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Help is on the way to spare your car’s tires…

Happy Friday to You on this Employee Appreciation Day!!!

Pothole repair is kicking into high gear in Indy. The Department of Public Works says crews will switch to a hot mix asphalt today. More than 3,400 pothole complaints have been called into the Mayor’s Action Center.  Crews have been filling them within three-point-three days of being notified.

Police get a break in another abduction case. Metro police say they’ve found a woman and child originally abducted in Wisconsin. An arrest in the case this morning stems from the discovery of a car found parked near a fireworks store on West Washington Street.  Police say the woman and child are safe. That suspect remains in custody.

The man who stands accused of killing an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer heads to court today to ask the judge for a “speedier” speedy trial. WTHR-TV is reporting that Major Davis Jr. is scheduled to go to court on Feb. 6, 2017 to answer to charges that he shot and killed Officer Perry Renn back in July 2014 while Renn was on a domestic battery call in the Forest Manor neighborhood. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Davis.

Chickenpox may be popping up in a northern suburb. Parents in Carmel are watching their kids for signs of the disease. A notice was sent Thursday to parents with students at Carmel High School, Clay Middle School and Woodbrook Elementary. The number of confirmed cases hasn’t been released. Indiana law requires all students in kindergarten through 12th grade to have two doses of the chickenpox vaccine, unless the student has a history of the disease.

If you need help paying for your kid’s college education or maybe your own, then you don’t want to let an important deadline come and go. It’s the one for financial aid. The FAFSA Deadline for Student Aid is coming up on Tues., March 10. Nearly $300 million in state financial aid is available this year. The free application is online at CashforCollegeIndiana.org. Make it a productive weekend.

Economic opportunity is coming to town. Raytheon is transferring 250 jobs here to Indy. Those new gigs are coming from the company’s locations in California and Virginia. A spokesman says this move allows the company to improve efficiency and competitiveness for customers. More details are expected to be announced on Monday.

An Indiana University student faces a felony drug dealing charge after an arrest at a sorority house. Andrew Thrall is accused of buying large quantities of Xanax through the mail and selling them out of his fraternity house. Police say he would have them sent to his girlfriend’s sorority house, then he’d sell them out of his room in the Delta Tau Delta house.

A group called the Indiana Central Time Coalition is urging lawmakers to put the state back on Central Time. Most of the state switched to Eastern Time in the 1960s. The group says waking up in the dark affects our biological clocks. Regardless of their results at the statehouse, this is the weekend that our clocks spring forward one hour and you lose an hour of precious sleep. Daylight Saving Time kicks in, so move your clocks ahead one hour by 2 a.m. Sunday morning. Just do it before you go to bed Saturday night.

State lawmakers are endorsing a bill that would create new regulations for the production of electronic cigarettes. The Senate Public Policy Committee unanimously voted yesterday to establish manufacturing safety standards as well as prohibit sales to anyone younger than 18. Chief Deputy Attorney General Matt Light says allowing “vaping” in public places does send the wrong message. E-cigarette liquids currently hold no state or federal regulations.

U.S. Senate Democrats are pushing Republican leaders to schedule a confirmation vote for Attorney General-nominee Loretta Lynch. Lynch is a veteran federal prosecutor from New York and she was nominated by President Obama nearly four months ago.

President Obama and the First Family will be in Selma, Alabama this weekend to help commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights marches. On March 7, 1965, police troopers in Selma attacked the marchers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. That event became known as “Bloody Sunday” and gave momentum to the passage of the Voting Rights Act that ended racial discrimination in voting. Georgia Congressman John Lewis, who was marching and beaten that day, will be joining in the commemoration along with countless others. The president will speak on Saturday. A memorial march will take place on Sunday.

The attorneys for Michael Brown’s family say they are planning to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Ferguson, Missouri. They announced the plan for a civil suit Thursday after the release of a Justice Department report that found no evidence to charge former police officer Darren Wilson in the unarmed teen’s death last summer.

Thursday was another day of emotional testimony from Boston Marathon bombing survivors. Day two of testimony in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev  wrapped up with a father telling the court how he left his dying son behind with his wife so he could rush their other two children to the hospital. In other testimony, a police officer spoke of the chaos after the explosions and how he performed CPR on a woman before she died. Tsarnaev has admitted through his lawyers that he and his brother planted the two bombs. Three people were killed in the explosions and 264 were injured. The trial continues today.

The Arizona jury in convicted killer Jodi Arias’ sentencing retrial was split 11-1 in favor of the death penalty but couldn’t reach a unanimous decision. Yes, a lone juror was the hold-out opposing a death sentence resulting in a mistrial Thursday. That means Arias won’t be executed for horrifically murdering her ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander in 2008. Alexander’s family and friends were visibly shaken as they rushed from the courtroom following the announcement.

A veteran actor known for action and adventure has had one of his own. Harrison Ford’s publicist says he is a little “banged up” after a small plane crash Thursday, but he’s expected to make a full recovery.  Ford’s publicist said the 72-year-old actor was flying a World War Two vintage plane which had engine trouble upon take off, and that Ford had no other choice but to make an emergency landing on a golf course.

Speaking of plane…This weekend also marks the one-year anniversary of one of aviation’s greatest mysteries. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished early on the morning of March 8th last year after leaving Kuala Lumpur on a flight to Beijing. The majority of passengers were Chinese. More than two-dozen nations, including the U.S., have searched thousands of square miles of Indian Ocean floor. The plane is still in a state of “poof!” No trace of it has been found.

In Sports…

The Pacers take on the Bulls tonight at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Pacers are 26-and-34 on the season and are a half-game behind the Hornets for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. Chicago is currently the second seed in the East. Tip is at 7 p.m.

A private funeral for former New York Knicks forward Anthony Mason will be held today. Knicks fans and mourners turned out to pay their last respects to Mason Thursday at a public viewing in Queens. The 48-year-old died last Saturday, just three weeks after being hospitalized for congestive heart failure. He played five seasons with the Knicks and teamed with Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley in 1994 to take the team within one game of the NBA title. They lost in seven games to the Houston Rockets. Mason also played college ball at Tennessee State University which has a large alumni group here in Indy, many of his fellow classmates remember him fondly.

Quarterback Peyton Manning is returning to the Denver Broncos next season. The team announced on Twitter the soon-to-be 39-year-old former Colts Super Bowl star has passed his physical and will be back under center in 2015. Manning agreed to a new contract that reduces his base salary $4 million in the coming year from $19 million down to $15 million.  Manning can make that money back through incentives, but Denver must win the Super Bowl in order for Manning to earn all $4 million back—no pressure there. The future Hall of Famer threw for more than 4,700 yards with 39 touchdown passes in 2014 as the Broncos won their fourth straight AFC West title.

And Finally…

Indianapolis is one of the “Hardest Working Cities.” A new study by “WalletHub” analyzed 116 of the most populated cities across the United States based on commute time, workers with multiple jobs, lack of sleep and more. Indy ranked 35th overall with a labor participation rate of 75.7 percent and an average work week of 38.2 hours. The study was done in honor of today’s Employee Appreciation Day.

Indianapolis weather…

A mix of clouds and sun. High of 31 degrees.

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