Today's News

Twice a week a group of Hispanic women gather at Centro Latino in Shelbyville for a two-hour English lesson that is designed to help them communicate on the job and with folks in the community.

Jerry Pope, the teacher of the class, switches from teaching in Spanish to English seamlessly in order to make hearing and responding to conversational English natural for his students. But Pope isn't just teaching the ladies a foreign language, he's teaching them a vital job skill.

A local school bus driver has recently been accused of assaulting a student who was riding on his bus.

James Neihof, director of student accounting and support services, said on April 4 a driver carrying high school students stopped the bus in response to a disturbance among the students.

Neihof said the driver, whose name has not been released, considered one of the students to be in physical danger. He then proceeded to detain the other student involved in the disturbance.

"The bus driver took action in the interest of student's safety," Neihof said.

In Thom Coffee's world history class at West Middle School, students recently were given an assignment to use song, poetry or rap to express what they have been learning about the decline of feudalism in ancient England. As the students performed, it was evident that they had not only learned a good deal about things such as the Magna Carta and the black plague, but also had a great time while doing it.

Because of such creative teaching practices, Coffee was recently named the Shelby County teacher of the year.

Shelby County ambulances are now even better equipped to help save lives, thanks to new, life-saving devices recently installed.

The new equipment consists of two Rad-57 Pulse CO-Oximetry machines, which are capable of detecting carbon monoxide in the bloodstream, according to Steve Wortham, chief of operations for Shelby County Emergency Medical Services. This technology is fairly new, Wortham said, and its potential for saving lives is invaluable.