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NEW GRADUATION RATES SHOW MOST AREA SCHOOLS IMPROVING

(Indianapolis, IN)--New graduation rates are out and they’re good for a couple of reasons.  Most schools in our area showed improvement and the majority of those schools are above the Indiana state average.  Numbers for the Class of 2012 have recently been released by the Indiana Department of Education.  Statewide, 88.6 percent of students graduated on time.  Area schools that exceeded that average are Northeastern, Centerville, Hagerstown, Randolph Eastern, Randolph Central, Monroe Central, Union County, and Fayette County.  Only Richmond, Western Wayne, Franklin County, and Randolph Southern were below the state average.  Richmond’s graduation rate for the Class of 2012 is 80.3 percent.  That’s down from the 2011 rate of 81.7 percent.  Only two other area schools – Franklin County and Randolph Southern – saw graduation rates drop.  The biggest improvement came from Fayette County.  Their graduation rate jumped nine full percentage points to 92.1 percent.  Randolph Southern saw a huge drop from 95.5 percent to 79.4 percent.  It was also the poorest performing school in the Whitewater Valley.  The best graduation rate in our area, by far, was at Monroe Central where 97.6 percent of students graduated.

WANTED WAYNE, PREBLE COUNTY METH DEALER CAPTURED IN BARN

(Preble County, OH)--One of our area’s most-wanted alleged drug dealers was taken into custody Thursday.  "We've been looking for him the past several weeks.  He had a felony warrant out of Wayne County for methamphetamine charges and he also has a pending case here in Preble County for a methamphetamine case," said Preble County Deputy Josh Wing.  The man he’s talking about is 34-year-old Jeremiah Day.  Day was found hiding out in a barn Thursday outside of Eaton.  That barn was owned by a recent murder victim.  Deputies received information that Day might be hiding in the home where 48-year-old Jerry Mason was shot and killed a week ago today.  They were beginning to serve a search warrant when they found Day hiding behind a filing cabinet.  Day was armed and refused to surrender.  A police dog was sent in and Day quickly gave up.  Day is not connected to Mason’s murder.  Investigators believe he was hiding there because he knew Mason had recently died.

ELDORADO MAN KILLED IN PREBLE COUNTY CRASH

(Preble County, OH)--The identity of a man killed in a Preble County crash Thursday morning has been released.  25-year-old Matthew Lindsey of Eldorado crossed the center line on Monroe Central Road’s overpass over I-70.  His car struck an oncoming car driven by 35-year-old Cynthia Lee of West Manchester.  Lindsey was pronounced dead at the scene.  Lee was taken to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton with non-life-threatening injuries.  Investigators are looking to see if some sort of medical condition contributed to the crash.  A female witness reported Lindsey’s head was down just before the accident.  The crash happened at about 8:15 Thursday morning.