County Bar association honors pair at dinner
The Hancock County Bar Association recently honored a pair of attorneys during its annual dinner.
Judge Richard Culver was presented with the George B. Davis Distinguished Jurist Award and local defense counsel James W. McNew was presented the James L. Brand Trial Advocate Award during the event at Carnegie’s Restaurant.
Culver retired from the bench last October and is currently starting his second career as chief deputy prosecutor in Henry County. He was on the bench for 29 years. The award is named after the former Hancock County Circuit Court Judge George Beamer Davis.
McNew has practiced law in Hancock County since 1988 after an extensive and distinguished career as chief deputy prosecutor in Lake County. The Trial Advocate Award is given in memory of James L. Brand, a defense attorney in Hancock County for many years.
Local existing-home sales up despite state drop
Existing-home sales in central Indiana slipped 2.5 percent in June as prices continued to rise and inventory continued to shrink.
In the 15-county area, closed home sales fell from 4,168 in June 2017 to 4,064 last month, according to data from the MIBOR Realtor Association.
It was a rare off-month for the market, which has experienced year-over-year sales increases in 27 of the past 32 months.
The total number of active home listings in the region dropped 21.5 percent, from 9,314 at the end of June 2017 to just 7,313 at the end of last month. New listings, however, ticked up nearly 1 percent, to 4,761.
The average area home sales price during the year-over-year period increased 7.6 percent, to $229,009. The median price rose 8.6 percent, to $188,200.
Hancock County sales increased 3.2 percent, to 159, and the average price rose 13.4 percent, to $205,193.
Rose-Hulman receives gift of $15 million for new building
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology has received a $15 million lead gift to support construction of a new academic building.
The Indiana college announced Monday that the money is from an anonymous donor. The $29 million building in Terre Haute will open for the 2021-22 school year and will include workspaces, design studios, flexible classrooms and chemistry laboratories.
A groundbreaking ceremony is planned during the school’s homecoming Oct. 6 for the 60,000-square-foot, three-story building on the east side of the 1,300-acre campus.
The building’s plans call for a central atrium and lots of interior and exterior glass. Rose-Hulman President Jim Conwell said the design “reflects our focus on active engagement in learning within a collaborative, mentoring environment.”
Rose-Hulman has about 2,200 undergraduate students and nearly 100 graduate students, involved primarily in engineering, mathematics and science.
