More than 100 companies and nonprofits have pledged support for the Your Life Matters initiative, created to help the city's most vulnerable residents. That's a great start, but momentum is critical.

The payoffs for such turnarounds can be extraordinary for the residents who live nearby and for the city as a whole.

The BMV's pattern of poor performance hardly inspires confidence in its ability to adequately monitor itself.

At Indianapolis Motor Speedway, even the old and the great must constantly be made new in today's world, and that's happening. The greatness of the Indianapolis 500, and of race weekend, remains.

The pandemic has impacted us in many ways, but despite these challenges, our commitment to our community and you is stronger than ever.

In a blog post yesterday, Samsung announced plans to launch a Samsung Pay debit card this summer. The Verge reports: Samsung will launch the card, which will be backed by a cash management account, in partnership with personal finance company SoFi, Ahn said. Samsung is also developing a "mobile-first money management platform," according to Ahn. His blog doesn't detail what features that money management platform or the upcoming debit card may have, but he does say that Samsung will share more details "in the coming weeks." Samsung joins Apple in offering a branded payment card. Google is reportedly working on its own branded payment card as well, though Google's will apparently be a debit card, like Samsung's. Google will also supposedly offer spending-tracking tools for the card.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: As hospitals were overrun by coronavirus patients in other parts of the world, the Army Corps of Engineers mobilized in the U.S., hiring private contractors to build emergency field hospitals around the country. The endeavor cost more than $660 million, according to an NPR analysis of federal spending records. But nearly four months into the pandemic, most of these facilities haven't treated a single patient. Public health experts said this episode exposes how ill-prepared the U.S. is for a pandemic. They praised the Army Corps for quickly providing thousands of extra beds, but experts said there wasn't enough planning to make sure these field hospitals could be put to use once they were finished. "It's so painful because what it's showing is that the plans we have in place, they don't work," said Robyn Gershon, a professor at New York University's School of Global Public Health. "We have to go back to the drawing board and redo it." But the nation's governors -- who requested the Army Corps projects and, in some cases, contributed state funding -- said they're relieved these facilities didn't get more use. They said early models predicted a catastrophic shortage of hospital beds, and no one knew for sure when or if stay-at-home orders would reduce the spread of the coronavirus. "All those field hospitals and available beds sit empty today," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said last month. "And that's a very, very good thing." Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said: "These 1,000-bed alternate care sites are not necessary; they're not filled. Thank God." Senior military leaders also said the effort was a success -- even if the beds sit empty.

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Google's move to put Javier Soltero, VP and GM of G Suite, in charge of Messages, Duo, and the phone app on Android, puts all of Google's major communication products under one umbrella: Soltero's team. Dieter Bohn reports via The Verge: Soltero tells me that there are no immediate plans to change or integrate any of Google's apps, so don't get your hopes up for that (yet). "We believe people make choices around the products that they use for specific purposes," Soltero says. Still, Google's communications apps are in dire need of a more coherent and opinionated production development, and Soltero could very well be the right person to provide that direction. Prior to joining Google, he had a long career that included creating the much-loved Acompli email app, which Microsoft acquired and essentially turned into the main Outlook app less than two months after signing the deal. Soltero has also moved rapidly (at least by the standards of Google's communication apps) to clean up the Hangouts branding mess, converting Hangouts Video to Google Meet and Hangouts Chat to Google Chat -- at least on the enterprise side. Google Meet also became free for everybody far ahead of the original schedule because of the pandemic. Cleaning up the consumer side of all that is more complicated, but Soltero says, "The plan continues to be to modernize [Hangouts] towards Google Meet and Google Chat." "Soltero will remain on the cloud team but will join Hiroshi Lockheimer's leadership team," Dieter adds. While Lockheimer believes there are opportunities to better integrate Google's apps into its platforms, he says it doesn't make sense to force integration or interoperability too quickly. "It's not necessarily a bad thing that there are multiple communications applications if they're for a different purpose," Lockheimer says. "Part of what might be confusing, what we've done to confuse everyone, is our history around some of our communications products that have gone from one place or another place. But we're looking forward now, in a way that has a much more coherent vision."

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An anonymous reader quotes CNN: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday issued an emergency use authorization for the first at-home Covid-19 test that uses saliva samples, the agency said in a news release. Rutgers University's RUCDR Infinite Biologics lab received an amended emergency authorization late Thursday. With the test, people can collect their own saliva at home and send their saliva samples to a lab for results... "Authorizing additional diagnostic tests with the option of at-home sample collection will continue to increase patient access to testing for COVID-19. This provides an additional option for the easy, safe and convenient collection of samples required for testing without traveling to a doctor's office, hospital or testing site," FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen M. Hahn said in the FDA's press release on Friday... The test remains prescription only.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: GPS is facing a major interference threat from a 5G network approved by the Federal Communications Commission, U.S. military officials told Congress in a hearing on Wednesday. In testimony to the Senate Committee on Armed Services, Department of Defense Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy disputed the FCC's claims that conditions imposed on the Ligado network will protect GPS from interference. When the FCC approved Ligado's plan last month, the agency required a 23MHz guard band to provide a buffer between the Ligado cellular network and GPS. Deasy argued that this guard band won't prevent interference with GPS signals. Results from tests by federal agencies show that "conditions in this FCC order will not prevent impacts to millions of GPS receivers across the United States, with massive complaints expected to come," Deasy said. The FCC unanimously approved Ligado's application, but the decision is facing congressional scrutiny. "I do not think it is a good idea to place at risk the GPS signals that enable our national and economic security for the benefit of one company and its investors," Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said at the hearing, according to CNBC. "This is about much more than risking our military readiness and capabilities. Interfering with GPS will hurt the entire American economy." A spokesperson for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai called the military's concerns "baseless fear-mongering" in a statement quoted by Multichannel News. "The FCC made a unanimous, bipartisan decision based on sound engineering principles," the spokesperson said. The FCC said "the metric used by the Department of Defense to measure harmful interference does not, in fact, measure harmful interference," and that "testing on which they are relying took place at dramatically higher power levels than the FCC approved." "Ligado said Wednesday in a statement that it has gone to great lengths to prevent interference and will provide 'a 24/7 monitoring capability, a hotline, a stop buzzer or kill switch' and will 'repair or replace at Ligado's cost any government device shown to be susceptible to harmful interference,'" CNBC reported. The FCC also said it imposed a power limit of 9.8dBW on Ligado's downlink operations -- "a greater than 99 percent reduction from what Ligado proposed in its 2015 application," Pai said.

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The Boston Herald writes that a "video vigilante faces numerous charges after being arrested outside Massachusetts General Hospital where police say he was recording the emergency ramp at the height of the coronavirus pandemic." schwit1 shares their report: John L. McCullough, 41, was charged with trespassing, disturbing the peace and threats to do bodily harm after police say he refused to stop recording Sunday evening. "I informed him that I could not make him stop filming but I asked him to stop out of respect to patient privacy," the arresting officer wrote in a police report obtained by the Herald through a public records request. The next day the newspaper's senior editor posted a follow-up: John L. McCullough told the Herald Tuesday evening he is a First Amendment crusader who takes videos of police and posts them to YouTube. That's what got him a June 2 arraignment date. "I understand how people may feel, but that doesn't mean I should be locked up," McCullough said... "Did I break the law? No. I may have been rude," he added. "I understand people may feel jittery, but where peoples' feelings start my rights don't stop...." Cambridge civil-rights attorney Harvey Silverglate said McCullough will probably have his case tossed, even if what he was doing is seen as crass. "There's no amendment in the Constitution called the humanity amendment," said Silverglate. "It's a free country and you have a right to be a jerk." But taking video outside a hospital during a pandemic and as people try to social distance — and first responders, including the police, face all-too-real health risks — is "pretty distasteful," Silverglate added. Still, he added the judge will "have to throw it out." He added it's "punishment itself" to go to court in this climate. McCullough, records state, does not have an attorney yet. He did say he's ready to plead his case. "Don't be brainwashed," he added, "and it shouldn't be a problem when a black man has a camera." The Herald suggests one more interesting detail. "McCullough said '20 other cameras' were probably rolling at the same time as he was — alluding to security cameras in the area."

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Romeo Langford reflects on a tough outing Tuesday night and what it was like playing in Indiana again.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league would be on hiatus at least 30 days and it's possible the league will not play again this season

The Pacers final game before the NBA went on hiatus was vs. the Celtics, whose player Marcus Smart has tested positive for the coronavirus

An insurance payment due to Victor Oladipo's injury gives Pacers lowest payroll in NBA

"When we do start back, everybody will be off the same amount of time," McMillan says.

Friday, the Dunking Dutchman took over the Indiana Pacers' Twitter to do a question and answer session with Pacer fans.

If $200,000 is raised by Thursday, Herb Simon and Jim Irsay will boost the pot that goes to neighborhood centers linked to United Way

Mike Conley is Tamika Catchings' first-round opponent in the NBA's HORSE event on ESPN; competitors will remain separated

Malcolm Brogdon is healing and more minutes for JaKarr Sampson could get the Pacers out of the first round of the playoffs

Pacers President Kevin Pritchard discusses the health of his team and how they're staying prepared for the season to resume.

Source: The Pacers will listen to the government and follow its lead before bringing players back

The Pacers didn't have their starting point guard for the last three games before the NBA went on hiatus, but he's able to play if/when it restarts.

Mike Storen, the Pacers' first general manager, former ABA commissioner and the father of ESPN broadcaster Hannah Storm, died Thursday. He was 84.

Italian beef and Chicago-style hot dogs are now being sold near Ronald Reagan Parkway and U.S. 36.

Landmark restaurant has been in business since 1927.

The Vasquez family makes tamales to sell at the Carmel Farmer's Market

Stay toasty during dinner or warm up with a drink at these 10 Indy restaurants with fireplaces.

Tacos, smoked wings, a brewery with pizza and a kart track serving burgers are right across the street from the Indy 500.

Tucked into his porch, musician Tim Brickley sang classics for a tiny group of neighbors and passersby as relief from home isolation.

Shapiro's delicatessen, a Kosher eatery just south of Downtown Indianapolis, is adapting to a carryout model amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Several Indianapolis-area restaurants are offering brunch deals and takeout specials to help mom relax and stay out of the kitchen on Mother's Day.

After coronavirus restrictions are lifted, Indianapolis bars and breweries will face challenges in terms of short-term staffing and long-term survival

IndyFringe, the popular Mass Ave. theater festival, has been canceled. Social distancing requirements will not allow the artists to prepare.

These restaurants are turning Indiana's ban on dining in restaurants to their favor by throwing back to olden days with drive-up service.

As The Children's Museum, Newfields and others wait for the OK to reopen, they are strategizing how to keep visitors safe from the coronavirus spread.

Boilermakers and Hoosiers try to break into the upper echelon of Big Ten football recruiting

The Boilermakers received a commitment from Caleb Furst, a 2021 prospect from Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian

Despite a loss, Purdue sees positives from Big Ten tourney matchup with Maryland

With Matt Haarms announcing his decision to leave the Boilermakers, the coaching staff begins the search to fill a void in the middle

Austin Burton announced last week he's transferring from UCLA to Purdue. He'll be a graduate transfer with two years of eligibility.

The Greyhounds were run off the field by Louisville Trinity in a 41-14 opening week loss. Since then, Carmel is 2-0 and outscored opponents 57-14.

Led by larger-than-life QB Drew Byerly, charismatic coach Chris Coll and two weight-room ringers, Franklin finally beats neighboring Whiteland.

An 8-week-old baby died Tuesday after the infant was dropped off at a babysitter in Pennington Mobile Home Park in Franklin, police said.

Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers announced Friday that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a nervous system disorder.

Town leaders and residents prepare for what's to come as the interstate replaces Ind. 37 as the direct route from Martinsville to Indianapolis.

The rural Johnson County town hopes to take advantage of growth while retaining its small-town charm.

McCorkle leads the Class A second-ranked Cougars in scoring (13.7 ppg), rebounding (6.9) and assists (4.2) through 11 games this season.

Champ McCorkle notched his 1,000th-career point as the Cougars beat Center Grove for the Johnson County tournament championship.

The Johnson County jail will soon undergo a $23 million expansion to ease overcrowding. The jail could need yet another expansion after that.