asymptomatic—which means they had COVID-19 but showed none of the typical symptoms, making them vectors for spreading the coronavirus to vulnerable populations.

Non-whites and Hispanics had higher rates of infection than whites, the study showed.

Menachemi said the vast majority of people in Indiana have not been exposed and are susceptible to infection from COVID-19. Social distancing and stay-at-home orders have helped slow the spread, he said.

The second wave of testing for the study will start in early June, again with randomized subjects. Comparing the two data sets will allow the state to gauge the spread of COVID-19.

Menachemi emphasized that it was extremely important for individuals to participate in the next round of testing.

“Please make it a priority to participate,” he said.

The Indiana State Health Department (ISDH) reported 409 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday and 38 new deaths, bringing the statewide totals to 25,473 and 1,482, respectively.

State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said the state’s supply of ICU beds and ventilators was holding steady.

Total ICU beds available in Indiana are 42.1 percent with 80.6 percent of all ventilators available. 

Large amounts of PPE were headed to public health departments and hospitals. The material includes coveralls, masks, face shields, etc.

The state received two shipments of remdesivir, a drug that has been shown to help some patients. One shipment went to a northern Indiana hospital that was considered a hot spot while another went to the state health department.

“We are very grateful to have this resource available for Hoosiers,” Box said.

Box said social distancing and good hygiene are the key to keeping Indiana heading in the right direction. The prevalence of asymptomatic individuals means everyone should treat it like they’re infected and take precautions, including masks.

The state opened more sites offering COVID-19 testing and said testing from the state was free. Officials encouraged people who are showing symptoms to get tested and emphasized testing for those in vulnerable populations.

While the numbers are showing some encouraging signs, Gov. Eric Holcomb and the others said Hoosiers must continue to be careful. The state has outlined its plan to reopen, but Holcomb said it was possible that Indiana could fall back to a previous phase of the reopening plan if there’s a surge in cases.

“I don’t want us to retreat back to a prior stage,” Holcomb said, adding that he would if necessary.